The Ariel Helwani Show - $200 million?! Conor McGregor vs. Terence Crawford, Jon Jones speaks, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

The Boys in the Back quickly cover some news and notes (06:38), before reacting to Terence Crawford's response to Conor McGregor, who claims the pair were offered $200 million for a two-fight — one MMA, one boxing — deal (11:49). They also recap Jon Jones speaking on a variety of topics (26:17) and predict who could be the next American UFC champion (35:37). Plus, the Boys deliver their P4P lists of greatest American moments (46:27), listen to your voicemails (1:19:04), and answer your Super Chats (1:52:05).

But boys in the back But boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another episode of the Boys in the Back. Coming to you live from New York City. Coming to you live from the biggest city in the United States of America

who are now finding themselves in the round of 16 at the World Cup. We'll talk about that a little bit more in just a second. I am one-third of the boys in the back. Mr. Connor, Burke, join alongside me. As always, it is. New York. Rick. God, this hair is... Eric. The Jack Man, the Jack Monster. What was that lip bite there, man? Is that a new thing

you're trying? Did I bite my lip? Hey, you did like a little... Getting a little spicy. Bricky, how we doing it back there, man? You know, great, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hair looks good. Thanks, man, thanks. Thanks. Trying to get into the, into the season here. Get to the into the festivities. Yeah, it kind of went off the rails ever since the White House watch party. It's unkempt at this point. A powder wig, right?

I just need to powder it up. You have an HMU right outside the studio. I liked it better when you had the like strands going in the front. HMU, hair and makeup? Yeah. You got something for everything, Frank. No, you're the, what's it called? I'm a big abbreviator, but Frankie,

anything production-wise. Yeah, Mrs. Burke says that you're a big abbreviator. What does that mean, man? What are you getting out there, Frank? I don't know what that means either. Your look right now almost reminds me of when they make memes of, like, George Washington or, like, Uncle Sam being, like, a badass

who was, like, ready to fight, you know? That's not me, but, yeah, I do have a dry-fit American flag shirt on blue jeans. Like, I could just picture you punching through a wall, with like an eagle coming over your shoulder. I got you. I got you. I think that's pretty accurate. Maybe the patent on the blue gene back in 1873 by Levi Strauss will be on our pound for pound America 250. Your eyes dart street down.

Which we're going to get into later today for our pound for pound America 250. This is going to be a good show. We're already on HIN. We're going to be a show plan for you. I mean, it's 4th of July weekend here. the Team USA men's national team is on to the quarterfinals. We got your voicemails. We got your super chats.

We got it all here on a jam-packed boys in the back. But before we get to any of that, let me tell you, this episode is sponsored by Kalshi, the largest prediction market in the United States. Here's what makes Kalshi different. You are not playing against the house. Kalshi is peer-to-peer trading. You buy yes or you buy no. It's a contract on whether something will happen and you're trading directly against other users.

like buying or selling a stock. The line isn't set by some algorithm working against you. Public opinion sets the price. Calci is CFTC approved, federally regulated, which is why it's available across all the country. Including California and Texas, download the Calci app and use code B-I-T-B to get $10 when you trade $10. K-A-L-S-H-I-C-T-E-T-L-S-H-I-C-T-T-Rate. That's not Kau-S-S-E, that is, K-E-E-E. Can we actually check in because we're not going to do any Picks later, can we check in on the prediction pals and how they did last weekend? Are we on the board? Are we on the board? Back. That's a lot of greens.

That's a lot of greens. We're not back in the green ourselves, but we did go four for four last weekend across the UFC and across boxing. Feels good. Life is good today. I couldn't agree more, Frankie. I couldn't agree more. Looking ahead to this weekend, there is some boxing, hot dog eating contest.

There's some World Cup. What are we looking at in that Shushu-Karrington fight for the, what is it, the WBC America July 4th belt? Shoes of Carrington, massive. Damn. Trading at 90%. Goodness me. How about the hot dog eating contest?

Joey Chestnut going back to back? Oh, my Lord. 93%. Intern Josh likes Patrick Bertoletti. 93 and then 5. Where's the other 2%? Who do we got? Like, is that the field?

Yeah. There are other people, but I mean. Who gives a shit? Nobody with any, like, real chance. Yeah, it's down to chest. The real question is how many? Oh. Oh.

Wow. 91% 60 plus. It's going to be hot. It's going to be hot and the heat affects him. I kind of like that under 70. Yeah, people like the 70, huh? Hasn't he only done that once? Nah, he's done it a couple times.

He has done 70 a few times. Well, I think 76 is what he's done because it says world record there. Yeah. That was last year, right? Or was it the year before? No, the year before he didn't compete. How many did he eat that year when it was indoors because of COVID? I don't know.

He ate a shit time. I was looking through the history earlier today and he just like, He's a monster. He dominates that shit. He's unbelievable. He's breaking the record this year. What was that? What was that drop ring?

Elephant shit. Elephant shit. That one's growing on it. When did he set the record? Was it last year or was it before that? Nah, it was before that for sure, right? Yeah, okay. Nobody knows.

All right, thanks, guys. Team Mosey versus Belgium? Monday night? A little Monday night football, as they say. 53%. No balligan. Free balligan, man. Bullshit red card.

Shouldn't be suspended. Belgium training at 47%. Joey Chestnut famously ate 76 hot dogs and buns on July 4th, 2021. Don't forget those phones. 2021, wow. Legendary performance. I was there in 2022. It was very mediocre. It was very hot and humid that day.

Canada, Morocco this weekend? Morocco, heavy favorite in that one. Not looking good for Aros' boys, huh? Hey, we all love an underdog. We all love an upset. Maybe Canada will do that on Saturday. July 4th, we upset the Brits, Canada's going to upset Morocco. You never know what's going to happen. So that's your direct line is like, we upset the Brits,

therefore the ties are so clear for Canada to upset Morocco. We successfully had a revolution and a militant win, so Canada's soccer is going to beat Morocco. You guys just get it. Get it. I see the vision. Hit the salute. All right, let's get into some news and notes around the world of combat sports. We're off to a hot start here on the boys in the back on this beautiful Thursday, July.

I can't believe it's July already. I'm not going to lie to you guys. Crazy. I can't believe it's already July. I can't believe we're going to be in Vegas next week. Fuck, man. Back to my city. Back to my city.

That's what it is at this point. We did get some news out of the world of the UFC. We got a main event for UFC, Shanghai in August, and it will be Song Yadong taking on Umar, Narmaga Medov, obviously a massive matchup for Song here. Umar trying to hold on to that ranking in the top five. This is a great fight. this feels tailor-made like one of those fights where Song-and-dong makes that step into the upper echelon and falls short.

I mean, that's the expectation, right? Like, this is Umar treading water until he can get another title shot, right? Like, he is probably one of the guys that will be somewhere in that queue, and this is a good, tough opponent that will propel him there. And for Song-I-Dong, as you said, every time he's had this level of the opportunity, this is where he stumbled, right? He's in that Corey Sandhaken range where it's like he just can't quite get over the hump to get

that opportunity. If he can, though, if we have seen the best version of Song Yadong and he continues to improve and he is able to get past Umar, I think he becomes a real, like, exciting and interesting kind of name for that division. So

good matchmaking, but yes, I do expect Umar to win. In the ranking, Song Yadong, six in the meta rankings, Umar Naramagamata off number two. Song Yidong coming off a win against Davison Figuero in Macau last month, or I guess, you know, end of May, two months ago, however you want to say it. But yeah, beats the Davis and Figueredos, beats the older Henry Sehudo's, beats the Chris Gutierrez of the world, falls short against the, the Shano Malleys and Peter Yon's, but it's still a massive

opportunity for Song Yadong, and being in his home country makes it even bigger, so that'll be a great one. I mean, it's a fantastic fight. It should be, it should be fireworks, it should be exciting. We saw another bantam wait Out in the streets Not getting a fight But getting some dancing And Chihuis is hot this summer Raoul Roses

Going viral for a TikTok From Santa Cruz Jules He's just randomly out in the streets Wow, he's getting down Getting down I love the caption Someone tell me who this is They're just digging his vibe

They don't even know that he's a trained killer You don't know who Chihuis is bro I know what's up with that You know about Raul? Come on We go across the pond to celebrate a birthday, not America's birthday, which takes place on Saturday, Katie Taylor's birthday. I wanted to say the patron saint of the Emerald Isle? But is it St.S? Do we have to change that up?

Patroness. Do you see who's in the reflection there? No. Ed Shearant. Hey, shout to Ed Sheeran. Over her right shoulder. Is that Ed there? I'm pretty sure.

Shout to Ed Shear. Wait a minute. Is that like, is that actually him? Is that like a cardboard cutout? Get closer. I don't think that's at Shearin. I think that's just... That's definitely not him.

It's just a red ass? Is it at Shearin? No, I'm pretty sure that's Ed Shearin. It's got a beard. I'm pretty sure that's Ed Shearin. Shout out to Ed Shearin. Hey, happy birthday. Happy birthday, Katie Taylor, and shout out to Ed Shearin.

Happy birthday. We should have a happy birthday segment on the show, similar to... Did you ever watch the Today Show growing up and they had the Smuckers Jam? Nope. Happy birthday segment? Oh, it was great.

I looked forward to it every week. They just rattle them off? They would wish happy birthday to really old people, and they would put their faces on like a smuckers jam bottle, like a 3D graphic of it. But like, I mean, there were people to... Why the smockers? Sponsor segment, bro.

But like, what's the tie to the birthday? Like old people love smuckers. Are you kidding me? Old people love smockers. Am I remembering this correct? So it was only old people. It wasn't like anybody. It was like...

Significantly older... You legit, like, people like making... Who gives a shit? Yes. It was once or twice a month to honor centenarians. So it was like people turning a hundred older. Or couples married for 75 plus years. Whoa.

Oh, wow. Yeah, bro, I can't lie. I used to love that shit. Yeah, shout out to the smuckers. So what do we bring back? They legit, they put it on a smuckers. Do they send them a thing of smuckers? Nah, no, no.

Yeah, this is what it was like. With a name like Olive Lahr, How can you not live to be 105 years old? That was a really good visual for the audience as well, just us looking at it. Let's workshop it and come up with our own segment. Instead of smuckers, what? Do we put it on like a bottle of vegamite or something? Let's throw it out to sponsors and see if they want to get involved.

That'll go well. That'll go well. So yeah, shout out to... All right, so here's the idea. There's birthdays, and they're going to come up. Think of the today's show Smuckers. segment, but we want to do it with cans of monster energy.

How's that sound? How's that sound? That is the news and no. It's a slow weekend here. Slow weekend. There's a couple of boxing fights, but no UFC, no major MMA going down. So we're just having fun. We're letting our hair down here at uncrowned HQ.

But I did want to talk about Connor McGregor and Terrence Crawford, both of which were guests on the show in the recent weeks and both talking about each other. It was a rivalry, a feud, a discussion that started on the UFC White House card on June 14th, obviously Ilya Tarrant Tarrant Tawford starts talking shit. Terence Crawford is in attendance.

Connor McGregor didn't like any of that, him talking down on Ilya and also him talking down on him while he was in attendance. He just thought it was classless, everything like that. They started back and forth on Twitter. And then when Connor McGregor came in studio, he was obviously asked about it. And he had this to say about a potential matchup between him and Terrance. I've done the boxing day. They have to come to me now.

I'll do the boxing after So he just worked out of a two-fight deal Mixed martial arts first With Terence With Terrence And boxing after I said he's not going to accept it I hope he accepts it

He can fucking wrestle Maybe we'll have to wait for his son To do it Maybe his son will have the fucking courtesy to do it Whatever He gets on the phone What's the crack Terence It's the Mac Daddy

I got the big fella here We've got a big deal for you Hundreds of millions 200 million to be exact deal for you. Mixed martial arts against me and a boxing one against you. I don't want to be kicked by you.

No way. I says, my man, we can box the fucking few months later. What's the crack? Come on. You're mad. You can wrestle. And he just didn't want to know. So whatever, that's fine. That's his own thing.

I don't know how you couldn't. I don't know how as a man or as a combatant. You couldn't want to test yourself. A few things before we get into a what he actually said, but him being like, Terrence, what's the crack? It's the Mac Daddy. I'm here with the big fella.

Being the intro of the phone call, being like, what's up, Terrence, it's Connor McGregor, I'm here with Turkey Al-A-Sheek, but saying it like that is tremendous stuff from Connor. Yeah. The whole storytelling, that minute of storytelling was picture perfect. Like that was as good as... My man. What's the cracks?

Three months later. Oh, man. that was one of the bigger revelations from the there were there were quite a few things that came from aryell's interview with connor but that to me was one of the bigger revelations was just that the idea of a terence crawford versus connor mcgregor was even like in the ether was something that had even reached a level of having a phone call forget you know ideation and the fact that a number as eye popping as two hundred million dollars was thrown around regarding it is is kind of fascinating well Terrence Crawford joined the Ariel Hawaiian show yesterday and responded to McGregor's statements about the potential of a $200 million dual fight deal. Here's what Terrence had to say. That was a lie. It was cap. It was cap.

It wasn't never no $200 million offer. Now, they asked me what I do, and I told them, I said, man, I ain't about to be kicking on me, Connor? Because we was on FaceTime, and I did tell them that. you know but they didn't say oh hey you got 200 million dollars you fight them in boxing and fight them in mMA that was never the case so terran says there was an offer we talked about potentially fighting but we didn't talk about we'll do m mma then we'll do boxing and it'll be 200 million dollars as well yeah and and it sounds like it maybe is just like a different version of events as opposed to them being like in disagreement right Connor McGregor definitely

made that FaceTime call and Terrence acknowledges that. But I guess in the course of that call, maybe the idea of $200 million never came up, which would be a fascinating thing. It also sounds to me even more interestingly, like Terrence Crawford is saying, if it was for $200 million, I'm in. And this is a guy who we've seen an interview since his retirement. He's been pretty adamant. And I'm just like, I don't really need the money. I'm not really pressed for the money. but I do stand by the famous statement like everybody has a price. Yeah. I think $200 million gets Terrence Crawford off the couch and willing to do something like this.

It would be a mega, mega event. So I would have to assume just like the quick math of this, and this is not difficult math, though. Let's assume there's $200 million for the two of them. That's $100 million a piece. And they're doing two fights each. That's $50 million per guy per fight. If that is the economics, right? if it's $50 million for Connor McGregor and Terrence Crawford for each of those two fights,

does that make sense? Would that be something that you could reasonably conceive of happening? No, I don't think that that would happen. I mean, we've seen Terrence Crawford talk about like $100 million might not get him off the couch. Yeah, and I mean, he did go on to say later in that interview with Ariel, like that was yesterday's price, right? Like if they had said the number $200 million to me at that time, he says he would have done it. but now he's a different man he's retired that number might go up which god bless him like terrence is brilliant for how he handles his business like that's good negotiate negotiation right because

if somebody comes to my door with 200 million dollars i'm going to have some decision making to do and so i have a feeling that 200 million dollars might be enough again you know 50 million for each guy per fight might be enough to get him out of retirement but we you know terence seems to be a man of his word so we'll have to kind of see. I'm, I think I'm actually in the other camp. I think for like a Netflix, if, okay, Connor McGregor fights Max Holloway, whatever happens there. Conne McGregor fights his next fight in the UFC, whatever happens there. Conner McGregor becomes a free agent. And now like the Jake Paul, Nate Diaz, Terrence Crawfords of the world are open to him. And the option to do Terrence Crawford versus Connor McGregor in MMA and in boxing, both on Netflix, was on the table.

I think I could be convinced that $200 million price tag makes sense. Okay, so he would be getting paid $50 million each fight. Now, here's an issue that I have with this is that, or where I think that we're going to get tripped up, Connor McGregor is going to fight next week. If everything goes according to plan against Max Holloway at UFC 329, he's talking about how they already have a date for the next fight. That'll be April of 2027. he's not going to immediately go fight Terrence Crawford the next month.

Let's say fall of 2027 is when the first bout of this takes place. We're not talking about Terrence Crawford making his MMA debut against Connor McGregor at the age of 40. Yeah, it's Terrence Crawford, though. I know. I understand the name value, but it's just like we're making our MMA debut at 40, and then what if he just gets absolutely thumped in MMA, which he would? I think you'd have to do the boxing first.

Okay. I think you would have to do the boxing first because it's the most, it's going to be more competitive, right? Connor McGregor versus Terrence Crawford. Well, I'm going to actually. The legendary Terrence Crawford wrestling might come into the effect. No, well, let's actually be serious about this. I'm going to say that like he's getting thumped on in MMA. That's what I think too, but.

To the point where he's getting borderline embarrassed, in my opinion. We're going to know better if that's the case come next Saturday, right? Because we don't know what Connor McGregor looks like at this point in his career. the Max Holloway fight is going to give us a real look into like is Connor McGregor the level and caliber a fighter anymore that would thump Terrence Crawford if he dared step into an MMA cage? I have to believe yes. I have to believe that that skill set is not one that you can just like walk in with

despite the fact that Terrence Crawford was a wrestler despite the fact that we see these videos of him wrestling, despite the fact that his sons are wrestling, Connor McGrever even joking like maybe his son will be the one to step in there at some point. But I have to think that Connor would thump Crawford, whereas in the boxing realm, do not get me wrong by any stretch of the imagination. Put the house on Terrence Crawford to whoop Connor McGregor's ass in boxing,

but the optics of it will be closer. Connor McGregor will be able to hang in there better than Terrence Crawford stepping into a case. So this is what I'm saying. No matter what order you do it in, it ends up being a bad look for Terrence Crawford, in my opinion, because he gets thumped in the real fight. That's why I think you have to do the boxing first. if you're going to do it. You have to do the boxing first.

Because if the first one's uncompetitive, despite the fact that you know Crawford's probably going to, even the series in the next one, it feels a little less desirable. If they have a good boxing match, right? Like even like halfway decent, then I think it can be like, holy shit,

can Terrence Crawford, like maybe even step into here the same way Connor McGregor? It would build a little bit more. You touch on something very important. And I was having a conversation with somebody who I talked to about these types of matters. and Terence Crawford's story,

Terrence Crawford's story through boxing was one of the best. There was no doubt in anybody's mind. Terrence Crawford was a top level fighter. It wasn't until really the Errol Spence fight that people started looking at Terrence Crawford and being like, holy shit, pound for pound great. Like this guy just put the whooping of a lifetime on Errol Spence. And from there, he kind of kept building and building

to the point that he became a number one, three at worst, right? Because it's like Ussick, Inouye, Crawford. I've always had Crawford number one since the Spence. fight, but a top pound for pound guy and now like an all-time guy. People look at Terrence Crawford with that resume, that unblemished resume, and go, this is an all-time boxer. The reason Terrence Crawford would be worth that much money, the reason that I think the money and the economics on this could work is because Terrence Crawford's legacy is built on that, is built on legitimacy, is built on never suffering defeat, is built on being one of the best in the world. It's

credibility. He did not have respect for a long time from many people out there, not people who knew boxing. Anybody who knew boxing knows how good Terrence Crawford did. You have to be a fucking idiot to not know that. But didn't have the respect of like a top draw guy, right? There always talks about like, even Bob Aaron coming out and being like he's hard to promote and all this stuff. He was not Connor McGregor. He was not this instant like, holy shit, we have a superstar in our hands. And so his cachet, the thing that he has in his pocket, the way that he got to being a top draw was by being a super, super dominant and competitive boxer. If he steps in there and loses to Connor McGregor, regardless of it's an MMA boxing,

whatever, I do think the one thing that he has that makes him special, then becomes lessened. Whereas I don't, like if Connor McGregor steps in there and gets his ass-wit by Terrence Crawford, he's lost to Mayweather before, he's lost to Nate Diaz, he's still a box office superstar. that thing doesn't disappear for Connor McGregor. Whereas for Terrence Crawford, I think it's much harder to get back, specifically because he's a boxer. Also, Connor McGregor will beat him in MMA. I have no doubt about that at all.

If he gets beat in boxing, then it's just like, all right, let's go fight in MMA. Wait, if, yeah, if Connor loses him boxing, which he will. I think it's two fights that we know the outcome of both of them. Sure, they can be close, they can be competitive, but I feel fairly confident that Terrence Crawford will win in the box. saying Connor McGregor will win in the MMA.

Is any of this helped by the RICO Verhoeven, like, holy shit, he pushed Alexander Usik to the brink? No, because RICO Verhoeven is gigantic, it's heavyweight boxing. He's also a professional kickboxer that we've been seen active as opposed to Connor McGregor. Maybe Connor McGregor looks great in the return to Max Holloway, but we've also seen. I know he boxed Floyd. He lost the Floyd. He did. And I...

Not that competitive match. Yeah, a lot of people have revised the history to make it seem like it was a little more competitive than it was. I, that was never in doubt. I think it would look very similar with Terrence Crawford, and I think it would be a one-way traffic first-round finish. Yeah. I also don't think, if I'm being totally honest, I don't think any of it happens. I think there's something here. I think...

I don't think there's a chance in hell of Terrence Crawford stepping into the octagon, stepping into... Well, it wouldn't be, yeah, I don't think it would happen in the UFC. I think this would have to happen, excuse me, outside the UFC, I would have to imagine that a platform like Netflix would be the home for it, right? Because it's just such a spectacle, it's just such a thing. Not that other platforms wouldn't want it, right? I'm sure DeZone would want this. I'm sure a lot of platforms would want this.

But I do have to imagine that it would be worthy of Netflix to maybe start thinking about and, you know, signing checks for. I am, yeah, Terrence has a lot of a lot to lose, whereas I don't think, does, right? And that's the big difference. But, man, the numbers that we're talking about, you also have a lot to gain. And, like, you lost an, if Terence Crawford lost an MMA, would anybody

hold it against them as a boxer? Of course he did. Yeah, of course he did. I don't know. It's a chance for them to both take money. We'll see what happens. I'm more, I'll tell you this. I'm more interested in this than like, man, is John Jones going to box Alexander Usick? Like, oh, fuck, man.

To Connor's point, he's done it before. They have to come to him. I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up doing it again, but I want to see the rest of this UFC contract play out. We're going to get a lot of questions answered next week when he fights Max Holloway, where he's at physically, everything like that. And then I think we go from there. I do think post-UFC, Terence Crawford is on the list of names that could fight Connor

McGregor. He has to be, right? I think it would be in boxing. Okay. Jake Paul, is Jake Paul versus Connor a bigger fight, though? Yes. So then you kind of like lose some momentum. them there, right? If Connor McGregor becomes a free agent and boxing is the angle,

you could do a MMA and boxing with Jake Paul and Connor McGregor. Conner, Gregor, Jake Paul is doing Tyson-esque numbers. So I think that hurts it to a certain extent. I will say, I don't think, I actually don't think it would look like Floyd Mayweather versus Connor McGregor. You can be worse. I think, I think Terrence would come in there and brutalize them. Like, Terrence is. I think it would be one-way traffic in both. Terrence is a nasty motherfucker. Like, I don't think he carries him to any later rounds. I think he tries to kill him the moment he steps in there.

Yeah. I'd watch it. I'd watch it. You mentioned John Jones, Alexander Usick. I don't think that one is happening. I don't think anybody wants to see that happening. But John Jones did speak. He sat down with Red Corner today.

Lengthy interview, and we've clipped up a few things from that. Let's start with Pereira making his debut at heavyweight, and John Jones obviously had many things to say on that. Here's what he talked about on Pereira's strategy coming into the fight. I felt like Pereira, he came in too big. I think he would have been better off fighting around 2.30, 25, keeping that speed. I feel like his power would have possibly translated over.

But in the fight you just saw him, he was waiting. He was second guessing things, he was questioning things, and that's one of the worst things to do in a fight. It feels like a nightmare. When you're out there in front of your opponent, and you know the moves, and you know that you should throw that punch or throw that kicker, go for that takedown, and you just don't. You find yourself out there watching instead of doing.

And I've had it happen to me many times in practice, and I felt like that's what happened to Alex. He never really got his ball rolling. Cyril Gang came at him in South West Dance, which also, I think, challenges Pereira. He was fast, he was powerful, he was unorthodox, and it was the perfect storm for Pereira. He didn't survive it. And this is coming from a guy who went up to heavyweight,

made that move from Light Heavyweight, and fought Cyril gone, and obviously had a much better outcome in that one. So he knew the preparation and everything going into it. So it's interesting to hear his take on the Pereira fight, and obviously he doesn't allude to any of the back of the headshots or anything like that. Just talks about the unfortunateness of coming up shore.

Yeah, and to your point, he did exactly what Alex did, right? like Alex was the light heavyweight champion came up became the heavyweight champion fought cyril gone it's hard to disagree with anything there right like I am I to yeah I mean if john Jones is telling you this is the path like that is definitely the path um do I don't think Alex prayer is as good as John Jones ultimately though like the problem that a lot of guys like john Jones have is John Jones is telling you this is how you do it but yes that's how you do it because you're John fucking Jones. You know what I mean? Like, guys of that level often are

like telling like this, this blueprint, this game plan, and it worked for you because you're actually John Jones. Like Alex Pereira isn't John Jones. It's a very difficult thing to kind of, ultimately. I don't think that that fight goes much differently if he's like 2.35. I really don't. Remember when John Jones came in, he kind of got like

the fatty allegations, like all the pictures came out. He looked doughy. Oh man, he looks doughy. He's not ready. Well, it ended up working out for him. He got the belt, and he defended that belt. And you say, John Jones is better than Alex Pereira? I think John Jones feel the same. He talked about the video that he posted with him kind of staring into the camera with the goat necklace on after the fight. Here's what he had to say. I wish Alex all the best though. He, after my brother died, Pereira came out and had a moment of silence for my brother. And I respect that very, very dearly. And after the fight, I made a video that went pretty viral. It was just a video of me with a goat necklace on. And I was just a

making a look and I felt as if that that felt like an attack to Alex and I just want to say here I hope he sees this interview that I met no disrespect to Alex and that a lot of people before the fight was saying if Alex wins he's the greatest of all time and my little video after Alex's loss was a message to all my haters it wasn't directed towards Alex so I want to make that really clear I have nothing but respect for Alex do you buy that? I do buy that he doesn't have anything but respect for Alex but I think you can't say that that wasn't a slighted Alex with what he did. It was kind of like a, it's kind of like what Terrence Garford said about Elite Tepore. It was like, this is the fucking guy you said is the goat. This guy

right here. This is the dude you said is the goat. Like he just tried to do the exact same thing that I did and he came up short. I think I have that exact same read of that part of it, which is like, I think he really respects Alex and I think it was a little bit of like, this guy right but my underneath read of it is that's Dana White. He's talking about Dana White because not a lot of people

were saying that. Only one person said that. And everybody else was like you're fucking crazy. One person said it. And when he's talking about his haters, I think he's talking about one guy.

Like it seems very... Which is fucking ridiculous because like Dana White was ready to die on the take that John Jones was the goat up until a year ago. Yeah.

Until he vacated the belt. Until the negotiations fell through, he was like his biggest defender. And now, it's just... Alex Pereira is the goat if he wins. What have you done for me lately? What have you done for me lately? John Jones, obviously, his heyday aligned with Connor McGregor's heyday, so they are very familiar with each other.

And he was asked about the return of Connor McGregor. Here's what he has to say. Connor doesn't need to fight. He has everything. I respect the fact that he's coming back to fight so much. because it shows that he's a fighter in his heart. You know, me, I got to a certain level, and I decided to walk away. You know, Connor, he's back.

It shows that he's still that fighter, despite having so much success. I'm rooting for him. Proud of Connor. I'm a massive fan. I think I will be for the rest of my life. You know, he has had a lot of struggles, ups and downs just like I have, but he always gets back on his feet, which is a huge example to so many out there. Yeah, I mean, however you feel about both of the guys, the 2010s, the history,

of the UFC and of MMA cannot be written without both of those men in the 2010s and the 2020s as well. Yeah, they're two of the most critical figures inside the cage that you can think of. Like they are that outside the cage. Like that's kind of mirroring each other there as well. Yeah, and he mentions that too. He's like some ups and downs. Like, not ups and downs. Like, you know, civil conviction.

Ups and downs. But the sentiment, though, that I found interesting, about this is just the idea of like oftentimes somebody like Connor McGregor is coming back and everybody's kind of like either holy shit Connor McGregor is coming back or like Connor McGregor is absolutely washed like there's really like it's a very polarizing type of thing there's really not a lot of like nuance or anything to it and John Jones breaking it down in the thing of just like respect to him for getting in there in the same way that like I think you could look at

Ronda Rousey or somebody like that who's an absolute or even Gina Carrano right who's an absolute legend and making that walk one more time, it's a vulnerable position that I don't think people respect or account for enough, just the idea of getting back in there as opposed to just like, yeah, Gina Carano wasn't going to win that fight, but she did something admirable. And I think John kind of like highlighting that for Connor is like, I'm a fan no matter what,

him getting in there is like commendable. Speaking of vulnerability, commendability, he talked about Ilya and Hamza Shemayev taking their first career losses. Here's what he had to say. What I heard was that he's humble, that he is honest, he realized that he just didn't perform well. I think that's the number one step of getting back into the ring in a healthy way. It's the guys that make excuses.

That's when it's hard to come back and win that rematch. Guys who just say, you know what, I could have did better, I could have done more. Honesty with yourself is the key to M&A. If I was hums up, I would work on my weaknesses. That's something that I personally do before every fight. I would watch a fight and I'll say, how can this person beat me? I would say maybe switching up your endurance routine

and spend more time on your back. Maybe throw up some submissions and things like that. You know, Hamzad is great kicker, great boxer, great wrestler, especially when he put you in that body lock. But we don't really see him on his back very often. So I will go back to the drum board. I would learn to be comfortable on my back, develop a strong jujitsu game on my back,

and mainly focus on the mindset. I would imagine losing can change a fighter's mind. mind, their confidence, right? The way they see themselves. Focusing your minds that loss has happened. Sometimes the best version of people comes out after a loss. So let that be his situation. Let the best come from this.

Learn from it. Nice and motivational there from John. I do have to know when he said, I would imagine losing changes the mentality of a fighter. Obviously, he's got the one on the record, but it's from, you know, the illegal abettling a guy, yeah. Feels like that was like a sneaky of like, I mean, I don't know what it is. I don't know what that feels like.

What do you I'm going to say? People come back from losses, I don't. Yeah, Dominic Ray is sitting there like, me. Honestly, I would argue John Jones is kind of aligned with you. I feel like he was close to saying best case scenario. I mean, is Kamar Usman yesterday, John Jones today, listen. Kamara Usman essentially said best case scenario. He almost said it.

He was about to say it, and then he thought, oh, I heard New York Rick say that already, so I don't want to copy him and then he did it. Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. Interesting to hear from John Jones there. Great interview by Red Corner. Shout it to Red Corner.

That was fantastic. A very exclusive sit-down with one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever live. You can go check out the full interview on their socials right now. Fourth of July this weekend? Yeah. America 250. We talk about the White House card. Eli Taboria facing his first loss in his.

him and May career, comes at the hands of Justin Gaitchew, finally gains undisputed status after trying so many times to get to this point. He becomes an American champion. Sean Strickland, beat Tom Zatramayev, gives him his first loss of his career, just like John Jones was talking about, becomes another American champion. We already have Kayla Harrison. We already have McKenzie Dern. It felt like there was this time earlier this year, and I was one of them where it's just like, is there ever going to be like American champions, like long-reaning American champions in this sport again? Like, it felt like, you know, obviously at the beginning,

because it's a USA founded company, there was a ton of American champions. Now it's become such an international sport. It felt like we were getting shoved out of the upper echelon. There wasn't really many American champions. Now we have four on the roster. Yeah.

And if you look at the landscape, you got O'Malley top three. I know Aljimine Sterling is Jamaican American, but he's top five. Holloway top five. John Brady is top five, Joe Pfeiffer top five, Josh Hokka, top five. Jamal Hill top five.

Yeah, but he's going up to heavyweight. Oh, that's right. He won't, yeah. Who else? So, like, there's a few of those names that could potentially become another American champion to add to the list. Obviously, all these rankings going off of the meta rankings, not the media rankings.

We're team meta rankings over here. If you had to choose anyone, you're smirking at me right now, Is it because you're going off the board? You know what you're doing here. Debuted in the UFC. Bo Nicol? Elite wrestler, national champion?

Bo Nicol? He's a great wrestler. Fantastic wrestler. Amazing wrestler. There's a better wrestler. I mean, if you just, all you upped it, and of course, I'm going to dunk it. It's going to be Sean O'Malley.

No, of course, I'm going to pick Gable Steven. I think Gable Steven is a champion in the making. the the the level of competition that he faced the the the skill set that he has it would be a disappointment if he didn't honestly like it's almost championship for bust for me i don't know how he feels about it within his career or how his his team feels about it but when you are as decorated as he is you should be a champion and so i think that gable steveson is probably like my if i had if i had to bet my life on who I think will be an American champion. I don't know if he'll be next, right? Because I think there will be guys who have opportunities before him, but the one that I feel the most confident in

is Gable Steveson. Tatiana Suarez, top three? I mean, we saw how she did against... Aaron Blanchfield, top four? Blanchfield is actually interesting. You know who I'm actually going to go with out of all of these? Now, is this the one you think next

or most confident out of every... Like, what is the criteria that you're choosing this person? I'm going to go next. Okay. We'll hit it up for. First. Yeah. I'm going to say Joe Pfeier's going to get a title shot in 2020.

It's not a bad shout. And with the way that the middleweight landscape is working, I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to pull it off. Now, that could get derailed if they end up doing a Hamzao rematch and say Hamzao wins, then they have to do the trilogy and, like, all of this just turns to muck. But, like, Hokit has an opportunity as well. For sure. The way that he's talking and everything, like, he could be.

I'm trying to just think of who is going to get the shot. I don't think it's going to be O'Malley. I think there's too much to deal with at 135. I don't think it's going to be Holloway, just because 155 is slogged down. Eli is there. Armin is there. Though he does have the win over Justin Gagetchi,

I just don't see him getting that shot. He's doing a fight at 170 next. Sean Brady-Walterweight is just too stacked. It's just too long of a line. Al Jermaine Sterling isn't a bad shout to get a title. He's not out of it. A 2027 title shot, I could see Al Jemate Sterling Joe Pfe or Josh O'Kitt.

Yeah. I could see Aaron Blanchfield getting a shot too. After Natalia Silva probably. By the way, what the hell is going on? When are we going to see any of these fights for women? Like when is Valentina returning? When is Natalia Silva versus Valentina Shovchenko? When is Jean coming back?

When are any women fighting? Well, at least we got Dern and Jillian Robertson. And we got Kong Wang, Tracy Cortez. U.S. 329. Honestly, if you look at it, which is pretty crazy, we have four American champions right now. One Myanmar, Josh Van.

One Australian, Volkanowski, two Russian, Pejorian and Islam Makashchev. One New Zealander, Carlos Olberg. One Brit, Tom Aspenall. And one Kyrgyzstanini, Valentina Shavchenko. When we were all talking about this White House card,

it was looking grim from our American champions. We were like, who the fuck are they? Yeah. It was like, Kela's our only one. One, Kayla's our last hope. The disrespect to McKenzie Dern. I've had the belt since October.

Shut up to McKinsey Dern. Brazilian American though. But yeah, I mean. I'm like the blue-blooded. You said the four, we didn't even name him. Kayla, McKenzie, Strickland, and... Who's the other one?

He just wanted, bro. Who? Justin Gage. Oh, a Gaci. I was like, fuck. And Justin Gaci. If I'm doing first, I think Hokeet's the... odds-on favorite there. I think

because I think at middleweight you've got Imov waiting in the wings too. So it's like before you, you finish the business with Hamzot, then you probably have Imov. If the Hamzot one turns into a trilogy, then you've got to wait for that. Maybe Imov fights Piper. Maybe he knocks him off.

Like that feels like a harder one. Man, if Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gun does not get made, I feel like Josh Hokit's about to slide in there. And so I feel like that is the quickest path. I think. Okay.

I think Oket. This is perfect. We can go see what Kalshi thinks. This is just by the end of 2026. Josh, it's 7%. I don't think any of them will be... No, 2026. Yeah, Joe Piper, by the end of

26 is... Joe Piper not even on the board. Yeah, Joe Pfeiffer less than 1%. He's not even on the board. You can't even bet it. Fucking hell. You got... What about O'Malley?

O'Malley should be higher. Fucking hell. You have Israel? was that? Yeah, I don't even have Bantam White on here. Oh, here we go. O'Malley, 1%. Okay, so Hokit is really the...

Hokeet is the one that people think will be fastest. All right, now do... That's by the end of 2026. Now who do you think you're most sure of? Who, if you had the... If you hit this bet and they become champion, you cash it. It's a yes, no. It's a yes, no.

If I decided to choose... trade yes, no on them becoming champions? Oh man, none of them. I'm not that confident in like any of them. Any of them? Bo, Hokit, none of them. I think Pfeiffer gets a title shot. I think Hokit gets a title shot at some point in their career.

I think at some point in his career, Brady will get a title shot. I think Gable Steveson will get a title shot. But these guys aren't converting it. It's just the weirdest way to count the point. of all time. I don't even know what I'm doing here. And then, yeah, I think Bo will probably get a title shot at some. O'Malley might get one.

O'Malley gets another one. We're not going to go O and six. I keep saying, we. Somebody's got to get it. Americans will not go O and six in those. Who the fuck is we? I have a sleeper for you guys. Oh, hit us.

In the next couple months, but because it's just so stacked right now. But Brennan Royval, any chance? I don't know. The tough part of our- We've been there, done that. We've tried it. He's got the loss. to Pantosia. He's got the loss

to van. Look, we counted out Justin Gachey, right? This is a guy who, if you told me a year ago, a year and a half ago, Justin Gagy's going to be the undisputed UFC Lightway champion. I would have like shit a brick. Crazier things have happened, and Royval is a great fighter

and near the top of the ranking, so I don't think it's crazy. Crazy your things have absolutely happened. I just don't see it. Well, it's just like he wouldn't get the title shot right away because there's three guys ahead of them that have, you know, two of them have beaten them and all going for the belt. So, I don't know. Yeah, no, it's...

Menel cops starched them out bad. How about that Pat Sabatini dark horse? Will you like that? Sabatini seven in those meta rankings. Where's he at in the media? Where is it? Unranked. Oh. Yikes. Max Holloway?

I'm telling you all, man. Any chance. Meta nose ball. I think Gachie needs to defend for Max Holloway to get a shot. Yeah, one more, and then... Because the thing about it, Charles Oliver is now next in line. above Holloway.

Armin. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean above Holloway just like in the order of things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think Armin is ahead of both of them. I think Ilya is also ahead of both of them. Yeah. I mean, Ilya has a win over both of them

because Charles also has a win over Gatri as well. I know it's older, 2022, but... Shit, yeah, I didn't think of that. It's not like Max is the only... Yeah, Charles has a win over Gachi too. And unless I'm mistaken, I believe Gachi and Rogan said he's open to the rematches. It's not like he's closed off

that idea. So, I mean, other than than Armin, it's going to be a rematch. Yeah. It's going to be Ilya, Charles, or Max. Look, I'll say like, it's not hopeless. There's a lot of Americans

that now are champions or have opportunities to do it. So I think it's... Look, and we've been surprised before, like you just said. Didn't think Strickland was going to win. No. I didn't think Gathe was going to win.

Shit, I didn't even think McKinsey Dern was going to win. Now, that might be a bias on my part. That one was closer, I guess. Yeah, yeah, that one was much closer. You just never know. Yeah. And now McKinsey Dern

could be defending this belt because Zhang Wei Li's yeah you never know we don't know what's happening with Zhang Wei Lee so crazy sport it's the fastest moving sport in the world is it is truly mind-blowing it is crazy um so yeah four American born UFC champions right now the most in the UFC

according to nationality Russia in in second with two so yeah we'll see what happens for for USA moving forward which is a great transition you know you see the upsets you see the the stars and stripes getting hoisted as champions again. As Justin Gachi, I think said,

it was a bigger upset in 1776. America celebrates its 250 birthday this weekend. So in honor of that, pound for pound, we're just calling it America 250. It's real broad, top five moments from the last 250 years. Frankie, what's the order, brother? The order is Frank, then Connor, then Rick.

Oh, we're mixing it up for the holiday weekend. I like it. In celebration of the 200th. to 50 years of the country's been I have to say I this one was trickier than I was expecting okay and I'm really I'm really interested to see

where to see where everyone goes with this one cool well let's manage your expectations I didn't say I had good expectations I'm interested to see where it goes Frank did you do your own list this week who knows who's to check I can confirm based on what's on the list

this is a frank list oh all right so it's going to be A lens list. Yeah. There we go. 250 years ago, the country was founded. But 150 years ago, Dr. Pepper was invented. Oh, shit.

Forever changing the climate of the country from horrible to better. Yo, that's the factory for Dr. Pepper? Yeah. Is that thing still kicking? It is. It's a museum. I've been there. It's a lot of fun.

You could see the original well that they, got water from. You could see all the different vending machines they've made for the last 140 years. But again, this is just an American staple. I appreciate it more than Coca-Cola. I might be biased being that I was born and raised in Texas. Well, Hayder, I'm born and raised in Atlanta where Coca-Cola was founded. So we got beef. Soda beefs. The Great Texas, Georgia War, shall start soon. But... Similar to Dagestan v. Island, I will admit, though. Another war... I like Dr. Previbur better than Coca-Cola.

happened was between the USSR and the USA, but it was settled on the ice, with the miracle on ice being my number four. Is that where they settled it? Yes. Did that hold war ended? Was that the mark of the Cold War? Ice. This is what the Cold War was. Exactly.

I thought you were going to say they shared an ice cold glass of Dr. Pepper and settled things. No, unfortunately, that is not what happened. What is it? Mr. Goldberguch, what is it, tear down that wall? That was in 1991. Gorbishav. Definitely Goldilchek. Goebbuch.

Enjoy these 23 flavors of ice cold Dr. Pepper. Mr. Goldberg. Take that in that wall. Take down that ice cold glass of Dr. Pepper. This is about exactly how I expected this stupid ass list to go. the historians of our lifetime. I've made in. Yeah.

My number three gets credited a lot to CERN out in the invention of the internet. But I say fuck that. The United States actually had what used to be known as ARPA. Yes. But ARPANET actually created what we now know as the internet. Now maybe CERN is responsible for the engineering and the tech. The tech. But we had the concept.

concept and we made it and I think that's one of the greatest things to happen to the world. And then Al Gore took a time machine and invented it as well. Exactly. And then could not, was it him that could it spell tomato or was that? No. Quaid. Yes. So was that this quade? Whale? Dan Quillowel. And wasn't it potato? Who the fuck. But my number two, probably the greatest music festival of all time here in the state of New York was Woodstock. Three-day festival, upstate New York, Star Spingle banner played by Jimmy Hendricks.

Oh, shout out. In the rain. It was on the last day. Most people were actually leaving. So the few that actually got to see it and hear it with their own ears and eyes, God bless them. But one of the greatest things that we have accomplished in the last 200. Is it a big one.

Have you ever gone to any of the, like, revival versions of these? Have you ever like... No. After seeing what happened in 99. Yeah. Like the people getting crushed and melted and shit. But not our proudest moment, but what is our proudest moment? Didn't now Gord take a time machine and perform at Woodstock?

No, no, that was quay. It did his quaint. Dennis quaint? Dennis quaint and quail. My number one, in the last 250 years, I think I could speak for all of us here. Yes. The Apollo 11 moon landing. Yeah.

One out of seven successful moon landings? Allegedly. Allegedly. Frank loves the movies. Even if it was fake, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean? So that's an accomplishment in and of itself. So if it was Stanley Kubrick behind the camera or not, who knows,

but we did it and I am proud to be. I really like that list, like American innovation. What a great list. You're such an asshole. Did you hear him? No, what do you say? He was like, I am proud to be a citizen. Oh.

Connor, why don't you take it away? I have many honorable mentions. There's, I mean, there's so many things worth mentioning here. This is a tough list to make. I felt like how serious do you get, do you have some fun with it? I start my list where you ended yours, Frank, and that is with the 1969 moon landing. Why not us?

Why not us? I mean, that was the whole thing. We're going against the Russians. It's space race. I was talking about it with the interns this morning. imagine being born in like 1880 and being like 90 years old when this happened and when you were born

it was carton buggy for like 20, 30 years. Model T shit. And by the time like you're old, you're like, what the fuck is happening? They're launching to the moon and I'm watching it on a TV, something that also wasn't invented.

They barely had radios. They could barely even take a photograph and then they're watching a rocket get launched in the moon live on television. It's like, What is going on here? Allegedly. Yeah, I mean, just like mind-blowing there.

Shout out to the moon landing. Also, moon landing inspired, a very famous song on the Disney Channel on Even Stevens. We went to the moon in 1969. Not 1968, but a year later. A year later. Rick has never seen it. Never. Even Stevens?

No. It's a whole reason Shia LaBuff exists. I know Shia LaBuff was on it, but I've never watched it. Shout to beans. Real ones, no beans. Number four, I go to the world of sport, not the miracle on ice, but Americana at its finest, and it is Dale Earnhardt, winning his record setting, record tying seventh Winston Cup back in 1994. A legend was truly born when he tied Richard Petty. A symbol of America that I think is tried and true, and we'll stand the test of time, is that Black Number Three, the Intimidator. Shout out to him.

A big moment for America. I stay in the world of sport for my number three. Miracle on ice. How can you not? Oh. I mean, are you kidding me? We beat the Soviets, massive underdogs. It's a tale of underdog stories, 1980 being one of them, when we capture gold.

Lake Placid? Where were we, Frank? Yeah, I think that's correct. Lake Placid. Shout out to Lake Placid and shout out to the U.S. Ended the Cold War. Ended the Cold War. I mean, honestly, name another confrontation.

that we had with the USSR in the same room that ended with us winning. Cuba doesn't count. We'd actually go there. Nixon Kitchen. Nixon Kitchen. What's it called? The debate where he brought in an American kitchen and yeah, never mind. I'm going to need you to fuck right off.

I actually don't know the reference. What's the Nixon Kitchen? A Nixon Kitchen agreement or some of that? Nixon went to Russia and then I think it was like He went against the Russian president and showed him all of the innovations of the American kitchen. This does sound familiar, but we need some more facts. So come back in a few minutes. Show us your laptop where ChachyPT is trying to write this out for you in real time.

This feels very similar. I don't know if you guys have seen Larry David is doing a show for America 250 where it's like American history, but he's dropped into it. And it's just like what would it be like if he was there? And Frank is Larry in this? So it's all altered heavily. And, yeah, our retelling of history sounds very similar to Larry David's. Drunk history? Drunk history.

Great show. Shout out the interns. Didn't even know what that was. So that's how you know we're getting old. My number two, a very dark day in history, but it led to great things. And it was one that does make you honestly, earnestly feel proud to be an American. And that is the Beaches of Normandy, D-Day, June 6, 1914, took courage. took bravery,

took a lot of sacrifice, but it led us to the ending of the war. So like, you know, that's what the fuck? That's tough. That's tough. That's tough. Frank, proud to be a citizen. Number one, the thing that kicked this entire thing off,

we go all the way back 250 years, the Declaration of Independence. 250 years ago, they signed it, declaring we're independent. That is exactly what it's at Justin Gathe stood in the Oval Office and read that right before going out to beat Elliot Deporia

I thought you're going to say Justin Gucci was the one who originally read it out after they wrote it Although he couldn't read it He admitted to that later That he actually can't read the Declaration of Independence Because it's old English But that's my list

Number one Shout out to those original colonies, you know I have many More lighthearted Arnold mentions when Rick's done Well do you want to do it now Or should I? No, you go.

All right, I'll go. This is pretty serious. My list is very serious. I don't think it's going to be serious at all. I feel like it's akin to yours. Like there's a mix of like culture, sports. But my overarching theme is American exceptionalism. Like I am just celebrating like greatness from America.

But like what truly encapsulates America for me and what makes it great. And so number five. Beating up babies is part of it. That is definitely on my list. In fact, number five is beating up babies. Classic American traduce. Number five, number five, I start where you just ended. I start with the Declaration of Independence.

That is the inspiration for this all. That is why we came up with this concept in this list. This is when we declared from Great Britain that we are now independent colonies and we will be governing ourselves. Thank you very much. And so obviously foundational important to American history. Number four, BBL. Number four, BBL. But, but, oh, sorry.

No, it's actually BBJ. It's blocked by James. Blocked by James. Shout out to one of the greatest moments in sports history. I thought it was blocked by LeBron, and then I got it confused. It's actually blocked by James. BBL is Brazilian. No, no, no.

When we celebrate Brazilian heritage, the BBL will definitely be won on all of our list. It was blocked by, I thought, LeBron, but it's blocked by James. So he could win one of these. It's a trade on this. Cut that back. Okay, so if you look at the top of the frame, LeBron is It's kind of hard to see him because he's blending in with the coaches right now

But he's that black jersey at the top Now Clay Thompson and others are going to walk in front of them Now we kind of get like the floor opening up a little bit We got Steph Curry and we've got Andre Aguadala And LeBron is still behind them Like good three four paces behind them Iguidala seemingly has a clear path to the basket Cutting to the next one

He somehow makes up that ground Pins the ball and then the rest is history We get the stop by Kevin Love. We get the shot by Kyrie. But just shout out to J.R. Smith also for making Andrea Godala double-pumped this. But one of the greatest sports moment, me as a Kazan, just absolutely incredible. But LeBron James in that moment to pick up the speed that he did to cover that ground and then get to that ball and block it cleanly is one of the greatest athletic feats of all time.

American excellence. Game seven. Coming back to three one. Tie game. Get that shit out of here. Shout out to LeBron, a true legend. Number three, Jaws. Like, how could it not be?

Jaws. Has to be Jaws. It could be the Meg, the superior shark movie. Oh, shark movie. No, I'm talking about Joey Chestnut. Oh, great shout. I'm talking about Joey motherfucking chestnut. Great shout.

Oh, this fucking legend. Just absolute domination. And I must say, I'm a Kobayashi fan. Like, I really love Kobayashi. But this man's domination of one of our greatest exports. Like, nothing says America, like people shoveling food into their faces. with absolutely no reservation and no seemingly stopping point. 70 plus hot dogs every time out.

Like in the early days he was doing in the 60s and it was like, nah, I can do better than that. 70 hot dogs every time this guy comes out. 2007 to dethrone Kobayashi set the world record. It's a great American moment. Every time. It kicked off a 17 title run. And every time he goes out there, it's a great American moment.

We love Joey Chestnut. Shout out to Jaws. On Saturday, a heavy favorite to get an 18th mustard belt. And it seemed like, according to Kalshi, most people are thinking he's going to do 70 plus. So let's see if he can do it again. All right. Number two, this one's a bit of a longer acronym. Let's just put it up so we can all say it together.

Okay. Right? Good God. Be bad. Good God Almighty. Good God Almighty. They killed him as God is my witness. He is broken in half.

This is wrestling. This is when McFoly Mankind got thrown off a fucking hell in a cell. One of the greatest moments of my childhood because I just couldn't believe that this man did. I mean, you know, wrestling is quote unquote fake. This man is free falling off a fucking steel cage through a table. Shout out to McFoley. By the way, if you look at this image,

that's his tooth in his nose right there. That white speck, that's actually his tooth. Mick Folley's an absolute gang. there, but yeah, this moment is like one of the wrestling moments that, like, no matter how far we get away, removed from it, is seared into my brain. And also, I just feel like that's picture perfect Americana. Was Josh about to say something? Somebody was about to say something. Maybe not.

I think it was Frank responding to you claiming that wrestling's fake. Oh. A little surprised by the book. Sorry. It's not fake. It's just scripted. Number one. Number one, another acronym.

Like the moonland. Allegedly. I mean, allegedly. Number one, another acronym that has larger implications. And that acronym is G, T, and L, Jim, Tan, and Laundry. Jersey Shore. Nothing is more American than this reality show. I almost went real world.

I almost went to really... I thought they were Italian. I had to... What did I say? Oh, Italian-American, though. Oh. But what I had to be honest with myself about is that this really changed reality television and maybe television forever.

This was the most like unfiltered version of America that I think a lot of people had seen and was an absolutely iconic television show. I can't believe that that we got this, that we were blessed with such a beautiful representation of America. And yeah. You can stay get your ass beat. Okay. You can stay and get your f***ing ass.

We got drops. We got Jersey Shore. We came at like such a good time in my life because I was in like six. or seventh grade and like I was just getting into watching like MTV and stuff. And like everyone in my school got into it. Sort of like how like Love Island is a big thing. Have you guys watched, uh, fuck, Summer House? I know people are watching it.

I've not watched it. This is how unc I am. This is how old I am. I was at a get together on Saturday and everyone was talking about it. Mind you, these people are close to my age. We're talking about West and Amanda? What are we talking about? Kyle, Carl,

And I had to be the guy. I was like, how do you do, fellow kids? I have no idea what you're talking about right now. And they were like, bro, summer house? I was like, I've actually never heard of this program in my life. They were like, what? What's your soul, man? I wish I could live in your world.

They have a house out on the Hamptons. And like, they work in New York City. And like, they go out there for the summer. And like, it's drama, drama, drama. Like, they were getting to a point where, like, they're sitting there talking. This was actually, like, my cue to leave the party. They were just like, look, like, At the end of the day, like, I just don't think Kyle is, like, a bad guy.

And, like, one girl was like, no one could ever make me hate Kyle. Like, you could never make me hate Kyle. He's just misunderstood. E-bag, honestly. You could never make her hate Kyle. You would have fit right in at this, Jordan. But anyway, my whole point is that's how Jersey Shore was for me in middle school. We would watch it, and then we'd come in the next day and be like, yo, you see the shore last night.

This thing does not exist if Jersey Shore does not exist. Jersey Shore is the forefather for this. Could not agree more. Were they charmed by you not knowing Summerhouse and like trying to explain it to you? Or were they like get the fuck out of here if you don't know how to talk to? They were more charmed than they were like, what the fuck, man. They were just like, oh, wow, you don't know what that is? And I'm aware.

Do you fucking know Abis Magamatov? He just got a fucking huge win on UFC Baku. And they're like, what the fuck is Baku, dude? Who is eight? What did you say? No, man. Abis Magamatov. And I was just like, Assuamabai of Charles Jordan.

Charles Johnson is starting. Fucking leave me out of this. All right? They were like, okay. You could never make me. hate Kyle Dawkins. Yeah. You could never make me hate Kyle Dawkins.

Yeah. So yeah, that was a nice, that was a nice unc moment for me. I was like, wow. I was like, what streaming service is it on? Is it just age? Like, why am I not into Summer House if I was so into Jersey Shore? Your wife, thankfully for you, doesn't watch Bravo. Yeah, no, she doesn't watch like Housewives in that shit.

Watches Bravo like it's her job. So this is like a Housewives universe? Yeah, yeah, similar universe. Okay. crossover um no holly doesn't consume like the the real housewives in those so fortunately i am spared from this but like shouldn't i want this shouldn't i care about watching this i love the challenge and jersey shore was foundational for me or am i just i'm a 40 year old man these people explain this shit to me and i it's just drama for the sake of drama i haven't even looked into it i haven't

googled it i have an instagram it's not charming anymore it's not i love new york you know oh god there's nothing that you could is there is there an objective on the show or is it just basically Jersey Shore Reboot. There's no objective. At least in Jersey Shore, like they had to go to a job. They don't have to go to a job. No, no, that's the real world. They just have team parties every weekend. They go out to clubs. So yeah, it's Jersey Shore.

They hook up with each other. There's fights. People break up. People get together. So it's just a shot people in a house and they throw alcohol on the fire and they're just like, let's film it. Number one. Number one in our hearts and minds and continues to be just in a repackage. Shout to Jersey Shore.

still relevant to this day somehow. If you've ever had a lover boy, that spawned from Summerhouse. What's a lover boy? It's an alcoholic beverage. It's very bad. But they were popular for a while. I'm going to be totally frank with you, and I don't mean, no pun intended, mysterious. Who me? I've never even heard of a lover boy.

God, I've never been more jealous of you guys than I am right now. I don't, so I feel a bit out of the loop, but also I just, I can't get myself to care at all. This is the true sign of age. This was actually... Not the balding head, the indifference to Summerhouse. It feels like this conversation is like when I had the conversation showing my wife, Kauai's laugh the other night. She was like, why is this funny?

Okay. Do you not have a choice in the matter? Like, it sounds like you don't want to watch this, but you're forced to watch this. It's on the TV, and I sit there and I just... Not going to not watch the brain. You know, you can leave that room. I do, but then she's like, oh, you went upstairs? I'm going to come upstairs.

And then she puts it on upstairs. She follows you with the summer house? Exactly. It's a good thing that she never listens to our program. Okay, but be honest. Once you start watching it, are you into it? I start asking questions because I'm a curious person. Yeah, you get into it.

You get into it. I just gave you guys a lot of information about it. Don't be ashamed of liking it. It sounds like it's very popular. Except I don't like it. No, but you do. You like. Yeah, you do.

I just like to ask questions. You can leave. You can leave. We really appreciate it. We really appreciate it. Some honorable mentions. Yes. The iPhone, 07.

That's a pretty big deal. Steve Jobs, shout out. Yeah. Huge. First Walmart opens. Oh. Big deal. It's a big deal.

Multi-billion dollar corp now. Big deal. March on Washington, 1963. For sure. Big moment. It's not a bad moment. Like the way you're delivering it. Willis Carrier.

The rookies in the rear know him well. Shout out Carrier Dome. Shout to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Dr. Willis H. Carrier 1902 invents the AC. Okay. Which has been a hot topic around Europe and now New York City and everything like that. But the invention of the air conditioning unit was... I wasn't familiar with his game, but now I respect.

The thing is, you are familiar with his game. You just aren't familiar with him. You're living in his game. Yeah, you're right. around the clock. Got those splits in my house? We go AC unit in 1902 next year,

1903, first manned flight. Like, are you kidding me? Imagine being alive in that time. It's like, yo, we got fucking AC. Can it get much better?

What the fuck? They're flying? I mean, does it get much better than that? That's crazy. I mentioned it earlier. Levi Strauss, patting the blue jeans,

1973. Blue jeans are just Americana. Yeah, yeah, for sure. We mentioned it yesterday. EP, not executive producer. That's the Emancipation Proclamation, 1863. Another good one.

19th Amendment, 1920, it's pretty crucial. What is it? Explain that one again? I don't know what that is. Women's suffrage? Women's suffrage. Oh, okay, nice. Good one.

Good one, Frank. Where'd you get that one, Reddit? It's 1916 First Self-Surfers grocery store Also known as Piggly Wiggly You used to have to walk in and be like Give me some apples Used to go up to a counter

So this is the first like supermarket as we know it Basically oh that's pretty cool 1916 This one was from the interns The invention of the GPS By the U.S. Department of Defense 1973 We were just winging it back then

Paper map It's Department of War Fuck do we do with this thing. Now it's just like take me there. You got it, Captain. Is that weird GPS as to you? Yeah, you don't have that function? You got it, Captain. You got it, Captain.

Joey Chestnut, dethrone and Kobayashi. Oh, shit. All right. That's a great one. That might be it. I think I pretty much covered it. All right, we... Josh and I got some... Yeah, let's hear you. Let's hear you. I'll throw out some dates. First for me, June 26, 1974.

the birth of New York's Mount Rushmore King Derrick Jeter Okay Brunson or Jeter what do you think Jeter? I just told you October 1st 1908 The invention of the Model T That's the car

Yeah Yeah so you're welcome Yeah with the car came to the assembly line December 5th 1933 Big one The repeal of prohibition the United States. Alcoholics everywhere rejoice.

Shout out. November 12th, 1993. Everyone should know this one. UFC 1. It's not a bad call, Jordan. That's not a bad call. I don't know if you guys know, but we work on a

MMA show. And number one, July 5th, 1989. The premiere of Seinfeld. Premier of Seinfeld. Very good. That was a great one. I'm seeing some good ones in the chat here.

The invention of Napster in 1999. Let's see. What's the line from social network? Like, what's cooler than millions? What is Sean Parker say? Billions. The Oregon Trail, shout out. The game or the actual trail?

Then we have, this show is a waste of time. That's from JV. 1976. That's correct. And then someone says, America Online, AOL. We're in the office right now. And then JV1976, chimes back in. Correction, this show is a big waste of time. We appreciate the correction.

And I have to say, we agree. We agree. It's nonsensical. Actually, speaking of how nonsensical and how unsurious we are, the thumbnail today, $200 million on the thumb representing Terrence Crawford and Kahn McGregor potentially fighting. But if you look in the details, if you really zoom in, if you go to the fine print, what's that under it? 200 million. $20 million for the kitchen scrap.

Kitchen scrap. Shout out to Oven for sneaking that one in there. Nice touch. Nice touch. Shout out to Peecey Carroll. Shout out to the crack, which you can tune in tomorrow, which is a far more serious program than this one.

I can... There's some good bands, though. There's some good bands. I feel like we're going around the horn. Andy, anything? Or are we just hop into the interns? This is so great. Yeah, I didn't make a list.

All right. Let's go to the interns. Anybody. All right. I'm going to go first. Let's go, Josh. Number five, we got Groundhog Day. People get up, drink 2 a.m.

Stay there until 6 a.m. Absolutely rowdy environment to watch Punks of Tony Phil a groundhog, decide whether or not he sees his shadow. And that then we all, as Americans, have just decided that determines our calendar, whether or not we have more winter or more spring or closer spring. Nailed it. Love it. Next, we have Kurt Angle.

winning 1996 Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medal with four broken vertebrae, two cracked discs and two discs pressing into his spinal cord. True American Say it properly, Josh, with a broken freaking neck. With a broken freaking neck.

Then, of course, number three, Pete Weber, greatest bowler of all time. It's the all-time. This is a great one. When's the U.S. Open in 2012, there's a 12-year-old kid in the crowd, loudly rooting against him in the adrenaline

of the moment turns around who you think you are, I am. I am. Wearing the teal bowling glasses and the slick back hair. Legend. For a hot minute, I used to do that back when I would have success in sports.

Now I no longer have success in sports, but if I did, I would say, who do you think you are, I am? Oh, God, Pete Weber's a G. Legend. True legend. Number two, dare I say, maybe more of a legend.

Chelsea Solenberger, always known as solely landing a plane on the Hudson River. Great show. Saving lives of 155 people on board then casually walks away. Like you just landed a normal flight. Pure legend. Saving the citizens one day at a time.

Fucking birds, man. And then G.C. mentioned this one. My number one, the Wright brothers taken flight in 1903. I mean, the flight lasted 12 seconds, but imagine sitting on your porch. Read in the Virginia pilot newspaper. You look up and two dudes are flying. Imagine sitting on your porch reading the Virginia Pilot newspaper.

By the way, why was it called the Virginia Pilot if there was no planes yet? Perhaps it was the first issue. Imagine reading that and it's like breaking news. Air conditioning exists. And you're like, it's fucking crazy, man. What are they going to come up with next? Oh, fuck, there they go. For 12 seconds.

What a time. Did they crash or what happened? I guess we'll never know. It was kind of rudimentary. I think they just kind of like landed, you know? You killed it though. You killed it, Josh. That was a solid one.

All right. So for five, it's going to be a little bit more of like what Rick was saying, more like blueprints for the future and kind of surrounding American pop culture. At number five, we have the first airing of Twin Peaks. Whoa. 1990. That kind of set the tone for almost every other big TV show that I love now. The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, BoJack Horseman, you name it.

David Lynch is the goat. Shout out David Lynch. At number four, we have September 28th, 1991. This is not in America, but it's when Metallica played Enter Sandman in Moscow, Russia. And in front of like a million Russians, they actually got introduced to like what freedom is. And I don't know if you guys have seen the video. It's absolutely insane. Like, it's all these guys, all these Russian soldiers, they take off the,

their uniforms by the end of the performance, they just start going crazy, like absolutely losing their minds in front of a million people. Amazing moment. Number three. I'm convinced, by the way, Jack, that Frank did your list this week. Oh, man. This is, this is... I know you usually do his. I'm convinced that he did yours this week. I don't know. Twin Peaks, you don't know nothing about Twin Peaks. How do you know about Twin Peaks? What you know? I took a TV history class at Syracuse University. Shut out. You were, you were not even a glimmer in your father's eye. There's no way. There are many things you have yet to learn about me, Mr. New York, Rick. Very well, very, no, very well done, Jack.

Keep going. And then, yeah, number three is the invention of the hamburger by Lewis Lassen. At his establishment, Lewis's lunch wagon in New Haven, Connecticut. Shout out. Not hamburger. Overrated, terrible cheeseburger, I have to say. Yeah, overrated cheeseburger, but set the tone for the greatest American cheeseburgers of all time. Big McDonald's guy as the boys.

he or no, big double cheeseburger guy. Frank, no, it wasn't a hamburger, Germany, by the way. Interesting. Number two, following... Where's the hot dog from? You don't want to know. Yeah, honestly, no, no. Invention, for number two, another invention, invention of the TV dinner, 1953, by this guy,

I'm blanking on his name. His name is Gary Thomas, sorry, from CIA Swanson and Sons. TV dinners absolutely goaded. This was in the golden era of America, the 50s. Wow. And then finally at our number one... TV dinner making number two Yeah

McDonald's I like me some TV Caniac TV dinner shout out man Yeah man At number one though October 2006 Lebron James

aired the commercial For his LeBron 4 And Nike ad In the swimming pool Oh that's a great one Oh Lord That was a solid one Yeah the best

Just in a cultivation Of the greatest American moments Of all time With one of the greatest Americans Of all time Lebron James Shout out to love it From the land.

Wow. Was that our longest pound for pound second when we've ever done? Yeah, we got a few different entries. A few different lists. Some honorable mentions. Boys!

I think we covered it all. I think we covered it all. That's pretty much, if you ever needed a history lesson, that was it. Covered. Don't fact-check any of it. Quick honorable mention,

I think you should leave Tim Robinson. It's a great one. It's a great one. Done, dusted. That is the pound for pound for this week in honor of Fourth of July on Saturday, which is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Frankie, we got any voicemails, brother?

Ahoy, hoi, hoi? Beep. What's up, boys? I'm hitting a rare double call. I don't know if that's allowed, but I'm doing it anyway. Do it. I just wanted to say, you guys are killing it out on crown. Absolutely the gold standard in the sport, very much needed in the sport.

And, yeah, I just wanted to glaze you guys a little bit. I know it's tough to compete with the sport. The great journalist out here, like Nina Drama and the Milk Boys, but I have to say you guys are the top dogs, so keep doing what you're doing. Also, can't believe Jamal Hill got that fat. Shit's crazy. He's bulking up for heavyweight. We appreciate the glaze.

We'll always take a glaze. Thank you for the call, brother. Ain't that what journalism is? What's up, boys, in the back? It's 138 of M.A. I got a quick question for y'all. That is, if you had to take one male MMA fighter and a lot of, Allow him to watch your children for the weekend.

Like, take care of your children for the weekend. Easy. If you don't have children, which I know most of you don't, hypothetically, you have children in the future. This male MMA fighter has to watch your kids for the weekend. Who do you trust? Who would it be? Because fighters are notoriously not trustworthy.

Let me know. Talk you later. James Tujano? Easy. Lightwork. One. What? Lightwork. Easy.

One. We'll say it on three. One, two. Wonder Boy. Yeah, yeah. Wonderboy. It's got to be Stephen. Fucking Wonderboy.

What would be more fun than fucking like playing dodgeball and like doing cool shit with Wonderboy? Yeah. Give me Stephen Wonderboy, Tom. Yeah, Wonder Boy's the man. If I had longer, I'll send them to Dagestan with Islam. Yes. He has brothers? Two or three years.

Absolutely. I mean, that maybe when they're older. Maybe when they can. Yeah. Forget them in Dagestan. Yeah. That's the best part. about that video, he's literally telling DC to send his son to Russia and just forget about

him. Yeah, in two or three years, he's coming back a killer, though. Forget about him because he's not skilled enough in wrestling yet. And then he'll come back and blow your mind. Beep. Yo, what up, G.C.? From one 33rd to another, what do you think about Michael Penix and how are we going to rock this year? How's up? How do I think Michael Pennix is going to rock this year without the sex? The Falcons for almost the last decade have just been perennial

mediocre franchise It's just mediocre year After mediocre year 8th to 17th draft pick Somewhere in that range Take someone that isn't really going to make a big difference I love Drake London Pennix and Tua

We got the all left EQB room Also incredibly injury prone Love Bijon Robinson but like the Falcons are proven to me first. That's where I'm at with the Falcons. So shout out to the Falcons. I will support every year I give them like a, I'm going to watch this many games and we'll see where they're at.

And almost by the time I get to that point, I almost always have to stop watching. Pizzi was unreasonably optimistic about the Falcons last year. I feel like every year. When Mark was here, he was talking about last year, he was like, oh boy, I had them, you know, winning the division. I think this is all Bijon fantasy. I mean, Bijan's great.

Yeah, dude, it's, I don't know. Falcons, if they're good, I will always support them, but, bro, they've broken my heart so many times, let me down so many times. It's just kind of like, prove it to me first, man. Prove it to me. Fair. Boys in the back, Jeremiah,

calling out of Stock to California. What's up, Jeremiah? Got a question for you guys. What did it mean Fourth of July weekend? Out of all you guys on the crew, how would you guys rank? Whose barbecue would you guys go to before the July? And I was just wondering because I think I'd pick Jordan

because, you know, he has the flick of the wrist. And as soon as I step into his house, he's going to have that PRJ ready for me. And here's the thing. And you all watching House of Dragons? Did anybody notice? They killed GC in the last episode? He looked just like Hoddle High Tower and it's probably a house picture.

Anyways, love you guys, love the show. Shout out everybody. A little bit of whimper on the ending. there. Wow, that was a... Damn, bro. He went outside. What was the character's name? Uh, High Tower, Otto High Tower in Game of Thrones? Any resemblance? I don't know. You motherfuckers said I look like everybody.

Any just like generic, lanky, white dude with a beer. Shout out everybody. Frank, fucking airing him out. Yeah, I mean, the High Tower that I'm seeing, he has hair. I guess maybe when I had hair, we looked similar. You know, actually, okay. Okay, hold on a second I see a similarity I'm not, he's not a dead ringer

I see a little bit Yeah, yeah I'm waiting on the day You guys compare me to someone that's like Man, that's a handsome bloke Appreciate the comparison It's like, it's like a He's an older man

What do you want to do? With a horrible hair look So Appreciate that one Appreciate that one It's 100% Jordan by the way I'm going to Jordan Hey you look like the

You look at the scrawny ref, man. You look like the skinny-ass fucking bold Eastern European ref. There he is. Oh, you look just like the white bald dude. This guy's not bald. That's the craziest part. This guy has a better hairline than I had before I shave. It's just, it gets a point.

How many people can I fucking look like? How many times are people sitting there and they're like, that's fucking G. It looks just like G. And then I'm just like, It doesn't look like me, but okay, we'll take it. What do you think? Who do you think Ariel would say you look like?

A fucking generic bald white guy. Frank's always like, no, man, bold people look different. And then he gets two beers and he's just like, hey, what's up, man? He's like, oh. I give a shit, so give us a fucking answer. Boldie. Shit, I thought you were my friend. Sorry.

Followed a dude for like three or four minutes at the Tame and Bala concert we went to. Okay, he actually told him about his whole weekend. And he's just like, yo, man, like... I wasn't alone. Yeah. Yo, he's like, yo, Connor, you want to hit this shit? Like, I was like, my name's not Connor. He's like, good one, man.

Even when he's talking to him and looking at him, he didn't know. He just... Someone said, check out the band Intronaut. Uh-oh. Is this a bad? I don't know. Oh, he's just telling me to check it out. I thought the, like, lead singer.

If you're telling me I look like the guy on the right, I'm furious. How do you spell this? I-N-T-R-O-N-A-U-T. Oh, okay, like that kind of not. Any bald bird-looking fellas, Shirley G-C, yeah. Get the fucking big nose going, make them tall and lanky, yeah. The funniest part is how many people say I look like these people, and then how often when I meet listeners of the show, they're like,

yo, man, you're way taller than I expected. I thought you were going to be like five, six. I'm like, God damn, man. People always see that. They come in here fucking cooked up. Yeah. I'm the shortest, like, I'm the shortest of our, of our group. And I'm not like a tiny dude.

Yeah. Yeah. Like when it's, when it's me, Jordan and Frank standing by each other, like, everyone is 6'1 and above. Yeah. What was I going to say? Original question, I'm 100% going to Jordan's house. That feels like the answer. Yeah, I'm in.

Jordan's got the grill going, I'm sure. We got the grill. We got the grill. We got the pizza of it. Oh, fuck. Not the PRJs, though. We got the... The lover boys.

Not only the lover boys. We also got the triple B's. Bam Bam Bud. Oh, Bamuts. Oh, yeah, those are chilling at the house. A lot of them. Shout out of Bam. Yeah.

Yeah, I... As long as we got those rainbow cookies on deck? That's all that. I smoked one of those things. Yo, boys in the back. Yep. It's shimmer. First of all, shout out Jesse.

He has two weeks in a row. He's mentioning Gemmer on the calls. So you got a shout out, Jesse. What a legend. But anyways, question this week. If Sean O'Malley is waiting for the Peter Yon versus Morab fight, and he's waiting for the result, let's just say that Peter loses and Marab wins.

I don't think that they're going to give a title shot to Sean after that. So do you think a win over Umer? Umar or a win over Corey Sandhagen were carrying more weight for him towards potentially earning that trilogy with Marab. I know he's got a lot of work to do, but yeah, let me know what you guys think. Anyways, deuses. Well, we now know that Umar is booked against Songy and Dong in the main event of UFC Shanghai in August, but you would have to imagine a win over Umar takes him further. Agree. It would be monumental.

Umar has still only lost once in his career, and it was to Marab of Alishvili when he had a broken hand and he lost 48-47. Umar's ceiling is still incredibly high. I still would rate him to win a title before everything is said and done in his career. So if Sean O'Malley was able to go in and beat him, that is massive.

Corey Sandhagen is a great bantam weight, but we have also seen him lose to that upper echel on several times. Yep. What's up, boys? The Island Lion here. Hey. Coming down from Cloud 9 after hanging with the boys.

Boys. Still, though, probably the coolest thing to happen to me since I started fighting. I was sitting in the back in the Zoom waiting to be brought on because I went on early because, you know, I was so excited and so nervous that when Frank told me to have a good interview, I said you too. I knew I was cooked from that moment on. Seriously, though, I've had so many people reach out to me, follow me, and I, I'm so grateful to each and every person that's doing that, that's joining the Lions Den as the live chat was calling it. And I've received so many messages about getting some merch

that I'm going to do another order of merch. So go and hit me up on Instagram, Liam on and MMA. If all of you people who told me that you want merch are now going to flake and not order merch, I'm going to be pissed off. and GC wants a hat apparently and I got to hit an order minimum on hats so order a hat while you're at it

thank you guys for everything see you later, bye go follow Liam on on Instagram the Iowan Lion go order merch that's our guy we will be seeing him at the top

yeah the hats are sick if we can't meet the order minimum I would take a shirt but that black pink blue shirt is all time hat is even better So, go support the island line. Also, him being like,

ah, the fucking coolest things ever happen. Like, what about, like, knocking that dude out? That was pretty cool. That was pretty cool, man. What about, like, being, like, jacked and, like, winning an amateur mixed martial arts fight? That was pretty cool, man. He was fucking ripped.

Yeah. James in great shape. Shout out to Liam. Go buy his merch. Hey, guys, 24thubs here. Just wanted to say, I come in peace. Just want to say, I hope everyone on the show is a great independent. and stay. Happy, fun, healthy,

no one's losing any limbs as fight at work. And international fight week's coming up, guys, let's go. Let's go, man. Positive 24-inch dubs there. You know, that's interesting. No mention of any

Jalen Brown, Paul George. I figured he'd be really excited that they just got worse. I cannot wait to get off air and listen to Bill Simmons' reaction. I cannot wait. I am, I am... No, I wonder if he left that voicemail

before the Jalen Brown and after the Mitchell Robinson. But... I've been seeing people who I haven't talked to in years posting on their IG stories about Jalen Brown being upset. I'm just liking everyone, just sending a heart to all of them.

Him being upset that he's traded? Yeah, people like, don't leave. We don't want Paul George. I'm just quietly... Oh, they're upset. Yeah, yeah. I'm just quietly going in and that little like button. Passive aggressive, Jordan.

How sweet it is to be a Philly fan, I'm all right? Real shit. Not bad. Sixers just got Anthony Simons as well. We are stacking up. Oh, yeah. Stacked. We are stacking.

All this to get bounced by the Hawks in the second round, 4-1. It's tough. Yeah, shout of 24-inch dubs. Can't wait to watch to listen to that, Simmons. What's up, boys? This is Matt from south side of Chicago. What's up, Matt? A little hungover.

Just had some Mongolian beef, and I'm feeling real good, so I figured I'd give you guys a call. So shout out to all of you. And my thought or question, you know, I'm looking through the fights for UFC 329, and I'm starting to see, you may have brought this up before, but Elijah Ellison, Gable Stevenson's opponent, was an absolute muckle-shoot monster back in the day. Well, back in the day, I mean a year ago.

But yeah, I mean, he was real good there. He probably would have got the belt easy if the UFC didn't come for him. And then he ran into Brando Perichich, which may have been a flute. So I'm just wondering what Rick's thinking, you know? Like, you really think Gable's season's about to beat Elijah Ellison? This guy's been in the muck. He's been the champion. Well, not the champion.

No, he would have been the champion in the muckold. He fights. So I really think you guys need to rethink this. He's a huge underdog. And we got to throw some money on that. So, yeah, that's pretty much I thought. And goodbye. Compelling case.

Elijah Ellison, you are correct, is a muckle shoe monster. He was featured on muckle shoe fight night seven, eight, nine, ten, and twelve. Wow. Went four and one throughout that. All four wins coming by first round finish. Only blemish on that. A side choke to Dave Pearson. I don't think anybody's fought at the muck.

more than this guy. Absolute muckle chute legend, Elishelison, is the Snack Panther, if you didn't know that, born in Seattle, Washington, fighting out of Washington, representing us against the evil empire,

Gable Steveson. He's akin to the Yankees, you know, all the money behind him, all the sponsorships, and then just a man from the muck, Elisha Allison. But I really just wanted to paint the picture

of this guy being hungover and being like, I'm too hungover. to deal with these people tonight. Mongolian beef is the play. I'm going to get some Mongolian beef slurping down Mongolian beef. And then he's like,

let me drop that voice in there. He got him into some tape on Olish Ellison. And then being like, muckle shoot monster, Alish Allison. Yeah. Have you had Mongolian beef? I have had a Mongolian beef. It's not the first thing I'm going to

when I'm hung over, but we don't need to discuss that. And then being like, let me dial up the boys. Let me dial the voice. Sounds like a good Tuesday. then explaining all of that to us. What's up, guys? I'm a little bit hungover, just crush some Mongolian beef. I was doing some tape on Elijah Ellison.

You guys realize this is a muckle shoe monster. A little hungover, just had some Mongolian beef. That's the drop. A little hungover, just had some Mongolian beef. The sigh after he says Mongolian beef, a little hungover, just had some Mongolian beef. The randomness of that. The randomness of that. The randomness of that.

A little hungover Just had some Mongolian beef Time to dig into Elijah Allison Is that the sub Is that the guy The awkward ending Is that the sub for the umtu hungover

The Dana White? Are we going to Are we transitioning to A little hungover Had some Mongolian beef A little hungover Add some Mongolian beef It's almost like a Trump cadence

Fuck is that our first piece of merch Hungover It's a to-do list. Hungover, check. Mongolia. Eat Mongolian beef. Check. And then tape study Elisha Ellison left unchecked.

And it just says to do list at the top of it. Drink to being hungover. Eat Mongolian beef. Tape study Elisha Ellison. That's also checked. And then call the boys. Call the boys. And then the numbers on the bottom.

Appreciate the call. All-time call there. Oh, man. What did he say? When's the next power slaps? When is it? Oh, I don't know. Who cares? When is the next power slap?

Hey, boys. Eric from Detroit. What's up? I have a code red situation. Oh, and I need your guidance. Yes. I have a fancy wedding I'm going to next Saturday.

Sick. The same day of 329 and Connors come back. Fuck. I need to know what the game plan is. Should I order the Gorgonzola steak and watch the entire card from the bathroom? This is so great. How bad if I stream the card on my phone throughout the night? Love you guys.

Look forward to hearing your wisdom. Thanks for all you do. Okay. Love you guys. Look forward to hearing your wisdom. As a Gorgonzola steak survivor, do not go that path. That will, you will regret that for life. What about faking the path?

You could fake it, but what's the point of going period to where you have to be locked in the bathroom? Why not just fake it to where you skip the wedding as an entirety? How important are these people? What's that? Say that again? Just had some Mongolian beef. States that, like, a fact that we need. Just had some Mongolian beef.

Also, wait, can we play that out just a little bit longer? Because what he says after the Mongolian beef is very important. Just had some Mongolian beef, and I'm feeling real good. Nice, nice, nice. Longover, had some Mongolian beef. A little hungover. Just had some Mongolian beef, and I'm feeling real good. and I'm feeling real good

that sounds like a math equation to not feel good that sounds like you plugged it in and was just like how can I feel like shit let me get hungover slurped down a plate of Mongolian beef and then call the boys love you guys Alicia Ellison okay the wedding realistically you really like only need to see the main and co-main

the other ones you can go back and watch later like you don't you don't have to be locked in this entire card. I think Maine and Co-Main are forgivable. I think those are forgivable offenses. At that point, it's later into the evening. Do you say whose wedding

it is? No. It's around 11.11.30. Also, you pull the phone out and it's McGregor, people are going to be like, oh shit, Connor McGregor's fighting right now. Yeah, but then are you becoming a distraction if like other people start coming over? It's too late in the night. It's ain't during the

ceremony. Now if you're pulling it up for Cody Garber and Adrian Yannias yeah, I might get it. Kikamaka Luke Riley? Yeah, don't do that. If you pull out the phone for Kaika Maka Luke Riley during the ceremony, take a picture because that'd be hilarious. I think the move is to try to get out of the attendance of the wedding. No, you can leave early, bro. You can leave early.

If it's East Coast, you can absolutely leave early. what if it's west coast you're fucked yeah you fucked yeah I don't know I need to know who the relationship is that's the key

or if you're significant other is like forcing you to go option one get out get out of it all together option two what Connor said

you just gotta you just gotta do it late you just gotta do it late pull out the phone bro pull out the phone yeah hey boys it's Patrick

from Charlottesville, Virginia. What's up, Pat? Shout out to 434. I've called a few times, but I've never gotten in. Well, now you have to be a good enough for something. But, you know, I don't have any good jokes today. I just wanted to call, let you guys know. I am absolutely in love with my Thursdays,

knowing that at 1 p.m., I get to listen to the old man and Eric Jack Mannoff talk about... That's us. whatever the fuck they want to for four hours and absolutely brightens my work day and makes the day go by

ten times faster love you boys hang with the boys we really appreciate the call man I hope we have lived up to your expectations today as this show has particularly been about next to nothing

we're going to shortchange them on the time this time time will be shortchanged just because there's no there's no fights this weekend that's where we really get exposed when there's no fights we're kind of just like hanging with the boys hanging with the boys

got everybody yeah what happened there what happened do you think you like he just ran out of steam he's just like he had it all planned out in his head

and then he gets the end and it's like sometimes when you're standing around with somebody and you don't know how to tell them goodbye you know maybe something like that happened today or something like that

when you're just standing around you're like oh well you know you start doing like the tap the wall the just start making noises I think that's what ultimately happened with him hey boys this is Kevin I got a question

you guys had the event happen on the Empire State Building where those two people were flying the banner live like while you guys were shooting isn't that the Empire State Building right behind you in the window and if so which I'm pretty sure it is I was blown away that you guys didn't

look out there since it was happening at that moment to go see. Excuse me. I'm getting offended now. It only kind of adds to the mystery. It makes you wonder if that actually is a window. Yeah. What's the reason you guys didn't look out the window? Thanks. A couple of things here. We were not on the air yet as it was happening live in real time. So that's just your argument is completely put to shame there. Secondly, it's a little bit blurry out today. It's a little bit hazy, you know? It's a little bit blurry out there today. Can't quite see it.

And I mean, if you're talking about... Too hungover to deal with these people tonight. If you're talking about the tippy, tippy peak, it's way out there, man. Can't even see it. It's far. We don't have eagle-eye vision. Yeah, who do you think we are, man? What do you think?

We're a little bit hungover and just had some Mongolian beef. Come on, man. That was the Avengers Tower. No, bro. From Avengers 2013. What's up, guys? It's Islam's phobotomist. Wow.

in from East Texas. This is our first time right out. Lufkin's on, Des Bryant. Desk caught it, 2015 Lambo Field, Tony. If you know, you know. Listen, I got a question for the woke front bench today. What are we doing for the 4th of July boys? We're going out to the lake.

That morning, we're going to grill some burgers, some hot dogs. Hopefully shoot some pew-pues, maybe catch a matinee of the young George Washington film. We're going to cat the day off with either a fireworks show or a drone show down in a hometown. But I want to know what the whoop from bench is doing to celebrate

American 250. So let me know, guys. Appreciate it. What are the plans? Minded my own fucking business. I'm going to watch the World Cup. That's my plan. Jordan? Oh, we got a softball game in the morning as we talked about yesterday.

Lay it out for us, Jordan. If you want to donate to the ALS Foundation, please send the Venmo money over to at J. Kamzan. Go right to my wallet, and then that will go right to the charity. And then go to the beach, as one does, and then we're going to have a nice little barbecue, you know, as American as it gets. Baseball, beach.

I said it. Go to Jordans. You got to go to Jordan. Absolutely. Fireworks, Jordan? If there are fireworks, we'll be watching them. I don't actually, my town doesn't do fireworks 4th of July. They do it the week after for some reason.

Can you from your house go see the Jones and the Long Beach? Like, are they doing that or other? Actually, that's a good point. I think they are doing the air show Fourth of July weekend. They usually do it Memorial Day weekend, so we can't see the planes go over by us, because they come loop around

before they go to the old pencil over there by Jones Beach. What about the fireworks? They always do the fireworks. If it's a clear night, we could probably, we could see it. I can see them all the way from my house. I have nothing else, yeah. Yeah. Sounds like a fucking great day, man. Enjoy. Yeah, please come visit. If you want to play softball,

Long Beach High School. Also, actually donate to ALS. Yes. Shout to Conner. Shout to Andrew Josh just into money. So you know what? We're trying to raise some money. A lot of people out there are afflicted, a lot of people we know. So please, let's help some people.

Donate to Doctors Without Borders as well. The charity we highlighted on money and money. And as well, it needs help. And these friends and family need help. Any money, dollar, 50 cents. We'll take it all. Thanks, everyone. You, what up, boy. That is Jimmy. Don't call me James. What's up, John.

I'm going to let you slide, my boy. call me James immediately after I asked you not to it's all good I called you lonely think we're even anyway this week boys let's get a little bromance going if you guys can give us a peek behind the scenes at work whether it's dealing with a fighter dealing with an interview going wrong

production shit hitting the fan any type of scenario like that where you know Rick and GC you guys have watched each other put on that Superman cape and kind of save the day or a situation where you thought to yourself wow, this guy is super fucking talented. Rookie's in the rear end over there. If you want to get involved,

I know you've only been there for a hot minute, but maybe you've seen something early on from Rick, GC, or Aereo that that really impressed you. Caught your attention. Frank? You know what my fucking problem is with Frank? Quick story. Uh-oh.

Wait, wait, wait. Was that actually the end of it? No. That's not how it ends. Caught your attention. Frank? You know what my fucking problem is with Frank? Is that how it ends?

I was at an undisclosed location, which I won't reveal just yet, Frank. That was nice. Long story shirt, I hear this guy talking. Sounds a lot like Frank. I walk up to him. Hey, man. What?

Would you happen to be with boys in the back? And this guy was the oldest trick in the book. He says, hey, what's that? And my dumb ass turns around to look. See nothing. And when I turn back around like a fart in the fucking wind, which is apropos for the man who doesn't like to fart, he's just gone.

Banished. I'm on to you, Frankie. Oh. Did that really happen, Frank? Who knows, man? Who knows? You said Superman Cape. It's not me and Rick that put on the Superman Cape.

It is, it's usually the people on the woke front bench, I have to admit. It's usually technological issues that we have, and they are the ones that solve those. I was going to say something similar, which is just basically like, we're in live show production. Everything is always a scramble. Like, we're always, like, having to put out fires, do something last minute, plan for something that we didn't anticipate, all those things. And, like, every one of us involved has at various times stepped up. there's nobody on this team that I don't trust to do what they're supposed to do. And then when they have to do something that's not what they're supposed to do

that got thrown on their plate, everybody always does it. So I think everybody on this team has worn that game at various points, truly. Like, I look around at other teams and I'm like, boy, sometimes, like, get some weak links in that chain. We need names. You are the weakest link. You get some weak links over there. I don't think there's any weak links in our chain. We have a really, like, solid team, and everybody steps up and does above and beyond what they're supposed to do every single day.

We're great at reacting together, which is really nice. It makes our lives easier. A lot of reactions required. Yeah. It's not easy doing live shows every single day, truly. Like, that is a grind that people don't really understand. I don't know. Don't want to give us ourselves the old Barry H.

too much, but I mean, yep, we are live five days a week. Five days a week, live. I'm saying these words and you are hearing them mere seconds later through your computer live every day. Most podcasts that you were watching, 99% of them are pre-taped. And shout out to the interns who have jumped into the stream and really like stepped up too. I know he was asking maybe for their insights if they have welcome to share, but Jack and Josh have absolutely smashed it so far. Thank you for that. I guess, I guess my insight, whenever there's an issue or like a problem, because obviously problems come up all the time. Just everyone is so nice and the problem gets solved immediately.

Like, I've never seen, in other places I've worked, has seen a lot of people argue, get mad at each other, animosity forms. That, like, does not happen here. And, yeah, I think everyone's just boys in the back. We're all boys with each other, if that lacked for a better term. Comratery! Shout out to it, yeah. Also, staying calm.

That's also very critical in these moments. boys uh you haven't prepared for this because i feel like i need to call and say excuse me i'm getting offended now by hearing rick say every girl hates your guts and i'm sitting here listening to you dumb-dums please i love you guys don't be so hard on yourself and give a few girls a break we love you guys have a good one and i'm sitting here listening to you dumb-dums please i love you guys The frank repeat is... Thank you. We appreciate the call. We very much appreciate it. We do. And not every...

Not every female woman, girl hates us, but the girlfriends... Just most. But it's the ones who are being forced to listen. We thank you for willingly listening to us. Wait, can I share something really quick? I forgot to say this the last time. But when we did the city winery show, there was a guy that was clearly a fan of the show and his girlfriend that were just kind of watching me break down. the set like in a rush with Jordan and I kept hearing her saying like go talk to them go like she was rooting for him so much and she was so sweet when he finally came up and talked to me

she was like I've been telling him to come talk to you you guys are so cool I never really listened to this but y'all are so cool and I was like man I love this energy shout out to her she hasn't been forced to listen to us enough yet so she's still like this is actually pretty cool wait till she's forced give it 10 episodes I think this episode was the one that'll probably tender over the edge.

Just get some Mongolian beef and fucking call of the day. Yeah, with all of the voicemails. All right, thanks so much for the calls. We appreciate it. We appreciate it. We appreciate it. Do we have any super chats, Frankie? Oh.

All right, I guess I'm getting it. So RX Yule said G.C. took us to the seventh layer of hair with that wig. Precisely. That is precisely. I don't even know where it went. Yeah. We didn't put two and two together until we were live on the watch party. It was essentially the same exact costume

at that press conference against Leon Edwards. So 296 December, 2023. Shout up. 24. 24 inch stubs with The Revolution started in Boston. Thanks, 617. I thank 617. Where was the Declaration of Independence sign, though?

Where was that sign? I don't know. You tell me. Philly. Oh. It'd be the 215, the 610, whatever you want to call it. Yeah.

United We Stand. divided we fall guys yep okay oh fuck I was supposed to do the Independence Day speech today Jordan didn't remind me fuck I mean it's not too late now let's you want to start it now

nah I don't know I'll do it back into the show after the credits yeah that's a good one Jordan all right we'll do it after we go off air all right so drip drop 7443 says my friends and I caught Pete Weber win live and still call each other yell it and hang up.

Now, that specific win? Because that would be fucking unbelievable. Holy shit. You're in the lore forever at that point. That is an iconic moment. I mean, one of the greatest bowling moments of all time. Pete Weber may have not been the best. But God.

Was he not the best? I don't know anything about bowling. Was he even good? No, he was very good. Elite. Maybe the goat? I don't know. It doesn't matter if you loved or hated him.

You watched. Yeah. You thought you were. he is. Young men 360 here. New York Rick.

Please defend Andor, especially Stellan's speech where he tells the guy that it's harder to send people to their deaths

than be sent to your death. A little bit of a hiccup with the Andor forgiven. Also, young men as a name spelled like that is crazy. I've never seen him.

I've never seen it. Andor, it's a great show. That's a bagpole. I'm going to defend it because it's one of the best shows that we've gotten in television in a very long time.

One of the best television shows ever. Let me read that one more time about what he specifically had an issue with. Stellan. Okay, so Luton says, no, I think, okay, so here's what I think the problem is actually for Youngman 360. I think he misunderstood Luton's speech. And Frank, you check me on this.

Luton's speech was about not the difficulty of him sending people to their death as opposed to sacrificing himself. his speech was the opposite. His speech was, I am sacrificing so much. I think he was talking to Cassian, and he's like, what have you sacrificed? I've sacrificed everything. I've sacrificed my future. I've sacrificed my happiness. And I'm fighting for a tomorrow that I'm never going to see. He's fighting for this, the revolution to continue, this uprising to continue that is going to happen. The culmination of everything is going to happen long after he's dead. So what he's saying is not like, it's harder to send people out. What he's saying is I'm willing to make the greatest sacrifice, which is like,

I'm not even going to see when this all wraps up. I'm not even going to see if this comes to fruition. I may die not knowing whether the revolution was successful or not, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice so that they have a better tomorrow. So I think it's like the opposite of that, which I think is quite a powerful message. Fantastic show. Scars Guard kills it. It's a fucking incredible performance.

Everyone kills it. a great, fucking unbelievable show. I will defend, whatever your criticisms are, I will defend it until the end of time. It is truly fantastic cinema. You could have told me,

like, if it had nothing to do with Star Wars, I'll watch that forever. It just, it's beautiful. It's brilliant. Well said. Shout out to Andor.

But that sounds right, right? Frank, like the speech was about his sacrifice. But what the quote is as well is also right, that he was just saying that, you know, which is funny because he sends people to die. Yeah.

Pretty effort to say. I mean, you got to win the war, man. You got to win the war. 1776, you know, we got to do it. This is the revolution. Shout out, Andor. Okay, this is the last one, 24-inch dub saying my BP is sky high. I'm going to ignore the free.

Good thing, Chris, BP. Please take care of your blood pressure. Very important. It seems like the Celtics have done that for you. You won't have to watch any meaningful games in the next. Oh wow. A lot pressure will come down from the east. Shot across the bow there from old George.

Jordan healing off on 24 inch dubs. It's crazy the things you can say when your team wins a title. I know. You can't. Because you hold the golden dagger forever. It is crazy. Anything they say it's just like it's just a girl with the champs. But how long does that last?

The year. The year. Because if the Knicks get bounced next year, God forbid it would be by the Celtics. Like you can't say anything. I'm not even going to lie. It lasts the year as long as the Knicks are like decent. The Knicks are like under 500, which I don't think they will be. But if they're under 500, people will be like, oh, yeah, congrats.

You got the title of your shit this year. Yeah. Damn. Shit moves fast. But in your own head, you saw a title. That's all that matter. I mean, I just, it doesn't matter. I showed images of LeBron getting a block in 2016 and it made me emotional.

No one can take it away. That title is everything. A little hungover. Just had some Mongolian beef, and I'm feeling real good. I think we all need to go get some Mongolian beef. I think we all need to get some Mongolian beef. I think we all need to get some Mongolian beef. and beef and start feeling real good as we head into this weekend fourth of july make sure you watch the

crack tomorrow back on monday helwani show and then we're off to vegas international fight week the return of connor mcgregor 170 pounds versus max holloway an off week in mixed martial arts but we will be back next week bigger and better than ever see you then enjoy your weekend happy fourth Thank you.