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Let’s talk about UFC President Dana White. How is he as a boss?
He’s the boss! He’s just like anybody else’s boss. However your boss is probably how Dana is. He’s cool and he’s straight up, and he doesn’t lie.

He doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Diretso talaga mga sagot niya. He brought the UFC back to life along with the Fertitta brothers.

Another Pinoy UFC fighter, Mark Munoz, is getting props as of late. If Dana tells you to fight the guy on a catch weight bout, would you do it?
If me and Mark are getting paid enough money I will talk to Mark about it and say yes. As long as we’re getting paid well I’m pretty sure were going to be fighting each other.

So you’re not like Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva, who both insist they will never fight each other.
Nope. Not at all.

Your wife, Kerry Vera, fights as well. We heard she avenged your UFC 105 loss to Randy Couture. How did that happen?
Kerry fought Randy’s ex-wife Kim Couture a week after my fight with Randy and destroyed Kim Couture. DESTROYED KIM COUTURE.

Your wife did avenge you there.
Yeah, it was really nice to see. Ha ha!

Your entrance song is Apl.D.Ap’s “Bebot.” Were you a babaero before you met Kerry?
I would have to say yes because I would be lying if I said no. Ha ha! I was just dating a lot of girls before I met my wife.

I would date a lot but I didn’t have many girlfriends. We dated for about 2 to 3 weeks before we decided to date each other seriously. It didn’t take long to understand that we were going to be an item.

How long have you guys been married?
Hindi ko alam. Maybe 5 years?

Do you guys ever fight at home? Who’s more aggressive?
Wala, parehas kami. We both just chill at home. In the 6 years we’ve known each other I think we’ve only fought two times.

Are we talking about physical fights?
Wala na, pagod na pagdating sa bahay eh. Ha ha!

What’s your advice on how to keep your woman?
Be honest, don’t lie, and try to make her happy everyday. If you’re not doing that, then you shouldn’t be married.

Of course it helps that you’re training together most of the time.
Yeah. We train at the same time but we don’t train together. She trains at the opposite side of the gym.

Why? Ever tried training her?
Yeah, it doesn’t work. I’m an asshole trainer – minumura ko siya kaya nagagalit siya sa akin. Because she doesn’t see me as her trainer, she sees me as her husband.

She gets sensitive kapag sinisigawan ko so she gets more and more mad. So we found out a long time ago that it doesn’t work. That was a wrong decision!

When you guys do fight, does it affect your performance as a fighter?
It can destroy a fighter. I’ve seen so many fighters go by the waste side. So many great fighters. Because of women.

It’s hard to say and it might sound sexist but right now MMA is mostly a man’s sport and I’ve seen many go to waste because of women. Actually, personal problems affect everything, not only in fighting.

Finally, what is with that victory dance? It sort of became your signature move.
Ha ha! I think it’s just me being excited and it happened and I just stuck with it.