Presented in partnership with UFC 245 on ESPN+
Who knew that Max Holloway was named Jerome after his maternal grandfather? And who knew that Jerome the elder threatened disown the UFC featherweight champ simply due to a choice of name that he didn’t agree with?
These are the sort of important nuggets that UFC fighters share on media day, just hours ahead of the all important weigh ins.
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With all 26 fighters competing on Saturday’s UFC 245 card on ESPN+ in attendance, media day was full of a lot of fight talk, but there were also other important moments, like Mike “Platinum” Perry handing out relationship advice (“Listen to your wife. Be faithful,” he offered. “Don’t let her tell you not to do something that’s gonna help both of you because wives like to do that. They like to control, and as a man you can’t let someone control you. And that will only make your wife love you more”), and veteran welterweight Matt Brown discussing his love of legendary metal band Slayer and the perfect cup of coffee (he prefers an Ethiopan light roast, black, by the way).
“Thanks for everything, for sure. Some of the greatest music of all time,” explained Brown, regarding the recently retired heavy metal band. “I got to see them once … one of the greatest shows I’ve ever been to.”
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Brown, who returns to the Octagon after more than two years away from active competition, was joined by a familiar face at media day: Mark “The Hammer” Coleman, an early MMA pioneer, UFC tournament winner, and the champion of the infamous Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix in 2000.
Coleman wasn’t the only UFC legend saddled up at UFC 245 media day. UFC hall of famer Kazushi Sakuraba stopped by to receive his customized blazer from Dana White. “The Ultimate Fighter” vet Jorge Gurgel was also in attendance, but only to translate for legend Jose Aldo, who managed to cut weight while fielding questions from the media in advance of his bantamweight debut on the UFC PPV main card on ESPN+.
“We added protein here and there to add to the nutrition when we felt we had to,” said Aldo, through his interpreter, regarding his recent shift to a more plant-based diet. “I think we do eat a lot of meat. It’s actually good for me to find a balance and stay away from meat for a while … I don’t plan on staying like this forever, but it’s helped me tremendously.”
PPV main card openers Urijah Faber and Petr Yan also discussed their opposing views on invincibility. “A guy like that, he’s gonna feel invincible in his own mind, and as we all find out nobody’s invincible in this world, and I look to make sure he knows that,” explained Faber, while Yan added, “that’s the difference between us. I never thought I’m invincible. I had a lot of life experience. I went through … the school of life.”
Still, the majority of the focus was on UFC 245 PPV headliners Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.
With Covington spending his time “triggering snowflakes,” as he likes to reiterate, antagonistically. Usman was more cerebral in his evaluation of the fight and the stylistic matchup.
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“To the naked eye, it seems the same. We both go hard. We both wrestle pretty well. We both throw record numbers of punches in our fights … and we both dominate. So to the naked eye, it seems the same, but it’s really not. The way I use my mind. The way that I set things up and corner guys. The way that I trap them and make certain guys work is completely different,” said Usman. “I’m too big and too strong for all these guys.”
With all the media done and dusted, the fighters departed to handle the final stages of their weight cuts in preparation for UFC 245.
The UFC 245 PPV main card on ESPN+ begins at 7 p.m. PST / 10 p.m. EST.
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Follow the BroBible Instagram story for more from the ground floor at UFC 245 fight week.
If you don’t know, now you know. #UFC245 early prelims start at 6:15pm ET on @UFCFightPass and the main event starts at 10pm ET on @espn+ PPV pic.twitter.com/F7xjRKAagK
— danawhite (@danawhite) December 13, 2019
UFC 245 PPV main card (ESPN+)
Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – UFC welterweight title fight
Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski – UFC featherweight title fight
Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie – UFC bantamweight title fight
Jose Aldo vs. Marlon Moraes
Urijah Faber vs. Petr Yan
UFC 245 Preliminaries (ESPN 2) 5 p.m. PST / 8 p.m. EST
Mike Perry vs. Geoff Neal
Ketlen Vieira vs. Irene Aldana
Matt Brown vs. Ben Saunders
Ian Heinisch vs. Omari Akhmedov
UFC 245 Early Prelims (UFC Fight Pass) 1:30 p.m. PST / 4:30 p.m. EST
Chase Hooper vs. David Teymur
Brandon Moreno vs. Kai Kara-France
Jessica Eye vs. Viviane Araujo
Punahele Soriano vs. Oskar Piechota
*Fight Card Subject to Change
UFC 245 & ESPN+ Annual Plan Only $79.98 — Over 25% Off!
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