what’s going on junky Nation Gorgeous
George and goes are back with another
Superstar from the sport of mixed
martial arts today we get to talk to
Johnny Evin he’s going to be defending
his Bellator middleweight title versus
Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299 it’s an
early start time on September 23rd 11:00
amm Eastern 8: a. Pacific because of the
time change they’re eight hours ahead
nine hours ahead something like that of
course Johnny will be on the showtime
portion of the card but the fights do
start off on YouTube so if you want a
nice morning fights head that way what’s
up champ how are you chilling just uh
taking a little drive down to Alam
marada to hang out and watch some fights
with a friend and uh yeah Camp’s going
well only have one more sparring session
left and no injuries no nothing
everything’s going
great see if you wouldn’t have told me
where you were headed I was goingon to
guess and say he’s headed for a boat and
he’s going to go out to sea and there’s
going to be a beautiful woman with him
in a bikini next to him because your
your Instagram is filled with
that yeah just that me working out meet
TCH people my dog and me traveling so
basically that your boat is that your
boat or you got fancy friends that just
invite you out for the day no I don’t
have a boat yeah I don’t that’s too yeah
that’s too much uh maintenance I have a
few friends that you know few that will
rent a boat um few that own a boat so we
got a lot of friends you know that uh
like to be out at Sea and fish and
whatnot so they just take me along for
the ride you know is that what you do
most of the time when you’re on a boat
you fish or do you swim or do you jet
ski what do you
do uh sometimes I’ll fish with a friend
you know and then for the most part we
just kind of cruise and hang out and go
swimming and bring the girls and you
just have a good time um you said you’re
headed to go see some fights and I
imagine that’s UFC 293 are you going to
go say see some local local fights what
what are you talking
about no no no UFC card I’m just going
to go hang out with a a friend and a
sponsor of mine uh yeah yeah and you’re
gonna hear tonight you’re gonna hear a
lot of the best middleweight in the
world Israel L of Sonia does that sting
you or because you get a lot of love out
there man a lot of people think you’re
it to tell you the truth at least from a
lot of people I know and uh I wanted to
ask you what what how does that feel
what do you think of
that uh I don’t really care too much
about him man uh people can think
whatever they want to think uh obviously
he’s on the biggest stage in the world
so sure yeah he get credibility um I
mean he’s he’s the best guys in the
world he just hasn’t fought me um you
know it’s just a we’re in different
circumstances and unfortunately we
cannot fight and we could we can’t
figure out you know who really is the
best in the world but you know my boy
Sean’s going in uh tonight and I’m I’m
excited to watch him fight dizzy and uh
see how how that goes and you know I
think uh he has a better shot than a lot
of people are giving him um but yeah I I
I truly don’t think n he is the best in
the world I think there’s some holes in
his game um that I would definitely
expose but you know that’s just me
saying it is what it is I really
don’t care too much how long have you
thought that and been confident of it
usually someone gets to a certain amount
of defenses and then they they make that
Proclamation but how about you how long
have you felt that you are the best
middleweight in the world
uh I would say since after my Tok off
fight and uh actually leading up to that
fight I I started like really feeling
like damn dude I’m getting good you know
I’m sparring with really high level guys
and and doing better than I than I
thought you know a lot of times I’m like
in the it’s hard to digest uh sparring
when you’re in it but uh luckily enough
you know Mike Brown likes to film a lot
of my sparring I get to watch it back I
get to learn and I get get to see how
well I do and sometimes I’m I’m too hard
on myself and I think it’s a good thing
though I think it’s the reason why I’m
I’m accelerating getting so much better
um but basically yeah I’m I’m seeing you
know how well I’m doing and how much
better I’m getting uh exponentially
especially in the the time frame I’m
doing it in um you know I truly think
I’m the I’m the best or one of the best
in the world and I just I’m here to
prove it and I can’t wait to prove it um
I’m just going to keep winning fights
and and keep getting better
I was there in person for that fight and
I thought one of the nice things about
it was you slowly dissected them you did
take some risks obviously because I
think that was a little more striking
than wrestling early on uh but then it
all just kind of came together and I
thought that was pretty cool to see your
uh progression in the Striking blending
the two as well yeah man it’s getting
even better too uh I actually I wrestle
better when I’m not trying to force it
I I just go in and fight I’m not like
hey I got to take him down or I got to
hit him with this punch I’m just like
I’m in there and I’m seeing what I’m
seeing what they’re giving me and I’m
I’m working off of you know the
knowledge that I have and and trying to
make the best of it and when I see
certain opportunities I’m going to take
advantage of it and and go from there
because uh you know some guys will make
adjustments and I’m gonna have to make
an adjustment you know things aren’t
always going to go to game plan or you
know they might give you a different
look or maybe you know getting to the
takedown is a little bit harder than you
thought so you know you have to blend
your you’re striking a bit more and get
better angles and and maybe uh drive him
to the cage to finish the shot and it’s
like there’s a lot of little nuances
that um that you need to be prepared for
and and you need to be able to adjust
during a fight so I I do game plan and I
do work on a lot of specific things but
when I’m in there I’m not thinking about
I’m just
fighting Johnny eblin Our Guest here on
MMA junky radio he’s got a big fight
coming up against Fabian Edwards out in
Dublin Ireland all right goes what do
you have for the channel Johnny so I
want to talk a little bit about Fabian
he’s got a nice little streak going on
um but how do you feel like you know do
you feel like he was able to shake some
of the things that that uh happened in
that two-fight losing streak do you feel
like he’s improved a lot since those
fights uh yeah sure yeah I mean he’s
been training you know got a few more
fights under his belt definitely gained
some more experience you know probably
made a few adjustments uh learned from
those losses probably learned from his
wins um you know because the best guys
in the world I think learned from their
wins and their
losses but I I just don’t see
him you know beating me in any
circumstance um he has gotten better and
I I have seen a progression in him but
it’s just not relative to the
progression I’ve made you know even
since my last fight it’s
just I’m going to be too much for him
I’m going to overwhelm him he’s I’m a
different animal when I’m in there he’s
going to feel
it we were talking about your game
earlier in the interview and I I was
thinking about the Striking and the
Jiu-Jitsu part of it have you come to
love it the way you have with wrestling
because you know even George and I our
job uh we love our job but there’s as
aspects of our job that we love more and
then parts that we kind of learn little
by little and come to love those too I
was curious where are you at with those
types of of uh the Striking that you
just do you do you love them now or is
it just part of the job just part of the
job and I love I love fighting man so
anything that pertains to me winning a
fight uh me getting better I I I love to
do it I wake up every day and I go to
train and I thoroughly enjoy it um
actually my coaches tell me I need to
get the out of the gym a lot of the
time and that I overtrain and I have to
work on like resting and actually this
Camp I’ve I feel like I’ve made that
adjustment uh very well and my training
sessions have been going better and I’m
learning a lot more and I’m pulling a
lot of things off on learning in
sparring so yeah I just love the whole
the whole game man um anything that I
need to work on I’m gonna I’m GNA work
on and I’m gonna enjoy working on it
while I do it you know if you need a
coach for uh resting George and I you
can bring us into Camp we’ll we’ll we’ll
train you to rest really well kind of
experts yeah
resting hey Johnny so let me ask you
something that happens in a lot of
sports okay and it it’s kind of
interesting because I don’t feel it’s
happened to you and I want to know what
it is about you when people reach uh
high levels in their Sports they kind of
or they sign a big contract they become
a little complacent we’ve seen the
opposite from you what is it about you
or what is it about Fighters that you
feel um can kind of overcome
that I think you got to stay you got to
stay humble and it’s easier said than
done
um I think I I I like to be wise and
learn from other people’s mistakes and
I’ve I’m at the best gym in the world
and I’ve been around some of the best
fighters in the world you know literally
met them at the peak of their game and I
you know not not to say I watch their
demise but I watch them you know kind of
you know Fall Off Track or you know
maybe not accomplish all the goals that
they wanted and I kind of like sat there
and I thought like well what wrong like
I can’t really like pick out one thing
but I I’ll like be like well maybe they
could have done this instead of this and
I’m like kind of sitting back and like
disecting it and I’m like well whenever
there’s an opportunity for me um that
arises and I have to make a decision you
know at the end of the day I’m going to
make the decision that’s going to be
best for me to be a world champion and
and the best in the world so you know I
think uh I try to be wise in my decis
decisions I make every day and uh I keep
a white belt mentality when when it
comes to training and and learning and
uh you know never never uh get too big
of AE and stay
humble are you still taking your Allstar
crew of coaches uh to this
fight uh everybody um except King Mo’s
not gonna be able to make it out sadly
but uh my boy JP Reese he’s gonna be
with me he’s actually uh a 21 fight
veteran he actually fought Bobby green
and he fought Kevin Lee back in the day
um but he’s a good friend of mine we we
both coached wrestling together uh a
while back when I first moved to Florida
he was one of my first friends and we
coached a wrestling team together and um
he kind of helped me get into at as well
and uh actually moved around with him
today and we just play SP and yeah just
really good friend of mine um really
happy to have him in my corner and uh
you know obviously have Mike Brown
Thiago Alves and uh Dustin porier he’s
going to make it out yeah and I met you
through through King Mo if I don’t if
you don’t mind me asking is he okay yeah
he’s good he’s good everything’s fine um
you know just uh can’t make
it okay all right um well I was going to
say you picked good coaches in terms of
when you uh uttered the word humble Mike
Brown and King Mo both held major belts
in their lives but I notice that it
wasn’t the type of Fame that came
afterwards maybe even the riches I guess
that has deterred others from like the
quest you know which is to get better
and better and and dominate right so I
you couldn’t pick two better names you
know in your career than than those two
guys for
sure yeah man I feel like uh I try to
surround myself with people that are
like-minded and uh humble in themselves
and I think when you do that you know
you’re you’re going to be you’re going
to be the people that you hang out with
the most so I just try to surround
myself with with the right
you know you trained at extreme Couture
I saw a few weeks back and you you
mentioned Sean’s name earlier I wanted
to ask you this question that I may have
asked you before I I I I tend to say
this to the wrestlers a lot tell me
about the balance between obviously
Strickland could have an advantage if he
takes the fight to the ground but he
loves to throw down with his hands right
and I always think back to Cha sunon
versus Anderson Silva won from the
minute that fight started he put him on
his ass and he almost won he got
submitted in late round five so tell me
about that balance between the two which
is
obviously some some wrestlers will tell
you my hands open up the wrestling but
with cha he just went to it right away
what’s the balance between the two and
making sure that you don’t leave that
Arena not having used your main strength
to its
fullest um I think are you talking you
asking this question for me or for like
Sean for you well for you and for him
obviously you’re both both facing
Strikers and I’m sure this won’t be the
last Striker you ever face but you have
an amazing wrestling pedigree and I
can’t imagine that that person wakes up
on fight Day saying you know um feeling
good about themselves because of that
yeah well the whole the whole point so
like with my game my whole point is I’m
gonna blend it to where it’s you’re
you’re not sure what I’m going to do
yeah so it’s a lot of uncertainty of
what’s going to happen and Fighters
don’t like UNC C they like certainty
they like to be able to read guys so my
whole game is you’re not going to be
able to read me maybe maybe for a little
bit or maybe I even get you thinking I’m
doing something but then I’m switching
it up um and next thing you know you’re
on your ass or you’re on the cage and
you’re fighting for your life trying to
get up and uh you know it’s it’s about
keeping things uncertain from them so
they
can’t they can’t uh use their game plan
against you or you know utilize certain
techniques against you um and and
obviously you know using using things to
set up your strengths to get you into
spots where you’re better than them um
that’s why I think you know if Shawn can
make this fight a little dirty and you
know kind of be in his be in Izzy’s face
utilize his jab you know utilize his
pressure and get thinking or get uh Izzy
thinking he’s he’s in a a firefight and
then next thing you know Sean’s taking
him down on the cage and Sean can hold
people down man I’ve seen him hold down
like Collegiate wrestlers
like he can he can hold yeah he can
grapple man like that and he’s heavy he
can be heavy and he has a really good
understanding of how to stay heavy and
and um float on top of guys if that
makes any sense so totally yeah he he’s
uh he’s better than you think when it
comes to like grappling his wrestling is
obviously not like to the pedigree of
mine but I mean he’s going with guys
like me all the time Alex bzy is out
there
um so I mean he has the capacity to take
down Izzy for sure because I mean Alex
Pereira took down Izzy like come on you
know the more the more you get a guy
thinking that you’re going to strike
with them the easier it is to take them
down if that makes any sense yep totally
good answer man um all right before we
let you go I got to know
um you are you wearing a Jet’s t-shirt
or is there the other two letters an E
and A
P
G got it okay
I was like from Iowa living in Florida
where’s the Jets connection although you
do look like uh they have a former
Packer quarterback there and Aaron
Rogers but you kind of give off a little
far Vibe when you with the beard there
yeah who’s your defin definitely a
Chiefs fan they
lost well yeah you’re coming off a Super
Bowl so it’s not it’s not too bad you
guys will be all right
anyway out of all the people what’s that
lost the Detroit Lions out of all
teams yeah that’s a tough one to start
but you guys will be all right thanks
for the time champ and uh safe travels
great hope you have a great fight on the
23rd no
problem
