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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from Newstalks EDB throw on one hook in, Let's see

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Speaker 1: if he's got the two.

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Speaker 2: He's got the two.

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Speaker 3: Plus still god Africauntry Wister plus see remains den what

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Speaker 3: eighty five? Yeah, So that was the last time he

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Speaker 3: was in the ring or in the octagon. Rather, you

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Speaker 3: can watch UFC Fight Night in Saudi Arabia live on

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Speaker 3: ESPN and stream on skysport Now from six o'clock tomorrow morning.

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Speaker 3: Let's bring in Ravender Hernia from UFC on sky Revender,

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Speaker 3: thanks for taking the time to chat to us. As always,

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Speaker 3: Israel comes in after losing back to back fights for

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Speaker 3: the first time in his twenty eight bout professional MMA career.

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Speaker 3: What sort of mindset and mentality will he bring into

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Speaker 3: this one?

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Speaker 1: Oh?

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Speaker 2: I think he will come into this obviously wanting a win.

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Speaker 2: That's what any fighter would want in this situation. But

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Speaker 2: I think the pressure of not having to be fighting

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Speaker 2: for a title is a pressure that he probably welcome.

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Speaker 2: He's been fighting the last twelve fights straight title fights.

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Speaker 2: I mean, they're still a main event, but it's not

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Speaker 2: a pay per view, so that pressure is off of him.

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Speaker 2: He's fighting nazadene Imovov, who is number five in a division,

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Speaker 2: and he's just made a bit of a name of himself,

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Speaker 2: having three successful fights last year against top ten guys.

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Speaker 2: So I think that the pressure is off is either fight,

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Speaker 2: and I think he can, you know, maybe approach this

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Speaker 2: fight with a little more freedom.

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Speaker 3: Do you think he feels he has something to prove

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Speaker 3: after successive defeats.

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Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, And I think even if he wasn't defeated,

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Speaker 2: he still feels like he has something to prove it.

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Speaker 2: You know, that's the name of the game. But I

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Speaker 2: think for him it'll be motivating, uplifting and a win

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Speaker 2: could you know, definitely bring up a spirit. But you know,

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Speaker 2: at the same time, the reality of this one means

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Speaker 2: that he's another, you know, one fight or two maybe

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Speaker 2: away from another title shot, which is absolutely where he

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Speaker 2: would want to be.

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Speaker 3: I saw some of the media he did in the

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Speaker 3: lead up to morning, and one of the things he said,

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Speaker 3: which I thought what was interesting, was this one's for me.

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Speaker 3: I'm doing this for me. I often fight for other

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Speaker 3: people from a team, a family, et cetera. This one's

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Speaker 3: for me. Did that kind of resonate with you as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and he hasn't kind of been in that

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Speaker 2: mindset for a little while. So, you know, when he

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Speaker 2: fought Sean Strickland, when he fought Dricus Duplasi and was unsuccessful,

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Speaker 2: you know, he was going through having made a movie,

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Speaker 2: having you know, things were going on externally for him.

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Speaker 2: So for him to come into this phone and say

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Speaker 2: that this is for me and you know, having that

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Speaker 2: to prove and nothing else kind of you know, being

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Speaker 2: a hindrance on him makes an absolute difference in terms

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Speaker 2: of his mindset coming. And even though we know that

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Speaker 2: when he comes into these fights psychologically he's always so

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Speaker 2: very strong. Well that's the way he likes to, you know,

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Speaker 2: perceive himself to the public.

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Speaker 3: We just seem to have lost Ravi there right midstream.

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Speaker 3: We'll get Andy to get her back because we wanted

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Speaker 3: to get we wanted to get the rest of that.

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Speaker 3: So we're just trying to get Ravi back on the line.

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Speaker 3: It's just if we can do that. So tomorrow morning

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Speaker 3: from six on ESPN as where you can pick up

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Speaker 3: UFC Fight Night in Saudi Arabia with Israel Disna fighting

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Speaker 3: the French with a bit of Russian background. Nasor Deen

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Speaker 3: Imovov at fight night in Saudi Arabia. I think we've

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Speaker 3: got Ravi back, so we can bring her back in

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Speaker 3: I think maybe just a bad reception area or something similar.

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Speaker 3: So let's yep, we can bring it back. Rabi. We

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Speaker 3: just lost it there. But I was just going to

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Speaker 3: ask about whether there was ever a chance in your

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Speaker 3: mind that Israel might have called her a day. What's

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Speaker 3: seven years in UFC mighty have called it a day?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Possibly, I mean seven years at any job as

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Speaker 2: a long fought battle. But you know, when you think

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Speaker 2: about the sport and the demand that that has on

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Speaker 2: your body and you know where's you're down, it really does.

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Speaker 2: And then when you kind of get to the pinnacle,

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Speaker 2: you know, when you're the champion, you've been a champion

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Speaker 2: for so long, and then you get a couple of

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Speaker 2: long as you're kind of you know, looking on the

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Speaker 2: other side of things. So I wouldn't I wouldn't blame him.

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Speaker 2: You know, obviously, financially he's probably set up for life.

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Speaker 2: He's helped set a Stanley up too, So what is

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Speaker 2: there no kind of left to prove? And I think

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Speaker 2: but now, like you said, he wants to prove something

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Speaker 2: to himself. It's no longer about you know, I need

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Speaker 2: to do this for my family, I need to do this,

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Speaker 2: for the fans to meet, to me, to me, it's

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Speaker 2: basically just him and the love of the sport.

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Speaker 3: So let's talk about his opponent tomorrow. Nasadine Imovov joined

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Speaker 3: at UFC in twenty twenty a seven two record one

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Speaker 3: note contest. What sort of fighter is he and what

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Speaker 3: are the main threats that he poses?

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, despite being you know, from Dugastan, where

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Speaker 2: we all know, you know, the best wrestlers in the

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Speaker 2: world come from, and the likes of kabeb Azarmakachev, he's

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Speaker 2: very much a stand up fighter. He's based in France

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Speaker 2: and has you know, come together with a new team

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Speaker 2: to kind of find Trune no skills, he's a striker,

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Speaker 2: he's a stand up fighter, but he is quite incompetent

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Speaker 2: on the ground as well. We saw that against the

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Speaker 2: likes of Brendan Allen. Brendan Allen in his last fight

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Speaker 2: is a grappler in the middleweight division and he totally

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Speaker 2: nullified anything that Brendan Allen brought to him, which shows

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Speaker 2: that he has great defensive skills. For takedowns. But we

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Speaker 2: know that Israela Dathsonia doesn't bring that kind of fight either,

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Speaker 2: so I'm expecting a stand and bang. Nazodi Imovov likes

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Speaker 2: to fight a little bit shorter. He has a long

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Speaker 2: reach seventy five, whereas I think is He has the

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Speaker 2: advantage of five inches there. So I'm expecting a stand

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Speaker 2: and bang. But Nadin he's not afraid to get into

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Speaker 2: the pocket, He's not afraid to get close. He's happy to,

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Speaker 2: you know, have those punches coming his way to give

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Speaker 2: what he needs to do. He's very slick on with

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Speaker 2: his boxing, so I'm expecting a stand and bang, But

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised coming up against a fighter like

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Speaker 2: Israela Dathsonia, where we've seen a blueprint there for takedowns. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: his last fight he lost by a renneckad choke to

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Speaker 2: drink a Stoplasi, so some ground game could be expected,

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Speaker 2: but I think Nazadi Imovov will would definitely want to

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Speaker 2: prove that he has fire in his hand as well

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Speaker 2: as is He.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, how big a fight is this for Imovov? Because

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Speaker 3: I feel like anyone who fights is He, it's a

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Speaker 3: big fight for them. Maybe their biggest ever fight.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, on the Shark UFC on Sky

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Speaker 2: this week, my co host Dan Hooker described it as

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Speaker 2: life changing for Imovov and he said to us in

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Speaker 2: an interview that he's been preparing for Israel a dast

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Speaker 2: when you long before he came into the UFC in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty, and of course when we think back at

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Speaker 2: that time, Israel was at as absolute peak as the champions.

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Speaker 2: So for Imovov this will be life changing. And to

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Speaker 2: have a fighter like Israel a desks when you're on

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Speaker 2: your CV serves you. Well, I don't want to call

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Speaker 2: israela desk when you're a gatekeeper, but man, a win

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Speaker 2: over Israel is an absolute you know, he's going to

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Speaker 2: have his name in title tooks in his next couple

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Speaker 2: of fights that he can get through Israel. So it's

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Speaker 2: absolutely life changing if you know Imoov can get the

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Speaker 2: job done.

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Speaker 3: All right, Ravia, Well, just before you go, regardless of

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Speaker 3: what happens tomorrow morning, Israel adis sonya as thirty five

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Speaker 3: years old. Now what do you predict for him? How

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Speaker 3: much longer will he go on?

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Speaker 2: That's up to him, you know, like we've seen fighters

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Speaker 2: go I mean some fighters go up, you know, well

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Speaker 2: into their forties and you think to yourself, oh jeez,

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Speaker 2: maybe you should hang up the gloves. But you know,

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Speaker 2: he's he's one of those fighters when you think of

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Speaker 2: like and he likened himself early on in his career

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Speaker 2: like Floyd Mayweather, where he likes to, you know, throw

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Speaker 2: out hits and not be hit back, you know. So

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Speaker 2: defense has always been something that has served him well

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Speaker 2: to not take those huts, which means you know, longevity

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Speaker 2: in the game. So I mean, it's totally up to him.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I just think that that is up to him.

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Speaker 2: But you know, when you're thinking realistically, like I said before,

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Speaker 2: in a sport like mma, it does wear you down,

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Speaker 2: you know. Israel, he's he doesn't have a family, you know,

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Speaker 2: children or things like that, and that might be an

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Speaker 2: aspect that he wants to think about too, about settling

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Speaker 2: down in life outside of the UFC. And he's absolutely

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Speaker 2: set himself in his family up for life. But no,

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Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think that this is his

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Speaker 2: possibly last run at trying to get back on top

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Speaker 2: and leave on a good note from the UFC's an

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Speaker 2: absolute superstar and the sport and will be no matter

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Speaker 2: how long he stays in the game.

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Speaker 3: All right, let's see what happens tomorrow morning. Early start

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Speaker 3: for all of us. Six am coverage starts tomorrow morning

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Speaker 3: on ESPN and Skysport now Rave thanks for joining us

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Speaker 3: as always with your great analysis.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me all the best.

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Speaker 3: Robinda Hernia there you can catch her on UFC on

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Speaker 3: sky one of the best voices going around in terms

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Speaker 3: of your knowledge and insight into UFC and mixed martial

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Speaker 3: arts six am tomorrow morning. UFC Fight Night in Saudi

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Speaker 3: Arabia featuring Israel ADISONNYA against Nasa Deen Imovoff. It's the

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Speaker 3: headline act on the card tomorrow morning.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk sed B weekends from midday or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio