2:31: Liddell states thoughts of retirement do not cross his mind. “I’ll worry about what happens after the fight after the fight,” he explains. He clearly has no desire to discuss retirement at all, but that should not come as a surprise to anyone.
2:34: “I never look at any of the fights I have at launching my career,” states Barry. “I’ve gotta take every fight one at a time, no matter who it is.” Says his match up with a man like Cro Cop shows that he’s “obviously doing something right.”
2:37: Franklin explains that the weight cut for the middleweight division is not an easy one. At the same time, he also realizes that he is small at the 205-pound mark, but states he has not run into anyone with a major strength advantage at the weight. If anyone could use a 195-pound division, it’s Rich Franklin. He seems pretty comfortable at the midpoint between the light heavyweight and middleweight division, except when Vitor Belfort is his opponent.
2:42: Question is asked regarding the controversy of MMA in Vancouver. Franklin jumps in first, stating that critics of the sport are often “just not educated” about the sport. Says his fight in Germany was like a trip back in time after hearing references to human cockfighting, a tag that has been removed from the sport for the most part in the States. Liddell agrees completely with Franklin and adds that this sport is safer than boxing and kickboxing.
2:45: Cro Cop states that this is the last fight left on his current contract with the UFC, but says he does not really want to talk about it until after the fight. Cro Cop is asked about Barry’s earlier statements about Cro Cop’s responsibility for the advancement of the sport. Not a man to boast, Cro Cop says Barry can explain his point further, rather than commenting on his role in the sport.
2:48: Cro Cop explains that injuries have caused him to abandon his kicks in recent history. The absence of his kicks in the Junior dos Santos and Mostapha Al-Turk was clearly noticeable. A man known for his devastating kickboxing, Cro Cop says he is now feeling fine and ready to get back to his kicking ways.
2:52: Franklin says he was not eager to be a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter,” but he only spent a short amount of time coaching this season after replacing Ortiz. He says he’s not sure how he would have felt to coach an entire season.
2:55: Franklin and Liddell are asked about the quick sellout of the event. Each fighter says he can clearly notice when an event has a lot of attention and hype surrounding it. Both fighters state that they do love when the fans get hyped for events they are a part of.
2:56: Cro Cop says that all he is doing is fighting now and does not believe he will return to police work or politics. He says he is happy with life and wants to continue fighting as long as people want to watch him inside the cage.
2:57: The fighters are thanked and the call is set to conclude, but Pat Barry asks to say one last thing to Cro Cop. Unfortunately, Cro Cop has already disconnected. Barry states that he just wanted to tell him that he was serious about getting his autograph, but that conversation will have to wait. The call wraps up after roughly 50 minutes of nothing but respect between all four fighters. A nice change of pace after the Jackson-Evans shouting match from a couple weeks back.