Inside MMA TV report – Steve Austin talks Punk, similarities with pro wrestling and MMA, differences, and Bas talks how pro wrestling is much harder and more dangerous

Interview with Ryan LaFlare

Kenny and Bas interview LaFlare over the screen. LaFlare said his fight with Damian Maia is his biggest test. Bas asks if LaFlare’s game plan is to keep it on its feet and knock him out. LaFlare said he thinks he can knock him out, but he has to watch out for all aspects of Maia’s game.

Rice asks what has changed in LaFlare’s game while he has been in the UFC. LaFlare said he has been improving in camp even though he has had a couple setbacks with injuries since joining the UFC. Bas asks what drew LaFlare to MMA. LaFlare said in Long Island Matt Serra and Phil Baroni are local heroes. LaFlare played lacrosse and wrestled and from there got into jiu jitsu.

LaFlare said last year he tore his ACL for a second time. He said he came back a little earlier than he wanted and he tore it. He said he fought with a torn ACL against John Howard.

Bas asks what LaFlare thinks of Brazilian fans. LaFlare said he likes the fans, but he would like to fight in New York.

LaFlare said he is going to have the most punches against Maia and he is going to stop all of Maia’s takedowns.

Interview with Steve Austin

Bas interviews Austin outside the Staples Center. They promoted WrestleMania 31 being in Santa Clara.

Bas says he and Steve Austin are almost twins and the same things happened to them in both their careers.

They talk about Austin’s college years. Austin said he played football and college wrestling wasn’t for him. He said he learned pro wrestling after college. He said he watched wrestling at the Sam Houston Coliseum as a kid. He said he remembers going to a Dusty Rhodes match there with his mother where Dusty was bleeding badly and Steve asked his mother why one of the security guards at the arena didn’t help Dusty.

They talked about how they both did New Japan. Austin asks Bas how he enjoyed going from doing shoots to doing works. Bas said it was crazy, that in his first match he broke a disc in his back and in his second match he ruptured an eyeball, and in his third he ruptured an ear drum, so his wife told him to go back to real fighting.

Austin said pro wrestlers are big fans of MMA and vice versa. Austin said pro wrestlers talk about who are the tougher athletes between wrestlers and MMA fighters. Bas said he guarantees that there are more injuries in pro wrestling. Bas said you do at least 200 or more shows per year and the falls and blows are real.

Bas asks about CM Punk. Austin thinks he does great in the ring, great psychology, great on the microphone. He said Punk cuts a great promo. Austin thinks he can draw money with CM Punk. Austin wishes CM Punk well in the UFC.

Bas asks Austin if he wanted to do MMA. Austin said maybe back in the day in south Texas if the sport had been at the level now, back in his football days. Austin said he had the mindset for it, but he doesn’t know if he could adapt to the training. Austin said he was a good football player, but a great pro wrestler, so he found the right calling.

Bas talks about Sakuraba being a pro wrestler and beating the Gracies. Austin talks about how he wonders if the crowd affects MMA fighters when they are out there because pro wrestlers draw on the rush from the crowd. Austin said sometimes MMA crowds are funny, as the crowd will start booing if two fighters are having a great fight, but canceling out everything the other is doing. Austin wonders if that affects fighters.

Bas asks other wrestlers that would do great in MMA. Austin said in another day and age it would be Kurt Angle. Austin says he doesn’t know how Undertaker would have done, but he has to throw him in there because Undertaker is a huge MMA fan.

They talk about the Broken Skull Challenge. Sunday night is the last show of the second season. It’s on CMT. It’s filmed about fifty miles outside of Los Angeles.

Interview with Burt Watson

They aired a pretaped interview Kenny conducted with Watson.

Kenny asks what the issue was the caused him to resign. Watson said he was approached wrong. Watson said he had a system within a system where he took care of the fighters from Sunday to Sunday. He said Munoz did not make weight at the weigh-in and went back and cut weight. Munoz then came back and made weight and Watson’s job was done. Watson had someone take him to the hotel and he had someone go back and pick Munoz up and take him back to the hotel.

About an hour later, he got a phone call from a high level executive wondering where Munoz was. Watson said the phone call caught him off-guard and surprised him and the way he was approached caught him off-guard and surprised him. He said it got to a level where Watson’s integrity and work ethic was questioned. He said the person on the phone threw a left and Watson came back with a right.

Watson said cooler heads probably could have prevailed and Watson could have been more careful with what he said. Watson wasn’t happy that his integrity and work ethics were questioned.

Watson said over the last while since quitting, he has heard from fighters, former UFC fighters, camps, everybody, about his leaving. He spoke to Munoz a couple of times and spoke to Ronda’s camp, although he didn’t speak to Ronda directly.

Second interview with Steve Austin

They close out the final minutes of the show with Austin, Bas, and Kenny outside the Staples Center. Kenny asks if CM Punk will be a success in the UFC. Austin says to be determined. Austin said he’ll sell a lot of tickets. Austin said he has a high work ethic, but he’s not a spring chicken and he’s been around awhile.

They ask about how important the entertainment side of the business. Bas said if they do in MMA what they do in pro wrestling, the stars in MMA would be even bigger. Austin said on the flip side it’s true, too. Austin said he likes what MMA does with a lot of the storylines and how they happen organically and grow. Austin said you have to have charisma, a hook to all the great ones that sell tickets. Bas asks if in MMA Austin thinks guys play heel on purpose. Austin said yes and that it creates buzz.

Bas, who wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling for a time, said pro wrestling was much harder than MMA, and he got hurt far worse in wrestling, and couldn’t even imagine doing 200 or more matches a year.  He said due to his injuries in wrestling, his wife begged him to go back to real fighting.

They ask if he could go back in time, he would be an MMA fighter. Austin said he loves pro wrestling, so no. Austin said if he was a fighter the guy he would want to fight most is Cain Velasquez. Austin said he would never be able to beat him, but we’re just talking fantasy stuff here.