The Ariel Helwani Show - Alexander Volkanovski, Joseph Parker, Sean Brady, Jean Silva, On The Nose, more

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the crew kick off the show by answering all your latest On The Nose questions about options for Tom Aspinall if the Jon Jones fight doesn't materialize, Patricio Pitbull's potential to become a UFC champ, and some show production behind-the-scenes (11:39).Sean Brady checks in ahead of his UFC London bout against Leon Edwards and discusses how the fight came to be, Belal Muhammad's recent comments and more (01:32:36).Jean Silva discusses his sensational showing at UFC Seattle, his journey through MMA, a potential UFC 313 short-notice fight next week and more (02:01:42).Joseph Parker discusses his second-round knockout of Martin Bakole, his chaotic week in Riyadh, Daniel Dubois' mysterious withdrawal, a potential Anthony Joshua rematch and more (02:31:11).Alexander Volkanovski previews his UFC 314 vacant title bout and discusses his MMA future, how many fights he has left, how his year off impacted his thoughts on retirement and much more (02:59:02).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Er-r-r- a lovely Wednesday wherever you may be. Perhaps it is Wednesday morning. Perhaps it is Wednesday afternoon. Perhaps it is Wednesday evening. And if it is Wednesday evening where you are right now, perhaps you're getting ready for Wednesday evening, where you are right now, perhaps you're getting ready for Nottingham Forest versus Arsenal. 2.30 Eastern, 7.30 at the city ground, we'll be locked in. You don't have to watch, you don't have to watch.

You don't have to watch on NBC or on Sky or on TNT or on whatever other channel is out there showing Premier League. We're locked in, right guys? We got everything, we got everything prepared for the watch party. Arsenal, Forest, a clash of Titans. What is it?

I guess it's two versus three. Golly, who would have thought? Who would have thought, Frankie? We got a tremendous show for all of you coming back after a very busy Tuesday in the world of combat sports, the combat sports world. And I stress combat sports because everyone's talking about it.

What transpired on Tuesday evening in Manchester, the slap heard around the world? Yeah, I'd say so. We were reacting live to it. Chris Eubank Jr., Conor Ben, facing off for the first time. This go-around. Look at this, what a scene it was. Obviously they faced off two years ago when they were supposed to fight. That fight got cancelled on fight week because Connor Ben, who is two-year right, failed two drug tests and then the explanation afterwards was that he consumed too many eggs. And so there's Chris Eubank Jr. to your left rocking the LV

about to eggs explode on his face. Eggs explode on his face. Now originally and initially, when we were reacting to this, we thought it was just kind of a friendly slap. But then you're like, look how mad Connor Ben is.

Look how upset he is. And oh, did things evolve from there. And in fact, I have a new theory regarding this face-off. Let's take a look at the second angle. The second angle is great. The one courtesy of, I think, match room. You can actually hear the egg exploding. Take a listen

Okay Incredible stuff scenes as they say and now we're seeing reports that the British boxing board of control are saying that they are going To look into this and weigh in on it all at their next hearing. Oh, give me a break. You're all loving it. You're absolutely loving it. But here today, I'd like to show you guys a new angle that has emerged as of this morning, courtesy of the Boxer social media account.

And this is my new theory. We're all saying he was hit in the head with an egg. He slapped him with an egg. No, no, I think that's inaccurate. I think there were multiple eggs. I think there were multiple eggs. Look at this. That's multiple eggs, Frank.

You see all that yolk coming out? You hear that sound? That's multiple eggs. He had at least two or three in his paw there. No one has brought this up. This is exclusive to us. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Absolutely.

Multiple legs. Look at Eddie getting in the mix there. Eddie's about to shove Benchel up. Give him a little nice little heave-ho. A little how are ya? A little good evening to ya. Can we replay this one more time? I just like to... I want to focus.

Oh, there's Frank Smith. Look at this. Look at this. Multiple legs. Is that not multiple legs? Everyone's saying it's an egg. It's multiple legs. Even worse there's Frank Smith. Look at this. Look at this. Multiple eggs. Is that not multiple eggs? Everyone's saying it's an egg. It's multiple eggs. Even worse. Makes it worse. Imagine getting multiple eggs to the ear. It would also make sense why it was more of a cupping than a slapping. Yes. You gotta juggle all the eggs. You gotta have them in the

hand. You can't you can't be flimsy with the two with multiple eggs. One egg, you can kinda you can use the momentum. Multiple eggs. they're gonna fly, who knows what's gonna happen, multiple eggs. Multiple eggs. Confirm. I almost feel like it's two. Listen, that's multiple.

Three starting to get a lot. Now I'm not arguing with you, I'm just saying. Three is, three is. No one was talking about this yesterday. It's multiple eggs. I mean, if you looked at his coat that he posted, he was ready, he had 10 eggs. The fact that he found a Louis Vuitton

that had an egg carryingcarrying case in it is truly incredible. Multiple eggs. It was scenes of Dr. J 1983 NBA finals. He had to cup him. It was almost like he had to rock the baby. You know what I mean? He had to cup it.

It wasn't just your typical slap. It wasn't Paige Van Zand-esque. It was Dr. J-esque, if you get what I'm saying. Is Paige Van Zand the face of powerslap? It's the only one. I mean, she's the only person I know that competes in this. I saw a video where him and Eddie were going back and forth

and it almost looked like he started zipping. Oh, he was getting ready. The egg carrying case, to maybe use one of the eggs on Eddie Earn, you never know. No, that would have been a mistake. Now, what's interesting about Eddie is, afterwards, he was fired up. He was absolutely fired up.

He was saying, let me tell you right now, it's on site, it's on site, it's on site. Now, I don't know if he's talking about S I G H T or just S I T E but he keeps saying it's on site it's on site and then he was accusing Ben Shalom of being in on it Shalom saying no I had nothing to do that then any comes up I have to give him credit he's like well who bought the eggs did Chris go to Tesco because because because because Ben Shalom was saying he did it by himself and he's like you think Chris was walking up and to Tesco? Because Ben Shalom was saying he did it by himself. And he's like, you think Chris was walking up and down Tesco

looking for proper eggs? Come on. There's no way. At least someone knew. What is the difference between S-I-G-H-T and S-I-T-E in terms of on-site? On-site would be building so. Or when they arrive at a certain location.

Exactly. You answered your own question right there. I got you. Yeah, I was just making sure. I mean, I feel like now is the time, like you guys can just, all the apologies, I'll take them in. Yeah.

No, I was gonna say. This was my most anticipated fight of the year. I'll take my apologies. I was gonna say between S-I-G-H-T and S-I-T-E, it's six and one half dozen in the other. No, it's definitely G-H-T. We do not accept ITE. Also, who is he referring to on site? I was making an egg pun there. No, no, no GHT we do not accept ITE. Also who is he referring to on site?

I was making an egg pun there. No no no I got it I understood it. I was asking who is he referring to like what is on site? Oh I think he's saying this is the sentiment. If I see you. This is the sentiment of team Ben. And here's the broken team Ben sentiment. Yeah. Eddie Hearn. I thought maybe Eddie Hearn and Ben Shalom. No no I mean they were standing right next to each other when he said it. I think he was saying if anyone sees Connor and Nigel Ben, it's going to be problematic. There's the folly though. Yeah. They're going to see each other.

Well, interesting update. I saw this online. They were supposed to do a face-to-face with our guy Ade Oladipo today. Sounds like it has been scrapped. Probably for the best. But as of right now, the second leg of the press conference tomorrow night in London is still on. It's on-site, baby.

Is this smart or is this not smart? I like the cancellation of the face-to-face. I don't like that our boy Ade doesn't get to sit down with them. I like the impression that it is so heated that they cannot see each other and the only moment they're going to get to see each other is they walk onto that stage, and then who knows what happens. So I think they are doing the smart thing for fan interest by continuing the narrative of like,

they cannot be in the same room together. Can it live up to press conference one though? So that's the thing. Do you want to end on a high? Connor Benz got something planned, guaranteed. There's nothing more that you can do to sell this fight. Take us to go on sale on Friday. Oh, there's more.

Well, I guess there's more. Oh, there's more. Does he hard boil there's more. Oh, there's more. Does he hard boil the egg this time? Oh, that would be so, it'd almost be better if it's hard boiled, right? Cause it doesn't make such a bad sound. I mean, that's criminal if it does that. You don't get that sound if it's hard boiled.

It was a good call by you on the, just the reverberation off the head. Multiple eggs. Yeah, that's multiple eggs. Connor, Ben can escalate this in a big way if they get face to face again and something happens. So I think there's a lot more. Well, I did ask one of the teams.

I asked one of the teams and I said, do you want the second press conference? Like what more could you do? And they said, oh yeah, we got more. Ooh. So let's see. And you could probably guess which team that is. So I'm guessing.

No, no, but you guys, you can have UFC Des Moines instead. You take that. That's okay. You do that. By the way, the fight isn't exactly two months from today. John and Tom, just keep holding your breath. This gimmick of you claiming that no one else wanted the fight is gonna be tremendous over the next two months.

Anyway, I got right into things. I didn't even tell you about today's program. We love Wednesdays around these parts because we get to answer questions. And something tells me there will be a question or two regarding this press conference. And so stay tuned for that following on the nose. We will be joined by Sean Brady. Now, Sean Brady, one of the more controversial and polarizing fighters in the UFC right now. He takes a fight against Leon Edwards, but in doing so, ducks the GC Averon challenge.

Ooh, you know, a lot of people calling him out for that. Did he go for the easier matchup? Did he duck the tougher test, if you will? He'll have a chance to respond to these allegations. One of the most popular fighters in the sport right now is Gian Silva of the Fighting Nerds, AKA Lord. That's his nickname, Lord. And what a run this guy is on. I mean he's 28 years young, he's 15 and 2. How about this 12 fight winning streak which includes a Contender Series win as well. Made his debut just 13 months ago already 4-0 in

the UFC. All wins via KO or TKO. Already joined first with José Aldo for the most TKO slash KO victories by Brazilian and UFC featherweight history with four. Already! 12 career wins via KO, two via submission, one via decision. He's a human highlight reel. Has yet to be stopped. The guy's on fire and he's coming off a great win this past Saturday and so will be joined by Gian Silva at 3 o'clock to talk about all of that and his future. Obviously, he wants to fight against Bryce Mitchell. Joseph Parker, the big goose, is going to join us at 3.30 to talk about his big win over Martin Bacoli and where he goes from there. We love Joseph around these parts and can't wait to get him back on to talk about the very, very, very interesting week for him and the team over in Riyadh last week.

It culminated with a win over Boccoli, but of course he was scheduled to fight Daniel Dubois, who pulled out on Thursday due to an illness. However, no statement, no interview, no nothing really from Daniel up until this point. I saw something from his father on TalkSport, but nothing from him. In any event, we'll close out the day with a check of the week. nothing really from Daniel up until this point. Saw something from his father on TalkSport,

but nothing from him. In any event, we'll close out the day with a chat with one of our favorites, Alexander the Great Volkanovsky, the former and perhaps soon to be future featherweight champion of the UFC. He returns to action on April 12th, UFC 314. I mean, can I just say, since the avalanche of news on Wednesday, I feel like we've kind of covered these items

in great detail, from the show on Thursday, Boys in the Back, to Pizzi's show on Friday, to the litany of guests that have joined us by the time today ends. If everyone shows up, there'll be 12 guests. And then we're back at it tomorrow on The Boys in the Back. And more of those names will be joining us

next week on the program so a one-stop shop if you ask me for all things combat yes look at that lineup what a week it has been here on the program we love Wednesdays like I said so let's not waste any time time now for everyone favorite segment of the week it is time time. Yeah, look at that. Oh, we did it. We did it boys. Little bit of a little bit of a sputter out of the gate there. No harm, no foul. What are you talking about, man? Give it another crack.

Ask and you shall receive! Look at that! No, Spudder. No, no, no, Spudder. That was just my headphones. No, it wasn't. I heard the Spudder. Oh, sorry, sorry. Okay, well. Still great. And very happy. Very, very happy. So thank you to the whole squad for working tirelessly. They were here until the late hours of Tuesday evening working on that. So I appreciate you all very much. Yes, yes, you too, Frank.

Let's get to some questions, shall we? Shall we? 165 right now on the page. Is this possible? Absolutely. A record? I don't know if we've ever gone to 200. Now, I think some of these are responses,

but still, here we go. Amped Raptor up first. Hey Ariel and Co, a battery of questions for all you gents. Ariel, what do you think of this foil hat theory? Jason Herzog determined the course of Henry's demise. He, i.e. UFC, i.e. Dana White, made Henry finish the round knowing it would go to the scorecards and he would lose. This is a crazy theory.

I cannot vouch for this. I do not think that that happened. Also, it was clearly Henry's decision to keep going and clearly his decision to say, I can't see. So a solid effort, but it's a no for me. GC Landlord update. Yeah, no real update right now. We're just-

People are locked in on this storyline here. It's a drama. It's the biggest drama going in my life right now. But right now we're waiting to hear back from my bank. Investigations have been open. Wow. Once those are done, we'll go from there. Investigations?

Yeah, fraud investigations for real. Jeez. Yeah, it's dicey territory. All right. Well, good luck You're quick or as this guy calls you New York Jackman never heard that version How do you feel about commander decks and play style? We put a stop to these nerdy ass questions or more more more magic. Um Not a fan of Commander.

100 cards is a lot. I know you get extra life, but the games last so long. I like Alchemy, I like a quicker game. But I support all, I know Commander's very popular. I support your right to play. I just do not partake. But shout out to all the MTG Arena players out there.

Yeah, shout out. This morning me and Rick were doing a little positivity practice, you know? Just like, what are you grateful for? And Rick was like, I get to play Magic the Gathering every day, I was just like, wow. That's it? No, I think it's important.

We have three things. The first one was, my kids are happy and healthy. Because daddy's happy playing Magic. Number two was gainfully employed. Number three was, I get to play Magic, it's great. Wait a second. What is this positivity? What is this?

What is this? We have a meeting before you get here where we exchange. We call them thorns and roses. You get to say one bad- You guys really do this? Peaks and valleys. And I'm actually offended that I haven't been told about this.

What happened? Everyone goes around the room? We have the group. I mean, it is- Come by- Wow. We even have guests sometimes, people who just want to drop by and tell us- I feel like there's more things that I'm excluded from than included from

I feel like listen there was a time get here at the call time and you'll be a part of all this is crazy There was there were invites sent, you know, some people to the positivity practice Yeah, listen, it might have been one of those that you just you know, I'll create my own Pizzi and I are gonna do our own we don don't need you. I've been doing it with the lads every time. Yeah, every week. Pizzi's actually part of it. Little to the ghost. FaceTime?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, he joins in via Zoom. Pizzi started the thing. Crazy. Matt Mo, sup, Ariel. Oh, by the way, some breaking news, guys. This just came through the wire. TKL today announced that the UFC, the world's premier mixed martial arts organization, WWE, a global leader in sports

entertainment, and PBR, professional bull riders, PBR has kind of gone under the TKO umbrella. They also own that. They are going to do a takeover of T-Mobile Center in Kansas City for a series of major events from April 24th to the 28th. So it's going to be PBR on Thursday, April 24th, UFC Fight Night on the 26th of April, and then Monday Night Raw on the 28th of April. This is going to be the first ever TKO takeover presented by V-Chain. So this is something that we all kind of looked at, right? When WWE and UFC and we suspect boxing down the road all come together, they're going to try to group these events into one weekend

in one arena, one city. And so we're seeing, they've done it a little bit here and there, but they haven't really like branded it as a thing. And so it seems like it's being branded as a TKO takeover. And that's in late April in Kansas City. Is there a main event for that UFC in Kansas City yet? Why do I feel like there is? I don't think there is, right?

I don't think so. No, I don't think so. Did we even know that there was gonna be an event in Kansas City? I don't know, I saw Kansas City and don't think so. Did we even know that there was gonna be an event in Kansas City? I don't know. I saw Kansas City and then uh, I saw there's Qatar as well in May cutters I thought uh Anthony Smith had alluded to it. Maybe maybe they didn't announce it yet I if I I have a hard time these days keeping track of what is your turn to Kansas City. Oh, wow They've the UFC account literally just tweeted five minutes ago. Yeah, I told you, breaking news.

Oh, oh man, sorry. If you're in that Venn diagram of liking bull riding, WWE and UFC, this is a crazy week for you. Like you could just. Good thing I am. Cheers. I wonder why they didn't do SmackDown on the Friday. They could have done bull riding on the Thursday,

SmackDown on the Friday, UFC on the Saturday, and then Raw on the Monday. I actually randomly turned on FS1 the other day and Bull Riding was on and I kinda got into a trance for like 10 minutes. I wouldn't say locked in, but they had teams. It was like New York versus something. Oh, don't tell me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very GFLS. I like the way... Yeah. As soon as you say teams. Oh, don't tell me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very GFLS. I like the way. Yeah. Yeah. As soon as you say teams. I like the way they're doing it though, because it's like you get a day in between. It's not like you're rushing to one to the next.

It's like Thursday, there's the race, or the bull riding rather, Saturdays, you'll see and then Monday you've got raw. All right. That's your thing. Kyle, Ariel, UFC 315 in Montreal is scheduled for Mother's Day weekend. I live outside of Toronto and would have made the trip

as I'm a big fan. I've been to over two dozen UFC events before, but it's obviously tough timing for a guy's road trip as I have a wife and two kids. I've heard you say that you've never missed a birthday to cover an event. Does Mother's Day count in that? What should I do? My wife wouldn't stand in the way of me going, but just because I could doesn't mean I should.

P.S. I can already hear Rick complaining about Mother's Day being a made-up day. First things first, birthdays don't fall into the same bucket as Mother's Day, although I don't think I've ever missed a Mother's Day. Second of all, as Matt Moe mentions in the subsequent reply, Mother's Day's on Sunday, man. Like if you get home after the event is tough, it'll be 1 a.m. Yeah, it's a tough spot.

Let's ask the lone mother on the squad and wife, if your husband goes away on the Friday slash Saturday to a UFC but is back in time for breakfast on Sunday morning, Mother's Day, is that okay or is that a faux pas? I think that's okay. Oh. He's allowed to get out every now and then.

What's the problem? Okay, so as long as he's, by the way, your mic sounds a hell of a lot better. Frank, what have you done? It helps when they put the mic in front of their mouth. Wow. That's the shade. Oh my God.

Okay, so the lone mother on the team is saying, it's okay. It's okay, just make it back, right? Like, let's celebrate. We should all be so lucky. Kyle, there you go there's your pass clip this off show it to your wife you're good to go. Any anyone out there disagree? No if you can make it back you make it back that's it. Yeah this week weekends a bit much right? No it's not

Mother's Day weekend. There's one Mother's Day it's in the name of it it's day Mother's Day that's it. I agree. One day. Same for Father's Day, by the way This is not just yeah, except we don't do anything for father. Yeah Complete when his mother's day by the way in Ireland PT. It's not the same as here in the United States, right? I Don't think so. No, I think it's a match sometime But you know what on this notice my mom just wanted us all to get away from her on Monday mother's day It was like that take those two lads and bring them somewhere. This is my day. Like, you know, give me the presents, but also get out my face.

Right, right, right. Is that not what it's about? So this like could just drop off the presents, take the kids and happy days. Sunday morning. What's happening with the internet over there in Blanche? It seems a little choppy. Don't ruin through. Yeah, what's happening? What's off? Is there an internet outage?

Is it choppy? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah seems a little choppy. What's going on? Yeah, what's happening? Is there an internet outage? Is it choppy? I don't know. Yeah, a bit choppy like that. Mother's Day in Ireland, March 30th, 2025. Mother's Day here in the States, Sunday, May 11th, obviously, as we outlined. Are you going to be in Mexico City for that, Pete C? Mexico City for Mother's Day?

Yeah. I don't think so. I don't think so. Brandon Marano, may have heard of it. I couldn't miss it. Debo, Shalom Ariel, as a fan of the Uncrowned channel, I've noticed the viewing numbers for the boys in the back going up considerably lately. What would be your reaction if their show ever got bigger than the A.H. show? Thanks and love all the content Debo. Well, I think Marty Z sums it up perfectly when he writes, means Ariel can retire sooner. So if you guys could just hurry up a little bit, I would appreciate it.

Yeah, we're working on it. As long as the UFC could just provide us with massive breaking news every single week. So we'll be gold. I'm rooting for this more than anyone. I'll just sit back. Bomb after bomb after bomb of massive breaking news on Wednesday night before we go. Yeah, they used to do it on Wednesday night just to screw with me, but now, jokes on them,

show on Thursday. I actually saw someone comment on the boys in the back. They said, I'm fully convinced now that Dana does it on Wednesday night, so Ariel can't react, but now, he can just come on the boys in the back. Jokes on them. Okay, this is an interesting one.

Ace, hello Ariel and team. Oh, and team. Good team. Period. Uh, I thought team pitbull, no comma pitbull is plus 1000 to be champion on December 31st. Good value. I'll pass. Yeah, I don't think so. Yeah.

I mean, he's probably one or two away from fighting for the belt, but he just has to get to the one or two, right? I mean, he's mean he's probably one or two away from fighting for the belt But he just has to get to the one or two right? I mean he's fighting as an underdog in mid-april who knows where the division goes from there Thought to ask. Okay. I mean you're right in the sense that like He can probably get to the title shot. Is he going to beat these guys is the question right? Chandler as we saw he's following the same path right if he can get a big win here over Yair he will probably fight for a title so he's in the combo

but do you think he can beat these guys is the question to me. And inside the calendar year whatever. Yeah I know that I mean. If it's Volk though he'll probably he'll fight two months later once Volk gets the back. We're gonna be seeing the featherweight title defended every every month We were a couple of fights away from a potential Alexander Volkonovsky Patricia pitbull title fight which like two three years ago would have been yeah a sort of dream matchup, right? He has to win the belt. Yeah, and if it's Diego then like you have to think they're gonna make the most our fight Matt Say his name and he appears I I believe, in Ariel Hawhani. By the way, shout out to our boy Joe.

He was at the UBS Arena last night, promoting Slammiversary, July 20th on Long Island. Hello, Ariel and crew. After tonight's, well, yesterday's, egg-citing, he spelt it E-G-G-C-I-T-I-N-G press conference where everyone was scrambling following the egg slav, the punts have been, and there were a lot of good ones on our YouTube channel. He was in range, all this stuff, free range. Anyway, I was wondering, someone were even saying his excellency, I was wondering if you had the time to give yourself

the old Barry H. for planting the seed with Eddie Hearn and making his press conferences cracking viewing as tonight's display has increased the eyeballs on the Fight 10 fold, I think. Well, you know, I didn't think of that, but you're right. I should. They're tweaking them a little bit, slowly but surely.

They let some fans in. There's still some work to be done, but it's getting better. What I find also devious too is that Chris Eubank Jr. held on to that egg for the entire length of the press conference until the face-off. That's dedication. Hopefully Ben doesn't get too shell-shocked by the whole incident and we can look forward to a cracker of a fight in the near future Boys in the back idea pound for pound best press conferences. I think that's a cracking idea in itself It's a great one. Well, we'll put that into the list. I actually say pound for pound best way to prepare eggs Oh, you could do pound for pound best press conferences in combat sports pound for

bound best press conferences in all of sports pound for pound best press conferences of all time pound for pound best face-offs. Yeah, there's a lot here. There is a lot. Yeah, this is that's going to do it. But on the list, how do you not do this? We'll put that right in the list for tomorrow. It's so relevant.

Every day. Very evergreen evergreen super evergreen. Oh, that's in the list for tomorrow Evergreen super evergreen. Oh, that's ridiculous. What's tomorrow's? Yeah, we have to talk. Oh, we don't want to reveal smiles pound for pound best movie fight scene Crap about the Oscars. Wow, wow. No one cares. We'll let the Academy know. No one cares. We'll let the Academy know. Very important, important day.

We don't care. No one cares, no one cares. Wow. What is it? What is it, like Never Back Down? Well, you're gonna say Billy Madison versus the guy that hosts Price is Right. What is it?

Oh, Doyle Roles. That was Happy Gilmore. Billy Madison was with the girlfriend. Bob Barker versus Happy Gilmore. That's not a bad one. That won the MTV Music Awards. Look at that smile on that face. He's just getting into it now.

This is what we're conjuring. Yeah, no, the press conference is great. It's evergreen. Think about the sound that you've used. We have a running list of evergreen ones that we can just pull out any time. On Air Jordan has lots like this. We'll just throw it on the list don't worry the egg one is sticking with me though I actually really like that that's quarantine Benedict don't give it away wavos rancheros

Connor from Canada hey Ariel the other week after UFC 312 you and the guys were talking through what's next for Strickland and how popular he would be if he just let his hands go a bit more. I know it isn't apples to apples, but with how popular his personality is, I think he could be somewhat of the next Nate Diaz for the UFC. What do you think? Um, no. Anyone disagree? Nate Diaz. Yeah, that's a no. No. Anyone disagree? Nate Diaz. Yeah, that's a no. No. In what way is he like Nate Diaz? In no way. I don't see it. No. Nate Diaz had a certain charm to him, right? Nate Diaz's thing was, I don't give a shit what anybody thinks, I'm gonna do my thing.

Sean Strickland, I think, tries to portray that, but I think he cares very much what everybody thinks. He's the exact opposite of Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz if he never started smoking weed. It's just like, Nate Diaz wasn't controversial with his takes and things like that. He was just someone, he was an anti-hero that you can get behind, you know what I mean? He walked to the-

I was effortless. Yeah, yeah. That's it, the effortlessness. That's a good point. Effortless is a good point. And it's perfectly said because he, most of the time, he doesn't even want to give the effort. He's not giving you anything. You want to be at the press conference? No, I won't be there. Sean Strickland will be there because he has 16 things he wants to get off his chest that he wants everybody to get behind. So yeah, just not even the same

vein. Hut, Ariel, I watched your appearance on Bo Nichols' podcast and all I kept thinking was, man, Ariel has a great hairline. Why does he trim his hair down? We have the same hairstyle but not by choice. Mine is gray and thinning. Yours is dark and full. You are wasting precious time to grow long, thick hair. Don't waste these moments. You'll regret it later. My kids say this almost every week when I'm about to cut my hair. I retweet this a million times over. I can't, I echo all of this.

No, I can't, I can't. It's too thick. It's like wearing steel wool on my hair. Like at this point I actually think- You love being warm, but then you don't like the warmth of your own hair. Yeah, it's a weird one. It's just too thick.

I don't know. I like it freshly. Is there any way we can do it? Maybe like a charity foundation? What, grow my hair out? Yeah, I'm telling you. It's not too thick, I don't know. I like it fresh. Is there any way we can do it? Maybe like a charity foundation? Well, I grow my hair out. Yeah, I'm telling you. It's not a good look. Very David Letterman-esque.

No, no, no. Maybe when I retire, maybe when you guys start getting your views more than mine, I could retire, and then I'll just grow out the beard, grow out the hair. You'll join in one day to talk about some random breaking news. Yeah, I'll be fantastic.

Have a press conference you really like. Have a hair on. Yes. What? Have my day. What? My day. What would the full, here's the thing. We know what the hair looks like because we've seen the past photos. What would the bushiest beard, Helwani look like?

How crazy could it get? So it's thicker up here than it is here. I still, you know, there's like, I do, you know, I do. How often do you shave the beard? Once a week. Okay. But I don't shave it. Trim it. Trim it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The hair, I mean, just know, I do. How often do you shave the beard? Uh, once a week, but I don't shave it.

Trim it. Trim it. Yeah. Um, the hair, I mean, just type in Arihawani Afro and you'll, you'll get your answer. It's, it's a nice thick head of hair, but anyway, uh, question, Bo consistently used the word like during his conversation with you.

Is this a way to stall time in conversation while thinking of what's next to ask? Did you notice? Is it just lack of practice on next to ask? Did you notice? Is it just lack of practice on his part? I notice you never say like, because you're the best in the biz, love the show, thank you to all the crew for your hard work.

I don't know. I mean, everyone has their things. I have my things. I listened to the podcast afterwards and I'm like, golly, I suck. And then I listened to other people and they're like, man, they're so much better. So we all have our things.

It could be used as a bridge. It could be used as a bridge. It could be used as a tick, as you say. I didn't notice it, but you know, cut the guys some slack. He's a freaking legendary wrestler turning into a tremendous fighter and he's hosting a podcast. Not easy, especially at his age and all the things he's got going on.

Again, we keep getting asked questions about that appearance. I thought he did a great job. I think he's doing a great job and I enjoyed the conversation Kenny. Hello Ariel and faction Ariel in the past you mentioned that booking guests was the most stressful and least favorite part of your job That is accurate has this aspect of work gotten better or worse in the uncrowned era with the addition of more shows. I Don't think it's gotten better or worse in the Uncrowned Era with the addition of more shows. I don't think it's gotten better or worse. You have to remember, there was once a time where we would have 10, 11, 12 guests per show. I think back on these days and I think to myself, what the hell were you thinking? But you know, I was a man possessed. I had a different kind of motor back

then. And so now we're breaking it up over three days as far as the guests are concerned. And one thing that I've tried to do is I used to be like obsessed with like you got a front load Monday, but I can't do that anymore. So instead of just front loading Monday, you reach out to a Patricio instead of asking him to come on Monday, you ask him to come on Tuesday. And so come Sunday, I try to space it out and try to maybe leave a slot or two open for breaking news. So I don't say necessary. The booking of the guests hasn't gotten harder because it's almost about the same amount of people. I would say not the most challenging part. I don't want to say challenging part, but the part that has had to, that

has required some adaptation is back-to-back-to-back shows, one, two, three, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, energy. I do feel after Tuesdays I'm exhausted and then you got to pick it back up for Wednesday. I'll tell you what, Wednesday at around 6 p.m. is by far my favorite time of the week. It has become my favorite time of the week because I'll give myself 24 hours of no show thoughts, guest thoughts, things like that, but of course there's other things going on. I try to weigh in, you know, for boys in the back ideas, crack ideas, no one wants to hear my ideas, and that's fine.

I mean, that's true. That's fine. I mean, that's completely fine. I like, I don't want to be a micromanager. So it's, I let the ship sail as it, as it wants and it's doing a great job. Um, and then of course there's, there's other stuff to, uh, to attend to. So, um, I don't think it's gotten harder because I've been able to spread it out and because,

you know, we're not just focused. I saw someone read on my, I think Instagram recently saying like, I used to love you when you covered MMA, but now that you cover boxing or more boxing or something like that, I have to unfollow. And I was like, if you actually look at our guests dating back to October 14th, when we started, what would you guys say? Like it's 95% MMA, if not more? No, maybe not 95, but 80 at at least I'd say it's in the night

It's in the 90s 1000% I mean just look at this week. It's like There was Lampley on Monday and Parker today. The rest is all MMA. That's 10 out of 12 I would say it's in the 90s and Lord knows there's not a lot of wrestling talk these days there's not a lot of wrestling talk these days. Can I add to the question? Oh yes, please. When you had that many guests before that were like all in one day, how did you prepare? Yeah, that's a great question. Well, I will, I will thank you for that, Andy.

I will break the fourth wall even more. One thing that I always kind of dreamed of is like, you know, all right, you're booking the guests, you're doing the research, maybe get someone to help you with the research. And when I say research, it's like, you know, a little refresher, you know, I'd sit, my procedure would be Sunday night, I'd go, when the kids were going to bed, I would go on Google News, I would look up things, I would refresh my, you know,

go on their social, things like that. Now we have a great system. GC kind of scours the the socials and then we've got a real MVP to the squad. One of many, our good friend Alan Murphy of Ireland who has helped me with research. So now he does a tremendous job because what I what I learned was he works in PR and when we would book guests via him he would send me, like without even asking, one sheets on these guests, like,

oh, Josh Barnett's coming on to talk about blood sport. And he would say, I was like, this is fantastic. This is an incredible cheat sheet. And I would always hear Howard talk about these things. I was like, wow, if only I had something like this. And so when we decided to go back to back to back, I knew I needed some help in that regard because when I come home, like on Tuesday, it's already, like last night was already like 840.

I can't be looking all that stuff up. I mean, it's just, it's just too much. I have to have some sort of life. So that has been, that has been very helpful. But back in the old days, when it was just me, I would, I would literally sit there and look up everything and write down some stuff. Never write down questions, but just if there was something very pressing, if I wanted to ask Alex Volkonovsky about how he likes his steak cooked, I would just write down Volk steak, and that would remind me during the interview to,

I would look at it during the interview or before the interview and be like, oh yeah, don't forget to ask about the steak. But there was once a time, let me remind you all, where it was just me doing all of that. And there was once a guy named New York Rick, what would he do? He would upload the video, he would upload the audio,

he would clean the studio, what would he do? He was a switcher at one point. Now that you mention it, I feel like these guys are here. I mean, they got it easy, right? Off the office, snowed up. There was a lot of snow on the ground, and I would trudge through. What time would you get in on Mondays,

and what time would you leave? It was probably an eight to eight-ish type thing. Yeah. My favorite was he had a real job, and so this job was just on Mondays. No, no, no, we don't have to. Wait, no, come on. It's a great story. was he had a real job and so this job was just on Mondays. And- No, no, no, we don't have to- Wait, no, come on. It's a great story.

No, we don't have to talk about that. It's a great story. No, no, no, I actually have no idea what you're about to say. I don't even know the story. Please, please. Who cares? I don't know what you're about to say. What does it matter?

Why? I don't get embarrassed easy, I'm so embarrassed. Oh, let's hear it then. This is the best part. Let's hear it. A year in, they're like, you know, Rick has never invoiced us for his work. I was like Rick. Oh, I forgot he waited a year to invoice them Three years, baby. That's ridiculous three by the way. That's a huge problem for a company because shit That's why I'm embarrassed because because they have budgets. So now you're asking them to pay you

Let's say it's 2018 for 2015 where here's what I'll say It's also a huge problem to just have someone volunteering No files no evidence no nothing of no no I was on the books they were just waiting and to their credit They paid me and I'm thankful for that Lumpsum you lumps. Oh, that's nice. It was it was an effort by many people and I'm thankful but Would not recommend poor professionalism. Don't ever do that. Also, it was kind of just like distr- like to treat money that way is very-

You didn't have kids back then. I did not, no. Embarrassing. By the way, I just did some quick math. 10 out of 12 is 83%. Just wanted to, you know, just to say that 83%. So, you know. That's only this week though.

Yeah, but just to be clear, you know. Yeah. Close. We're trying to prove a point here and you're not helping us. All right, Zach, what's up Ariel and crew? If you could hypothetically take one current pro boxer and transform them into an MMA fighter, who would you be the most excited to watch compete?

You know what? That's a great question. You know why? Cause earlier today, courtesy of our good friend, Chisanga, did you guys see this from Jayo Pataya, the best cruiserweight in the world? Who knew he had legs like this? Look at this.

Look at that. What? Shit. You see this, P.T.? Yeah, it's that. What shit you see this PT? Yeah, it's crazy. Dang. Yo, switch kicking. Come on, a little flow going here.

Doesn't he look at this? Bad, Jaya Pattaya. So you know what? I'll say Jai. Uh, Matt most says Jonathan Haggerty, not a bad shout as well, but, um, I saw that today and I was like, holy crap. The fight to make Jai versus Pereira,

not Pereira versus Usyk, 205 versus 205. Who else, who else? Oh, Terrence Crawford. He's got those hips, he's got that wrestling background. Mitch, GC, what's the go with the big hitter segment? Any plans to bring it to be ITB tomorrow? What's the deal? Yeah, we're done. I'm gonna go put out the tweet right now. Yeah, I've been asked too many times We went to BKFC come got some guy came up to me and all he cared about was me bringing back the big hitters

I was just like alright, we got to do it. But what their shout out they want the cloud. They want the shout out I mean shit. I might be a big hitter this week had a lucrative weekend last week. Hey now Irish lad hello Ariel and Cruz some quick over-unders for potential pay-per-view numbers You know, it's so hard with people. We don't really get the the numbers anymore. We don't really know a baseline Yeah, anymore Jones Aspin all I Don't know a million anymore. Jones Aspenall. I don't know, a million? I don't know. Million, a million.

Okay, let's do this. Let's do this. We're setting the line at 1.5. Oh, we're setting the lines. I thought he set the lines and we're taking the over under. Did he give us? Oh yeah, oh, all with a decent, which, okay, yeah, 1.5. 1.5 million pay-per-view.

Oh wow, nice. I think 1.5 might be a little high. Under. I think they're all gonna be under. Under, but still seven figures. Let's set the line at one. I'm going over on Joan's Aspenall. I'll say over. Probably over.

I think that gets into like a real casual world. Joan's Pereira. Oh, over. Is it a million? I'm going over a million for that one as well. Over for sure. That one would be bigger if it happened. Joan's Francis.

Under. Over. I will go under as well I'm changing my mind. I'm gonna go over. I just like sell that Yeah, I think the way you could sell that like that could really get the king returns the Francis lost it like battle the Giants I think I think man. He's been out of the UFC kind of system mill for so long. I think it takes a hit, honestly. Islam Toporia. Is it still a mill?

These are all a mill under. Yeah, but I think it does really well. It's going to do well. I think it's going to be, I was going to say like 850. Connor Chandler. Over. Connor's over all about it. Any McGregors going under? this Connor go over 1.5

Because it's just so long. No. Yeah, maybe I think so. I don't think so. No, even the the initial comeback against Against cowboy he released his check and I think they calculated it somewhere in the like 1.3 range I don't think I'm though right different time. I think it would be lower. That's my point Yeah, both parties over 1.4 right but like the last two were over 1.3 range I don't think time though right different time I think it would be lower that's my point yeah it's over 1.4 right but like the last two were over 1.5 the last two more I don't know but again I can't I can't wait to see what they do with the pay-per-views if they're still I could I could I still think they'll be on ESPN plus only but then the rest is gonna go all over the place as in pay-per-views with ESPN Plus only, but then the rest is gonna go all over the place. As in pay per views with ESPN, and the rest of the product somewhere else.

Amazon, Netflix, this, that, and the other. Is it even separated more? Is it like three different broadcasters? I could see that, I could see that. I just feel like that's the way this is going, just because they have so many products. I think the major players are Amazon, Netflix, and potentially Warner Brothers.

It's always fascinating to me how these the the UFC in particular is going to be able to do this because let's say you're let's say you're the NBA or the NFL right obviously there's priority games right obviously there's games that you want to have versus games that you don't necessarily want to have you want if you're a Monday if you're ESPN a Monday night, you want that big game. Or Amazon, whatever. But mostly the product is the same, right? It's still a football game between two teams

that are NFL teams, and you're hoping that it's going to be a great game. With the UFC, there's a tier system, right? A pay-per-view is a significant event. A fight night is something different. And then Dana White's Contender Series is something different. Whatever else, they might spin off. So you are, there is segmentation within the product.

I think it's much closer to WWE than it is to like, you know, the mainstream sports. I wonder how these players are gonna play in the sandbox together when it's like, okay, they've got the pay-per-views, but they're getting all the stars. What are we getting on fight nights? What are we getting on Contender Series? What like pay to be reviews on ESPN plus? Yep normal fight nights on Netflix

apex fight nights on the CW Is that paramount Jordan CW no no UPN used to be it used to be UPN, which was some variation of Paramount, but I don't think they own it anymore. It could be owned, is it possibly it's owned by CBS? I don't know. I think it is. That's Paramount.

Owned by CBS Viacom, Paramount. Tender series on CW, like NXT? Yeah. Yeah. I'm down, love the CW. Love the CW. Do you actually watch CW? No, but I did an internship at the CW. Oh, right, right, right.

That's my spot, man. Yep. That would've helped. He also asks. That's my spot man. Yeah He also asks what's up with your old friend Dylan Dennis He's been very quiet in the build-up to this fight any chance of getting him on the show Yeah, he has been quiet. Don't feel a lot of buzz for it We've been chatting I invited him. He knows he's welcome. Who knows if he shows up See hey Ariel, why do you think the UFC landed on JDM to effectively take Shavkat's place in Montreal? I think Buckley, Edwards, and even Gary had cases

themselves to face Bilal and I'm also surprised that the UFC didn't just throw Usman in there. Not from a meritocracy perspective but a business one. By the way, shout out to JDM. Yesterday his manager Tim Simpson sent me a photo. They went to Schwartz's in Montreal. Great choice. There was a press conference earlier today in Montreal. I saw Bilal Mohammed and Valentina Shevchenko at the Canadians game. So very cool to see Montreal on the map like this. And yeah, I

think as we discussed yesterday Leon had to stay on the London card. I do understand that there was some talk of potentially Buckley instead of Brady, didn't really get far. And then I know that there was talk of maybe Gary Leon in London, and I think Gary wants to return in the summer. And I think the move was always kind of JDM, from my understanding.

And I don't hate it. I don't hate it. The only thing I really hate about it from JDM's perspective is that he's been out for 14 months by the time the fight happens. I don't hate it. They had a press conference, they had a nice little back and forth.

We have this clip, yeah? I think we do. Or can we not show it? Do we have it? We have it we have it well he'd be able to be keeping up with my boxing I have the best best striker in the welterweight division I'm the best grappler I'm the best wrestler I'm the best fighter you've seen it Leon Edwards he was the

next one up he was the goal he knocked out Kamaru Usman and I made it look easy I'm gonna make it look easy May 10th. People are just gonna keep doubting me and I'm just gonna keep breaking those barriers. I'm gonna keep showing you guys, I'm the best fighter in the world. He's coming out of the kiddie pool and he's going straight into the deep end of the ocean.

This is gonna be a bad night for him. And you guys are gonna see it May 10th. Thank you. Jack, your? Easy up until the last 30 seconds and then it wasn't so easy, but we'll see what happens. Jack can't be bothered with any of this stuff. I will say this about below. Definitely feels like he believes what he is saying as outlandish as it may seem. Of course, of course. He does have a lot of confidence. I did a box Canelo.

Yeah, I don't think he believes that. I actually really do. He does not believe lot of confidence. I did a box Canelo. Yeah, I don't think he believes that I actually really do He does not believe he's the best striker in the UFC. No, well the way division deep down inside I think he does no division. He definitely does I think he knows I think he's smart enough and aware enough that he knows He has a great combination of skills He's got great cardio. He's got great. He's got solid and improving striking. He's got great cardio he's got great he's got solid and improving striking he's got great wrestling he's he's can set a nasty pace I don't think there's any world where he thinks he's the best striker in the UFC well I think he said welterweight division whatever it is even that 170 even that I know he

doesn't think so who's a better striker than him at 170 the guy he's fighting what about Michael venom page what happened yes you? Your eyes just went crazy. I thought you were seriously asking who's a better striker. Leon Edwards, Ian Gary, Shavkat Rekhmanov, Jack Dylan Maralena, Joaquin Buckley. By the way, he doesn't fight like he thinks he's the best striker in the UFC, which is the clearest indicator. He fights like he is one of the more well-rounded fighters in the UFC, which he is and he's quite skilled in that. Pratchett is a nightmare for all these guys. Like that's a good thing for him. All these strikers were in aim and are like, oh shit, Bilal. Because look what he did to Leon. You're right. You're right Parchas gonna have a big fight next Maybe maybe by the summertime Joe

Yes, he is no, I mean next oh after he wins that yeah. Yeah, what do you know? How long he tell us what that's I know they wanted to get him a really big fight and it didn't work out He's fighting Jeff Neil, right? Yeah, that's right But I think he wins that one and he's like really in the mix. And we're getting on to like the big, big stuff. Joe, Shalom Ariel. I really enjoyed the interview with Jim Lampley this week. It was fascinating to hear his story

about Muhammad Ali babysitting his daughter when she was young. Jim mentioned that memory for him being one that will stick with him until the moment he is on his deathbed, eternally seared into his memory I'm wondering if you can point to an experience you have had during your career personal or professional that you believe will be etched in Your mind during those final moments golly Man I Don't even want to say the one that just get the first one that came to mind I don't want to say the one that just,

the first one that came to mind, I don't want to say the one that just came to mind, because it's not a good one. And I hope that's not what I'm thinking about when I'm on my deathbed. I don't know. Is that bad? I am, you know, I used to pride myself on my memory,

but I'm getting a little worried that it's slipping, and I haven't done it. He was talking about like, taking, and I haven't done it. He was talking about like, taking notes and stuff since he was five. I need to do a better job of this. You know, I've talked about a lot of the great moments. I've talked about UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi

that felt like a major turning point. You know, fights in Australia, fights in Japan, fights in Brazil, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Vancouver Olympics, Paris Olympics, ESPN, sidelines. I mean, I've been very lucky. I don't know. I'm sure I could think of ones that really meant a lot to me. And I'm kind of embarrassed that I can't think of one right now. I'm usually good when it comes to these things, but the Netflix thing was fun.

Yeah. Maybe it's still to come. How about that? Maybe it's still to come. Let me assuage your concerns for a second. You do have a weekly record of a lot of stuff that's happening. So if we ever do get a weekly record of a lot of Yeah, maybe still to come. Let me assuage your concerns for a second. You do have a weekly record of a lot of stuff that's happening, so if we ever do go down the path

where all of a sudden it's getting a little hazy, can't always go back to the record and be like, oh yeah, there was that thing, now I remember this, and remember this, so it's not all for nothing. But, you know, maybe turn on a little microphone. I do need to start talking. Start talking to a recorder, and let's just figure out what we got for this book.

Yeah, you're right. Juan Sanchez, hi Ireland Crew, simple question. Let's break the fourth wall. Why is it that sometimes the guests you have are shown on the big TV on your right and other times they're shown on the split screen side by side? How do you determine how they will be shown? Those fighting words. I do believe that the best person to answer this question is our director, Andy.

Hello. Take it away. Yeah, so it comes down to a few things. Framing of the guest or the internet, if there's any issues with the internet, I try to put it up on the monitor. Sometimes it's just for variety to not do the same thing both times, it just depends.

But when it comes down to saying definitely the monitor, it's those two things mostly. Yeah, we never had the head-on split-screen shot. I do think it's a nice new wrinkle to the program. I like it a lot. I like the variety. I like that it's switching it up. I would say sometimes when it's like a conversation

that is gonna flow back and forth and maybe it's like an amicable one, this is a good one. But yes, if you notice if there's bad internet or the framing, we'll usually go here because we have a little bit more to play with. And if it's a crystal clear, good one. And maybe, dare I say, a really big one, we'll go here.

So, you know, different strokes for different folks as they say. Matt from SDN, I appreciate you noticing that. Question four, mysterious Frank Lenz. How many spots for drops are on your soundboard? Any interest in creating a place for fans to recommend slash vote on new additions? Absolutely not.

Huge fan of Hey Carl and the BITB theme song, maybe a new AH slash OTN intro pod by MF. Glad I could return the favor for once and make y'all laugh last week with the wet fart reference, keep it up fellas. There was a wet fart reference? I don't remember it, but I do think- I feel like there's

one every week so but I appreciate it yeah as so do you want to answer the question or actually you're listen how many spots for drop oh there's an infinite amount I mean I guess I'm limited to the hard drive then I have 32 that are available at a finger press away but wouldn't you believe it we are over that amount. So I have to cycle through pages and anticipate whenever you say like the name Jasmine. Jasmine Vizius.

Or the Brothers Breaking News. Yeah. Tell them Frank, tell them. If PC starts going on a rant. Yes, that might be my favorite right now. Wow. But yeah. It's beautiful.

Infinite. Love it, love it. All right, we continue. This yeah. It's beautiful. Infinite. Love it. Love it. All right, we continue. This from our good friend, Andy Koufax. Hey, George O'Connor, you could feast on my Long Island farm fresh huevos. Dude saw some litter on the street and broke mentally.

Some of the softest on-camera behavior I've ever seen. I defy you to call L.I. a trash can after witnessing a mother whale and her calf breach off the shores of Jones Beach like I have, a site capable of moving even a Diaz brother to tears. Keep that same energy next time Longo's on the show. You peach eating pilgrim. Whoa.

Yeah, Long Island's a trash can, man. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Uh, they have. Is it Jordan from Long Island? Yeah. Long Island's a trash can man. Is it Jordan from Long Island? Yeah. No? Yeah. Jordan's from Long Island. I live on Long Island. I love it. It's fucking beautiful. It's incredible. I will say in the summer you're on the beach and all of a sudden you see the whales. Everyone's standing up. It's just, it's magical.

It's like wow. The beaches are great. Nature is incredible. There's whales out there. Beaches on Long Island are great. Dolphins, whales. That's what everybody says. Jellyfish. That Long Island sound. We love it.

UBS on Long Island. Myer Island is quite nice. Wait, you know that on the south side of Long Island is the ocean, not the sand. Oh, yeah. Geography, sorry. What's that one beach on Long Island? It's like broken glass bottle beach. What?

Yeah, that's a real beach. Sounds amazing. No, I'm down. I'm down. I'm down. The Long Island serial killer. Yeah, I love that one too. Couple airports, let's get JFK, LaGuardia and Vogue.

Oh, that's not Long Island. It is Long Island. It is Long Island. What? Brooklyn and Queens are also on Long Island. Ooh, interesting. On Long Island? The island is called Long Island island is called my face. Yeah, it's not getting spicy. I just don't even know what they're talking about I like guy grew up in Queens. He's like this one Airports are on Queens are in Queens and Queens is on Long Island

It's a different world in Long Island. No, it's an island There's a long Island is not a burrow by the way These are not debatable topics in terms of like where they know you want to call it the Gulf of America That is what it is on the map Long Island Queen this is I'm not getting this but I do appreciate Indy Colfax getting a burrow a burrow that happens to be on Long Island in Long Island on physically on top of the island. Is it? This is, are we on Manhattan or in Manhattan?

We're on Manhattan. I know we're in Manhattan. I'm all for the Long Islander. We're on Manhattan. But the burro confusion is making me extremely mad. My blood is boiling. So this must be what he felt with the Long Islander, like why Andy Koufax got so angry.

Cause now that Frank is- Oh, that was from Andy Kofax Yeah legend. Yeah No wonder he's from Long Island no one Taco enthusiast high, the heavyweight division in the UFC is such a hot mess. As time passes, I can't help but feel like the Jones-Aspinal fight isn't going to happen.

Meanwhile, Curtis Blades, the last person to challenge Aspinal for the interim title, is literally on the prelims of UFC 313. And honestly, there's not many compelling heavyweight fights to make in the top 10 of the division. If the Aspinal versus Jones fight doesn't happen, is Alex Perreira versus Aspenall fight the only thing that could bring excitement back to the heavyweight division?

The heavyweight division is supposed to be the glamour division of fighting, but I don't think it's ever been less interesting top to bottom. The UFC needs Francis back. Well, I think I agree with your first point. It's pretty bare right now. They ain't bringing Francis back, never. They're never bringing Francis back. Well, I think I agree with your first point. It's pretty bare right now. They ain't bringing Francis back. Never. They're never bringing Francis back. I feel, I don't know,

freezing goal take. I feel pretty confident about this one. They ain't bringing him back. Now, we are approaching, and I know November isn't around the corner, but Tom Aspil has been interim champion for well over a year and a half now. That's crazy. That's a problem. So we'll see. They're talking. I share Pizzi's pessimism. But let's see. Let us see. But I agree with everything you're saying. It's not great right now. There's no doubt about that. But, you know, usually heavyweight has gone through ups and downs, probably more so than any other division over the past 10 years. Like it goes through extreme highs, like the highs are tremendous.

But then there's low moments where it's not that great. Julian, hey, I'm a big fan of the show. You mentioned on Tuesday that Justin DM'd you that he doesn't go on your show because of your take on his last fight and not because of his manager. I'm curious, was an invitation extended to be on the show and did you guys come to an understanding? Well, Justin Gaethje and I used to have a tremendous relationship.

In fact, I remember one time I was in Toronto sitting in the stands at the Wayans. He was in World Series of Fighting and it was somewhat reminiscent of what's happening now at PFL and he wanted to go from World Series of Fighting to the UFC and I remember us doing a video and I'm sitting there with Justin Gaethje saying like, this is one of the best lightweights in the world, this guy needs to be in the UFC, blah blah blah blah blah.

Funny how things change over time. Anyway, he hasn't been on the show and neither have most of Ali's clients since since 2019 believe it or not which blows my mind and that's been that doesn't blow my mind that it's since 2019 that it's been six years golly and a couple of months ago I was talking about this and all of a sudden I got a DM from Justin Gaethje and I'm not going to read it and go through all of it but the premise was no one tells me what to do I don't go on your show because of the fact that like, you said some stuff after the Fiziev fight and, you know,

you're not a real journalist and all this stuff. I was like, what did I say? Like I said, I thought Fiziev won the fight and it was super close. That's it. It wasn't disrespectful. It wasn't taking shots or anything like that. I went back and forth and then the conversation just ended.

Out of the blue I got a DM sort of from Henry Cejudo this weekend guys but it wasn't really from Henry Cejudo. It was from his quote-unquote producer who told me Henry wants you to have this footage of his eye and I was like oh wow perhaps Henry and I are back in good graces and I said why doesn't Henry come on the show to talk about it? And he said, oh, he's not doing interviews. And then I saw him on like eight other shows, weird. But, and then I saw that same clip

in eight different other places. So I don't know, but maybe, maybe a sign, maybe? Potentially? I could see it happening. Who cares? It stinks, Ariel. Yeah, I mean, it's all this nonsense. Kristen Juarez, hello gang.

With the lightweight division scrambles going on, is there any word on Max? You know, I haven't heard much to be honest, but I'll be lying if I said that I actually checked in recently So perhaps I will check in he also asked about Chicago and I have to say of all the cities in America Chicago's the one I get asked the most about Haven't heard anything at this time I'd say it's not gonna happen, but haven't heard anything

Fortunato hey Ariel long time viewer first time question asker. During the Vince McMahon documentary, Shane McMahon says the UFC went to WWE seeking a buyout, sort of. Did we know about that already or is that new information? No, we've known about that, but it wasn't that the UFC went to WWE. I think he was trying to convince his dad to buy UFC when it was on the block before Zufa bought it. He asks, how do you think the UFC does in

a timeline that is owned by Vince? Probably not as good as it did with Zufa buying it with the Fertitas and Dana White. So I think it's probably for the best. But yes, Shane McMahon, he basically wanted his dad to buy it and that he would run it. Vince didn't love it because he felt like he couldn't control it. He you know he comes from a world where he can control who's the star, who's going to win, who's going to go over, who they can push. UFC that doesn't happen. Also with WWE's elimination chamber back in the great white north will you appear again or is that for Montreal only? No I will not appear again. I will not appear again. I am not going to be there.

I will not appear again. I will not appear again. I am not going to be there. What did you do? I'll include this from sucker free. If you were a pro wrestler, what would you choose as your finisher? Sharpshooter for my guy, uh, Brett. I always try to make something up. I feel like my own. I like like I like when there's a pain on my oh my

I feel like everybody does a spear. That's not too many spears He says he personally likes the ones that don't require a lot of setup like the RKO or stunner I go and stunners are great, but but You know everyone does that That's the thing. I would try to make up something if I was in that spot. Poke him in the eye with my nose. Wow.

When Taker put the guy in the coffin, was that a finisher or that was like a... No, that was like a cherry on top. No, no, that was a tombstone. Yeah. Cask him, that's my, caska, man, come on. By the way, Frank, he says,

thanks for letting me sit at the cool kids K-I-D-S apostrophe table, good call, Frank. I love it. I still imagine Miss me playing playing magic by himself. It's not a solitary game by the way. I just this is my headcanon now by the way speaking of Henry so Hutto Rick just sent me this clip. What's this clip? It's from Henry's channel Henry FaceTimes Jason Herzog. Jeez. And says, Jason, I wasn't there, man. Like my eye was busted up. I come back out for the rest of that round.

I'm not feeling myself. But Song is still putting his hands out like this. Which I said. And he didn't do anything about it. Yep, yep. And Jason's like, listen, you're not wrong. I watched it back. If I had to do it again, I think I did mess up

by maybe not taking a point there. Then Henry says, here's the part that really bugs me. In the back, you're giving us the rules instruction, and you're showing what they're not supposed to do, and it's this. And he's like, that's the part that really bugs me. And to his credit, Jason Herzog's like, yeah, you're right. I can't say that you're wrong on this.

And if done again, potentially I would have taken a point for Song continuing to extend the finger. So credit to Jason Herzog for the transparency there. I hope he knew he was being recorded. But obviously, Sehudo getting a chance to speak to the referee directly, and in this case, Herzog facing the music on it. By the way, isn't this exactly what I said on Monday?

Yes. That A, a point should have been taken away and B, once the fight resumed and the same thing was happening, then a point should have definitely been taken away. That's the part that they I think aligned on. There was consensus seemingly like maybe the first one you can still say accidental, right? And then it could have been a no contest or whatever. But song continuing to fight like this, that is where they, I think they agreed that maybe... I hate this accidental, non- accidental nonsense. You're, you're, I mean we didn't really unpack it to this

degree, but maybe it's worth the conversation. Any foul is now a point in your mind? Pretty much. No accidental. If we have the rule meeting, rules meeting in the back, yes, we've gone over everything, yes, If something happens, point. Unless it's like you grazed him. But what if they do? How do you determine that? You're now adding the layers. Put it this way, what we just saw on Saturday, point. OK, that I can agree with.

A low blow where the guy's going right to the nuts, point. What about the middle? What about that middle ground? No, I'm saying if it didn't hit very hard, if it was a graze. You're determining very hard. Now this is still discretion. No, no'm saying if it wasn't if it didn't hit very hard if it was a graze you're determining very hard now This is still this man and I but it's not I'm not determining whether or not it's intentional or unintentional I'm determining how hard it impacted the person How do you know the term damage the same way the judges determine what's damage and what's duration and what's this and that?

Yes, it's all subjective get rid of the fucking in intentional bullshit if the guy gets hit clean it's intentional that's it he meant to do it he meant to do it if you didn't mean to do it he's going like this or he's going like this I understand or he's not fighting like that or he's like this I understand in essence what you're saying but there will be too many scenarios I prefer airing on that side than the other side I prefer airing on that side than the side of everyone just gets to do whatever they want. I think there are two options on the table. There are only two options. There's one, all fouls are fouls and

there are points taken away. No, no, uh, spirit of the law, only the letter of the law. If something happens we take a point. The other option is subjectivity. Now, the degrees of that can be measured, right? You're saying like, if it lands clean, then it is, but there will be too much interpretation on whether it landed clean.

Is the person really injured? They can potentially milk it, but it's still the same at that point. I'm potentially in favor of, hey, all fouls are points taken away, let's have a foul. I'm okay with that if everybody ultimately, you know, gets on that side of it. But I don't think the other side,

it's just all the same subjectivity that exists with the refereeing and the judging. It's too hard. There's too much gray area. It's a tough pill to swallow if you're Henry Cejudo because now you hear that and you're like, Yeah, fuck, I got a loss. Yeah, and they're not running it back,

which I don't understand. Why wouldn't you run it back? It doesn't make sense. Speaking of breaking news from Mac, hello, Ariel and the crew. My question today is, can we get a graphic that plays during the breaking news moments? It could just be like one or two seconds,

but I feel like some sort of large text should zoom by across the screen or something. What do you think? Wow. We really getting a lot of people wanting to help produce the show. Yeah. Really appreciate it.

Yeah, we appreciate it. I mean, he's actually, he wrote this a couple hours ago, but it's exactly the on the nose thing that he's talking about, what we came up with. Who the fuck is we? I just wanna say. Baked beans, hey, Ireland Crew, a friend of mine, nicknamed Squelch, I won't say his real name to hide his identity. That's a great nickname.

I don't know why he will not say his name, but alright. He's also a big fan of the show and we regularly discuss and dissect your content. He is a hit with the ladies despite being shorter than average, but makes up for that with his quick wit physique and being an XGB boxer. Shout out. It made me think, what is the thing that sticks out the most about each of you that a partner would look for?

I've had a go myself interested in your thoughts. Wait, so underneath this says he listed what he likes about everybody. Do we do that first or last? No, let's read them. Okay, go ahead. I've had a go myself. Okay, here's. Has he listed what he likes about everybody? Do we do that first or last? Do we give our own? Okay, go ahead. I've had a go myself. Okay, here's Ariel.

Randomly producing facts about UFC during date night, producing a 10-7 on anyone who disses his wife and being the 15 time MMA Journalist of the Year. Works for me. Pretty good. P.T. Irish Batman, say no more. Yeah, it's true. Mysterious Frank, openly pushing his other half

to engage in things he has found fun slash enjoyable whilst ignoring any feedback on what he might find enjoyable, i.e. reading a book or watching a film, suggested to him. Yeah, nailed that one. Can we pause down here? I'm getting concerned at how far down the list I'm getting because I feel like I'm gonna be last. Let me just voice that now.

Let me just voice that now, I'm getting concerned. You are last, but I don't think you'll love yours. GC. Yeah, no shit, that's what I'm saying. That's very exciting. No, no, I actually think this guy started off really strong, but it fizzles. GC, cooking a delicious meal for his partner as he does on Fight Feast and being open to try anything

or go on adventures. I feel like that's... And Rick is just gout I fucking knew it I fucking saw it coming I predicted this bullshit from a mile away get better be better this is something that half way through or knew it knew it yeah the gout the gout is goutin'. Yeah. I'm just trying to be selective here. I'm sorry, there's so many. If I go in order, I don't get through like half of them. Oh, how about this one?

Gabrielle, good morning Ariel and crew. Given what occurred at the U-Bank Bend press conference, what are the past boxing rivalries have excited you like this one? Delahoya Vargas, Maralas Barrera. Well, he mentions those two. This is from a fan in Bakersfield. Well, there's a million of them.

Let's just go off the top of the dome. Tyson Holyfield. Tyson Holyfield was tremendous. What a face off that was with the security guard and the guards, the line in the middle. And then the, the, the, uh, the And then the press conference, that'd be another good one where he bit his leg. Where Tyson- That was Lewis, wasn't it?

Lennox Lewis? Yeah, what did you say? Holyfield. Oh, sorry. Yes, what the fuck am I talking about? The Lewis one was great too. It was that era. It was that era.

It was just fucking crazy. Lewis one was great too. Holyfield also tremendous with the year. Gross frotch. Oh yeah. 80,000 Wembley Stadium. You kidding me? Come on. Give us a flying fuck about Carl Frocker, what he's got.

Is anybody really interested? Thank you, Frank. What a timing, Frank. It's so good. That was a really good one. Age-wise, I feel like I was on the other end of a lot of the better stuff, but Pacquiao and Marquez was like the one that like

during my time. U-Bank band band the originals? Of course yeah. Delahoya Mayweather really kicked off 24-7 right. Mayweather Hatton was tremendous remember the Ali Frazier of course yeah I'm just thinking in my life. Ali Foreman of course of course. Steve Collins Chris Eubank. Danis Paul. Who's that? Danis Paul. Danis Paul was big. Yes! That was big.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. That's it. Fury Wilder. Yeah. Does Pacquiao Mayweather enter the fray? No. By the time they fought, it wasn't a rivalry, right? It never really got there.

I mean, it was still a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It always felt more like they were in the same league. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for five, six years. It was a thing that we talked about for a rivalry, right? It never really dying that we talked about for five six years

It always felt more more like they were in business together than then rivals You know what? I mean? Like it always felt like it was just like and their ships passing in the night And then they finally make the fight and everybody's like that's five years too late It just never it felt like a transaction and never really felt like a rivalry. Yeah Now there's so many war gotty. Oh my god. Yes, more of a competitive, you know, yeah, there was respect there, but I Mean better be a bival may with Gotti Yes She's just slipping in some classics right now

That took me a minute. I was just slipping in some classics right now. Oh, Goddy, Goddy. I thought you said Goddy. No. He's playing a star. Did they fight again? Did they end up having that one? I forget.

Yeah, last time was him getting taken out of the ring. The brawl that broke. No, no, but then they rebooked it like two separate times after that. Did that ever happen? That's a great question. I don't remember. I remember them saying they were gonna.

Yeah, who knows. Gage, hello Ariel, as an avid listener to the podcast, can we light a fire under the great Frank to please have video on Spotify? Listen to the show and sometimes just want to pop in for a look when you're showing something off in an intense interview. I mean, you know what, I never actually thought of it

that way, but I have to go back and forth from Spotify to YouTube. Ah, you know what, he brings up a great point Frank. What do you say? I mean first world problem No, I mean, I've got to change my platform to yeah Again are we accepting applications for producers right now? Cuz I feel like looking at four of them right now One of my favorite things is how all complaints all criticism always goes to Frank and then like on YouTube people be like thanks for getting the thanks for getting the chapters up so quickly appreciate you Frank.

Frank does everything back here. Frank that's a compliment by the way. Frank takes all the blame but he gets all the crap. I actually kind of stand with Frank here on the... Someone literally just put in the chat Frank just throw up a lower third like do we not understand? I'm not going all the way to YouTube like what do you mean? You're not going all the way It's it's it's simply just sliding your finger like it is yeah, you'll get there. Yeah. Oh, this is a good one guys And by the way, I do agree where we're gonna look into that. We're actually We're actually Yes, yes, we're actually potentially

We're actually, we're actually, yes, yes. We're actually potentially, Who the fuck is we? We're gonna introduce some new streaming wrinkles soon, potentially, so maybe this will come to fruition as well. This is a fun one, guys, I like this one. Pudding Boy, hey all, this is a question for the crew. Have there been times when Ariel has talked about politics where you guys disagreed with what he was saying

and wanted to speak up about it Yes, yes. Yes, please Who wants to go first? Yeah all the time Nearly every time and not even from the perspective that I disagree with his politics from the perspective that I wish I would never talk about Politics. Yeah period Republicans buy sneakers too, you know, yeah No, honestly the actual honest answer to that is, I think we all kind of like speak pretty openly. Yeah. And translate. I'm not afraid. Nobody's really like in a corner being like, I don't want to talk. So I don't know. I feel like those

exchanges would happen. I agree. Well, yeah, let's never talk politics on the show. That'd be great. No, I think we have great bands back here. Yep. And it's a safe space for all of us, right? That's what Frank was saying just this morning. Yep, yep. You guys were saying that during Ariel and Adé yesterday too. During our morning kumbaya where we explained the thorns and roses, we all got to express

one piece of political information. And it was a safe space. We had to do it before you got here, as you can understand. Quickly, quickly! He's coming in! Here he comes, here he comes! Actually another one here from Puddingboy,

Hale, something that has irked me in the new era is the parlay pals slash betting segments, specifically the recaps. By the time we get to the boys in the back on Thursday, I've already moved on from that Saturday's event and generally forgot and don't care about the bets and how the parlay pals did. Is there any chance we get the picks in on BITB but go back to the old way and get the recap on the Monday show? Don't hate it. This is what I'll

say about that. I appreciate the sentiment which what you are broadcasting to me when you say that is that you watch all of our programming, and I love that, and I think that that's fantastic, and I appreciate you. The thread line though is, and the through line though is, our show is on Thursday, and so the conclusions and the starts of things all kind of start and emanate there and then end there. And so it makes more sense on our show

because that's where it's coming from, and then that's where it's also concluding. But I do appreciate the fact that you watch all of our programming and would like it earlier, but no Thursday. All right. I actually think it's a good idea. I'm cool with it. He said no Thursday, uh, Jay, actually no Mikey. Hey, Ariel, what do you think of the partnership between TNA WWNXT on the show

last night moose from TNA defended his belt against Lexus King from NXT and I thought it was amazing. I think it's great. I think it's amazing. I think it benefits NXT, it benefits TNA. I think it's fantastic. I just can't wait for that Joe Hendry, John Cena match. But overall, I think it's great.

It's great for both and love to see WWE playing with others and love to see TNA get the rub. It seemed like they were dead just a few years ago and now here they are thriving and surviving. Are you excited for Elimination Chamber? Oh yeah. I feel like you're trying to get me in trouble here, Frank. No, no, I'm just being,

cause have you seen the advert for it, like the theme song that goes with it? No. It's done by that artist I told you about, Poppy. Really excited about it, so I was just curious. Where'd you see this? Like I see it on Reddit from time to time. Pretty cool.

No. No. All right. Dr. Tom, hey Ariel and friends, a few questions. With the assumption that UFC will split up their media rights, how involved will the networks be in the fight cards? For example, do you think Netflix, ESPN, and others would

request certain fighters? Look, the one thing the UFC has done a tremendous job of is, you know, holding on to that control. Production, fight cards, broadcasting, ESPN lets them do what they want. I don't see that changing in the in the next deal. Do you think the next media rights deal will force the UFC to go on the road more? I can't imagine Netflix, Amazon, or others wanting a fight night from the world's most famous apex Here's the thing as long as the ratings are good and it seems like everyone's happy I mean certainly ESPN doesn't seem to be pushing them to get out of there you

UFC does a great job of saying do it our way or we're going elsewhere and I don't see that changing wherever they go. If someone's gonna tell them we want that to change, they're gonna say, sayonara, we're gonna get our multi-billion dollar deal from someone else or other places. Since WBD airs on AEW or airs AEW, do you think they will still make a play to broadcast UFC?

It's not a bad shout, maybe not, but you know, if there's a deal to be had, there's a deal to be had. Last one for all, after watching, Maybe not, but you know, if there's a deal to be had, there's a deal to be had. Last one for all, after watching, and if I were to rank them, I put them, there needs to be streaming involved. And yes, WBD has Macs and BR and all that,

but I wouldn't put it in the same category as an ESPN Netflix or Amazon. Last one for all, after watching the latest fight feast and the crime of putting cream cheese on a hot dog, do you guys have any odd or unusual toppings you put on particular food or meal? The cream cheese on the hot dog is weird. I never heard of that prior to this.

It's so good. Yeah, it was actually fantastic. The reviews were. Yeah, it was great. It's a Seattle tradition. It's- We want us to do deny their culture. By the way, who came up with that?

Is that attributed to someone? It actually started with a vegan bagel salesman and he was selling bagels late at night and unfortunately his sales weren't doing great. Everyone started requesting hot dogs. So that's how he did it. And he started putting the cream cheese on the hot dog. You explained this in the film. Yeah, yeah, thanks for watching everybody. No, no, it's just's how he did it. And he started putting the cream cheese on the hot dog.

You explained this in there. Yeah, yeah, thanks for watching everybody. No, no, it's just not everyone's seen it, you know? So, it's worth it. Some people don't wanna move from Spotify to YouTube. That's right, that's right. Yeah, but they can hear it still, Frank, you know? That's my point.

Puddingboy, hello all. As a fellow member of the tribe, we are faced this year with a familiar dilemma, a big time sports event happening on the day of the Passover Seder. Yes, this is true. Shame on you. First night of Passover is the same night as UFC 314.

This year, UFC 314 in Miami is happening on the night one of the Seder. If you recall last year, night two of the Seder happened to be the same night as Nick Sixers game two when Dante DiVincenzo, oh how I miss him so much, hit that insane three pointer. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was watching it at my parents' house with my kids.

Just curious what your plan is for that night considering the circumstances. Yeah, it's not ideal. Haven't quite figured it out yet. We'll probably be in Montreal. We're gonna have different kind of programming the week following 314. It's looking like a potential Monday show from Montreal,

a Tuesday BITB, a Wednesday crack, a Thursday, maybe YouTube look back special, and a Friday, maybe WrestleMania preview, or maybe we'll just do titilly winks, you know? Haven't figured it out yet. But yeah, not great, hate when that happens. Pass over my favorite holiday of the year because it's kind of like the sign that spring is coming. Spring, April, you guys know what that's about.

This is a long one we got ten minutes before our first guest comes in so I want to try to get in as many as possible Ryan asks when am I gonna have mayhem Miller on the show I going to have Mayhem Miller on the show? I spoke to him a couple of years ago, no reason as to why he hasn't been on, but he's the man. He also says GC is a legend. I agree, I know.

Danny Boy asks if the upcoming TV rights deal will affect Canadians? No, that deal isn't up at the end of the year. Farbaad says that he really liked the Keith Idick appearance on the post show and he wants more Keith Idick. We shall make that happen. Yes, we shall We shall make that happen Aaron says he loves the show especially boys in the back and Rick's honest takes on life and sport

honesty and integrity is why y'all are the best listen going around as Long as we're piling on GC for the way he says strict in and the way ario says Volk can someone please have a word with Chuck about Shaheen al-shadi Chuck calls him Sean That's well done that's pretty great. Oh my god Do it on Friday broke me. That's incredible Wow, that was amazing. Patrick asks if we can get Dominic Cruz to do a telestrator breakdown for us

per the request of one Action Bronson now that he's retired. I think he's employed already. Michael says that he loved the Jim Lampley interview and it was great for someone who grew up on HBO boxing After an interview like that, what's the drive back home like for you? You know I had a couple of people that I really like and respect texted me about that and Yeah, there's you know, actually this morning as I was driving in I listened to Lampley on

Mad Dog Unleashed with the great Chris Russo, because I know he went from our show to his show. And so I just like to listen to how the interview was different and just kind of flow of it was different. But no, I really love that interview. Those are my favorite kind of interviews. Yeah, I obviously love sports broadcasting and someone who's done so much

and is such a good storyteller and willing to open up. I mean, I could do that interview for three hours. I could do that interview multiple times. And I'm very, very happy that a lot of people liked it and enjoyed it. And especially even fans who may not have grown up listening to Jim Lampley or been boxing fans or HBO boxing fans, how can you not appreciate stories like that?

I just, I love it. George, Lord Ariel, our social etiquette question of the week is about texting. I can accept that we're all constantly connected to our phones, but is it okay to start texting while someone is talking to you? No. I feel if the phone is already in your hand

and you respond to a notification mid-convo, that would be acceptable. However, recently while in the middle of a story to a coworker, they took out their phone, out of their pocket to text someone, and I felt super disrespected. I don't disagree. It is very disrespectful.

Like what Rick is doing. Wow. That is amazing. It is very disrespectful Wow That is amazing This is a this is what I look away. He was there. He was sending something you listen You know you think you got me you think you got me, but your boys trying to enhance the program You know you know Rick's actually playing magic the other You know I will say even though they were trying to put me

on the spot right here, I am a bad phone guy. Yeah, both you and Ariel. And Rick is the kind of guy that you'll be mid-conversation with him, but he's sending a text, and then he reads the text out as he's typing it out. He's just like, and then we'll go to. What's up with Frank just saying you and Ariel? I think I'm pretty good.

You just picked up your phone. Yeah, I was doing something about the show. I mean, it's always important. I'm sure it's always super important. Was that MF-er? Yeah, MF Frank. MF Frank, that's what I thought. I think I'm pretty damn good.

My favorite is when I'm walking with you and Rick and you're both on your phone. The Po show is when you're both just like, yeah. I suspect we're texting each other There's a million things happening here I'm sending zoom By the way, if you guys want to send zoom You're like, I'd like to commit to the show

I'd like to commit to the aerial Yeah, post show for tomorrow For the next day I'm trying to get it all in So that I can go home and have somewhat of a life That's what I'm doing What do you think I'm doing? Playing Magic the Gathering on my phone?

No, no, I'm doing the zooms I'm doing the zooms Everyone calm down Everyone calm down! Everyone calm down! Thank you! Can I get that, can we get that clip that you just posted? No! Nobody wants it because I was looking at my phone! No I need that clip! I want that clip! Nobody wants that clip! He just posted something! Yes I would like that! I would like to show that before we get to our next guest. Everybody's all mad at me! Let me know when it's in. All right Thank you, T. T

Discuss your Batman that means Brad is asking if we have any more dating advice because he liked our dating advice from last week So he strikes me as a true ladies man. Thank you. Love you guys It's all about the boat, right? You want to put all your love in one bucket. Listen I got a lot of feedback that that was good advice, but maybe you're better than me, Frank. Your turn. You're up.

How many people have you dated? Give me advice. You notoriously are like, I married my first girlfriend, and you're giving people- Hey, Frank. Wow. Hey, Frank. We addressed that at the start of the answer.

I couldn't tell. It was so many bucket buckets, I couldn't keep track. Hey, Frank. We addressed that at the very, very start of the actual answer, by the way. Wow. So, uh. I'm sorry.

I put it in a bucket of I don't care. Wow. Wow. Wow. Frank, bring it on. Frank. Fucking hell, Frank. No, no, you know what?

This is perfect. Frank? Bucket Fridays. The floor is yours. Bucket Fridays. Give the advice, Frank. It floor is yours. Bucket Fridays. Give the advice, Frank. It's your turn. Go ahead, Frank.

Look, if you're done, you're done. Ghost or move on. Yeah. Good advice. Lancelot asks why we haven't heard from Juliana. She doesn't have a fight book. We'll get her back on, I think. I hope.

I hope. Slava asks if my get it back on, I think. I hope. I hope. Slava asks if my relationship with Dana was destined to fail. Geez Louise. I'm not even gonna read the rest of that. Oh Frank, this is for you. From Jamal, tell us about your most awkward dating moment. Perfect.

Go ahead. I just submitted this now. Frank, bring up all this history. Everyone's dating history. Yeah, come on, Frank I started dating a girl then I found out that she had dated my brother previously There is a completely different after you said what and then I found out man. Yeah, wait, that's kind of weird How did you how did you he moved? Out of state you kiss just like your brother

Or doesn't problematically you awkward you keep dating now there's a bro code that's even stronger with your brother Wow by the way some asking me about Dan Hooker and Gachi I'm hearing hooker may need surgery also hearing no resolution to that yet we do have some incredible footage that has just come through the wire. Take a look at this.

This is the UFC light heavyweight champion Al Capra preparing for Magomed uncle live while sparring. Bam bam Yes, come on action give it to him give it to him action the one and the two just don't hurt him We don't want him out of the fight. Look at that. We relax Alex, Jesus. Yeah. Oh my God.

Come on, action. Hit him in the body. Oh, look at that. Snapping jab. Go back to the back. Yo, he doesn't stop. This is incredible. He does not want to dig off Bam Bam.

He is built like a fucking fire. Yo Alex, can you chill bro? Alex, this is incredible footage. Look at that action. Is that Dylan Dennis back there? That's built Alex. Can you chill bro Alex with the you know, this is incredible footage. Look at action. Is that Dylan Dennis back there? That's incredible stuff. That was definitely Dylan Dennis in the red shorts. That is incredible What a scene golly what a guy that is amazing stuff and we're about 10 days away Around a month or so ago. We had the avron challenge. We had new york rick and g GC doing their thing. And afterwards, uh, GC left Sean Brady in the dust. Like he actually left. Did I say Sean Brady?

He left Rick in the dust and then called out Sean Brady. And it seemed as though we were moving towards the most anticipated moment in the history of the program. It was going to be GC against an actual UFC contender and Sean Brady on the bike, mano-e-mono, harsh words were spewed both left and right. And then it appears as though Brady took the easier path. I don't know.

He took the Leon Edwards fight. And so in case you missed all of that, here's what happened last month. I got one name on my mind baby oh I said it last time I'm gonna say it again oh I don't need to be racing against dads racing against bums out here it's over between me and Rick Wow I need a name on my resume that people are gonna respect no one respects me beating I now. I want a real athlete the king of the PI Still an easy ride for me. Wow. I'm the fastest two men on wheels, baby. You know what it is, though Sean Brady Wow whenever you're ready, baby

Whenever you're ready, I'm waiting right here short drive over from Philly come get this work right here right now You set the date Wow Call out the Sean Brady UFC welterweight contender one of the best fighters on the planet. You say you whoop his ass Easy work. He's a pro fighter. He'd break me in half in the cage. I'm a pro peddler, baby Wow, I'm the fastest man on two wheels whenever he's ready. I can't lie I'd be interested to see it cuz I'm I'm shitting the bed right now I'd love to you think you think because there's a lot at stake for Brady you think he would take the risk of losing to a pedestrian he's the king of the PI I see him I see him in there with the with the bikes with the fans

hit the assault bikes he's killing him with Joe Pfeiffer and everyone yada yada yada wow he wants to come for the king I'm ready them fighting words I love this I'm gonna move aside and. Them's fighting words. I love this shit. Alright, I'm going to move aside and let him choose it. Those fighting words. Uh, look, I love everything about it. I'm not sure if you are biting off a little more than you can choose. Sean Brady, one of the best athletes on the planet, but I love everything about it. I love the gusto. I love the machismo. I just wish you could say this to Sean Brady. I wish he could actually be here to defend himself. I wish you could say this to his face. Call him up. Let's have him. Let's have him on the next show. Sean, what do you think? Oh, big shot. Oh, there he is. Oh, sign the contract. Brady

contract. Listen, man, I got any Alvarez your shirt on I'm gonna Eddie's gonna dog Jeremy Saturday I'm pulling up to New York next month. I'm gonna call you in your studio Let's go Shawn. Let's go get some revenge for Rick I'm gonna get some revenge for my guy all the average Joe's out there and I'm gonna have to put you to bed And so it appeared it is as though it was all set. That was a month ago. Here we are. We were getting ready and then we find out

that he took the Leon Edwards London fight. I mean, you're telling me that's bigger than mano-e-mano against GC in this studio on the Avron bike. Let's ask Sean Brady the tough questions and ask him why he did this, why he broke our hearts. He's kind enough to join us right here now on the program. Hello, Sean. how are you?

I'm good, brother, how are you? We're all heartbroken here. First of all, how dare you show up with that Jersey on this program, okay? We don't support them. I did it just for you. I did it just for you. You son of a, I'm still salty.

I'm trying to move on with my life, all right? You know we would have beaten your ass had we shown up, right? At least we put the Chiefs to bed. At least, but you know we would have beaten you. You know you got lucky. You guys couldn't even make it there though. Yeah, if I'm being honest, I don't know if we beat that version of you guys,

if I'm being honest. That was, so that little backstory, my baby was born 6-12 right before kickoff. So 18 minutes before kickoff. And yeah, so me and my wife were watching in the hospital and I had a feeling they were going to blow them out, but I didn't think I was going to be like that. So yeah, I don't think any team was beating us on that Sunday. Yo, that's incredible. You watched your team win the Super Bowl that Sunday. Yo, that's incredible.

You watched your team win the Super Bowl as you became a dad. Your daughter is born, daughter, right? Daughter, yes. Daughter born in the hospital. You're like, like it's on in the TV. Wow. With the doctors, with the nurses, uh, with my wife's mom, with my wife, she delivered she I'm telling you 612 baby comes out kickoff is at six 30.

We have it on the TV, I have it on my iPad, and yeah, for the rest of the night we watched the Eagles win the Super Bowl. So my wife still to this day gives me crap because I remember that they put the thing at the top of the Freedom Tower in 2012, the little pointy thing, and they said it was gonna be 1776 feet in honor of 1776. And I remember that airing on TV as she was delivering our first son. And I always talk about how I remember it happening

and she's like, yeah, you were more focused on the TV than you were on me. Did you get crap for focusing on the football game? No, because honestly, it went so smooth. Like it was over with it for her. She pushed for like 20 or 25 minutes, the baby was out, everything was good, and literally before you know it,

we were chilling and watching the Super Bowl. So she was watching with me, yeah. So, crazy, crazy, crazy Sunday for us, for sure. And mom and baby doing great? Everything's good, yeah. Healthy as can be, mom's healthy, baby's healthy, we're all good. Wonderful, all right, so now that we got that out of the way, what is your response to the allegations Yeah, healthy as can be, mom's healthy, baby's healthy. We're all good. Wonderful.

All right, so now that we got that out of the way, what is your response to the allegations that you are ducking GC by taking the easier fight? Alex, first of all, I do apologize to the boys for not meeting up with them in Philly at BTA. Yeah, what about that? So I was cornering my teammate. He was the first fighter of the night,

and then we were moving around with him, and then it was nuts after that. I was barely on my phone. I was watching the fights and then yeah, the day kind of got away from me. I did feel bad that we didn't link up. But like I said, there were so many guys from Philly on the card. Once I got out into the crowd, I was just watching the fights. I'd never seen anything like that, to be honest. It was the craziest event. I did. They could tell you the energy in that place. Other Wells Fargo was in stain. So I was just like kind of taking it all in, just being a spectator.

You enjoyed it. As as a fan, yeah, 100 percent. I hope I never see any of my teammates do it again. I hope I don't have to corner anybody for it It's um, it's it's very different and it's very brutal But like as far as the spectator it's the most entertaining thing I've ever seen like pure entertainment craziest thing I've ever seen Would you do it? Hell no first thing my first I am a grout work

My wife texted me like right away after watching it She was like, you will never ever do this. The check would have to be insane for me to do that. By the way, how is Eddie doing? Eddie's good, Eddie's good. His jaw is all good. I talked to him a couple of days afterwards. He was talking completely fine. My teammate that night, Itso, he's five and O.

His last two fights were a PFL. He was kind of doing this while just waiting to get another MMA fight. He broke his hand in two spots, but it's all healed up now, so we're hoping to get him back. I'm like, listen, bare knuckle can come somewhere else down the road.

We gotta get you back to MMA, but yeah, it was a crazy experience. By the way, Connor, have you noticed that I've now asked Sean twice, and he continues to not answer the question. This is what I'm saying. It's a crazy experience. By the way, Connor, have you noticed that I've now asked Sean twice, and he continues to not answer the question. This is what I'm saying. It's a bit awkward. He's like, bro, I wasn't really using my phone.

I checked his IG the next day, he had like 18. The little dots at the top were just like, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr glued to his phone all night. They wanna link up. You keep being like, are you ducking? He's ducking the question right now. To be fair, nobody from the other side reached out to me either. Whoa, whoa. That was on my manager, Rick.

I don't fraternize with the enemy. So, let's give me some grace here. Look, the guy's been busy, BKFC, a baby. Congratulations, by the way. A baby, and then I get home, I have a point. Super Bowls. I was a little, Super Bowl, got a lot going on over here.

And now another perfect excuse. The Leon Edwards fight falls in your lap. It's just like, well, I can keep avoiding this bike ride. I just don't have to do it. I'll fly to London. It's like God just doesn't want me to lose to you. So he's just gonna keep lining up other things for me. You said it.

I took the words right out of my mouth. You know, you know, I'm glad you're willing to admit it, Sean. I know. This isn't one of those things where it like, it doesn't happen and it's never gonna happen. This has to happen. It's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen. All I need is a date. All I need is a date. It's gonna happen. Let me go take care of business in London and then we'll set it up. All right, fair enough. Let's talk about London.

So you have the baby, that's on a Sunday, right? Yup. When do you find out about this? So we get home from the hospital Tuesday. I have my phone on do not disturb because I have so many people calling me just like trying to congratulate me, which is awesome. But like, it's kind of overwhelming.

So I had my phone on do not disturb. I see Louis called me. So I'm like, all right, like I thought he was just calling to congratulate me. So called him back and he was like, Hey, uh, do you want to fight Leon in London? And I'm like, I'm like, all right. Yeah. But I had to go, I was walking my dog at the time. I was like, I gotta go talk to my wife first to see if, uh, see if she's cool with picking up because I was walking my dog at the time. I was like, I got to go talk to my wife first to see if she's cool with picking up because I wasn't even going to train that week. So I was like, yeah, I have to just go talk to my wife. And then she was on board with it. I went right back to training.

That was on a Tuesday, go back to training. And then it kind of took about a week to kind of get done, which was kind of not annoying, but like kind of like had me on edge. I'm like, all right, is this happening? Is this not happening? So I was just training, getting ready for the fight, hoping that it would happen. And then last week they called and we had the contract and everything was done.

So there was kind of like a week, 10 day period there where you were unsure. A week, a solid week, like from a Tuesday, from a Tuesday to a Wednesday, like eight days where they were saying, like there was stuff going on behind the scenes. I didn't know, obviously none of us knew what was going on with Jack. I thought Jack was hurt, so I'm like,

why is this taking so long to figure out? Come find out, he's fighting below. So I guess there was just a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that they had to figure out he's fighting below. So I guess there was just a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that they had to figure out. And yeah, so, but it took about a week. So I remember when we were first talking about your next move and you had mentioned Leon in London and you said like, it's not ideal for me,

given the timing, baby and whatnot, but of course this is a big fight and I will do it. Now that you're in the midst of it, and I know it's relatively fresh, but you you know that fight is in less than a month how is it balancing everything yeah I mean for me like ever since my Gilbert fight I've always kind of been getting ready for five round fights so it's weird like I knew something I didn't know this exact situation was going to happen but I knew something was going to happen to where I just wanted to be ready in case a short notice fight came up, in case anything happened where I would be ready and if I was able, ready, healthy, that I'd be able to say yes and that's

what this was. It was around a little less than five weeks out when I found out, which is still it's short notice, but still a good enough amount of time, especially because I was already training and staying in the gym, keeping my weight, like doing all the things that pro athletes are supposed to do. Then you add in, you have to travel to London, which still not ideal, but it's only seven hours. Like I went to Abu Dhabi, so I know kind of what I'm getting myself into there. But yeah, like I talked to my, talked to my wife, talked to my team and they're all on board. And it's not like when I got the call, I got like, I was like, oh man, what the hell? I was like excited. I'm like, let's go. Cause the way it was looking,

I wanted to fight in April. I wanted to fight in January before the baby came. Didn't hear anything. Then I was hoping to fight Leon in London. They give it to Jack. Then I was trying to fight in, um, I was hoping to Jack. Then I was trying to fight in, I was hoping to be on the Miami card. We weren't here in anything. So at this point it was going to look like I wasn't going to fight until June or May. So to get a year, to get a year where I can start fresh, like I've had a few years, like it's been like the last two years I've only fought once and some things were my fault, some things not, but now I get to start the year off a fight

in the first quarter of the year. Like I'm super excited and it's already close. Like it's three or four weeks. It's three and a half weeks away. There's nothing to think about. I just have to train, be a dad, take care of my stuff. And yeah, go out there. This is my job.

Like I'm ready, I'm able, and yeah, I'm willing to go take the risk and take the chance to go in Rihanna's backyard and Fight the number one guy who is a former champion By the way, who were they talking about or was there no even talks of? Who you might be fighting if it was made June like who was on the docket We were hoping Lloyd was pushing for me and Kamaru but I Like yeah, like I don't I, I had I actually like I hit up

tomorrow I DM them and was just like, Hey, bro, like both of us are the only guys I'm not matched up like and he was super cool, super responsive. And he was like, yeah, like we'll just kind of see where, where everything goes. But nothing like we didn't hear anything from the UFC brass. I was also looking for like maybe Ian but obviously I was hearing Ian wasn't fighting until the summertime so I wasn't trying to wait for that so but yeah literally we didn't have any offers for anything and then this was our first official offer. The way the Domino's fell after shot cuts injury JDM moves to Montreal you get this fight

anything surprise you you know I was just asked earlier like why did JDM moves to Montreal you get this fight anything surprise you you know I was just asked earlier like why did JDM get the shot and and and not Leon or not Ian or not like are you surprised by how it all went down no it makes sense like MMA math like I talked to a few people about this too they're like oh like Jack isn't like on it he's on a good streak for sure he just beat Gilbert but if you like the law beat me last so obviously they're not going to give it to me right away He just beat Leon. They're not going to give it to Leon tomorrow's on a three-fight losing streak You can't give it to tomorrow like you could they've done stuff like that before but it's a hard sell

But wherever Jack it's a fresh guy fresh face and he was already number four in the division It's not like he's number 15. So yeah, I mean, I think that makes sense. Okay. And you talked earlier about Abu Dhabi. That was an experience, right? I believe this will be just the second time that you fight out of the country, right? What did you learn from that experience

that you're looking to rectify, whatever you want to say, but not have the same experience again in London. Yeah, I mean, I definitely like Abu Dhabi is a 12 hour time difference. So like, I definitely didn't go out there early enough. I only went out there eight or nine days early, which is what I'm doing for London. I'm going out to London the same amount of time. I'm going to Abu Dhabi where it's a five hour difference in London and Abu Dhabi was 12. So that was an extra seven hours that kind of threw me off. But yeah, like I talked to my guys at the PI doing everything they're telling me to do. And yeah, I don't think it's going to be that big of a difference. And I'm a different Sean Brady now than I was in 2022. Like after losing that fight, I'm a completely different

person. And especially now after just having my baby, I feel like I'm a completely different person and especially now after just having my baby, I feel like I'm a completely different guy too. So I'm just looking forward to going out there, doing my job, fighting, putting on a show. And that's what's important to me is like when I got the call, I was excited about it. Like I was like, yeah, like let's fucking go. Like I'm excited to do this. It wasn't like, um, like, oh, like, oh, what the fuck? Like they're asking me to do this and fought on five weeks notice. So like, I was super excited and I was like ch oh, what the fuck? Like they're asking me to do this on five weeks notice. They're like, I was super excited. And I was like chomping at the pit, like hitting up Lui every day.

Like, yo, let's get this. I even texted Hunter at one point, just like asking him what was going on. So like, I was like trying to get this done. And that's, yeah, I'm super excited for it. Sounds cliche, but that's a real thing. You just had your first kid and now you're going out to battle.

Like that lights a fire under your ass, right? It's a whole different ball real thing. You just had your first kid and now you're going out to battle like that That lights a fire under your ass, right? It's a whole different ballgame now. You feel it different ballgame Um, yeah when you're like you hear people talk about their kids and like they love that you have for them and like how you're Doing you don't know until you can't explain it until you hold your child in your hands and like what you would do for them So yeah, I'm gonna go to London and I'm gonna fucking battle for my kid and I'm gonna change your future. Have you ever been to London?

No, I haven't. Wow. Yeah, I mean, seems like a solid place. I'm getting direct flights right out of Philly. So I don't have to go to JFK. I don't have to do any of that. So yeah, we're gonna get out there a little bit more than a week early

and yeah, we're gonna make the best of it. I got like 12 to 15 guys coming, so we got a nice team coming. What was your assessment of Leon's performance against Bilal? Obviously there's a theory and he's talked about it. It was at five in the morning. Do you think that fight goes this way,

the way in which it did regardless of the time? What did you see? You know Bilal well, right? You fought him. You've studied Leon now a little bit, I would imagine. What was your assessment? I do. I think it would go that same way. If you go back and look at Leon, even from his early fights, he's a very good kickboxer, a very good striker, but he has been known to get taken down and kind of getting held down by early on in his career by Claudio Silva. Um, when him and Vicente Luque fought, Vicente had some success in the first round. So yeah, it's not like, uh, it's a typical, like he, he's a striker. Uh, he has very good take down defense, but if you get them down, you get them flat. Um, he has a hard time getting back up, and Balal kinda,

I even like the third fight with Kamara was very, very close. So if you go watch that fight and then you watch Balal, the writing was on the wall, but Balal really pounded it in there with a good game plan. But all that can change with one punch, one kick, one knee, it doesn't matter, so you have to be ready for anything. You're a slight favorite going into this one. I think you're a minus 130. He's a plus 110. Don't pay attention to it. I don't pay attention to any of this stuff. Yeah. I mean, I don't

pay attention to any of it. I'm coming off two good wins. He's coming off a loss where they're looking at it. They're like, oh, he's a, I'm a guy kind of fighting like the wall and I'm probably gonna go in there and probably try to do the same exact thing, which I will, but I'm coming there to fight. And wherever, if it's on the ground, if it's on the feet against the cage, I'm coming for a hard fight and I'm excited

because I know Leon's gonna bring out the best in me and that's exciting. I think that the knock, I don't think, I know the knock on Leon early in his career was that he has a tough time against wrestlers and that certainly was the case the first time he fought Kamaru who's been back in 2015 but he got a lot better I mean Colby had an impossible time trying to do anything as far as wrestling is concerned. Colby sucks though. Colby sucks but and Colby's still digging him. Colby got couple shots in there, but no, Leon's an amazing fighter.

He's an amazing mixed martial artist. He can grapple. He took Kamara's back. He had Bill Wallace back. So you can't sleep on him on the ground. He has good wrestling. The game has evolved so much, you have to be good everywhere. You can't just be a kickboxer anymore.

So of course over the years, he's gotten better and better. And yeah, I'm looking forward to testing out his skills everywhere where I'm not just a grappler, I can strike too. So you have to be ready for every situation. Just curious, how do you think JDM Bilal goes? Jack can knock out anybody obviously, that's been shown. He's a very hard puncher

But man, you can't bet against the law like he's he's he's going out there and prove that he can be anybody in the world And he has so you have to you have to Admire that and you have to respect that and yeah I'm gonna favor him especially to go look at how the Jack fight was going with Gilbert until that last minute, you know So I think I think the law is a good chance for sure Was there any talk of you fighting for the belt because you've been more active, you know JDM health bottom 14 No, not none of that. Yeah First thing I heard about it was me me and Leon. That's the only thing I heard about it

All right, obviously if I didn't lose the ball, I'm sure I would have got that would have been a logical move But uh, yeah, it just this will just uh, this will land up a good fight between me and him in the future Okay, so what do you think like let's say it all goes well for you on the 22nd of March Do you think you're the number one contender? How do you think this plays out? There's obviously Shavkat who's out there too, but injured. I heard he might be ready July August or so Yeah, where does it win over Leon put you? Yeah, it's tough. I heard he might be ready July August or so. Where does a win over Leon put you? Yeah, it's tough. I mean, Leon's number one. So obviously that would put me at number one. I don't know how that plays out. Like, she will shop cuts, still get the belt when I get it. And then you have you have so many other guys right there. The top of our division,

there's plenty of guys who could be fighting for the belt. So at least we don't have that problem. Like, there's so many guys who are right fighting for the belt so at least we don't have that problem like there's so many guys who are right there but um yeah i wouldn't mind after i beat leon i'd fight again um if i had to before fighting for the belt like i said like i used to be so fixated on getting the belt and i'm very close but i also just want to go i want to fight i want to compete i want to show um hello. Wow. Look at this. Oh, hello. Congratulations. I want to show the world that I'm the best fighter in the world.

And yeah, I'm going to do that. Whether I have to fight one or two more times for the belt. Is this your daughter's world debut? Has she appeared on any other show? No, no, no, she hasn't. Can we put the screen down just a little bit? Cause her head is...

Oh, look at that is unbelievable. Oh, what hasn't. Can we put the screen down just a little bit? Because her head is... Oh, look at that. That is unbelievable. Oh, what an angel. That is amazing. Can I ask what's her name? Beta. B-A-D-A.

Beta. And who's that? Is she named after someone? No, so me and my wife were actually having... We were trying for like a year before we had her. And we weren't... Like everything was fine. But it was taking a little bit of time. And one, we were trying for like a year before we had her and we weren't like everything was fine like but it was taking a little bit of time and one month we were trying and we were watching this movie called My Girl and the girl's name was Veda and we

were like if we Kristen really liked it I really liked it we're like if she I'll see if we get pregnant this month we'll name the baby Veda if it's a girl and it happened that month and yeah so that's kind of like a cool little story behind it Sean these guys on the show They make fun of me that I don't watch movies only movies like in a certain time period of the 90s when you said Vada I was gonna say Vada like sulfon first or whatever her name is from my girl I was going to mention because I love McCauley Culkin and I was heartbroken Congratulations, by the way, well, yeah happy to hear everyone's doing well. McCulloch dies. When he died at the end, I said, ah, the tearjerker.

Brutal. Anna Klumsky is her name. I loved Anna Klumsky. That's the actress's name. That's a great name. Yes, yeah. So, and it's like, I don't know too many Vedas. It's not a very common name.

So yeah, it worked out good. Incredible, what a story. By the way, are you changing diapers? Are you doing all of that? I've changed a few. I've changed a few poop ones. Not doing too many. My wife's taking on a lot of the duties

while I get ready for the fight. But when I get back from London, I'm gonna have many sleepless nights, I'm sure. So what's the sleeping like now? Are you going in a different? No, it's good. As of right now, I wake up around five to six every day, so I do the morning feed and she's just doing the nighttime feeds. So yeah, once it gets a little bit closer, I'll start sleeping in a different room just to really lock in. But I'm good. I always hear people, they kind of use that as an excuse, like, oh, I can't do this because

of this with my kids. When I was having her, I'm like, no matter what, I'm not going to bitch. I'm not going to, I'm going to do all the things I have to get done. And if I'm tired while I'm doing them, it is what it is. You can't, the joy I get from looking at her every day, I don't need to sleep that much, but I'm getting like, I'm still, I said the other day, I got eight hours last night, felt great.

And my wife's looking at me like, you asshole. But no. You actually say this? You actually say this to her? That takes a lot of courage. I said it. Oh my gosh. He's Louise man. You got to be careful with those statements. I know I know you got to be careful Walking on walking on eggshells. Yes, we're good that man. Everything's everything's locked in over here Yeah, so it's it's super exciting before I let you go

I want to play you a clip there was a press conference in Montreal today for the Bilal JDM fight and Bilal said something about where he stands in the division just want to play for you because you're right there And you know him quite well and get your reaction to it. All right. Yeah, here it is Will I be able to be standing? No, will he be able to be keeping up with my boxing? I have the best best striker in the welterweight division. I'm the best grappler. I'm the best wrestler. I'm the best fighter. You've seen it. Leon Edwards. He was the next one up. He was the goal. He knocked out Kamara Usman. And I made it look easy. I'm gonna make it look easy May 10th.

People are just gonna keep doubting me and I'm just gonna keep breaking those barriers. I'm gonna keep showing you guys I'm the best fighter in the world He's He's coming out of the kiddie pool and he's going straight into the deep end of the ocean this is gonna be a bad night for him and You guys are gonna see it May 10th. Okay, so he says best fighter in the world best striker best grappler best wrestler Do you agree?

No, but I I can't much. He beat me, you know? So that's kind of how that plays out. But, uh, as of right now, he's the champ, he's, he's the best guy in the world. So, um, maybe he's not the best striker or maybe he's not the best at those single aspects, but when he puts it together, as of right now, he is the world champion. So he gets to say things like that. And, uh, until I get my get back, I just kind of sit back and let him say stuff like that, but I'll get it back. Jack's no easy out for him though.

Balal is very confident and he should be like, I would definitely favor him in that fight, but Jack can knock out a horse. So he's gotta be, he's gotta be worried about Jack's hands for sure. How does your fight play out? How does it end? I win. I win. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to make it exciting. Whether it's ground and pound from the top submission, I'm looking for a finish. I'm healthy. I'm happy and I'm hungry. So you're going to get the best version of me that night. And yeah, I really, believe I'm gonna get a finish

and just cement where I'm at in this division. Delighted for you, man. So happy that this worked out for you. Good luck in the next month. Safe travels over there. Enjoy London. You're not gonna get a lot of cheers. I just wanna let you know.

They're not gonna love you there. That's all right. That's all right with me. But no one likes Philly sports guys anyways. No one likes us. We don't care. We're good to go. Good luck. Can't wait for it. And we'll be waiting for you when you come back. Monday morning when I get back. Let's go.

Thank you so much. There he is. The great Sean Brady. Congratulations to him on getting this massive fight. Looking forward to it. March 22nd. Does that suffice for you, GC? Is that okay? Are you at peace with everything that he- Definitely not at peace, but I mean I can accept his excuses for now. A new child, a potential number one contender spot

if he beats Leon Edwards, that's enough for now. But the ducking allegations will not stop until he gets on the bike and goes toe to toe with me. As far as excuses go, baby, potential, title eliminator. Right. Super Bowl. Still excuses. Yeah, but pretty good. Not reasons for avoiding the ride,

but they are good excuses. The way I see it just gives you more time. Yeah, I've been in the lab. He's gonna be beating himself up, he's training for a fight, he's going way in there. 25 minutes probably with Leon Edwards. Might give me time to do a cycle of EPO. No drug testing here.

No drug testing here. Badashmada, none of that. No permissions. No way. That's not a bad shout, by the way. By the way, some people when they wear the football jersey, like no t-shirt under, they look a little bit like they're swimming in it.

Like he looks good in the football jersey. Yeah, when you're jacked and tatted to the gills, you're gonna look pretty cool. He looks pretty damn good. Brian Duckins jersey. I mean, Dawkins, sorry. Not a Saquon? Oh, Saquon's 26, right?

Didn't pick up on that one? I don't. Oh, Duckins, yes. What number is Saquon? 26. Oh, really? So was that actually a Brian Dawkins? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, and you called him Duckins.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I thought I had that one after. By the way, why'd you say that? I thought afterward. I didn't, I wasn't ready, you know? My best material comes to me late. You could've told me.

Slack it. But we are delighted for him. And yeah, very happy for him. Wishing the best of luck in that one. By the way, what is the chief support? What is the chief support in London? Let's see here. Oh Jan Bechowicz versus Carlos Alberg. It's not a bad one. That's a great one. Yeah. First time we've seen Jan since the Pereira fight. You know a lot of people complaining about this card. Gunnar Nelson, Kevin

Holland is fun. Oh I can't wait for that one. Molly McCann on there against another Brazilian, Estella Nunes. Oh, Morgan Chakriay back. Close. Chariere. Oh, okay. Against Nathaniel Wood, a little cage warrior special for you, Jay Herbert. It's not a bad card actually.

Mick Parkins still in the prelims, can't get on the main card, but he's there. Sean Abannon. Mick Parkins gonna get a lot of intel from Tommy Aspinall. Hell yeah. It's actually not as bad as I see some people make out. Angeron, don't forget.

Yeah. He's buried. Actually on this thing here, he's... Oh, it says, yeah, it says... Plus the London crowd will be on fire. Oh my God. It's a daytime card. Oh, noon start here.

Love it. Bounce back fight for Leon, massive stakes for him. I mean, if he loses this fight, he goes all the way to the back of the queue. Oh, for sure. All the way. And then a huge opportunity for Sean Brady. I like this card a lot. I like it a lot. I don't think for a London fight night, you're not going to get much better than this. Former champion at the top, very important fight for him.

Back against the wall, up and comer, Sean Brady, future title contender, future champion, Karl Zalberg, honor roll, Jan Bokovic, legend. How can you hate this? By the way speaking of Ulberg sort of Tyson Pedro making his boxing debut today did you guys see this look pretty damn good scoring what was it a second third round something like that he looked fantastic afterwards kind of jokingly

said that he wanted to fight Jake Paul. Look at that, kablam! Right hand from hell. Tyson Pedro getting it done. Shout out. Good call on that. Kablam. Yeah, that's my signature. Mike Breen has the, look at that, oh yeah, old school. That's his thing. That's his thing. He did that in the UFC as well. What is it called, Ronan? Yep. It's from a movie called Ronan, I think. You guys familiar with that one? Yeah, I'm trying to converse with you, but also, I mean.

Yeah, what's up with Rick? Can you keep it down over there? No, no, no, he's- Rick, what's happening? He's communicating with Lord Silva right now, yeah. All right. We'll get to John Silva. As I said earlier, we're going to be joined by

the great John Lord Silva. After that, we're going to be joined by Joseph Parker. Can't wait for that. And then we'll round out the day with Alex Volkonovsky. Do we have him? Is he ready or not quite yet? What a run he's been on. He's won 12 in a row, made his debut just 13 months ago, already foreign owned the UFC, all victories by way of KO slash TKO, already joined first with Jose Aldo

for most TKO slash KO victories by a Brazilian in UFC, featherweight history with four, 12 wins via KO, two via sub, one via decision. What a run for this man. And he picked up another big win this past weekend over Melcik Bagdasarian, first round KO. He's an incredibly entertaining fighter before the fight, during the fight, after the fight.

He's the 28 year old Brazilian, John Silva, and he's kind enough to join us right now. Is he there? Yes. Hey, what's happening? How are you? Obrigado. Bom dia. Boa tarde. Hey bro. I'm good. I'm good. What? You don't need a translator. You don't need a translator. Yeah, he is a little bit. He can do some wordsps, but I'm just gonna help a little bit. Okay, well it's nice to meet you. Thank you for coming on. You and your team, the Fighting Nerds, you guys are on fire right now.

Can you describe what is life like for you? 13 months in the UFC, four wins, all via stoppage. How would you describe your life? Now 13 months of career in the UFC, 4 victories, fighting, all of this happening. How would you describe your life now with all this trouble? First of all, thank you for the opportunity to be here. Describing all this is kind of difficult. It's hard to describe everything I'm feeling. But looking at it all, I can sum it up. A lot of dedication, a lot of effort, a lot of resilience. To sum it up, it's a success.

But it's probably the result of effort, dedication and the work to get these results. It's been too much. Do you feel like you're living a dream? Do you feel like it's almost like surreal what's going on in your life now because you're turning into one of the most beloved fighters and popular fighters in the UFC and you've only been there for a little over a year Do you feel like you're living a dream? Because nowadays you're one of the most loved and loved fighters in the UFC so quickly. Do you feel like you're in a dream? Literally, I'm in my own dream. So I'm going to keep dreaming.

I don't want to wake up ever again. success, especially to be so welcomed by the fans. What I love about your demeanor is that you have so much energy, you're so much fun to watch before the fights, during the fights, after the fights. Are you always like this or is it just when you're about the fight? Like on a regular Wednesday are you this energetic as well? He asks about your energy, you are very energetic before and during the fight, during the fight, I mean on any Wednesday, on the CES, if it's your way of being. Who is it? Yes, for sure he has energy all day long. Actually, it's a relief when he has a fight because he can channel that energy for a purpose. Because any other time he'll be running around and he's so full of energy.

When you were a kid, were you like that as well? Yes. Yes, yes. I was always agitated and emotions always spoke louder than my own words. He was always an agitated kid and his emotions got the better of him when he was growing up. But now he can't control that and he always been like this, like full of energy. What do you mean when you say your emotions got the better of you? Like would you get into fights? Would you get into problems?

He can take the... So the emotions, that's follow my results. He just... He was a big... He had problems, he was a fan, he just wanted to go to this side. I think. It's always been like this, it's still like this and I still am.

I think the most true part of a human being is when he expresses his emotions, whether they are in a difficult moment, or a moment of joy, but his emotions never lie. So it will continue to be like this. I've been involved in fights because of emotions, not knowing, not having control over it and making the right decision. So that's why today I'm this guy, calm, out of the box.

Yeah, for some time, It's easy, emotions are the channel. The only true thing that we show is our emotions. So it's something pure, it's something that of course it needs to be tamed, controlled. And it wasn't that good in the past, but nowadays it is. But it is also a true form of expression. He's being truthful when he lets it go. How did you get into MMA? Who introduced you to mixed martial arts? How did you start in MMA and who introduced you to martial arts?

I started it on my own initiative. As I said, I fought a lot on the street. And once I passed by an academy and saw a Muay Thai training going on, and I decided to go in there. So, at 13 years old, I was through my wife that I got into the professional field. and he was very agitated and he was searching for something and then he went to this gym, he was passing by a Muay Thai gym and he decided to enroll and to test himself and also to practice and learn and he never stopped. So he found a way to channel that through his childhood, through his teenage years that one when he met his wife He jumped in professional. So his wife was a very important part of this this this path

I love how you have your your wife in your corner and the connection that you seem to have with her and you give her So much praise in your interviews talking about how much she means to you Can you know some people would not want their wife to be in their corner. Does she offer you actual technical advice when she's in there, or do you just like to have her presence to help you feel better about the fight and the situation? Many tutors don't have that, and he wanted to know her role, and if she also gives you technical advice in the corner, or if in the corner her role is more in the national support, what you can say about it.

And he respects and admires the fact that you value her so much. First of all, thank you for this affection. It's been a few years since we understood that it's not just emotional support. Because fighting strategy, studying the opponent, studying our games, are something that Carol and I have been doing for many years together. And we were able to understand that it is the biggest tool we have for our victory. The person who understands my game, who understands my emotions, who can understand how I am at the time of the fight, how I'm on a diet. So, the part of communication that's assertive for the career

is through this tool that we have. In the fight week, Tela usually says that we're not a couple, not a wife, but a person on the victory. So that's it. Karol is the greatest tool I have. That's the word. recognition. And probably Carol, his wife is his greatest secret weapon, because her whole is not only emotional support. They also share a common taste for MMA. They watch the fights, they analyze the fights beforehand. And she's like the bridge

between Jim and hisition, his coach, and she can channel, she can understand Jeb's emotions. So she has like a main role in the whole squad, in the whole preparation team. So he can sum it up by saying she's like his secret weapon. I love that. I also love when you do the barking. Arf, arf, arf.

Like that, you know? Where does that come from? Where does that come from? That's the only question I have. Yeah. Before my brother died, he always liked dogs. And one of the dogs that he had that I was very fond of was a Rottweiler.

And since childhood I've always had contact with my brother's dogs. I've always had affection for them, that's why I've always the sound he made for the dog, especially the Rottweiler. I'm kind of crazy, there's this side of him. and also it's because, and mainly it's because his brother who passed away was very close to these dogs and one of its dogs was a hobbile and he was very connected with Jim and the sounds and the whole environment so it's kind of a nod to his brother and it's also something that's it's imprinted in his head so we whenever he comes up like it's spontaneous. I love that too. Also the the the introduction and the connection that you have with Bruce Buffer, we saw this

on on Saturday, it seemed like you were actually getting emotional for a moment there. We're looking at it right now here. It looks like you're about to cry and then you snap out of it and you wanna put your hands on his shoulders. There's so much going on here in this clip. Can you take us inside your mind?

What's happening here? What are you experiencing? I'll explain it to you. Speaking of the UFC, speaking of Dana, speaking of UFC, Dana, Hunter, speaking of the dream, there's no way not to talk about Bruce. For several years I was creating scenarios in my head, visualizing him talking about my name. And as I said, I'm living in a dream.

I've been visualizing this dream for many years, and today I'm inside it. So there's no way not to be excited. talk about Dana White, you cannot forget to say Bruce Buffer's name. He was very important, especially because he was a part of this wild fighting dream fantasy that is actually coming through now. So whenever he meets with Bruce, there's also this energy, but everything is related to that. The thing that you said before, it's like he's living a daydream and Bruce Buffer is an iconic character and in all his mentalizations and projections, Bruce Buffer was always there. So it's and projections, breast buffer was always there. So it's an iconic presence in his life. At the beginning of that clip,

it looks like you're actually getting emotional. Do you get emotional before the fights and if so, why? He said that in that clip you almost cry and asked me if you get emotional like that before the fight and why that happens. Man, I cry for everything. As I said, the biggest truth that a person has is their emotions.

She transmits that. So if you ask me if I love being in the UFC, He does cry a lot, He does cry a lot. It's part of the way he expresses himself. He believes that one is being truthful when he actually shows their true emotions and when he talks about his life, when he talks about his love for the UFC, for his wife, for his team, for when he tells Teo even to Tana why, he easily will go into tears because it's so powerful and so true to himself. So he does believe in that and he actually expressed that with his tears. So after the fight you made headlines because you said you wanted to fight Bryce Mitchell next and I've seen on social media it seems like you're trying to call Bryce Mitchell

on Instagram. Have you had success in reaching Bryce and speaking to Bryce. Regarding my next victory in the organization, we are still negotiating, which does not involve just the name. We have to be very careful not to become a good and cheap athlete. It involves good, it involves a lot of things, now if it's going to be Bryce Mitchell, if it's going to be Tariq, if it's going to be be another guy there, I don't know what to say. It's just Chen Shelby, Hunter, Dana, Ivan Jatoba, the entrepreneur who will be able to say that to us. But I hope I get the success, yes. I really want to educate him in a way. I want to educate him surprises on the way. He wants to get into that fight. He wants to actually educate him

in terms of a lot of stuff that he talks about all the time. It's his desire to fight, but there's a lot going on. And I think he thinks that the message got to him but I think you're gonna be surprised pretty soon with a good outcome but still too early to say something. Wow, surprised, interesting. I wonder what I saw you retweet someone said that you should step in to fight Justin Gaethje. That's not what you're referring to, right? He also said that you should fight Justin Gaethje. It's a fight that I would like to fight against Justin Gaethje.

With some guys from the upper category, some guys strike, but by will. But there is also this whole relationship of renewal, of stock exchange, of values, because I think I represent the film very well in rhythm. The more you pay me, the more people will get hurt. person it's not about validation or visualizations it's something that he would like to but at the same time he made a joke here and said he's open to whatever he's like a hitman if you pay the price he's gonna fight he's gonna do it he's gonna execute so he would love to but at the moment there's nothing nothing going on like nothing concrete. Do you feel confident that this year you will get the Bryce Mitchell fight?

Thank you. He said, he said, he tweeted, there's only one Lord and it ain't you fool. You need a country ass whooping. It will humble you just right. And then you responded, okay, okay. But I'm going to beat you until you see the earth is round. This is tremendous stuff. He's talking about you here.

You got his attention. Yeah. He thinks this fight is going to happen at some point. And he wants to do that. And Price wants to do that too. So that's probably going to happen at some point. Is your nickname Lord or is that your real name, your real middle name? It's not registered, but he considers Lord part of his name. By the way, I do have to ask, I saw you did an interview with Full Send MMA and you told this crazy story about having a diarrhea attack before a fight early on. Yes?

Yes. He said you did it with Full Send MMA. You said you had a stomach attack before a fight. Wow. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's guess. But you said in the interview you did it, you did it. You had to do it right before you went in the cage

in front of everyone. So he wants a name of the researcher. I'm gonna dig that up for you. You said it. of the researcher or, I will dig that up for you. Take your name now. So it is true. It's something that happens before fights. He needs to go to the toilet,

but that's just something that happens. Okay. Well, okay. So can I ask you about this clip? It went viral recently of you before we were talking about the Bruce buffer Interaction what is going on here in this clip John? I see you going crazy before an RFA fight. Take a look at this What's happening here? Why are you what's going on here? What is this? What is going on look at this you like Batman, you're climbing the cage. This is a good example where when you get your emotions loose on the loose, your emotions lose on the loose, your emotions will take you to places like this. So, this is a good

example where he doesn't understand what happened, he just let it flow and his emotions took in there. Incredible. I love it. Can I ask you just a couple more questions before we let you go? How quickly do you think you'll return? on the 8th, right? But it will depend on how much you pay me. If it was up to me, I would kick some ass on the 8th. But it depends on how much they're going to pay me, what's going to happen, but I could fight like in the next week. Wait, wait. And he actually wants to do a question for you. Mel Cink is a world kickboxing champion. If I beat a world kickboxing champion, am I a world kickboxing champion?

He's asking you, up to your knowledge, because Mel Cink is a kickboxing world champion and if he's in a striking match, kicks his ass, so you think he's actually now the world kickboxing champion? Sure, yes, see. Why not? So, if you can reach Mel C you can ask for the bell. I will work on that. But wait, I have to ask you, are you talking about UFC 313

next week in Las Vegas? You're saying you may show up on that card? Yeah, he's talking that if he depended on him, he would go to the. Wow. Are there any talks of this? that if he depended on him he would go to the other side. Are there any talks of this? There are some talks around this. Wow, against who?

Against who? We'll be like this without knowing. When will you find out? He can't say. He asked when you will know. Can you give me another interview in a week? Until Monday and I'll tell you. I think in less than a week we're going to know if you want to do a first hand interview. When we know it, we can do that.

Okay, fair enough. I'll ask you one more thing. What about the Fighting Nerds? What a team you guys are now. Can you describe what the mood is like among all the team members? You guys are doing so well. Carlos Prates, Caio, yourself?

Mauricio? Mauricio, you know us. No. I think they're all in the same frequency. What is you do? So, they're all very hurt. Everyone is on the same frequency, everyone is happy, everyone is doing what they want and what they like. So, they are in a very good moment now, there's a lot of balance among everyone and everyone is truly happy right now on the team. Congratulations! Thank you! Very good, very good! Thank you! Very good! Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you! Great to meet you! And continued success! I wish you continued success! It's a lot of fun to watch you compete! You are very entertaining! And I think that you are going to be a big star in the UFC! So keep it up! I love you! I want you to continue you for the opportunity to talk to you guys. because being here and participating with you is also part leave the drink. Thank you for making it possible too. Thank you. Good luck.

We'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you guys very much. There he is. John Lord Silva. What a guy, what a story, what a character and what a nugget that is. Sometimes when the UFC loses a big fight, we saw this with the card International Fight Week last year,

they'll add a couple to sort of soften the blow. You'll recall the Lopez Ortega fight, which never came to fruition, came to fruition in September. But is it possible that they lost Dan Hooker, they can't get a proper replacement for Justin Gaethje, and they'll add a John Silva or two? I ain't mad at it. John Silva moves up to 155 to take on Justin Gaethje

on 10 days notice? That's not what I'm suggesting. I'm suggesting that they'll add two fights to replace the one. Oh, to make it more spicy, to make the card better. Yeah. Who does he fight? Remember they did this one,

when the Conor fight fell through, they all of a sudden added Lopez Ortega, then there was all this stuff with Ulberg and Smith and Roundtree and this and that. I can see them maybe trying to add one to beef it up if they can't get Justin on board for whatever reason. Who does he fight? That's a good question. I mean, I don't see him. You see him fighting at, let's see, let's see, I mean he's not in the top 15. Just, I mean really just put him on there.

He's, you know, you sometimes get these circumstances where a guy is just on a roll, he's on fire, and you just kind of want to strike while the iron is hot. And so him against anyone, I mean, who's number 15 right now? Danny Gay? Sign me up for that. That's a banger. What about old Yusef? What about Yusef?

Y'all both want to become stars? Step up on 313? What about Bryce? Bryce said he couldn't compete this weekend against Eli Barzalai, why can't he fight him? Any more time? Maybe not. That would be a very intriguing matchup

for a lot of people, especially with the shit they've been talking online. Yes. Some guy. What a character, huh? Character. That footage of him going crazy in that one fight. That is nutty.

You asked him about like, was he like this as a kid? I can just imagine the exact type of kid he was like. High energy, bouncing off the walls, doing crazy shit. The funny thing is, in the interview, he seems very chill. Yeah. He seems extremely chill. It's unbelievable.

All right, great stuff there. In about 30 minutes time, we'll be joined by Alex the Great, Volkanovsky, of course, headlining that card in Miami. But I am so excited to talk to our next guest Quickly becoming I mean I said this last week maybe Not the nicest person in combat sports

I don't think that's fair one of the nicest human beings that I've ever come across in life He is currently the interim WBO heavyweight champion former WBO heavyweight champion. He walked into Riyadh This past weekend. He did the job. He showed up. It wasn't against the guy that he thought it was going to be against, but you'll recall George Lockhart around a week ago told us that he'd win in three. Well, it happened in two and it was against Martin Bacoghly, the so-called bogeyman of the heavyweight division. And so now here he is on the cusp of once again becoming heavyweight champion. And he's going to make it happen. He's going to make it happen in 2025. He's the pride of Samoa.

He's the pride of New Zealand. He is your champion in mind. And dare I say, he's the un-crowned champion of the heavyweight division in boxing. He's the one and only, the big oose himself, Joseph Parker. Yeah, there he is. What an entrance, what an entrance. You did it, Joe. How are you, my guy? Yeah, you did it. You know what?

You did it. It was a nice feeling being able to get a good result after such a crazy, it was 48 hours before the fight, from one opponent to the next. And I did, I was very vocal to Spencer and to Andy and to George and to everyone involved that I was ready to fight on fight night. And whoever was in front of me, I backed myself

and I would have fought anyone. And I was happy and very grateful for Martin Bacali to accept the fight and come a short short notice but without him I wouldn't have had a dance partner so grateful to him and Billy Nelson and it's nice to get a good result and nice to be back home with the family. Can I ask you Joe when did you start to hear rumblings about this because we saw you at the the Grand Arrivals we saw we saw George on Wednesday he spoke to us about the fight everything seemed good.

And then Thursday morning here, evening there, we start to get the rumblings that he's ill, and then we get the rumblings of Martin. And so when did you first start to hear that something was amiss? You know what, we were heading to the press conference. Yeah. And Andy was behind me and all I heard was,

nah, this is not true, this is not true. I said, what's wrong Andy? And he showed me all these articles at the ring, on social media, the ring was posted up about Dabba being ill and possibility of pulling up the fight. So that was when we first heard about it, got to the press conference and then we heard more

that it probably won't happen, the fight. And then all these names started coming on board of who we can have as a replacement. There was Okoli, there was Bocoli, there was Joe Joyce, and there was a few other names. And one thing I said to Spencer was give me Bocoli, because that's the fight that gets me amped up and gets me excited about still being involved

in this big event that happened on 26th of February. So what's interesting about it all, till now, Joseph, we have not heard anything from Dana Dubois, we haven't seen an interview, a statement or anything like that. I have to say, I'm not trying to say that he was pulling out, but it feels a little bit weird. In the aftermath now, how do you feel

about how all this went down? It does feel a bit weird. It feels weird because he was at the public workout and then, you know, just like that, he got real ill and there was no real statement, there's no real proof or doctors, there's nothing. There's nothing there, like you said, there's nothing that's come out

and even after the fight, nothing's come out. So it feels a bit weird. And it feels a bit strange that during that time that you six started calling out the bar So he wants him next so I'm not saying it's uh, he wasn't oh he was oh, I'm just saying I'm not sure what's happening What do you think? What do you think went down? Well, yeah, we haven't we haven't heard anything back here So and they're talking about the boy and Usyk having a fight. So there's a possibility that it could be,

they're trying to line that fight up. Was he sick? I have no idea. And I don't want to go into it because I might say something wrong or I might say something that he probably was sick, probably wasn't sick. I'm just not sure, you know? Sure.

Is it possible that Usyk's there, Dubois is there, they say, okay, we got this fight. We don't want to take the risk against someone like you who was en route to potentially beating him, we don't wanna screw up the plans, so let's do this, let's call him Bacoli, everyone wins and we call it a day. Is that possible?

Could that have happened two days before? I think there's so many possibilities. But until we hear from them and until we hear from the team and until we know what actually happened with them, then there's always gonna to be speculation about what happened and and what is going to happen. I heard an interview with your head coach Andy Lee he was on a podcast a great podcast called Second Captains and he was saying that he felt like you guys called their bluff that they didn't

think that you would accept Martin Bacoli. Do you feel the same way? I do feel the same way I feel do feel the same way. I feel like with Martin, he's the boogie man. And I know he didn't get the best notice, but he did take the fight and he did actually believe that he was gonna come in there and knock me out. So we did, you know, we called the, or like Andy said, we did call the bluff

and accepted the fight. And I was really looking forward to it. When I heard that it was Martin Bacoli that was locked in for me, I was like, yes! Like I have a fight, I'm fighting one of the best fighters out there and I didn't have the best prep, but he came with the belief

that he was gonna win and knock me out. Is it true that Spencer Brown, who you referenced earlier, advised you actually not to take the fight? Is that accurate? Spencer Brown said, are you sure you want this fight? Is this the, like, he's talking, I'm talking about Okoli. I said, Spencer, I want Bokoli. Okoli is the one that's gonna get me excited.

Like I know Okoli was a champion as well, but the name Bokoli just got me real excited about still being involved and still fighting and still like, I was just so focused on this fight day that I wanted someone to dance or dance or someone at the top level. Was there any part of you that considered for a moment not fighting risk isn't worth it? No, nothing.

I was I just said, guys, please do whatever needs needs to be done to give me a fight. Like I am ready. I've been training for the last 10 weeks. I've been training since April last year and I had a boxing camp, a great camp. Please give me any fight, anyone, anytime. And so, when you come to the realization that it is gonna be Marm Bacoli and then you see this footage of him flying

and then you find out that he lands at 2.30 in the morning and he weighs 315 pounds, in the end, what did you make of the guy that showed up in front of you? Do you, some people have suggested he just came to get a payday and try to, you know, not really engage in a fight. How do you feel about the guy, the opponent that showed up in front of you on Saturday? I feel that Martin Bacali came with the utmost belief that he was going to beat me. He's uh, even though he wasn't in the full camp, like he believes like we had sparring sessions

together so he fully believed he was going to knock me camp. Like he believed, like we had sparring sessions together, so he fully believed he was gonna knock me out. And just because that punch landed on the top of his head, like it could have went a different way. Imagine we're sitting here talking like he won the fight. Or imagine he's sitting here talking like it was a longer fight than what actually went down would be a different conversation altogether.

But he did believe that he was gonna knock me out. And he's a great fighter, Martin McCauley. He's very, he's very, um, he's got great timing. And some of the punches he landed didn't hurt. And it still hurts now. Really? Wow. So, so were you, he caught me with a beautiful uppercut when I came in, um, in the first round and, and just, I went back to the corner and I was like, Oh, Andy, just please get this sorted. When's the last time you sparred him? I sparred him back in 2022 when we were training with Tyson Fury in Morkham Bay. And Tyson was preparing for Billy White.

Okay. And even back then he was, you know, he was a beast. He's a beast now still. And I'm looking forward to seeing what he does. He's still got a fight locked in with FH Akbar. So I'm looking forward to seeing what he does. He's still got a fight locked in with FH Agba So I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in their fight coming up Actually, I just saw this morning that the IBF is now removing him from that Final eliminator status. So it seems like he's off the card

Wow, okay. I know I thought he was still this morning and I know it's morning over there So you may have missed it but it seems like he wanted to you know stay on that May 2nd date and and fight in the final eliminator but it sounds like now it's not going to happen. I did see a I did see an interview with you afterwards with IFL TV and you're speaking to your family and you're very emotional you're talking to them on on FaceTime on your on your phone. Those emotions, seeing you cry like that, where is that coming from?

Why are you feeling that way in the immediate aftermath? Can you take us in? Because when you have a fight like that and all these things happen, like I said, 40 hours, the opponent pulls out another opponent, like kind of steps in and I'm so focused on the fight that I've been away for a while. I've been away for a long time.

You know, I do miss out on special occasions and seeing my kids grow up. And when a fight's done, all these emotions come in. Not straight away, but when I see them on the phone and they're all happy and cheering and excited to see me when I come back home, all those emotions start coming into play. And I just feel like it's all worth it.

Everything that I've done leading up to this point or after the fight, it's all worth it, you that I've done leading up to this point or after the fight, it's all worth it, you know? Myself and the whole team, it takes a massive team to get me to be the best that I can be. You do your camps, the majority of them now in Ireland with Andy Lee. Any discussion of him coming to you so that you don't have to leave your family for so long?

I've had the opportunity, like boxing's looked after me very well, and I had been able to take the family up to Ireland. And even though it does break up the camp, even four, five, six weeks away is a long time. So we haven't talked about it, but the only thing about New Zealand is quite hard to bring inspiring partners

when you find the best inspiring partners in America and Europe and on those sides of the world. So it's a bit far away here in New Zealand, but I'm sure we can make it work one day in the future. Okay, so now this is the big question, Joe, because I got a lot of stick, I must say. I'm your biggest cheerleader over here, and I'm saying we need to see now Parker versus Usyk.

This is the fight that hasn't happened yet. It's fresh. You showed up, you did the job, you're on this role. It has to be you. And then I got people saying, nah, Dubois is the IBF champ. I say, so what? Who cares? What does it matter? He didn't show up. He didn't fight. Why should he leapfrog Joe? And then I hear people saying, Caballero, he beat Jung. I say, so what? Parker beat Jung a year ago. What are we talking about here? And so I feel like they're trying to screw you here. Am I wrong? Am I getting too sensitive? No, no, you're right. It does feel like that way. It feels like we're so

closely fighting for a title then all of a sudden he got sick and now they're lining up this big fight with Yusik and De Bruyne. I'm not sure what we need to do in order to lock in a Championship of the World fight. As here, I think we've done everything I asked of and hopefully we can lock it in soon. I would love the opportunity just to test myself against Yusick. Yusick is a great fighter and I'd love to see what I'm capable of doing against someone like that. I feel like this is a silly question but just for the record, if it was up to you who would you fight next? Yusick. And how confident... Yep. Go ahead, go ahead.

If I could fight someone, it would be Usyk because Dubois, we did have that fight locked in and he pulled out, still with no explanation, but any of those two would be amazing. How confident are you right now? I know it's still just a couple of days removed that that happens for you next.

That he is next for you, Usyk. Not too confident. I'm not too confident that that'll be next. That'll be the best if it did happen but as you know boxing there's a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that we don't really know of, we don't really hear of and there's things always being lined up but I'm not too sure that'll happen next. Alright so realistically then if it's not Usyk and that's obviously goal number one who do you think might be next?

I would I have no idea. I honestly have no idea who would be next But I would fight anyone and everyone To get my chance to fight for the championship of the world. So Not too sure what annoys me about this is that if it's not Usyk, that means he's probably fighting Dubois. So you're getting screwed both ways here. You're not fighting Usyk, the guy that you want to fight. You're not fighting the guy that you were supposed to fight.

I feel like the only consolation prize, if you're not fighting one of those two guys, because I would rank him as Usyk, and then you getting your quote unquote revenge against Dubois, the only consolation prize would be a rematch against AJ Anything else? What can we do what should we do in this in this kind of situation?

Do we set it up and wait for the win of that fight? Or do we keep busy and keep progression and keep fighting other top fighters? Well, if you're asking me your your counsel, your advisor, I appreciate you asking me. I think if we're not getting Usyk and we're not getting Dubois because they're going to go off and fight each other, we got to get the rematch against AJ. That's the one. Who's he going to fight? We're not fighting Caballel. We just beat the guy that Caballel beat. We beat him a year ago and I say we. So he's great and he deserves a lot of respect and I have the utmost respect for him. He's tremendous. But no, it to me, it's Usyk, Dubois or AJ. Those are the options right now. No one else. You've done enough. In my opinion. What do you think of that?

No, no, no, I agree. And like you said, Kawhi is a tremendous fighter and I'm not sure what he's going to do next. But as we focus on, as we focus on myself and my career, I think those three names will be the next in line. Did you see AJ at the at the fight before or after? I saw him at the fight I didn't see him before or after but I did see him watching all the fights and I saw a few of his interviews that he did. I think he mustn't mention something that he's injured but he would have loved to step in and fight me when

the opponent was changing. Yes yes I. I did hear him say that. I was just wondering if you had any interactions with him, if you think he would accept the fight against you. I think he would. As a fighter, we back ourselves 100 percent anytime, anywhere, any place against anyone. I think he would accept the fight with me, but it'll be a very different fight to the fight that we had in 2018. Obviously, we're both different fighters now, both more mature and older and wiser I think,

but I feel like the fighter that I was there, the fighter that I was before, sometimes I look back and go, who is that guy? Wow. You know, who is that guy? Completely different person. Way different. Just, it's not really, it's a mess of like the comparison to myself back then and now it's like I said, sometimes I look back and go, who is that person?

What's the biggest difference? Can you pinpoint something? Yeah. Oh, do we lose you? Do you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. I said, what's the biggest difference or two? Can you pinpoint a thing or two that's? The biggest difference now is that I actually love what I do. I wake up every day looking forward to training. I wake up every day looking forward to eating the right food.

I have the best balance in life in terms of family time, training time, rest time, and the nutrition. And when you understand what you're doing and you enjoy it, it makes everything much more better. And I'm a lot more mature now, you know? And I do look after myself and look after my body and I live the life, not like I used to before. You didn't love it back then?

I did. I did love it, but it came to a point where I was just doing it because I was just doing it. Whereas now, like, the biggest difference, I wake up and I go, I can't wait to go and train. Wow. I can't wait to get my body through this hard work and I can't wait to progress and grow and be better every day. Whereas back then it's like, here we go again, another session. Let's go. Let's get it done. And what help, usually when that fire kind of dims out,

it's hard to get it back. How do you get it back? When you find what works for you, I found Andy Lee and George Lockhart. And I actually understand every day what I'm doing. And there's a purpose behind the training, the purpose behind the food, is the purpose behind everything that we do. And when you understand that and you know, when you have the purpose, then you start to enjoy a lot more. By the way, last week, George told us about one of the first times that he worked with you,

he said that you couldn't pick up like a 20 kg dumbbell. Is that true? Like you can hardly pick up anything? How's that possible? George thought that I was joking around. You know, it's like I didn't train, but I didn't probably didn't do the right training. You know, and when we started working together and doing weights, he was really shocked and surprised with the little weights that I was lifting.

That is unbelievable. How is that possible? You're such a big guy. You must have been like 260 pounds or something. I was whatever I was, but I wasn't able to lift those heavy weights. Now I've tripled the weights that I can lift, you know? But again, there's different phases that you have in camp and outside of camp.

There's the building phase, there's endurance phase, there's speed phases, power phases, all these different phases that I never really knew existed until we started working together. It must feel like it's all coming together for you now. All the stars are aligning. You're so close. You're on the cusp of greatness.

And I love it. It feels like you have the right people around you, the right team around you. I love, we talked about it last time, love what you're doing on YouTube. The video blogs are amazing. The page is tremendous. I urge anyone out there to, who's putting this all together in real time.

Like you're getting a video up there about the opponent switch like five hours later. It's unbelievable. Who's doing this working the midnight hours? There's a guy here that I work with closely since 2010. His name is Kiri Russell and he is a magician in terms of doing these videos, capturing it, editing it, putting it all together and then uploading on YouTube. So without him, people wouldn't be able to see what we go through day in and day out

and the things that do happen like the opponent change and the fight being locked in with someone else. I love the stuff. It's riveting. But if you actually scroll down the page a little bit, there's a couple of stuff that may be a surprise to the viewers out there. And I didn't, because you don't really like,

I don't really see you promoting it so much, but it's a series of videos, Joseph Parker kind of reenacting famous comedic scenes, like you reenacting, there's like Anchorman, there's Step Brothers, you as McLovin. What is going on here Joseph? Look at this. Who's doing this stuff?

Who's putting this together? Jerry Russell. He is the person that comes up with all the ideas and he says to me, do you want to try this? I said, yeah, sure, let's try it. And the next thing, we have a video online. You're actually doing all this. This is amazing stuff.

You know, I just it just gives you a bit of insight into what actors go through and You know the hard work that they have to put into learning lines and you know and doing in front of camera This is not AI right? This is really you This is me. Yeah, this this might be my favorite one The McLovin one might have been my favorite one this I didn't know you had these kind of comedic chops. You'll try anything. Try anything and try everything. And I think it's just fun. It's fun to do all these things when you're not boxing, when you're not training, when you're not having family time. You know, try everything. Sure. I like it. You're letting us into your personality. You're showing different sides of yourself.

Like I said, it's all coming together, Joe. I feel like we're right there, we're on the cusp. We're right there, like this close. We're so close, we're nearly there. And you know what? I just thank God for all these opportunities that I keep getting and for all these great results. What happens if they call you up and say, hey, you know, Dubose, we want you to fight Cabello.

What's the answer? I would fight anyone. Oh, really? I wanted's the answer? I would fight anyone. Oh really? I wanted you to say... Like we just spoke about, there's three names that we are chasing. Yeah. And it's up to, you know, it's up to Spencer Brown, David Eagans, Andy Lee, it's up to them, George, to make this happen. What we've just spoken about. By the way, you know in that Happy Gilmore clip, you're wearing a Canadian hockey jersey. Are you wearing that because of me, the Canadian news?

Yes. You wore that for me, right? Of course. Yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I thought, thank you. That means a lot. How did they get two of you there? How does that happen?

He puts a camera there, right? Yeah. And he films, and then I have to do one part, and then I have to do another part and then I have to do another part There's a split screen. What really this guy's a genius Yeah, it's a genius like even though the anchorman one we're doing a fall like this for me I have to shave in between but I did this one first stop it this one I can't tell if you're messing with me or not really

That's serious. Yeah But the camera has to stick there and you can't move this camera. You move it, then you can't do the video. I love it. I love that dedication. When you got home, you're back home now, right? With the family? I'm back home with the family.

Did you have the bread with the sprinkles and all that? Did you have that? My family had a list of foods that I wanted to eat when I got home. They made me oreo balls, they got me sashimi, salmon, they got me kina, they got me taro, they got me mince pies, bacon and egg pies, and you know what? I demolished it all. Yes. In one sitting. Right now, I'm 275.

Don't tell that to George. He'll get you on that. The Manuka honey. I tried some of that Manuka honey that was on your shorts. That stuff is potent. It's potent. And there's a lot of, like George can explain more, but there's a lot of great things that it does for your body. I love it. I love it, Joe. And one last thing I wanted to ask you about. Did you see this clip? It's been circulating today A fellow I guess you could say Kiwi Jaya Pataya, you know, we love MMA around here, too Did you know that he had kicks like this Jai? Look at these kicks from Jai Oh, I don't know. I saw that I saw that it's sporting and I thought to myself, you know what? Jai is a beast. Yes. Look at this guy

Did you know you do this? I Did you know he could do this? I don't know he could do this, but he doesn't look too bad at all. I'm not sure what he's working on, but he can have a future in terms of whether it's MMA or whether it's... I don't even know if he got kind of grapple, but... Kickboxing? Kickboxing, if you want to give that a go, he can become champion in whatever he does. Well, as can you. give that a go he's a he can become champion in whatever he does well as as can you yes one thing that one thing that he can't beat me at is fishing oh

and eating the fish but anything else I'm sure it'd be a great challenge you've had a competition no we are we want to have a competition soon he thinks he's a better fisherman but I know I'm the better fisherman. Oh, wow. There's a difference. Biggest fish you've caught? A big two meter shark, 2.5 meter shark. Sharks. Really? A lot of sharks here in New Zealand. And what did you do with it? Ate it.

You ate the shark? You know what they, yeah, they make fish and chips using shark. What the hell? You eat the shark. And you made it yourself or did you give it to someone to make it? I gave it to someone to make. I still need to learn how to cook. Okay, all right. We'll get there. For now, you're just a tremendous fighter and better yet,

a tremendous human being. What a pleasure. So happy for you, Joseph. So happy for you and the team. You went out there, you put your head down, you said, give me the toughest guy, give me the guy that no one wants to fight. I'll dust them off in two rounds. You did just that, and I hope they don't screw you. And if you need me to get involved in any of the negotiations, you need me to put my foot down. I don't know who side Spencer's on, all right? I don't know whose side he's on. You know whose side I'm on, all right? We all know whose side I'm on. So if you need me to get involved, just tag me in. I'll help you out free. You know, no, no, no percentage, no nothing, you know, on the house. Thank you. So thank you. So the big goose. Thank you, Joe. All the best. Congratulations.

Enjoy the time of the family. Thank you, brother. There he is. The great Joseph Parker. What a guy. Some guy that Joseph Parker, you didn't know that he could act like that. You guys had no idea. I mean, what about that production value? Production quality's insane. That's unbelievable. Do you think he, I actually think he was pulling my leg. They're doing multiple takes and he's shaving in between? Yeah.

What the hell? No, no, no, for sure. There's no doubt. How else would you do that? I don't know, I thought maybe AI, I don't know. Also, we're late on it, but I mean, we got a picture of him fishing too. Oh. Fishing with the belt. Yo, we're late on it, but I mean, we got a picture of him fishing too. Oh.

Fishing with the belt. Yo, wow. That's old school, Joe. Yo. Oh, that might be the interim right there. That's a big ass fish. Are people, by the way, are people really eating shark?

Yes. What the hell? Andy said she eats shark in Venezuela. Yeah, we do. Really? Yeah, we put it in empanadas, for real. What does it taste like? I feel like it'll be chewy.

It's like a fishy chicken almost. That's the texture. It's pretty good actually. You can eat anything, man. Is it sort of like swordfish? Have you ever had swordfish? I haven't, no. Swordfish is, you know.

It's not like swordfish. By the way, true or false, I remember this vividly. Now that we're talking about fish, one time I was walking to the old Jack Taylor offices in Brooklyn. This is when Rick had the day job over there. Correct me if I'm wrong, Rick. Were you eating catfish?

Love catfish. Used to eat catfish, right? Used to, I'll eat a catfish right now. I love catfish. It's an extremely popular form of fish. You're weirded out by catfish? Yeah, one of the most common fish. So I actually don't like catfish.

I don't eat it, but it's obviously big down south. Many people don't like it because it's a, quote unquote, bottom feeder. Yeah. That's what I was talking about. Yeah, that'd be like saying, listen, so you went to the grocery store. I heard you had an apple.

No. It's one of the most common fish. It's not the same. It's not the same. It is extremely common. It is extremely grossed out by. Have you ever had a po' boy? Po' boy, po' boy. I've heard and catfish are kinda grossed out by. Tilapia. Have you ever had a po'boy?

Po'boy, po'boy. Catfish, po'boy, they're super common. No, no, no. Yeah, it's very common. You like tilapia? I'm okay with it. That's like a lab-grown fish. Ooh, yeah, is it gross?

I'll still eat it though. Why, why, why is it? Like a baked tilapia would bake me. It's been like a genetically. It's not a real fish? No, it's not. Apparently not, yeah, tilapia is just fake. Generated.

Man, man. What's the other one? I was with my mom on Monday and she had this fish. Branzino? Branzino, that's it, yep, yep. They were throwing around. Branzino, I don't love branzino. Yeah, it always kinda weirds me out

when you got this great menu, all these selections, and someone's just like, well, I'm going with the branzino. Well, no, I actually feel like the Brandzino's like high class, no? Yeah, Brandzino's high class. Yeah. Eh. What?

I got the one me and Jordan were tossing around for like 6.99. Yeah. Brush out the ocean. Cut you, right? See, this one. Brandzino's revenge. Yeah, I did see it.

You were wearing gloves and yet it still cut you somehow. Yeah, yeah, Brandzino's revenge. They have shark fins. Have you had shark, Frank? Uh, no. I've had shark fin soup. You have? That's like a delicacy. Yeah, what are the Chinese people?

Oh, yeah. But then it became hard to get it because of import. Is it sort of like eating lucky charms? Like there's just little fins in the soup? No, no, no, no, it's like the entire fin. There are fins in Lucky Charms? No, like you know how there's like the little charms, so like, there's like little fins

just kind of floating around the soup. No, I think they'd literally chop up the entire fin. Really? Yeah, I mean, it's not little fins, it's a shark fin. Yeah. What does that taste like? I'm looking at it right now, it doesn't look like it. Is it like matzo ball ball like little like little balls?

No, no, it looks you actually see the the shape of the fin Yeah, not not the shape now, but you can tell what the which which part is the thing it doesn't look it doesn't look great Right. What color is it? Gray. Yeah, I'm seeing gray brown There's something there's something just I guess there's, there's nothing appetizing about shark to me. I would eat the shark if I caught it myself, you know? You think so? Yeah.

You'd know how to cook it? No, no, no, I'd have someone do it for me. Oh, okay. Like when you catch a fish yourself, it makes it that much more appetizing. Have you ever done that? Oh yeah, plenty of times. Really?

Yeah, I spent two weeks on a sailboat in the Keys when I was like 17. Wow. Yeah, lived off the land on a sailboat in the Keys when I was like 17. Wow. Yeah, I lived off the land. Sitting on the dock of the bay. He was actually in the sea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, you actually slept in the sea?

Yeah, yeah, like no landing site. Wow. Okay, I didn't know this about you. I wonder if our next guest has ever had shark. Let's ask him. He's probably the most prolific chef in the history of the UFC. If you haven't seen his YouTube channel,

his Instagram, Cooking with Vogue, I mean, he can leave the fighting behind, although he does have some fighting left, but we all know he is a master when it comes to these things. He is the great Alexander Volkanovsky, kind enough to join us as always. Hello, sir, how are you? We were just talking about,

we just had Joseph Parker on, the great Joseph Parker. He was telling us about eating a shark. Do you eat shark? Oh yeah, well I think a lot of the fish and chip shops, I think a lot of the actual fish that you're eating, like the battered fish, crump fish, there usually is the shark, I think, could be wrong. But I've definitely had shark before yes. Okay wow I've never had that I've never had shark fish and chips or shark and chips but you learned something new I haven't seen it on the channel the channel has been fantastic the content has been incredible I mean you're just you're smashing it with this stuff the whole Instagram page to itself is like you wouldn't even know you're a fighter Alex you're like it's so far

away from that but it's perfect. Well done. Yeah, cheers. Appreciate it. Yeah, we're doing a great job. We find we, you know, we enjoy it. Hey, you're not wrong. You get people commenting,

Oh, I just found out now that he's a fighter. Like, you know what I mean? Like you've got people that are like fans of the cooking and then they find out I'm a fighter. So it's, it's pretty, pretty funny, but that's cool. You know, having its own identity to be doing so well is pretty cool. That's the dream.

All right, well, obviously you've got a big assignment on the 12th of April in Miami. And so we found out about this about a week ago now. And so can I ask your timeline? When did you find out that it would be, because we all presumed you'd be fighting for the belt next. We've kind of known this for quite some time, because we all presumed you'd be fighting for the belt next. We've kind of known this for quite some time, but we all presumed it would be Ilya.

When did you find out that it wasn't going to be Ilya and that it was going to be Diego for the vacant title? Yeah, so that's what was, I knew I was fighting for the title for a while. So it's been a while knowing that my next fight was for the title. I didn't have, you know, originally thought it was going to be Ilya. Then I wasn't sure.

So then there was questions for a while, because I know he did really want to move up. So I did hear he wanted to, but like they still weren't sure of that actually happening. And then so I was thinking it must be either interim or fight for the belt against Ilya. So it was like that for a while. And then in Sydney is actually where we found out. So that must have been, they must have had like a in-person sort of meeting, conversation, and you know, it must have been Ilya going, look, I'm committing to 155. And then literally they gave me the, all right, it's Diego in Miami.

And I'm like, all right, sweet, beautiful, whatever. At that stage, obviously I wanted just to fight by then. So it was getting to a stage where I was like, I just wanna fight now. It was always Ilya. I wanted Ilya, I wanted the rematch. Obviously that's gonna be a bigger driving factor for me, you know, losing to him and wanting that win back.

So that's all I wanted for a while. And then it got to a point where I didn't know what was happening. It was like, all right, now just give me whatever for the belt now. So that's sort of where we're at. So, still happy just to have a date and opponent and then that being locked in.

Is there any part of you that's disappointed you can't get that one back against them? Well, I wouldn't say that. I can't, it still can happen. Like I'm planning on going out there and looking good. You know what I mean? Going out there and doing my thing and yeah, you know, I'm bringing that belt back home.

You know, I'm very, very confident of that. And after that, I think that just sets up for an even bigger fight, whether that is still at further weight or it's at a lower amount, we could still maybe make that happen. But everyone's going to change their tone after this one, I guarantee you. And everyone has every right. I'm coming off two losses, 36 almost, 37 at the end of the year. So a lot of people are going to be like, ah, he's done, he's dusted. And they have every right to think that

until I change their mind. So that's what I plan on doing April. And by the way, for the record, I wasn't suggesting that you can never fight against him. I just meant like next up that you wanted to get it right back. And so I was wondering if you have a history with him, all this stuff, and then you find out

it's a totally different guy that you don't have history with, if there was any sort of letdown initially when you found out the news. Well, there was, by then there was, you know, there was a lead up to that being the case, right? Like there was a lot of time where he said he was moving up and I knew if he's moving up, it's Diego. Like, you know what I mean?

Like I was thinking that obviously Mosvah is another name that deserves it. But yeah, I knew it was going to be most likely Diego. So I had that in my head that that's an opportunity. At one point, we went and did the face-off in the octagon. So I'm thinking, you know, it's Ilya. So I had that in my head and started training from then. Being like, I'm going to start taking things more serious,

start game planning and things like that. But then you started hearing him talking about the lightweight thing. And then I was like, maybe it's just negotiations. Maybe, I don't know. Because I knew that he says he doesn't like the way cut. The way cut, he's got to cut a fair bit. So yeah, I just wasn't know. Cause I knew that he says he doesn't like the weight cut, the weight cut, you know, he's got to cut a fair bit. So yeah, I just wasn't sure. But then it started being like, wait,

I think this is really the case where he might actually be moving up, there might be something to it. So then I was like, all right, could be Diego. And then it was Diego, all right, sweet, whatever. By that time I'm like, let's just fucking fight. Sorry. No, no, I get it. You can say whatever you want here.

No one knows better than you though about being a featherweight champion and moving up. And so are you surprised he vacated the title? You didn't have to. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, yeah, definitely surprised. I mean, it's just, we're in a time now where the double team thing is gonna be pretty hard to do.

People wanna move up. I think the UFC gonna want you to just move up. And I think there's going to be certain fighters that will be able to do it. I think you've got like Wai Lee, her situation right now. You know, her moving up to fight Valentina, alright, like you know, that makes a lot of sense. And her keeping the belt, that'll be fine. But then you're in these other divisions, it's gonna be hard to do. And I say I don't want to sound bad but I mean this is sort of where they're at. I believe there was a time where you could do it,

my time when I decided to do it, I showed that I was active and I would be busy enough. I actually ran two of the divisions for like a couple of years, I think it was, because I had both the title fights, obviously the back to back because of the late notice and that as well, and then still defended and fought for and did my title. Within the two years, I had a heap of fights like in lightweight and featherweight. So I could keep it busy. So I feel like that's hard now, you know, that you've got some of the champions who are busy enough. I'm not taking nothing away from them, but not like Pereira,

where Pereira's just fighting every couple of months. You know, he moving up, I think that they might do that with him. He's obviously a big star and he's active and he fights anyone, you know what I mean? So it's, you can maybe see that happening, right? But I mean, I think it's gonna be hard to do it in other divisions. Because it wasn't that long ago you had, you know, myself, Izzy and like a few of us,

it would have been Pereira too, like there was a few of us that, mate, like we'll have two or three title fights every card because we'll keep it that busy. So they could do that, you know, like there was a few of us that, mate, like we're having two or three title fights every card because we were keeping it that busy. So they could do that, you know, like a, yeah, we, we wanted to fight every, every few months and there was a few of us doing that. Um, I can't name more right now, but you, you, you, you guys will know who I'm talking about. So it was just a little bit of a different time where now you've got, um, you know, and there's nothing wrong with that. People like, Oh no, right. Very strategic in their camp fighting just enough. Um, you know, yeah.'s nothing wrong with that. People are like, oh no, right, very strategic in their camp, fighting just enough, you know.

Yeah, so they're just being a bit more calculated. We'll just like bring on anyone anytime, let's go. So it's just, I feel like times are just a little bit different right now. Would you agree with that? What do you think about that? So I think it's a really interesting time because they needed, they wanted this featherweight

title fight to be in Miami they wanted you to fight I think they had made that very clear and so I don't think they I don't think an interim title would have sufficed I don't think you would have been happy with an interim title right I think they would like it's easier to sell a champion versus champion fight I think basically what I'm trying to say is it all comes down to the timing. If the timing works out and the guy can keep the belt, they'll do it. But in this case, I think the timing didn't work out and so they wanted to vacate the title.

And from what I hear, he has said time again, I don't think it's a negotiation ploy. He doesn't want to make the weight. He can't make the weight. It's just too big of a strain. And so if that's the case, what's the point of having him keep the belt? Well, that's, I see what you're saying. Yeah, definitely a vacated belt or, you know, a fight for the actual title is bigger than interim. But yeah, well, as you just said, like Ilja is serious about this and I even heard like a, so when I, you know, we'll even in like sort of talks, getting information that, obviously the respect there as well

between us is like, look, I'm not interested in fighting at featherweight. The only way I fight at featherweight if it's against me. Like they were saying the only fight that makes sense for me at featherweight is against Alex. No one else. Why would I but like they're doing it, he doesn't have any interest, he wants to move up but if he does fight at featherweight it will only be against me otherwise he's done. Like he was pretty much saying I'm done with the division, I want to move up, I want to get that second belt,

I just want to do the live, I don't want to cut weight but if I have to do this cut, you know, have to cut this weight one more time I'm only doing that against myself. That's a against Alex. I'm pretty sure I heard that from a few different sources so that's sort of where he was at with it. So he was serious about You giving it up. So I don't think it was a forced thing I know sometimes that might be the case, but with this one, he really does and he's been wanting to move up. And the only thing that was sort of keeping him second, yes, I was like, maybe I do that rematch. That's the only thing that really, only big enough fight, well that excites me at further.

But otherwise, mate, you know, the Islam fight or something bigger at a lot of ways is what he wants. So, you know, fair play to him. I understand that. But yeah, so I guess that's where it's at. But I mean, maybe we could just set up a bigger fight further down track. I'm too far away though. You're not too far away. No, I know, I know.

I don't wanna wait. You're a spring chicken. You're a spring chicken. Don't buy into this narrative that you're an old man. I'm not. I'm not, mate. Like, I'm not. I'll be honest with you, with that time off,

because I had a big time off, big break. And then you start, you're not training as much. So then you're thinking, all right, is this going to start being a problem now? So I'm like, you know what, I'm going to start camp. I'm going to bring the weight down. I want to be sharp. I want to feel, mate, best decision I made. I'm so glad I brought the weight down earlier,

where I'm at now. I'm very, very happy where we are right now. And I'll be honest with you, a few months ago, I didn't know I was like, I might not be the same guy I was. But doesn't mean I can't win, I could do this, this, this, this. You know, I'll be strategic. I've always been like that. Where now I'm like, wait a second, I feel great. I can't believe how good I'm feeling, how fast and sharp I'm feeling. So it's great. I'm in a great position. But when I talk about this, a lot of people are like, I don't know how much longer I've got left in this. I probably could go a few more years. I'm thinking of defending, winning the belt, then defending, even winning, I'm thinking of, you know what, I'm done. You know what I mean? Because how much longer do I want to do this? It's not easy. Especially to be at a level that I'm at, and my expectations, my normal is

very hard work. You know what I mean? It hurts, you're in pain, you get stuck in. That's what it takes to be a leader, be the best and be at the top. And I accept nothing but that. So it ain't easy. So I'm expected to maybe have a few more, a couple more, a few more.

We'll see. I'll say that now, I'll have a fight and absolutely love it. You know what, give me another seven. But how much longer, I still love it, but how much longer do I wanna do this to myself and my body? And I do wanna eventually sail off in the sunset, right? I've already started that, I'm here at the farm. I enjoyed the last year, it's been incredible.

So I was able to grow outside of fighting so much. So, uh, really looking forward to that, but, you know, I want to have one last crack and one, you know, get really stuck into it, uh, with that belt, defend it, maybe defend it again. You know, you know, maybe it's all one big fight after a defensible C and then it's maybe, uh, I'm done. You know what I mean? Like that's sort of where we're at.

But I want to be active even as soon as I get this belt, when I get it back, I'm like, alright, when we doing this next one, you know, who is it? You know, Mozvah, you ready? Let's go, couple months after, whatever. I'm ready. So it's gonna be, that's what I'm expecting to do. But what we're saying here is like two, three more.

That's what we're pretty much saying, right? Yeah, yeah, I mean, look, that could change. I could sit there, go there, win, and I definitely want to defend. I think I want to defend pretty quickly, and then just, I want everyone to be reminded of, oh man, you know, Vogue's back. You know what I mean?

Like, he's in there, and he's already calling for undefeated fighters, and then tell them, come on, let's go, let's see, you know, I'm going to drag these guys into the octagon, hurrying them up. You know what I mean? So, you know, I want people to be reminded of that and then we'll see where we're at after that. But I plan on having a really, really good showing, you know, in April and then maybe calling for something quick and then we'll see, we'll see what happens after that.

Maybe there, maybe we do set a bigger, uh, fight with, uh, India at that lightweight or if he wants to come back down or something like, maybe we can uh, even make that massive rematch after my next, uh, fights, you're going to want to see that again, trust me. So, um, maybe that sets up for even bigger rematch further down the track So maybe it's meant to be the way everything's just happened Be was interesting to hear you talk about the past year because I was instantly reminded of what you were saying post the year Fight and going into the first Islam fight about how difficult it was to be away

And that's why part of the reason why you wanted to jump in and and and take a short notice fight and so What's the difference? How are you able to have it's like this great experience over the past year when just two years ago You were struggling Yeah, so when and I was I'll be honest, you know, obviously I made that a vocal, you know I was made that public after the knockout. I probably usually wouldn't be put it out there like that, but I'm okay with that. I did. It was a concussion and that was how I was feeling at the time. It was tough. I've just been a fighter for so many years. I didn't

know any different. I never worked on myself at all. I just needed to be there. I was just treating myself as a machine. In the gym, just busting my ass constantly, constantly, constantly. I didn't have anything else other than being the dad, trying to be the best dad you can be and be the best athlete you can be. I didn't have any time for anything else. No real, no me time or anything like that. And I'm okay with that. That's what it takes to be elite. But now I get that. I didn't know that right then. I knew I was getting, I'm like, man, how much longer do I have in this sport? Am I going to be okay after I'm done? I had a responsibility where all these monies are coming in. So there was that thing where I was like, all right, I'm champion. I can make so

much money now. How much longer do I still have? We need a, you know, so it was a pressures, a few different types of pressures and not a good understanding on my end. But after the two, obviously, knockouts, I'm like, you know what, I made the decision and accepted the decision to have a proper break. And where that wasn't my decision previously, I wanted to fight and I was getting held back and I was still doing the full training schedule with nothing really in sight. And that was just weird for me.

Where now I was like, all right, I've got nothing locked in. I can just work on myself, work on cooking with Volf. And mate, the growth I had in myself was incredible. You know, I learned so much I mean like it was a it's incredible it really is and so now I know I know what what it is I know when I'm in camp so right now I've got that fighter's identity again and a lot of people like oh you know like it's a bad thing so that's what it takes to be to be elite you want to be the best fighter in the world you've got to sacrifice everything and you even sacrifice a bit of yourself. You know what I mean? I sacrificed a lot of myself

for so many years to be able to look after my family and that's just what it takes and I'm okay with that, especially now the fact that I know I'm going to be all right afterwards. I wasn't sure if I was going to be all right before. Now I know, I feel I feel great. The time off was incredible. I started thinking, man, am I going to go back? That's how much I was going to. Wow. Wow. So it's crazy. It is crazy. It was like, and then I was like, man, how am I going to, you know, switch, flip the switch? You know, I would have the conversation knowing that look, when the time comes, I will flip the switch. So I had confidence that I can do it. But there was still doubts of me questioning myself, are you going to be able to?

Are you going to be the same guy? You know what I mean? You've never done this before. You've always just straight back in the gym, training schedule, and just worked life around your training schedule. You know, it's where this, that year I did it. Where now I'm back, all right, now the world is working around my schedule and I'm okay with that, you know what I mean? The sacrifices, I'm gonna try and be the best father

I can during this time, but there's gonna be not as much time for myself. I'll try and get a bit of the cooking with bulk out there still and do a bit of that whenever I can, but yeah, there won't be any much free time unless I'm recovering and resting and I'm okay with that. And I'm only gonna I'm only gonna do that for a bit longer. But as I said to you earlier, how much longer do I want to do this for? I know that once I'm done, I can sail off in the sunset. I'm in a great position, very, very happy. But how much longer do I want to do this to myself?

So that's sort of the question. And again, like I can do it, I still enjoy it. I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying it right now. But it ain't easy. When I say enjoy it, that doesn't mean it's easy. It's painful. But it's like, I guess I'm just enjoying the goals that I'm taking. I'm enjoying just the success I'm having in training camp and stuff like that. So I guess that's just, I'm driven by that sometimes. So it's been great, but how much longer do I wanna do that for? That's the question, but I know I'm gonna be fine once the career is done. Two years ago, if you asked me,

I didn't know if I was gonna be fine. Now I know. What do you say to the people who say it shouldn't have been Diego, it should have been Moff Zahir against you? Al Jermain Sterling is getting into it with Diego's manager on Twitter, there's other people as well. Moff Zahir obviously beat him two years ago, short notice fight. What's your stance on that? It's a tricky one because you can look at Moff Zahir, he's undefeated.

But again, I know I'm with you as well. I always want to go by who earns it and stuff like that. But what is earning? Is earning being active, fighting anyone, anywhere, anytime? I think that's a lot of brownie points and that's deserving. But being undefeated and winning and being a top contender, that's deserving but being undefeated and you know winning and you know being a you know top contender that's obviously deserving too. I think Mosvah is still going to be well look what I'm planning on doing like I'm telling you that I'm going to go there I'm winning the belt and I'll call him out so he can probably just wait if he wants. I'm going to talk to the UFC I haven't

even said this to the UFC maybe I will go mate I'll let him know I'll go if he wants to sit there and so he's next whatever I'm winning that title and I'll fight him three. I'll go, if he wants to sit there and so he's next, whatever, I'm winning that title and I'll fight him three months later. Tell me the date that we can do it and I'll call the shots that night. I wasn't going to say that, but I'm saying it to you. But that's sort of how I'm feeling. I'm like, yeah, let's get straight back into it. Let's not waste any time and then see where we're at.

So yeah, I think Mozavar is definitely deserving as well. He was obviously a very close fight with Al Jermain. So it's just if you've got to make that decision, you've got a dominant victory over Brian Ortega. Active, he's a lot of hype around him. So you can see why they're saying that. I can see both ways. So I'm not surprised at all that it's Lopez. But we all think anyone should be surprised. No, no, he had a lot of momentum and as a fan. I think, and I know you always got the fighters back. And I know even you sort of understand

the situation as well. For sure. You're usually very, you know, you'll be very vocal and be like, ah, you know, it's not fair. You understand, yeah, it's sort of not fair but i get his side too you know you can you can get both sides like so i think it's pretty much split anyway if not just because of active and where where lopez is at right now i think that's why why he got it but as i said i can uh do everyone a favor and win the title

and then give him the next fight anyway. So we'll see. I'll talk to UFC, let them know that's the case. And yeah, we'll see what happens. They're watching right now. They love the show. So they'll- Yeah, well, there you go.

They're making sure we're not saying anything. No, no, we're all good. By the way, Danaway was asked on Saturday about Ilya and Islam and he's like, look, it might not be that. He might fight someone else. Would you be surprised if he's, I just presumed he's giving up the belt to fight for the belt. Would you be shocked if he fights someone who isn't the champion, who isn't Islam?

There is a lot of moving paths right now. And I think we're all aware of that even just the way our fight went and You know and the Ilya moving up Right now what do you think that happening at lightweight? You know, there's is like because Islam we know Islam wants to move up You know, you've got the Balau situation You know what Jack Melladela wins that fight Islam's moving up. Let's be real, Islam's moving up. Let's be real, Islam's moving up straight away. And then you're gonna have, maybe you got,

is that what they're waiting for? There's a lot of moving parts right now. So it's, yeah, it's a tricky one. Maybe, I think Ilya and Islam is a big fight. Now that he's vacated, I think they're gonna, they might reward him for that. But yeah, we'll see. There's a lot happening right now. I don't know anything, but just from knowing the game and knowing the situation and just how things are,

there's a lot of moving parts right now. Anything can change like that. You know what I mean? And a massive change is Jack Delah. If that belt changes hands, when is it? May? May 10th, yep. Well, there you go.

Islam, you know what I mean? Everything that just come from, that's where all the decisions probably get made on the spot. So yeah, I feel that's what I mean? Everything that just comes from that's where all the decisions probably get made on the spot. So yeah, that's what I think anyway. I don't know. But that's what I think most people agree that makes sort of sense, right? You know them very well, Islam and Ilia. Just curious if they do fight, who wins?

Look, the thing is with Ilia, he's a dangerous fighter and he can catch anyone. You know, if he goes there and he's stoic there and he's stoic, even if the fight's not going his way, he will eventually not get it, but he's going to be hard to do. I think Islam is a pretty safe fighter. I think the scrambling stuff, even if Ilya's takedown defense is solid, I still think them exchanges are going to be better off for Islam. But you can't count Ilya's power out, you know, them hands. He's going to be looking for that shot. In the early rounds, he's going to be very dangerous. So to say he's got no chance is silly because, you know what I mean? And that's how I've always, for myself as well, that's how I've always seen myself only getting beaten by someone catching me.

I don't feel like anyone can actually beat me, but everyone has a chance of catching you. And I still believe that's the case now. But I mean, you've got some that are, you know, better chances than others and Ilya has the better chance than most. By the way, there was once a period of 1268 days where you were the UFC featherweight champion and Patricio Pitbull was the belt tour featherweight champion. Now here he is fighting on the same card as you fighting for the belt. We didn't mention Patricio. Is that a net? You see that on the same card? Is that a name that piques your interest?

Yeah, I guess it does. I'll be honest, I haven't thought about that. Because yeah, there were so many years where I remember he was calling me out, but I was just busy doing my thing in the UFC. So I think him moving to UFC was a great thing. I think he's going to be good for the division. Does he get a title shot straight after this? I don't know.

I go, was he fighting a year? Maybe, maybe a big finish. Maybe the UFC put that up. But I mean, that's when you start being like, all right, now we're having me and you're having them conversations about Mozambique. You're like, I'm a poor bloke. You know what I mean? You know, then you're you're having them sort of, but you just never know.

For me, I want a quick turnaround. You know what I mean? Whoever it is, if that people, if he's going, then there's a lot of hype. I mean, you know, sit there going, you know, am I going to win the belt have a defense you know what I do there's all these hype on people because he's had a massive win and another massive win all right that might make me hang around that little bit like all the ilia fight you know what I mean like we'll see but I definitely got a you know I know I've got a couple more left in me or even a few more left in me but I'm just uh yeah trying to be realistic with it and I'm being realistic with you guys.

Like, you know, I could sit there and just tell you, oh, I've got another 10 more in me, you know, but I'm, you know, that's definitely okay. So I don't want to go that long, but I mean, I definitely feel great right now. And I definitely want to be active this year. So I want to go bang bang. So I know that for sure.

And then we'll see where we're at after that. Just a couple more and I'll let you go. Can I ask what? What do you think Izzy should do? He's in an interesting spot now after the fight earlier this month Well as his friend as his teammate as as someone who's known him for so long. Where do you think he goes from here? Yeah, man, it's a yeah It is an interesting one because a lot of people are going to just see the losses. But as I said, I wasn't lying. I know we said, I look great in camp. He looked great in camp. I've never seen him so fit. That's the fittest I've ever seen him. Some of them are fight simulators. The way he absolutely smashed him, that actually motivated me and inspired me.

He can be doing that now. Why can't I? And they're like, you know, I was like, come in, he can be doing that now, why can't I? And then like, you know what I mean? So that was like, oh, I'm gonna step it up now. Now I can still be that same guy I was two years ago. You know what I mean? So that's a bit of inspirational sort of stuff from Izzy. And he was looking great. He was looking good.

And then he got caught. You know what I mean? That's the thing that people, you know, Izzy, are we that little bit more susceptible to getting caught than we were a few years ago? Maybe, but you could see that he could win these fights. You could see that he's still better than a lot of these guys. But the guys obviously know that, all right, I'm not going to sit there and try and outpoint this guy. I'm going to go look for the finish. And that's going to be the same case with me. That's what they're going to do with me. I don't think Diego is sitting there thinking he can outpoint me. He's going to be trying to look for the finish. Last time, I was a little too

cautious and it cost me. That didn't happen this time. You want to be aggressive with me, I'm going to put a hold straight through you. I'm really looking forward. For easy, I think So I'm really looking for it. But for easy, I think, I still think he's got it. I think he wants to keep going and good on him. You know what I mean? If it's, it's just a weird one, right? People are gonna look at the losses and be like, oh, he's done, he's not done.

Like he still looks great. You know, if he went out there and just, the guy was all over him and stuff, and then you would understand, but that wasn't the case. You mentioned earlier, like, I know some people wanna say that I'm done, I'm older, him and stuff, and then you would understand, but that wasn't the case. You mentioned earlier, like, I know some people want to say that I'm done, I'm older, this and that. Do you use that as motivation now? Yeah, of course, that's why I bring it up.

That's why I bring it up. Obviously, there's a lot of people that are saying that, you know, they understand the situation. It took a short notice of fight three months later. You know what I mean? Like, so a lot of people understand that, like I mean, even people quickly forget, you know, so I'm not saying everyone's thinking that, like I know I've got a lot of supporters out there, but you're

gonna hear me talk about these other guys saying I'm too old, which again, you know I love that, so I'm gonna write on that. But I mean, not only that, they have every right to think that. You know what I mean? Like over the last year, I felt like I had to prove something to myself. And I've already proved it to myself now. So I'm very happy where I am. Now I get to be like, you know what, I have confidence I get to prove it to the doubters

now. Because I'll be honest, there was times I was like, all right, am I going to be the same guy? I was a bit heavier, wasn't moving as fast as I was in the gym as much. But then I started training and getting really stuck in or bring the weight down. And now I feel, you know, feeling great. So it's a yeah. So now I'm excited and like a that's what I'm enjoying the camp.

You know, I'm telling you how hard it is, but it is hard. But there's excitement because I'm ticking a lot of boxes. You know, I'm getting closer to the goals. And and you know, that's just how I'm driven. But it's, yeah, it's, it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be good. I'm really looking forward to it. Again, he's a dangerous guy. I'm not taking anything away from Lopez.

Dangerous fighter. He's obviously the submission fret and the power is very aggressive. But yeah, I think I can capitalize on that. It's a good thing you're getting back to work. I see you spending $23,000 at Bondi Beach and stuff like that. What's going on here? You don't strike me as this kind of guy.

What's that? $23 on one tab, is that possible? I'm glad. I'm sort of glad they said that that was my shot. Like, you know what I mean? Cause that makes me look like the big. Yeah, it wasn't you. I am telling everyone like how serious,

like serious I've taken it. Cause I haven't had a cheat meal area I haven't had a cheat meal or even a drop of alcohol for like seven eight weeks um and and even cheat meals everyone knows I've got to cook on my vop so you see me but I'm just portioning everything my cheat meals used to be insane so I haven't even had a proper cheat meal or an a drop of alcohol for that long. So that's how serious I'm taking this. It's been great for me, great decision. But yeah, I went over there and people are like, oh, what's he doing drinking? And I was like, see, obviously assuming I'm drinking because I supposedly did this 20,000.

It was a campaign I did with Tyro where their big buyout, that was a part of their campaign, where their marketing thing and all that, they wanted to like give back to small businesses and the community. And so they threw money at them. And obviously I was the face of it. And it was good, so I'm like, yeah man, I'll attach my name

to give them back to the people, those drivers. So then everyone's like Vox shouts, everyone $23,000. I was like, far out, all right, I'll take all a box shots, everyone $23,000. I was like, far out. All right, I'll take all the credit then. But, um, it was a critical, a lot of food and that as well. It was a good time, but. What is an insane cheat meal, by the way, what's an insane cheat meal for you? What does that actually mean?

I didn't stuck right in the KFC, uh, be like, so I'll get like a, wherever two different sort of dinners, but KFC, I have like like whatever two different sort of dinners but KFC I have like make sure I've got you know a nice big twist with like three four pieces of chicken, the you know the potato and gravy all that stuff you can imagine. I'm probably having a family meal to myself and then I'm having you know a big bag of pods, block of chocolate, like that type of stuff. Like, you know, we're feeding in 6,000 calories in one meal. And, you know, almost making yourself sick. Used to be pretty nuts. I'm a bit better. I'm not as bad as I used to be.

But still, I would because I love my chocolate. So I'll go get a big bag of chips and then a big block of chocolate and I'll smash that no drums. Where now I'll have four little block of chocolate and I'll smash that no drums. Where now I'll have four little pieces of chocolate and I'm just, that's it. You know what I mean? I have good meals. The good thing about me doing it, how I'm doing it, I can just have a lot of good meals.

So I can go out to a restaurant and eat good and know that, all right, just as long as I don't get out of hand, my calories during the week is still going to be well under. And I've been able to do that. And my weight's already ahead of schedule because I was pretty heavy when we first started. So my nutritionist was like, oh, shit, we've got to work to do. Jordy was like, this might be a decent cut. So I'm like, that made me be like, you know what, because I know we've got to go. But you know, I've always been, I know we've got to go, but everyone knows my work ethic and that I've always second to none. When it comes to in camp, everyone knows I bust my ass, but I could have always done better with my nutrition.

So I am still professional, but not as professional as I can be, nowhere near as professional as I can be when it comes to nutrition. You know, the last few years, I didn't mind having a few drinks, a new during camp, nothing too crazy, but where now I'm like, you know what, this is stuff where I thought I might need to do, because I might not be the same guy.

I remember I was telling him that sort of how I was thinking, I might not be the same guy. So I might go these one percenters and really take these one percenters serious. I mean, I did that. So now I'm doing that and I've committed. So even though now I feel great, I feel like I can have a cheap, but I feel like I can have alcohol and I'm going to be sweet because that's how good I feel.

But you know, that's something that I said that I wasn't going to do. I ain't going to do it and I feel great. Let's keep that rolling. So I'm in a very, very good position right now and can't wait. Well, what a stretch for Australian MMA, really Australian combat sports. There's a big card in Australia in late March, then yourself on April 12th, then JDM as you mentioned on May 10th. Times are good for Aussie fans. I love it. They will be. It will be very good. Like I said, man, I'm telling you, I'm bringing that belt back home to Australia

and Jack's no joke. I think Jack can be a bit of a nightmare for Belau. So we could be having two belts back here in Australia within a couple of months. So that's pretty insane. And I'm telling you, I'm bringing it back. A pleasure as always, Alex. Really appreciate it.

Thank you so much. Welcome back. Good luck in the next month and a half, two months or so as always Alex really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Welcome back Good luck in the next you know month and a half two months or so as you prepare for the fight Can't wait for it April 12th always appreciate your time. Thank you so much. No words. I can't wait either Let's remind them here. Yes, you almost forgot who the king is Alright I'm gonna get to training. I'll see you later. Okay. God bless. There he is the great Alex Volkanovsky and that's Volkanovsky. All right None of yous out there who say Volkanovsky. It's Volkanovsky Come on, how can you know root for Alex Volkanovsky? I mean both guys very likable, right? Both guys very likable

Alex and Diego what's going on outside? It looks very gray out there. It looks like a shark's fin Looks like a shark's fin. It looks like a shark's fin, Frank. It does. It looks like a storm's a- Deepest blue is my hat is like a shark's fin. Reference? Not familiar with that one. Deep blue sea, great movie. What do they call great white sharks if they're gray?

Sorry, just drinking out of my Lululemon water bottle. Yeah. Light flex. Y'all must have forgotten. Was that written on it under that? Just dripping it all over your chin there? That says Halwani, all right? That's for Claire.

You know, they tend to lose the water bottles a lot, the kids, you know? Yes, tough. Because Dad takes them first thing in the morning. It's a bit of a problem. Water bottles, jackets, like they just walk out. I'm like, where's the jacket? Oh, I left it.

What do you mean you left it? Who walks out without the jacket? That was me as a kid What are you talking about? You're walking in a t-shirt you What it should be automatic? How do you not think to take to the jacket? You're so wrapped up in the Legos in the running around in the sports Legos. I'm talking about a 12 year old here I so you just wrapped up in legos What's wrong with you? Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.? Sorry sorry don't shame don't tell Brandon Moreno Yeah, Dan Hardy was big into that but no you get wrapped up in it

I was that kid too totally forgot the jackets umbrellas all the time lunchboxes Frank gifted me a pair of earbuds great earbuds lost I'm about three days to lose them. Yeah, what the the air pods no Nice, I'm sure those things in general or is it like by the way, what was the okay? I actually really don't what was the occasion for yes me is like hey, man Do you know of a nice pair of earbuds that I could use on my commute? And I was like I got you, bro And I had already bought him a pair of in-ear monitors, and I was like you could take these and a week later

It's like how do they sound he's like I couldn't tell you I lost them Wow how much? $100 that's not too bad Wow all right well then you can replace them I found a great pair that I've been using real cheap stuff ulex That I wear now. It's like $50. So if I just lose them. Oh, I thought you were pulling them out for us.

Right here. Oh, are they sponsoring us now? Yeah, what the hell? Oh, those don't look great. I mean, it looks like something. He said a cheap pair. If you shove it right into your brain, it's one. OK.

They're magnetic. Oh, I see. I see. OK, now it looks better. Wait, magnetic? What do you mean magnetic? Oh, they go together like that He's a metal plate in his head. Why would anyone do that wait so can somebody you wouldn't do that

Okay, keep them together got it got it got it can somebody hear if you did that can somebody hear like what's playing if? I was close enough to you, baby Guys, we're trying either way they sound great the the air pods stress me out man I I well because I always feel like I'm going to lose, like every week at least three times a week, I think I'm going to lose them. Or I think I did lose them. Because they're going to fall out?

No, because I'm like, where are they? You keeping me? You can find them on Find My iPhone. Never works, first of all. It never works. You can never hear it. And then second of all, you put in your pocket once, you put the pants in the wash, you're screwed.

Cooked. You're cooked. Yeah, that's why I use the cheapos. I'm a big wired guy too. I like wired better. I like being connected. Wired is the best. You need to have some responsibility.

If you wash your wired ones, they're going to get jacked up too. Actually, no. They're shitty. Washing them doesn't hurt anything. Yeah. Just let them air out first. I actually wash them to clean them. OK, and that's a little.

Just send them through the washing machine. I think he's joking I think he's I brought a cleaning tool for Rick's IEM so he can clean his earwax off of his IEM He hasn't touched it. What's an IEM? At least if you're gonna do a bit I literally have it wait do you mean an IFP? No, what's the difference in your monitor the IEM is the thing the IFP is like the verb like you're and that's all the same No, that would be like hey, I'm gonna telephone you like I see could say that but that's yeah, don't say that actually I think people say that okay. How do you clean? I'll phone you how do you clean air pods? No, they have it's the same thing

Wait, where's the person? Yeah, where is the tool? I can't find it Look at me zoom in. Yes, and all of a sudden we can just zoom in. What is that, what is that? It's like a little tool. Is it like a toothpick? It has a sharp end. There's like a loop end, and there's another blunt end. Oh yeah.

And he couldn't catch the hint of like, I'm tired of cleaning your earwax off of your earpiece for you. He got it for me to clean, and then he's like, oh, I'm cleaning your earwax. That is amazing. You know, I used to just like rock up and they'd give me an IFB.

And then actually Adi was like, now you gotta show up with your own. And then I started thinking like, yeah, it's pretty gross. Actually at ESPN when I got there, one of the first things they did on the first day, like within the first hour, they molded them for me. I had a double one they did that they did that because Frank had been talking about that for like a year before He actually even did that for oh Yeah

I had to call and set up an appointment with an audiologist for him because did you do that to anyone? Your entire tenure of working in broadcast you ever made someone call the audiologist for you I'm annoyed. they just did the appointment for me. They just did it. Oh my god. I mean, they just did it for you. I mean, that's awesome. You think I made the appointment?

It's not my domain. It wasn't by request, they just did it. They told me, go walk to this person's office and there they were with the wax. The guy who won't open a bathroom door without a tissue is like, oh yeah, just stick random stuff in my ear, it's fine. No.

Yeah, well you see, it's my first day at ESPN. You think I'm gonna tell them, where's this coming from? I'm like, yeah, sure, you can stick anything in there. I was so happy to be there. They were on campus though Were they not? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah We don't have an audiologist on well, maybe we should get one Decided we're bringing in an audiologist. Yeah, or the ear fitting that will need once every three. Listen, it's important How do you guys feel about Q-tips? I love them.

You're not supposed to use them, but it kind of feels good. Who says this? You know, I actually, I had an ear doctor was like, look, I use a Q-tip. I know I'm not supposed to. She was like, yeah. And then she looked at my ear, she's like,

but this is a really clean ear. Wow. What do you think that came from? Like it's, I'm cleaning it every day. I saw this one, every day might be a lot. I saw this one dude, he was on the streets of India, what city in particular, I do not know. And he walked up to a guy whose like sole profession

was going into your ear. And he was doing like, he had these thin tweezers and he was pulling out like chunks. Yeah. And it made me very uncomfortable. I'm like, if this is happening to some random dude on the street, what do I have in here? Yeah, I went to me very uncomfortable. I'm like if this is happening to some random dude on the street What do I have in here? Yeah? I went I went to a barber and you haven't ever gotten to get it cleaned

Professionally no I have not either why have you I did I had to for this on Monday Jordan this ear. Yeah, stop it You're right suction did it out You know gene very important in the front row. I don't know about those guys. Wait, is that true? Is he being serious? I just said I did it, Frank. Wait, wait, wait. I'll do the front row for a minute. Wait a second, there's too much going on.

First of all, on air, Jordan, did you really do this on Monday? So, Monday I went to the ENT because I don't know if you know I got the Jackman flu, so I was getting my stuff checked out. And they look in your ears and you're like, oh, it's a little clogged in there. Takes the little vacuum machine, sucks it right out.

What did it feel like? Well, don't tell Jill that I can hear her now, but I've been pretending that they suck. Wow. That's great. But was it like a huge thing of wax that came out? Well, that time, so this may be a little TMI, but there have been times where I've gone to the NT

and what they've taken out is kind of gross and large. This time, I don't know, because he vacuumed it. Other times it's been scraped out. Right, and look at the results. But don't use a Q-tip. I did that one time, shoved the earwax too deep into my ear. See, Frank? Couldn't hear how to go to urgent care.

I was there for an hour. Whoa, really? Yeah, for real. OK, well, you've got to be careful. It's quite pathetic. And now, what nice. Black Japanese Q-tips that are. Okay, well you gotta be careful. It's quite a cathartic. And now what nice. Black Japanese Q-tips that are ribbed and it's the best that you have so many nerve endings

in your ear. Ribbed. Yeah. It was unnecessary. Ribbed for my pleasure. It was unnecessary. It feels more like a kink than a. I went to a barber recently. No, the guy in India, that's a kink.

Oh, let me clean your ears though. Pull it all the way up. A kink. It didn't seem too kinky to me. Now when did you do it, Rick? For the earpiece fitting. Because they need to have good access to the canal so they can put the wax in. I'm not mistaken.

Rick has small ear canal. He has very abnormal ear canal. Very small. I went to a barber recently and they waxed ear and nose. I was like, well, this is- Wait, waxed it? What do you mean waxed it? Waxed it.

Oh, waxed it. Bro shoved wax filled Q-tips up my nose and in my ears. I was like, what is going on? Shut up. And it was too late at that point. I was like, yo, is this shit gonna hurt, man? He's just like, nah, we'll do it quick. Did it feel good?

Did it feel good? It hurt like shit, man. It hurt like a motherfucking, yeah. I was like, I had this single tear coming down my face. I was like, damn, that shit gonna hurt. But he showed me the results. It was, it was pretty gross damn You can't spring that on somebody

I'm talking just right up the nose right in the ears, and he's just like I'd rather give those about five minutes I was just like wow that's that's a lot of talk. That's a lot No, no didn't ask for what if someone's having lunch right now. How do they feel about this conversation? They love it things happen, right? How do they feel about this conversation? They love it things happen, right? Think about Frank's earwax enjoy it I get a little bit of hair on the ear and you have to like I got to hit the nose every once in a while. I used to I used to go once a week I don't go anymore. Maybe I need to go back I Gotta say the ear cleaning was very pleasant. It was nice. And who did

this for you? Like there's an odd the the wonderful audiologist that Frank sent you there after two years did it for me and it was fantastic. Wow. I'm gonna go once a year. I didn't realize these appointments were being made. I didn't realize either for a long time because they weren't being made after I constantly complained about the earpiece not fitting in my ear. And then one day Frank was like, yeah, maybe I'll do my job. And then he booked it.

Wow. Wow. There's a lot of freak ear canals shows up on my own. Where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's

where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's where's Super Gents. Super Gents. Super Gents. Oh yes, wow. You cooked that up.

No. Oh, well thank you. You never did. I just pushed the button. What do we got? It's a good question. Where are we starting? We got Duncan.

Love the show and love when we get strong insight from the chiming in on Air Jordan. But is there anything we can please do with this audio? Oh wow. It really takes the professional edge off of the product. I don't know what bothers me more. Six thumbs up on that bad boy. That Duncan, our would be eighth producer on the show,

sent this in, or that there's six thumbs up. So there's not eighth, but also eighth through 14. I don't know. I love how Ariel VPN'd into his burner from England. I have no idea how to do that. I just think it's funny that his avatar is a bucket of KFC right after Volk was just talking about having a whole family meal.

True, I can eat. Yeah, shout out. What else? Matt writes, Ariel Hohwani, random question. If your recent fender bender was with Dana's child and he was on the phone with you and said Hey, can we just keep this between us, please?

Would you do that favor or no way big fan? Thx what a freaking weird question. I wonder if it like why not just say Dana instead also by the way But then I guess you guys are face to face so that would well It's because when I when I told the story of the fender bender, the girl called her mom. Oh, that's right. Yes. So, but it's just like, whose mind goes there? And yes, if, listen, live by the sword, die by the sword.

I have always said, if it's off the record, it's off the record. Trust me when I tell you guys this, if I didn't stay true to that, I wouldn't be doing this 16 years. We wouldn't have Alex Wolkonowski on the program, Sean Brady on the program, the big ooze Joseph Parker on the program. We wouldn't have the names that we've had this week and the week prior and the week prior and the week prior. You lose that trust, you lose that credibility,

you're done, no one talks to you. So yes, if it's off the record, in this case you're essentially describing off the record, it's off the record in this case, you're essentially describing off the record It's off the record, bro What else Ben is on the record asking please explain New York Rick's name? Lol, I thought his name was Rick until watching boys in the back Also pound for pound Iowa top five boom boom hook jams. Just an idea The Tony Hawk thing that happened in Iowa.

Shout out to the 2005 Tony Hawk BOOM BOOM HUCK JAM. Come on man. I thought it was just a festival. The way he says BOOM BOOM, the way Connor in particular says BOOM BOOM. But what is a BOOM BOOM HUCK JAM? Is that a type of music? If you don't know what a BOOM BOOM HUCK JAM is, you wouldn't get it. You're not hooking your booms.

The way he says it! If you don't know what a boom boom huck jam is, you wouldn't get it. You're not hucking your booms. Yeah, take it up. The way he says it. The way he says it. It's essentially, it's just like this, action sport extravaganza. That's the only way to describe it. Like extreme sports? No, but why is he calling that?

Yeah, Tony Hawk brings it, he's skateboarding, there's BMX riders, there's all sorts of crazy shit going on. ESPN used to do that. Hence, boom boom huck jam. Tony Hawk's boom boom huck Jam in 2002 was a tour that Tony Hawk did across America in the fall of 2002 he didn't just do it in 2002 he also did it in 2005 when he visited Des Moines Iowa UFC fight night Des Moines there it is let me ask you guys this in reference to the name

question the answer my friends call me Rick and and have called me Rick for yeah. No, no, but also that was your original social media That's when you joined your your Twitter name was New York Rick. No, not when I joined when I joined this show Yeah, yeah, but but my other thing is like Is is the is the Eric versus Rick thing hard to decipher? Cuz I didn't think so but I do get this a lot like people think my name is Rick and hard to decipher? Because I didn't think so, but I do get this a lot. Like people think my name is Rick, and then they're like, it's Eric? And I'm like, yeah, you just dropped the E.

Like it's pretty close. I think because Rick, R-I-C-K, is necessarily short for Eric. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or Richard. We go Rick short for New York Rick, or NY Rick. Yeah. Like would you call Eric Adams, like Rick Adams?

I actually had a roommate before I moved here named Eric and we just called him Rick really I feel like it's normal, but I do get it a lot. So he's not the only one when you're from Long Island You know, I'm not from Long Island. What else? Jordan not our Jordan pizza singular ha will never get old Smiley, I do I do you know, I do Pizzi isn't here because he's a good sort of, he's a good laugh track, you know? I'll sometimes hear him when he's not even, yeah. Where is he?

Is he gonna show up? I actually kind of miss him right now. I don't know where he is. That's very sweet. I hope it's not where he's hearing this in. I miss his presence. Let's see, by the way, let's see if he's watching. This is a good test.

He probably is. Don't ever do this on me, by the way, but let's see if he's watching let's this is a good test probably don't ever do this on me by the way but let's see if he's watching yeah PT are you there if you're there send me a text all right not me all right what else Matt Borgeson hey Ariel and friends what are your thoughts on Riyadh season needing to implement Fight Camp ready backup fighters like UFC in case things go wrong? I mean, first of all, the sky changed colors again. Now for the better. Are you alright? No, it was like super gray and now it's kind of back to normal. I don't know if they need to keep them at the ready when they're throwing around that kind of money and clearly they had a long list of fighters who are ready to step up. But yes, I mean it is always good to have backups.

The problem is they're kind of far out there, not too far from England. You know, it's like six, seven hours I think it is, so I don't know. I would also say this event accepted, right? This event is pretty special and stands alone. Most of the time the people that you would want to see on that main event are not replaceable, right? If you have the matchup between these two guys in boxing, typically they're selling you that card

based on that matchup alone, and if somebody was to step in on short notice, it'd probably be kind of like a subpar replacement to what you want. Whereas in the UFC, right, if the third fight of the night drops off, that was something that was selling people, right? The entirety of that card and the strength of it. For boxing, to me, it always made more sense to just be like, let's rebook it. This

event accepted, right? They wanted to make the last crescendo and a huge card. And so you needed to kind of keep Parker on that card and, again, respect to Bacoli and Parker for stepping into that situation. But most of the time, if it an event, if it's a fight worth replacing, you would just rebook that main event as opposed to UFC. Yeah but I will say what transpired last week first with Joth Padley replacing Floyd Schofield and then the Boccoli Parker Dubois situation felt very UFC-esque. 100%. We don't see that in boxing when a fight falls through, a fight falls through. Do you think if another random fight though on the you know fifth slot of tank versus

rope, you know they're not just gonna do it they're not gonna do anything there's no reason. But but but Turkey has talked about how he likes how the UFC operates, he wants that for boxing, and so him implementing these things is not a surprise. Beep! There it is. What else? Andrew writes, hey team, my boy Oli Barr has his first MMA amateur fight this week. Oh yeah.

Can you cheers him? Love your work, please give him a massive shout out. Shout out to Oli Barr. Love that name. My son's name is Oli and I wish you the best, my guy. First amateur fight, that's incredible. The start of what will without a doubt be a tremendous journey, a martial arts journey,

a spiritual journey. You got this and please channel your inner Bruce Lee. Be like water out there. Be adaptable. flow, move, stick to the game plan, but don't stick to the game plan. You know, read what the opponent is throwing your way and then respond in kind. All to say you got this and please update us

next week on the program via Super Chat, preferably no less than $10. Okay, we're not out here just you know doing you know Shout outs for everyone all the winnings and yes, and let us know how he does, please What else producer sleeto writes in reiterating support for the Monday bet recaps I know Rick as top dog counts as two votes, but with my vote you're outnumbered three to two so Monday it is Thank you for the record. It should be noted that I'm just good guy now not two votes, but with my vote, you're outnumbered three to two. So Monday it is. Thank you. For the record, it should be noted

that I'm just good guy now, not Top Dog, but also no, incorrect, will not happen. I actually kind of like it. Does my vote count for anything? I mean, I kind of think it makes- I think Slido has invested a lot in the show. I do feel like Thursday is a little far. It does fit as a package

when you're doing the picks to recap. But I do think people would like to know how you guys did on the Monday. Maybe we can make it quick. Yeah, I mean, listen, let it be known, I'm not the one who said I didn't want it on Monday. I don't like the continuation of the storylines on the Monday show when we have the show.

I think Rick's saying this because he cost the parlay last week. He's gonna get dunked on Monday morning. No, no, no, no. Where's Pizzi? How is Pizzi not on here yet? Still recovering from all the times we dunked on him. He doesn't watch?

No text, no text. No text, Zoom 3 is wide open. Bro ain't watching. He's getting ready for bread, bushing his teeth. Where's Pizzi? By the way, some breaking news, guys. Oh. They've gone the distance at the city ground, nil nil.

Thanks for the update, by the way. What was the update? Well, I mean, I mean, I would have been, you know. Zero goals. We got a point. Didn't even need to play it. We got a point. That means as of right now, we're a point up on Man City

for fuck's sake. Six back of Arsenal and what is that? Jeez Louise Liverpool has 67 points. We have 48 golly. Yeah, they're gonna win. They're running away with this right now. Congrats to Liverpool. If the season ended today, we're in the champions league. Yeah.

What do you think? What do you think? How does it end up? Because look at this, it is tight. We have 48 Man City is 47, Chelsea is 46, New Castle, 44, Bournemouth, 43, Brighton, 43, Fulham, 42, Aston Villa, 42, and then Brentford, uh, 38. I mean, there's a, there's like seven teams there.

Like one good weekend for all of them. And we're out of it. Yeah. What about Tottenham? Tottenham is 33 number 13. I just want to know if we can play for Tottenham. South Hampton nine at the bottom. Leicester 17 tied with Ipswich. Somebody has nine? Nine. Oh geez. So they're gonna get relegated. Wolves is 22. They seem pretty secure right now. I Don't like when the three teams that moved up get relegated Is that what happened these three teams were the ones that just moved up and now they're going back? Yeah

Yeah, that does stink a little bit. It's kind of annoying I did watch the not in the forest game by the way, which one today's oh you were watching during the show Yeah, as I was wow Watching for you. I appreciate it. Yeah, you asked for that. No, you're watching the show as I want to talk about watching for you I appreciate it yeah you asked for that no you're right I did not gonna lie not in forest lucky to leave with a point oh really so we

should be happy about this gave up 11 corner kicks yikes compared to three oh you guys lost a man city yeah we're not good okay but we do have a plus 15 goal differential if that goes no that's that's solid Liverpool winning to know I'm actually better than for school differential. Yeah, it's fine. We have more points. What else Frank? What else long weekends writes is GC watching National Rugby League Las Vegas this weekend

Oh games of rugby league the toughest game on earth for time Premiership winners What is it? And with Panthers? I'll be watching of course, you know me Yeah, do you watch, what is it, Seven Nations? Rugby Sevens, what is it? Six Nations, Rugby Sevens. Yeah, Ireland's still in the lead for that. Is that true? How do you know this?

Dude, I'm a rugby guy. All right, all right. Don't sleep, I've become a NASCAR guy too. Coda this weekend, road course. What else? Jake writes, question for GC and the Jackman, with boys in the back being the home for breaking news on the Uncrowned Network,

will you guys start having fighter interviews on Ariel's day off? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We have fighter interviews? 20 bones. 20 bones from Jake, shout out. Thank you, we appreciate it. Yeah, we'll actually be having Ali Barr on tomorrow

ahead of his amateur MMA debut. They've had a few, you've had Aljo back in the day. We had to have a Pena. We did have a Pena too. Oscar Willis. Oscar Willis, Ben Davis, right? Did you have Ben? Not in this era.

Ben Davis actually. Well, you didn't have Aljo in this era either. Yeah, we didn't have Aljo. Ben Davis was busy. Oh, okay. No, we had Ben on the old show. What else? 24inchdubs writes, I have to go to the ENT every six months for blocks.

And maybe you should try the Q-tip every now and then. Yeah, that's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. Lawrence writes, Oh, what else? Yo, the show reminds me of the office Who do you think each member is similar to Rick got to be Stanley due to the health concerns? Okay, so now I've seen every episode of the office, but help me to Stanley have like he has like a heart condition

Okay, yeah, got it Forgot the meat when the gout acts up the gout acts up. That's all I can say all right Is it is it Frank is Dwight for sure? Who's uh who's Michael Scott? I don't know think that's Ariel. He's like you could use special effects on movies You went to the grocery store to get that is he is he am I am I? Well was his name Michael Scott was his name Michaels. Oh, that's the same Was sorry was his name Michael Scott in the British office David not yeah, am I David Brent? Am I more David? I was worse. You don't want to be David Brent. He actually seemed like malicious where Michael Scott just seemed

Yeah, you don't want to be David. Yeah, interesting. That all makes sense That was it. I mean the exercise who else is everybody? Stanley who like Jordans Ryan Jordan is Ryan. Yeah, I could see that I could see that actually we have one more what else Matt says me again Is Pete C considered the AH of Europe and where's this funny? That's actually a great idea. It actually goes to the, it goes to the Human Fund. We're big supporters of the Human Fund around here. And so we feel like-

At Seinfeld, yeah? Yeah, there's no better, there's no better place. No, it goes into the, it goes into the Yahoo Sports Pot. How do you think they get these snazzy, you know, they go to the Super Bowl, they go to the All-Star game, they go to the Combine, I think they afford all these trips. From you guys.

They gave us some cake earlier while we were on air. We all had cake. There might be some left for you after. Wait, what, what, what? There's cake. Yeah, cake in the... Must be nice. It said, congratulations.

Actually, thank you to Jake and the Matt that the Super Chats paid for the cake. You guys had some? Oh yeah. Of course. Oh yeah. Wow. Yeah, you were in there sweating, interviewing,

and I was up there chopping up the cake. What else? Coming up with some witty question, and I'm like, oh, gotta finish this cake. Yeah. It was great. There's probably something left out there for you. It's a big sheet cake.

Don't get him too excited. Well, speaking of food guys, everyone's wondering what's gonna happen tomorrow with the eggs and the press conference and all kinds of craziness going on with Chris Eubank and Connor Ben. I said yesterday on the latest episode of the Ariel and Adé, Boxing Hour, that's what I'm calling it these days. You get it? MMA hour, Boxing Hour, working on it anyway I said that the back pages of the the UK tabloids would be going gaga over this and look at this courtesy of our good friend everything boxing look at this unleash shell eggs benedict that's a pretty good one I must say what else I can't see that anyway everyone's going crazy over this eggs ben Eggs Benedict is not bad.

There's just so many puns. But this would never, by the way, could you ever imagine, is there any fight possible that gets this type of attention in America? MMA or boxing? Like when Canelo fights Crawford here in America, it's not gonna be on the back pages, right? Maybe Tyson Paul, but that's it. There's no MMA fight out there that will get that type of attention.

It will be massive box office, it'll make a gazillion dollars, but it's just kind of cool to see fighting get that kind of love. I personally love it. Anyway, I think we're good, guys. I think we, did we cover it all? Absolutely. We covered it. I'm just making sure, okay fine, I won't make sure. That's it, it's time to go. Yeah, Jaya Bataya, talked about that. Mateus Gamrot, Quanson.

Oh, Kyle Pohalio going up against Brendan Allen. Big one. In a submission match. Karate Combat 53 in the pit. Wait, isn't that the one that's like this week? Yeah, it's in two days. So Brendan Allen fresh off UFC is going, alright, shut up. What's interesting is he's coming off a fight. Bryce said he had an upcoming fight and so he couldn't compete.

Weird. No, but also remember the eyebrows. interesting is he's coming off a fight. Bryce said he had an upcoming fight and so he couldn't compete. Yeah. Weird. No, but also remember the eyebrows. Sure, the eyebrows of the year. Congratulations Tyson Pedro. A little back and forth with Armin Tsurukian tweeting to Dan Hooker, Karma doesn't miss. Big mouth, glass hands, maybe just stick to talking instead of fighting. You'll recall Dan was saying some stuff after Armin had to pull out of the title fight.

Dan replies, if only your dad pulled out quicker than your last fight. Glass hand, haha, glass house. Yikes. Well hopefully we can see that fight in the future. Do wish the best to Dan H Parker. It sucks. No resolution. My prediction is we'll get a boatload of fights tonight that the boys in the back can react to tomorrow in addition to their pound for pound best press conferences of all time. Can't wait for that. That's going to be a grand old time for now though. We shall say

goodbye. Thank you very much to Alex Volkonovsky. Thank you to Joseph Parker, Sean Brady, John Silva. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. Back on Thursday, same time, same place. Same, same, same. Thanks. All right.