PBD - Patrick Bet-David - "I'll Submit Him" – Ilia Topuria CALLS OUT Islam Makhachev, OPENS UP On Putin & Russia

April 11, 2025 - PBD - Patrick Bet-David

01:46:06

"I'll Submit Him" – Ilia Topuria CALLS OUT Islam Makhachev, OPENS UP On Putin & Russia

Undefeated UFC champ Ilia Topuria joins Patrick Bet-David to talk about his legacy, fighting Islam Makhachev, out-earning Ronaldo, and his journey from Georgia to global stardom. Raw, confident, and deeply personal. ▶️ WATCH FULL EPISODE:https://youtu.be/w4EgWXNWB2w ------ 👕 GET THE LATEST VT MERCH: https://bit.ly/3BZbD6l 📕 PBD'S BOOK "THE ACADEMY": https://bit.ly/41rtEV4 📰 VTNEWS.AI: ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3OExClZ 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON SPOTIFY: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g57zR2 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ITUNES: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g1bXAh 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ALL PLATFORMS: https://bit.ly/4eXQl6A 📱 CONNECT ON MINNECT: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4ikyEkC 📱 CONNECT W/ RICHARD WERNER ON MINNECT: https://bit.ly/43SpM0V 👔 BET-DAVID CONSULTING: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3ZjWhB7 🎓 VALUETAINMENT UNIVERSITY: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BfA5Qw 📺 JOIN THE CHANNEL: ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/4g5C6Or 💬 TEXT US: Text “PODCAST” to 310-340-1132 to get the latest updates in real-time! SUBSCRIBE TO: @VALUETAINMENT @ValuetainmentComedy @theunusualsuspectspodcast @bizdocpodcast ABOUT US: Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Your Next Five Moves” (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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	I really know that I have the ability to shock the world.
	You're fight ready.
	Do you think he's fight ready to go up against you today?
	Him?
	Yeah.
	No.
	I finished him in the first round.
	Me personally, I would ask him, like, what's your favorite submission?
	I'm going to submit you with that.
	I have to do it.
	Did you say you want to make more money than Ronaldo?
	I want to make more money than everyone.
	Why is that?
	And how are you going to do it?
	You win the medals in the training.
	You just go to collect them in the fight.
	That's what Michael would talk about.
	Yeah, but at the end of the day, he was playing basketball.
	No, I'm fighting.
	What do you think about Zelensky food?
	There's how the world sees it, but then you're in the region.
	They see your face is saying something, though.
	Look how fat he looks.
	A little pimple.
	Little pimple?
	Yeah, Kai Pimple.
	You're waiting for that phone call, huh?
	I'm waiting.
	I'm very excited, to be honest.
	Sport is sport, we athletes, I respect all of that.
	But there are lines that you can't cross.
	Adam, what's your thing?
	The future looks bright.
	My handshaker.
	My son's right there.
	I don't think I've ever said this before.
	Business-wise, it's not the best place.
	Spain.
	Spain.
	But it's your favorite place no matter what.
	Like the quality of life that we have in Spain, you can find it anywhere in the world.
	Like, for example, in Miami.
	I love Miami, but we are recording now.
	Yes, we're recording.
	Okay, so the quality of the food and everything, it's very different.
	Not close to Spain.
	Not close to Spain.
	So the food is the best for you in Spain.
	The product.
	Then the traffic.
	I spent an hour to come here.
	I would be in Spain this distance.
	I will be there like, I don't know, in 30 minutes.
	So how much time we spend, do you spend here in the traffic?
	That's quality of life.
	Like food, traffic, I don't know, everything's so expensive.
	You can make a lot of money.
	Are you very detailed?
	Like, are you a very detailed guy?
	Like, you know, personality-wise in business, you know, when you try to profile somebody, you're recruiting somebody, you're like, let me see what personality this person is.
	Extremely analytical, extremely structured, organized.
	Like you had a little bit of thing, you had to go clean it up with the shirt, right?
	Extremely action-oriented.
	Let's go out.
	What are we going to do?
	Let's beat him.
	Let's competitive, you know.
	And then relationship, very good with people, right?
	You care about the relationship and all that stuff.
	Are you more analytical, structured, systematized, action-oriented, competitive, or more relationship with friends and family?
	More relationship with friends and family.
	I'm more with energy, like with feelings.
	It depends how I feel with the person because I can have a lot of information, for example, about someone, but then I met him in person and the feeling I have with him is completely different.
	You know?
	So, yeah.
	Very interesting.
	I ask that because, you know, when you're saying quality of life, to think quality of life of the conversation we're having, you have to be analytical a little bit to pay attention to the details to say, it took me one hour to come up, but it would have been 30 minutes where I live.
	You know, you guys.
	I have two kids.
	If you are raising a kids, you gotta take them to the school.
	You gotta take them to different activities.
	So if I have to spend between every activities an hour in the traffic, that's a lot of time for me.
	So at the end of the day, I gotta have to take something from them to optimize that time.
	So I look at it from time-wise.
	And you're very active with your kids?
	Are you very involved?
	Mike, my boy, he doesn't live with me.
	My girl, she's eight months old, but we are like planning everything now.
	Where are we going to live?
	Where are we going to raise them?
	How we're going to do it.
	So I'm planning.
	I'm 20 years old.
	And you're just getting started.
	I'm getting started.
	You're just getting started.
	So you're what?
	You're 16 and oh.
	You won the 145 after winning against Volk, which was in, you know, the fight was fireworks.
	Did you watch the fight?
	Of course, yeah, it's fireworks.
	And then afterwards, you give up the belt to go to the legendary 155, right?
	Where everybody, that's like the weight.
	Everybody knows it's the category to be part.
	I don't even know if you look up Rob, who are the top five biggest fights?
	I think 545, it's all the lightweight, right?
	Yeah, it is all lightweight because it's Connor Khabib.
	I think it's Connor.
	I think he's retired.
	You think he's retired?
	Yeah, I think so.
	He's not going to come back.
	What do you think happened to him?
	You think it's the money and the success?
	I think that he doesn't have the motivation anymore.
	He done great things in the sport, but he doesn't have the motivation.
	He got, I think, a lot of money.
	He's spending also a lot of money.
	So I don't know.
	I don't know him personally.
	I don't know him.
	You guys have never met?
	Never.
	So there's no relationship?
	No.
	Because he said some stuff about you and you've said some stuff about him.
	Yeah.
	But nothing good.
	Yeah, nothing good.
	Nothing good.
	So if right now you guys were to fight, like right now, right now, let's just say in two weeks, he gets a call.
	Yeah.
	And a fight happens.
	You're fight ready.
	You think he's fight ready to go up against you today?
	Him?
	Yeah.
	No, I don't think so.
	What he did in the last two weeks?
	Party, drinking beers.
	What I did in the last two weeks, I trained twice a day.
	I don't know.
	I'm an active fighter.
	I defend my belt a couple of months ago.
	When was the last time he fought?
	He fought, I don't know, three years ago, four years ago.
	He's not in shape.
	Your peak, like right now, some would even say you're not even at your peak yet.
	Yeah.
	Because you're still getting better, right?
	You're 28.
	How old are you?
	28.
	28 years old.
	So some of these guys, they peaked at 32, 33, 31.
	That's the age, right?
	You're at 28.
	Your peak versus Connor's peak.
	Who wins that fight?
	At 155, let's just say.
	My answer is going to be always me.
	Every day, all day, I'm going to beat that guy no matter when and where.
	But if you ask him, he's going to tell you probably the same.
	So you know how it works.
	This is sport.
	No one's going to give up.
	When you were coming up, was he somebody you looked up to?
	Were you like, you know, was Connor your guy?
	Were you a fan of his when you were coming up as a young fighter?
	Yeah, of course, of course.
	He inspired a lot of fighters.
	He changed the sport.
	He did so many great things for the sport.
	You can't say like anything different about that.
	But he like little by little, he changed his values.
	He changed everything.
	Like right now, what does he represent?
	I always used to say like drugs, alcohol, bad lifestyle.
	But who gives a fuck?
	Do you watch closely to make sure you, like, as you're going through it, are you also watching and very detailed on the decisions you're making to see how you're living?
	Because you're watching, okay, this is what this guy did right.
	That's what this guy did wrong.
	Are you studying everybody to see what for yourself to be protected of?
	Of course.
	Of course, I always try to develop my skills.
	I always try to have more abilities because at the end of the day, you skills make you rich, right?
	Not the money.
	Because if you don't have the skills, you don't have the right mentality, you are poor.
	So I all the time try to develop my skills and my abilities.
	And when going with someone like you, because I think you said one time, you said you want to make, did you say you want to make more money than Ronaldo?
	I think you said you want to make more money than Ronaldo.
	I want to make more money than everyone.
	Why is that?
	And how are you going to do it?
	Okay, let's switch that a little bit.
	It's not like I want to be better than someone.
	It's like if someone could do it, I want to do it also.
	And if no one did it, I want to be the first one to do it.
	So this is the mentality.
	It's not to look up to some, to look down to someone.
	It's not because of that.
	It's I want to experience that also, how it feels to be the number one guy.
	Why not?
	Right?
	You're saying pay-wise.
	Yeah.
	Do you have a strategy on how you want to do it?
	Have you thought about it?
	Have you thought about what method you're going to have?
	Because I looked at the pay on what you've gotten.
	Earlier, we were talking to the guys.
	And when I look at this, your first fight, I don't know if it's your first fight, but one of your first fights that you made $38,500 October 10, 2020.
	Then you made 50K, then 75, then 90, then you made $154 with Bryce Mitchell, one of your good friends.
	And then you made $200,000 with Josh Emmett.
	Then you made $532,000 fighter of the year, 2024, with Volk.
	And then you made $2.44 million with Holloway.
	So roughly career earnings, $3.5 million.
	And, you know, this is a very good trajectory.
	If this is a stock, there's some real good things around the corner for you, right?
	Fight-wise.
	It's not only fight-wise.
	It's also business-wise.
	That's why I try to develop all the time my skills, you know, whatever.
	Because at some point, I'm going to retire and I'm going to make a living from something else.
	Something else.
	Got it.
	How much longer do you think you'll be fighting?
	You're 28 now.
	Till I enjoy, to be honest.
	Before I used to be like, maybe when I'm 30 or 32, but now, till I enjoy, I will be active.
	How old was Khabib when he retired?
	I think 32.
	Was he 32?
	32.
	Yeah, you're right.
	32, September 20, 1988, when he retired.
	Interesting.
	But right now, you're enjoying it.
	You see yourself going for a few more years.
	Exactly.
	Okay.
	Like now.
	I have a new motivation, new division.
	I have a lot of guys there.
	So why not?
	What's the, what's, because I watched, I had Khabib on, I don't know when it was.
	I did an interview with Khabib four years ago.
	Could have been three years ago, maybe four or five years ago.
	Probably four years ago.
	See, pull up the date, Rob, to see when this is.
	What is the date on this here?
	August 1st, 21st, 2023.
	Okay, I thought it was a lot longer than that.
	So that's what, Rob, a year and a half ago?
	Yep.
	Soon to be two years.
	Okay.
	I had him on and I watched, there's a clip, Rob, if you have the clip of Khabib being asked about you.
	And he's asking a question about whether you're ready.
	And I'm sure you've seen this yourself.
	I'm sure you've seen the comments that he made.
	I don't know if you've seen it or not.
	If you haven't, Rob, I'm going to text it over to you.
	There's an interview he's being asked about whether you're ready to fight, you know, whether you've earned the right to fight for the number one spot.
	Have you seen this clip yet of Khabib talking about you or no?
	I have watched some of them.
	I watched with Henry.
	Yeah.
	You've seen this.
	Okay, play this clip, Rob, for the audience if they haven't seen it.
	Go for it.
	He's saying, you know what?
	I want to go up to 155 pounds, fight the number one contender.
	And then if he wins that, then he fights Islam.
	I think that's good, brother.
	I think he deserves.
	I think if you move up and he beat somebody like Dustin Porio or Charles Oliveira, he's next.
	Why not?
	Because there is nobody.
	So you don't think right now Ilya deserves a shot at 155 pounds without fighting Immun 55?
	Without, no, I don't know.
	Because Islam already give chance.
	And people talk a bit about like, oh, he fight two times with Volkanovsky, but the UFC pushed this fight.
	And this fight was good in first fight.
	But why Islam have to give three time chance for 145 champion?
	Why?
	It's not fair for 155 pounds.
	Right, right.
	But if he move up and he beats somebody like Charles Abu Virgo, of course, you know what I think?
	Yeah.
	I think he can beat me.
	Yeah, I think he can beat me.
	I like Charles, but I think so too.
	I think Ilya can beat me.
	He's saying that I don't deserve it, but he's saying from a fighter's perspective.
	But as a promoter, it works a little bit different.
	So now you're thinking Dana.
	Yeah.
	Got it.
	So you think Dana would be excited about you fighting Dustin or Charles?
	I don't think so.
	I don't think so.
	Right.
	That will be making a step back, I think.
	Yeah.
	I understand what he's saying, but I tell you who I want to see as a fan.
	I'm talking purely as a fan.
	If there is the fight with you and Islam, that could be one of the biggest pay-per-views if that takes place.
	I think so also.
	Look, Henry Sehula, you watch him in the video.
	He moved up.
	He fought for the second belt.
	Connor, he fought for the second belt.
	George Sage Pierre, he fought for the second belt.
	I can mention you so many names that fought for that second belt.
	Why not me?
	That had that opportunity to fight for the next Way Class World Championship for the belt.
	So right now, with where you're at, are you wanting your next to be that?
	I'm sure that that's going to happen.
	I'm fighting for the belt.
	Okay.
	So right now, you gave the belt back at 145?
	I gave it because I didn't want to hold the division.
	This is what I did.
	I could hold it for a year, year and a half, but I didn't because at the end, I knew that I wouldn't fight again in 145.
	But I could have the position where I would say, like, listen, I'm holding the belt till you give me the chance to fight for the next Way Class belt.
	But I'm like, I'm okay in the belt because they gave me the word.
	That was all easy.
	Who is the ranking right now in 155?
	The number one is Charles Oliveira.
	And the champion is Islam.
	I don't know who is the number two.
	Can you look at that, Rob?
	I'm curious now because Charles is number two.
	Oh, Armand is number two.
	Armand, number two.
	So would you fight an Arman before you go, like, let's just say Dana says, I want you to fight Arman before you fight Islam?
	Would you entertain that?
	He wouldn't tell me that.
	He wouldn't tell you that.
	No.
	Dana would say Islam.
	He would say for the belt.
	He would say for the belt.
	Yeah.
	I think so as well, because you're undefeated.
	Of course.
	Yeah.
	There's no way that I have to fight to the number one contender.
	I have to fight directly for the belt.
	How soon do you think that would happen?
	Personally, I don't know.
	I hope in summer, maybe in September.
	I don't know.
	Whenever it happens, it's going to be.
	How does it normally happen?
	I'm not in your world.
	Do you normally make the call and tell Dana, or do you kind of do the podcast and kind of find a way that the video makes it to Dana for him to know?
	Or does he call you and tell you?
	It never works like that.
	They call you, they tell you, like, I need you in this date, in this place.
	Do you have a warning or no, they just kind of call you and tell you, I got to fight for you?
	I got to fight for you.
	Okay.
	This is how it works.
	Of course, they like have a conversation with you because they want you to feel also comfortable with the day, with the place, with the opponent, with everything.
	They figure out with you and you go after that.
	But at least what they do always with the champions is that they give you at least 12 weeks of preparation.
	If you're a champion, they give you that 12-week respect.
	Yeah, because you need a training camp.
	You need to figure out how you're going to do it, how you're going to organize everything.
	I don't know.
	You're going to move your whole team.
	Let me ask this question.
	For someone like you, you give me the idea you're very meticulous, you're very detailed.
	Is your current training a regular training or is your current training specific training targeted for your next fight being Islam?
	Like psychologically, in your mind, are you already there?
	Yeah.
	I have two names in my mind right now, and we focus all trainings in two names.
	It's Charles and Islam.
	In case if he says you're fighting Charles.
	Yeah, in case that he says that I gotta fight Charles, I'm ready for that because I'm doing a lot of, like we watching his fights, seeing his weaknesses, where he's doing like, I don't know, where he's dangerous, all that.
	We study him.
	The same thing with Islam.
	He saw Paul.
	He moves a little bit different.
	He tends to go for the takedowns.
	So we are preparing.
	I'm so excited.
	That's why.
	Me, if someone asked me, like, I would love to fight with Islam, that will be a great one because I really know that I have the ability to shock the world.
	Because I know that for me, it's going to be like, I know that I'm going to beat him.
	But for the world, it's going to be like just what happened.
	The same thing that happened with Walk, the same thing that happened with Max Holloway.
	No one ever knocked him out.
	No one did it.
	And it was like a surprise for everyone.
	But me personally, I always knew it.
	Before I walk in the octagon, I was like, thanks God to give me the opportunity to be the first one to knock him out.
	Where does the confidence come from?
	From hard work and dedication and from God, I think so.
	And I'm going to sound a little bit repetitive, but I always prefer to think about to have the kind of thoughts that make me feel happy, that empowers me.
	Because I feel fear, fear.
	Of course I do.
	But both of them, fear and faith demand you to believe that you never solve.
	I always prefer to believe in something that makes me feel happy.
	Fear.
	Yeah.
	Fear.
	So you feel fear while you're going into the ring or at that point you're not.
	When you are in backstage, you feel that.
	You feel fear backstage.
	Of course.
	Adrenaline right off.
	Of course you do.
	Everyone does it.
	Everyone.
	How do you deal with it?
	How do you deal with it?
	I use it like from a positive way.
	I use it from like, I don't know.
	The first thing that happens where you are in backstage, your mind used to take you to the octagon.
	And in reality, you are in the backstage.
	And I'm like, listen, right now I'm with my people, wrapping my hands, warm up.
	I don't know, whatever I'm doing, but I'm not fighting with anyone.
	So don't worry about anything.
	Just save that energy because you are going to need that concentration, that focus inside the octagon.
	So if you are able to don't let your mind to travel to the future, you are ahead of your opponents.
	When you're backstage and your anxiety goes, is there anybody you want around you that brings you down?
	No.
	Or is it like your brother calms you down?
	Is it a coach that calms you down?
	Do you just want to be left alone to yourself to have the conversations in your mind yourself?
	Myself.
	Nobody else.
	Nobody else.
	I just go, I watch myself in the mirror and I'm like, this is the person you have to beat.
	The person in the mirror.
	Yeah.
	This is the person in the mirror.
	This is the person you have to be.
	Are you listening to any music or no?
	I don't like whatever.
	Like, oh, I play the music.
	Someone from my team plays the music.
	I don't have any, I don't know how to say it in English.
	Ritual.
	Supersticiones.
	Oh, supersticiones.
	Got it.
	You're not superstitious.
	Yeah.
	You're not at all.
	Not at all.
	So you will step on a line.
	You won't step over a line.
	You're not, if you touch something, you won't have to touch it three times.
	Exactly.
	You're not like that at all.
	No, no, no, no.
	Really?
	No, not at all.
	Why not?
	That's interesting.
	Because I don't like to depend on anything.
	I'm like, you wake me up at four o'clock.
	You tell me that I gotta fight with someone.
	I do it.
	I don't care.
	So that's why it's like, I don't need my shorts.
	If I don't have my shorts, I have a bad lag, or if I'm not wearing this, or he's not able to come to watch my fight, or whatever.
	No, no, no.
	Nothing.
	You're that ice cold.
	Nothing.
	Mentally, you're that ice cold.
	They call that ice cold.
	That's great.
	I don't know.
	Nothing gets through.
	Nothing.
	I can walk like I can go alone.
	Like, just imagine that my coaches can come with me, but my brother can't come with me.
	No one.
	And I have to go alone.
	No problem.
	Can anybody get under your skin?
	Does anybody get under your skin?
	You know what that means?
	Like, you know what I mean?
	You know what I'm saying?
	Like, somebody that knows to say something that triggers.
	They see your face is saying something, though.
	I think the only person is my wife, probably.
	She's the only person.
	No one else, I think.
	Seriously?
	I think so.
	That's very good.
	Yeah.
	You know, because, you know, that is a big strength of a lot of great ones were like that.
	Some of it wanted it.
	Some people wanted it.
	Like Michael Jordan's was, he wanted you to say something to him.
	Yeah.
	And then he would convince himself that you said something about him really bad.
	And then he wanted to kill you.
	That's what Michael would talk about.
	Yeah, but at the end of the day, he was playing basketball.
	Right.
	And I have enough of that energy that I want to go in and take his head off.
	You know, I'm fighting.
	What are you telling yourself when you're looking at your opponent?
	Are you telling anything yourself about the opponent right before the fight or no?
	Before the fight, no, I'm just telling to myself that I need myself called to be calculated.
	This is how I need myself.
	Emotions underground.
	I don't need my emotions at that moment.
	Who taught you this?
	Who shared this with you?
	Is it a mentor or a coach, somebody, a book or brother or family or no?
	It's just you?
	Maybe I read it somewhere because I used to read a lot of books, but it was like I always had that kind of mentality.
	And also, I produce that it was working for me in the fights.
	So all the time I go in, I'm like, my emotions are underground, very calm.
	Yeah, because you know, when you think about rituals, right, like you're saying superstitious.
	I remember back in the days, Diego Sanchez, I don't know if you remember Diego Sanchez, one of my favorite guys to watch fights.
	Yes!
	And he was just fire, young, exciting.
	Ali used to predict rounds.
	I'm going to beat you in this round, right?
	Tyson used to look at the person in the eyes until the person looked away.
	Like he wanted to kind of do that.
	Tyson Fury would sing after the fight and he would like to sing for the fighters.
	Manny Pacquiao would take ice showers, ice cold showers, and pray before the fight.
	There was another guy, Leodo or something, Leodo Machado, where he would drink urine before a fight.
	I don't know if you've heard this or not.
	Very weird stuff that you think about before fights.
	You don't have no rituals like that.
	No ritual.
	I used to pray, of course.
	I used to pray and I used to, yeah, I used to pray.
	This is what I do all the time.
	I wake up in the morning, I pray, and I feel thankful about everything that's happening to me for the opportunity.
	And I thank the God before I'm getting the victory.
	I'm thinking to him, like, thank you for the victory.
	As a kid, did you watch something a lot?
	Like, are you, you know, do you link your mindset to like a Rocky?
	Did you watch Gladiator?
	Were you a movie person?
	Did you watch somebody as a fighter coming up?
	Did you aspire to be somebody?
	Did you look up to someone?
	What was it for you?
	As a kid, my coach in Gregoramo Wrestling, he used to say it like this.
	You win the medals in the training.
	You just go to collect them in the fight.
	So this is my mentality, I think.
	So I worked so hard.
	I know everything that I did, that I did everything that I could.
	And there's no way that I'm not going to walk out from that octagon with the victory.
	This is how I feel.
	Really.
	What's the one fight where you got a call for a fight?
	I think it was two weeks out where you got kicked on the side.
	Who was that?
	Jai Herbert.
	That's right, Jai Herbert.
	And I think even Rogan talks about this, where he explains where you got kicked, and then everybody's like, oh my God, this thing's done with.
	And then boom, boom, boom, it's over with.
	Your opponents, who you've gone up against, who have you fought where you sat there and when they hit you, obviously, let's just say he's one of them.
	Who hit you where you felt the pain or you saw their technical skills to say, this guy's legit.
	This guy is very capable.
	Your opponents, people you've gone against?
	The last two opponents I had, Wolg and Max Holloway, they both were very skillful.
	What was different about Max versus Volk?
	What was the difference between Max and Wolf?
	Good question.
	I never thought about that.
	What was the difference?
	I don't know.
	What was the difference?
	I felt both of them like the same way.
	Fast, very calculated.
	Like there are smart people inside the octagon.
	They have that fight IQ.
	You know what I mean?
	Normally, I used to go inside the octagon, and I feel that I'm the smartest guy.
	But with them, I felt that they were smart also.
	Because you can be very powerful, very fast.
	But if you don't have that mentality, if you don't have that fight IQ.
	What does that mean, Elia?
	What does fight IQ mean?
	What is being smart in the room?
	To use the technique at the right time.
	You know, may you have a lot of information.
	One thing is what you know, and the other thing is what you do with what you know.
	You know what I mean?
	To use it at the right time.
	So that's for me the fight IQ.
	When you need something and you use it at the right time.
	For example, I don't know.
	If I feel that I can beat someone with only jabs, I go in that.
	I don't switch the strategy in the whole fight.
	I do jobs, jobs, jobs.
	I don't know how to explain it to you.
	It's a little bit difficult to explain it from a fighter's perspective.
	Yeah, but basically it's to choose the right technique at the right time.
	And they were doing that.
	They know how to quit.
	I don't know how to say that.
	Humberto, can you text that to me?
	Quitar de la pencia?
	Pasciencia.
	Take away the patience from you, you know?
	Because you go in, you're very patients, you wear patience, but there are some kind of fighters that have the ability to take you from your place, you know, and to make you play day game.
	Who did you fight that would talk to you and try to play mind games?
	Did anybody talk to you in the ring?
	No.
	No one talked to me in the ring.
	Usually they don't have time to talk to me.
	Because I put so much pressure on them that they don't have the time.
	They don't have even time to breathe properly.
	What was it like fighting Bryce Mitchell?
	To be honest, he surprised me because he was the first person to take me down.
	And he had that proper technique for takedowns.
	But I don't know.
	I just felt that I break him mentally, physically, everywhere.
	He was known as a great grappler.
	I submit him.
	Like, what do you want me to do with you?
	He's like, I don't know.
	Crazy guy.
	The earth is flat.
	And what?
	Okay.
	Just suppose that the earth is flat and what we do with that information, bro.
	What the fuck you talking about?
	So for the record, you don't think the earth is flat?
	To be honest, I think that it's not flat because this is what they teach me since I was a kid.
	But even if it's flat, what it changed to me?
	What I do with that information.
	Okay, someone comes to me, the earth is flat.
	Okay, you convinced me.
	And what?
	What happens now?
	What are you interested in?
	What other things are you interested in outside of fighting?
	I want to serve the most amount of people that I can.
	I want to serve, inspire, motivate people.
	You know, again, I ask that because right after you say, what is it to me to know? about whether the earth is flat or not.
	What am I going to do with that information?
	The way I hear it is I don't need additional information in my brain.
	I just need to focus on the stuff that I need to study that's going to get my life to the next level.
	Everything else.
	Exactly.
	I don't need any distractions.
	Is that kind of how you see it?
	100%.
	This is how I say it.
	Like what I do with that information.
	Like sometimes people want to convince you about something.
	It's like, okay, you're right.
	And what?
	What happens now?
	What I do with that?
	My life change.
	I get better.
	I make more money.
	I don't know.
	What happens?
	Nothing.
	So what?
	It's true, though.
	It's true to stay locked in.
	And it's not easy to stay locked in.
	Athletes, are there any athletes that you now have a relationship with that they're high-level athletes competitors from different sports, soccer, football?
	Do any one of them, did any one of them call you?
	And if yes, when did that happen?
	What was the first fight where people said this guy is special?
	I think that since the moment that I fought, I don't know, when I made two fights in the UFC, probably.
	Yeah, after that, I started feeling, I started feeling that people was reaching me out, like calling me, texting me, wanted to meet me.
	Yeah, after two fights.
	Of course, once you become a world champion, it's different.
	You defend your belt.
	It's different.
	You were the fighter of the year last year, 2024.
	I think that it was Pereira.
	They gave it to Pereira.
	They gave it to Pereira?
	Yeah.
	Why do I see 2024?
	It says Fighter of the Year.
	You.
	Because many people gave it to me, but they gave it to Alex Pereira also.
	One?
	Oh, Ty.
	Oh, they gave it to both of you?
	Oh, they give it to both of you.
	Yeah.
	I got it.
	Okay.
	And there's a picture of the two of you guys together.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So you guys are friends.
	You guys have a relationship?
	Not friends.
	I met him in Australia.
	We met each other for the first time there in Sydney.
	I went there to watch my brother fight.
	Yeah.
	Do you watch the sport yourself?
	Like, are you also interested in watching the sport and how other people do?
	Or like this weekend, Miami is fight.
	You know, there's going to be a UFC fight here.
	Are you somebody that's interested in how other people will perform?
	Not always, but in this event specifically, may I watch it.
	But normally I watch a lot of fights because I have a promotion in Spain and now I started to watch a lot of fights because I want to discover new talents.
	So business, you're thinking from the business side.
	Yeah.
	Got it.
	Okay, so this card that's coming up, which fight are you excited about?
	This weekend's card?
	I'm excited about we have in the fight car world against the Europas.
	We have Paddy Piumblit against Mike Chandler.
	Jai Rodriguez is like either if he's fighting or not, no one gives a fuck.
	Bryce Mitchell, the same thing with John Silva.
	I don't know what to say.
	He's an upcoming fighter.
	And that fight, I don't know.
	Danny, you get the same thing.
	So which one of them?
	Go back up, Todd?
	Rob?
	So.
	The Patty one.
	Patty Chandler should be exciting.
	Yeah.
	He needs to win.
	Who?
	Chandler?
	No, no, no.
	Patty.
	He's fighting with a veteran.
	You know, he needs to win.
	And hopefully he wins because may in the future we face each other.
	It could be a great fight.
	You and Patty?
	Me and Patty.
	I'm looking forward for that fight.
	Was it something happened with you and Patty?
	Yeah.
	Something happened with you guys, right?
	What was that all about?
	I saw the video.
	He said some stupid shit about Georgia, about my country.
	He said something like, now I understand why Russia is throwing bombs to Georgia.
	And like, bro, you never live in a situation where your country had a war.
	I lived there in 2008.
	Don't joke with that.
	Got it.
	So that's what the context was about.
	Yeah.
	And what prompted him to say something like that?
	I don't know, to be honest.
	I don't know.
	Wow.
	You know?
	He said that to your face or he said that on Twitter?
	he said that on Twitter and I was like oh I got it I I And then you went and you guys were at the same event and you ran into each other?
	Exactly.
	Oh, I got it.
	I saw him and I went after him, like, boom.
	And it wasn't promotional.
	It was very real, raw, because it's not like it's a fight you guys are promoting together.
	Can you say this kind of stupid shit?
	You know what I mean?
	You can't joke.
	Sport is sport.
	We athletes, I respect all of that.
	But there are lines that you can't cross.
	You know, the people's lives are involved in this joke.
	You can't do that.
	Where is this at?
	Where is this location?
	In London.
	This is in London.
	How long ago?
	Oh, this is a while back.
	This is three years ago.
	Yeah, three years ago.
	Okay, got it.
	So hopefully, hopefully, he puts himself in the spot where we can share the octagon one day and he's going to realize.
	So you want to fight him?
	I want to fight him.
	Of course, I want it.
	Of course.
	While I'm an active fighter, if he we right now we are in the same weight division.
	Yeah, look how fat he looks.
	But he does that quite often, right?
	He puts on the weight and then he trims down.
	He puts on the weight and he trims down.
	Pimple.
	That's part of his little pimple.
	Little pimple?
	Yeah, party pimple pimblet.
	Yeah.
	He gets so fat, I don't know, anti-athletic.
	And to be honest, I don't know what to tell you.
	If he's a good fighter, he's not a good fighter.
	Sometimes his fight sucks.
	Sometimes he does something that looks good.
	I don't know.
	He's a very average level of fighter.
	Let's say like that.
	So you think the fight, oh, wow.
	Is that AI or is that real?
	No, no, no.
	That's real.
	He gets fats.
	There's no way that's AI, though.
	I don't.
	Click on the picture, Rob.
	I mean, I knew he put on weight, but that's a lot of weight right there.
	Yeah.
	Oh, wow.
	That looks like a real photo.
	That's not his brother or like a relative or that's him.
	No, no, no.
	I'm not being funny.
	Can you see if that's actually him, Rob?
	Ugly as fuck.
	Wow, that's unbelievable.
	Yeah, I mean, you know, there was a bodybuilder.
	His name is Kevin Lavrone.
	Lavroni, one of the greatest physiques in bodybuilding ever.
	To me, I think it's the top five physique of all time.
	He used to just completely get skinny.
	This is his physique, by the way.
	One of the greatest bodybuilders of all time.
	Back in the days in the 90s, he played second place multiple times.
	He should have won a couple of them.
	Never ended up winning one.
	He gets big also.
	He gets super big, then he gets super small.
	And then look what would happen.
	And then he gets super big and it would get super small.
	But a different kind of this is the opposite of what Patty's doing.
	Very different story with what Patty's doing.
	But it was a massive body transformation.
	It is.
	Yeah.
	So other weight classes, when it comes down to fighters, who do you like to watch?
	Is there anyone you like to watch?
	Like, did you like to watch John Jones?
	Who were some of the guys you personally like to watch fight?
	Let's say like that.
	I would pay a pay-per-view to watch someone fight right now.
	I don't know who it will be.
	Mehrab, I love him.
	I love watching him fight.
	His last fight, unbelievable.
	Unbelievable.
	You gotta watch that fight.
	Did you watch it?
	Who was it with?
	With the cousin of Khabib Abdul?
	Rob, can you pull up the five?
	I watch his fights.
	Whoever he fought, I probably that fight was amazing.
	I watched that fight.
	I don't know how many times.
	I love it.
	Really?
	Yeah.
	Can you see who he fought last?
	I'm curious now.
	No, he fought Umar Nurmagamero.
	Yeah.
	And he's fighting now again the rematch against Sean Amali.
	Yeah, of course I watch his fight.
	That was a great fight.
	That was a great fight.
	Yeah.
	You wonder, so for you, you say you're selective on who you would pay to watch fight, pay-per-view.
	Yeah.
	So your style coming up, what makes you as a fighter different than your peers?
	You started training very early, if I'm not mistaken.
	I think you started training at five years old to wrestling, Greco?
	I started with Yiddle before.
	Got it.
	Then we moved from Germany to Georgia.
	We started with the Greco-Roman wrestling.
	Then when I was 15 years old, we moved to Spain.
	And finally, we started with MMA with the mixed martial arts.
	At 15 years old, you're living where you're living in Georgia?
	At 15, I was living in Georgia and we moved to Spain.
	Okay, so what was the culture of where you were living?
	Was it a fight culture?
	Was there a lot of people that fought or no?
	You were part of a very small community.
	No one.
	Oh, really?
	No one.
	If you would say to someone 10 years ago in Spain that you were doing MMA, they would look at you and like, kid, take a book, read something, live that crazy, crazy thing.
	Don't go that route.
	Don't, yeah.
	So, so, so, who did you train with in Spain at 15, 16 years old?
	I find, actually, my mom find completely by chance a gym where we start training, me and my brother, because we wanted to keep with it with the Greco-Roman wrestling, but they didn't have the culture of that sport.
	So, by chance, we find this gym and we meet the sport.
	I didn't even know what Jiu-Jitsu was, what MMA was.
	I didn't know anything about that word.
	So we discovered and I fell in love since the first second.
	What's the age difference between you and your brother?
	One year.
	He's older.
	He's older.
	Yeah.
	Would he bully you as a kid?
	If he was a bully, would he buy?
	Did he bully you as a kid?
	Did he push you around?
	No, no, no, never.
	You guys were close?
	Close, close.
	We fought a lot with each other, like every brother, but he never bullied me.
	Okay.
	But you guys would fight a lot.
	So up until what age?
	Because if you guys are training together, there's advantage if both brothers are like, you know, there's a.
	Can you pull up his brother's picture if you don't mind, Rob?
	There's.
	There's advantage.
	There's this guy named LeVar Ball.
	LeVar Ball, is that the father's name, Rob?
	Is it LeVar Ball?
	I believe so, yes.
	LeVar.
	LeVar and his three sons, they all play basketball.
	Okay.
	All three of them.
	And you have the oldest, makes it in the NBA.
	I think you have the second one, almost made it, and the third one, I think the youngest one is Lonzo.
	Lonzo is probably the best one out of the three, the youngest one.
	Okay.
	But they were all basketball players.
	Don't say that.
	Don't compare never ever brothers between each other.
	They hate it.
	They hate it.
	But you know why I asked this question?
	I don't ask it from the standpoint.
	The older brother typically helps the younger brother become better at whatever they do.
	They play a role of a mentor.
	What's the dynamics of you and your brother?
	What's your relationship like that?
	At some point, he became my head coach.
	He was in charge of all my trainings.
	Yeah, he was kind of my mentor at some point.
	Yeah, he helped me a lot.
	And of course, it's a huge advantage to have a brother doing the same thing with you.
	We were going in the morning, the first people to go in the gym and the last ones to leave it.
	At what point did the two of you guys build a reputation?
	Like, listen, don't mess with the Toporio brothers.
	At what age was their reputation?
	They're going to hate it.
	I think, like, since the first day, I don't know, since the first year, since the moment whenever we were going, the people were meeting us.
	It's not like don't miss with them because they are, I don't know, they're going to fuck you up.
	Not because of that.
	We got people.
	We have great relationship with the people.
	It's not because we are aggressive.
	You know what I mean?
	I know how to trade people and I trade people how I like to be treated.
	Did any kids at a young age try you guys that maybe didn't know that they tested you and then they had to learn that you guys know how to fight or not a lot?
	It happens only once, like a random fight in the street.
	But I don't remember a lot of them.
	It's funny you say.
	Georgie, I was fighting every day.
	In the streets?
	Yeah, in the school, in the school.
	So people were picking you.
	You were starting the fights or they were starting the fights?
	To be honest, I always had problems with people that were bully with the weak.
	You know, I hated that since I was a kid.
	So I always had problems with people that was bully, were bully with others.
	Who's the biggest guy you ever took down?
	The biggest guy.
	The biggest guy that tested you at a bar, at a, you know.
	In trainings, it happens to me many, many, many times.
	Like when I was 15 years old, a lot of big guys, like security guys that they were working in like a securities, they were coming to the gym.
	And when the time was coming for sparring, my coach was like, okay, go with Ilya.
	They were looking to me like, no, but he's too small.
	Go with him.
	And I'm like, now you're going to find out.
	And after that, I was going to that nightclub.
	They were like, come in, come in.
	Respect.
	Yeah.
	Respect.
	How old were you when you were going to the nightclub?
	I'm not going to repeat that.
	I'm not going to repeat that.
	That is fun.
	So you and your brother were, you know, super tight till today.
	Very close.
	Yeah, very close.
	And when you have the big fights, is he always in the corner with you?
	Always, always.
	Always.
	He's the main man.
	Got it.
	Yeah.
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	Have you guys spent any time with Nate and Nick Diaz or no?
	Never.
	Never?
	No.
	What do you think about those guys?
	I like them.
	The character they represent in the sport, I always like it.
	They were so much fun to watch.
	So much fun to watch.
	They always provide a show for the fans.
	In the most unique way, but they would do it.
	You can't copy that.
	No, you can't copy that.
	They are special.
	They are very special.
	Who were your favorite fighters coming up?
	I know we talked about Connor, we talked Diaz, but who were some of your favorite fighters?
	You and your brother, you're like, oh, this guy's good.
	I like watching this guy.
	Like from MMA or anything.
	We liked a lot, Canelo.
	Canelo was and it's one of my favorite athletes.
	Yeah, I learned so much from him.
	Why Canelo?
	Technical skills?
	Technical skills.
	I learned like we were watching his videos, his training footage, like everything.
	And we were trying to copy that, to repeat that.
	He inspired us a lot.
	Have you ever met him or no?
	No, never.
	So you guys have never trained?
	Never.
	Hopefully one day I met him in person.
	Wow.
	Eliya, let me ask you, like in the specific boxing side, right?
	Like when they ask him, like, hey, Jake Paul, you know, fighting against Canelo to Canelo's, like, you know, it's a very different world.
	Is your technical abilities in boxing stand up?
	How good do you think you stand technical abilities with somebody that's a professional boxer?
	Okay.
	Don't say Canelo because I wouldn't fight him because he's somebody you look up to.
	Yeah.
	He inspired me so much.
	At some point, I said, like, I would fight.
	No, no, no, I wouldn't.
	If I prepare for six months, like only boxing, I don't do anything about wrestling, about I don't know, knees, elbows, grappling, whatever.
	Only boxing, bro, put me whoever you want in front of me.
	Whoever, whoever.
	And I hear a lot of guys talking about like boxers.
	No, Ilya, he has a good boxing for MMA, but he has nothing to do with me in the boxing ring.
	I'm like, listen, you don't have anything to do with me outside, inside, whatever you want.
	Like, what you want to do.
	Even if you want to play a chess match, I beat you.
	Why do you think that?
	Why do you believe that?
	Because I know how good I am in boxing.
	I train every day boxing, every day.
	That's part of my life.
	I spar with pro-boxers.
	I learn boxing.
	I don't know.
	I consider myself that I can box with anyone.
	Just give me six months.
	Only boxing preparation.
	I'm not even telling you like three because I need to switch so many things that I do it because of MMA, like the stance, the movement is a little bit different for the boxing of MMA than for boxing boxing.
	Makes sense.
	And by the way, for the long, I mean, Max Holloways was known, you know, as a guy that he would say he had the best stand-up.
	No, no, no.
	He was saying that, but that wasn't the truth.
	So you don't even think he's the best stand-up?
	No, no, no.
	Compared to you or compared to anybody else?
	It's not like, take me out from the equation.
	Like, I don't think that I saw anyone in MMA that I was like, he has a great boxing.
	No one.
	It doesn't matter from Connor.
	You see, he was one of those, but even Connor, he had a great boxing for MMA.
	Very, I don't know, MMA stance.
	You know, in boxing, you can go like that because you are going to suffer.
	But he had better boxing than a lot of people.
	He had it.
	But Max, you know, boxing is about simple movements.
	You can do so much movements and switch the standards, switch the stance all the time.
	That's not boxing.
	In boxing, you have to be like very disciplined all the time, very protected.
	You have to select all your combinations.
	You have to move your head.
	And you have to be very good to administrate your energy, you know, because you have 12 rounds.
	And that's a completely different, different movie.
	Your matchup with Makachev, where do you have the advantage?
	And what is he?
	This is what I told you.
	You ask me, I feel that I have the advantage in everything.
	This is what I truly believe.
	Me personally, I would ask him, like, what's your favorite submission?
	Whatever.
	I don't know.
	Dark joke.
	I'm going to submit you with that.
	So if you ask him what his favorite submission is, you would do that to him?
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	This is a guy that's trained and coached by Khabib, who, you know, 28-0, you know, stories never lost around in a city.
	I'll take him close to Khabib.
	I will submit him closer to Khabib.
	You'll submit him in front of Khabib.
	Yeah.
	I take him.
	Khabib used to take people and he should take them down and talk to Dana.
	I would do it to Khabib.
	Like, I will take him.
	And then talk to Khabib.
	Talk to Khabib.
	Khabib.
	I have to do it.
	What would you tell him?
	No, I wouldn't.
	I wouldn't.
	Like, all the respect, but this is how I felt.
	I felt that I submit him with the DARS.
	Like, which one is your favorite?
	Dars.
	This part, you're not joking.
	Whatever he tells me.
	No, no, you're not.
	This one, I'm not joking.
	Like, I truly believe that I submit him with the DARS or whatever.
	I don't know.
	Tell me, which one's your favorite?
	Don't tell me a hell hook or some posted submissions that I don't know.
	Now I'm curious.
	Now I'm actually curious to know what would be his.
	What do you think his favorite would be?
	I think DARS or guillotine.
	And if he says that.
	Yeah, I go for that.
	No problem.
	It's going to be even more entertaining for me.
	Yeah.
	The people didn't realize that my background comes from wrestling from the ground game.
	Actually, I grew up with wrestling and with BJJ.
	And I developed my skills when I was 20 years old in boxing game.
	But my best skills are on the ground.
	It's so weird that you did this in Georgia and Spain.
	Who's there?
	I mean, you understand?
	Like, it's kind of weird to say that.
	Because some of the guys, you're coming from this camp.
	Okay.
	You know, he comes from what camp?
	We know what camp he's coming from.
	We've seen the videos.
	We've seen the training.
	We've seen how disciplined their camp is.
	Yeah.
	And everyone's from a different camp.
	Who else is a very well-known person from the camp that you came up with outside of you and your brother?
	Who is well-known?
	So, Ilya, that's weird.
	It is.
	It is.
	But that's why God's everywhere.
	He's everywhere.
	God's everywhere.
	Yeah, that's...
	It's weird.
	It is weird.
	That's the part that's very weird with you.
	Where, you know, where did this come from?
	Do you think, well, I mean, it's not even that, because you have access to everything.
	Would you guys watch a lot of YouTube and kind of repeat it, you and your brother, and watch what he's...
	This is what I told you.
	We were the first people to go into the gym.
	We were taking our phones, watching the videos, I don't know, drills in BJJ, for example.
	To take someone's back, and we were drilling that the whole day, all the drilling.
	Single legs, double legs, I don't know, the cage work, boxing, kickboxing, elbows, knees, I don't know, whatever.
	How can we develop our Carby or Strange or Power or whatever?
	I was like so obsessed with everything.
	I was working all day, every day.
	That was my obsession all the time.
	But there's not a professional UFC fighter that's coaching you guys with your career.
	No.
	So what is your first fight?
	Not even a professional boxer or professional.
	At all.
	No one.
	Ilya, that's weird.
	Yeah, it is.
	That's very weird.
	So what is the first interaction?
	Like the way you were found?
	How were you found?
	Who found you?
	Who saw you fight to say, hey, come on down?
	Or did you say I'm coming into the UFC to fight?
	No.
	So I had four fights when I started with my professional career in Spain and at that point become very difficult to find a fight for me because in Spain at that point we didn't even have any vents, you know.
	So I was like, listen, I have to do something because no one is going to come to me and touch my daughter.
	How old are you at this time?
	18.
	Okay, so 10 years ago?
	Yeah, 18.
	Okay.
	So 18, 2015.
	Yeah.
	Who's on top of the world in 2015?
	Connor is on top of the world, right?
	Is UFC?
	Connor and John Jones, Jose Pierre, those, I think.
	Who were the biggest names of UFC in 2015?
	O'Connor, Holly Hong, go a little bit lower.
	Ronda Rousey, Daniel Cormier, John.
	Okay.
	Got it.
	So I'm like, I have to do something.
	I need a plan.
	Demetrius Johnson.
	Yeah.
	So you need a plan.
	So I started to talk to myself.
	I'm like, what can I do?
	And that point, Gustavsson, Alexander Gustavsson, was fighting for the belt against John Jones.
	And that guy was training in Sweden, an all-stars gym at that time.
	And that was the most recognized gym in Europe.
	And I'm like, I have to go there because I'm sure that he's managers.
	So someone is in Sweden, in Stockholm.
	So I'm like, I need to go there because I know that someone is going to see me.
	And the only thing I need is I need an opportunity.
	I need a fight.
	I need to probe my skills.
	Then I had the second problem that I didn't have enough money to travel because you need money to go from Spain to Sweden and stay there, I don't know, for two weeks, three weeks, whatever.
	So I did, I don't know, crazy things when I was 18 years old.
	I went to that place.
	I went to my first training.
	I finished the training and the guy who was representing everyone at that time.
	And actually, he's the manager of Kamzat also at this time, Kamza Chima, you know, he came to me and he was like, do you have someone that is representing you?
	And I'm like, no.
	Who did he see you train?
	Who did he see you sparing?
	That guy.
	This guy.
	Yeah, this guy saw him in the training with everyone in the mat.
	Oh, but there's not a fight that he saw you.
	He's just watching you on the mat.
	Exactly.
	He saw me training with everyone, you know?
	Purely ground, no boxing, nothing yet.
	I think we did a little bit of boxing.
	We mix it up.
	We did something in the ground.
	We did something in the striking.
	And once I finished the training, he came to me and he asked me, do you have a manager?
	I'm like, no.
	Do you want me to represent you?
	And I'm like, this is why I came here.
	And in three weeks, he called me.
	No, in one week, he called me like, I have a fight for you.
	And I started my journey there.
	And the rest is history.
	Who was your first fight?
	I started to fight in Finland, my first international fight.
	Who was it with?
	It was Mika.
	I don't remember.
	Can you look this up?
	actually really curious so so so this is watch that fight I finished him in the first round.
	Then after that one, in three and a half weeks, he called me and he gave me the fight for the Cage Warriors World Championship.
	So this is not UFC yet.
	No, is not ufc look no the the mika there's mika is he i had four fights and i went to sweden and he gave me that fight mika hamalainen yeah submission guillotine show yeah and the first first round 335.
	after that fight he called me in a three and a half weeks or four weeks look i fought april 28th six weeks later yeah something like that Then I fought June 16 for the Cage Warriors World Championship.
	Then I was signed by Brave.
	I did two fights and I get the call from the UFC.
	Oh, got it.
	So you're Yosef Salal is your first UFC fight.
	Yeah.
	So each one of those fights, back to back to back, it's first round.
	Go back down a little bit, Rob, right?
	They look at first round, Mika, 335, first round, 139, keep going up.
	First round, 115, Luis Gomez, first round 342, Steven Goncalves, and then you're in the UFC.
	Yeah.
	And then you win third round, five minutes.
	Yeah, I get the call.
	Oh, that's COVID.
	Yeah, that's COVID.
	I was sick.
	And they called me and they told me, do you want to fight in the UFC in eight days?
	And I'm like, of course.
	I had to cut like 12 kilos.
	Kilos.
	Kilos, like, I don't know how much it's like.
	25 pounds.
	That's a lot of that.
	It's a lot.
	In eight days, that's a lot.
	i had to fight at 4 p.m local time in abu dhabi because they were like 26 pounds you had to lose at this weight yeah Yeah, in eight days.
	How'd you lose 26 in eight days?
	It's like dehydration.
	That's tough.
	That's a lot on that body.
	That's a lot.
	I'm 45.
	If I lose 26 pounds, it's a lot.
	I had to spend a day in the hospital because the UFC is asking you for a lot of medicals.
	Then I had to go, I spent a day to get my visa.
	I don't know.
	I had, in reality, five days.
	So crazy.
	So you go to UAE for the fight.
	Rob, can you go back to the fight list?
	So you go to UAE, you have that fight.
	Yeah.
	October 11.
	I remember that.
	I watched that card.
	Yeah.
	And then I fought December 5th.
	And that's ESPN.
	Yeah.
	It's not even a main ones yet.
	No.
	And then go to Ryan Hall, Vegas.
	Jen Jai Herbert.
	That's the one with the kick.
	That's the one that they gave you two weeks, right?
	When they called you, two-week prep?
	Which one?
	The Jai Herbert?
	Yes.
	That has a huge story behind that.
	I have a huge story behind that fight because I was supposed to fight in January against Mosa Vlov.
	He pulled out from the fight.
	Then I came back to home and they called me.
	But in reality, I was prepared.
	I was prepared.
	But it was a different weight class.
	I went up to 155.
	That fight is not in my weight class.
	It's in Lightweight.
	So that's not 145.
	You went to 155.
	So that happens if they just call you to say, do you want to take a fight that's not at your weight class?
	They can make those calls?
	Yeah.
	And you get to say yes or no.
	Yeah, of course.
	You always have a choice.
	Got it.
	And then after that, I fought with your friend.
	Bryce Mitchell.
	And then Josh.
	Yeah, we wish him the best of the lucky.
	You're being sincere.
	What?
	You're being sincere or you're joking?
	No, no, no, no.
	I wish him all the best.
	I hope the best wins.
	Yeah.
	What a story.
	Everything started from Sweden in reality.
	Wow.
	You went to Sweden disgusting.
	This is what I used to say to everyone.
	If you want to have something that you never had, you have to do things that you never did.
	Just move your ass.
	Yeah, but what is very unique about what you're saying?
	I talked about a bodybuilding story earlier.
	I had a guy named Dorian Yates.
	I don't know if you know who Dorian Yates is.
	I'm bodybuilding.
	He won six Mr. Olympias.
	The guy had the most ridiculous physique.
	This is Dorian Yates.
	He won six Mr. Olympias.
	He's from UK.
	Okay.
	And what made him unique is all the other bodybuilders that would compete, they were all in the U.S.
	And so they would all train at the same gym.
	Okay.
	So they could see what kind of improvement you're making because they're all here.
	Flex Wheeler, Kevin, you know, all the guys.
	This guy was in London, not even in London, in a city outside of London, like in a regular city.
	And you would only see him once a year.
	So everybody's like, well, is he training hard?
	Is he not training guard?
	Is he training hard?
	And then when he would come, he was a scientist.
	He paid attention to everything.
	And he would come and dominate.
	And he won six of them in a row because nobody could see him.
	Yeah, he was a real, real, a lot of people try to model their bodybuilding after this guy.
	He does a very, he lives a very different life right now.
	Yoga.
	I don't follow that sport.
	I know.
	Who is the number one for you?
	In bodybuilding ever?
	It's probably Ronnie Coleman, Arnold.
	Old school would be a guy named Lee Haney.
	Phil Heat has an incredible physique.
	Kevin Lavroni, Flex Wheeler.
	Jay Cutler's got a good amount of following, but it's probably this guy, Ronnie Coleman.
	He is a, if you go to a different picture, Rob, go to images.
	And let me ask you, do you really think that they only drink whey proteins to get this big?
	You know, it's at a point that they tell you everything they use now.
	Yeah.
	Oh, yeah.
	But they don't do drug tests.
	No, not Mr. Olympia.
	No, they don't do any drug tests.
	No, but they put so many things in their body.
	It's a very, but by the way, some people say like, you know, hey, even if you put it in your body, that doesn't mean you're going to win Mr. Olympia.
	No, no.
	It's a lot of detail.
	It's a lot of stuff that you got to do to be able...
	These guys are...
	A diet.
	That's diet.
	By the way, it sucks as a life.
	It's not a good life.
	It's not a good life at all.
	It's a very different life.
	It's not even a healthy life.
	It's not a healthy life.
	Most of them would say.
	Few of them can keep it.
	Like some of the guys were able to continue their life and still do okay.
	But it's a different life.
	So the reason why I'm saying this is for you, here's a guy and his brother living in Georgia go to Spain.
	This is not a UFC market.
	And then you guys through YouTube, watching videos, you train independently on your own.
	And then you come up and then fight out of the year undefeated.
	Now you're at a place, lightweight, about to have a big fight, hopefully soon.
	We'd love to see that fight happen this year.
	Hopefully.
	Hopefully.
	Crazy.
	You're waiting for that phone call, huh?
	I'm waiting.
	I'm very excited, to be honest.
	Either if it's Charles or Islam, it's going to be a huge one.
	And I know that the fans are going to enjoy a lot.
	What do you think is unique about Charles Style?
	Because Charles, you know, his history.
	It's very interesting.
	The way he came at the beginning.
	And then he reputation, he changed his reputation.
	And then you would think he was going to be losing.
	And he won with Michael Chandler.
	And he had a few very good back-to-back-to-back wins that were unbelievable the way he recreated himself.
	But what's your opinion on his style of fighting?
	I like him, of course.
	He has a great ground game and striking nothing special for me.
	And in the ground, he's dangerous.
	He has the most submissions in the UFC history, I think so.
	Him?
	Yeah, I think so.
	He's a dangerous guy in the ground, but I think that he's the kind of guy that when he feels that you are more powerful, he gives up.
	He gives up like fast.
	I don't think that he's the kind of fire where he finds like some adversidad, how you say it.
	Adversary?
	Yeah, adversary that he keeps going, keeps going, keeps going.
	No, he's like, he gives up.
	10 losses.
	10.
	It's not 1, 2, 3, 4.
	7, 8, 9.
	It's 10.
	Go to his Wikipedia rap just to see how it is because, you know, I've seen this guy's story.
	And yeah, but the 10 losses, a lot of them are submission by knockout and one by decision.
	But you wouldn't want to fight Arman?
	The one that's first place right now behind.
	I think that he needs to build himself a little bit more, but if the UFC tells me that it's for the belt.
	You'll take anything right now.
	Got it.
	Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens.
	The thing with him is he's 28 years old.
	You guys are similar ages.
	He's also young.
	Charles is 35, so 28, 28.
	Maybe he needs one, two fights.
	He needs one or two fights before he fights you.
	He's Armenian, by the way.
	You ever fought an Armenian?
	What?
	Have you ever fought an Armenian?
	No.
	No?
	We Georgians have a great relationship with Armians.
	I have a lot of friends.
	Armenians.
	Armenians.
	You look Armenian.
	Yeah, I mean, you're a good-looking Armenian, is what you are.
	You're a very good-looking guy, but obviously, it's from the same region.
	My mother's side, they're from Baku.
	Baku, Azerbaijan, yeah.
	Baku, Azerbaijan.
	So they, after the whole everything.
	All are our neighbors.
	Azerbaijan.
	All in the same region.
	Do you follow any of the politics?
	Like what's going on with Ukraine and Russia?
	Do you follow any of that stuff or not really?
	Yeah, a little bit.
	What do you think about it?
	What do you think about what's going on there?
	What do you think about Zelensky, Putin?
	You know, there's how the world sees it, but then you're in the region, right?
	You're there.
	So in America, you know, Putin's a bad guy.
	Let me tell you this, this, this, is that.
	He started the war or Zelensky.
	All he wants is money.
	He's bad.
	He just keeps taking money.
	What do you think about what's going on there?
	Even if he wants to take the money and all that, I don't know.
	I'm against to kill the people.
	Always.
	I'm always going to vote for the peace.
	Always.
	So I don't know that deep about who, but something that I know from my history, from my livings, are that the Russians are Putin, let's say, like the politicians that run Russia because nothing against the people, regular people from Russia.
	I'm talking about the politicians.
	They don't give a damn about anyone.
	Yeah.
	In Georgia, I was living in 2008.
	I saw what they were doing to my people.
	So Russians, Russians.
	Russians.
	Yeah.
	Russians.
	I don't know.
	Dangerous people.
	Dangerous people.
	Interesting.
	And I think that you can't trust at all in Russians.
	And I repeat, I'm not talking about the regular people.
	I'm talking about the politicians.
	It's crazy.
	I don't know.
	Is there a word could be been Islam?
	Where are they from?
	They're from...
	Dagestan.
	Dagestan.
	That's part of...
	They're Russians.
	Right.
	They are Russian.
	And when they start to attack any place in the world, the first people they send to the war is like Russians, Chechnyans, the people they have.
	You're not going to see any Russian-Russian in a war.
	You're always going to see the people they have.
	Like, call yourself a Russian, but wait for my call because why do you think that is?
	Because they use them.
	Of course, they use them.
	They give them a position, a place.
	But at some point, I'm going to ask you to do something for me.
	That's how it works everywhere in the world.
	You do something for someone, you want something back.
	This is how it works.
	Yeah.
	It's crazy.
	I don't know.
	What are your thoughts from here, from the United States?
	Like, what do you think about what's going on in Ukraine?
	Well, I mean, you know, when you watch Zelensky, at first, everybody's like, whoa, Putin invaded.
	What's that all about?
	And then as it gets deeper and deeper, and you hear the stories, the money being funneled through, constantly wanting the money to continue, coming up here talking to the president as if America needs to give him more money, disrespecting the U.S. president a little bit on the way he handled himself at the White House.
	He has lost all credibility with a lot of people in America.
	Most Americans now don't fully support and trust Zelensky.
	They see Putin as exactly who he is.
	He's a Russia loyalist, number one.
	He's an old school guy.
	But you know what you get with him.
	Yeah.
	You know who I am.
	I think that you can judge a whole country because of one person.
	I don't disagree.
	No, I don't disagree.
	I think you're right.
	That goes to Iran.
	Because we don't like Zelensky.
	We are not supporting the Ukrainians.
	And we are going to say that the Russians are not the losing.
	How do you say that in English?
	Kyambayan?
	Invadores.
	Invadores.
	Humberto, can you say that?
	I don't know if I'm even saying correctly.
	Invaders?
	Invaders.
	Invaders.
	They are the invaders.
	100% they are the invaders.
	Right.
	Do you think the opposite, that they are not?
	I think if in the history is a little bit complicated when you go back and you read about the fact that U.S. made a promise when Putin went to Clinton is like, hey, I'd like to join NATO.
	Would you guys want to entertain the idea?
	And it's like, yeah, let me call you back.
	Calls him back five minutes.
	Not right now.
	Putin wanted to join NATO.
	Why don't you want him to join NATO?
	Because if they don't join NATO, you need war so you can make more money.
	So you need a bad guy.
	So you want to kind of isolate Putin to the side?
	Do you really think that if Putin wants to join NATO, he couldn't do that?
	Yeah, because they said that.
	So why he's not a part of NATO?
	You think they would want him to join NATO?
	They don't want it.
	You think they would want Putin to join NATO?
	If they want Putin to join NATO, why not?
	You think NATO wants Putin to join NATO?
	At this point, I wish that, no.
	I wish that, no, because I don't want to have, listen, the history my family has with Russia, I'm like with the people that runs that country, it's like, I don't give a damn about them, you know?
	I'm all against Putin.
	Against Pussy, I get that.
	No, listen, I lived in Iran.
	We had a war with Saddam Hussein, Iraq, and Jimmy Carter in the U.S.
	I understand.
	Like, I'm there is emotion here.
	I grew up with, you know, a Christian family in a country where 99% were Muslims in Iran.
	I saw what they did to Christians.
	I have memories of that.
	I didn't leave at two years old or four years old.
	I left at almost 11 years old.
	So those memories stay.
	They're in the blood.
	They don't go away.
	I have mine as well on experiences.
	But to me, I think sometimes I sit there and I wonder that they need a bad guy for them to think about it this way.
	What has been the biggest boxing fight of all time that made the most money?
	It was Floyd against Pacquiao.
	Yeah.
	What is the biggest rap?
	Can you pull out what is the biggest boxing pay, actual money, pay of all time?
	You know who?
	I think it's Connor against the money.
	Okay, what do you want to tell me with Connector?
	I'm going to tell you the point I'm making to you here.
	That's number one.
	Okay.
	So, okay, so number six is that go back up.
	Sixes de la Hoya against Mayweather, good fight, go to the next one.
	Okay.
	Floyd, Canelo, go to the next one.
	Both of those, he made fun of him because he would wear the Cinco de Mayo.
	Connor McGregor, who's that fight with?
	Is that with Mayweather?
	Yes.
	Okay, what's the next one?
	And then Pacquiao.
	Okay, that's one of them.
	And then Mayweather again with Pacquiao.
	What's the first one?
	I'm actually curious now.
	What's the first one?
	Who's that with?
	Is that Connor?
	Mayweather McConnor.
	Okay.
	So do you remember $275 million, a billion dollars in earnings, one fight?
	Yeah.
	$1 billion in earnings, one fight, right?
	Okay.
	The reason why this did so well is because everybody was convinced they hated each other.
	They needed an enemy.
	Okay.
	Okay.
	So my opinion, Ilya, there's a lot of money being made when there's wars.
	Who makes money?
	Weapons.
	Things, you know, a lot of good weapons being sold.
	If there's no war, they don't make money.
	Like, just like in UFC, if there's not a, like, for example, what's going to get more eyeballs?
	You against Charles or you against Islam?
	Yeah.
	Of course.
	Why?
	Because it's more personal.
	Dagestan against Georgia, against, are you kidding me?
	That could be like, but why?
	Because it's emotion.
	It's here.
	So then people are going to come and see more pay-per-view.
	Money's going to be made.
	Of course.
	It's a great business model.
	I totally get it.
	End of the year, John Jones against Aspinall, right?
	Everybody wants to see that heavyweight fight to see if it's going to take place or not.
	John wants money for it because it's probably going to be his last fight.
	If that happens, that fight's going to be insane, right?
	Okay.
	If all of a sudden Putin's in NATO and he is now, there's peace in the world and no issues, how do you sell stuff?
	Who made money with Ukraine and Russia?
	The war?
	Who makes money when there's this stuff with Israel, Iran, Hamas?
	Who makes money when Iran and Iraq or Afghanistan, who made money?
	These guys that make weapons.
	It's a business model.
	So I think a part of it is, yes, Putin is a loyalist to him, KGB background.
	I know his background, what his loyalty is to.
	But I'm also not naive to believe that there's people in the back that go like this.
	Hey, Ilya, let me tell you what he said about you.
	Hey, let me say what he said about you.
	And they're poking you, right?
	To upset you.
	Why?
	Because it sells more.
	So they can't have all these guys get along because then those guys don't make money.
	And these are big contracts.
	Do you know who's the first company that came in on the contract with Ukraine after all the damages that happened in Ukraine?
	Did you see a company came out and they got a $400 billion contract to fix Ukraine?
	The Rockefellers?
	No.
	No.
	Right here.
	So you hear the story about BlackRock announces new investment initiative to rebuild Ukraine.
	Well, why rebuild it?
	Why rebuild it?
	But you need war to rebuild.
	Of course.
	You need damages to rebuild.
	So I am just as careful with the money people that want to see war as I am with world leaders like Putin, Xi, all the other guys.
	Both of them you have to be careful with.
	So you believe that they do it because of the business?
	Of course.
	Okay.
	Not Putin.
	Putin is here.
	I think that it goes a little bit more far than only sell weapons.
	For who?
	For Putin?
	Yeah, for Putin and for the United States and for everyone that has the weapons to sell.
	Maybe let me explain it a different way to you.
	Khabib against Connor.
	The fight.
	Who fought for money?
	Who fought for heart?
	For Money Connor, for heart, Khabib.
	Okay.
	So Putin against the people that sell weapons.
	Yeah.
	Who's fighting for his country?
	Who's fighting for money?
	See, that's the difference.
	Yeah, but I'm not very agree with that because I don't think that he is looking only for the weapons.
	You know what I mean?
	How many people dies in the war?
	Like, I don't know, 200,000?
	How much weapons they need?
	I don't know.
	How much money is that in total?
	No.
	How much money did they spend in the weapons in the war with Ukraine?
	A lot of money.
	It's in the billions on top of billions.
	And I'm not talking about Russia or Ukraine.
	I'm talking about all the people that make those weapons.
	Okay.
	The general dynamics, the, you know, you can list the name of the companies, these guys that sell the weapons.
	That's a business model.
	Do you know who Eisenhower is?
	No.
	The president of U.S. Eisenhower?
	no okay so when he was show me the face maybe He was a former general many years ago.
	This is before my time and your time.
	This was a long time ago.
	So this guy died in 1969.
	I was born in 78.
	So this is before my time.
	When he was done, this guy was a, was he a four-star general, Rob, or a five-star general?
	Can you go a little bit lower?
	Five-star.
	He was a five-star general.
	I mean, Ilya, five-star, you know what five-star is like?
	Yeah, I can't imagine.
	We don't have a lot of.
	I don't know how.
	Type in how many five-star generals America's had.
	How many five-star, how many five-star generals has America had?
	I think it's a few.
	Okay, there you go.
	George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Eisenhower, Henry H. Arnold, and Omar Bradley.
	Five of them.
	Okay.
	Eisenhower is the only one from the five that becomes a president.
	Okay.
	When he's done being a president, he's given his last speech.
	He gives this famous speech that everybody always talks about.
	And he says, be very, this is the speech right here.
	Oh, shit.
	I'm very curious about this one.
	Yeah, can you play it, Rob?
	Now, this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience.
	Large arms industry.
	You can positively like arms like they're selling weapons.
	It's a large weapons industry.
	Keep going.
	The total influence.
	Economic, political, even spiritual.
	There you go.
	Is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government.
	We recognize the imperative need for this development.
	Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.
	Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved.
	So is the very structure of our society.
	In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought.
	Go back to the acquisition.
	So this is very important.
	I want to explain this part to you.
	Humberto, can you come here and explain this?
	Humberto, can you come in here just to explain this part?
	I think he's going to come here if you can.
	Can you just translate this part if you could?
	If you want to give him the mic.
	So when he's saying it, just translate the keywords.
	So the acquisition of unwarranted influence.
	Keep playing it.
	The acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
	Pause right there.
	Military-industrial complex.
	So, meaning there is these guys that buy influence politically, economically, and spiritually.
	Military-industrial complex by selling weapons.
	So be very careful how much influence those guys have because those guys, imagine on the back end, they make tens of billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars.
	And they come and they buy politicians.
	Here's $50,000.
	Here's $100,000.
	Here's $300,000.
	Here's $200,000.
	Go make this law.
	Or go do this or go do that.
	The more wars, the more money they make.
	Okay.
	So he's saying when he's done being a president as a five-star general, be very careful with these companies that are going to use their money economically, politically, and spiritually to create and start wars.
	All the narratives.
	Yeah, so you would just, to me, I used to always like, I used to think this way.
	You know how you grow up?
	You think everything they taught you in school.
	You know how you said like the earth is flat.
	What did you say?
	I don't care if the earth is flat or not.
	But there's certain things we're taught, right?
	And later on, you're like, man, I don't know about that.
	I don't know about this.
	I don't know about this.
	And then, you know, you create your own opinions as you're going through it.
	There's the core belief.
	There's the values.
	There's family.
	There's pride.
	There's faith.
	There's God.
	There's all of that stuff.
	But sometimes you got to be when people are wanting to poke the bear, you know.
	Don't get me wrong.
	Did Putin take advantage of the fact that a weak leader was in America, like Biden?
	Yeah.
	Of course he took advantage of it.
	Would it have happened with Trump?
	By the way, what do you think about Trump?
	Have you met Trump yet?
	No, no, no, no.
	I like the hard personality that the strong personality that Trump represents.
	He's like, we do it this way or we don't do it.
	And I like that.
	I don't know.
	I don't know.
	He's playing his game.
	Me and you, we can think whatever we want to think.
	But at the end of the day, as I said, I vote for peace and I hope and I think that Trump is seeking for the peaceful in the world.
	Even if it doesn't look like that at some point and someone, I don't know, you see a lot of crazy things in the social media.
	I really think that he's doing that and he's looking like for the best interest for the United States.
	And this is what he has to do.
	That's why the people choose him as a leader.
	So you like him?
	Of course I like him.
	You haven't met him yet?
	Not yet.
	You know he probably really likes the way you fight.
	Yeah.
	You know, he's a big fan of the fight.
	He watches everything.
	I know.
	I never saw him in my fights because he goes sometimes like randomly.
	I go to this event, this one.
	We never...
	At the same time?
	At the same time.
	Are you going to this fight?
	Are you going to fight?
	No, I'm not.
	You're not going to be there?
	Okay.
	Oh, if you're in that place, it's going to be crazy.
	Yeah, that's why.
	That's why you're not going.
	I'm not going to watch to like other sporty.
	I don't go.
	I enjoy mine, and that's it.
	Well, listen, you fight Islam.
	He's going to be at that fight.
	I think so.
	I mean, listen, of course, if he's got political different things that he's dealing with, he's got a big job.
	But I think if the two of you guys fight, he's going to tell China, he's going to tell Russia, he's going to tell everybody, hey, guys, we're not fighting this weekend.
	No tariffs on anybody.
	Everybody's good.
	We're going to get along.
	I'm going to fight.
	I want to understand some kind of things.
	Like, you Americans, people that are living here, like, what's your perception about what's happening in Ukraine, what happened in Georgia?
	I don't know if you know the story.
	What do you think about all that?
	I want to know your thoughts.
	Specific to what?
	specific to georgia specific to specific to the world like what what what What's your prediction?
	What do you think that is going to happen in the next five years?
	So do you know America was divided between Ukraine and Zelensky or not Zelensky?
	Some groups were, they thought Zelensky was the greatest hero in the world.
	And they were fully supporting Zelensky.
	And some people thought Zelensky was bought and people were just giving money to him.
	And a continuous war, not necessary.
	Every time coming and saying, I need more money.
	I need more money.
	I need more money.
	And so American taxpayers are sending money.
	We're like, wait a minute.
	We're sending all this money to Ukraine, war with Russia, but we have problems in America right now.
	Why are we doing this?
	So there's a big part of Americans where if support, can you type in Rob where the support was?
	Do you think it's easy like that, like how you explain it?
	Zelensky was coming, knocking the door, I need money, and they were giving the money to him.
	And do you really think that it happens like that?
	And they didn't have any interest behind that money, behind that moment.
	Accountability or interest?
	Whatever.
	I don't know.
	It's like, do you really think that, let's say, Biden was giving the money to Zelensky like that?
	I don't know.
	Take this.
	Take that.
	Well, whatever.
	Zelensky has, Biden had interest with Ukraine that he got in trouble with on a hot mic when he said certain things because they were going after his son.
	There were some issues that was going on at the time.
	So there are a lot of things that you see to see that financially the president may have even benefited from it, may have benefited from it on that deal with Zelensky.
	And then people on the back end also probably benefited from a little bit of a war.
	It turns into, you know, it's a $400 billion contract to rebuild Ukraine.
	That's a lot of money.
	Illia.
	It's a lot of money.
	So I think this is what we see.
	Then I think this is what's going on.
	Yeah.
	You know, and we don't see this, right?
	But at the same time, what we learned the last eight years with the news is you can't trust everything you see.
	You have to stay skeptical and you have to question a lot of things.
	And I learned one thing a long time ago.
	And I think this will make sense to you.
	What's most important in your life?
	What's the top five most important things in your life?
	My family.
	Okay.
	Let's say me, myself, my relationship with God, my spiritual world.
	My job, my work, I don't know, my occupation, pride, right?
	Of course.
	Okay.
	And is your pride more Georgia or is it more Spain?
	Would you say you're more Georgian?
	It's difficult to choose between mom and dad, you know.
	Yeah, I know.
	That's why I asked.
	Yeah.
	So both are important to you.
	Because you have both fans, right?
	They both love you.
	Okay.
	But something probably like when you were a kid, how did you guys look at Russia?
	In a good way?
	No.
	Okay.
	All right.
	From what age?
	Probably very young age.
	Since I was burned.
	Who can change your mind?
	I think that it's a little bit difficult to forgive something like that.
	A lot of my family members lost their lives in that war.
	So how you can forgive that?
	I agree.
	So here's what I learned a long time ago.
	You know how you said, what's the point of earth is flat?
	Yeah.
	There's no point of that argument.
	There's no point here.
	The reason for it is because it's personal.
	Do you know what I'm saying?
	You went through the pain.
	I don't know that.
	Just like when I lived in Iran, I went through the pain.
	And trying to explain it to somebody else is like, wait a minute, what do you mean?
	You don't know what I went through.
	Just like what you went through, right?
	So, you know, yeah, as a kid, my dad was my hero.
	My parents got a divorce.
	My mother's family, they were communist.
	I hated it.
	It was always over money, always arguing over money.
	Money caused my parents to get a divorce and politics.
	I don't want to deal with politics and I'm going to make a lot of money.
	So my drive to make money was because we had nothing.
	Okay.
	You see what I'm saying?
	So now, try to convince me that communism is good.
	You're never going to do it.
	Of course.
	Yeah.
	Me either.
	I know.
	But to me, in a situation like this, when talking to somebody that experienced what happened in Georgia, that's why when Patty said what he said to you.
	It was personal.
	Of course it was personal.
	Yeah.
	And that's similar to what happened with Connor and Khabib when they were fighting and some of the comments was made.
	Connor was probably trying to sell the event, but Khabib's not trying to sell the event.
	I know.
	I know what you mean.
	Yeah, so to me, I understand why this is an important, sensitive topic to you and to many people, not just to you, to a lot of different people in the world.
	But I always watch the people that when my parents were together, I would watch an aunt.
	She would come to our house when my dad was at work.
	As a kid, I'll never forget this.
	She would sit there and just go for three hours.
	I'm a six, seven-year-old kid, just three hours talking bad things about my dad.
	Did your husband buy you a necklace?
	You know such and such about such and such, wife their necklace?
	Why doesn't he do that for you?
	Did he ever take you to dinner?
	You know such and such?
	Did you take you to Italy?
	You know such and such?
	I don't think he takes care of you.
	Look how beautiful you are.
	He's lucky to have somebody like you.
	And I would watch this.
	And then my dad would come home after working 12 hours, driving two hours to work at 8:30.
	And then my mom would go and scream at him.
	Boom.
	And you know who it was?
	It wasn't my mom.
	It was that lady.
	Yeah.
	So to me, I'm very careful with people like that.
	Of course.
	And it happens in the wars and in politics.
	So that's what I'm saying.
	When they say, hey, why don't they let him join NATO and all this other stuff?
	I don't know the people behind closed doors that are.
	Hey, let me tell you.
	You know, that's the part that at this phase of my life, I'm very careful with.
	Oh, of course.
	You see, to anyone, to anyone.
	Me personally, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised with anyone.
	Because sometimes you try to go to the top with the people that don't even want to see you at the top.
	Yeah.
	There was a book called Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene.
	I think you would like this book.
	Which one?
	Laws of Human Nature by Robert Green.
	Can you go to images, Rob?
	Go to images?
	I read some of his books.
	So you probably read 48 Laws of Power.
	Yeah.
	Okay.
	So if you read 48 Laws of Power, you will love this.
	He's probably have it translated Spanish different languages.
	Yeah, yeah, I have it in Spanish.
	Ilya, you're going to love this.
	Yeah.
	But I read the books also in English.
	I tried.
	I try to.
	Yeah, you'll love it.
	Luckily, I learned my English reading books.
	You did?
	Yeah.
	I was going like you speak very good.
	What?
	You speak very good.
	I try to.
	I try to.
	And I'm not living here.
	In reality, I don't have any contact with someone that speaks in English.
	My wife, she does.
	She's from Miami.
	Yeah.
	And sometimes we try to speak in English and we also try to watch some movies, but I don't go outside and talk to the people in English.
	And I try to, I don't know, read the books.
	And if I don't understand any word, I try to go word by word.
	Now, I think you'll love this because he says something in the book.
	He says, if you really want to know if someone's your friend or not, test them by telling some good news and some bad news.
	If you tell them bad news, if they get a little bit happy, be very careful with that person.
	You'll see it on their face.
	He explains it.
	And he says, give some of your friends a little bit of good news.
	If you see they get a little bit not happy, be careful with them.
	Because they, you know, you know, there are people that are very happy for you no matter what.
	Yeah.
	And if something happens to you, like, how can I help?
	What do you need from me?
	Right?
	You see it immediately.
	Your family.
	Yeah.
	Well, your family, sometimes your friends as well.
	Certain friends that are married, very close.
	Not a lot of them, but you probably have one or two or three of them like that.
	He explains that in this book here on breaking that part down.
	I will.
	I think.
	You will read this book.
	Ilya.
	I can't wait to see the fight.
	And I can't wait to be there when you guys fight.
	And I can't wait to be there and the president to be there when you guys have that fight.
	I can't wait for that.
	And hopefully we have peace in the world.
	Hopefully we have peace in the world.
	And hopefully.
	Yeah.
	Hopefully.
	Would you ever want to live in?
	Would you ever want to meet Putin?
	No.
	No.
	Never.
	What if there's peace?
	Would you ever want to fight in Russia?
	What if this fight is in Russia?
	I wouldn't fight in Russia.
	Really?
	So if Islam fights in Russia, you wouldn't fight there.
	I wouldn't fight.
	Why is that?
	Because there's so much place in the world that I could fight why I would fight in Russia.
	I would love to fight in the United States.
	But not in Russia.
	Not in Russia.
	Actually, the only place I would fight is in the United States or in Spain.
	Got it.
	But would you ever fight in Russia?
	No.
	Never.
	Have you ever gone to Russia?
	No.
	Would you want to visit Russia?
	I don't want it, but if destiny wants me to go or I have to go for some reasons, I would go, but not fighting, not putting a show in Russia and working there.
	I don't know.
	You're so interesting, bro.
	You're so interesting.
	Seriously.
	So interesting the way you are.
	Yeah, I'm telling you, like we have guys here that they absolutely love you.
	Seriously, like when we're doing, like we're going through the podcast, you know, the prepping talking about it, who love you 100%.
	Like this is this is going to tell you this guy's this.
	He's a trifecta.
	He's got the looks.
	He can fight.
	He's got the confidence.
	All this stuff, right?
	But just talking to you, you are so interesting.
	You're locked in here.
	I don't know.
	Maybe sometimes it happens to me also that I switch my mentality.
	Sometimes I switch my thoughts.
	Maybe.
	But at this point, right now, you're asking me, this is my answer.
	I don't know.
	Right now, I wouldn't fight in Russia.
	Okay.
	Maybe tomorrow, who knows what's going to happen tomorrow.
	If you fight in Russia, I'm going to text you.
	I'm going to say, Helio, why are you fighting in Russia?
	What's going on?
	When is your birthday?
	What month's your birthday?
	January 21st.
	January 21st.
	All right.
	January 21st.
	Well, brother, it's been a pleasure having you on.
	You're an interesting guy.
	I'm excited to see you go and get everything you want in life.
	You know, the highest paid athlete, the biggest fights, biggest.
	Let's leave it there.
	I don't like that conversation.
	I don't know where I said it.
	And it became like viral that I said it in reality.
	You don't really care about that.
	I don't care about that.
	You know what I mean?
	I said it, but God bless everyone.
	Peace for everyone.
	There's a place for everyone.
	I agree.
	Yeah.
	Well, you're competitive.
	You're competitive, which is okay.
	Always, always.
	I was born like that.
	Thank you very much.
	It's been a long time.
	Brother, I really, really enjoyed it, man.
	Thank you very much.
	Truly.
	I do it.
	And I learned a lot of things.
	My man.
	Take care, everybody.
	Bye-bye.
	Bye-bye.
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