Michael Chiesa’s Last Walk: Retirement Fight in Front of Home Fans

All right, Michael Case, uh, last fight.

It seems like everything's, uh, lining for you though.

I see the hat there.

The Seahawks just won the Super Bowl.

You're fighting at home.

How different is this heading into this fight with kind of the pressure off that it's the last one?

Yeah, you know, it's been a lot of fun.

Uh, fight week just started so hot yesterday, man.

Getting to go to the Seahawks training facility, holding the Lombardi Trophy.

Um, it's a great way to start fight week.

Any fight I've had where we've got to go kind of experience those types of things, um, it's always resulted in, in a good performance.

So it just reminds me of like when I, when I fought in Tampa in 2016, Tyler Johnson from Spokane was playing for the Lightning and we got to go watch a game and kind of go check it out and then, um, winning is contagious.

So getting to go to the Seahawks facility and, and touch the Lombardi, I'm hoping that rubs off on me and, and I have a good performance on Saturday.

But this, this fight week's been really special, man, to be, Having a home game, sharing the card with some, with some fellow Pacific Northwest fighters, man, it's, um, this is the perfect scenario.

Have you thought about what those emotions are going to be like when you're getting ready to make that walk on Saturday?

You know, the biggest thing for me that I've been kind of saying this week is like, if, if my emotions want to come out, I'm just letting them come out.

I'm not, I'm, I've never been one to like hold back from wearing my heart on my sleeve, um, and that's important for me because I got to lock in.

I'm, I can't be, Sobbing and, and getting myself out of my zone that I need to be in, um, you know, to go get in this fight, to go fight Niko Price.

So, um, I have no doubt that I'll be locked in when I make the walk.

I'm, I'm very, very focused right now.

I know that, um, the oddsmakers may not say it, but I know that I'm in for a tough fight on Saturday.

So, Um, I'm just like, if the emotions come out, I'm just letting them flow this week and just kind of getting it out of my system before I make that walk.

But that's like the moment that I've been looking forward to the most, honestly, is , is when that, when that song plays and that curtain opens up and I get to make that walk, and that's like been a big part of my manifestation for this fight.

So I'll be locked in.

I'll be in the zone and I'll be ready to go do whatever I got to do to get the job done.

You mentioned Nico and obviously a veteran.

You are a mass, you can't ignore the odds though.

You're a massive favorite.

You so you're, but you're not viewing this as Like a favor from the UFC in your retirement fight.

I don't like being in this space.

I honestly, I, it's so much easier when you're an underdog, when that, that honestly takes the pressure off because when you're a big favorite, the expectation is like, you have to pitch a shutout.

You can't make a mistake.

He, even if you win and he hits you once and clips you and you kind of got to fight your way back, people are always going to have, you know, something to say about it.

So, uh, it just kind of reminds me like what I had to kind of go through with the Diego Sanchez fight.

I was like, I don't like being this huge favorite.

I just, it, the pressure.

It is so much more alleviated when you're expected to lose.

You just, it's, it's just, it's a, I always say it's a great space to be in, um, but either way, I just, I don't, I don't look at it like an easy fight.

That'd be a huge mistake.

Nico's super dangerous.

We've seen him finish guys in very precarious positions.

So, um, it's important for me to just kind of maintain that underdog mentality.

And uh just go in there and fight like the odds are stacked against me because that's when I fight my best .

This is your last fight, but you aren't retiring because we see you at UFCBJJ um in the commentary booth.

Let's talk about UFCBJJ and the growth of that sport because obviously you come from a grappling background.

What's it been like getting involved in seeing the growth of that so far?

Dude, it's awesome.

Like if I'm going to be completely honest with you, I My, when I, when I started training mixed martial arts, I particularly fell in love with grappling.

I didn't, I wasn't a huge fan of sparring.

I, I just was getting my ass kicked all the time, but I loved grappling.

I grew up as a wrestler, and it's crazy for me to say this, but I, I think that if the opportunities.

For jiu-jitsu were around when I first started training, maybe I wouldn't have went the direction that I did because there's guys that are making some decent money and it's only going to get better, especially with the UFC getting behind it.

Um, you know, I, I don't know the numbers of what these guys make.

It's quite frankly, it's none of my business.

Uh, but I know a lot of them, a lot of them have said they're making good enough money to like, they don't have to focus on just running around the US and teaching seminars, like they can solely focus on competition.

Um, and I love the brand, I love the format, I love the bowl.

I love everything about it.

If I wasn't in the commentating space and kind of a staple on that team, I'd probably be clamoring for a match at UFC BJJ, but I, I think they want to keep some separation from the UFC fighters and , and the UFC BJJ athletes.

But nonetheless, man, it's, it's super fun to watch, um, and it's only gonna get better.

We got great athletes.

I mean, the Tackett brothers are must-see TV.

Hanato Canuto is must-see TV.

Um, you know, Mason Fowler holding the belt's great, uh, and I just love what they're doing, man.

It's, it's a very, very fun production team, um, working with Dean, working with John Schriffen, and, uh, obviously Teci, and Claudia know what they're doing.

So it's only going to get better and, and I'm excited to be a part of it for sure.

Uh, one name you didn't mention, Mikey Musumeci, one of the faces of that, of that promotion, and I actually talked to Claudia, and she says that, you know, they're, they're having trouble finding him opponents now.

So she is considering maybe some.

that UFC crossover.

Obviously, you're a little bit bigger than Mikey, but do you think that the, that UFC BJJ should look at some of these UFC athletes to maybe draw more of that mainstream eye to it?

Absolutely.

There, there are some athletes I think they could, they could compete at UFC BJJ, but to be honest, Mikey's in a league of his own.

Um, I think that they do the Joel Meow match for him.

Um, Junior Ocasio, who's over at CFFC BJJ, I know he's been clamoring for a rematch.

The problem is, is there's such a difference between MMA grappling and sport jiu-jitsu.

The biggest thing is like the leg locks, and you would hate to see like, let's just go off the top of my head.

Let's say Charles Oliveira, the, the best submission artist we've ever seen in the UFC.

You would hate to throw him in there in a match with like one of the Tackett brothers and have him get his knee shredded to bits when he's like in the prime of his career.

So, That's, I think that that's one of the other kind of hurdles that, that would kind of come up if you were trying to do some crossover.

But I think there are some guys, Juicier Formiga, he, you know, he's one on one at UFC BJJ.

He's a former UFC fighter.

He's a good grappler.

I definitely think that there's some guys that could cross over and have some success, but in terms of like the marquee guys, I just don't know if it's worth the risk.

You mentioned Charles Oliveira, um, a lot of talk about the BMF title fight.

There were, I think there was a lot of discourse that, you know, it was a boring fight, but I think that was because the BMF title was attached to it, right?

As a grappler, what did you make of the, the narrative surrounding that performance?

I understand, um, kind of both sides of it.

For one, the BMF title and what it represents is, it's usually a mutual agreement to kind of stand toe to toe and, uh, and let it fly a little bit.

And that's kind of what we've seen from all the BMF title fights.

But, uh, you, for Charles, a guy that's such a specialist in one area.

You can't expect him to just throw that to the wayside and stand toe to toe with the best boxer in the UFC.

Um, so I don't blame him for, for, you know, implementing his grappling.

And to me, uh, you know, I thought it was a masterclass and even for Max to display the defense that he did was remarkable in itself.

Um, but even when Charles decided to, to stand and trade with Max a little bit, he had a lot of success.

So I think that maybe he could have surprised himself if he would have committed to a different game plan, but, I can see why there was some clamoring as to why it wasn't the best fight and just because, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it was the BMF title.

Um.

And the unfortunate situation is like now is like, do we do another BMF fight again, just given the fact like what happened because every other one before that was a classic.

Dustin Poirier getting knocked out by Gichi, Gici and Max, even, you know, Nate Diaz and Masvidal, like all the BMF fights up until that point were very special, very special fights.

So we'll see what they do with it going forward, but I'm not going to take any, anything away from Charles.

Or Max, I think that both of them displayed great skills in that fight.

And then just a couple of quick ones for me.

The White House card, Justin Gauci, uh, they're going to unify the lightweight title.

What did you make of the matchmaking there?

Obviously, he's got a very tall task in going in there against Ella.

It's a fight to fight.

What do you make of his chances?

I think this is the, I mean, obviously Justin Gauche to me, it's a no-brainer to put him in that main event spot.

Um, and it's going to be a great fight.

I do think stylistically, it's a very challenging fight for Justin.

Justin needs to get in close quarters to where he can get his hands on you and dirty box and fight in the pocket a little bit, um, to have the most success.

And for Tapoa, I mean, he's an incredible puncher.

I think it's, it's going to be a very fun fight.

It's going to take place on the feet.

And I don't see it going longer than 10 minutes, but , uh, in terms of the whole White House card as a whole, uh, I think it's a great card.

I think everybody was expecting 6 title fights, 6 marquee matchups, but what people don't realize from a business side of things is like, You do 6 title fights or you do 6 huge marquee matchups, you're going to take away from all the other cards surrounding it.

International Fight Week is like just a week or two later, you know, and so you have to, you have to keep the other cards with some title fights, with some marquee matchups.

You kind of got to spread it out.

But I think that, you know, I think the main card opener is Steve Garcia and , um, Diego Lopez.

I think people will stop complaining once that curtain jerker kicks off because that fight's going to be a barn burner and I think it's going to set the tone through the course of that event.

And I think, um, I think people will stop complaining once the fights start, but I think they did a great job matchmaking it, and it's gonna be a good event .

Alright, Michael KS uh, thanks so much for the time, man.

Appreciate it.

That's a sick shirt, by the way.

Thank you, man.

Thank you.