Wait, are you one of those guys that takes it as a sign of disrespect?

How do you typically, I would be a little frustrated with him missing weight.

But I know yet eye surgery recently.

And I know it takes a while to get back into the groove of things, and you miss it by point night.

Which means it could have just, you know, just the layoff.

Maybe gain more weight than you thought he was gonna get.

So I'm not holding it against them.

If it was something he's done, like more than once, then I would I would have been a little bit pissed, but no, there is a good guy, you know?

It's great fight.

I'm just happy you think him missing way like that.

It's something that can affect you mentally.

You know, you'll have to ask him that.

I don't know.

He came in.

He was kicking me pretty hard to keep my inside leg.

And he did a spin and kick and I'm in pain.

So I if it affected him mentally, I didn't I didn't notice you were landing with left leg a lot uh, going into this camp, Was that something that you felt was gonna be a big weapon for you?

Yeah, my strength coach file.

Cordero noticed something.

He said when he when he gets kick with the left leg, he never answers, which means you have a free kick at any time.

So when he explained that to me, I figured, OK, let's try it out.

I threw my first kick.

No return through my second kick, nor return.

So I knew I had something there.

What kind of adjustments did you make from the first round?

Uh, honestly, the, uh, master was happy with everything.

Master Raphael was happy with everything.

He just didn't want me to look down so much, so I need to stay more sharp.

That was one of the things.

And, uh, when I went to the ground more pressure, you know, And I think that's pretty much how it played.

Way went to the ground again.

He tried to take me down.

I think I reversed with the switch, and then I ended up on the back, and my goal was just to keep pressure on it.

You know, like you said, I know you miss?

Wait.

So just in case he was feeling it, I was gonna get you.

Give them that extra pressure just to make sure I push him over.

How confident are you in your jujitsu that when you get somebody back like that?

You know, I'm really confident my shits about it varies with guy Every guy.

You know, my last fight.

I thought, uh, Carlos Diego and his gesture was so frustrating because he was matching I I all I did was controlling in his guard, and he wasn't able to submit me, but I wasn't able to be offensive, so it changes with each guy.

After Diego, I realized I had to go back and even more Carter on my jutsu.

I need to improve.

I have a lot of room.

I think this was my 11th fight.

I need to fight maybe like, 20 more times.

So I can I can finally reach my potential.

I think going into this fight did you think your gypsy was gonna be your big advantage?

I thought so, but I didn't want to be the one to initiate it because I figured you'd be looking to play the defensive game.

So I was looking for openings with my striking, I figured because he would be worried about to take down.

I have more chances with kicks with the knees, which I did eventually, he looked for the shot and I was able to reverse it and apply my agency part for you.

I really don't know.

I haven't really thought about it where I am in the division.

Like I said before, I'm still growing.

It's more important for me to grow, then.

Think I'm number 15?

Um, number 20.

Why my number 20?

I'm not worried about these things.

I'm gonna be at the top one day, but for right now, what I need to do is improve.

I was just talking to him.

Now he's, like, in a hurry, going to help with the charges.

You're gonna have the same course I'm gonna I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna be in his corner.

That's my brother right there.

That's my brother and war.

That's my brother in Christ.

We are family.

How special for you know, like to be the 1st 1 together way.

What way?

Expect from a vial.

I guarantee a victory.

Hoffa.

I think it's gonna be a knockout, but we'll see.

I'm pretty sure house, uh, well, either submit or knock him out, but 100% guarantee What's what's going nerve wracking before you tonight?

Uh, your walk to the cage are watching office.

That guy man stresses me out so much.

I cornered him for Nate Diaz and actually Ben Henderson as well.

And Jason Jason.

So, man, every time I walk out, when when he's done with the fight, I think to myself, I can't fight.

There's no way I could fight.

You know, I can't even handle his walk out, how I'm gonna handle my walk out.

But I realized when I walk out, it's really nice, man, I can listen to my music.

I don't think about anything.

When he walks out, I think to myself and I throw enough kicks.

Adam, Is he ready for the kicks?

Is he ready for the job?

Did I look for takedowns?

You know is the sharp Everywhere we get a good woman, so many things go through my mind.

So it's I kind of understand what goes through my my coach's mind.

But yeah, that's that's what I worry about what?

My corner half.

But there's so many things coming at me.

So it is a lot scarier when I fight.

I just walk out there and everything kind of plays out.

So you feel a responsibility when you walk out your team.

And this is your training partner that you were the one.

Get ready.

You feel like there's a responsibility there.

100%.

There's a responsibility.

I missed teammate.

Uh, we're family.

You know, when I when I trained with him, I have to give him my best.

So that way he gives me his best.

That way we make each other better.

So I am responsible.

If he wins, you know, I get I get to enjoy his victory.

If he loses, I take responsibility.

We were talking about before the fight with the message that you always given then?

No.

When your interviews can you explain again, like this message?

Yeah.

So, uh, I'm ah, Syrian and ah, a lot of people don't know this.

Assyrians right now are being persecuted in the country of Iraq and Syria for because they're Christians.

And the group that's persecuted them is Isis and I try to support them in any way I can, you know, with charities, you know, motivation.

Anything I could do.

Tow help.

I try.

Try to do my best.

Going back to the fight.

Was it surprising to you that Darren tried to initiate takedown?

I don't think so.

If you look at his fights, he looks for a takedown.

Yes, good take now is he has good wrestling, has good movement.

People need to give him more credit.

I think he's He's a martial artist and he's, uh he's a complete martial artist.

He can do.

He can grapple, You can just strike you kick And he's shown that before.

So I was ready for everything.

Is there a concern for you?

If you were to make it up those rankings, let's say half a win tonight wins that title.

You're the number one.

Duel it.

He's going to win.

Would you ever find out if it was on the line?

No, never.

We're family.

It's It's different.

I know what the guy's trying together and you know they that's it.

Their teammates, our family.

I go to his house, I eat with kids.

You know, I talked to his wife all the time.

How could I?

How could I go and fight a guy like that?

You know, how can I fight my own brother?

Imagine if I left the scar on the guy.

My identified cutter.

I have to look at him like, you know, for the rest of my life or if he cuts me, it's the same.

It's wrong.

In my opinion, it's wrong.

If I'm number one contender and I have to fight off, I'll move up to 1 70 You really disagree?

You know, people like Dana, higher ups.

You say you fight, you fight.

They're just teammates.

And they feel they want the belt more than they care about their teammates.

And okay, they can fight.

But when your family, it's not gonna happen, you know, let's say if there was two brothers in the same division, let's see if they know would make them fight.

I don't know if that would happen.

You know, if there were one was Champion was number one contender.

I don't see them fighting each other, and I don't think Dana would push for it, either.

So that's I think that's the difference.

It we're not just teammates were family and thistles.

A message.

I'm going to get across everybody.

How special is ever.

You have something so close Both your making the rise up help How enjoyed was and has been It's going through the trials and tough times.

So yeah, this is another thing people don't realize when I say when, you know when he wins, I get to enjoy it.

It's the same for him.

I improved because of him.

Imagine getting your butt kicked by that guy every day.

I've been getting better.

I was.

I met him.

I want to say, three years ago and, man, he just beat me, Beat me and beat me and beat me Add just took a beating every day from this guy and instead of, you know, just walking away from me every time he said, Hey, man, good job.

You did really good at first.

It was really frustrating.

But then I realized he really meant it.

He he wanted me to stick around, and that's that's how we build each other now.