MMA Fighting - The MMA Hour: Mayweather vs. McGregor special edition, Day 2

Episode Date: August 25, 2017

On this special edition of The MMA Hour, live from Las Vegas, site of Mayweather vs. McGregor, Ariel Helwani speaks to Carrot Top (00:06:00), Valentina Shevchenko (00:20:04), Gavin and Joe Maloof (00:33:10), Skip Bayless (00:45:36), Amanda Nunes and Nina Ansaroff (01:08:58), Demetrious Johnson (01:20:34), Kevin Lee (01:26:28), Freddie Roach (01:37:44), Bruce Buffer (01:49:34), and Chris Eubank (02:01:52). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. It's the Mixed Martial Arts Hour with Thursday, 2014, 2017, Logan, everyone, I'm Mario Hawani, back here in Las Vegas. This is day three of our coverage of all things, Mayweather McGregor, day two of our live MMA hour on the road episodes. And once again, we are live exclusively on Twitter. We are Twitter's exclusive home for the fight of the century. You see our great setup. We're inside the media center here in Sin City. Radio Row is behind me.

It's a great setup and the buzz is really building all day long. Now, we did an episode yesterday. You may have seen that. Phil Baroni, Stefan Bonner, a bunch of different guests, Maliki Kawa, et cetera, et cetera, Al Bernstein. Let me tell you what happened since I said goodbye to you yesterday at around, what was it, three to five. so 8 p.m. Eastern time. Went back to my room, got a quick bite tea with my colleague, Mark Romandie. And then we decided, we said, look, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

has been saying all week long that he is going to be at Girl Collection, his new Gentleman's Club leading up to the fight. I didn't believe him. I wanted to see if he was telling the truth. So at around 10.30, we packed up the team, and we went to Girl Collection. We spoke to the people there, and we said that we wanted to do an interview with Floyd at the club explaining why he is there a little over 48 hours before his last fight, his 50th pro fight, the fight of the century. They put us in a room upstairs, secluded.

They closed the door behind us that was probably this thick. It was like a vault. I thought that they were going to forget about us and leave us there until after the fight. And so we're sitting there and we're waiting one hour down, two hours down, three, four, five, five hours in, Floyd finally shows up and he's like the mayor of the place and he's got a huge stack of cash with him and he's shaking hands and he's saying hello

and he's chilling out and he's talking to people some journalists came and went it was fascinating to watch and then I went up to one of his security guards and I was like all right did you tell him about what we pitched our idea all that stuff and more and he said yeah he's not really feeling it he's here to just chill out

at this point I'm waiting five hours at this point it's just me and Casey our cameraman I couldn't pass this up we had reached a point of no return we couldn't go back home, so I had to try, I had to get in front of him. So slowly but surely I'm just sort of easing up, easing up, easing up. Finally, he sees me, and I say to him, Floyd, we've been here now six hours, please. Can we do an interview?

Can we talk about why you're here? Can we talk about the new club? We'll be very quick, I promise. He thinks about it for a second. He's like, all right, F it, let's go. And he darts up to where we were sitting. So he knew we were there. Darts up there, we sit down, we do the interview, and we get back.

to our room, I get to bed around 5.30 or so a.m., so that's 8.30 a.m. Eastern time. One hour's sleep, come back here, do the MMA beat, do a bunch of other interviews here, having left, and now we're doing the live show. And let me tell you something. Yes, I'm on one hour of sleep. I would not rather be anywhere else in the world. I am having the time in my life. This has been such a blast covering this, a privilege, an honor for all of you, this platform, with our great crew here. It has been so much fun. and we are going to do a hell of a lot more fun things today on the program. Why?

Because we have a star-studded lineup for all of you. Once again, this is the lineup. These are some of the names that will be joining us. Brian Kenny, who will be calling the international feed of the main card. So if you're living in Europe, you're living overseas. You'll be hearing from Brian Kenny and Sugar Ray Leonard on Saturday night. Not only that, he's calling the Fox prelims. So you'll be hearing a lot of Brian Kenny.

Brian Kenny was the man, by the way, who hosted that debate between Lou DeBella and Joe Rogan in 2007. on Sports Center. This man knows his boxing. I can't wait for that conversation. Amanda Nunes, the reigning defending UFC women's bantamweight champion. She'll be stopping by. Nina Ansaroff, her partner, who's now fighting Angela Hill on November 11th in Virginia. She'll be stopping by as well. And of course, Amanda Nunes returns to action on September 9th against Valentina Chavchenko. Bruce Buffer will be stopping by at 4.45 p.m. Pacific time at 7.45. So we'll talk to him. Chris Eubank, for all you British fans out there, all you European fans there. Chris Eubank will be stopping by. I can't wait to talk to him. Legendary boxer.

Of course he knows a thing or two about fighting an Irishman Steve Collins way back in the day. Looking forward to talking to Chris Eubank who's in phenomenal shape. Kevin Lee is back, the Motown phenom who fights Tony Ferguson on October 7th at UFC 216. Also Demetrius Johnson will be stopping by. The reigning defending UFC Flyway champion. He'll be here joining me. And how about this one my friends? Maybe the most beloved MMA pundit on this planet. Skip Bayliss is that. stopping by. Skip Bayliss of FS1 of the Skip and Chanon show, undisputed. Yes, FS1 every morning. You know him. You love the insight. Skip Bayliss is going to be on the program and Valentina Shivchenko, all those people, and maybe some others. Who knows?

It's like, it's like, it's like a Disney world here. It's amazing. There's so many people just walking around. It's great. And it's just so much fun just bumping into people and taking it all in and doing the show. You can sense how excited I am. probably after this show I'm going to collapse, but for now, I am very, very excited to be here, and I'm very excited to be kicking off day two of our live MMA hour on the road episodes exclusively on Twitter. By the way, if you missed our MMA beat earlier today, it was a phenomenal conversation with Mark Romundi, Luke Thomas, and Chuck Minanhall, the man in the hat, so I do urge you to check that out after this show. But for now, let's get the show on the road. And let's welcome in. Our first guest of the day, is he here? Yes, this man is synonymous with all things Las Vegas.

You don't even have to introduce him. The look, the hair, everything. Are I in the shot? Oh my dear God, Caratop has arrived. My Jerry Lewis had. Lady, hi. Yes. How are you, my friend? It's great to see you.

Wow, what a pleasure. Thank you. You don't have to wear those if you don't want, but it's good to hear yourself. I look better without him, I think. How about we put that over there too? We're not sponsored in water. Oh, very nice. Jerry Lewis.

Yes, I just made that actually. You did. Yeah, I thought, you know what? He was a good friend of mine. Was he? Yeah. He lived here in Las Vegas. And he was really cool.

He came to my show about four months ago. four months ago with this whole family, and I introduced him to the audience, you know, I never thought I'd say this, you know, Jerry Lewis, and the whole crowd was kind of like, yeah, right. It's not, because they probably didn't want him kidding. Yeah. But it really was Jerry Lewis, and there's a picture I have.

It's just, it's a beautiful, beautiful picture. He's got the, you know, iconic grin. Yes. And he could have been nicer, took pictures. I still have his wallet, by the way, no. But, no, he's really cool. So I was sad. Was he a prickly fellow towards you?

Because some people have complained that he's a bit of a prickly fellow or what? He never was to me, but you always hear the, you know, I was here. I hear not enough rumors about me that are never true. What kind of rumors? You know, people just like to say. What do they say about you? They say, if I had a facelift, wouldn't I look better?

I had a facelift. They say you had a facelift. They make them make junk. They look good. They can't help me. You know, I got some guns on you. Look at those guns. It's guns.

What kind of shape are you in here? This is, can I touch? You can touch. Oh, smokes. That wasn't. That wasn't. Look at me. I got nothing.

You work out, though, right? I do. Yeah, they're in plants. I don't work out. Are they really? Get them done one time. Is the hair real? The hair's real.

You can touch that as well. What about the color? It looks like you'd be connected to the hat, but it's not. Yes. Well, this is a pleasure. Thank you for you. You are synonymous with all things Las Vegas. Your home is the Luxor just across the street from here.

You've been there 20 years, right? I should go check. Yeah, I live across the street. Oh, you actually live in the Luster? No, I don't. I used to about a year, but yeah, no. But that's where you call home as far as. That's why you've been doing a show there for 12 years.

Yeah. It's been awesome. Did you just re-up with them as well? I did. Yeah, we have like another four-year kind of four-year idea. Thank you. Yeah, that's a big deal. And you got to love Vegas, right?

You've been here. How long have you been here? I've been here a lot. Well, it's currently on this trip? Yeah, it's great, right? Drinking, gambling, smoke, and prostitution, bring the kids. I mean, it's a great place to just send, you know, and wine. Yes, that's right.

Okay, now, what is your interest in the fight? Are you a big fight fan? I'm sorry, what fight? I haven't heard anything about it? You haven't heard. First, I've heard. I saw your Instagram. You're all over this.

You're all over. I got two more new ones. I'm making it right now. What do you got? This one's going to be fabulous. It's going to be a boxing head gear that's got these motor built in. All these birds are going around in circles. And the song's going to play.

Why do birds suddenly appear? And it's going to be great. Whoever wins or loses is going to wear the hat. Oh, wow. Okay. Are they on board with this idea? Then I have another one's going to be a boxing glove that has a cast register in it. So when you hit it, it's going to go, ching.

Yes, that's what this fight is all about. I mean, my God. Money, money, money, money. 100 million. 100 million. You think you'll ever see. 100 million in your career? I don't think I'll ever see No, I don't think I'll see 8 million, but yeah.

How much are you worth these days? Caratop, the entity that is Caratop, you must be killing it, right? That's another rumor. I'm worth all this billions of dollars. No, I can, I have beer money. That's all the need. That's all you need. Have you been drinking today? I'm not been drinking. Do people call you Caratop? Like, what should I call you? Do they call you Caratop? They call me whatever, yeah. I am getting great. My nephew calls me Cotton Top because I'm getting some gray ones in there. Oh, wow. Will you die it?

I do not die. That's why they still... No, but will you die once there's... No, I don't think so. I'll just be, you know, whatever. Who do you like in the fight? Well, you know, maybe it lives near me, actually. I've seen him a few times.

Is that true? Yeah. So I see him running. I don't work out with him, but I see him running a lot of times. And he's always been nice to me. He's always, hey, man, you know, his people say how to my person, and we get along him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He does a lot of people.

There's a lot of people. But I'm fascinated by this fight in a sense of just, just because... I'm not really been a fight fight. fan as much as this one is kind of interesting because of the fact that you didn't stop going out of because UFC's always amazed me in what they do but what he's not going to be able to do in this fight so it's interesting to see how they're going to adjust he's going to adjust and how they're both going to adjust so he's not going to have to adjust much way of Mayweather right except for his world no but he's used to using it's his world yeah yeah yeah so yeah

McGregor's got got a got some work cut out from I think but it's going to be interesting that's for sure you like McGregor do you mean he's got a great style he's a fun He's always wearing these three-piece suits. Yeah, he's got a nice style. He's got a good sense of humor. I think he's real humble. He's like a good guy. Yeah.

Have you ever met him? I've never met him. I've never met Lindsay. What's her in the room? The little UFC female that came to my ronzy. Rhonda Rousey. Where does she come to my show with her friends? Really?

Yeah. She was awesome. Yeah, about two months ago. Oh, really? Yeah. She's kind of fallen off the grid. Oh, really? She doesn't fight anymore.

She's actually getting married. Oh, we're getting married, actually. I didn't want to tell you that. But yeah, we're getting married. You don't have a ring. No, I have a ring, no. No, spoken. But she could have been nicer, and she's a beautiful girl, too.

Yeah, she used to be the face of the UFC, but then she lost twice. And then Mike Tyson was in. Speaking of jokes, as you follow my Instagram, too. Yes, yes, yes. I did this prop years ago when Mike Tyson bit Evander Hollowfield's ear. And it was on the Tonight Show, and it's on all these different shows I was doing. It was a headgear, like a boxing head gear. They had a rubber earers on it, so his opponent would have something to show on.

It was just stupid. But it made all this news. And I was at some event. I'd never met Mike Tyson. I looked over and I was sitting next to Dennis Hopper of all people. Oh, wow. And I remember saying, oh, my God. I kept saying, Mr. Hopper, I'm so sorry that you have to sit next to me.

And he was laughing. And he said, you know, Mike Tyson? I said, no, but I did a joke about him. He said, it was right there. Mike, and he reams over. I said, oh, crap. And he comes walking over. Oh, my God.

And he says, you think that's funny? That's like the joke you know, the same with the ears? Yeah. And I said, no, I really don't think it's funny. He's like that hurt people's feelings. And I said, that's my Jay Leno, by the way, too. My Jay-Letter and Mike Tyson's saying, This is crazy.

What are you talking about? So I said, no, I'm just, it's my job to make fun of you, you know. And he says, well, he's like, you know, I get right in my face. Like they do that thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he just gave me like a love tap. Oh, my Lord. It was 18 years ago.

Wow, that's what you started working out. No, I mean, unbelievable how he had me the whole time. You didn't get funny? And then I was like, no, I don't. And he's like, I'm just messing with you. How did you come up with that? You know, so it turned out. So the one time I've ever met a boxer that close.

and then we become friends. He lives in Vegas, and I was, he looked at Mike Tyson and Sir, I'll say, I was at a bar. And he said, can Mike sit with you? And I said, no. Of course he can, yes. Yeah, of course.

So he sat next to me. And these people were literally walking by, like heckling him. Like, hey, May, hey, champ, what happened? And I'm thinking, what the, I walk in this? What the, it's wrong with you? They will kill you. He, Mike Tyson will kill you. Yes.

He says, hey, what happened, champ? And Mike's just like, yeah, what do you say? I said, he loves you, champ. I don't want to get to see a fight start at my table. Could you imagine being someone who walks on the street every single day and everyone's afraid of you? Yeah. Everyone's afraid that you're just going to snap and like... I mean, I get that, you know.

You do, yeah. I get that with me, you know. Yeah. People are afraid of you. They're afraid of you. They're afraid of me. Really? Children are afraid of me.

Really? Children and puppies, but yeah. When did the caratop persona begin? When did you kind of strike gold with this? When did the light go off in your head and say that, you know what? I got something here. I care. When did it happen?

Yeah. Years and years ago. I've been doing a comedy 32 years. Wow. So how old are you? I know, right? Lighting? I'm 52. 52. 52 years old, yeah.

Wow. So I started doing that. I do look amazing. Yeah, congratulations. That's what I was like, oh, you get a facelift? No, I take care of myself. You know, run, you eat chicken, eat salmon? Are you very strict with your diet?

Pretty much. I mean, I still cheat, but I just, it's more of a portion thing for me. Okay. I get up and I run every morning, four miles. Every morning. Every morning. Every morning. Run, four miles.

Outdoors? And then I eat a sensible shake. No. And then I, yeah, but I'm pretty good with what I eat. But like I said, I don't worry about what I eat. but I'll have a couple slices of pieces. Okay. And you are very into fitness.

Why did you get so into it? Did you have a moment in your life? As a kid, I was always an athlete. I went to school. I was a swimmer, wrestled, made baseball, did all that. So I was always into the fitness thing. So even when I was 12, 13 years old, I always go to the gym and kind of... Does it bother you when people say you're on steroids?

Well, it doesn't bother me. I just think it's funny that I'm not and that if I was, I think it's all the hard work that I do, they think that if you just take a steroid, you're going to be big. It's like you have to put hours in. I get up every morning and run and I lift every day. So, no, it bothers me in that sense. It does bother me in the other regard because people just say things. Why?

Because they're trying to take something away from you? Or, yeah, because if you work out so hard, they want to make you feel like you're cheating in some way, where you're actually getting up and doing it. You still have to work hard. Well, that's what I would think. Yeah. And, yeah, I don't know. But it makes your dick shrink.

I don't want to do steroids. You don't want anything. I'm sorry. I can't say that on the radio problem. No, no, no, this is actually live. It'll make your dick shrink. I'm telling you, do not do it. How would you know?

No, they say that, I'm saying. That's why I would never want to do them. That's the word on the street. Will you be attending the fight on Saturday? I will not. I'll be going to see Carrotop. If you haven't seen, he's great. He's over at the Luxor every night.

There's a ballpark. You can't see if you can sit. The lights still on. It's like the motel six. Every night, six nights. I have Tuesday night off. So if they could move the fight until Tuesday, that'd be great. That'd be coming here for you.

They probably won't do that for me. One show a night? Yeah, one's enough, really. How long do usually go? It's like five and a half hours. One show. Get out of here. No, it's an hour and a half.

Okay, and how often do you change your material? All my Nixon material is doing great, which is funny because it's like you can just take a Nixon joke and make it a Trump joke, and it's still working. It's amazing. But, no, I change it nightly. Like the Mayweather stuff, the, I did a thing about the, I just did a joke last night. I put a picture of Mayweather, the Mayweather McGregor and a picture of the eclipse, and I said, which one's going to last longer? Yes. Pretty funny.

Well, I don't know. I mean, I'm hoping this thing goes, goes the distance because I think it's a lot of people, you know, not including. including the fighters, have spent a lot of time getting up for this thing. So I think, I hope it to be good. And I would even hope for it to be right down at the wire, you know, like when the Super Bowl's late, they have lace. Sure. You know, just really good, good fight all the way to the end. One thing I've always wondered about you, why aren't you a movie star?

You have such a... I've done some movies, yeah. Yeah, but I feel like you should be a mainst. I'm working on a porno called carrot juice right now. Okay. Yeah. It's going to be huge. Yes.

It's going to be huge. So that's the happening. But I've done some, yeah. I've done some movies. I was in chairman. No, chairman board, yeah. And I did Dennis the Menace with Don Rickles and Betty White and a whole bunch of sorts of people. So that was all of fun.

When was that? Trying to do some more movies. That was a while ago. That was a while ago, yeah. But I'm trying to do some movies. But I'm talking about contemporary things here. Lately. Yeah, something new is trying to.

I was in a movie with the trailer park boys called Swerinette, Tom Green and myself and a couple other people. Legendary Canadian. Very Canadian. As am I. I'm a Canadian as well. Nice guy. Sloppy kiss. I'm a great guy.

Okay. And we did a movie. It was fun. Yeah. Yeah. You enjoyed that. By the way, let me ask you, like, as far as, like, when you're off, what do you like to do? What does Caritas like to do at your dog?

Yeah, I know. I know. I know. I like to. No, I'm probably just, I get up and I take my dog for walks, and my dog will take me for walks, and we kind of just, uh... Is it true that? I'm going to go right here. I'm going to literally going to go, literally going to go, literally going to go, literally going to go to my warehouse and go to Walmart and build this prop with the birds.

You do it yourself? Yeah. No one helps you. If it's really hard, like, the motor, I'm going to have a guy help me with the motor part because I can't do that part. But I come up with the logistics of it and then the thoughts process of it, and then sometimes the logistics I have some of how we make it. But I'll think of them. Is it true that comics are really sort of deep down sad?

I like that you whispered that. Is it really true that comics are really? Are they sad? Are you sad? No, I don't get that. Why do people say tears of the clown? As you can see, I'm really. Yeah, you're happy.

I'm really not. No. You're going to me cry. No, I'm really not. I don't get that whole thing. Comics are depressed, sad people. No. Greatest comic of all time?

Greatest of all time? Yeah. Well, George Carlin, maybe. You think so? Well, for me, just because I grew up with him and emulated him, which is funny because my act is nothing like his, but I love his comedic timing, and I loved his anger, and he was so mad at everything, you know?

You ever noticed someone going faster than he was an idiot, and anyone going slow, he was a moron? You ever notice that? He has had great, great material. Greatest comic, not named Caratop right now. Well, there's a lot, not named Caratow. Right now. Oh, I mean, like a one that's living, Louis C.K. Love Louie K.

Tremendous, yes. I'm a big fan of physical. Well, this has been an honor. Thank you, buddy. Yeah, yeah. Here he is. There I was. Every night, except for Tuesdays.

Don't go on Tuesdays. And I'm gone. He is going away. There. Wow, how about that? Bye-bye to him at the Luxor. What were you doing? I like the shorts, by the way.

You're going with the shorts, huh? We see them stand up for the people. And what's this? My, I don't know. I just, I saw it in a store, and that looks like it's something I'd wear. Let's see the abs. Let's see the abs. Before you go, come on.

Why not? Yesterday we had guys take off their shirt for us. Let's one up it. Come on. Don't be shy. Don't be bashful. Look, he's bashful. Caratop is bashful. I've seen it all, my friend. Thank you so much. No abs for us, but we get to see the hair. We get to see the guns. One time. Look at that. I've made it. Thank you, Karatop. I appreciate it. All the best to you. You want to put the headphones back on. Sure, why not? I never put them on yet. Oh, there they are. Yes. They don't even fit me. All right. What else do you want to talk about? Leaving. Thank you so much. There he goes. Caratop.

performing at the Luxor. Yeah, I appreciate it very much. My head's like Velcro. Yes, I know, look at that. Wow. Now you have to go take a shower, right? I would. Yes, I would as well. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, as some of you may know. How about that? Caratop, everyone. We continue to up the stakes here. That was a lot of fun. That man screams Las Vegas, I would say, and well, that was interesting. His insight on the fight, I would say somewhat non-existent, but it was fun nonetheless to pick his brain and talk all things Las Vegas with him.

What an interesting fellow that was. He has a very interesting look. Now that I've actually stared him face to face, I'm not quite sure what to make of the face. Anyway, thank you very much to Karatop and his team for stopping by and check him out of the Luxor. In fact, right outside this media center right over here,

we actually have this massive billboard with his face on it. Could you imagine walking? around town and having a massive billboard with your face. Let's see what else is going on. Oh, how about this? Valentina Shefchenko is stopping by. This is what's going on today, my friends.

It is a revolving door. The bullet is in the house. Yes, Valentina Shevchenko. How are you? Thank you so much for coming. This is a pleasure. If you want to put the headphones on, Valentina, this is great.

Wow, I like your shirt. Is that your own made for you? By Tiger Moitai? Yes, it's made by Tiger Moitai. Okay. It's a miniature line. Wow, just for you. And I can't really hear her all that well, so let's boost up our audio.

Valentina, thank you so much for coming here. Talk one more time for me if you... Thank you, Ariel, for you want to do. You're back in Las Vegas. This is the first time that you're back in Las Vegas since everything that happened at 2.13? Yes, exactly. It's very first time. But this day, I enjoy it too much because I came from the middle of my training camp

and I have one day rest. Oh, my gosh. And if you don't mind putting in the microphone. Yes, thank you. Is it weird being here? Are you unhappy? Like, does this bring back bad memories from that? July 8th card?

Actually, no, because I'm really focused on what is waiting for me in the future. And I cannot say that it was like very, very bad memory. It was not happy memory, but it was not bad memory because I still have my fight on September 9. I still preparing for this fight, and I still wanted the same to take the belt and nothing more. Of course, you're fighting Amanda Nunes for the women's Bantamweight title. It's interesting because when you're an athlete and a fighter and you peak for fight night and you get that aggression out and you get to perform

and you hopefully win, you didn't get that opportunity. You made it to Saturday but not to fight night. How did you get it all out of you? How did you get it out of your system so that you don't go crazy for the next two months and over-train? It was just mind game. Because I knew that it's happened already.

I cannot do nothing. It's already like you don't have any choice. You cannot go. to hurry sailing. Let's go fight. You cannot do it. So I refocused me totally. I knew that it will be soon. They will

give another date and I was hoping that it will be not so far from the actual date. And I had some rest. I had my coach with me, Pavel Fidotov. I had my sister with me. We went to the Galveston Bay. We just spent a little time

on the ocean just without thinking about the training without nothing. And then after one week, we come back to the training. It's like step by step little by little, we start to pushing me to the same like training camps that I had. And now we are training in Denver, Colorado. And I feel in very strong. I can say I feel in more strong than I was.

And I have the same goal, the same target. I want this belt the same as I wanted. And it doesn't matter word, what I will take it. Honestly, do you still believe that she kind of found a way out, that she was afraid to fight you, that she just tried to high tail on July 8th? What do you believe? You know, it's difficult to say the real reason, because the real reason, just only she knows. And what I know exactly, we cannot believe in everything that she is saying, because she's every time saying one thing. After some days, she said different things, it's not only about this situation, it's about all that.

she was speaking before because every time she was speaking different information. But my opinion, why she did it like in reality, it was only because she was cutting weight too much in 24 hours. And she was feeling like very weak this day. That's why it was reason, like real reason. So all the sinus talk, all that surgery, nose here, pain, you don't buy any of it. I don't believe in this. Wow.

And are you worried that comes? September 8th or September 9th, something else is going to happen? You know, everything can happen. Speaking about her, you cannot be like 100% for sure. But I can speak about me that I will be ready on 100%. Doesn't matter what. I will be ready for the fight. And if she planning to do it again, it will not be like very good for her.

Right. But she doesn't have a history of doing that. What makes you think that she's that kind of person? You know, every time, for example, when she fought Rhonda and she was speaking bad things about her, then her fans started to say, like, what are you talking about? You cannot speak like something, things like this. And she's not good for her rating, and she, like, changing her strategy. That's why it's not something that is going from her heart.

It's something that it really all depends of fans and what they are saying about her. Game plan is it the same going into this fight as it was for July 8th? Are you changing anything as far as your approach? You didn't get to have that fight. So is it just kind of a continuation of the same camp, in your opinion? Yes, yes, it is. It's continuation and some more details and what we want to work more. We now working more on this.

but all the same to work. Everything as good as I can, because I know it will be not only fight, like stand-up fight or a wrestling fight, it will be everything, and I'm ready for everything. If I have to fight and stand-up, I will do a great job there. If I have to wrestle, I will do there. If we go to the ground, I will do a ground game.

And it doesn't matter what, I will do everything to finish the fight. What are the chances if you win on September 9th that you go down to 125 right away? Actually, I didn't think about what will be after this fight because I really like focus for September 9. But it's one opportunity that can be because I don't cut wait for my 135 class and maybe we will see what it's happened after this fight. Now, I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about this. This is what we're here for. Mayweather-Megger, who do you think wins?

What's your prediction? How do you see it unfolding? I rooted for Connor McGregor 100% and I hope he will win fight by CO. I think he has all chances to win. Okay. He is young. He is hungry.

He is aggressive and he wants to show to all world something like unexpected, something different, very good, interesting show. So this is good things for him and I hope it will be like great fight. Of course he has very difficult opponent, Floyd Maweser. But if my opinion, if he will like hit strong every time and not give opportunity like this distance to do counter-attack to Floyd Mewazer,

he has every chance to knock him out. Now are you a Connor fan or are you just rooting for him because he's the M.M.A. guy. I'm rooting for him because he's M.M.A. guy. Oh, so you're not a fan of his? You know exactly, I don't, I'm not a fan of no one. Okay. Because I have my favorite fighter. It's Benny the Jet Orkides.

It's fighter of, like, all times. And he was one from the first ones who show martial arts, like, internationally fighting. And I remember when I was young, young girl, we have these big cassettes with video, and we show in his fights. And this spinning kick, it was impressive that he did in Japan. And since there, I became like, he is my favorite fighter of all times. And I will not change it for nothing. Fair enough. I have to ask you as well, you're training with Rosamai Yunus and the team over there in Colorado.

You know Yohani Yom Jacek very well. You have wins over her. Does she have what it takes right now to beat her? Are you going to give her the secret to beat Yohani Yian Jacek? You know these trainings, me with Rose, Rose with me is very helpful for both of us. And it's not about only secrets, but it's also like this kind of trainings. We have this kind of trainings that teach you don't give up, don't give up no one time. and it's like

I think it will be useful for both of us interesting but you know her very well so you're helping her in that regard will you be a part of her training camp leading up to that fight as well because right now her fight isn't announced but there's some talk of maybe in November that would be after your fight are you going to stick around and help her for it

we will see what it will be happened after I hope she will receive her date for the fight because she deserve it She's very talented, she's very aggressive and she's very, like, very good fighter. And each training, she shows her this, like, iron character on the training. It's very, like, you know, she's like skinny, skinny girl, but she has a lot of power. A lot of power. She's very tough.

Yes. And what about your sister? Is she going to do MMA soon? My sister, she's right now. She's in training camp with us. and she will fight in London 22nd of September just right a few weeks after my fight So she's helping me on my training camp

And I helping her on her training camp Is she doing MMA? Yes Oh wow, that's great That will be her debut? No, she has around five fights in the MMA Is she going full MMA now or both? No, she's the same like Maitai fighter

She's lion fight, Maitai champion and she planning to defend her belt and line fight. You're not sticking around for the fight on Saturday, right? You have to get back to your training camp. I have to go back to my training camp. Is this kind of annoying for you that you're here in the middle of the training camp? Not much. For me, it's backwards.

It's just like a little bit dressed because all this week we're training so hard. For me, it's like to breathe normally to come back for my training tomorrow. Actually, it will be tomorrow with more power and more like I enjoy to see this all like crowd. and what it's happened before the fight to be as a part of this great fight. Yes, it's exciting, right? To see all these people here doing a bunch of interviews and receiving you as a big name.

But you're not dancing for any of them, right? No, not this time. What about for our show? Can you dance for us? Give us a trick or two. Come on. A move, something, anything. It's very rare that we're in person face-to-face.

I will show like two steps. Oh, yes, please. I'm going to make sure that. Here, Valentina Shofchenko is an expert dancer. the greatest dancer in the history of the UFC and she's going to bestow upon us just a couple moves, right? Just a couple of my fighter dance

this Ginkaitz. Here it is. Here it is. Valentina Shavchenko, the bullet. Just be careful. She's about to dance for us. Here we go. It's a little bit difficult because you cannot see my feet, but it's all about fits. This dance, it's all about feet. Okay, you don't want to go. No, you can't go in the front.

Okay, I'm going to tell the people what we're seeing. Here we go. And watch out behind you. Watch out behind you. There she is. Wow, look at that. Amazing. Well done, Valentina. Let me clap you. Great stuff, Valentina. Thank you so much. You're great. I wish you the best. September 9th. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Have you been there in Edmonton?

No, I've never been in Canada. Never in Canada? No, never. That's where I'm from. Yeah? Montreal. Wow. So it's close, but you're going to love it.

Very nice people, beautiful country. I hear a lot about Canada. I have a lot of friends from Canada. I fought with many girls from Canada. but finally I will go there and see how it's from inside. I wish you the best. Brand new arena there. It's called the Rogers Place. It's going down September 9th in Edmonton, Valentina Shevchenko against Amanda Nunes.

And of course, Demetrius Johnson versus Ray Borg for the flyway title. I'll see you there. I can't wait. Thank you for stopping by and best of luck in the last weeks of training. Thank you very much, Ariel. There she is. Valentina Shefchenko, thank you so much to her. She is always a pleasure to talk to.

Always appreciate her stopping by. Thank you. I appreciate it. I think you're going to do a media day now, right? Yes, she is great. Thank you so much to her, and it's going down on pay-per-view. UFC 215, as she walks off our set. How much fun is this, everyone?

We're just getting started. A little UFC 215 talk. How about that? This is fun. This is fun stuff. All right, so thank you very much to Valentina. All right. No problem.

Getting a couple updates there, but you don't need to know about all of that as of right now. So in a few hours time, no, not a few hours time. You know what? Let's do this. Earlier today, we spoke to, we had a really fun interview with the Maloof Brothers. We could play that, right? We could play that, right?

Yes. So Gavin and Joe Maloof actually stopped by. They have bet $880,000 on this fight. They are betting on Floyd Mayweather. And if they win, they are going to give all the winnings to charity. Now, they didn't name which charity. they'll be giving the winnings to because, well, they don't want to get anyone excited. And then if he loses, if the unthinkable happens, then they can't deliver.

So they showed me the tickets. You'll see all of that. I spoke to Gavin and Joe Maloof, the former owners of the Sacramento Kings, now part owners of the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team. They stopped by here just moments ago before we went live to talk about their big bet and the big fight on Saturday night. Here's that conversation. All right, now we're being joined by two gentlemen who have been making the rounds here. stealing all kinds of headlines because they are now sort of heavily invested in the fight on Saturday night. Floyd Mayweather, of course, against Connor McGregor.

We're talking to Gavin and Joe Maloof. We really appreciate the time, guys. Thank you so much. And why have you, you know, sports fan will know you guys from the Sacramento Kings. Now, of course, with the Vegas Golden Knights. But why are you stealing the headlines? Because you guys have bet $880,000 on Floyd Mayweather. That is correct, right?

That is correct. Now, here's my question right off the top. Why make this public? we didn't originally but when I saw you I saw you at the open workout just a couple weeks ago I wish you to give me the scoop yeah and I didn't know well I was going to do it I saw him working out we were there like six hours okay and then I went home

and I contacted my brother Joe he contacted Philip we got together and made this bed they said hey I just thought he was going to win I said let's just put some money on him and you know one thing led to another and originally we wanted it anonymous. It came out anonymous. All right. ESPN or somebody broke it anonymous. Then our name started surfacing. So then we said, well, why don't we just

take the proceeds, 160,000, give it all to charity. Huh. And that's what we decided to do. And the group is Never Too Hungover is our brand. Never Too Hungover. We'll be giving the amount. This is our... Wow, what is this? It's a hangover prevention drink. We sold millions of bottles. You can buy it at never two hungover. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you take one of these per seven drinks. It's healthy for you.

I'll put it right here. Yeah, it's all right. And if you're hungover, you take that. Yes, and this has caffeine. This has no caffeine. And what's the charity? Well, we'll announce that hopefully if he wins. Oh, okay, yeah, of course, because you don't want to put it out there in case. Are you worried? Are you nervous?

Well, you can always be nervous, but I have all the respect in the world for McGregor, but I just don't see changing sports and beating Floyd. I can't grasp that idea. Which sports book took this bet? Well, Michael gone at South Point. Okay. I have the tickets. You have them on you?

Yes. Can I see them? Sure. And what were the odds when you made the bet? Minus 550. Minus 550. What are they now? Do you know?

Have you checked? I think it's 540. 540. Okay. And are you guys typically big gamblers? No. No. No.

So aren't you kind of freaking out at this point? I would be freaking out. I mean, I know you're not short on cash, but here it is. Minus 550. Now, I heard that you had to split it. There it is, for those that want to see it, there are the tickets. Minus 550 Mayweather, there's four. This is crazy.

I've never held this much. This is 440,000 to win 520. And now why did you have to split it? Because the computer shut down after a million dollars. Because it's a million dollar payout. The payout is a million and 40,000. And their computer wouldn't take that. So they had to divide it by two tickets.

Wow. And what happens if you lose this? That's how it goes. Why would you be walking around with this right now? Well, remember what we always have a little pocket change. Yes, that's true. Just in case, you know, you lose the bed. You've got to be able to get home with an Uber or a taxi.

Yeah, exactly. For either of you, is this the biggest bet of your lives? Yes. Yes. We've never made a bet this bird. Wow. And, okay, so everyone seems to think that Floyd is going to just walk away. Do you think he'll just walk away with it,

or do you think it's actually going to be a moment where you guys are starting to sweat and worried? I think early on it'll be a worry, but I think Floyd will just wear him down. Because remember, he's a counterpuncher, the best it's ever been, and he's a defensive fighter. Now he's two years older, granted, and Connor hits hard, but a lot of the guys that Floyd's fought, they hit hard too. Canelo Alperes, right? Redaana, he's faced some forminal competition. To the best of your knowledge, is this the biggest bet placed on this fight thus far? Yes.

It is. To our knowledge. Wow. To our knowledge. That is something else. If I were you guys, I'd be crapping in my pants right now. Why? Because Connor's going to do it.

We're an M.M.A. Could be. Yeah, you're a good. Could do it. Of course. One casino was telling me, out of every 18 people that make a bet, 17 are betting on Connor. Isn't that wild?

Yeah, it's wild. I read an article saying, I think it was in Yahoo, that if Connor wins, like the casinos are screwed. Oh, yeah. Given, I actually feel like the odds should be like a little bigger, right? Like 20 to 1. Don't you think? Well, it started out at 2,400 to 1.

1100 to 1. 1100 to 1, and then it went to 600 and so on. We got it at 550 to 1. Okay. And will you guys be attending the fight? Oh, yes. Yes. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for the tickets?

Oh, I bought four tickets, 10,000 each. Each? Yes. Good seats? Well, nine rows up. That's not bad. Are you going as well? Yeah.

Are you one of the four? Or you got your own? No, I'm going to be up in the... My sister's replacing Joe. Wow. My sister wants to come. Wow. Wow.

So you're in the nosebleeds? Yeah. Wow. It's a long ways from the Arco Arena when you guys were in the front row. I love those days. Here's a big question. Are you going to buy back the Houston Rockets? No.

No, I don't think so. Why not? You're done with the NBA? No, NBA was great. Yeah? Great. I loved that time. Yeah.

That was fun. Sacramento, L.A. Those were the days. old enough for those times oh are you kidding me vladi pasha bobby jackson i knew all those guys chris webber of course the queens you could write it down i said the queens who can ever forget it you guys got screwed in game six right that these old no comment are these old wounds i think about it every night do you really i see that robert orie shot yes that one night that one shot robert or he hit in l a yeah that was and even samaki walker that hat court shot shouldn't

count number 52 i remember that that's when they came with the red light Yes, that's right. Because the basket happened up. Everything happened because of us. Right. Instant replay, the basketball lighting up. So you don't think you'll ever get back in it? Well, no.

I know you're with the Vegas Golden Hines, but the NBA. Oh, the NBA. Is it just something you want to move on from? Well, I mean, if we could, we would, yeah. I mean, who knows? Can I make a heartfelt proposal to both of you? As a die-ard, New York Knicks fan, can you please buy the team from James Dolan?

Please rid us. of James Dolan. That would be great. Your thoughts on Mr. Dolan, anything you want to say? I like Jim Dolan. You do? Yeah. He doesn't know what he's doing. I'm sure he's, he has the right intentions. Does he? Has it worked out? Yeah. To put him mildly. But the Rangers are good. Yeah, that's funny because he doesn't touch the Rangers, right? He cares about the Knicks and thus ruins them. That's the problem. Oh, I don't know. Do you guys, do you still watch the Kings, or is it? Not too much. Is it too personal? Yeah, I have to move on. I've worked on. So, We've got part ownership in the hockey team, and we have to move on to hockey now.

Okay. Which is good. We like hockey, don't you? Of course. I'm actually from Canada. Oh, I'm from Montreal, as I told you. So hockey is in my blood. I think it's great.

Is there a buzz? Do you feel a buzz for the team here? Oh, yeah. Well, all the season tickets are sold out. Wow. All the sweets are gone. So there's been a lot of support from the city here, really big. You can look us up when Montreal plays.

We have a suite at Center Ice. Yes. You'll hook me up. Yes, of course. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Tell Troy. Okay, well, I appreciate that.

Thank you. And by the way, I remember you guys from back of the day. I mean, of course, the POMS used to be very heavily involved with the UFC. First event that you guys attended UFC-wise, do you recall? It has to have been like over a decade ago, right? Yes. Yeah, because I remember George trying to get the UFC at the POMs. Yeah.

And, you know, we know Dana White. He's a tremendous guy, great guys. Fertita's. Oh, it's been great. The Fratita family. Yeah. We just. don't the Fertita family now own the palms?

Yes. Yes. I got to say Lorenza Fetita, that deal that he made, buying him for $2 million and selling for $4 billion, especially now the point in which he sold, maybe the greatest deal in the history of business. Yes. I think so. Right. What are the greatest? Nothing better.

That return on investment? Yes. Unbelievable. And Dana White, he put a lot of time and effort in it. I mean, they really worked hard at it. That's right. Well, I wish you guys the best with this bet. It makes me nervous.

I'm nervous for you. That's the Jewish anxiety in me. I'm like, I don't know. I just seeing this in my hands, look at my palms. They're all sweaty. Never too hung over. That is the brand right over here. And, you know, last night I actually spent six hours at Floyd's club because I want to, I know

your neighbors with him. Because he's been saying he'll be at the club. And I didn't believe him. So I went and waited for him for six hours. And we got him at 4 a.m. We did an interview with him. And then I went to sleep for an hour and then I've been doing this. So I actually feel like I'm hung over right now.

now. It's a perfect plug right over there. Never too hung over. The boost. I appreciate Joe and Gavin Maloof. We're stopping by. They are going to donate 100% of their estimated winnings. That would be around 160,000 to charity. We'll find out what that charity is if, of course, Floyd Mayweather wins on Saturday night. Much appreciated. Great to see you again. All the best to you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thank you so much to Gavin and Joe Maloof. All right. That was a lot of fun. Joe and Gavin Maloof. about that the former owners of the Sacramento Kings I used to watch those games against the Lakers Chris Weber Pajosayakovich Bobby Jackson the list goes on and on great stuff and that's a cool thing that they're giving the winnings if they do in fact win the bet to charity how about this I just got a present from Estherlin the goat photographer the MMA fighting she just gave me this present look at this look at that she made a newspaper

of the tour, the world tour. She was on every step of the tour. Here's the back. See that? Look at that. Esther Lynn, boom, boom, look at that. This is great. Put this on the desk over here.

I have to say once again, it has been a lot of fun covering this, and there have been some highs and some lows and a few maybe cringe-worthy moments, but overall I think it's been one of the highlights of my career just taking it all in, Being in this media center here, the circus and all that stuff, a lot of fun.

I've enjoyed it immensely. And by the way, I talked about the interview yesterday with Floyd Mayweather. Actually, it was this morning. And, yes, I may come across as a bit loopy to some of you. I am still going on one hour's sleep here. You can watch that on MMAfighting.com. You can watch it on our YouTube page as well, and I appreciate everyone who has reached out and wanting to talk about it. It has certainly been a memorable.

24 hours. So in a few moments, we are going to be joined by Skip Bayliss. Yes, Skip Bayliss will be joining us of FS1. You know him. Skip and Shannon, undisputed, it airs 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time to 12 p.m. Eastern Time weekdays on FS1. And they have been talking about this fight for quite some time. In fact, if you go back and listen to the early analysis of this fight, this fight was kind of born on shows like Undisputed. And in fact, if you go back and listen, Skip was one of the first people to actually say that Connor has a chance and that Connor will win. Way back when, November, December, January.

And so I do believe we are being joined now by one half of the crew over at Skip and Chanon undisputed again, 9.30 to 12 p.m. Eastern Time weekdays on FS1. The one and only Skip Bayliss joining us on the phone right now. Skip, are you there? Hi, Ariel, you got me? Yes, I got you. Thank you very much for doing this. I know you don't do a lot of media interviews,

so I appreciate your time very much. I don't, but I have a lot of respect for all you have accomplished as a journalist, so a way to go and keep on fighting. Wow, that means a lot to me. Thank you very much for that, Skip. Is that not true? Is that not true that before this fight was even announced

that you believed that if they did sign on the dotted line, that Connor would win? And if so, why did you believe that before this ever was, even a thing. Ariel, maybe I should preface by saying, I've never been a fan of Floyd, so I try to question myself and be honest with myself, am I speaking more with my heart than my head? But I don't think I am. Again, there's a lot I don't like about Floyd out of the ring, sort of off the field, so

to speak, and I find his fights basically unwatchable. He's the greatest defensive fighter ever, but that makes for... the low entertainment value when you attempt to watch his dreary 12-round goes to the judge's fight. And in this case, as Dana White has always said about Connor, he's a unicorn, and he's rare. He's unlike anything I've ever seen. And I did sit in sort of the splatter zone at the Octagon right here in Las Vegas for the second. mate Diaz fight. And it was an extraordinary test

of will and boxing skill. And Connor McGregor can throw punches with power that Floyd has never seen before. I don't hear you can have Canelo, you can have Shane Mosley, you can have Cotto. Floyd has never faced this kind of

power attached to this kind of crazy brain. Connor's the kind of guy you would have to kill to whip, so to speak. But he also has extremely high combat IQ. As you know, he's basically just like Floyd, a counter-puncher. He is a guy who will set you up for the kill, and I think Floyd is up against bigger, stronger, longer, tougher, and equal IQ. And this is all in a 29-year-old package versus a 40-and-a-half-year-old package.

and I don't know how long Floyd thinks he can get away with not fighting because he hasn't had what I would call a serious battle because you can just discount the Pacquiao. Packiow tore his rotator cuff three weeks before that fight. You know, it was a pillow fight. As we know, they just sort of waltzed for 12 rounds. Packiow didn't have a mark on his face. It goes through the judges. I actually thought Paciow was more the aggressor in that fight because Floyd just basically ran the whole fight and threw a lot of flip punches, a lot of mosquito bite. of punches. And in the end, Floyd hasn't had a real battle of a fight to the second

Maidana fight. So that's almost three years ago. And so he can just waltz out there and suddenly take it up a notch when he's admitted he was officially in his mind and heart retired. He doesn't like training camp. He didn't want to train for this fight. He was finished with that. He doesn't like it. So I don't think he's going to be in peak shape. And as Ray Leonard said on Undisputed on Friday, that, hey, you have to be careful here because when you pass 40 as a boxer, there's going to come that moment when you'll step into a ring and just think, gee, I don't really have it anymore. Well, could that be Saturday night? I don't know. Floyd sort of stays in natural decent shape. But he is a little man, and Conner's right.

He has a little head and a little torso and little legs and brittle hands. So I give Connor more than a puncher's chance. I think he'll set up Floyd to come out of his comfort zone. He goaded him, trashed him. Floyd has to try to knock him out because if he doesn't, it'll be shameful for the sport of boxing and for Floyd's 50th win. So I just think he'll get him out of his comfort zone, land one shot, might be the seventh or eighth round,

and all of a sudden he'll unleash unholy hell on him. See, it's interesting to hear your breakdown, Skip, because you clearly know the sport of boxing. You have been following combat sports for quite some time. And in particular boxing, do you feel like there's a lot riding on you here? Because let's be honest, at times people feel like you just say things for the sake of saying things for headlines. Do you feel like you will be vindicated because you were one of the first who said that

Connor has a chance and will win? And if he does, in fact, pull this off, that some of those critics will walk away and start to take some of your words, you know, with a little more respect. forgive me for saying this but I dare anyone to show me one time in my entire career where I said something for shock value I dare anyone to show me where I wasn't ahead of the curve on everything I've ever said I don't I don't know a time when I've been shockingly wrong where you said oh you just said that for shock value I mean I don't give me one I don't know one Tim Tebow I said if somebody took in at the end of the first round and you let him run his college offense, he will win games in the NFL, but never be a Pro Bowl player.

And what happened? They took him 25th overall and desperate after they fired Josh McDaniel. They threw Tim Tebow into the fire, and what happened? He won a whole bunch of games. He took a 1 in 14 to the division title and a playoff win. So I don't know. People said, you were crazy about Tebow. No, I wasn't. I was right.

And then they had a chance to get Peyton Manning, and they ran Tebow out of town, and he never got another chance. So I don't know. Again, I told you on this one, I'll be the first to admit, I don't like Floyd. And I think it would be sort of sadly funny if he got his from some MMA fighter who waltzed into the ring, having never boxed professionally in his life and dropped him. You know, that would be an inglorious way for Floyd to, quote, unquote, go out. But I'm sure it would call for a rematch. But again, I've just thought that I'd just go on my instinct and my instinct told me that this is just the kind of guy, left-handed to boot, who could be just crazy enough to land that one punch that got Floyd into the first trouble of his career. Could you tell the audience, Skip, what is the genesis of your sort of hard feelings towards

Floyd? You often refer to him as Floyd may not whether, and yes, I know you are paid to sort of, you know, weigh in on things and give your opinion, but I appreciate the fact that you say that, look, I may be a little biased because of how I feel about this man. Where does that start? And why can't you separate the man and the boxer? The boxer is flawless. Why can't you separate the two? Well, as I said about the boxing. I always call him the greatest defensive fighter ever. But after a while, I tire of watching him as a boxer because it's just hard to watch because I grew up the biggest Ali fan on the planet. I loved him back in the 60s.

and Mohammed Ali engaged with Joe Frazier or you name a fight and Ali paid a pretty severe

price for it at the end of his career because he took some serious beating and Frazier in that third fight nearly killed each other Boy just doesn't engage

and then obviously off the field so to speak he has a long insorted history of domestic violence and we don't have time to go into all

the sure It's multiple times. It's way beyond Ray Wright. It's even beyond Greg Hardy. And it's just disgusting to me because he capped it off by, you know, obviously did 90 days in prison. But then he owns a strip club here in Las Vegas called The Girl Collection. It just turns me off.

In sports, we all have emotions involved in rooting interest. And he posted that racist rant against Paciel. And then the gaysler against Connor. I'm the first to admit, Connor made racist remarks about Floyd, and I don't know if it's fight hype or if it's real, Floyd seemed to take it pretty personally,

but in the end, I think Floyd's a bad guy, so I try to separate that, but I'm human and I'm extremely emotional, and I can't. So I am rooting against Floyd, and, you know, we had a good discussion on undisputed.

Shannon, a black man, Rob Parker, a black man, or the first to admit, they have a hard time liking Floyd, but obviously he's the American in the fight. He is a black man. They are a black man. And so they, in the end, they feel like they kind of have to root for Floyd, but they don't love Floyd either. And we had a great open discussion about that.

Floyd's even a buddy of Donald Trump, which drives Shannon Sharp crazy. And he's a big Mayweather boxer fan. So there are a lot of emotions. There are a lot of layers to this fight. but in the end, I just believe that Connor will turn a boxing match into a quote-unquote fight. That he's going to hit Floyd in a lot of places he might not have been hit in, and shoulders and sides, and there may be some rabbit punches behind the head, but every boxer does that to some extent.

And I think Connor will wear on him psychologically and ultimately physically. and he is just the bigger. And I think he's even, I think he's an underrated athlete. I think he's extremely athletic. And he's extremely confident. So it's a fascinating matchup. I can't wait to see it.

I'm not trying to hype the fight. I don't, you know, I don't do that. If anybody knows my career, I don't hype. If I don't like something, I say I don't like something. Yes. I am fascinated by this matchup.

And I will be on the edge of my seat. How do you feel, you know, sometimes the MMA community gets up in arms when you and you and Shannon talk about MMA because they feel like you don't know as much as maybe some other sports. How do you feel about MMA? Are you a fan of MMA? And do you feel like because you're on FS1, it is part of your duty to talk about MMA more because of the UFC deal and to be more educated on the sport? I honestly don't at all. And I haven't been a big connoisseur of MMA the way you have for years and years. I'm sort of a newbie.

I'm sort of a novice because, again, I started covering Ali fights with the second things fight in New Orleans. And I got to know in. I get interviews with him. I'm a boxing guy down to my soul. And it's funny because all the boxers, the ex-boxers that we've had on, all the boxing sort of journalists that we've had on, they just laugh at this fight because they have to. They're defending the faith. And I think we all know, boxing is on trial. And I kind of resisted

UFC for a while, like, ah, that's cute. You know, that's nice. It has overtaken boxing. And again, I got to sit live. That was my first UFC to actually go to with the second Nate Diaz fight, the Conorneadee. And I was overwhelmed by just the magnitude of it and by what a great contest it was of will and skill, especially will, in ways boxing isn't. Because it's close to bare knuckles, and there are obviously a lot of other disciplines involved, so it requires a lot of more mental gymnastics than boxing does. And I have been won over, and it has nothing to do. Again, if you know my career, I don't sell out to anything in anybody, and it's kind of

hurt me in my career, you know, in some ways, because I don't go along for a ride. I resist, and for a long time, how long was I at ESP in 13 years? I was the sore thumb. I was the guy they didn't like, and they were always uneasy with me on the old show first take. What do you mean, uneasy? What I love about, what's that? I'm sorry. What do you mean by uneasy with you?

Oh, because I was too outspoken. It's a Disney-owned network, and that they want to play nice and keep it above board. and I got too down and dirty sometimes, and I was just too outspoken, and it made them occasionally a little nervous because it was a debate show, and it's more sort of go for the throat. And trust me, it is completely unscripted live debate. We don't tape our show. Some of those shows on ESPN are taped, obviously in the afternoon, and so you can clean it up if somebody missteps or missteps. We're live. We always were on first take and on cold pizza, and because it was unscripted debate,

all I know is the question. You know, we come up with the question, so I know where I'm going to go, but I have to guess where he's going to go, and then it's just open season. And the show, the one on ESPN was two hours. This is two and a half hours of live unscripted debate. Try it sometime. It's hard because you have to stay so focused, and it sort of wears on you mentally. but you also have room to roll.

We do, like our opening segment on Undisputed is, what is it, 20 minutes maybe, sometimes 25 straight minutes on one debate topic. We're just flying back and forth at each other. And it can make people nervous at the top because it's pretty easy to step out of bounds. Fortunately, I didn't at ESPN. We had others on the show who did, but I was, I guess, lucky. But it just, it's the kind of format that can make. people nervous. And yet, it's who I am. It's what I do. And I love Fox because Fox

believes so strongly and undisputed and everything it stands for. Two other quick questions for you, Skip, and I appreciate the time. You're very active on social media. I've always wanted to ask you this. How come you don't follow anyone on Twitter? And do you ever look at your mentions? I learned my first year on Twitter after about a year of looking at my mentions. Don't. I sort of half-kid with Shannon on Unisputed and Half-Kid with Joy Taylor. Please stop looking at your mentions.

It will pollute your psyche and ruin your confidence. Because you'll read one remark for one guy living in his mom's basement in Peoria. and it'll stick in your head all day because it used to do it to me where I'd say, how could you say that? It might even be about my appearance. You know, how could you wear that bright blue shirt? I don't know. And it would eat at me the whole day.

And I finally thought, why should I let them define how I think? Why should I let them have a chilling effect on my confidence, you know, where I start to doubt myself. And so I think I joined Twitter and like, oh, I forget. It's probably on my Twitter page. Maybe 07, somewhere in there. And only for the first year did I read them, and I woke up one day and said, I'm out. Wow. I've been a lot happier since I don't.

And you can resist the urge to check? I mean, how do you have that willpower? It doesn't feel like willpower. It feels like I know I'm better without it. So why would I subject myself to it? It's like, you know, that guilty pleasure that you say, I need this, and you fall prey to. it because you know it's all, I could, I'm standing a couple of feet from my computer. I can, in two seconds, I could read 50 things that people might have said about what we're talking

about right now. Yeah. And I don't know what good it would do because it would probably reshape my opinion. Have you, and we're all human. Have you ever regretted anything you've said on air? I have never regretted one thing I've said on air. And that's the God's truth. Could I, and again, we're all human and I get it.

you took a little heat in the MMA world for the sumo-style comment about Nate Diaz. Do you want to take that one back? Because you can't use sumo-style in M.M.A. You know that, right? Okay, I don't remember it. Help me out. What did I say? Recently, you were talking about the Nate Diaz, Connor McGregor, fight. The first one, you were talking with Shannon,

and you said that Nate used sumo-style attack on Connor to get him down to the ground. And MMA is a form of a hybrid of martial martial arts. Sometimes, you know, I just, I meant that he got him on the ground. And obviously in the second fight, Hunter's number one priority was not to be taken to the ground. Right. And he wasn't, right? He held, you know, he actually held onto the cage to stay upright. And I don't think he went down once, did he?

I don't think he got him on the ground one time. And I think Nate probably outweighed him, certainly in the first fight by, what would you guess? by five times. Did he outweighing by 30 or 40 pounds? No, no, no, no. No way. No way. No, no, no.

That's a myth that Dana White likes to put out there. No, maybe, maybe five pounds. Maybe. Nate Diaz is 150 pounds? Yeah. Not nowhere. He's a lot taller. Taller, yes.

Taller, yes. But Connor's a thick man. You've seen him, right? You've been next to him. Yeah, yeah. He's a thick man. For sure. Don't believe that story about him being 30 to 40 pounds.

You're better than that. You know that. I don't know. I mean, he looked much bigger to me, just the way Connor looks much bigger than Floyd. Yes, that is true. And he looked like, and you know how you get down to weight and you can balloon because you can rehydrate a water weighs a lot. You know, you can add on the pounds quickly and the heft quickly. You can get it back. I expect Connor to do that. I know he's talked about staying lighter for this fight, but I expect him to get down to 154 and come in at closer to 1-7.

for this Mayweather fight. I think that's a good prediction. I actually do. Can I get official prediction from you? How is this ending on Saturday? You've said Connor wins, but how? What round? Do you know?

Do you have a sense? I'm going to save that if you don't mind for tomorrow's on this unit because we're going to open the show with our prediction. But it has to be by knockout. I'll just give you that. If this goes 12 and goes to the judges, I'll go this far. It's effectively fixed with those two Las Vegas judges, one's from Reno, once from babies.

They've done all sorts of Floyd fights, and they're not going to let Connor win on points. And again, Connor can't out-box him, but he could out-box him and out-punch him. So, again, he has to win by knockout, and he will. All right, we look forward to that prediction, Skip. Thank you very much. It's Skip and Shannon, Undisputed, 930 to 12 on FS1.

I appreciate the time very much, Skip. Thank you. There he is. And he's out. Skip Bayliss joining us. He doesn't do those interviews often, and I appreciate him stopping by, some interesting insight. He didn't remember the sumo style question, but rest assured he did say it. Interesting insight from Skip Baylis, not everyone's cup of tea, but I appreciate a self-made man who has carved out this,

this path for himself and it was interesting to hear his insight I appreciate the folks over at FS1 for hooking us up with that interview all right in a minute we are going to be joined by I believe the Motown phenom himself Kevin Lee who I do see in back of me he's talking to some people right now

no we're not being joined by the Motown phenom we're going to be joined by Demetrius Johnson Demetrius Johnson Mighty Mouse is going to be joining us and then after Demetrius Johnson we're going to be joined by one Kevin Lee here's a late addition to the rundown Freddie Roach is stopping by at 4.30.

Bruce Buffer we've got coming up at 445. Chris Eubank, Sr., not Junior, senior, will be stopping by. And also Amanda Nunes, Brian Kenney, the list goes on and on. It is a fun scene here in Las Vegas. It is August 24th. We are approaching the 4.10 p.m. Pacific time,

7.10 p.m. Pacific, excuse me, Eastern time, back home in New York. And again, as you can see behind me, we are in the media center. These people that you can see right over there. These are the radio stations. This is Radio Row right over here. And you can see a whole bunch of stations. There's a nice little pan for you over there. You can see a whole bunch of stations doing interviews. And today in particular, we've got, oh, you see this, Karatop? How about Karatab, who came specifically for us now going around talking to everyone? That's amazing. but as I was saying you can see a whole bunch of celebrities walking about Brent Musburger was here

a lot of fun to see just who shows up and also a who's who as far as journalists are concerned stopping by as well later today yep later today we are going to attend the UFC 215 and 216 media days those are being held at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas and that's a that's a really smart thing by the UFC because, you know, let's be honest, those two cards are lacking to be kind. If you put them together, it's an okay card. And so they are taking advantage of the fact that there's a lot of media here. And they're going to shuttle a lot of the media to go speak to the stars of UFC 215 and 216. So we will have coverage of that.

And then again, tomorrow we're on live at one day. p.m. Eastern time, going up until around 3.30 or so p.m. Eastern time. And then afterwards, we are going to be attending the Wayans. And the Wayans will be taking place at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, if memory serves me correct.

There is a whole lot more to come as far as Mayweather-McGregor coverage is concerned. And we're not going to be seeing a whole lot more of Mayweather and McGregor at this point, unless someone goes back to Girl Collection, I guess, and tries to track down. Forewarning,

going to be there for a while if you go at a relatively normal hour. But Mayweather and McGregor are pretty much done their media obligations at this point. And then we'll see them at the, we'll see them at the Wayans on Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern time. All right. So I said DJ is coming up. We've got him. We've got Kevin Lee. For now, let us hear from the UFC women's Bantamweight Champion.

Her name is Amanda Nunes. She was actually joined by Nina Ansaroff. and this was a fascinating interview. First time I get a chance to talk to her about pulling out of 213, about the comments from Dana White, about, you know, getting medically cleared and not fighting,

fascinating stuff from the two of them, especially Nina talking on Amanda's behalf. So here's that conversation that was taped just moments ago. All right, and how exciting is this? We are now being joined by the reigning, defending UFC women's bantamweight champion,

the one and only Amanda Nunes, who returns to action at UFC 215 in Edmonton, Alberta. Canada, first week of September against, of course, Valentina Shofchenko. Also, Nina Arseroff is here. Who just got to fight herself. Angela Hill, November,

Virginia, right? This is very exciting, guys. Thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you for having us. We have a lot to talk about. In fact, I have been hounding you Amanda to talk to you ever since early July. We have to talk about what happened. And in particular, the way it was handled because

I spoke out about this. A lot of the media did as well. We felt like you weren't treated with the respect that you deserve, that you weren't given the benefit of the doubt by the UFC, by the company, by your promoter. Did you feel like you were disrespected in the way it was handled when you could not fight Valentina Shevchenko?

You know, like, they do whatever they want, you know? I know I always 100%. I was honest, you know. I want to step in that case 100%. And I decided. I talk about it. Whatever they say or whatever they, you know, put in the media, I don't even can't. When did you start to feel sick that week?

Actually, two days before, when I, two days before I started my wake hot, I already, I don't sleep very well. Okay. You know, I have a lot of pressure in my head, but I always, when I fight in Vegas, I have this horrible pressure because of my silence pressure. Where does it hurt? Here? Here? All here. All here, yeah.

And then, but I'd be able to take my medicine and then be able to recover. But the day I started my wake car, the pressure was more strong. And the other time I can't take anymore any medicine because of Yusata, it's not allowed through Yusada. And then make it harder to try to recover.

Okay. And then the day of the fight, I don't be able to to what were you feeling I feel like very bad pressure I don't have like

apartheise and what's like off balance the whole time like was like a little bit

weird I saw it from you were there so yeah I saw it from a couple days before you know she was going through it like she normally does

she fought Rhonda with the same condition she fought was gonna fight Valentino with but fortunately she was able to get through it. You know, she didn't feel as much pressure

or pain in the head as she did, but she still walked to the cage with her breatherite strip on. The issue is she wasn't allowed to take the medication that she takes because it has a nasal steroid in it until seven days before the competition. Luckily, when she fought Rhonda,

she felt good enough where the medicine worked up until what it was supposed to, but this time it wasn't. Maybe it was a little more dry this time since she fought in the middle of summer rather than in the winter. And the combination of that

with being dehydrated while cutting weight got it stuck in her sinuses and she wasn't able to recover and when she looked at me during the weight cut I already knew something was wrong but you try not to put that negativity in her head right away like hey is everything okay it was just kind of like all right we got a couple more pounds

let's get through this after she got through the weight cut you know as soon as you hit that weight it's a relief automatically but I didn't see the relief in her face it's still something was wrong you know but you know we went through it she went to the way in's

and then immediately after the way in And when she started rehydrating, she just didn't look right. You know, her eyes weren't focusing. She just didn't seem like the Amanda I've known. And I didn't want to say anything. I was waiting for her maybe to say something to me because I didn't want to put anything in her head if there wasn't there. So then as she, we went to go eat, she didn't really know what she wanted to eat,

which is something you plan three weeks before a weight cut of what you're going to eat after you weigh in. But she didn't seem hungry. And then she looked at me and she's like, because her family there, she didn't want to make a big deal about it and she's like, hey, I need to talk. Let's talk after her. And right away, I knew something was up. You know, I already knew. And when she said it to me, from that moment, I didn't say anything out loud or anything, but I already didn't want her to fight. Because I know her. She would fight through anything. If she doesn't feel good, she really doesn't

feel good. So it was surprising to me that she was speaking to me about it instead of holding it in and I knew something was up. And I didn't want her to fight, honestly. Even if she told me, like, no, I'm going to do it even though I would have fought her on it because I know her and I knew she didn't feel well. We went to the doctor and of course they did like blood exams, all these exams. This is Friday now? This is Friday. And then they released her and said she was cleared and I was just like, she still didn't look okay. She still didn't have an appetite. And then the next morning she said she didn't sleep that night. Her heart rate was like over 100 all night. We tracked it on the heart rate monitor like she something wasn't right. And the next morning we went back to the hospital

and they did the cat scan of her lungs, her abdomen, and then they did the cat scan of her sinuses. And it came back, the doctor's like, oh, there's a little bit, you know, a buildup there. But Dr. Davidson or the UFC doctor cleared her. And then in my head, I'm just like, okay, well, cleared can mean many things. You know, a lot of people have been cleared

that haven't been okay to fight. I've been cleared when I wasn't okay to fight. So it didn't mean much to me because I knew Amanda, and I know Amanda's character. So that didn't mean anything. She doesn't feel good. she doesn't feel good. Later, after, I don't know if maybe they looked at it quickly or didn't read it correctly,

and maybe Dana didn't get the news on exactly what was wrong, made a statement on what was said. She was clear, she was okay to fight. Right. But after we got back, we brought the CAT scan to, like, four specialists, and they're all like, she's messed up. Like, taking a punch to the head like that, she's not going to feel good, and it wasn't worth it.

She shouldn't have fought. So clear can mean many things. Of course, in the media's eye, through the UFC, maybe having to, you know, protect their back a little or whatever reason it was for, they said what they said. And we kind of had a role with it, too. You know, it sucked for us, her especially having to deal with all the hate from all the fans and media. But they didn't know. I know, I know her. Everyone that knows her knows her.

That would never happen. The coaches, the team, she didn't feel good. She shouldn't have fought. And, you know, the UFC, it came out how it did. Maybe she had had her back a little more. and took her side on it and they didn't but it is what it is she wants the same fight she wants the same opponent she got that and we're just going to play it back what was it like when you had to tell them that you couldn't fight that feeling on saturday you know it was very tough for me because i was

like ready you know and i want to i want to like shout this girl up i want to like fight her so bad but uh at the same time i have to make a good choice you know i have to to be 100% and I did the right thing. You know, I know this fight, UFC's be able to schedule. I know if he, you know, I can push for a little more, longer. This is going to happen again.

And now, everything's fine, you know. How do you feel now? Now I feel way better. You're good. So how do you avoid? She's still on medication. I still. She has a few more days left of the medication, and then she's going to take the nasal steroid

until seven days that's permitted by USADA. Okay. And then it should be cleared up enough for her to fight. And after that, she's going to do the surgery. There wasn't enough time for the... Oh, surgery. What does that entail? She was going to do the balloon surgery where they go in and they fracture the bones up in the sinus to open it more so it can drain all out.

Okay. But the procedure, by the time we got the cat skin and everything taken care of, it was too close to the fight. Yeah. And they said she wouldn't be able to take any combat or punches for 10 days. And you can't do that close to the fight. So she's going to go through with the medication she was given. and then after the fight did the surgery. So the fight is on September 9th.

Unfortunately, you have to go, so we'll end on this question. It feels like throughout your career, a lot of people have been doubting you. Do you feel like there is a bit of a chip on your shoulder going into this one? Because of what Valentina said after the fight, because of some people believing that you were scared, which, by the way, I don't believe that at all, and feel like you were not treated very fairly and all that, but I already made that clear.

Do you feel like you have something to prove come September 9th? Actually, the most important thing for me is stepping in the octagonal 100%, you know. And then whatever people say, I will, like, prove to myself, you know, like, and getting my job done. And this is the thing that I think right now. Okay. And defending this belt, keep this belt, and that's it. All right. I think, like, you know, have anything to say about nobody.

all the fans say whatever they want I didn't even see anything honestly like I didn't even voice that to see anything that's probably best that's probably best Nina's they want to tell me about the news everything about MMA

stuff but yeah I'm the champion people's gonna talk bad and good about me I'm ready to you thank you looking forward to it it goes down September 9th the Rogers place in Edmonton Alberta Canada Amanda Nunes against Valentina Shefchenko for this

UFC women's Bantamweight title also Demetrius Johnson versus Ray Borg and don't forget November 11th in Virginia the return of Nina Ansaroff against one Angela Hill, a very important fight in the 115 pound division so I wish you the best sorry we didn't have time to talk about all of that but they are wrapping you up you guys are very busy you have a lot of places

to go but thank you so much and best of luck to both of you thank you so much phantomweight champion I thought Ansaroff was actually really interesting talking about everything that she went through that week and especially the 48 hours before UFC 213. Of course, English is her first language, so she could explain the situation a little more. She was right there by Amanda's side, but it seems like, what are we,

a month and a half later, they have chosen to take a bit of the high road, but you can tell that, you know, the term medically cleared maybe rubbed them a little bit the wrong way, because when you throw that out there and say that someone is medically cleared, you are implying that they just don't want to fight. They're okay to fight. The doctor's cleared them, but they're just choosing not to fight. And that's when the narrative that she is scared and afraid to fight, Valentina's ship check, all that stuff. I mean, as I asked Valentina doesn't have a history of bowing out of fights. She doesn't have a history of being, quote, scared. In fact, I don't think anyone's really scared if you're fighting in the UFC. I mean, you're

actually fighting in a cage and they close a door behind you. and you're literally wearing four ounce gloves and nothing else. You're not scared. I think that's a silly notion. Speaking of what is this? Oh, here he comes. Unfiltered DJ, DJ 2.0, baby. Here he is.

This is exciting. What do you got there? A suit? A new pico. Wow, you just got one right now? Do you want to take the microphone? Yeah, I take no one. Yeah, got a picoat.

Ted Biggers, that's my name. Teddy man, so I'll pick it up. Is it a, is it a double-breasted? Double-breasted? Wow. Nice little diamond lining in the jacket. It's very nice. Look at you. Can we just talk about our setup right now? I mean, are you impressed by this or what? I am very impressed by it. Very impressed by it. You're on Twitter now. Live streaming. Exclusive. I mean, you can appreciate a good stream. Absolutely, I could. Keep trying to sign up for your Twitch. Yeah. And I tell you, it's, it's tough to sign up for that thing. Oh, you have it right here in yeah. Let's get you subscribe. Are we going to do it right now?

it right now. Wow, we're gonna do it right now. I'm gonna show you how to do it that way. Okay. When I'm streaming, Twitch. You come in. And this is on the house, right? This is on the house, wow. This is happening after all the requests that I've received. Oh, I went to the wrong thing, right? I went to Twitch.com. It's Twitch.com. It's Twitch. Go ahead and do your login. Go ahead and log in there. Oh my lord. Log in. This is horrible viewing for the, can we save this for after? We can save it for after? Okay, fine. DJ, how are you? I'm good, man. What brings you to Las Vegas? Doing the media row. Obviously, you know, every single media outlet and their mama's here for the...

Boring questions? What's that? Boring questions, good questions. You've enjoyed it? I've been enjoying it. Are you feeling to love? Yeah, I feel like. You're about to break a record.

I am. That's a big deal. That is a big deal. Do you get the sense that these people know who you are and know what your record means and get the context, the historical context of it all? I think the people who follow mixed martial arts do, but the people who are just here to get their name attached to the May Mac or tour, I don't think so. Which is fine, because they cover more boxing.

Right. Are you going to the fight? No, I'm not. Why not? So I've got to go finish training. Oh, is this annoying for you that you're here? No, no, no, no. It's my day off. So it's always good to break up the monotony of the day out and grind. Obviously, I love to be at home, my wife and kids, absolutely. But you got to do this stuff that get your name out there. How do you feel about Maymac?

I like it. I think it's good. I don't think it's bad for boxing or it's a farce. No, no. No, it's good. It's good. Mayweather's going to go out there, fight, and Margargar's going to go out to what McGar does, and that's fight. Okay, who wins? I go back and forth, man I'm going from McGregor Can you break it down for me

Can you actually break this down? You break down stuff on your Twitch all the time It's fantastic Can you give us like a Twitch breakdown of this fight? That's because they're subscribers And they deserve it Okay, so the biggest thing that people have to understand it

in mixed martial arts community is that If I'm fighting Erro-Hawin and I throw a high kick and he blocks it I get points with that Because I'm damaging you Now, Mayworthy he's good at blocking So when Maylor goes in that stance like this And he ricochase the two off

And he blocks with the right hand He blocks the left hook, he blocks the body shots. Mayweather is getting points for that. So if McGregor throws, you know, a thousand punches and only 10 of those land, 990 of those punches are going to count against him. That is boxing. We are boxing. They're not fighting.

They're boxing. So it's very important that McGregor is very, what's what I'm looking for? Very conservative when the punch he's going to throw. But he's got to throw a lot of punches to get that shot that he needs open to knock him out. But he's not a volume puncher. He's not. Either is Mayweather. So that's why I think this fight plays more into McGregor.

Like if McGregor was fighting like Triple Giro, Canello, I'll be more worried because they're going to walk, you know, McGregor down. Maywears not going to walk McGregor down. And if he does, then I don't know shit about boxing. Wait, so you're actually leaning towards Connor. Yes, I'm leaning towards Mike. Unbiased. Unbiased. Fight fan.

You're watching. You would say if you thought Floyd was going to win or at least leaning towards him. Yeah, I mean, I go back and forth. You know, I think the last press conference in Mayweather did. and I saw one thing that Connor never does. Never. He bowed. He bowed.

Right after. Right after he goes, he goes, why do you think that was? I don't know. Can I tell you my theory about that? He recognizes the historical significance of this fight, and right before they faced off, I've talked about this earlier,

he said, this is Bruce Lee's shit, and he did the Bruce Lee's stance, and then he did, because I think he recognizes that he's representing martial arts. Yes, he is. This isn't boxing. He's not going in there as a boxing, right? No, he's going to as a mixed martial artist.

He's going in as... That's the smart approach. Yeah, I agree. That's what I would do. I'm going to go in there and try to box him. He's too technical. So he's got to go in there, be Unkovich. He's got to be all of them.

He's got to push the pace. And he's got to pick his shots. He's got to conserve his energy. He can't gas out. It's not a sprint. It's a marathon. But when he gets that knockout shot, when he drops them and he gets his 10-count and whatever, he's got to jump immediately right back on him,

not getting him a chance to reset or readjust things. When you hear that Connor is going to make around $100 million, what do you think of that? I'm happy for him. Good for him. Do you dream of a person? hate day like that? If I made $100 million, no one mixed martial arts for me,

it would be full-time streaming. Yes, sir. That's it. That's the dream? Of course. You know, at the end of the day, I love fighting, but it sucks being injured. It sucks hurting. You know, when I beat people up, I'm getting injured. So, you know, if I can make that money, then I would take one paycheck and then never come back? I'd probably never come back.

Why not just add to it? I mean, I could, but I'd be smart by investments. You know, I don't buy fat, you know, nice cars and all that stuff. I just throw 15, 20 million in investments, pay 20 million to the IRS, and I got what? with that 40, I had 60 million left. Pay my coach to get them 20 million. Then I got 40 left.

So just be smart about you. Now you got to pay a manager too, right? How do you feel about that? I don't know. Malky. Unbelievable. No, Malky's a good guy. He's good.

Can I ask you about the John Jones situation? Of course you can. What's your take on it? It's unfortunate, you know? Obviously, I'll say this. It's very hard to fail a drug test. And the reason why I say is that I don't take no supplements. I've been fighting a migraine for about a day and a half now,

I'm not taking ibuprofen. I actually got a swimmer's here and ear infection. We've got Kevin Lee crash in the party. How are you, my man? That's a nice thing right there. The Motown Phenom. I want to hear this thought here. And by the way, Kevin, thank you very much for joining us.

Right now we're talking about John Jones in this news, okay? So it's a good time to join the conversation. DJ was just saying very hard to fail a drug test. It's very hard to fail a drug test because, you know, it takes supplements. I don't take any ibuprofen, Tylen, all that stuff. I just got swimmers here because I'm swimming during my training camp. The first thing I did, I woke up. I text Dr. Davidson, which is the UFC doctor,

and nobody doesn't know that is. After I text him, I text and I call it Jeff Nivinsky, which is the USADA head protocol for the UFC, and I say, I got swimming's here, I need to get some antibiotics from my ears, just want to let you know, because you just never know what's going to show up on those tests. You know, you might take,

I was about to fight Kiojura Guccine in Canada, and I was about to take talent, and they're like, no, don't take it, don't take it, you'll pop, your pop, and I'm like, it's fucking Tylenolol. I have a headache. I'm going to take it. No, no, you got to take aspirin instead.

I'm like, whatever. Let me just take it. So you just don't know what's going to happen here. But I'm going to get John yours the benefit of doubt. But the likely chance is that people don't know from, you know, when you get tested by Ysada, it comes from one stream. You know, you pull out your cock, you piss in one cup. You split it half and half. If A is contaminated, most like it beats me contaminating, unless somebody is sprinkling a little dust in a A sample,

and then the B sample comes back, you know, negative. Do you think all signs point to the fact that he did it? I have no idea. Knowingly or unknowingly. It doesn't just pop. You just don't pop. The shit doesn't just show up in your system. It just doesn't show up.

How do you feel about this? This is multiple offense now. Where do you fall in the John Jones conversation, Kevin? And by the way, you are looking fly, my man. What does Reebok think of this outfit is what I want to know? Oh, we're going to blast you up. Talk for a second? Yeah, yeah.

There you are. There is. Look at this. Oh, my man. You know, I got to make some money out here. That's right. That's right. That's right.

But I was disappointed in John at first. But now as I'm, like, starting to read more into it and starting to hear more people, I think I heard Malky on your show. Oh, thank you. You know, it's a tricky situation. I don't really know what to, like when I first, I posted a video even of me talking about it and how disappointed I was and how D.C. was going to murder him for it. But, you know, it's a tricky one. I don't know. It is, it does look a little fishy that he passes those random drug tests and then all of a sudden get popped the day that he knows that he's going to be tested.

You know what I'm saying? Like, it's weird. Like, you wouldn't even think that. And for something that he don't even need to use, apparently. I don't know. I heard you think there's a conspiracy. They're out to get him? Who's going to try to get him?

I mean, obviously, he's making UFC money. Yeah. DC, and that's the thing. When you do these drug tests, it's you and the USADA person. It's not nobody else. It's you and another man handling your urine. Then after that, you seal it with a close type, you know, lazy. The only way to get open is laser cut, and that's in Utah, Salt Lake City.

and then nobody knows it's his there's only two people who know it's his sample when it goes out because we're coded by numbers like I think it's maybe five or six numbers that you're coded by even the lab doesn't know who it is

the lab just tested goes okay this person this sample right here is hot who's number 2699-155 they're like oh that's that person all right and they go notify him that's how it's so anonymous

yeah I mean fuck all that he fucking up he fucking up that's it like I'm disappointed in him from my perspective, you know, like, I was rooting for John. Like, I was rooting for him. I was happy that he won the fight. Not only that, he's helping me push into the market.

And I've got to do the damn thing myself. What you mean? Come on, man. Like, what market? John could have, I mean, come on, man. He's fucking up. Yeah. I'm sorry.

Look, tell us how you really feel, Kevin. The first time, I mean, he's been through a lot of shit, right? Yeah. The first time that I fuck up my Bentley, especially with two girls in the man, like, I'm like, I've got to turn my life over to Jesus. I need to, like, quit what I'm doing. I need to quit hanging out with the thing. being my manging out with.

I need to stop. And this was maybe three, four years ago. Yeah, yeah. I don't understand it, but I'm just disappointed. That's it. You're disappointed in them. You only get so. I'm just, how about D.C.?

Holy smokes, eh? I mean, that emotional roller coaster, you lose, and then you think you're going to have to move on with your life. And now you may be champion again. Yeah, I wasn't joking when I said that D.C. I would have probably, if it was me, I would have put a hit out on him. He ruined the man's life. Not only that, he embarrassed him in front of national TV.

Yeah, D.C. up there crying like a bitch. Whoa, you're not offended? No, no, no, not. What's wrong with crying? Don't hate on cries? I mean, come on, come on. I like criers. Come on.

I'm a cryer myself. You're not, I'm sorry. No, I cry before after a fight. I mean, I'm pretty sure D.C. would even say it. If you taught the D.C., you probably say this thing. I don't know if you'd say to those exact. I mean, I'm just saying. I'd probably put a hit out on John if it was me.

What do you make of the rise of Kevin Lee? I think he's a good, man. He's a great athlete. His last fight against Michael Kiesse was a great fight. He's very young. I think you didn't tap him out, so it was kind of like a com si-c-cum-soult. I'm just kidding, Kevin. I'm just kidding.

All right. I don't know. I think at the end of the day, man, he's doing their right, you know. The biggest thing in this world, it's always about drama and all that stuff. Just be you, be who you want to be. And obviously, if he keeps winning his fights, I mean, he's fighting for a world title against Tony Ferguson. You know, Tony Ferguson, El Cuckoo, he's no joke. And I'm happy for him, man.

I'm always happy to see other people rise and hopefully the UFC gets behind different stars because, you know, like I said, you know, Connam McGregor might not be here. Right. After this fight, he might make 100 million. Like, you know what, Dana? Think about doing something different. I think about, I'm just going to, I'm just going to come up with you. Why do I just do?

He could do that. You never know. Ron is not coming back. Jones, we don't know his, his creation. He might be up for four years. He might be up for four years. So you got to start looking for the next star, and Motown Fianna might be it. I got to give you some credit, Demich.

He's one of the nicest dudes that I have. Whoa. I'm not right. No, no, no. Not even, not even now. We fought on the same card at one. 78 and I came up and I you know was giving you a prize and he was like oh no

I'm no different than you like I'm not I'm not a different man and I really respected that and that that kind of like gave me a little bit of confidence I was like all right well damn well yeah maybe I can make it happen wow I'm so upset that you said something about Michael Mav's mom though yeah yeah I mean I gotta whip out the

I gotta whip out the guns there I get some shit for that it's kind of funny to see you in this sort of setting here because the feud with Ferguson kind of started when he was playing TV analyst and of course you're not playing TV that you're just a guest here, though. But it's amazing how I feel like that thing just sparked all of this. It's incredible.

And you played it perfectly. You played it. Did you see that? Yeah, it was natural. It was natural. He goes, can we get a real TV analyst in? I mean, I ain't trying to do anything. Antonio was like, you know, you can do a couple things with my friend.

It was a natural beef that came about it, not forced. And then he's saying, you know, he ain't playing an analyst role. Well, why are you sitting up there with a tie and suit with an earpiece in? Like, get off there and get on the side of them, get behind the camera. So I don't know what you want to do. do, but when you play in the analyst role, play it. And I just kick it straight with you. If you, for him to, like I said,

I know Tony, I knew Tony before this, and I always gained Tony props. I was in college when he was going through the Ultimate Fighter, and I would be tweeting out and, you know, and showing support and whatnot, and I never, you know, badmouthed himself for him to downplay me on, like, you know, to say that he has to slam me or whatever he was trying to say. DDT.

Yeah, whatever he's trying, I'm to show him a DDT. And that's just what's real. And when he tried to walk up on me in the international fight week, No, we was going to have to fight up. Yeah. You know, I have to admit, you know, we've kind of developed, you know, DJ and I go way back, but we've kind of developed a thing here, all right? He's got a new black friend.

That's what it is. And you were saying, could we get a real journalist up in here? And you know, Fox did me dirty, and I kind of thought that you were going to say, you know, the dirty word, Ariel Hawani on five. And I was waiting. You were so close. I thought you were going to come through. You didn't come through, man.

Come on, man. That would have been amazing. Are you the main event? What's going on? I don't know yet, but I don't know. yet, but I'm pretty confident that it is. And not only that, especially after coming off this Mayweather McGregor thing, I'm doing McGregor's hard work for him. I'm doing, you know, McGregor don't want to fight Tony. Nobody wants to fight Tony. I'm doing the hard work. And I think this

fight really solidifies who's a true champion at 155. So I think that's worthy of a headline shot for sure. Motown Phenom against a notorious one. Who wins? Hmm. Do this. Do this. Do this. Let's do this before you get your answer. All right. No entourage, no money. We ain't right about none of that. You stand me and him up there next to each other. Look at us and say, who's going to who has in a real fight.

Not in a box, you know, let's not play this. This is a boxing match. It's how many times can he touch his forehead as opposed to him? It's a, you know, they play the game of the match. By the way, but by the way, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I want to make sure. I'm just pointing you out.

Okay, fair enough. So point us next to each other. Yeah, not only that, I'm way bigger, way strong. Come on. Now, now I'll give you a answer. And you're pretty. And you're pretty. Okay, go ahead.

I think it's going to come down to who's going to be able to mix it up. You know, Connor always, he's very good about his distance control. And if he can't, if Kevin cannot get past a distant control and get past and get in there and get his arms around him, then it might have to go notorious. But, but if Kevin Lee could get into the grounds. No, no, no, no. If I was Kevin Lee's coach, this is what I'll tell him. I was like, okay, Kevin, you have to make him always keep guessing. You have to play the range.

Then you have to be all the way in and be all the way out. When you're in there, you stay in there, you take him down, you keep him in the clinch, pass his guard, and finish him. If I was kind of a rigorous coach, I'm like, okay, we got to work in your wrestling defense. Now each time he shoots for a takedown, you make him pay. You don't back all the way up. You stay that distance and you stay that time. Then eventually you look for a knockout shot.

That's what I would say. This is great stuff. Okay, very quick on because they're wrapping me up. Who's the greatest fighter of all time, pound for pound? He ain't been born yet. Whoa. He been born yet. I don't see why people, you know.

No offense to you. I'm saying. And he ain't been born yet. You know, people got this misconception. The sport is only 20 years old. Right. I'm seeing some, I'm sure you are too. I'm seeing some of these young kids, these 21 years old.

I'm like, man, at 21, if I could have been that, like I'm still trying to, like, I'm part of the next generation. I'm still trying to stay a step ahead of them even. So I think the sport even now is going to transcend what it is. You know, we're starting to see that, especially with McGregor. We saw it with Mayweather like a couple years ago. transcended box. You got folks around here at Radio Row who know

anything about fighting. And they hear. McGregor's going to do that for MMA and more athletes are going to come out and they're going to keep transcending the sport. Guys, I can do this for an hour with you too. You guys are phenomenal, but you have to go to the media day. So thank you so much, DJ. Thank you so much, Kevin. And I appreciate DJ for coming back

to speak to us. What a mensch. What a bench. Look at this guy. Straight flexing. Look at that outfit. Amazing. Guys, thank you so much. That is Demetrius Johnson. That is Kevin Lee. Demetrius Johnson. returns to action. And by the way, I'm going to sign up, DJ, right after this, I promise. I got to go. Right after, right after. DJ returns on September 9th, UFC 215, and then Kevin Lee fights for the interim title

on October 7th, UFC 216. That was phenomenal stuff, and we keep the train moving along, my friends. This is so much fun. Coming up next, I do believe he is standing by. We are being joined by one of the greatest boxing trainers in the history of the sweet science, the one and only Freddie Roach is standing by on the phone. Freddie, are you there? I'm there, yes. How are you? I'm doing great. Thanks so much for the time. I appreciate it greatly. So I spoke to you just a couple of months ago about this fight before it was announced.

Now that it's here, now that it's 48 hours away, how do you feel about it? Do you feel like this is an actual fight or do you think that we're about to see pretty much a glorified sparring session on Saturday? No, I think we're going to see a fight. I mean, you know, McGreg is coming in a fight. He has two arms. He throws his fist very well. He's getting big left hand. And, you know, he's not a ground guy so much.

I mean, you know, he knows the ground game, of course. But he also knows boxing because as far as it by my wild car west, Jim, he's far as willing to come by a fighters all the time over there. And, you know, one of them is a South American champion and South African champion. And it was a world title at one time. So, I mean, he's been some quality guys. And, you know, I know he'd be probably up a little bit on TV. Polly's a little bit smaller than he is, but I don't know what Polly's doing,

Sparring at this stage of the game. Do you think that was a knockdown? Ah, you know, it's just, well, yes, no. I mean, I mean, officially it's just like, you know, the sparring partners just get right back up and finish sparring if it was a knockdown. But thing is, it was, it was hard to say if a push or are not. But, you know, one thing, my. Gregor does throw and, you know, Mayweather is great, great boxer. He's great defensively and he's

super hard to hit. And, you know, I had my ace manate Pacayal go with him and he had like to just maybe a little bit too much trouble with the speed. But he, you know, he's a very good boxer, yes. But, you know, you can't just tell him a Gregor out completely because one punch can change everything. Freddie, you know, the Nevada Athletic Commission decided to make this a fight in which eight-ounce gloves were used at 154 pounds. Are you comfortable with that? Yes.

You know, the thing is, I've always said, I think they should use smaller gloves. Because my outfit, guys will take more punishment with bigger gloves. And I like the, I like small gloves. And one packed out in Mayweather fought under the rules of Nevada. they were supposed to have 10 ounce levels also and he requested eight ounce loves and of course we said yes and we signed off in the contract in the same as this fight so mayweather he's been fighting with eight ounce loves his whole career and it's what he used to um I did I found a little bit unusual when he wanted to wear eight ounce one he fought pack yeah because he does have

fragile hands of some sort and he has brinkled I mean he breaks his hands quite a bit But, you know, eight-hounds loves is perfect. When I spoke to you a couple months ago, you sort of threw out the idea of maybe helping out Connor McGregor. Were there ever any talks of you being a part of this camp for him? You know, the only talks I had was when Mayweather came here to my gym, and he told me that he's going to end up fighting Colin McGregor, and he said, Brady, if they asked you to train him,

please train him because it'll make him legit, and you'll make him a better fighter. and we'll all make a lot of money, he said. But that was the last time I heard about McCormickrigger. No one's ever... They do train in my wildcar, West Gym sometimes, yes. And they spar with Chris Van Herden, one of my South African fighters.

That's right. But outside of that, no, I've never met him, so... Connor has decided not to bring any boxing trainers in, and his team has said they're approaching this fight like martial artist, not like boxers, martial artist. They're not going to go in there and try to outbox Floyd Mayweather. Is that the right approach in your opinion? Yeah, they shouldn't go try to outbox him because, I mean, he did too much experience.

And the thing is, his best, I think for him to win, he has to be aggressive, put him on the ropes. You know, if a head, butter, an elbow slip in there, you know, I think he should fight him a little bit rough. Yes, and try to take Mayweather out of his game plans. If you let him box, he will box, he'll box your ears off all night long. Do you consider Mayweather the greatest fighter of our generation? Yeah, maybe he might be the best of his generation, yes. Wow, okay. Is that hard for you to say?

Yeah, well, there's a lot of good guys out there and so forth. You know, we had guys like Holy and the Cesar Chavez. It was great in our generation also. but at least me whether it's the only one without any losses and a lot of it could change that. Will you consider a victory, a legitimate 50 and O record? Like, do you think that this would be a legitimate victory for him? Well, you know, it's funny because somebody told me someone's always going. And I said, what do you mean?

Well, the guy's zero, zero and zero. I said, well, yeah, I do, if he, you know, he's expected to win the fight. And if he does win the fight, I don't think it matches up to Rocky Machiano's record or, you know, undefeated record. Because he didn't choose to fight another boxer. Who do you think is going to win? What's your official prediction, Freddie? My prediction is Mayweather will win decision. Do you think it will be entertaining?

Yes, of course. I think he'll be entertaining, yes. I mean, he's not the most exciting fighter in the world, but he's a great boxer. And if you enjoy the art of boxing, he is very good at it. He works very well. And McGregor, I mean, he's got nothing to lose.

He has to go after that title right away. He has to go after Mayweather. invite him. I mean, he has to make this into a fight, I feel. Now, do you think that Connor wins any rounds in the fight? Possibly. I mean, he's got that big left hand if he lands it. He could hurt Mayweather or even knock him out. So he's got two feet and two hands just like Mayweather. They're both human beings.

So anybody has a chance, yes. Now, I'm assuming you won't be watching the fight, right? Because you'll be cornering your guy Miguel Cotto on Saturday night, right? You probably won't even get a chance to watch it live. I will not be able to watch it live, no. But I'll be in the corner in California with Miguel Cotto, and it's a big show for Miguel. And we're going to have one more after this,

and then Miguel is going to announce his retirement. Really? Is that official? One more after Saturday night's fight? He's going to fight a retirement fight against two. We don't know yet because there's a lot of things going on in that division right now. And we got to wait and see who wins and who loses. And I'm sure it's going to be a big, big fight. And then he told me he wanted to spend more time with his family,

and he's been in boxing for a long time. And he's done everything again. Anyway, he's won four world titles. He's the only poor-breaking fighters to ever do that. So he'll go down as one of the greatest fighters of all time. I would be remiss if I don't ask you about Manny Pachio. Do you want him to retire? No, not yet.

No, Manny wants to fight the rematch and then after the rematch, I'll assess what he has. And there's a lot of rumor out there about Manny. They might want him to fight Terrence Crawford. And it might be a little bit too much. But, you know, me and Manny will sit down and make the correct. decision at that time. And would you like to, so after that, would you like maybe to reassess get, is the rematch

by the way, is that 100%? Is that booked? Yes. Okay. And then after that, maybe consider his options. Well, the thing is, I'm going to have a lot and talk about it. You know, because it's really tough to be a world champion and really tough to be a senator at the same time. I mean, let's face it. I mean, one's enough.

So we are, we're going to have a talk about that. And I just, I'm very logical about it. I don't think the training camps that we have now are quite as good as before because he's in Congress till 10 o'clock at night. I mean, it's the Senate. Sometimes we train at 10 o'clock at night. Everyone gets out. I mean, you know, it changes every day.

So it's difficult. And to be at that level, the last thing in the world I want to see is, more than my friends get hurt. Last thing for you, Freddie. and always appreciate your time. Thank you so much for talking. You were instrumental in getting George St. Pierre back to the UFC. Will you, in fact, be cornering him on November 4th at Madison Square Garden?

Yes, I will. Wow, that's official. That's a done deal. That's a done deal. We've made a deal. I'm going to fly up to Montreal, only three days every week until the fight, and I'll work with him every day. I'm up there.

Starting when? When the training camp starts, and we have, I'm training him today and then he's going back to Montreal and he's going to work a little bit on this ground game and so forth. And then after the Miguel's fight, we're going to make the arrangement. So I'm going to be up there like maybe like the whole month of October almost. Wow. So you're training George today? Yeah. Oh, wow. Tell him I say hello.

I trained yesterday. You've been trying for every meaningful four days out. Wow, that's phenomenal. That's great. That's great to hear. Freddie, thank you so much for the time. Best of luck to you and Miguel Koto on Saturday, live on HBO. We appreciate it greatly.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. It's a big time for boxing, how great it is to hear from one Freddie Roach. HBO going head to head with this pay-per-view, and that's certainly an interesting decision. Miguel Koto competing in what Freddie Roach just said could very well be his second-to-last pro fight. How about that?

Miguel Kodo, who of course knows a thing or two about one Manny Paco. He is, excuse me, not Mani Paco, about Floyd Mayweather Jr. He lost to him back in 2012. Wow, 2012. It feels like it's not been that long ago, but yes, 2012. Galcote, one of my favorites. I saw Miguel Koto fight Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium several years ago. What year was that?

Yuri Foreman fight was in 2010. Holy smokes. I'm getting old. That was at Yankee Stadium. It was really cool. Foreman suffered a knee injury midway through the fight, and the crowd was pretty good. Yuri Foreman was very popular in the New York area. Jewish fighter represented the Jewish people, and it was cool to see him fight as the Puerto Rican fighter, Miguel Cotto, at Yankee Stadium.

So that was a lot of fun. Great to hear from one Freddie Roach. I'm having the time of my life here. We are talking to who's who so far today. We've talked to the likes of Demetrius Johnson and Kevin Lee, Freddie Roach you just heard from Amanda Nunes. You heard from the great carrot top earlier today, Valentina Shevchenko. But it is not a party without the one and only, the voice of the Octagon. My good friend, Bruce Buffer, who is joining us now on the phone.

How cool is this? Bruce, are you there? I'm here, Ariel. How are you, my friend? It's been a while. It has been a while. Bruce, everyone's here. The combat sports world is here.

Why aren't you here? there is a 50-50 chance you will see me but not because I'm just going to go there to see the fight I actually got plans in my hometown for a big party for the fight but I'm working on something Ariel and I can't talk about it until oh come on I can't something big something big yeah it happens it's going to be big are you going to be on the broadcast are you going to be a part of the show yeah yeah I'm going to break the new the world. I would like to do that, yes. You know what? And you'd be one of the

first people, if not the first I would call, Ariel, because you're great. But the thing is, is that the classy Jimmy Lennon Jr. will be your announcer, master's ceremony, Saturday evening. But I am working on something else. If I can pull it off, then it'll probably be one of the best things that ever pulled off. What? Best things

that you've done it all. There's only something new in life, Rial. Give me that mountain top. Why am I going to be climates? Because of it there. Could I ask, would this thing be related to the fight in some way? Yes, it would. Oh, my dear. When are you going to find out?

I hope to know by tomorrow, because if I don't know by tomorrow, then I'm staying home. Okay, wow. Well, the clock is ticking. We're 48 hours away. I heard from so many fans, Bruce, who said that they wanted you to introduce Connor. They wanted your brother to introduce Floyd. You are the voices of the respective sports. Was there any consideration of that?

In the beginning, you know, the beginning there was in respect to the parties involved except for Showtime. And I have to give, I have to show Showtime a lot of respect because Jimmy is the contracted announcer for some 25 years now. And, you know, Jimmy, Jimmy has a great job. I have nothing but good things to say about Jimmy Leonard. I respect him as a fellow announcer. And, you know, as a man I've known for years. So with that being said, I think Michael and I have received more publicity in the last two. bunched internationally from media like you, newswriters, fans, tweeting, posting, you name

it, for a fight that we're not attracted to announce. It's amazing. But I did try to work it in the beginning that it would be me and Jimmy co-announcing the way I was able to orchestrate that when Manny Pachial fought Floyd Mayweather back in 2015. Because I was able to put that together. And I have my brother in the ring introducing Mani, well, Jimmy did Floyd. But it came down. And, you know, from one of the top ends that Jimmy will be handling all that stuff. And that's fine. I respect that completely. But like I said, if I can surprise Saturday night, quite frankly, you have to talk to you now, Ario.

If I can surprise Ario, Holani, I feel like I've accomplished something. Yes. And now I'm racking my brain. I wonder what you have in store. I have no idea. Well, you'll know if you see it, when you see it. And if not, I'll see you from rider down next week. How's that?

You come bearing gifts. It's amazing. You gave us a little tease. You're such a tease, Bruce. You come bearing gifts and then you don't exactly give the gift, which is a bit of a strange situation. Let me ask you about this. How do you feel about the fight? Are you, are you in fit? Do you like this idea? Do you think that this is good for the UFC to have Connor go into uncharted territory? Well, if you were to ask me six months ago, I let me tell you the fight, I'll be like Dana. I said the fight's not going to happen. Yeah. But then I was, I thought it would be one of the greatest things that would ever happen.

because what you have here, if you really went down the brass tacks, we all know about Floyd Mayweather being probably the greatest boxer of the last, you know, 10 years, if not the current generation. But you have Connor McGregor, who's a Cinderella story. What I mean by that is four years ago in Irish welfare, collecting 188 months, now 24th rank on the fourth celebrity athlete list or the athletic list of the top-running athlete, not a single pugilist boxer inmate fighter above him,

now stepping into the square ring, against one of the greatest fighters with a record of O&O making his boxing debut and earning north of $100 million by all estimates. It's unbelievable. So I believe in Cinderella stories.

And if Connor wins, it's the cover of Sports Illustrated, obviously. I think it's the cover of Time magazine. He's going to be the greatest, most popular athlete in the world. Now, whether he maintains Muhammad Ali status forever is another story.

because that is the story still being written. But Connor is a fighter, okay? Floyd is a boxer. I'm not saying he's not a fighter. Connor's a fighter. He's been hit with four-ounce gloves and legs and elbows in need for years. Never been knocked out, right? I've seen it, you've seen it, talk about Sarah versus GSP in MMA.

In boxing, I've seen it. Anything can happen. Anything can happen. He's taller, longer, stronger, faster. He's not faster, taller, longer, and stronger and younger. Yeah. the speed goes to Floyd, even at 41, by my estimate. But at 41, that's the age that boxers, as well as MMA fighters, if you want to talk about fighting,

you can get old on any given night, you know? So it all remains to be seen. Oh, starting at 21 to it down to what now, like 5 to 1. That's only because money's going on McGregor. Right. You know, so we'll see what happens. It would be one of the most amazing accomplishments I've seen in my 60 years of life. That's all we can tell you, Ariel.

It's Conrader's World and we live in it. We'll see if that continues to be after Saturday. You're not 60 years old, Bruce. Come on. I turn 60 years old on May 21st. Wow, that is unbelievable. I would have guessed 49, 48, 60 years old. I can only dream of being in your kind of shape when I'm 60.

I appreciate that, Ariel. I'll compare myself on the outside of any 30-year-old walking and running or fighting or whatever. Yes. But the infrastructure's got a few kings from everything I've done in my life, all the surfing and fighting out. done is added up. But I'm definitely, I've always been athletic. You know that and always stay that way. Bruce, what do you make of the fact that Floyd is hanging out at gentlemen's clubs leading up to this fight? I mean, do you think that he's taking this seriously?

Well, he better be. He better be because he's going to be facing. I do think he's taking it seriously, but this is Floyd. Floyd is a very disciplined athlete and a very disciplined boxer in respect to the fact that Floyd is in shape 365 days a year. Floyd might go to his his dance club, that he had just opened recently, and do his thing. But then he might go run 15 miles at 2 in the morning. You know, he's very disciplined. And to think that Floyd will be anything but not into this fight and out of shape, you're kidding yourself.

Floyd is serious. He just has his way of doing his thing, and Connor has his way of doing his thing. Bruce, could I ask you what you think about the John Jones story? What do you make of this when you found out about what happened just a couple of days ago? what was your reaction? I almost punched a hole through the wall in my office. Wow.

I just couldn't believe it. I just, I'm tired of it. I'm worn out. I was so happy by how he handled himself in his interview. Of course, we're waiting for the B-test to come back. If to my knowledge it's not come back yet, so let's not talk guilty or this out of the other. But the fact that's raised its ugly head again,

it's just a sad situation. And the way I say sad is because it's so, so affecting in so many areas. I mean, even if you want to get down to the obvious millions of dollars, it's going to, you know, losing revenue for the UFC. Not counting, first and foremost, for John, the absolute, if John's out for four years, Ariel, I think he's going to lose $80 million. Oh, my God. And that's just in person. Well, add it up. If he fights twice, three times a year, and I'm guesstimating that with paper, your revenue and everything, he's got to make north of $5 million or more.

And I'm just guessing, I'm not the powers of the year. I don't know this. But very simple. two times a year times four eight fights call it five million that's 40 million right there lost I mean how do you wake up looking in the mirror and say I just I'm going to lose this I should be making this

you just want that through that for two years I hope it's not true I hope it turns out to be negative but how many times have we seen this happen where the beat test comes back and it's any different you know it's an unfortunate situation we do hope that for his sake

that he's able to come back but you have to wonder what this means for his legacy and if we'll ever see him fight again if he's out for four years, right? I mean, it's tough to sit on the sidelines for four years. Well, four years when you're, I think he's 30 years old, if I'm not going to be correct? Yeah, he is. Then he's going to be 34. You're talking about, he's already lost two years with his absolute prime.

Four more years. And, of course, you know, people can speculate and say, you can go to Japan and fight or whatever. I mean, he's still under contract. Yeah, he's under contract. I mean, it's like, I feel bad for John. I really do. I like John. I feel bad for the whole situation.

Don't feel bad for every stream that comes out of this situation because it's no good for anyone at all. What's the official prediction, Bruce? Saturday night, what's the official prediction? Let's go on the record. Don't sit on the fence. On paper, it's on Mayweather. We know that because Conner's walking into the world that he's never,

I mean, he's done, sure, in the gym and such, but this is Mayweather's world on a professional level. You're going to go crazy. I think that Connor can win the fight. Wow. I do. I do. All right.

I think that he's people wanting the fight. I'm not, I can't sit here and say he's going to, because if you ask me that I would make fights when I'm announcing, and you know this interview me so many times the past, I always say made the best man win. Yes. And I'm going to say that about Saturday night,

made the best man win. But I went public, you know, I don't bet on fights that I announce. Right. Okay, I won't do that. I won't do that at all. In this case, the odds were so, good. And I mean, I'll put $1,000 down on a blackjack hand or, you know, a poker hand for

shite and giggles. Why not put some money down in this fight? Because the odds are so good. Oh, so you bet on who? You bet on McGregor? Wow. Because some people might say that the better bet is Floyd. I got McGregor at seven and a half to one. Okay, okay. I also did a prop bet where when I was in Vegas where he knocks Floyd down. Because the punches that get you in fighting are the punches that you don't see, whether it's the octagon or the squared ring. Yeah. And he's so strong, and now that we've gone down to eight-ounce flows, which benefits both fighters, not just Connor.

If Connor hits him with a shot that he doesn't see, I can see whether going down to one knee. There's five to one. Boom. I'll put it down. And then if Connor does take him out and knocks him out, it would be in my estimate in the early rounds. And I bet the knockout in third, fourth, or fifth round, and I got $2,200 to one hour.

He is the greatest ring announcer of all time, regardless of sport. He is the one and only Bruce Buffer. You can check him out over at Bruce Buffer.com. That's when I first met Bruce. Way back when I was a college student at Syracuse University over 15 years ago, sent him an email. He responded, always has been so great to me. He, of course, hosts the It's Time podcast, which I've been on multiple times. I always enjoy that as well.

And he does special voiceover recordings. And he also offers personalized championship introductions for, weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, any occasion. Bruce Buffer can call you out, and you have not quite lived unless you actually hear Bruce Buffer introduce you. That's my suggestion. So go check it out over at brucebuffer.com. Bruce, pleasure as always, and please keep us posted on this news.

Now I am very intrigued, please. I will, Ariel. All right. I'm saying that I think even for my best friends, I tell them, you know what, watch the fight. If anything happens, you'll know then. If not, I'll see you at brunch on Sunday. All right. Thank you, Bruce. All the best to you.

All the best to you, my friend. Keep it up. You're the best. I'll talk to you. Thank you so much. There he is. Bruce Buffer, everyone. You know him. Voice of the Octagon. So great to have him on the program. Really enjoyed his insight. All right. Let's move along here. Let's keep this train rolling along. The British fans have been asking for us to speak to the one and only Chris Eubank. And now here he is. Chris Eubank. Holy smokes. My friend, I have to stand up here. And wow, what a handshake that was. Holy moly. I have never seen. There is no way you are 51.

Put the headset. 51 years young, Chris Eubank, there is no chance in hell. Oh, yes. Okay, yes. I just told them to this. Okay, no. Oh, yeah, you know what? You don't have to wear these.

As long as you can hear me. You can hear me, right? Yeah, I'll just put them down here. And let's boost his mic up there. You are 51, Chris? I go to the gym, and I suppose at this age, I guess you learn to, I suppose, train to look after the greatest instrument on earth, which is your brain and your body.

This is, I've never seen a human being look like this at 51. I saw you from afar and I said, that man's at least 34. Of course, I know you are, but I've never seen you in person. You look phenomenal. Thank you. Congratulations. Wow, this is amazing. So you are here in Las Vegas.

You work for Sky Sports, correct? Well, I suppose having been a former participant of the great game of boxing. Yes. I've worked with, well, I suppose everybody. Okay. in terms of actually passing over the philosophy of the combat sport, which is boxing. And it looks like now I'll do a little bit of the MMA as well. What does that mean? What does that mean? What do you mean?

What it means that in actual fact we're here. We're talking about boxing and MMA. Of course. Are you an MMA fan, Chris? I do like the martial arts. Something that I should say, which I was taught, may resonate to the fans, which is that boxing is the highest form of martial arts. Interesting. The reason for which is, you first have to learn how to absorb punishment

before you can learn how to initiate it. Okay, fair enough. It is the only martial art where immediately your first lesson is full contact. It's never semi, like all the rest of the martial arts. Interesting. What was your reaction when you found out that a martial artist who is O&O and professional boxing would be coming over to fight the great Floyd Mayweather?

What did you think of that? Well, okay, when I first first, heard, then obviously I didn't believe it could happen. But now that has happened, it is a wonderful thing for fighters. This is how we earn our money. Yeah. And in actual fact, it means that boxing and MMA is evolving. And it's what we do as humans.

The condition is to involve. And we are evolving. And so, you know, it is very positive. you know both men are going to be earning tens if not hundreds of millions that is good for boxing and MMA

and so we are grateful as a former participant as I said I'm grateful to Floyd and Connor for opening these gates conventional wisdom seems to be that if Floyd say went over to the UFC and fought in a cage

he would not stand a chance No, he wouldn't. But there are some people who think that Connor stands a chance on Saturday. Are you one of those people? Yes. Why? Well, he stands a chance because he doesn't have to box. If he boxes, no, he doesn't stand the chance.

Interesting. What do you mean? It's a boxing match. Yeah, but you can also fight. You can only use these. So what's the difference? Explain it to us. Educate us.

Okay, well, look, if he boxes Mayweather, boxing, that suggests, may I show you? Please, please, please, please, let's do this. Should I stand up as well? No, you don't need me to stand up. Okay, great. Boxing suggests this. Here, you put this down and I'll hold it.

So boxing suggests slip in punches, weaving, catching punches, catch, slip. That's boxing. Using your jab distance. Huh, huh, huh, huh. That's boxing. Fighting is, I'm going to shake your hand. Okay. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that's fighting.

Dirty. I didn't say dirty. Okay. Because fighting isn't dirty. And we know this through Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson was a fighter. He'd come forward and he would swing. Now, that Connor can do.

If he stands and gives any time to Mayweather, any time at all, a second. he's lost. He will never outsmart this guy. This guy is... Kasparov was the greatest chess player of all time. That's right. He is the Kasparov of boxing. McGregor is hard. Now if you're a fighter, having had 52 fights, 24 of them, world championship fights, you begin to learn that really is the hardest man who wins,

because talent and skill that goes out the window after eight, nine rounds. So sometimes you can be the man by persevering and pushing and pressuring that man. Can't kind of do that? Yes, he can. Can't box him, but he can fight him.

Again, that fight would look very ungamely. It would look, it would be a horrible fight to watch because he would be rushing him in effect. He would be running into him. He would be taking a lot of punishment in the interim, but he's hard. And, you know,

let me just qualify hard. If he's got cauliflower ears and he's been hit in his normal everyday vocation with elbows and knees, I don't think he's going to have a problem dealing with guys hitting him with a glove.

Also, and here is a point of interest. Okay. Why Mayweather would have brought it down to eight ounce? It doesn't make sense. Yeah, why, why? Why do you think that is? Well, that only favors Connor. Uh-huh.

But Mayweather was five, 46 of his 49 pro fights with eight ounces. But I'm saying he could have had, it was actually agreed at 10 ounces. Yes, yes. Bringing it down to eight, it doesn't aid. It doesn't aid him. It aids Connor. Right. Okay.

So over and above that, also what so many people who are boxing fans and aficionados are missing is the fact that this Connor McGregor is Irish. Yes. Now, I don't know whether you've heard about the Celtic warriors. Of course. Well, in warfare... Steve Collins

Steve Collins, you've had a thing or two about him, yes. Indeed. Of course. Well, in warfare, they have ghost-like spirits. Uh-huh. They are able to do what other nations haven't been able to do. They are a hard people. We know that he is durable. He is tough. If Mayworth is going to beat him, he's going to have to beat him into submission.

There's no tapping out here. Right. And that's going to be tough. It's tough to beat up a man. So I don't see this fight. I mean, McGregor talks about a knockout. I can't see that. But I can see a 12-round fight.

I can see a fight going to the distance. And I can see a very ugly fight. and I can see the possibility of that Irish spirit winning out the impossible otherwise why have I traveled here over the Atlantic I've come because is there a possibility in my mind there is now I may be crazy

a lot of people say that I am crazy you don't become a world champion by being normal I have to be slightly unhinged Uh-huh. Now, it's with that mindset, I can see a way that he can do it. Wow. He'll be able to take punishment. If he brings him into a tot-to-do contest,

if he doesn't give him time, if he doesn't give Mayweather time to set, when you go and see a show like a magic show, like Dynamo, you don't know what you're going to see, but you know you're going to see magic, right? Yeah. And you won't know how it's done. Sure. Well, this is what I'm imagining. that Connor can do.

He has the prerequisite, the most important thing needed, to win fights. Can you take a beating? Can you absorb punishment? Can you persevere? He's got a prerequisite. It's now whether he has the correct

way of using his tools. If he allows Mayweather to do what he does, it is a fuss. Right. Wow, this is fascinating. And for your viewers, in fact, I can actually tell you where you can witness a blueprint. Please. If you put into YouTube, UBank versus Collins. Yes.

Two. Not the first fight. I had two fires with them. The second one. That's how it's done. So he has a way. But if he hasn't trained that way, then he won't do it. because you only ever produce in a real fight

what you've been doing in the gym. That's the path to victory, that fight. Replicate that fight, that game plan. For those that have not seen that fight... It's called Chris Eubank against Steve Collins. Could you tell us what the attack was? What was the attack that Steve Collins had in that fight against you? Madness.

Madness. Pure madness. He was maniacal. He was obsessed. He charged. And let me tell you. Hey, look at this. Yeah.

This is quite funny. This is amazing. If you watch Just before the referee says box Okay This was in Cork 1995, Ireland Before the referee says box

This is how Steve Collins looked to me Box He ran at me for 12 rounds He never stopped I could not contain him I couldn't measure him He gave me no chance to set because I was the guy with the skill to slip and to be cool and slip and never gave me a chance.

Rush me. He just kept on rushing me. And that is the blueprint that could beat him. It is so very unlikely that he would follow this blueprint because he would have been training in the way he's been training. And you can't actually change your plan. It doesn't work that way. If you've been training in particular way, you will follow what you've been doing.

You have to be a nutcase. You have to be a madman. And I would say this also, that it would not be far-fetched to say this to you. I could be likened to the Mayweather in 1995. Okay. And you can likened Steve Collins. to McGregor in 1995.

Wow. There was no way this guy had a chance of beating me. Yeah. He just didn't have the talent, the ability, to skill, the punching power. But because of that ghost-like spirit, he was able to do the impossible. Ireland rejoiced. Yes. For months.

Yes. I mean for months, it was really something. Is that still a wound that you possess? I beg you pardon? Is that still a wound? The wound. Yes, the memories. No, no, no.

You were at peace? At peace. Yeah. This was a triumph. A triumph for you? Yes. Why? Because when I lost, I lost with dignity.

Ah. Which proves that I was a correct and decent champion. Uh-huh. Champions behave like men, not like children. Uh-huh. Yeah? Did you see how Connor behaved after he lost in Athias? Because that reminds me.

He behaved like a champion. Yes. Huh? I thought that that was actually his finest hour. Well, you see, look. That's what makes him also a dangerous man, a man who understands condition. You lose with your head high, held high. Yeah.

Not with your eyes down and belligerent. That would say that he's not dangerous at all. The fact that he lost like a gentleman tells you something about his code. He has honor. That's why this fight is a very interesting fight to me, over and above the fact that he's Irish. and in warlike situations they do have spirits which are what's the word

spirits which are are able to enter a different paradigm he may be able to bring this paradigm into this particular fight I love your take on holding yourself like a champion because you really get to see the character of a man or woman

when they're down not so much when they're up it's easy to be when you're up. You know, it's easy to be boastful, but we had a fighter in our sport named Rhonda Rousey. Are you familiar with Ronda Rousey? Yes. She lost, first loss, never spoke to the media, it's been two years, didn't show up to the press conference, didn't talk to anyone, and some people like myself have criticized her for that. I think it's an important part of being a fighter, a prize fighter, to show up in victory and defeat,

and even more so sometimes in defeat. And so I love your words. Even more so in defeat. You see, I mean, what a lot of people don't consider is this, what I believe to be fact, when you are living the warrior's code. You see, here is the view. In fact, you know what, let me tell you a particular philosophy which encompasses what I'm trying to get across. Okay. It's called the warrior's code. It goes as follows. The warrior is strong, yet his sleep is.

is fragile, his wisdom and amalgamation of precedent, yet his decisions cannot be based on the frailties of man. He is rather fueled by divine inspiration, ascending from the heart. He knows not anger, and only fears the unknown. The warrior does not judge, for his true assignment is to deliver evidence of superior behavior to the creator of all men. The warrior does not judge. The warrior does does not dream of frontiers. He only sees horizons. The warrior is a creature of irony for his genuine task is to ensure peace. The true warrior knows, accepts and embraces above all, integrity which is his course in life, reason and the application of reason which is his only weapon, and forgiveness, the one true cleansing virtue.

And only when one can fully absorb But these most divine of all virtues Can one at last see How impossible and futile It is to make war Wow That was incredible Well, that's what we strive to be

Do you consider yourself a warrior? Oh, absolutely And it's an everyday task Because if I'm not gentle with people It means I've failed on that particular day Huh. You have to be gentle. You have to be kind.

You have to be considerate. You have to be helpful. When did you become a warrior? Probably at 13. 13. And I started boxing at 17. Okay. What happened at 13?

I then understood what Sunday school was about. Sunday school taught me to be a warrior. Really? How? Yes. Well, Sunday school teaches you everything that I just said in the Warriors Code. So it teaches you manners, morals, respect, reason, because it obeys itself, trusting your parents, dignity, integrity, punctuality.

Don't waste people's time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Being kind, being considerate. These are the basics and the basic prerequisites to success. I'm talking about holistic success. Yeah. Because look, you can find many champions who don't behave with these prerequisites, and then you don't respect them, even though they have the belts.

So the idea is, when I see a champion, it's not the belt I'm looking at. I'm looking at their attitude. I'm looking at how they carry themselves. So when McGregor lost like he did, that was. the hallmark of a champion. That is a very dangerous man in the ring. Is Floyd Mayweather a warrior?

Almost certainly. Proved. Now, you know, people may not like particular things about the way he does what he does with money and showing out. But then, who knows? Who knows?

No one knows what's in another man's mind. And so what we do is we watch and we learn from others mistakes and triumphs we learn you know there are certain things I wouldn't do what you do

I mean it's you know the idea is to use those prerequisites that foundation as a way to actually carry yourself through life it's like Rudyard Kepling who says in his if, which again these

principles are the foundations of Sunday school. It goes as follows. If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself, when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting

too. If you can wait and not be tired of waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies. Or being hated, don't give way to hating. And you get, don't look too good nor talk too wise. If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.

If you can bear to hear the truth, you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken and stupid building. them up with worn-out tools. If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them, hold on. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings, nor lose the

common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, an impossibility. If all men count with you but none too much, if you can forgive, or if you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything which is in it and which is more, you will be a beacon, you will be a standard bearer, you will be a success, you will be a man. Holy smokes. That was unbelievable. I feel like I just had an out-of-body experience listening to you beside that.

How do you know that off the top of your head? What, while I was training when I was champion, while I was learning how to fight, I began learning all of these philosophies and I committed them to memory because it made sense to what I was living because all of these Rudyard Kipling wrote that in

for his son if a very famous poem committing it to memory made it part of me so you start carrying yourself a particular way you start it actually makes you want to be more well-manered It makes you conscious of how you carry yourself.

This is why I say this McGregor is a dangerous man because he conducts himself well. The language I don't get. You don't like it. But that's today's world. Sure, sure, sure. Okay. But the way in which he accepted defeat makes him, in my view, a very dangerous man. Wow.

Especially if he uses the tactic of fighting and not boxing in this particular context. Fascinating. And it seems like he's trending in that direction because he didn't bring any boxing trainers. He kept his same MMA trainers with him. And they continue to say, we're going in there as martial artists, not as boxers. So I think you're on to something here. Well, I don't know. I mean, maybe it's just an idea, a friend of thinking in my mind, because I'm a former participant of this great game.

Sure. And so in my mind, it's like, why wouldn't you do that? Yeah. But that doesn't mean it's in anybody else's head. Sure, sure. But what I can say is, it sounds interesting, doesn't it? It certainly does. It certainly does actually give cause for those to think...

Yes. Who thought it was a farce, that this is not a fuss. This man is hard. There's a lot of fighters today. They get hurt and they quit. Sure. He is not that. No.

Are you an MMA fan? Do you enjoy MMA? What I enjoy is anyone who partakes in the martial arts. Okay. And for all those people out there criticizing Conor McGregor saying, that he doesn't deserve to be in the same ring as Floyd Mayweather Jr. I disagree. Firstly, I wouldn't have traveled across the Atlantic to watch the fight

because I don't go to fights if I know the outcome. Ah, interesting. One, two, for the critics. Fyodor Roosevelt. Wow. He stated this about the critic. It isn't the critic who counts. It is not the critic who counts.

not the man who points out where the strong men stumbled or where the duo of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, the one who strives valiantly, the one who errs and comes short again and again, the one who understands the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,

the one who spends himself in a worthy cause, the one who knows at best in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst if he should fail at least he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold or timid souls

who know neither defeat nor victory this man is not to be criticized he is stepping up to the plate not just to the plate but against the best of this generation, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and that is to be admired. Wow. Are you going to keep fighting?

Do you want to come back? You haven't fought in, what, almost 20 years, but I keep hearing that you want to come back? The reason I want to come back is not so much for the fight. Okay. It's more to do with getting myself into the physical condition, which is going to allow me another 15, 20 years of fantastic mobility, using the greatest influence. on earth in the most fantastic way to have fun. So you don't feel like you're in that condition right now?

I'm in the gym. You are? My trainer says that I'm fit. Wait a second. Are you training for the comeback already? Yes. Really? I've been in the gym for four months. Wow. Okay. I'm still, I know how to box. Yeah.

But my body is not what it was. Okay. And so I'm re-engineering it. And that is more the important of the important factor. It isn't so much to fight, or the limelight that comes with it, or the money, or being center of attraction. That's important. But there is nothing more important than the greatest instrument on earth. Being able to run. Being able to jump off of high ridges into rivers. Being able to swim. Being able to climb. To laugh, to be happy. Being able to taste

strawberry. Yeah. You like strawberry? Oh, yes. That's your favorite? Strawberry bonbons, in fact, on my favorite. Oh, wow. You don't need a lot of those, I could tell.

The point I'm making is the fight is secondary. Primarily, I want to keep this, this machine, this temple, this body. I want it to keep it, I want to keep it in pristine condition. Who are you training to fight?

Nigel Ben. That's happening. happening? Let me tell you this. Okay. Again, you see, now you want to go to the fight, but me, Nigel Ben, is keeping, that particular fight is keeping me away from substance, like alcohol, cigars. Why? Why? Because I'm a rude boy. Why because I'm a maverick? Why because I'm a fighter? So we want to do all that bad boy stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's keeping me away from that. And that's better for me. Think of how many people as they get older, beat themselves up psychologically

for damaging their lives. They are hurting in their chests. They are hurting because of their weight. They're hurting because of the negligence they pay to their bodies. I don't want to be that. That's why I'm in the gym and that's why I'm using Nigel Ben

and one of the most dangerous sports to keep me safe. Do you think that the fight will actually come to fruition? Being the daring man that I am, it is possible. What time frame are you targeting? Next year, mid-next year. And where does Steve Collins play in all this?

He doesn't play in it. This is a fight between me and Nigel Ben. And the reason why is because that's what the public want to see. They want to see it. The British public. Yes. But just keep in mind again, you know, we are all, ego is a blessing because it makes you strive, it makes you fight,

it makes you cunning, it makes you find a way. It actually helps your IQ find a way to achieve the objective. I am grateful to the danger that Nigel Ben is, because right now is keeping me safe. It's keeping me healthy. The thought that actually this may happen, and I'm going to have to be in the best condition of my life to protect myself from the onslaught that he will bring.

Any concerns health-wise to be fighting at 51? head, you know, I seem to be... I mean, you're sharper than I am. My memory, you know. I don't know about that. The memory is the most impressive damn thing I've ever seen. I think health-wise, no, I'm good. I'm good, but I want to be better.

You know, Connor McGregor reminds me of Invictus. Have you ever heard of Invictus? Yes. It goes as follows. I committed it to the memory. Oh, my gosh. And it goes as follows. All right.

Now this is in tribute to Connor McGregor. Wow, here we go. Out of the night, which covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole. I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud under the bludgeoning of chance. My head is bloody, but onbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms, but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find me on afraid. It matters not how sprained the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. Holy smokes I admire this Connor McGregor I admire him for getting into the ring with Floyd oh my goodness

this is a treat this is a treat What are you doing fight night? Fight night? Yeah I'm do you have something in mind? No I feel like we need to hear from you on fight night

I feel like you should be on the broadcast Why aren't you on the broadcast? Sky Sports is here. Why aren't you a part of that? I believe they have... Oh, come on. We need to talk to them. This is a travesty.

Well, no. Your insight has been second to none. This is amazing. Well, you know, Greg and Chris... Yeah. They asked me to give, I suppose, an insight... Uh-huh. For why it is not a farce.

Okay. And so over the last few days I've done... You've been doing a great job. Because I wouldn't be here if it was the first. How did you get so classy? Where did you develop this? Sunday school. Sunday school. It all goes back to Sunday school.

Sunday school, nothing. Again, you know, it's right in front of you. Yeah. Or it is so obvious, it's elusive. People can't see it. Mr. Eubank, I have to say this has been an absolute honor for me. Wow. I have enjoyed this immensely.

This has been incredible. You are one of a kind, my friend. You are incomparable. That was amazing. I wish you the best with the training. Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the ride to the fight. And thank you for offering your insight.

It has been great, a breath of fresh air, really, to hear from such a great boxer about why this man is in a farce. And I respect, and I think our audience respects that as well. So thank you very much. There he is. Chris Hubeank. Holy smokes. What a pleasure.

I have never met an individual quite like this man. That was something else. Dropping knowledge. Wow. My gosh. Sean Al-Shadi writing me, hire Chris Hubebank right now to be on the broadcast. Someone...

Darren Allen on Darren Alam on Twitter says, I swear Ariahuani must think he's tripping after just one hour of sleep. I think that. Oh my God. That was unbelievable. I don't even know. There's no way I could top that.

I think I've officially lost it. We started today at a gentleman's club interviewing Floyd Bayweather, one hour sleep, MMA beat, and then doing this show, all the guests that stopped by. There is no way I could top that. There's nothing more that I could say. The only thing that I will say is that we're back tomorrow for more. and I have no idea what else is going to come. What I do know is,

what I do know is there's a lot more to come and expect the unexpected. This has been the time of my life and I'm so happy that we are not quite done. We're only halfway there, my friends. Thank you so much for sticking with us, but there's much more to come. Rob, you can hit my music.

There's no way in hell that I could ever, ever top this what Chris Eubank just did on this program goes down in MMA hour infamy. Holy! Lou Velvet says, I knew Ariel Hawani would crack. Yeah, I don't even, I don't even know what to say. Thank you very much to everyone who stopped by.

Thank you very much for everyone who watched yesterday's show, who watched the Floyd interview, who watched the beat today. This is incredible. Are we the last ones here? There's still some people here. This is incredible. I'm going to do all my shows from now on on one hour's sleep. That's the way to go.

Everything's much more enjoyable. I'm going back home to read some Roodyard Kipling. I'll tell you that much. I need to get a hell of a lot more smarter. Invictus? What? Connemar Greger? I feel like running 10 miles right now

what he was saying about Connor McGregor. That was incredible. Okay, let me thank everyone who stopped by. I don't know if I can remember all of them. It has been a crazy day, and I was sort of going as we went along. Let me see if I can remember. We started off with Carataw. And then we had Valentina Shevchenko and we had Amanda Nunes and Nina Ansaroff and we had Demetrius Johnson and we had Kevin Lee and we had Bruce Buffer.

We had Freddie Roach. I may be missing someone, but at this point, you know, you've been watching. You know who has been stopping by. And of course the Maloof brothers. Yes, thank you so much Rob. Gavin and Joe Maloof and their great bet. What a story that was. and of course what a way to end today.

Chris Eubank, holy smokes, making us all smarter. That was an out-of-body experience. What more can I say? All right, we're back next week. Again, we're back tomorrow, Friday. Got some big guests already on tap, and I'm going to save those for later. We begin at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

We'll go to around 3.30 p.m.ish or so Eastern time, and then we'll head over to the way-ins. plenty more coverage to come. I cannot thank all of you enough for everything that you've done. Stick around, much more to come. Back tomorrow. Same time and please tell us a day, peace.

Somebody.