The Ariel Helwani Show - 2024 European MMA Recap: Ilia Topuria's rise, Conor McGregor civil case, more | The Craic

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

The Craic caps off 2024 by looking back at the year in European MMA.Petesy Carroll is joined by journalists Andy Stevenson, Chisanga Malata, and Donagh Corby to discuss the biggest winners and losers.The show begins with Ilia Topuria’s strong case for Male Fighter of the Year and his recent talk of moving to lightweight (03:13).Next, the discussion centers on Dakota Ditcheva’s meteoric rise through the PFL tournament and her Female Fighter of the Year candidacy (10:01).The conversation turns to Tom Aspinall’s presence at Jon Jones’ UFC 309 title fight and whether he’ll be able to force the heavyweight showdown (18:56).Then, they touch on the continued dominance of fighters from Dagestan (23:48) and the success of PFL’s efforts in Europe (27:16), including the potential future for England’s Lewis McGrillen (31:15).Finally, they close with a discussion on the fallout from Conor McGregor’s civil case (41:30).

Welcome back to The Crack, ladies and gentlemen. You already had our fantastic preview show on the 27th of December. Well, guess what? We're back again, this time, because the year's over now we can finally review it yes, I know you've been asking and dying to see this one happen and you'll be happy to know that I have

reassembled the great European crew from our preview show that's right, it is Jasanga Malata from The Sun, Andy Stevenson from Severo Ame and that dastardly man from Bloody El elbow dunna corby they're all back again lads welcome back this time for our review show just saying how are you look at that beautiful turtleneck oh i'm grand i'm just trying to keep in like the post-festive spirit with

like a turtleneck keep the neck warm and and everything but i'm uh i'm happy to be back i mean i get to to listen to the great Andy Stevenson with some great takes and whatever Donner Corby provides but

Shots Shots I joke I joke no I think Donner's great Thanks Andy Thanks for

Donner was was a rival he obviously worked at the Mirror for several years, so he stole my clicks, all my traffic, and I haven't forgotten about that. This shit runs deep.

Dona Corby, what do you have to say about this? Yeah, no, I'm still stealing it at a bloody elbow. I'm not sure if you guys read the biggest website in MMA. How about that? On similar web. I don't know what similar web is or how they get their analytics, but they said it. Do you know, actually...

It's owned by Mr. Elbow know, actually it's owned by Mr. Elbow. Yeah. It's owned by my boss. But no, it's the, the, the actuality of that is we were number four, but the top three were all, uh, it was like stream East, uh, crack streams and some other streaming website. So they don't count because they're like illegal websites. So we were actually number four, but we didn't want to put in that we were behind all the illegal streamers. So I guess we're there, but we lied. In a lot of ways we lied. And Trent, I know, is going to be delighted to hear this, my old pal.

But yeah, no, we're doing okay. Andy Stevenson, how are you? Good to see bridges have amended between you and Corby since our preview show that's fantastic to hear listen he was right

with what he said in the last show we did run into each other and I'll be honest it was great to see him maybe it's the post festive spirit maybe it's the turkey

and the ham but feeling pretty good and yeah congratulations also we probably probably didn't say I was too busy sticking the boot in

to Dunna but congratulations to you and the young crown team and all the success it's great to see it great to see it great to be here

you already did that on the last episode there's no need to keep playing no no you two did it was more in jest I wasn't very

you know wasn't very congratulatory it was so long ago that I can't remember that's true like with Dunna and you know wasn't wasn't very gratulatory yeah it was so long ago that i can't remember that's true um like with donna and you know that self-praise real success is silent so i don't want to pat myself on the back uh we will move on to some more successful people one of which of course is the great ilia tapuria what i want to ask you just saying i'm allowed to is who are you picking

there seems to be a two-way dance at the moment who was your fighter of the year for 2024 was it alex pereira or was it ilia taporia i think it's it's crystal clear i think it was ilia taporia look what alex did um well what he's done over the last 18 months has been nothing short of phenomenal. But for Tepurio to knock out not one, but two generational greats back to back, I mean, it's, well, what's the word I'm looking for? What's the turn of phrase? I'm just so blown away by his achievement. I can't even speak, guys.

It's a slam dunk for me, personally. Like, I know you can pick holes in the win over Volkanovski and say, look, he was only five or six months removed from that head kick loss to Islam. But Tepuria just hits so goddamn hard. And as we saw in the Max Holloway fight, that even if Volkan had a year layoff and his brain was as healthy as can be, he probably could have had his light shot out by the same combination. Yeah, for me, it was El Matador Ilya Teporia you can also pick holes in Alex Pereira's one of his wins coming back fighting Jamal Hill who's fighting for the first time off Achilles injury and then the whole little

situation between Herb Dean and then Herb Dean allegedly well well, if you're Jamal Hill, if you're a team Hill, which there's not many people on, but allegedly getting in the way and then allowing Alex to close the distance and knock him out. But for me, it was Ilya Toporia, who I said in the previous episode is the key to Spain and Central Europe. El Matador had a fantastic year and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next year or this year, I should say. Jonah, do you agree with that? Do you have him as your fighter of the year?

Male fighter of the year, should I say? Yeah, I mean, obviously the argument could be made for Pereira as well, right? Because he had such a great run. But if you look at the level of opponent, I think that Pereira probably loses out a bit of steam because Khalil Rountree was the last fight. You know, because you look at the first, Jamal Hill, phenomenal win, and of course,

Yuri again. But yeah, I think to knock out Max Holloway is something that literally hadn't been done before, and then to do what he did to Volkanovski as well, it does seem fairly clear to me that he's fighter of the year. Andy, there was a lot of talk with Volkanovski, obviously, and his status within the pantheon of featherweight greats. We're already hearing that Ilya is talking about moving to 55. That's been rebuffed somewhat.

But do you think we will see that develop over the next few years where Ilya Tapura becomes a guy who we're considering one of the greatest featherweights ever? Or do you think his days are numbered at 145? I think that latter part is very much unclear. And like people say, a lot of things, we'll have to see how that unfolds but i think that he i i would like to see him stay at 145 i think that he can become you know we're very very premature in saying anything like this right now but he could go on to become the greatest featherweight ever like he has that potential with the performances that he put him on and like

to dunna's point there about who he's faced mma fans and particular mma twitter or mmax which is just a lovely place um there's this kind of revisionist history that always happens after a certain amount of time where it's happening with john jones's career i've seen in in recent months at the moment like when you look back on it you know no disrespect i i think they're phenomenal fighters but jamal hill yuri prahaska and khalil roundtree like there's potential there that in 10 years time from now you'll have the next generation of mma uh fans talking about how you know they were never any good whereas i don't think you'll see the same for alexander volkanovsky and max holloway i think

you know their careers their legacies will live on for decades to come. But to answer your point, you know, will he go up and fight at 155? I think he probably will at one point, but I think there's

real potential there for him to become an all-time great at featherweight. Return. Sorry, go ahead. Return to 155. Obviously, he fought

Jai Herbert at 155. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. In London. And Jai gave him the most trouble that he's actually had remember he dropped him with switch head kick

I think with Ilya his coach Jorge Clemente he was on Submission Radio if I remember and he said that Ilya cuts about something like 40 pounds to make featherweight he's a muscular

guy in in general like there's there's no body fat for him to lose in terms of uh aiding his his weight cut so i think 155 is definitely in in his future in the near future but um kind of piggybacking off andy's point i think the whole two-division champ thing for me has kind of played out. It doesn't have that much luster anymore. I agree. Yeah, what I prefer to see is a fighter that have pure dominance over division for several years,

like we've seen with Volkanovski at Featherweight. Establish yourself as a go in that division and then if the opportunity comes up to move up and for a super fight against Islam then then take that opportunity uh that that's what I prefer to see maybe people might be saying I'm an old woke uh so and so parking popping back to uh to simpler times in in the UFC but if I'm to pour, stay at featherweight for as long as you can and for as long as you can be healthy and try to cement your legacy there. This one title defense and heading up, granted, obviously, you just knocked out Max Holloway

and Volkanovski back-to-back. That's not for me. I mean, you need to establish your legacy at 145. The other thing is he's, he's five foot seven as well. Like that, there's a huge size gap there. If he goes up to one 55,

that being said, the move to 55 could be the key that unlocks this whole Madrid event. If he, I mean, think about this, a non title, uh, fight in Madrid against Patty Pimbley.

So you think that wouldn't be the biggest fight that the UFC have put on in years? Yeah, it's huge. It's immediately huge. We could have said that in the previous episode. Really more for the previous episode, but yeah. That's a great show, man. Talking about Fighters of the Year,

how good has it done it see uh pfl with the dakota decheva having her in that mix um you know you talk about spectacular she's that you talk about marketable she's that she's got everything going for her right now after a brilliant 2024 um do you think she will top most people's lists when it comes to female fighter of the year 2024 well that's the the one upside of doing the pfl season and i know the pfl season comes in for a huge amount of criticism and i i'm hearing rumblings that maybe there might be some changes to the structure next year but i think that that it gives you four fights right so that automatically puts you in the the strata of someone who has been

super active and those four fights happen really quickly too it's like april to november so you and i think like she didn't but like someone like an impact sang and i he could have been right up there if he'd won the tournament because he would have had i think five fights uh in in the year but yeah i think that yeah she's she's done an incredible job to beat tyler santos the way that she beat her valentina shefchenko certainly didn't do that or anything close to it. I mean, Santos, someone who would be known as being tough, someone who would be known as being durable, as someone who can do five rounds, to essentially make her quit, essentially make her almost tap the strikes in a way,

like it is impressive from Dakota. So, yeah, she certainly would make the most sense. I don't know that there's any other ladies who have had such an incredible year that you would rank it higher than dakota's as far as i'm concerned i was wondering um about what would happen there don't know to be honest because i do feel that's becoming quite a problem for pfl that when you get these champions and they're interviewed for the first time after they win these belts the most of them will say unless it's um obama mercier or one of these guys most of them be like i'm not doing that tournament again and if that's like the pinnacle like that is a complicated thing for me for the promotion um how important is it to keep someone like dakota on their books andy

like when you think about what she's done on the previous episode we did with the preview of 2025, Chisanga spoke to the mainstream interest that's in this person. When you have someone that's compelling this kind of intrigue, they've got to keep her on their books, right? And they've got to figure out a way

to do something exciting that will keep people coming back to watch Dakota De Chava. 100%. And even from a PR perspective, especially with what's been going on from a PR perspective, like the, especially with, with what's been going on for PFL and, you know,

the very high profile champion Bellator fighters who've been incredibly outspoken, wanting releases from their contracts, like to have a commodity like Dakota De Chava, where you can say, look at this, this fighter with that. We picked up from the regional scene.

She went through our European system, became a champion there. She went up to then to the, the world level. She went through our European system, became a champion there. She went up then to the world level. She became a champion there, did it in incredibly impressive fashion where, like for my money, I think she has been the female fighter of the year worldwide. You know, that is an example and a tool for them to say,

this is indicative of the success of the program that we have here, where we can develop fighters on the European scene through that and then to a world level where they're still successful you have to keep fighters like that they've already lost the likes of kayla harrison and you know i i think pfl do a great job of building those fighters you know getting those commodities but you know on the back end not to go on a side tangent, we've seen the rhetoric and the communications

that they've had around Harrison since she left. So you have to treat your fighters well, obviously, when you have them, when they leave too,

ideally. But this is why when you've got other fighters who have left and who are calling for their release, the ones that you have

right now, the Dakota Ditchavis, and then you've got the fighters who have left and who are calling for their release, the ones that you have right now, the Dakota Ditch of us, you know, and then you've got the likes of, um, Chanel Dyer, who, you know,

if you can keep amazing Dakota Ditch of her around, I don't think this is anywhere close right now. You know, Chanel's only 23. I think Dakota's 26 different points in their career, but in time in two, three years from now, if they can keep Dakota Ditch of her,

and if they have Chanel Dyer and she continues to excel and progress in the way she has been there's a super fight on their hands there you're a UK super fight in time we're a long way away from that but what PFL need to do now is not just have it so that they're developing their stars that are just eventually primed to move on to the UFC they have to be able to retain them otherwise they'll just always end up being a feeder league to the UFC which is what they you know that will be the reality so that they it's imperative that they keep the likes of Ditcheva and you know Paul Hughes etc who are obviously kind of making waves as well it's crucial to their success and just by the way quickly super quickly they were not to be

you know defending VFL all the time whatever but they were phenomenally good to Kayla Harrison herself would probably tell you that the checks and balances on the PFL and Kayla Harrison relationship, they were very good to Kayla Harrison for a long time. Thanks for clearing that up, Donna. We were all waiting on that one. Thank you. I'm just wondering, though, to Donna's side. Is that Don?

Don, are you there? Don Corby? On the back of that glaze, I mean, I wondered, don't. I wondered, Chisanga, because, look, Donna raised a good point in terms of the way PFL can zoom in on these athletes

in a previous episode. Is she, does Dakota feel so big because she's with PFL? Like, as opposed to with UFC, like, and the weight they can put behind her? I think so.

I mean, let me ask you, throw the question back to you behind her I I think so um I mean let me ask you sort of question back to to you guys do you think that she would be as big a star with her with her resume well the equivalent resume which she could rack up in the UFC if she wasn't the UFC in comparison to PFL I I personally don't think so I don't think the UFC would put as much shine on her as uh as PFL have done and that that's a testament to, to PFL. Look, they've,

as, as Andy said, they picked her up from the regional scene. They've seen that she's got all the, all the markers for a potential, potential star. She's obviously first and foremost, she's a great fighter.

She's, she's ecstatically pleasing on the eye to, to many a person, which obviously helps when you're building a superstar as well. For me, now the question is, I know that I said the Chris Cyborg fight as a potential next fight for Dakota. The question is, how are you going to keep her around?

Obviously, she's locked into contract for however long, but if you're not giving her the fights which are going to be financially rewarding and test her skill set, she's going to want to go elsewhere eventually. Yeah, that is, as we said, that is a situation they're going to have to keep dealing with. Sticking on the UK point, Chiz, I was wondering,

we were at UFC Manchester, as was Andy. They've returned to the normal time in London this year. And it has, like, we have to remember they went to Manchester because there was so many people getting upset about the London show. Now they did the Manchester show at this late time and they're back to doing the London show. Is this a reaction, do you think, to what Manchester was, the aftermath of Manchester, even though we had some great results

with like Aspinall, Paddy Pdy pimblet they raised the roof there we obviously had a bit of a main event where there was a lot of people in the crowd trying to catch some z's while they were watching it um do you think this is a direct reaction to ufc manchester going back to the london date the usual one yeah i i think so but i think more so a reaction to them catching me cage side inhaling red bull after red bull just to try to stay away and then when i got back to my hotel like my heart was just like pounding just because i consumed so much caffeine in such a short space of time no i i i think so i think the ufc know where their bread is buttered in terms of the the uk market and it's doing it at prime time

they did it obviously with uzman edwards three uh which is why the the late start time for manchester was received such a such a backlash but yeah i i think it's a direct correlation and obviously um dana just wants to return to the uh world famous and historic O2 arena as he describes it even though he probably won't be there, it'll be Dave Green who'll be fielding questions from the media at the end because it's quite yeah absolutely, and they've been

fantastic cars over the years, I particularly think that 2022 one with Tom and Volkov was just this amazing scene to be at just incredible. Paddy, et cetera, Arnold Allen, Jack Shaw on the card. Everyone was so good that night. But Tom was becoming this guy where he's, like,

the main event in the UK. I think we saw a big change in time with Tom Aspinall in 2024. You know, and I think this story is to develop. I think this Jones and and aspinal saga will go on and on don't know i wonder like how much did tom benefit from that msg card where he showed up as the backup fighter that nobody was gonna fight barely said a word and suddenly everybody is roaring about tom aspinov while John Jones is fighting Stevie,

Stevie, Amy Oates for the most part. Yeah. Well, I remember, I'm not sure if it was you, Chis, I was talking to her if it was Oscar Willis,

but I remember someone saying that Tom, when he was in New York actually was turning down media opportunities because he didn't want to go there as this bag who's, you know, uh, just, he's shown up in New York, like a Shannon Briggs type of thing

where he's just like trying to get in in John Jones's head. And he played it like, I mean, he's for someone who seems on the surface to like not care about that kind of thing. He plays these things phenomenally well. His understanding of public relations is he's not dissimilar to Tyson Fury

in that way, where his for someone who pretends to be like the everyman or not pretends but who plays the everyman kind of character someone who who uh you know acts that way he's very savvy in terms of knowing what will get the people going and certainly he played at New York City that week like unbelievably well and the less you saw of him the more it made him kind of a looming figure over the event as opposed to if he did the old brigs and was showing up the press conference and was asking questions if he did like the tony bell you at the mike tyson jake paul uh thing something like that it wouldn't

have been nearly as as effective as it was well he played it incredibly yeah i think you you hit the nail on the head there it It's like less was more. It's like, in fact, I'm not going to use that analogy. I was going to say it's like when you see too much of, in fact, I'm not even going to go down that road. Anyway, anyway, anyway, you guys can surmise what I'm going to say. I think PT has insight into my mind and knows where I was going. But you played it perfectly there.

And I was one of the many media who got snubbed by Mr. Asperl during a fight week, but I can tell. Hey, I was just about to make a point about him being a great guy. It's gone now. Asperl, you're finished.

Well, yeah. Well, which I can, I can, right. Asshole. Confirmed asshole. Yeah. This is unbelievable no i but i completely i completely um understand like i'm a fighter i've been turned down by fighters during

fight weeks i know it wasn't technically a fight week for him but i'm i'm used to that although he uh did go to the big wig in my parent company a few weeks later and piers morgan i mean made me feel very very well after very similar people you and that yeah identical interviews i'm sure what a performance on pierce morgan as well what a what a great showing that new that new audience that wouldn't have known him as well he came across so well and he like in general he just is someone who who plays these things he's he's a very he's talented in the way he portrays himself it certainly i mean it made the whole john jones calling him an asshole

thing make so little sense because you could totally understand oh like if he did the the shannon breaks type thing it would you like you could understand john jones being like this is embarrassing he's an asshole all this stuff but it was like what makes is embarrassing, he's an asshole, all this stuff. But it was like, what makes him an asshole? He didn't do anything to disrupt you in any way. He didn't bother you or Stipe whenever he saw you guys around the place. There's no argument to be made that he portrayed himself like an asshole at

all that week. If anything, John Jones, the way he was carrying on, might have taken that title. To Chisaga's point about less is more more it was kind of like show don't tell you know he didn't go up there and sing his own praises and jones has kind of taken all this has for the most part been you know all these uk fans want him it's just people you know i don't know nobody actually really wants to see this fight but then he shows up on fight

week and i'm sure the ufc potentially or you know maybe might have had a similar mindset to that to be like you know how much do people really want this fight but then when you go to america you don't really do a whole lot other than be there and then all of a sudden there's this outpouring of emotion and just vocalness i guess for for tom on his behalf and not coming from him but from the the fans, from the American fans in attendance there, like that is a slap on the face to both Jones and the UFC

to say this is real and you should be taking this seriously. Yeah, he had a massive, massive year, Tom. I feel like the pressure is on the UFC and Jones. I think the pressure is off him

to a large degree now based on how everything went that week. I don't think Jones liked it one bit either um I think you can only look to the first pay-per-view of the year UFC 311 to understand what once again was a massive massive 2024 for the boys from Dagestan I mean I feel like this is a conversation we're going to have for the next decade and probably after that again of course we have Islam v. armen that's armenia v um v dagestan and then we have um umar and amaga madoff against marab in a very spirited fight there in early january but this narrative of these dagestani

lads just being savages andy can you see that going anywhere at all over the next 10 years because i feel like as soon as one leaves, another comes. There's just an endless conveyor belt of talent in that region. As far as the conveyor belt, I think that is going to continue to churn out. That ain't slowing down anytime soon. They are bred for combat. It's so impressive, the amount of fighters, the volume of fighters that come through that region.

I think as far as their dominance in the sport, it will only start to slow down when the rest of the world adapts and learns that they now need to go and learn the type of grappling, the chain wrestling, whatever it is that is the potent weapon of the Dagestanis. You have to master that to be able to then, you know, take it apart. I think we've seen that with jujitsu over the years where, you know, when the UFC was in its infancy, it was the jujitsu practitioners who were kind of dominating. And, you know, if you didn't know jujitsu, then you were screwed. And then all of a sudden, everyone's a black belt now. And it's, you know, much less of a, you know,

it's a finishing threat, of of course but it's the wrestling and it's the in-between pieces of of fighting of combat that are more important i would say um that's going to be the case with this but we're not there yet like people don't know how to combat this they don't they're not as proficient in it and like that takes years and years and years like they are learning to wrestle and grapple in the way that they are in the combat sambo you know kind of style since they're three four or five years old like they've 20 years of this under their belt before they get to the ufc so that's what it's going to take uh from various other regions around the world everywhere in the world uh to be able to

combat this of course you know we will um, instances where it's overcome. And I think we've, we have seen some of those when we will continue to see more, but until it's, you know, widespread, we're going to see a lot of dominance from that region. Yeah.

Especially when they're turning out kickboxers like, uh, Shara Bullitt, who's obviously fighting. Although he, he is the black sheep though. It's his, it's his wrestling.

They're not that good. It's weird. But I mean, once, wrestling not that good it's weird but I mean once he marries up the two I mean it's just going to be it's game over it can't be denied that the longer these guys stay basing themselves in Russia

the more difficult it is for anyone to get in and like maybe test them so that's all good too that's all good too that's why i call them dastardly that is that is a typical donor it does make it more difficult than someone in say uh florida like paul hughes oh wow well that is a reference to this of course january 25th though uh hughes v nor maga made off we can clearly see what side dunn is on there weaving his his web of conspiratorial thought once again unbelievable stuff um i actually have a question for you

dunna here um this is something that ariel asked me about all the time and i kind of have to i have i have only been to pfl europe events i know you've been to quite a few in the u.s and pfl europe is not um available in the u.s for people to view but their impression is after after it one has happened and they're looking back in the clips and they see these amazing scenes in paris and of course all around Europe but Paris being that real pinnacle point for PFL Europe has PFL Europe succeeded more than PFL Global in terms of getting fans intrigued in the product like the live shows in particular as we see in the Yakore Arena and stuff do you think they've been a bigger success on the ground than PFL Global yeah and actually to even add to that

I think the PFL mina as well is also probably better i mean we just don't see it ever we don't keep up with it but you should have seen the way the media and everything we're carrying on when this hatan al-saif came into the room for media day uh like amateur fighter not even a pro uh adam wade and she came in and it was like i don't know well on that same day brendan lock now was in there um it a couple of weeks earlier francis and gann who had been in that same room and people were really just going nuts over the satan outside so mina and europe and i think that's probably the route they should be kind of exploiting more is having these big shows in these regions that are not super well, well, um,

well fed, I suppose by, by the UFC where, you know, like they do a yearly Paris show for the UFC, but it's always not an afterthought, but it's like, it's a fight night.

It's like, you're never going to get a big pay-per-view. And the fact is when Cyril Gann for all the great nights of Paris, he had, when the big night came and he had to fight for the world title, it had to be in Las Vegas. And that's how it is in the UFC. So Conor McGregor, right?

What an amazing night at the three arena. But when the big nights came, they absolutely under no circumstances could be anywhere but Las Vegas or New York. And it's the same at any level. So I think that the PFL have an advantage in that regard where if someone emerges as a big star,

Cedric dume bay or or you know uh it to a way lesser extent like a paul hughes or like i said a hatan al-saif in saudi um they can just go to that place and put on a huge event like you like you were at the one in march when dume bay fought baki i was at the slightly smaller one when he fought jaleel willis in may but still a huge event with a massive, massive crowd and a rowdy crowd too. And yeah, I think if I were PFL, I'd probably be bringing this road to Dubai champion series, whatever it's called around the, around Europe and around these regions where they have bigger fan bases.

And I would probably put the global season on the background because these American shows just they're getting there but they're not quite there yet and then certainly the last American show I went to was in Washington the week when they launched in Ghanu versus versus Hennon Ferreira and they had all this media flown out and everything and it was a whole big event and Jake Paul was there all this stuff and that was definitely compared to the finals that were in the same venue a year earlier that was a much bigger event and jake paul was there all this stuff and that was definitely compared to the finals that were in the same venue a year earlier that was a much bigger event and the atmosphere was much better and they sold way more tickets but they're still not quite there in america they just don't have american stars yet whereas they have big european stars and it's a much more

attractive event to be going to in uh in europe than it is uh i think the european shows are better than the european usc shows that like i don't think that's a crazy thing to say yeah it's a no no i really appreciate your insight on that um certainly the feeling i got and especially when i was at the echo arena that night as you said for the backy fight just incredible like you know one of the most memorable live events i've been i won't go any further because don't always slags me for saying the same thing over and over again about that event but sticking with PFL Europe obviously we've talked about Deceva

we've talked about Hughes even earlier Andy referenced Chanel Dyer do you believe that they have another star here Andy in McGrillin and I know Chisangle will want to weigh in on this as well he's a UK guy this guy the very first time I saw him

was just during an amateur face-off that Cane musa had shared and i was already hooked i didn't even know the guy won fights i just saw this aggressive dude like like a coiled spring before he fought and he has delivered and delivered an abundance i feel for pfl europe is he another european star that they can look forward to using on the global scale, Andy? I think he is. I mean, I think he's got the personality to certainly be a star.

I mean, the fight that he had against Dean Garnett was, for me, the fight of the year. Yeah. Yeah, I genuinely, I voted for it on the severe May,

whereas I thought it was the fight of the year. I don't see how... It was like 17 knockdowns or something, wasn just bananas it was just an absolute car crash people falling all over the place uh and eventually he finished garnett it's just nuts but like you know he so he has the entertainment factor from his fighting style he has the entertainment factor from his personality the way he kind of gets at people's faces there's always a bit of bite about him it's never you know it's usually at least

not very friendly you know not necessarily disrespectful but not friendly when it comes to this but I just think what we don't know yet is

his ceiling like as far as how far he can go in the cage I think that is yet unproven obviously look he's after coming off some phenomenal performances

this year as I said fight of the year and he's after finishing the final against Alexander Luster in very impressive fashion. It'll be interesting to see when I think of the likes of, say, I don't know, from an Irish perspective, like Kieran Clarke, Nathan Kelly.

I feel like he's at that level at the moment where he hasn't made the full jump to the worldwide level of competition and so it remains to be seen to what level he can go to but if we're talking europe right now like i'd say lash him back into the european uh season again would be my view on this one let him let him continue to build and then in time give him that step up uh to the world level and we've seen him you know he, he has a loss against Wesley Mayer. Obviously, it was probably a year or a little bit more ago now. But, you know, there's no point in rushing him immediately

to that world level when he may not be, you know, at that level of his career just yet. But I think if they matchmake him correctly, he has huge potential to be a star for them. I do think he has huge potential to be a star for them i i do think he has huge potential to be a star and he his fights are super exciting he'll probably if i were to predict how his career goes i mean he could obviously make some some big changes but he probably will be a star more in the vein of like masvidal maybe to a lesser extent of mike per Perry type of star where like, uh,

like he'll have huge fights and probably he'll end up cold following. Like, yeah, he'll end up having big fights and, and he could be a bigger star. Like you want to talk about it, a way bigger star than blah, Muhammad,

right? No doubt in terms of, uh, of, of that. And, and I mean, you could even argue that Mike Perry is probably a bigger star than blah,

Muhammad at this stage. And he'll be someone like that who has fun fights. He won't always win them but he'll definitely have fights that people want to see I mean that European final was great that last one, I just don't know that he's going to be like, I don't know that he's going to be beating Dagestani guys

and all of that in three or four years maybe I'm wrong on that one but I think he'll be a star for sure and probably a bigger star than a lot of these PFL guys. I think he's already probably someone who would sell more tickets in a Manchester than, say, the guys like a Gadzi Rabdanov who won the whole PFL global tournament. You'd probably argue he's already a bigger name than someone like that. So he's definitely on the right track

but i don't know that he's going to be someone who is winning world titles or anything do you know what though apologies for interjecting here he's our boat just killing sang of the only uk he has red hair we'll just keep going here i don't know was talking there all i was thinking was patty pimlett that's that's all it was going to remind because like oh yeah there's a like you know if you were to say when patty pimlett entered the ufc most people didn't i think expect him to get this far uh and to win the fights that he has and he's proven people wrong and you talk about that cult following that mcgrillan is kind of a massive that's what pimlett had in cage warriors so i think there's a lot of parallels that could be drawn there and

we don't know i think that like there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of skepticism as to the ceiling and I think that was that is even still there for Pimlet today and that has always been there for him so I think you know

UFC is Pimlet PFL could have McGrill and Evans What do you think Jasanga? You've just stolen all my points there Oh

I'm sorry Yeah I believe the Maya loss was like nearly a year ago i think it was like the first week of last last december but he's bounced back incredibly incredibly well i mean i mean um such suffering such a loss early into your career um can can make or break a fight but he seemingly bounced back well from the three wins on the bounce and obviously that absolute war with with dean garner but yeah as as you're saying it he's got the makings of a star it might just be the mullet or maybe his uh yeah it might be the mullet or a public declaration of being a flat earther or is he a fucker yeah do you remember seeing that

or am i making this up no no i'm not making i hope he is to be honest yeah i think he did yeah say something if i'm wrong i i apologize but he does have that that that must see factor like it anytime there's a lewis mcgrillan fight i'm always tuning in well depending on what time because now that i've got a kid I'm in bed by nine o'clock. Which is fair. But yeah, I'm always making sure that I catch up with the highlights. I did like the comparison to Paddy Pimlet. He is slowly but surely building up a cult-like following and even just his face-offs are must-see TV as well. So I'm excited to see what he does next year.

But as Andy said, the ceiling for him, I mean, like the jury's going to be out on that, but he's still only 24. He's still getting better. I mean, he could absolutely smoke everybody again if he goes into the European series and then show that he's ready to mix it with the elite. We don't know. But if I were him, I would, if I appear a fail, sorry i would follow andy's suit put him back in the european series again for next year just to keep building his story keep cultivating uh the the fan base around him and then maybe well in 2026 have at him in the global series yeah i like i like um i like those ideas i like i like the idea of him back in Europe as well.

I wonder how he feels about it. That's always a different story. Look, we know now that Paris is one of these booming cities. France is just a booming MMA hub at the moment. UFC, PFL having massive events. We know KSW and Saldin Parnas had another massive event just towards the end of December. 16,000-odd people going there. What I wanted to ask you guys is, saudi and bernas had another massive event just towards the end of december 16 000 odd people

going there um what i wanted to ask you guys is should we be paying more attention to octagon uh they nearly had 60 000 people in an arena earlier this year we're just coming off the back of the will flurry fight obviously against formula um do you think that the i've tried to watch the promotion and i have watched events and i'm just i don't have the same skin in the game when it's not someone like flurry i know they have shemrock there as well when they don't have those guys on i feel i feel like it's tough for me to get involved because i i don't know a lot about some of the talent that are on the cards um so that's that's my misgivings when it comes to the situation but for you uh andy do you think

this is something that deserves our respect this is something that we should be tuning into regularly or is it similar to ksw in the way that it's very region specific i think it's a little bit of both um i like i don't know like i i tried i tried to get into it um and i think i think firstly what they're doing is incredible like they're selling out you know they i think they broke the world record at least the claim is definitely that that they broke the world record the uc's record in australia uh with their show earlier on in 2024 events i've had more you know the the saitama superdome ones like they're insane though you know yeah like for any promotion to be able

to do this is absolutely incredible and it is region for specific in the sense that like they have their markets like in Prague and Germany in Slovakia and other

places in Europe where they will deliver where they will pull in the fan bases obviously they tried a show in the UK it didn't go well at all and

they've since changed course and kind of pulled out of that region it seems for the most part which is completely completely understandable. So I think it's like, it's incredible what they're doing. And I actually think that they do a really brilliant job of storytelling and like trying to, to, to tell the kind of English speaking and the Western European audience what's going on with their Octagon uk and ireland channel i remember doing an interview with brian lacey kind of maybe a year and a half or two years ago at this point um and like i was like wow i'm all in after seeing some of these scenes because it felt like this

promotion that was the new ksw that was something to pay attention to but for whatever reason i don't know what it is maybe it's just on me i haven't kept up with it and i've only really been watching it as you know the irish fighters fighters and the fighters that would be more familiar with our fighting on it. So I'm not sure what they need to do. I think like if they were PF, like if it was PFL putting on these events, I think,

um, this would be all over the place. I think they'd be, you know, singing from the rafters. I think, um, when,

uh, what it is likely when the American media is watching, they'd be all over this. They'd love it. But the fact that it's not a PFL, it's not a UFC, it's more difficult. And so I think it will probably remain like a KSW for the foreseeable until they can, you know, I don't know what it is necessarily they need to do, but the casual interest is not there.

I think what they're doing is brilliance, but the interest is not where where it perhaps should be now that's a great answer um before we go um we're just into the last question now i wanted to ask and you guys andy and donna please tell me if you think i'm wrong about this um with mcgregor's situation in ire Ireland and the highly publicized civil case, he was accused of raping Nikita Hand, a jury found on the balance of probabilities that they thought it did happen. Since then, brands have dropped him. I've noted on Ariel's show that there's a very different reaction to this in Ireland and the US. It's very different in comparison to the reaction there

um but i wanted to know from just angle like is that a knock-on effect to the uk and in europe in some ways this this news about connor because certainly we've seen tesco and other companies like that react in the uk it's probably not as visceral as it is in Ireland, but the fact that he is the biggest name the sport has ever seen, do you think that impacts badly on the perception of MMA in general for you where you are? I think it does. And for context, one of my wife's best friends came over to the house last weekend, and the first thing that she asked me about was the uh the result of the the civil case so that just shows you how how far the uh the the jury's ruling at the dublin high court has permeated um the the the general public uh i i think it's obviously what happened uh or what was deemed to have happened that night was a absolutely

horrendous ordeal and we wish uh miss hand if she can ever get over it that she uh that she can but i think that sadly well mcgregor's done a litany of things over the years which have um which have drawn public condemnation but none one uh more so than this obviously you guys are on the ground in ireland i'm only seeing little bits which are being relayed by by you guys and all all three of you done a very good job in covering and commenting on this case which i should give you uh give you credit for but yeah here now the the things that people are saying about conor mcgregor just well i don't want to just say a lot of insults yeah of course yeah yeah yeah i don't want to be like obviously for legal purposes as well i don't think i i can i i can say them but it's it's definitely had a detrimental

effect on it and that's why um and i don't mean to go off on a tangent it's it's refreshing that we're having figures like Tom Asmuller, who are salt of the earth, good people, come to the fore and help change perceptions of the sport. And obviously, back in Ireland,

you've got the great Paul Hughes. And even though he is pretty much Brazilian at this moment in time, Ian Machado Gary. Whoa! I love Ian. I love Ian. Then we all we all move in yeah we all love especially pizza but no yeah it's it's it's sad that the effect that this has had on the sport and

sadly mainstream media everybody is gonna ask mma fighters and particularly ufc fighters about oh what do you think about the conor mcgregor thing obviously uh we talked about i just mentioned tom aspinall there piers morgan tries to tried his best to get uh uh a line out of uh tom but tom he just said um look if it happened it's it's a bad thing what have you but yeah the the effect of this it well it's not as seismic as it is in ireland obviously obviously um some brands have stopped stocking some McGregor-related items over here. And I don't believe, well, I can't remember if it was in Ireland or if it was in the UK where the mural of McGregor

was being painted over. It was in Northern Ireland, I believe. It was in Northern Ireland? Okay. Okay. That's the UK, so it was Girologic that's the UK so it's a little from column A a little from column B

yeah exactly yeah sadly the sport at this moment in time there's going to

be a hangover from this and it's going to affect perceptions for a while for sure well lads

that is all we have for you today thank you so much to andy stevenson to dunna corby and the great sangha malata i love you boys very much it's great to have all of the band back together who knows maybe you'll get on in a couple of years again and you can tell everybody you're back on the crack uh but no it looks like a quadrant of knowledge or how would we just like a like a fork of fury, I believe. One thing, right. I need to address the flat earth thing.

So it was, to be factual. Do you believe in it? No, I have to be factual. It was a PFL post in which they said three things Dean Garnett thinks are true with an image of Lewis McGillen, which I can show here. Ah, they've misled you. So yeah, I was misled. And the three things that Dean Garnett thought were true allegedly were lizard people are real, the earth is flat, he will knock me out. And they said only one is wrong here.

So I was not calling Lewis McGillen a flat earther. The PFL misled me the pfl after all our compliments to pfl don't know this is a terrible way to leave things for the pfl look into it i love you very much uh thank you for joining me on the review show thank you for joining me the preview show hope to hear more of you on this beautiful show next year thank you all for listening have a great 2025 thank you to oscar lozaf thank you to on air jordan but not to mysterious frank who stopped coming to the recordings of our shows have a wonderful year