Julianna Peña Confronts Ryan Clark on Why He Picked Amanda Nunes Over Her to Win

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find UFC Women’s bantamweight champion, Julianna Peña joins The Pivot and is ready to set the record straight with Ryan about who the champ really is after Peña pulled off the win against Amanda Nunes. “I’m here to say ‘I told you so,” to Ryan for picking against me and saying I didn’t have a chance,” Julianna first says as she sits down. Channing and Fred ofcourse egg on the banter and tell Ryan they might not be able to help him if she tries to fight him. Ryan admits he was wrong but that his UFC prediction was influenced by being a longtime fan of Amanda and he is sorry for shit talking her as an opponent. Learning more about Julianna’s journey to the top of the sport, Fred gets into her background as well as some of the legal troubles that she faced while coming up the ranks. “I only fight to get paid, no more street fights,” she jokes with the guys. Channing is amped up as he hears the fight in her and how much passion she has for being the best in the cage and her approach to being a professional athlete. The conversation moves into motherhood and relationships and the challenges facing female athletes to balance both the personal and work side of the sport. Preparing for the rematch in early summer, Julianna says how she still will approach the fight and training as if she is the challenger with a target on her back to be dethroned as the champion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  Champ!

• 0:29Ryan Clark?

  Hey!

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Oh, there you are!

• 0:32Ryan Clark?

  Hey!

• 0:33Speaker 01

  How you doing?

• 0:34Ryan Clark?

  Good, how are you?

• 0:35Speaker 01

  Good to see you.

• 0:36Ryan Clark?

  Good to see you too.

• 0:37Speaker 01

  Yo, yo, yo. Fred.

• 0:39Channing Crowder?

  How you doing? Champ, nice to meet you.

• 0:41Ryan Clark?

  Nice to meet you guys.

• 0:42Channing Crowder?

  Don't hit me now, don't hit me.

• 0:43Ryan Clark?

  I know, I don't fight for free.

• 0:44Channing Crowder?

  Oh, okay, I don't want that.

• 0:45Speaker 04

  Hold up. Limitless, niggas tell me I'm pinning it. I fought the head to witness it. Got my people feeling militant. Way I'm feeling got me up. On the mission got me up. Knowing me I got the key. Only vision I can trust. Trust. Limitless, niggas tell me I'm pinning it. I fought the head to witness it. Got my people feeling militant. Way I'm feeling got me up. On the mission got me up.

• 1:08Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to the Pivot. The one thing we do, man, is we pivot between all things. And this is our first opportunity to get into the octagon. And we are blessed, because we have Juliana Pena, the Venezuelan vixen, right? The bantamweight, the new bantamweight champ. And we'll get to why that's important. But this is the Pivot. Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor, and obviously, the champ. Listen, we need you to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and make sure you like, right? Because the more you like, the more money we get. And then we get to stay around. You can't tell them, you gonna tell them all this? Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. Champ, I want to get right into it. Yes. So I'm not sure that you know this. Yeah. But I have an MMA podcast with DC. I seen it, yeah, that's why I came here today.

• 1:53Ryan Clark?

  Oh, crap. Yeah. Okay, so, the whole time, right, so, your fight with Amanda showed why one of us was a two-division champ, and why the other one played football. Yeah. Right? Because I'm a fan. Yeah. Right, and all I've seen, I saw Cyborg. Mm-hmm. I saw Ronda Rousey. Yeah. I saw Holly Holm, Nisha Tate. I saw all these people fight Amanda Nunes. Let's be honest, and it wasn't much of a fight. Mm. You know, and I watched you fight, I was like, "Oh yeah, Juliana's really good." And then, I'm watching the pre-fight, I was like, "Dang, she is super confident." And I'm telling DC, there's no way. Yep. Amanda loses. Yep. And then she loses.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:29Ryan Clark?

  Right? And you don't just beat her, you beat her exactly how you said you would. What was that experience like? And how were you so confident that you could take down the lioness?

• 2:40Speaker 01

  Um, I have been in the game just as long as all those girls that you just named. And I have been waiting for my opportunity. I've just been wanting an opportunity, wanting a shot. I've constantly been calling for a shot. Um, it was just all about never having the opportunity to fight the champion. But when you get into the division, you don't think, I'm gonna get in the division. I'm gonna fight, you know, the bottom of the barrel and, and just be, you know, in the wind. I, I got in the division with a purpose. I want to be a champion. There's a reason why I'm here. I want to fight the best in the world. And I've always gave myself, um, the best chance to win, but I just needed an opportunity. So I knew that I was confident. If you're not confident, you probably shouldn't be fighting. And if you don't think that you can be a champion, you should, I don't know.

• 3:26Ryan Clark?

  Do something else.

• 3:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, do something else. Exactly. So you gotta believe in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, who's gonna believe in you? And, um, that's the key is having that faith, having that trust. And obviously knowing that on the back end, putting in the work is obviously what makes you also uber confident. I had put in a ton of work and I was ready to just have somebody let me off my chain.

• 3:44Ryan Clark?

  You, you, you had a little beef with RC, right?

• 3:46Speaker 01

  Well, I, I mean, I honestly, I, I came here to confront you. Because I just find it absolutely ridiculous. Like, I'm like, wait a second. What does this guy know about the sport? He doesn't know anything about MMA. And then he was so negative and was like absolutely sure of himself that I was gonna lose. And I'm like, man, screw that guy.

• 4:07Speaker 01

  I came here to say.

• 4:09Ryan Clark?

  Screw me.

• 4:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I told you so.

• 4:11Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, that's it. Channing, but that was the thing though. It had nothing to do with her, right? You were just evaluating the situation. No, I, I wasn't even evaluating the situation. I was a fan and I was a fan of Amanda Nunes, right? And, and if you, and if you take it all the way back to, uh, what was it? Uh, Gina Serrano? And, and Cyborg, like Gina was taking over the world. Cyborg, one round, puts her down at the end of the round. And then Cyborg stands across from Amanda Nunes and she just throws bombs. And so like from the fans perspective, you you start to make these people bigger than life. And it wasn't that I didn't understand how good of a wrestler she was. I didn't understand how technical of a striker she was. It had absolutely nothing to do with Juliana.

• 4:54Ryan Clark?

  It was all Amanda Nunes and my fandom made me wrong. And I was wrong.

• 4:58Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, yeah.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  Well, you should have known that, you know, the machine does a really good job of of propelling who they want forward. But any like real true fan would know that I absolutely stood a chance. Absolutely, because I've been in the division just as long as the rest of these girls. When Dana White opened up the door in 2013, you know, he handed a belt to Rhonda. He's like, I don't know what promotion you go into. And they literally just, here, welcome to the promotion. Here's a belt. He just gifted her a belt. She only had to fight one person. I had to fight four when I was on The Ultimate Fighter. So at this point, I have four fights in the UFC. She's only had one or two, you know? So I've been in this division just as long as all the rest of these girls. Like I said, I was never given the opportunity. I was calling for the opportunity for many years. And, you know, when you get that that shot at the king, you you better not miss.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  And so that was my mindset is just, you know, go in there, put the world on notice, let everybody know I'm still here. Hello, remember me? Give the division a breath of fresh air. And I just had to go in there and do my job. And so that's what it comes down to is knowing how to do your job.

• 6:02Fred Taylor?

  So I'm not that much of a fan of UFC. I don't know a lot.

• 6:07Speaker 01

  True.

• 6:07Fred Taylor?

  But I did some research on you. You came here to confront RC. And that's my boy. I'm gonna help him. He might need my help.

• 6:13Ryan Clark?

  I do right now.

• 6:16Ryan Clark?

  I ain't gonna let her come across to him.

• 6:19Ryan Clark?

  She's gonna be ugly if she get over to this other place.

• 6:21Fred Taylor?

  I want to go back to, you're not a stranger to confrontation.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  No.

• 6:25Fred Taylor?

  December 2015. This is Pivot. This is why I called it Pivot. You were arrested for a bar fight.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:32Fred Taylor?

  Can you take us to that night?

• 6:34Speaker 01

  Sure. So when you are in a small town, obviously, you're gonna get recognized more and more. I started my career in the Pacific Northwest. And the, I'm gonna take you back even a little bit further.

• 6:46Fred Taylor?

  Okay.

• 6:46Speaker 01

  I was um training for my next fight in the UFC. I went to the gym and I got my knee torn out, four out of five ligaments. And um most people can't come back from a devastating knee injury like that. Four out of five ligaments is a is a complete knee blowout. Um the training partner that I was with, it started a gigantic stir. And um he left the gym and we hadn't seen each other in over two years. I went on to rehab my knee and come back into the UFC. So it was one of my other training partner's birthdays. I went out uh to celebrate and when I got to the bar, I saw the kid that I hadn't seen since I tore my knee out. And he was actually a good friend of mine and he was drinking and I was drinking and it was almost like,

• 7:28Speaker 01

  "I love you fam, I'm so sorry, I like this, we haven't seen each other since literally the incident." And so we were kind of like, "I love you, no, I love you." We were like having a really good time. While there was people there that were like starting stuff. And at one point, this guy grabbed my ass. And so I turned around and I shoved him to the ground and I said, "Don't, don't touch me." Um but prior to that, my training partners were just horsing around with me. So we were like, you know, like jukeing each other out of the, out of our shorts. And I'd go like this and he'd fall down and everyone around us would be like, "Oh, she just kicked his ass," you know, so everyone's like getting all hyped up around us. And so when I pushed the guy down, um they were upset, obviously, but we ignored him. So we got out on the street and when we went out on the street,

• 8:11Speaker 01

  it was just me and him as opposed to our whole group, they had all left. It was just us and he's real short. So all of those guys that I pushed, friends, came and they jumped us. And it was just me and him versus like frickin' ten dudes. And so I cracked that guy in the face and I picked up my friend because he was getting beat by like three guys. I grabbed him, I'm like, "We gotta go," because he was curled up in the fetal position. I yanked him up and I'm like, "Let's run." And so we ran down the street and when we ran, we stopped at a bar that we started at. Now the bartender, I used to ref his fights. And he's a, his uh little sister used to be my best friend, so he's a good friend of mine. And I'm like, "We need to use the bathroom because the guy, my friend, my guy that tore my knee out was literally bleeding out of everywhere. His eyes, his nose, his mouth, his ears, he was bleeding. I didn't know where he was hurt."

• 8:55Speaker 01

  So I'm like, "Let's go use uh the bathroom and clean up your face." And so- I went to the bartender, I said Levi, we need to use the bathroom. He said, go ahead Jules. And so we were on our way to the bathroom. Well, the bouncer saw that he was all bleeding. And the bouncer is my boxing coach's arch nemesis. So I'm in a small town, right? My boxing coach used to be former heavyweight champ. And so he's a heavyweight, the bouncer, and he was like, you can go, he can stay. And I'm like, I'm not the one bleeding. I gotta fix my friend. I gotta help my friend. And he was like, you can go, he can stay. And so I'm like, let us use the bathroom. Levi already said. And Levi was like, I'm new here. I'm not gonna vouch. Like, I don't wanna lose my job, you know? And so, um, we got upset and the guy literally picked me up and he threw me out the door. And, um, I fell off the, the step.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  And I broke everything in my purse. I had my makeup, my cell phone shattered. Like, he threw me off of the ledge. And so when I got up, I just kinda teep kicked him and I said, get off me, don't touch me. And he was on the ledge, he was very tall, big heavyweight, and it like landed in this area. And so, I didn't do it on purpose, but I was just like, don't touch me, you know? I was just trying to separate distance and say, don't, don't touch me. So the guy's like, we're gonna call the cops. I'm like, oh, call the cops, you know what I mean? I literally took three steps. And right when I took those three steps, the cops were there and I got arrested.

• 10:05Fred Taylor?

  So we might not stand a chance. No, helping you might not be a good idea.

• 10:10Channing Crowder?

  That was never gonna be part of it.

• 10:11Fred Taylor?

  You had to be on good behavior for at least a year.

• 10:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:14Fred Taylor?

  What was that part like?

• 10:15Speaker 01

  I was in the wrong place, wrong time, you know? And nothing good happens after like 11 or 12 o'clock at night. That's when the devil comes out, you know? So I shouldn't have been out, I shouldn't have been drinking. And it was another thing about like, maybe put more effort onto protecting myself when I go out in my small hometown, you know? It's like, I can't just go out by myself anymore. I was out with myself, I met everybody there. But like, I can't go out by myself. I have to make sure that I'm with people that I trust and people that are gonna take me out of bad situations.

• 10:44Channing Crowder?

  Badass. Cause I've heard about that, like, you're a trained fighter, so you're like, you're a weapon.

• 10:48Speaker 01

  Right.

• 10:49Channing Crowder?

  Like, do you think about that? That you're a weapon, like, living every day, moving around? Like, if, if me, if I go on Walgreens and get in a fight, and you go on Walgreens and get in a fight?

• 10:57Fred Taylor?

  Two different things.

• 10:58Channing Crowder?

  It's two different things. Do you, like, when does, when do you ever think about that in life?

• 11:02Speaker 01

  Well, it's the same thing. If you get in a fight and I get in a fight and Walgreens, we're defending ourselves, right? So I mean, it's the same thing. But what I'll say is different is... Some people don't have a lot going on in their lives and some people have uh less to lose than what I do. So when people, I've noticed this lately, when people try to start something, they have nothing going on in their lives. I have a ton of stuff going on in my life, so my objective is to turn the other cheek and walk away because I can't afford to lose it. They would love to get a nice payday and say, "She hit me," you know what I mean, and be in a gigantic lawsuit. I can't afford that. So now it's become a thing where it's like if someone's talking or if someone's trying to start stuff, I absolutely have to just like eat it, turn the other cheek and walk the other way and be like, "Have a nice day," you know? Cause I can't afford to to get in trouble like that.

• 11:45Channing Crowder?

  You like to whoop ass. I I've been locked up. I've been locked up three times for fighting. Like, I've been in jail and all. It's crazy to see that. I I can feel the energy that you you like to physically whoop somebody else's ass.

• 11:56Speaker 01

  Well, that's what everyone says about me, but I swear I'm just a lover bear. I'm just a teddy bear.

• 12:03Channing Crowder?

  You enjoy physically knocking knocking a motherfucker to the ground.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  I mean, other people say that about me. I just like to get paid and I just, this is what I do because I'm good at it, you know what I mean? But it's not my objective to be fighting with people all the time. People wanna rile me up and they wanna fight me and that's how I end up in these situations is because everyone always is trying to like start something with me. As soon as a couple of drinks are flying, everyone's trying to, you know, you know, throw me in submissions and show me what they know, you know? And then all of a sudden, we're like literally in the club, like on the floor throwing up triangles and like I'm...

• 12:32Speaker 01

  I never start it. I never start it. It's never me. It's always people messing with me trying to, you know, get a rise out of me.

• 12:38Channing Crowder?

  I told, I wouldn't, uh, Ron Zook was my head coach when I got locked up. I was at University of Florida. And I told him, I was like, "Coach, I never start any fights. I just end them."

• 12:46Speaker 01

  Right.

• 12:46Channing Crowder?

  So if you don't start it, but you end it, why the person that ends the fight gets in trouble? Cause you won. But you antagonized me and then got your ass whooped. That's not my problem.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  But that's what I'm saying. Nowadays, it's like I can't even get there. I just have to turn the other cheek and walk the other way because I can't afford it, you know? I really can't. It's uh, those are not the headlines that I wanna be remembered or known for. I'm trying to build a legacy and it ain't about getting arrested on the street, I'll tell you that.

• 13:12Channing Crowder?

  And that growth, that was growth. You had you had to figure that out. You grew into that.

• 13:16Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 13:16Fred Taylor?

  But all of this started from a cardio kickboxing class.

• 13:20Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. A women's cardio kickboxing class. I was a little chubby bunny and I had to lose some weight. My sister invited me to a women's cardio kickboxing class. I I threw my first punch. My coach said, who taught you how to punch? And I said, nobody. He's like, well, where did you box? I said, I didn't. He's like, well, who taught you that? I'm like, you just did. Like, I'm just doing. I'm just doing what you taught me to do. So that's how it got started.

• 13:37Ryan Clark?

  Even getting started that way, uh, what the UFC or what MMA is now for women, it wasn't always that. Uh, you know, you're a tough champion, uh, which is obviously, you know, it's given us Stefan Bonner. It's given us Forrest Griffin. It's given us Rashad Evans. Uh, now you, as a champion, when you look back on your entire journey, could you believe from that kickboxing cardio class that you'd be the bantamweight champion?

• 14:07Speaker 01

  No, I I couldn't because when I started in a women's cardio kickboxing class, I didn't even know what the UFC was. I didn't even know what the sport of MMA was. So I absolutely didn't find that that was gonna happen. But I'll tell you that when you put all of your effort into one thing and focus on one thing, one of these days after overtime, it's gonna be fruitful and you will be successful. So I think one of the main things that helped me is focusing on just one goal. And that was just MMA, just fighting. And if I I figured if I just keep putting in the work to this, eventually I'm gonna, you know, reap the fruits of my labor. And so that eventually happened by becoming champion.

• 14:44Ryan Clark?

  When when did it click? Like, was it a day? Was it a moment? Was it a month? Was it a time where like you were like?

• 14:49Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:50Ryan Clark?

  I'm one of the baddest motherfuckers in the world.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. It it happened twice. Um, in October of twenty twenty, I think I fought Jermaine Durandeman. And I went in there thinking I am fighting the best striker in the division, one of the best strikers in the world. She's so tall and like, how am I gonna get past her hands? And then when the fight started, I had her backing up the entire time. I had her. I was cracking her. I and if you check the stats, I actually outstruck her. And so I'm like, if I can hang with this chick, I can hang with them all, you know, bring them on, like literally anybody, put them in front of me and I'll fight them.

• 15:22Ryan Clark?

  Now you are the the champ. Um, but probably even more importantly, you're a mom.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 15:30Ryan Clark?

  And, you know, you mentioned tearing your ligaments. Uh, you know, you come back and win the championship after having a C-section, having to repair your body, you know, after all of those things. When when you think about. The duality of your life, I don't think we often see that. Right, we're not, we're not looking at you in the octagon when you get your hand raised and think to ourselves, I bet she's a wonderful mom.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:54Ryan Clark?

  You know, we're like, that's a bad, that's a bad woman. Has being a mom changed you, though, when you think about what your priorities are?

• 16:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. Um, there's way more to fight for now. All of a sudden, it's not just about me anymore. It's about my baby and providing for my baby as best as I can. And it's weird because prior to having uh, uh, my daughter and prior to becoming a mother, when they would ask me, what does this fight mean to you, or you know, what are you gonna do in this fight? I would talk in terms of like, this is my baby and I'm a mama bear. And they're trying to, you know, take away food from my cub and I can't let it happen. But I didn't have a kid and they would always be like, what are you talking about? I'm like, it's just a metaphor. I'm a mama bear in my head, you know, like, I'm gonna protect my cub. Well, now I actually have a kid. Now I actually do have a cub to provide for and that I can't let somebody take, you know, the food off my, my baby cub's table.

• 16:45Speaker 01

  And so, um, it's, it's weird that it's, you know, kinda come full circle. Being a mother is something that I always have wanted to do. I do wanna have more kids in the future. It gives me more to fight for now that I have a little baby and especially somebody who's looking up to me, who's, you know, I'm her hero. And so, it's, um, very inspiring for me to have her in my life and to have her in all my training sessions and outside the cage and, go mama, you know, it's just, it's, um, she's a light of my life and she literally lights up whatever room she's in. She's an incredible kid. Honestly, all the parents say that about their kids, right? But like, she's so cool.

• 17:19Ryan Clark?

  Nah, some kids, so.

• 17:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:20Ryan Clark?

  You don't say it though, bro. You don't say it. We all know it, but you don't say it.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  But, but she doesn't. She's ultra cool. Like, she's a totally cool kid and, and honestly, she just gives me, um, so much more to fight for.

• 17:32Fred Taylor?

  So she's four?

• 17:33Speaker 01

  She's just turned four.

• 17:34Fred Taylor?

  Right, so when she's at your, your, your training session sparring, do you guys kinda wrestle around, mess around?

• 17:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:41Fred Taylor?

  Can you see her in there?

• 17:42Speaker 01

  I, I would never. That's not what I want for her. That's not the life that I want for her. But, uh, her dad owns a jujitsu gym. He's a black belt in jujitsu. And so she trains, you know, two, three times a week in jujitsu. And then she comes with me to all my training sessions. So she's constantly seeing it. I mean, literally since I had her, she's been in her car seat in the gym to all my training sessions for, you know, four years. And so, this is a life that, you know, is. Something that she sees on a daily basis, but do I want her to do it? No, but if she says.

• 18:12Fred Taylor?

  I don't think you can stop it.

• 18:14Speaker 01

  No.

• 18:14Fred Taylor?

  Why, why, but why would you not want her to do it?

• 18:16Speaker 01

  I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this.

• 18:19Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra because it's not just a superior like beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com slash superior access to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch. In Bev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 18:48Speaker 01

  If she says, Mom, I really want to be a fighter and she's dedicated and she's passionate and she shows me that interest, I'll be like, whatever makes you happy, baby. Like, you know, if she shows that interest like I had, that dedication that like I had. But if she's doing it to try to, you know, live up to mom's shoes or for whatever reason other than it's being her own passion, then I wouldn't want her to do it. Listen, I've torn both my knees out. I've dislocated both my elbows. I've broke ligaments. I've busted my nose. There's, it's a hard life for a fighter, hard life for a fighter. And I wouldn't want that for, for my daughter because I know the road that I've taken to get here. And I mean, what am I going to do when I'm 50? I'm probably going to need hip replacements or knee replacements. You know what I mean? Because I've literally put my body through the wringer.

• 19:31Speaker 01

  And so, you know, those are things that you don't think about when you're starting your career as a young fighter, but they're definitely things that I was creeping into the back of my head nowadays. Like I gotta make sure I get paid because I'm going to have to hold on to this chunk of money for the rest of my life. It's not like I get a monthly paycheck every month. I get paid in one lump sum and then I gotta hold on to that forever and make sure that, you know, she's going to be able to eat later on as well as myself. And so, fighting is a difficult life and it's not something that I would wish on my children.

• 19:56Fred Taylor?

  Just really quick, Chan, in our sport, football, the average lifespan is three and a half years.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 20:01Fred Taylor?

  And we retire at very young ages. Eighty-seven percent of the guys, when they're retired, they're broke or divorced, filing bankrupt or whatever.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:10Fred Taylor?

  I'm sure in fighting, your lifespans aren't, you know, as long your average career lifespan.

• 20:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:16Fred Taylor?

  Do you guys in your sport have a lot of uh uh stories or issues with finances when guys are done?

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Hundred percent. Hundred percent, yes, it's it's a big thing, it's a it's a big trouble thing that fighters are having that they've been trying to fix for for years with getting unions done and you know it's hard because it's like we want a union and then it's like well I'll just pay this guy five and five and he's gonna show up and he's gonna do it and I'm gonna you know put some shorts on him and he's gonna jump at the opportunity to go fight, you know, so it's like you're you're disposable, you know? They love you but you know you're only as good as your last fight and if they don't like you, you're gone and then go find something else to do.

• 20:52Fred Taylor?

  Superbowl in door.

• 20:53Channing Crowder?

  You're coming up through the ranks.

• 20:55Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 20:56Channing Crowder?

  They know you can whoop ass, but then you get pregnant and it's one thing about the female sports is where like is that a liability because people always try to find a reason not to pay you or not to do something and as a female athlete they almost make getting pregnant is like an ailment.

• 21:11Speaker 01

  Right.

• 21:12Channing Crowder?

  Like how is that when you're training, you're coming up and then now you're pregnant, you can't fight? Like you had a you had a C-section, like what's that whole process with your career? And then now with family, with life, with your daughter?

• 21:24Speaker 01

  Well, it's it's crazy, so we talked about this shelf life of of of a pro athlete, I have a window of opportunity to jump through, it's this small. So when you get pregnant, first you're going through your own head like, oh no, my window's you know coming even smaller, I'm pregnant now. Like you said, you could view it as an ailment, but when I went to the UFC and I went to Dana White and I went to Shawn Shelby, they were over the moon happy for me, they were so excited, they were like women pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to get pregnant and they still can't conceive, this is a blessing, we're so happy for you. Fighting will be here when you're done, Juliana, so just have your baby and when you're ready to come back, come back and so I was so well received by Shawn Shelby and Dana White when I got pregnant and they just made me feel so confident that

• 22:05Speaker 01

  of course I'm gonna come back and uh they'll be waiting and and welcoming with open arms when when I'm ready and so that was a great feeling to know that the company had my back on it and they were actually very happy for me and supportive.

• 22:16Ryan Clark?

  Is it very difficult, we talked to Dana last week, well I basically just continued to ask him questions while we were out drinking. Um, this is that's what happened.

• 22:25Channing Crowder?

  We ain't sit down with him.

• 22:27Speaker 01

  Hey, that's how you do business.

• 22:28Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 22:29Channing Crowder?

  Harass him at the bar.

• 22:30Speaker 01

  It's a weird, it's a weird industry, that's where we do our business.

• 22:32Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I cornered him, I was like, hey, you know, like I got an MMA show, he's like, yeah, I know, we promote it every week, I was like, so can I talk to you? And so he gave me some time, when when you're, football is different, right, like football has Football has, has, has a commissioner, football has boards, football has teams and executives and all of these things. Uh, fighting is totally different. Fighting is individual.

• 22:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:54Ryan Clark?

  And you're obviously in the biggest promotion that there is for MMA. I mean, most people now who understand combat sports knows that it's bigger than boxing, right? Because y'all give out one belt.

• 23:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:05Ryan Clark?

  And Evanon and Dana get cute and give out an interim belt.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:08Ryan Clark?

  You mentioned getting your, getting your opportunity. Do you think it's harder because in UFC, it's about the matchmakers, right? And it's about making the fights, uh, that have, uh, the most spice? So when you were, how difficult was it for you when you were waiting to get your shot, you know, as you said, at the King?

• 23:27Speaker 01

  Well, it was frustrating because I'm talking about a title shot and then they didn't give it to me, they give it to everybody else and I'm thinking like, what do I gotta do to, to get a title shot? And so it becomes a thing where I'm even annoyed at my own self because every time I can hear myself in interviews talking about me and a title shot and they're still not giving it to me. So I'm just like, huh, how much more am I gonna say this and still not get it? I was falling on deaf ears, it was very frustrating. Um, but with that said, I will definitely give, uh, credit to the UFC as well because I did tear my knee out. They didn't tear my knee out, I tore my knee out, you know? I, they didn't get pregnant, I got pregnant, you know? So there was things where it was like, okay, well, you tore your knee out and then you got pregnant. So there was things, you know, you, you're crying about a title shot, but can you even fight right now?

• 24:12Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  You know? And so it became one of those things where I was almost my own worst enemy, but it couldn't have happened at a better time for me because Amanda has created this legacy of destroying all of these legends in the game and-

• 24:25Ryan Clark?

  And that was why I picked her!

• 24:26Speaker 01

  Uh, yeah, and I get it.

• 24:27Ryan Clark?

  Go to hell, man! I'm on your side, baby. Go to hell.

• 24:32Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 24:33Ryan Clark?

  You hater.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, you know, I needed an opportunity and but the thing is, is that my win wouldn't have been as sweet if she didn't have this list of giants that she slayed, you know, I slayed the giant that slayed all the giants, you know, and so that to me made my win uh way more special.

• 24:52Ryan Clark?

  And so now, you know, many people think, not me, because this time, I, I, this time, I, enough is enough. You go on the show, I don't know if I can catch her if she gets to you, bro. Your knee's too bad. You have no shot.

• 25:07Channing Crowder?

  Oh, oh.

• 25:10Ryan Clark?

  And so, and so now, you're the, the champion, what has changed about life for you? Or is it kind of the same old thing? We still train, we still work, we still raise our babies? Or is there more pressure on you or more spotlight on you now that you're the champion?

• 25:28Speaker 01

  I would say that the biggest thing for me is my mindset and continuing to be in that mindset of, yeah, I'm the champion, but in my head, I'm not. I'm the challenger. I'm the challenger. I still have work to do and I have been gutting for this spot. I've been asking to fight for that, that target on Amanda's back. Well, now the target's on my back. I got what I wanted and now you can't act like a champion and think, oh, this is the end. I'll be all. You better be in the gym still acting like a challenger because she's coming for you and she's coming for everything that you have and she wants it back, you know, and so in my mind, I have 10 times more work to do and I have to work even harder than I worked before. Um, one of the things that I think people don't see is

• 26:10Speaker 01

  the training sessions that I put in because I'm on social media, right? And so I have my social media team that's posting out all these things and it looks ha ha, he he, like having a great time. But I'm grinding, I'm working. I'm, I'm here in Texas, I'm still getting my work in. Whenever I travel, I'm still getting my work in. And then when I go home, I'm still training every single day like I was when, before the fight.

• 26:30Ryan Clark?

  So now, now you kind of got some, uh, some shy towel toughness, right? You're from, you're from Spokane?

• 26:36Speaker 01

  Yep, I'm from Spokane.

• 26:37Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so how, how has that transition been for you and do you think it's helped to have kind of a change of scenery?

• 26:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. So, one of the things that I appreciate about Spokane is it was a one-stop shop. The gym was five minutes away from my house, not even. I mean, I could run there. And it was great because it had that small-town feel, that, you know, grittiness of that little garage that they're still training in, and just raw toughness. And I love that about Spokane. It's full of just raw, pure fighters. One of the things that I noticed when I moved to Chicago is you're, there's bigger fish out there. And I was complacent in Spokane. So when I got to Chicago, it forced me to level up. It forced me to level up my striking. It forced me to level up my jiu-jitsu and wrestling. And I kinda wasn't the, the big fish in a small pond anymore. It was like, welcome to the real

• 27:26Speaker 01

  world. And I like how I've had to develop and change my game since moving to Chicago. And I feel like it has helped me grow as a fighter in my techniques and, and just overall sharpening all my skills. I've definitely noticed an improvement since moving to Chicago in my, in my game. And so I appreciate that about Chicago, absolutely.

• 27:49Channing Crowder?

  You, you got an old man?

• 27:51Speaker 01

  Um, I have a daddy.

• 27:52Channing Crowder?

  No, you gotta, you gotta do.

• 27:54Speaker 01

  No, no, I'm single. Yeah, a single mom, single mom.

• 27:56Channing Crowder?

  But when you're with a man, to know that you can whoop your man's ass. Seriously, bro, like, like the dynamic of that, like, that's not normal to be, knowing that you can wear your man's ass out if you need to. Like, does that change the relationship? Do you have to find a different type dude? Because I don't know if, I've been married 13 years, but I don't know, I don't know how the dynamic would change.

• 28:47Ryan Clark?

  If I was scared of my wife.

• 28:48Speaker 01

  Right.

• 28:49Ryan Clark?

  Like, is it different?

• 28:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a problem, honestly, it's a problem because um there's a front where they wanna act like they're all tough and secure and you know confident in themselves but at the end of the day a lot it bothers deep down, I think, some men and those are not the men for me. Um, but I will say that um I don't wanna fight guys, I don't wanna fight you, I don't like. So when he was talking about me getting arrested, the kid that I got arrested with is the kid that tore out my knee and I tore my knee four out of five ligaments thinking that I could beat him like I got my knee torn out cuz I was trying to beat a man, you know, it's like, no, I've learned my lesson like I have fought dudes in the street before, I've had my eyes swollen shut for three days and 11 stitches cuz I went into the back alley and fought a dude and then I didn't learn my lesson after

• 29:34Speaker 01

  that, I went and got my knee torn out, after that I learned my lesson, I don't wanna fight guys, I don't wanna fight you, you know, if I'm in a relationship with you, I promise you I won't lay a hand on you. I'm not trying to fight, you know, I'll defend myself, I'll mess around like I'll you know horse around but it's not my objective to emasculate a man or to make him think that you know I'm gonna whoop his ass, you know, it's it's their own insecurity that plays in their head.

• 29:56Ryan Clark?

  Oh no, I'll tap, I'll tap. So as soon as you grab my ass, I'ma tap. Hey Chad, you know, you know like how you play wrestle, like your wife come in and play wrestle? Could you imagine like play wrestling and then getting caught in a guillotine?

• 30:08Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so in that, in that, in those type of situations though, if you are having, let's call it a conversation.

• 30:14Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 30:14Ryan Clark?

  With, you know, with your significant other, do you feel like you have to be kind of more passive in the way that you approach the conversation and not make them kind of feel like, oh, she's swelling up on me?

• 30:25Speaker 01

  Well, I feel bad because sometimes I feel like I have to like diminish the light a little bit because at the end of the day, men are alpha, they're you know hunter gatherers, they wanna be the ones that you know go and do the the slaying of the dragon, they don't like when girls know more about fighting than them, you know, and so that's something that I have to sometimes hold my tongue on a little bit because I'm like, oh, that's not. That's not right, you know what I mean? Like, I know how to fight, you know, and so, I, again, if they're insecure about that, those are not the men for me. I, it's better for me to have somebody that will let me be myself and let me shine my light, but at the same time, I'll lay down. I'll have no problem laying down if I trust you to lead, you know what I mean? But I gotta be able to trust you to lead, um, uh, but

• 31:07Speaker 01

  that's the thing is, I just haven't found that person that can be, you know, secure and, and who they are in themselves and not care about the fact that, you know, I'm gonna go to a restaurant and people are gonna ask for pictures or, and I'm gonna ask them to hold my purse, you know what I mean? They're gonna hold it and be proud of me and be my biggest fan and say, "Go do it," you know, "Ma, go get your stuff," you know? But guys act like they can handle it and they can't. And one other thing, I will just end on this, is this is not the year for love for me. This is not the time for trying to get in a relationship or try to find that man that's secure in his thing. I'm on a mission. I got goals, I got things to do, and, uh, love is a number one career killer to a professional athlete's life, in my opinion. And I am just trying to go stack my chips and get my bread and do what I gotta do to, uh, cement my legacy.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  I cannot be messing around with these dudes, like, it's not on the agenda. I've made my mind up this year in, in the beginning of January. Love is not on the cards for me this year. It's about me and my career and my daughter. If it's not about my daughter, if it's not about my career, I can't, I'm a horse, I'm a thoroughbred, I got my blinders on, I'm not looking this way, not looking this way, I'm looking at the end goal and that's cementing my legacy and defending my belt.

• 32:13Channing Crowder?

  A dog. That's called a dog. In my, I don't, I'm from Atlanta, that's a dog.

• 32:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, I got a dog in me. I got a dog in me.

• 32:19Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 32:20Speaker 01

  A big ol' dog. There's a big ol' fight in me and I am ready to, again, let, have them let me off my chain.

• 32:27Fred Taylor?

  You say no love this year. You know, when we, when we prepare for games, they say you cannot, or you might, you should not have sex.

• 32:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:36Fred Taylor?

  This far out from, you know, a game.

• 32:40Fred Taylor?

  You're mad. I don't even wanna ask the question. I feel, I feel crazy.

• 32:47Channing Crowder?

  I'm afraid to go on with this one.

• 32:48Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, I too.

• 32:50Fred Taylor?

  And no disrespect.

• 32:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 32:52Fred Taylor?

  I'm not being disrespectful.

• 32:53Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 32:53Fred Taylor?

  I'm never that way.

• 32:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:54Channing Crowder?

  He's not.

• 32:55Fred Taylor?

  Do you, like, do you think of these things?

• 32:58Speaker 01

  I do, I do, um, and it's something that I, I don't wanna say is like the reason why I won, but at the end of the day, I'm like, maybe that was the reason, you know, because I wasn't like, you know, um, doing any of that. Yeah, I wasn't active before the fight, you know, so like, I'm like, I'm trying to think of like, rinse and repeat, you know, find what was the recipe was, and so in my head, I'm like, yeah, that, that, that must have played a part, right? Cause I wasn't doing anything and I was being good and I was literally going to church every Sunday and I was just on my stuff, you know, and just totally a hundred and ten percent focused. So when I, when I look back on trying to redo what I did leading up to the fight, that absolutely plays into my head where I'm just like, I can't have any part of that because that wasn't in the recipe the first time. I don't wanna add anything.

• 33:42Fred Taylor?

  We've, we've done almost twenty-five shows, I don't know how many shows we've done, but that was the most awkward moment for me.

• 33:49Channing Crowder?

  Hey, hey, hey, my friend, my friend, you opened the door, so now I gotta ask a question. You, you being a, a, a dog, an ass kicker, like, as a woman.

• 33:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 33:59Channing Crowder?

  Are you, are you the aggressor? Like, you be like, come over here and get this.

• 34:03Speaker 01

  No.

• 34:03Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 34:04Speaker 01

  No, no, no, I, I, I took a picture of a meme the other day, cause it's, it's so me. It's literally, um.

• 34:12Channing Crowder?

  You come take this. Yeah, man, cause yeah, cause sometimes.

• 34:14Speaker 01

  It says, how Leo women flirt, a guy and a girl, guy and a girl, she doesn't say anything, he doesn't say anything, and then he still doesn't say anything and she walks away, she says, whatever, his loss. Like, that's me, like, that's me, I am not, I'm very reserved, I would never, you know, approach at all, like, if, if, if you have something to say, then you're gonna have to come say because I'm not gonna say anything, you know what I mean? I'm, I would never call a man, for example, I would never like text a man first, you know, I would never do something like that, I'm very reserved, it's, it's, I'm very traditional in that sense, you know what I mean? I'm not one of those ultra aggressive chicks, you know, like, that's not cute.

• 34:51Channing Crowder?

  So you could turn it on, like, we, we talk about like a fit, like, it's guys that could turn on the aggression on the field and turn it off, we all play ball. You turn it on, but you're, you're just like, it's crazy to say, you're a normal woman.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:03Channing Crowder?

  And then you turn it on to go out there and punch somebody in the face and make them bleed and break their arm.

• 35:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:08Channing Crowder?

  And then you can come out from breaking a woman's arm with one of those little leg locks.

• 35:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 35:12Ryan Clark?

  And then just, "How you doing?" Like, it's crazy to hear.

• 35:16Speaker 01

  But that's what I'm saying. People put me in this box of being, you know, this ultra-aggressive fighter, and I am. That's my job. But when, if I'm not there fighting in the octagon, that's not what I want to do. I want to laugh. I want to have a good time. I want to, you know, relax and enjoy and just be. I don't want to be fighting all the time. And I, I think that's a big misconception, is people think that I'm feisty 24/7 and I'm always trying to get at somebody. And maybe there might be a little bit of truth in that. I don't see, I feel like I'm cool as a cucumber, like, real chilled type of person. You know, I'm not going to start anything. But, um, definitely people, I think, think that I want to fight all the time and want to fight in a relationship. And that's not, that's not my goal. You know, I do that for my job. I don't want to do it, you know, in my relationship.

• 35:58Ryan Clark?

  I'm sorry, but this had to come out eventually. So the rematch?

• 36:01Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 36:02Ryan Clark?

  How do you see the rematch going? The buildup is going to be crazy. And if we can be honest here, you're going to be the underdog.

• 36:08Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 36:09Ryan Clark?

  Even though you won the last fight and you won it convincingly, you're going to be the underdog going into that fight. Are you confident that you can, I guess, shock the world again?

• 36:20Speaker 01

  I wanted this fight because I wanted to prove that it wasn't a fluke. It wasn't something where it just happened overnight and I just, she had a bad night and just poof, it was there. No, I called how I was going to beat her five years ago. I finally got the opportunity and I did exactly what I said I was going to do. In this instance, the fight will be extremely different. She's going to come with 110% more, um, furiousness. And my objective is to know that she wants to come for me with everything that she has. And I, since I know that, my job is going to be to defend and be ready for everything and be equipped with whatever she comes and brings at me. I will be ready and I am confident that I will get my hand raised at the end of the night again.

• 37:04Speaker 01

  I absolutely wanted this rematch to let everyone know again for the second time. It wasn't just some fluke and it just fall out of the blue sky. I have been here this entire time.

• 37:12Ryan Clark?

  Are y'all cool?

• 37:14Channing Crowder?

  Like, if Amanda's here now, would y'all sit down and have dinner?

• 37:18Speaker 01

  I mean, I don't know about having dinner. I don't have, you know, a problem with her. Absolutely respect her and everything that she's done in the sport. I think she's amazing. You know, she's a great fighter, but I am not, um, we're not braiding each other's hair. You know what I mean?

• 37:31Speaker 01

  She, she kinda was, uh, drove me a little bit crazy in a sense on The Ultimate Fighter. And it's, I respect her, but no, we're not, we're not friends. We're not homies. No.

• 37:41Channing Crowder?

  Like, I got an insight. There's three dudes in my life. If I see them, I'm gonna dive on their ass the second they walk in the door.

• 37:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:46Channing Crowder?

  Is it, is it like that? Or is it just, you know, across the room, you give her a nod?

• 37:51Speaker 01

  You know, I'll tell you this. It's a, it's a professional job. It's a sport. And I am trying to, um, fight for, you know, I'm a prizefighter. I have nothing personally against this girl. I don't know what she does in her free time. I don't know what she, I don't care. I don't have anything against her. This is a sport and it's, this is just my job. This is just what I do. It's, I don't have to have this animosity to wanna, you know, kill her. Of course, it'd be great more for the fans if they knew that there was some, you know, big beef between us, but the truth is, is I don't have a problem with her. We're both athletes. We're both moms. We're both professionals and this is a sport. This is just what we do. This is just our job.

• 38:25Ryan Clark?

  Well, champ, thank you so much for coming. I certainly will not speak of you the way I did last time, but this was an awesome interview, eye-opening for all three of us. And truly an honor for me as someone who doesn't know nothing about MMA, who gets to cover it.

• 38:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're lucky. You're lucky. You're lucky. Thank you.

• 38:46Ryan Clark?

  Nah, we good. We good. It's like the face on.

• 38:50Ryan Clark?

  It's like the face on.

• 38:51Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 38:51Ryan Clark?

  Thank you.

• 39:27Speaker 06

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