The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel Helwani's worst interview ever, David Benavidez, Daniel Dubois, Luke Rockhold, Tatsuro Taira, news and notes

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Ariel Helwani is joined by the Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll to react to UFC Baku announcements, easter eggs in the new EA Sports UFC 6 trailer, and more (07:34). Tatsuro Taira joins the show ahead of his UFC flyweight title fight against Joshua Van at UFC 328, talking about the fight being delayed due to an injury to Van, potentially becoming the first Japanese UFC champion, being inspired by Naoya Inoue’s win over Junto Nakatani, wanting to fight Alexandre Pantoja and Kyoji Horiguchi, and more (12:05). In an awkward interview, Daniel Dubois quickly previews his upcoming WBO heavyweight title fight against Fabio Wardley, before storming off (32:49). Luke Rockhold returns, discussing his involvement with Santo Studio, training sessions with Khamzat Chimaev, Chimaev’s demeanor in light of Sean Strickland’s trash talk, not liking Strickland’s gym etiquette, wanting to face Michael Bisping at a RAF event, and more (1:30:18). Unified cruiserweight champion David Benavidez is back on the heels of his massive knockout of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez, breaking down the win, his place in the P4P rankings, having no interest in the Zuffa Boxing belts, still being willing to fight Canelo Alvarez, wanting to go back to light heavyweight to face Dmitry Bivol, pressing pause on any heavyweight talks, and more (2:32:08). Ariel wraps up with your Super Chats (3:05:58).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Earth. Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo, 2026. Hello again, everyone. I'm Mario Hohani. I didn't quite workshop that in my mind beforehand. You know, there's a certain cadence when you're doing it the same way every single day. But it is Cinco de Mayo, and so congratulations. And Felicidad. And how would you say it, happy Cinco de Mayo, not congratulations, right?

You can say Felice Cinco de Mayo. Feliz Cinco de Mayo, of course. Like, Feliz Navidad. Just like that. You got it. Well, I hope it's a very happy and merry Cinco de Mayo for all those who are celebrating for us here. It's just another great Tuesday.

It's another great Tuesday. Everyone loves this time a year. There's a lot to be excited about. Truth be told, I'm a little sleepy. on this Tuesday. Had a late night. I had a late night, my friends, after yesterday's program, I did mozy on down to the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Not trying to make a big deal about, you know, courtside and, you know, hanging with my boy and, you know, I'm not trying to make a big deal about that. The only thing I'm trying to say is that, yeah, the Knicks won by like

30-something points. And yeah, we won our last three games by 30-something points. And yeah, our last four games were actually blowout. And yeah, that's never happened before. the history of the NBA playoffs, but the problem is you come home after an experience like that. You know, the affugato, the biscotti, the candy, the celebs, all that stuff. It's hard to go to sleep. It's hard to go to sleep. So by the time I actually went to bed, it was like 1.45 a.m., I think. It's hard to go to sleep.

And then you're up at 6.15, and, you know, it hits you. But it's the good kind of tired. You know, there's a bad kind of tired, and there's a good kind of tired. This is the good kind of tired. So I feel good. I'm flying high. I'm feeling very excited. We have a live show for all of you this Friday.

Do want to let you know this Friday. Limited tickets available. Yes, I keep saying that, but it is true. It's always hard to get over the hump with the last bunch. And so grab them while you can. In the chat, we've got the link. There we are. Myself, Rick, G.C., Frank, Andy, Jordan, the whole crew will be there.

Special guests as well. Doors open at 8. Live at 8.30. done by about 10, it's going to be a grand old time. Get your tickets now. You have to be there to experience it, all right? That's just the way we do things around these parts. There's not going to be a pod posted afterwards or anything like that,

so don't come complaining to us about that, all right? We do have two tickets that we are going to donate, and I believe Mr. New York, Rick, has the details on how you can win said tickets. Is that not right? Yeah, we're going to keep it very simple. Okay. Shout out to Nick Weber, who sent in the Super Chat, said he was going to buy two tickets. They're the VIP tickets, and we could give them away.

He has transferred the tickets to me. I am a possession of the two tickets. One of you will be able to get them. Obviously, please be in the area and actually be able to use them. Here's how you're going to win them. Email me. My email is New YorkRick.com. Plead your case.

The best one, maybe we'll read it on air. Like we'll see. I'm kind of, you know, we'll see how good it is. But yeah, make me want to give you these tickets and one of you will get them, a pair for a winner. Send your best plea to me. He wants you to beg. Beg. He wants you to pitch him. He wants you to state your case. If you want to put in a video of you crying, you know, how much this will mean to you, all those things, send it to me. Let me make me really care. There was someone in the chat before we went live who asked to. about said tickets, said he went to the NJPAC show two years ago. It was an amazing time. His girlfriend surprised him with tickets. And so he was asking about the status of these tickets. Once again,

the email address is New Yorkrick.com. Easy work. And what's the deadline? Is there a deadline? Yeah, let's make it. By end of show tomorrow, by end of day tomorrow. By 7 p.m. tomorrow. Yeah, I guess we could announce on BITB. Okay. I like that. Yeah. So the cutoff will be Wednesday end of day, Thursday, the winner will be announced. Leave your calendars open if you submit it. Now we do hope that some of you buy tickets as well because we don't want everyone.

Well, there's only two. I mean, come on, you got to buy. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I don't want everyone to just kind of, you know, take their chances here. You know what I mean? This could slow down our ticket sales, Rick. Yeah, for sure. We didn't think this through.

No. But anyway, it should work out and it's going to be fun. And then we're off to L.A. on the weekend. Some of us Saturday, some of us Sunday. So like I said, a lot to be excited about. We have another great show, planned for all of you, a four pack of guests from around the world of combat sports.

Back end of the program, El Monstro. How fitting on this Cinco de Mayo to have the face in many people's eyes of Mexican boxing right now. Certainly on fire is David Benavides, the first man to win titles at 168, 175, and 200 pounds. and we're all still buzzing after what he did to Zerda Ramirez on Saturday in Las Vegas, now a cruiser way champion, and the guy is just box office. You can make a strong case now that he's one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, obviously, and you can make a strong case that like pound for pound in terms of action, entertainment, he's at the very top of the list.

You can make that case right now. Anyway, we talked to him before the fight. We'll talk to him today at 3 o'clock, looking forward to that chat. What a guy. and I mean the world is a zoister from guys at 175 to 200 even now, Turkey Al-Shake, talking about him fighting

Alexander Usik at heavyweight. He's got a lot of options. Money, options, those are what you want as a prize fighter. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by a former champion in the UFC's middleweight division, strike force middleweight division,

Luke Rockhold, our old friend, who's become a good friend and training partner to won Hamza Shemayev. We will get the skinny, as they say, on what's it been like training with Hamzad and Armin and the whole crew down in Southern California.

Talk to him about things going on, his life and more so Luke Rockhold will stop by. Prior to that, Triple D, Dynamite, Daniel Dubois. He's fighting in a domestic dust-up on Saturday, an all-British affair for the WBO heavyweight title against Fabio Wardley. Trying to become champion once again. Haven't seen him in quite a bit. He's been through a lot. parted ways with his trainer, now back with his trainer.

Daniel Dubois, he had a faceoff earlier today there. He had a press conference for this fight. It's going down at the co-op live in Manchester. It'll be during the day,

so it won't go ahead to head with 328. We've never had him on the show before. One of the great characters in the sport of boxing. He'll join us at about 2 o'clock and at 1.30,

Tatsuro Taira will join us. He's going up against Joshua Van for the UFC Flyway title. Saturday in Newark, Prudential Center. First time. Two-fighter.

born in the 2000s, fight for a UFC title. This was supposed to happen in April, got postponed, trying to become the first Japanese-born champion in UFC history. So a lot at stake there, a lot to be excited about a lot going on, as per usual, in the world of combat sports. Now, we did get some breaking news this morning, friends. The highly debated, much anticipated, much talked about event that's going down in June in Baku, Azerbaijan.

It does have its main event. And the main event is, there it is. Rafael Fazeve versus Manuel Torres, June 27th, UFC, Baku, number 11 versus number unranked. There's also a co-main event that was announced as well. It is Charra Bullitt against Michel Paheda.

How about that? Middleweight division fight. What do you guys think of those fights? And credit to Raphael Faziv. Yeah, why? This is an incredibly tough fight against an incredibly dangerous fighter. And I mean, the guys that he's fought on the lead-up to this, Mauricio Huffi last time out, Ignacio Bahaimones, which he won,

Justin Gajee, Gajee, RDA. That is a tough stretch for Fiziv. Are you surprised they put him in the main event? No, no, no, no, it's perfect. Baku, yeah, Azerbaijan. One of their own? Yeah, yeah, and plus, like, with the rising star of Manuel Torres and, like, his ability to get knockouts, I think it fits.

PTC, what do you think? I like the middleway fight more. That's going to be an absolute carnival stuff there. Pereira and Sharra Bulla, I mean, a lad's going to be carrot wheeling kicks into each other, I'd say, from the forest bell. So very excited about that. And Fuzoyev and Torres very, very good as well.

How are you doing, PT? Great. Slept for about 25 hours over the last two days. Okay, you feel fresh as a daisy? Yeah, but the problem is Reggie had to go to the vet today. Ah. And it's a quite embarrassing story because he simulates injuries. and he acts like he's going to die

and then you bring him to the vet and there's absolutely nothing wrong with his dog. Yeah. All right. He's just standing there with his shot like this. And I was like, what's wrong with your palm, mate? And he obviously can't speak English. So it's like, right.

We're going to bring him to the vet. And he's like this, the whole way up, gets into the vet starts jumping up on everyone. I'm like, his... She's like, this is the third time this has happened. And I'm like, yeah, I know. He's a bit of a... 100 quid.

There you go. Hypochondriac, as they say. He's ridiculous, mate. Drama. A lot of drama. Big drama show. He's dramatic. Yeah, he is.

He is pathetic. Like, I mean, he doesn't dog well at all. You know, some would say that, Frank. Psy, there's been a big demand for 30 million in the kitchen scrap. 30 million for the kitchen scrap. Yeah, there's been a big demand for the merch. A lot of people have been talking on the streets. I was being hit up for it.

Really? I'm not very creative. Can you get on that for us? Can you do some mock-ups? Send us some pictures, some PDFs? I'm not good at that stuff. I'm not good at a lot of things, actually. I thought you were good at the computers and all that.

No. The Jordan does all my computer stuff. Don't you Jordan? Yeah, I keep telling you to update before we go live at 1 and you keep doing it at 1258. It's such a classic. Oh, my phone, my computer. It's just updating. Look, I never miss.

I'm always here. I mean, you know what I mean? You throw up the fucking bad signal. I'm always here, how on it? You know what about you there last night? Yeah, you saw me there, huh? On the base? Oh, what?

Stop. Guys, me and AB? Are you kidding me? Let me tell you something. Action walks in there and he could run for mayor right now and win hands down, no questions asked. Doesn't matter where you're from, what your demographic is, your religion, your gender, they all love them. I'm standing there at Pizzi right next to like Patrick Ewing and stuff. I'm like, this was 1994 how money on the baseline.

I was right next to the Sixers bench, right next to the Sixers Bench. Pee-Cee-C, like right there next to the Sixers owners. Dave Schaller, former UFCPR guy, comes up to me. Dave, not right now. I don't talk to the enemy. All right? I mean, you're a ghost from yesterday year in my life wearing that Sixers gear. Could you believe that?

Tell me this, right? I wasn't able to stay up, but I had to get some sleep. But I looked at the scoreline this morning, and I always asked you the same thing. I haven't asked you yet. When it's that much of an asswomen, like, are you going in the four quarter going? No. You know what's so great about it?

They put in the benchers. Colic comes in. Diawara comes in. Huck Pordi comes in. Love that. Pacom Dadier comes in. You get to see the youngsters doing their thing. Everyone's going crazy.

I was right next to the Sixers bench. They're talking smack to Kolic. He's in the corner. Smack, smack, smack. Three in their face. He points at them. I see the reaction. I don't get to see that on TV.

The every man does it. Give us some quotes. Hey, you know, there's some stuff I can't say on air. It's that bad. Really? I'm looking at the coaches complaining about the referee. It was amazing. What did he say?

You're a bitch. Did they say that to him? Stuff like that. They're like, this guy. White boy. That's what they were saying. Wow. You white bitch?

Then I'm going to get a Bascotti dipping it into the... The H on that was so hard. The white. I'm dipping it into the espresso like this. We're dipping it in. Fallon, stay over there. We're having a chat.

Baskin. Oh, you're shooing away. I don't want to talk to you guys right now. This is grown men business here, right? Me and the mayor. A.B. I thought you were talking about the real mayor. I was about to say.

No, no, no, me and the actual mayor, the people's mayor of New York City. Here, he used to play for, James Hardin used to play for the 76th. Didn't he? He did, yeah. No, none of them said anything. What's with you and James Hardin? Where is this coming from? It's just a thing.

I like it. And it's a thing, though. Yeah, so let's go, James. The beard versus the stash. Oh, my God. What a matchup. I tried to lock eyes with Josh Hard. Yeah, I've won as many championships as him.

You know what I mean? That's a good, you know what? That's rough. That's a stute. That's astute right there. I tried to lock eyes with Josh and say, like, you know, what happened to the Chelsea Blues, you know? Oh, fuck.

It didn't feel appropriate in that moment. You know, you know, Forrest smacked Chelsea, right? You know that. Oh, yeah. It was a great day for me. Forrest smacking Chelsea, at the bridge, as they say, and then the next winning. I saw, I mean, did you see the collision between Morgan Gibbs White and the other line? His face is foked up, man.

Did you see it? Did you guys see it? Yeah, did you guys see that? Look at this. Did you guys see it? It looks like Harry Potter, man. This doesn't tell the story. Look at the aftermath.

This is like Marvin Eastman. Look at that. He's off the Hogwarts. Look at that. That's insane. Gryffindor. Is he going to be able to play on Thursday? How many stitches is that?

They're fresh stitches, man. That knows he's going to have to wear one of those masks. You know, they have to, yeah. They can put the mask on his abose. You need to play him. He's fucking brilliant. You know who also is brilliant. Our owner, Mr. Maranakis.

Did you see him? him in the game. Did you see him in the game? Is that a real picture of him in the game? What? This one? Is that real? Is that real? I think so. What is this? This is the owner of Notting a Forrest, the Greek God himself.

Yeah, yeah. The owner is there for sure. Everybody sees the owner. Is this real? This is all over the internet. It looks real. It looks real. Who's to say? You'd have to really touch it to know. Wait, what was that PT? What did you say? Touch what?

Some A-O. shit. Like, I don't. Okay, go back to the picture for a second. I just saw something. Look how it says. What did you see? I'm curious. It's the plus five.

What did you see? It says 57 minutes at a plus five. You go through all that trouble and you don't even clean that part up. I just noticed that. Wait, so where did this image come from? Oh, it's everywhere on the internet. What's the name? My mates are superimposing their faces on it.

You know, it's all gone. He's such a, he's the greatest. owner in the history of the Premier League. People get so mad when I say this. No, he ready the ship. I saw you on X area. I saw you. I could imagine him going.

Did you see him parting the Red Sea after the game? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a freak. Where's the other people? You know what? I'm waiting. You better pray. Do remember he did that one Ward, Gives Hoyt last summer where everyone thought he was

going to sports and then Gibbs White signs again and he does the press conference. But it's not just Gibbs. White wasn't just him at the press conference. Wasn't I? Who else was there, Ariel? Who was standing beside him saying, guess who did this? Guess who made this happen?

That's right. Same like getting a massage there. He can't, he had to put himself all up in the video. Oh, dancing. You know what I mean? Did you got, look at this, look at this. This is him parting the Red Sea after the match.

Look at this. Look at this guy. You don't see an owner do this. He's parting the Red Sea here. He's getting a massage in the middle of the game, walking through the crowd. Look at this, being draped. That's my owner right there.

Anyone who says that we don't. So is the image. Fake or not fake? I honestly don't know. That's all he wants. Come on. It can't be real if it says... If it's real or not real?

I can't find it. I'm finding it everywhere. I can't tell if it's... Oh, you are finding it, though. I didn't make that up. No, no, no. It's everywhere. You were not the one

you created this AI image. Somebody else did do it, but it was not you. He did it with his voice, no? And now he's doing it with his pictures of the manager. It's been him the whole time. For me, it's real. Because he's that damn good of them. Still real to me, damn it?

Is the owner in the stands or not in the stands? Does that the debate here? Yeah, that's exactly what we're debating. No, I think we have visual proof of him walking through the crowd, like the boss that he is. We also have visual proof guys. We were talking yesterday about the Freedom 250 gear. Pizzi, we've already ordered it. It's going to get there in time, probably by June 6 or so.

We got you, well, first we got you the basketball jersey because we thought that you would like this. Oh, yeah. Because my arms, yeah, obviously. Because we know you like a nice basketball. No T-shirt under that, all right? No, my nip slipped about the side of it, you know what? That's the only thing I'd be worried about. And then in honor of the World Cup,

we thought that this would be good at the pub. Oh, yeah. They'd love that down the local. They'd fucking love that. Be saying, Pizzi. When just signed for the UFC Freedom 250 signs. It's a huge thing. Do they expect anyone to buy these things?

Like, why do they even put their energy? You know, Chuck got me the Zoofa boxing one t-shirt No, he did it. That I was there. No, he did it. He got you that? You have it in your possession? I have it.

I wore it on the crackwoods. Thanks for watching. Sorry. You only get, you know, you get like the zeroful box not the front. I'm a pod guy, by the way. Yeah, oh my God, that's a, can we see that? Can we see that? Is it up there in the gap?

Don't get it? I mean, I don't find it. Very quick. No, we'll do it later. Send us a picture, all right? Tomorrow, I'll wear it tomorrow. That is actually an amazing. That is a Chuck Minenhanall shirt.

well it's brilliant because it was there and i wasn't there you know i was like oh my god you're there and i'm like no we make it from me i'm like all right you think that's the brilliant part yeah not the zufa boxing one who's the main event since you own it you probably know calum walsh oh was it yeah it was calum walsh that was when he looked like roy jones um that's a very one he always looks like fucking roy jones what you're talking about what happened in the louis palomino fight K.K.L. Third round. Anyway, I was wondering, I saw this on social media.

I was wondering if it was Pizzi, if this was the scene that Ptze was going through yesterday morning as he was getting ready for the show. This is Carlos Prakis, I think, sort of coming down from the high of his win in Perth. No, not this one. Let's go to the other one. Is this the scene that Ptie was injured?

This one right here. That's exactly what it was like. This is you? Do you wash it down with another? I'm usually crying, though, as well as drinking. Have you ever done that? Shower beer? Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. In my life, I've never. Rick said he's never done it either, which is impossible to believe. Never. Shower beer is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Especially like you're getting ready to go to a show or whatever. You just pop a beer. Yeah, you're going out on the piss.

Why can't it wait until you're out of the shower? Why does it need to wait? Because I'm a fucking alcoholic. But then the water gets into the can. Ah, man, you're drinking a fast. gonna stop the shakes. Sometimes you've already started drinking and then you're like, oh shit, I got a shower, so let me just keep drinking this.

I know Jordan, I know Jordan has had a shower. I feel like you guys might have drinking problems if I'm being honest. So me. I think you have a problem that you're not drinking. Yeah, probably. Is this something that you typically do before the action begins? Yeah, as you're like pre-gaming, getting ready to go out, music's blaring, everyone's getting ready to roll and you just pop a beer in the shower.

I thought that Carlos was doing this to come down. No, he's probably getting going for the next day. Yeah, it's probably hair of the dog to get started for the next day. Oh, my dear. I feel like you... Go ahead, go ahead. But a half-drunk, half-drank beer beside the bed, that's a... That's a...

That's an intro. You could stop for the night? You're like, I'm going to lay out. You wake up in the middle of the night and drink it? That's what you must have been thinking to leave it there, you know what I mean? He'll keep brought it to them back. No soldier left behind for Pete. Yeah.

No, he's like, well, I got to go to bed. I just brush my teeth. Let me crack open another one in case I get thirsty in the middle of the night. Did you get the sweats the other night, Pete, too? like you did when I was in Ireland. Yeah, yeah, I did. I woke up that bed, man. Elaine had to open up all the windows.

He left the room. She was like the fucking smell, the farts, the snoring. Oh, gosh. Geez, Louise. The oven? I mean, I was on control of my body at that point. You know what I mean?

I was asleep. Well, in case you were wondering, I don't know which came first. Maybe that was the beginning. This is Carlos Prachas celebrating his victory. You saw Jack Della. Yeah, I've made that face. Oh, my.

What's he got there? What is that? The Yeager, my sir? He slammed the shot into him there. He slammed the shot in before even. What's that called when you do that? Yeager bomb, is it? Oh, a Yeager bomb, that's right.

Look at this guy. Just living life. But he's on the Jack, the Jack Daniels. So God knows what type of concoction. Oh, straight from the bottle, huh? When you're rolling around with a handle in your hand, things are getting out of control. From the bottle.

If the drink is just a fifth of Jack Daniels in your hand, it's getting out of control. Look at this guy. Oh, my gosh. What's this? I have no idea what that is. like a Mad Dog 40 if I'm not lying. What's a Mad Dog 40?

MD40, it's like a flavored malt liquor drink. Real cheap shit. It's like O.E from back in the day? I don't know about it. Coming out in Madison City. Give me some of that O.E. That's what O'Dow. Was it Mad Dog 20? Yeah, Mad Dog 20. Yeah, shout out. It's like pink or blue or green. It's horrendous.

Are you talking like Oldie, like the 40? Old English? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Shout out. Oh, is that what you were talking about? Who is I just saw a piece he was talking about. Someone, I just saw an interview where someone was talking about old English. Oh, it was Gina. Gina was saying that like back in her seriously parting days, her and her now husband used to just drink that.

And that's like a sign that you're like kind of hardcore for just digging that. Cool, really cool. Pete, you ever done Edward Forty Hands where you duct tape him? Oh, no. I don't know. Next time. Vegas. I would do it with you in Vegas.

I used to do it every year for the NFL draft. Jesus, Connor. How about we do it during the show? How would you feel about that, if we were doing it if we were doing a show? Maybe on like a watch party or a post show. Even that. I'm not doing Edward Forty hands on camera.

Who's going to like my sig? So again, with the drinking problem thing that I was talking about. It's the judgment that drives us to drink. No judgment here, boys. You know what I mean? Talking about Jackwin here. We do have other breaking news, guys. It was just announced

Some 90 or so minutes ago, the trailer for the highly anticipated UFC 6 video game has dropped. And are there Easter eggs here? Are there signs of things to come? Is there a little foreshadowing? I think we can watch it together. Let us sit back, relax and enjoy this as one. Here it is. EA Sports.

It's in the game. Oh, that looks like, oh, wait, that looks like Max Holloway. And that looks like Connor McGregor. weird. Why would they have them fighting each other? That fight makes no sense, Chale said. Oh. Maybe it's a flashback from 2014. It looks like a flashback. They were certainly wearing those shorts back then, a little Superman punch here, a little one two there, a little knock down there, a little knock out there. What do you make of that? How do they do Conner like that? That's not very nice, is it? Oh, who's that? Ken Shamrock. Was that Nate Diaz before? Is that for

Shamrock and Shemoyev? Yo, Sean and Peter Yan. This is nice. Who's this? Ooh, Ilya? Da-da. Who's he fighting? Who's he fighting? George St. Pierre? Oh, it's just a mash.

Paddy. Paddy, like that. Was that wonderful? Ian Gary. That's Ian Gary. That's Ian Gary. Wonderful. Yeah.

Oh, Wonderboy. Knock the F. Here's Amanda Nunes. Against, is that Ronda? No, Kayla. Oh, big slam. Yo, it's not bad. Who's that in the law?

Yo, look at this. This must be like the career mode. John and D.C. Shout out. Oh, shit. You're in casinos? Oh, my God. That did not look at U.S.

300. Yeah, I don't remember. I did my way, I don't know. Ilya versus Max. Big Bruce is Joe Martinez in there? He better be. Oh, oh, oh. Wait.

Oh. Illiamax? No, that's not Illiamax. Sorry, that's Justin Max. Yeah. Okay, Alex Pereira against? Zero gone. See, these aren't just random matchups.

There's either future matchups, talked about matchups. I wonder if you're going to be able to fight on the White House long. Oh, that'd be fun. That'd be fun. That'd be able to. This is a long trailer, by the way. What do we have here?

What do we have here? I saw Patty. Damn, they did Armand dirty. That was Armin. Armine got starched by Ilya. Oh. Habib and GSP kissing. Yeah, what's this?

What's this? Yeah, this is a long trailer, by the way. Mark Goddard. Mark Goddard! Pointing down, fight your fight. If it's in the game. Oh, wait, Chuck Liddell versus? Versus?

Was that Randy? tour? Vitor Belfort? Wow. That looks sick. That does look sick. I might have to get a new generation.

How accurate? How accurate is it, though? I feel like sometimes they show you those cool trailers and the game doesn't actually... It's that actual gameplay at the start of it. Did it? Yeah. Can we do a tournament G.C? If we all get it, like, we'll do a Twitch tournament?

I want to get, like, freakishly good at it. Where people are like, damn, he's kind of a loser. He plays that too much. When's it out? End of June? Is it supposed to be the best one? What are the reviews? Can't say it's not out yet.

They don't give it to people, like media guys. They also use it. I'll take it. Oh, embargo? Exactly. All right. But what do you guys think? I'm in.

No, McGregor Holloway there at the beginning of the thing. Is that by, like, coincidence or is that? No, well, Chal said it's not happening, so I think it's just a quince. I think he said, like, no chance. Like, he laughed it off. So there you go. He's an insider, mate. Yeah.

I've never actually played a UFC game. Maybe I played the first one when he came out. I was obsessed with UFC 3. Who was your go-to? When I was top-time in the world, I did the career mode. I was a middle-weight. Michael Bisping was my biggest rival. But who are you?

Me. Oh, you made yourself? Yeah, yeah, you build yourself. Oh. Champ and all that. Yeah, me and Bisping fall like four times. I beat his ass every time. You had a four-fight rivalry and beat him four-nil?

You just keep playing and they just have to kind of cycle through the contenders. It gets very repetitive. Yeah, it does. It does get it kind of. whole, but it's fun. But how do you beat it? Like, what's the end? I would think it's when you win you.

You're actually, you know, end you kind of just get tired of it and you can retire. Is it your brain? Your brain is no longer functioning. Mate, you've got to retire. CTE. Yeah. Okay.

It's very real. It's good times, man. You should, you should, you should, you could. For the kids. For the kids? They've played the undisputed game. The boxing one? Shout out.

They liked it for a couple of days, but they're more into, um, 2K. I'm a point now champion back in the day. That was the best boxing game ever. Yeah, sports. You go to the prison, then you go to the prison, then you have bare-knuckle boxing prison and shit, then you come back out.

I actually beat that recently. You did? How'd you play it? I'd fucking love to play that again. You could get it on the Xbox One in the store. Like the old game? Yeah, yeah. Wow.

Like digital download. That's like with Oscar Deloia and those guys, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think Oscar. I wonder why you used to just have a thing. It's a license issue, I think, most, like, fighters wouldn't sign up to it. That's where there was such a big gap.

Yep. And then they did the UFC. deal so they put the resources into the UFC game over the boxing game. So we used to have a tournament where it was just the same. You just picked either Pacquia or Delahoeia and all night lads just beat the piss out.

Oh, you and all your boys? Yeah, it was so good, man. How do you know so much about the history of the fight night video game, PT? Because I played every single one of them. I love them. I'd love a fight night video game. That's where I got in the spirit and I was like, you know what? This is Wank. You didn't like it? I thought it was pretty good. I thought it was arse.

Mike Tyson's punchout. That's, that's my jam right there. That was that guy was like, dintin, tin, tin, tin, tin, can, can, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't, can't can't, can't, can't, do you remember the most? Yes. Do you remember we did that show in Vegas where the underpute girls were there?

I was over absolutely kissing their arces. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, very excited about the game. This is it. Yeah, I can't wait to play it. It's going to be, I'm on that show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to give me a copy of it.

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, walked off. Nothing. I can't give us anything either. Thought me to get a sponsorship. It could have gone very different for them. Could have went very different for them if they had it given us the old free pass.

At least a code, right? Just the fucking code is all I want me. What a guy that pizzi. All right, well, that's coming out in June. And perhaps it will coincide with an announcement that may be on the horizon. We shall see, we shall see. I am looking forward to that.

And looking forward to all your reviews. If they'd like to be a part of our program, and we could play it for them. Maybe we could do the review. I would pay good money for a PC playing the video game and then giving us a full breakdown, a full review of the gameplay. Oh, sorry, a Twitch account. Does it have to be on Twitch?

Why do you keep saying Twitch? That's what all the kids do. Yeah, I know. I guess you could do it on YouTube too, no? Maybe. Maybe. Anyway, well, that is exciting. So perhaps more interesting.

more info on that. Speaking of boxing, the full card for the Rico Verhoeven versus Olexander Usik, card has been announced. Glory in Giza. This is rapidly approaching, by the way. Can I be honest?

Looking at this card right now, I cannot read a single thing on this card. The text is so small. I think... Hamza Shiraz is pointing? I see Hamza Shiraz, yeah. Begage? I can...

I mean, the text, the font is getting smaller and small. The poster is super cool. I dig it. Are they really going to do this at the pyramids over there? I mean, I'm going to be in London for that, so enjoy. Oh, yeah, you got a big weekend that weekend, huh? That's Memorial Day weekend right there. It's going to be interesting.

I'm curious what they're going to. In the span of less than a month, we're going to have a boxing event at the pyramids and a UFC event at the White House. How crazy is that in the span of less than a month? I do want to also let you know, shout out to our guy, Drake Riggs, great article on uncrown.com right now about the state of things in one championship.

What's happening with one championship inside the promotion's uneasy MMA decline? Look at that first line right there, that lead sentence, if you will. MMA has drifted into uneasy territory, Inside One Championship and its roster has felt the consequences. That was posted yesterday. It's up right now over on uncrown.com.

Highly recommended. Great work from Drake Riggs. Great work from everyone over on the site. And it is worth your time. A lot of people have asked us about the state of things over at One Championship, particularly when it comes to mixed martial arts. Remember a few years ago, they went heavy with the free agents, the DJs, Rich Franklin gets involved, the Sage Northcuts, the Eddie Alvarez's,

and over time it has sort of dissipated. So a great look at what is going on with one championship. Do we have our first guest or not quite yet? Okay. Let us go to our first guest of the day. He has a massive, massive fight this weekend, Newark, New Jersey, Prudential Center, co-main event, UFC 322. First time ever, two fighters, born in the 2000s,

are fighting for a UFC title, and he will attempt to become the first Japanese. born champion in UFC history. He is your friend in mind, the great Tatsuro Taira. Kind enough to join us on this Tuesday afternoon in the midst of all his media duties. Hello, Tatsuro. How are you, my friend? Hey, I'm happy, thank you.

Nice to see you. And we are happy to see you as well. I like your hat. That's Corey Sanhagen's gym, right? Yes, let's go. You were training there? My favorite hat. It's your favorite hat?

Yes. Yes. I like the logo. You were training there for this fight, right? Yes. Will Corey Sanhagen be in your corner on Saturday? No. He's in Colorado.

Okay. Yeah. Hey, Tatsuro, your English is getting better. Oh, thank you so much. I'm learning English hard. You have a tutor or a teacher? Yeah, I have a, I have a. I have a teacher.

Okay. Is that your brother by your side? Yeah, I'm his brother, and I translate. Okay. But he wants to. He tries to speak English as much as he can. I love it. Well, well done to you.

You're getting better. How does it feel? Fight Week is here. You're in New Jersey. Your days away from finally fighting for a UFC title. How are you feeling ahead of Saturday? Yes. Yeah, I feel really great.

So, all my previous fights were in Las Vegas. This is my first time in New Jersey, so I can't wait. First time in New Jersey, what do you think about it? So, very different against Colorado. Yes. What's like a more city. More city, yes. Maybe not as pretty as Colorado where you are.

Mountain. Mountain. Yeah, Colorado has a very mountain, a lot of mountains, nature. Yeah, that's so different. So you were preparing for this title fight. And it was supposed to happen in early April, and then Joshua Van had to pull out. So you're preparing now, and all of a sudden you have to kind of pull back and it gets pushed them on. How difficult was that for you? Was that frustrating?

Oh, yeah. I worry about, I worry, so, you know, the show that, like, I worried if I was there, I'm worried, like, I worried if I, can't fight for title shot. I worry if I can't for the title shot. So, but they gave me a chance. For the chance. So I can prepare us more.

So, yeah. I'm really fearful for everything this fight for this fight. You were worried that they would give the title shot to someone else after he got hurt? Other people to another, I'm just to more, I'm just to more, I'm just, I'm just, yeah. Yes. But luckily they didn't, and you only had to wait an extra month. And as I said, there's a lot of history at stake here.

how important is the fact that you could become the first Japanese-born UFC champion? How important is that distinction for you, that title, that achievement? Yeah, this is my dream. And also, Japanese fans during, they, in the soul, I have to believe. the Uzi belt to Japan for me and for Japanese fan. Do you remember the last time a Japanese fighter fought for the UFC title? I think it was Kioji Haraguchi about 11 years ago.

Do you remember watching that fight? Yeah, I, this is, that was tough fight, five-run match. So, every Japanese fighters didn't get a wing forward. So I'm going to be the first one. And I don't want to forget about Kai Asakura, he was the last one. My old head, remember, Asakura, about a year and some change ago, year and a half or so ago. But yes, the point being, no one has ever won from Japan. So this would be a huge, huge deal.

And we're anticipating, you know, how Joshua Vann's going to look in his first title defense as well. And he has made some comments this week that came up that people were getting kind of riled up about saying that it wasn't a fluke. it wasn't an accident what happened to Pantosia. He sort of caused the injury for Pantosia. What do you think? Do you think that he caused the injury, or do you think it was just a fluke accident and the fight ended in that weird way?

What do you think? Oh, that's kind of, that's why nother? Or did it, or, Joshua van, or, you think, you know, so, um, so, uh, um, it's, uh, um, it's, uh, like, uh,

So a lucky situation. So I'm sorry for panpsychard's injury. So we have to we have to prove who's the real champion this time. You have a 5-inch reach advantage

against Joshua Van. So you're longer than him. Do you feel like that will come into play in your favor on Saturday? advantage in this game so I will just control our distance game yes I'm looking forward to that I also loved seeing you at the world baseball classic you got to be there was that exciting for you to to be celebrated and go through this I love baseball too did you enjoy this yeah very very enjoyed did you throw out the first pitch yeah I didn't I didn't yet

but I won't throw the pitch one day. Yes, that would be amazing. What we saw over there, was that in America or was that at the Tokyo Dome? Yeah, I want to throw in the Tokyo Dome. Wow, wow, wow. I like giants. Yes. Do you know?

The Tokyo Giants. Tokyo Giants, yes, yes, yes. Legendary team. I was watching the Tokyo Dome on Saturday. Saturday, Naoya in a way against Juno Nakatani. Did you watch the fight? Yes, I watched it. Did you like it? Did you like the fight? Can you hear me?

Yeah, I can hear. Okay. Just a bit bad connection. Did you like the fight? Yeah, it's a very, so, really, really, unhaping, people were people people of the people of the people

people I'm looking and I'm looking and I got and it was it was my my own

it was my mind it was the battle between undefeited fighters and all

Japanese friends are very excited to see I watched the fight But yeah In American time I woke up very early time to watch this fight And after watching that fight

I am very inspired And I'm I think like I Next is my turn Yes To get the belt Who are you rooting for In a way or Nakatani

The join Shida In a way You like him Yeah I love him Yeah I love him Have you ever met him? Yes, I've seen him a few times in his gym. So, there's a special contact, but I said a little time when I went to his gym.

But not very special comforts. special conversation. Okay. Just greeting. I loved his entrance with the violins. Did you see that? With the violin, it was amazing entrance.

Well, this, like, this kind of, like, how did it? Ah, so, yeah, probably, like,

that, um, that champion to show, pride, or, you, um,

um, um, um, like that kind of like that's like to know-combe-o-o-na-mon-more I liked how he started the fight as well. Like, he was showing the pride of a champion. Tata-o-tarnesimed the country is very like. I like how he enjoyed fighting.

Amazing. I like that, too. It's very fun to watch. It's very nice to watch. I'm wondering, I know you want to go through the fight and focus on the fight, but if all goes well for you, who do you think the first title defense would be against? Would it be against Pantosia?

Would you like it to be against Horaguchi? Manel Cap, in your mind, who would it be against? Oh, yeah, I want to fight in Pantosia next. because he was the former champion yeah of course yeah and then maybe after Horoguchi yes

let's go yes you know you and Joshua it seems like there's a lot of respect in the main event a lot of trash talk a lot of bad blood Hamza Chimaev and Sean Strickland

what do you think of all the stuff happening between them well what I thought I thought of I mean so So, um, um, I, um, I, um, I, um, I, um, I, um, I, um, I, um, I, the, um, I, I think it's, it's a bit dangerous, because they really hate each other. but you and Joshua just respect right

yeah I hope so yes it seems that way before I let you go can I ask you how do you feel like the fight is going to play out because you're so good at keeping people on the ground and dominating on the ground and obviously your striking is great as well

but Josh is very hard to keep on the ground and so where do you feel like this fight is going to be played out and how do you expect it to end Grand War or striking or something? And how how do you

how how how do you I want to bring the ground game but

he has a good take down defense so so so but

I always looking for the finish every run I don't small openings. And you are fully expecting to win?

Do you think you'll get the finish, or do you think it's going to go 25 minutes? 3-round or in three-round in. Within three rounds. Within three rounds. I hope submission, but I don't know how to finish. And then, if you win that,

you will be the happiest that you've ever been. Very happy. Yeah, very happy, super happy. I love that. Well, good luck to you, Tatsuro. Thank you so much. We appreciate you coming on and can't wait to see the fight. Thank you so much and good luck.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There he is. Tatsuro Taira and his brother helping us out. And yes, as far as control time is. concerned. We have these stats here. Number one all time is Patty Hulahan, but he only had five UFC

bouts. Number two is Tatsura Tira. Fifty two point eight percent of the fight time. That's across nine fights as opposed to the five that Patty had is spent controlling his opponent on the mat. Mohamed Mekiah, by the way, 51.8 percent. Tatur Atara, number one, in the flyweight division for top position, specifically spending 47% of his bow time in top position. Joshua Van, though, is the complete opposite. Stryker likes to keep the fight on its feet. 81% takedown defense.

Tatsuro alluded to that. Notoriously, very, very difficult to keep down. Van spends just 3% of his time with his back on the mat. So it will be a sort of battle of who can keep the fight where they wanted to be contested. Van on the feet, we presumed. Tatura on the ground. But Tatura does have that five-inch reach advantage.

It didn't hit me till just this second. Yes. And maybe I'm an idiot. And people say, like, I knew this all along. Isn't this just a mirror of the main event as well? Oh, a much smaller version. Isn't it just comes out once the grapple? And he's got control for days.

and Sean doesn't want to grapple and is a high-volume striker like Josh Van. I guess I never really put two and two together, but we're going to see. These are very classic MMA striker versus grappler, or at least what we think, right? Like obviously sometimes these fights develop and it changes into something different. But these are pretty much straightforward as you get striker versus grappler fights. Reach advantage for Strickland a lot less, just one inch. But yes, as far as the actual styles and where the specific fighters want the fight to be played out, 100%. And it's just amazing that co-made event is like super, and this happens from time to time, super, super respectful.

And very few fights are ever going to match whatever it is is transpiring between Sean Strickland and Hamzad. You don't think Tyra's got a few animal beastality claims in him? You don't think he's got that? You don't think he's going to throw that out there? No, no, no, no. Maybe he surprises us at the press conference. At the press conference. What a nice, humble guy he just appears to be, you know?

He's absolutely lovely. And so, yeah, he's born in the year 2000, Van born in the year 2001. Crazy. So this will be the very first time that two... Wait, so... 2000ers? Could he... Where would he be in terms of the youngest champions ever if he gets it done?

Does he... Well, he'd be 26. Yeah, but what was Van? Van was what? How old was Van when he became champion? Joshua Van B. 23? Yeah, I think he was just, so he's 24, but he's born in October.

So he won the belt in December. So he was 24 then? So he was 24. So he wouldn't be younger than him. And I think Tatsuro has turned 26, yes, he did in January. Oh, he's a January. So maybe, I mean, maybe he said they were only a year apart. in terms of 2000 and 2001, but he's such a long, yeah, he's at the tail end.

Got it. Okay. Would probably be in the top five or ten. You'd be three, four, yeah, it'd be somewhere in there. Pretty crazy. People born in the 2000s, are they Gen Z? Yeah. Yeah.

So who's Gen X? Me? Seventies and early 80s. And who's Gen Y? Millennials. Oh. X is 65 to 80. Okay, I'm not X, Frank.

You were quick to jump on the X. All right, X, okay. Take it easy. So what am I? What am I? Why? Why is like 80 to 2000. Wait.

Oh, so I am Y? Yeah. Gen Z. Better known as millennial. Okay. It's varying here. This is saying like 97 to 2012. So it's that overlap.

Like the, the Y is kind of fluid. So your kids are like actually closer to Gen Alpha. And then Gen Alpha. Is Gen Alpha the next one? 2010 to like now, yeah. Gen Alpha. It's going to be Gen Alpha. Ben Beta. That's awful.

They're running out of... Gen Alpha is awful? I feel like Gen Alpha is the best one. No, no. Gen Beta. Oh, yeah. I mean. Gen Beta. Yeah, but there was a time where you... I was a proudly represented for the... Sure, sure, but does a whole population want to be known as beta?

I'm not... Probably not. Probably not. Could you imagine if Andrew Tate had a kid today? So his son would be... Getting close to Gen Beta. Yeah, that would be incredible irony. That'd be fantastic. Who's the favorite in that fight, by the way?

That's her with Tyra. Wow. Like minus 160. Whoa. What do you think of that? Interesting. Interesting. The path is there.

Obviously for him. Yeah. No respect for the champ. If he can't get takedowns, it could get rough. I saw some people who were upset that the Alvarez Amasov fight wasn't on the main card. Sick fight. Yeah, I mean, sick fight. But you know, it's all on one platform, right?

I saw like a thing about this. Like how is this fight on to the make? The card order shit is just unbelievable. It was kind of silly before. It's really silly now. It's so dumb. It's all on the same platform. Are they doing the CBS thing for this one?

I didn't see that. That's a good question. No, Jordan says no. Yeah, I didn't see that. Also, this is a fantastic man-cove. It's a fantastic man-go. It's a fantastic man-go. It literally doesn't matter.

If anything, if you love that fight, it's just happening earlier in the night. Yeah, but the bout order does matter. For what? What does it matter for? You want to crescendo. You want better fights into the night. To say it's completely useless.

All right, let's put fucking Islam versus Ian Gary third on the night. No. No, put it first. I'm out. I'm out. Like, the bout order does moutre. I'm out. Is there a difference between the eighth fight and the fifth fight?

No, I agree with you here. But like, it does matter a little. Of course, the main co-main. It doesn't. Stop with this, Rick. Yes, it does. You have to end with the best way. I agree.

Literally don't. Get the fight out of here, Rick. First fight of the night was the shittiest take you've ever had. If Islam versus Ian was the first fight of the night, I don't think I could be happier. I'd be so fucking happy. You know what? For our jobs, it would be pretty good. It would be fantastic, but what would the point be?

In pro wrestling sometimes, like, look at WrestleMania Night 2. Brock Lester Obafemi was first fight or first match of night two. You used to have to crescendo because you had to pay for it. There was a reason to do it. There is literally no reason anymore. Yes, the reason is. because you want the night to get better as you go along. What would be the point of having the curtain jerker last?

No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't want to, but you could. There's nothing stopping them. Of course, you could. It would just be nonsensical to them. I feel like the top three matter. The rest is like, whatever. Eighth, sixth, seventh, fifth.

I do agree with you. Also, like, Joel Alvarez and Amasov, yeah, we love them. They're incredible fighters, but like name value, you know. Jeremy Stevens versus King Green is the main card opener. That's, there's more name value there. I agree. I'm upset of Tiba Gautier isn't on the main card. Yeah, yeah, we're all upset.

Everybody's not in the right place. Who gives a fuck? Jim Miller's on there. Great to see him back. Jim Miller, massive underdog. Massive underdog against Jared Gordon. I feel we haven't seen Jared Gordon in a minute. When's the last time we saw Jared Gordon?

That's out of the last. September. And his family, you know, it's come out that his son had a, a cancer battle, which I do believe he has beaten, which is incredible news. The last time we saw Jim Miller was almost exactly a year ago, a little over a year ago in Miami when he fought Chase Hooper. But there's some nice names scattered throughout this one, Basangur Sussu Kayaev, who's obviously closely linked to Hamzat. He's on the undercard, second fight from the bottom. William Gomi is on there as well

people excited about him 15 and 3 featherweight Grant Dawson it starts to really get interesting around the time of that Alvarez's fight Alvarez Gautier I mean Alvarez is the seventh fight It's not like he's the curtain jerker

For goodness sakes When's last time we saw Alvarez fight I feel like it's been a minute too October And correct me if I'm wrong Is this the 170 debut? This is at 170 is it the debut?

Because I mean he's a mammoth of a man. No, last one was that 170. Vicente Lucke. That was the first one. It's going to be a great fight. Yes. It's going to be a great card. It's a good card.

It's a great day for fighting this Saturday, October, not October, excuse me, May 9th. Saturday night, you've got UFC 328. Saturday during the day over at the beautiful, relatively new co-op live arena in Manchurch. Manchester, England, it's a domestic dust-up, a tremendous all-British heavyweight title fight for the WBO heavyweight belt. It's the relatively new champ, Fabio Wardley, defending his title against Daniel Dubois. Earlier today, they had the press conference, they had the face-up, the fight rapidly approaching

just four days away. And the great Daniel Dubois, kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about that title fight. We appreciate his time very much. Hello, Daniel. How are you? Yeah, I'm good, man. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. How was the press conference earlier today? Did you enjoy it? Yeah, we just, yeah, done all my media obligations. Got that out of the way. You hate that stuff, right? Yeah, I really do. It's just annoying, but yeah, it's probably done.

Yeah. What do you find annoying about it? I mean, I'm here to fight. I don't want to talk. I don't really want to talk. I don't really want to talk. too much. You know, trying to explain myself. I want to get in the ring and show what I can do. I get that and certainly appreciate that and I think a lot of fans like that about you. So like even something like this, you dread it. You're like, can we get this over with? I'd rather be at the dentist, you know? Just, yeah, it's a formality, but yeah, if I could duck it, I would. But, yeah, let's get it on.

Yeah, I do appreciate that. Is it one of those things where you have to battle internally because, you know, the prize fighting business does, you know, you do need a little bit of showman in you, right? You do need to sell, but you also have to fight and produce there. So you have to kind of balance that. Yeah, I mean, people are going to be tuning into this fight regardless. You know, this is a proper matchup. You know, two top two fighters for the world title. It doesn't get any bigger than this in boxing.

So, yeah, yeah, it's a big show. As it pertains to the media, I do feel like you've warmed up to it. little bit over the years. Am I wrong about that? No, well, you get used to it after a while, having a camera in your face. Yeah. And obviously you and Fabio, you know, know each other and I'll ask you about that in a moment, but what was the, uh, what was the energy read from him earlier today at the face off? We didn't do the face off for me, but well. Well, the stare down.

Yeah, it was more of, yeah, it was more of that. Just, I'm not dealing too much from it. Um, focused on when I get in the ring and punch. him in the face. I'm not, yeah, reading too much into any of that. I think he extended a fist bump and you wanted none of that. Why is he talking about the what? What's that? Yo, sorry, that was months ago what you're talking about. I didn't do a face off today. No, I meant that wasn't that from earlier today?

No, that's from months ago. That's from months ago. Wow. Okay, my apologies. You did the open workout today. No, not even Just some interviews Oh, I saw you on the bus You almost got hit by the The branch there That happened today, right?

Yeah, that happened, yeah That was good head movement there? Oh, no, yeah That would have been a disaster I apologize I thought that was earlier today Because I thought you were doing the media earlier today Yeah

Got that tomorrow Okay, okay Well, let me ask you the history between you and Fabio as far as the training is concerned. Do you think that any of that can be applied to this fight? Like, do you feel like you know who he is? Or do you think that he has improved so much that he is a different fighter? Listen, I'm going into ring regardless.

If I know him, whatever. Yeah, whatever that. That's my mentality. To go and win regardless. But there is a confidence that comes with knowing someone and being in the ring and sharing rounds with them, no? Yeah. Yeah, there's that familiarity.

You know, I need to deal with him where it really matters under the bright lights. What do you think of his last performance against Joseph? You did the business, didn't he? He beat him. You got the W and now we're here. I thought it was a great performance, but I thought the stoppage was a little premature.

Do you agree or disagree? Yeah. Yeah, he's been always coming back from the dead. Yeah. And that's what he did that time, I guess. Like the Justice Hooney fight was really coming back from the dead. Yeah, big time. He was, yeah, anyway, I know what I've got to do to shut him down.

Can you give us some insight into that? Not really. What do you want me to say? I don't know. So you want to tune in on Saturday and you'll see, man. I appreciate that. Tuning on Saturday, brother. You know what it is.

I feel you. I feel you. It's a long time, man. I know, I know. I know. I don't know. I get you. But let me ask.

What's up, Ariel? What's up, I remember you, man. Yeah, you remember me? Hey, I had your back. I remember when everyone was calling you out. I had your back. Oh, did you? Yeah.

All right. All right. When they were all calling you out, I was like, this is bullshit when people are questioning your heart and your desire. I said all that. Yeah. I said that. To you, face-to-face in Cleveland. Remember when you fought on the Jake Paul card?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Remember that one? That was your big American debut. Was that the debut? Yeah. Yeah. What do you mean?

What are you talking about? Was it not? Yeah, it was. It was. I feel like you're just about business right now. Yeah. I kind of am. Yeah.

Yeah. Did you watch, can I ask, did you watch Tyson's last fight? Period. Yeah, yeah. No, I didn't. I didn't. Why not? I didn't watch it. I don't know. I just didn't watch it. You couldn't be bothered. It was a good shot.

No. You're too focused? Yeah. Why do they call you Oliver Twist? You said that? I don't know. That's what I read. What? No, no, no. No, leave it for now. Let me see.

What are you talking about? Because I read that your trainer, like he says that you don't stop, you don't stop, and you just want to keep going, you just want to keep going, you don't stop. What's that have to do with Oliver Tristow? I don't... I didn't get that either. That's why I'm asking the question. That's a strange comparison, I don't know. You've never heard that?

No. Okay. You look like Oliver Twits. I do? I'm joking, man. I'm fucking with you. That's fine. My son's name's Oliver.

I love that name. Yeah. We haven't seen you in a business. bit. Are we going to see a different Daniel, would you say? Again, tune in on Saturday, you'll see. I'm focused, I've done all the work in training. I want it as bad as I can. Now it's time to get through the business. Could I ask about the training with Don Charles? You were with him, you weren't with

him, now you're back with him. What happened there? I don't want to talk about that. I'm just with him now and that's it. He's my training for this five. Everything's good. Yeah, man. Other than winning the WBO title, what does this fight get you? Where does this put you in the division? It puts me at the top of the tree, I guess.

Heavyweight champion, this doesn't get any bigger than this. Do you think it gets you another crack at Usik? It gets me a crack at whoever we want next. You get the call the shots. You're the man. No? Yeah, man. I mean, if you're the champ, you get the call the shots. dude yeah that's it you know what i'm talking about yeah man maybe a j too i was there was an unbelievable

scene at wembley when you beat him i know you were one of the a j fash fads though right yeah what do you talk i feel like you're i feel like you're i feel like me very much daniel that's my feeling really i feel like you don't like me yeah why you say that man i'm one of the well i feel like you don't like me it's just like it's a vibe here that i'm getting it's not it's not i'm in just fight mode man. I, man, I was watching you against Joe Joyce and I said it's bullshit the way they're treating you the British public, the British media, they're talking about you. I had your back.

I was taking bullets for you here. That's bullshit. I don't know if you don't know why you're bringing that up. I'm trying to tell you that's why I was one of your, like I was one of your supporters. I was on the front lines on your behalf. Yeah. Well, thanks. Thank you, man.

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for the thanks. Okay, well, I think you want to go. Yeah. That's it. Is that true? Yeah.

Can you give me... No? Yo. Yes. No? You want to stay? What are you trying to say, man? This is getting awkward right now.

Let's... I can't tell. Holy shit off. Okay. I think he's out. Bye, guys. What the hell was that? That was one of the all-time weirdest interviews of my.

career. He, he, uh, he didn't want to, you didn't want to talk, I feel like, is, uh, do you think he didn't want to talk? Mm, yeah.

I don't think he likes to talk, period. One could think that. Do you think it was a personal thing? No. No. No, that's how he operates. Yeah. I mean, I've interviewed him before, actually.

We did a sit down face to face and it was, it was, uh, I feel like that environment is different. Yeah. It's a lot, you can actually connect with somebody and, like, I, I just think he's, he was, probably done a lot of interviews today.

I think we got off on the wrong foot when I thought the face off was today and it was a few months ago. Do you think that was? No. You don't think that was it? I don't think that's it, man. I mean, that one could have been easily squashed. Like, actually, that was a few months ago, but I didn't quite pick up what he was putting down. Can we talk about the juxtaposition between how much he likes to speak and his sister?

Caroline. Yeah. Yeah. Two different worlds. It is two different worlds. My interviews with Caroline had been lovely. She's great. She's incredible on the mic.

So you don't think it's personal? No. I'm feeling a little sad about that. Because I have defended Daniel Dubois. And you still can. I know. It's because he didn't... No, because I think he doesn't believe me when I say that.

I don't think he cares is more my feeling. I don't know if it's that he doesn't believe you. I don't think he cares that you did or didn't. Why? He's like, oh, you did? All right, cool, thanks. He doesn't seem like a guy that gets into all that. I don't think he really cares about the media and playing stuff up.

I think it's just... He's in fight. Yeah. Do you know why I asked about the Oliver Twist thing? I didn't, you know, I didn't pull that out of my back pocket. There's, if you go in Google News, which we'd like to do to see what people are writing about, there's, there's an article written by the sun. And I know a lot of people don't like the sun, but the headline is, inside Daniel Dubois camp for Fabio Wardley from drawing comparisons to Oliver Twist to hitting ancient 30 stone heavy bag. Daniel Dubois has earned the nickname Oliver Twist. in his training camp because he is always hungry for more. Dubois challenges Fabio Wardley's WBO, heavyweight world title on Saturday in Manchester, and he's prepared for battle in the Hertfordshire countryside

at Don Charles's Pug Farm Gym, where Sunsport was invited for an inside look. So it wasn't like they were like, you know, paparazzi. Listen, man, everybody knows he's Oliver Twist. Head trader, Don Charles, tells the six-foot five-inch powerhouse that it is time to wrap up. When he tells him it's time to wrap up, Dubois insists on even more sets of tiring sit-ups. Charles said, quote, that's his type of character. It's refreshing, a guy that wants to do more.

I always say to him, what's your name? Oliver Twist? The boy that asked for more? More? He always asked for more, which is really a breath of fresh air. do you think he took that as an insult I have a feeling he's never seen that article before

didn't know what the fuck you were talking about but this is his actual head trader calling him Oliver Twist I get it did he say you looked like Oliver Twist or something he said I looked like Oliver Twist what does Oliver Twist look like I was just going to say what does Oliver Twist

even look like let's see Oliver Twist he's just a poor beggar boy oh yeah he's a little chap yeah let me tell you something he doesn't look like me or Daniel Duvueuart. No, it's just a nickname, man. Everybody calls him Oliver Twist.

I love how Daniel's like, what's that got to do with Oliver Twist? You, look, you tried your best to connect that he just did not. Full transparency, it felt like at the very end there, he was like, when you were like, you're done with this? And he was like, yeah. And then like, he goes to get up. I am almost positive his team was like, no, no, no, no, dude, sit the fuck back. down and do the interview. And then he was just like, nah, not. Yeah, no, I want to be here. I want to be here. I think his team was

egging him on. Because there was one moment where he like, he was talking to someone off and then the guy gave me the thumbs up at the end. Like, well, when he was trying to, somebody off, he was confirming that the face off was from. No, no, no, when I asked about the Oliver Twist, he, he looked off. He said, no, no, no, no, I want to see where he's going with this. I think someone took offense to that. You know what I mean? Yeah, as I said, I don't think anybody other than this writer has known about this Oliver Twist thing at all.

Hey man, go fuck yourself. I'm telling you, man. Also, where was he? He was like in a hotel like coffee shop or something. Someone shattered a glass at the beginning of the interview. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was tough. That was tough. That was

textbook. It's tough. It's tough. I don't know, like in that moment I wasn't sure. We haven't been faced with a lot of those. Yeah, it's It's been a man. There's some names that come to mind, but it's been a minute. You started out the interview.

You said, you don't like doing this media stuff. And he's like, yeah, you're right. I fucking hate it. Actually, it's like, it can only be so good. The longest part of the interview was about him not liking to do the media. That was his best answer. That was the most insightful part. What's the chat say about this?

Chat? What do you guys have to say? I don't think you want to look at the chat. Was it a 10-8? For Daniel? I don't think it's good, bad, whatever? They have some jokes. They got some memes.

They got some things to get off. They've got some ridiculous. Oliver Twist reference. Who the fuck is Oliver Twist in English then? Are you for real right now? I don't know anything about Oliver Twist, bro. You've seen that, like, please, sir, can I have some more. Oh, boy.

I was like, what if Daniel's announced this Oliver Twist? Daniel, do you want to go? Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. And then he, and then, bro, he got halfway up. and then it looked like they made him sit back down and then he was like, no, fuck this, I'm out.

Oh my God. Is there... Don't read the chat. The chat is actually hilarious. Yeah, don't read the chat. There were a couple comments in the chat that had me legit crying. Oh, my God.

What is the... Is there an Oliver Twist song? If he comes out, could you imagine... If he just comes out in an outfit, in the righty clothes, Daniel D-Twist? Americans need to read some more books This is sad.

Is it the book entitled Oliver Twist? I actually don't. There's a movie. There's a movie as well. I'm unfamiliar. Wow, wow. There's a musical called Oliver. Yeah.

Never heard of any of this shit. So Oliver Twist actually was published in 1838. Yeah. It's a legendary. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of him. Charles Dickens? Yeah. I have heard of Charles Dickens.

Shut up. Holy smokes. This had been a tough day. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. Oh, gosh. What the hell? How about that Oliver, too?

I said to Rick, I was kind of pumped. I was like, man, first time Daniel Dubois on the show. He's like, he hasn't been on the show? No, no, he's never been on the show. I must have had him confused with somebody else. My lod. Well, we can now say we've had Daniel Dubois on the show. You think last time?

That's one of the shortest. Yeah, I have a feeling. Why? Wait, that would suggest he doesn't like me. I don't think the experience was great for him, if that makes sense. I don't know if it's a personal against you. Was it great for all of us? I wonder if Daniel's going to do any more interviews

or if he's just going to let the trainers do it. Do you think I ruined it for everyone? No. No, I imagine we'll see multiple interviews that come out on YouTube today. Better? Worse? Breakout? Breakout?

I don't know. This one 100%. Yeah, the awkward. Worst interview of all time? I used to say that Stipei Miochich Steepi is the gold standard In Winnipeg before the Roy Nelson fight UFC 160 I think it was

Is my worst interview I think this just took the cake If only because I made a factual error Timing wise I mean We could have said like there was a way to get around that In a sort of you know like Hey that was actually a couple months ago

But I'll tell you how the face off went But you know I said earlier today He did dodge those those branches, I thought was impressive. And he did confirm that that was earlier today. You guys saw that, right? I did, yeah.

You say Dodge, there was fair warning for it. I mean, he's literally... Someone taps him on the shoulder and they're like, yo, bro, you're about to get knocked on the head. You think he liked the joke where you're like, love the head moved to. Look, you see that. Someone tells him to duck.

No, come on, man. That could have been a disaster. Look, replay. He was proud of himself. Replay the clip here. He was proud of himself. Watch the hand come in from the right side. Yo, man, get down, get down.

Look at that. That actually could have been a disaster. Like some A-O-ish shit, like, I don't. Losing the fight because Daniel Dubois got hit by a tree. Would have been the worst. Look at the worst. Yeah, I fucked up, bro. Fucking thing ever.

Oh, my dear. Fabio, we can't fight tonight. Why not? Daniel Dubois got hit by a fucking tree. Imagine someone telling Frank Warren that. We had him on a bus city. If I had treated. There's something that I actually find very sweet about Daniel DuBois.

I genuinely really enjoy the guy. That fight against AJ being ringside for that was insane. I mean, that was a hell of a... He's a beat down on it. He's an animal. He is a beast. I just don't think the media is for him. What's this?

Uh-oh. Frank just put something... What's a-oh? Dubois storms out of interview? Four hours ago. What happened? Someone could have told me about this earlier. I just have found it.

Oh, this is old, though, no? Oh, is this old, too? We should have played it for him. Are you excited? Yeah, you love it? The destruction? No, this is from two hours ago. Oh, wow.

Can we play it? Yeah. We've got some time. We're efforting. Yeah, Rick, about halfway through the interview, I was standing up, Rick goes, might as well just sit back down. We're about that to talk for 20 minutes.

It was exactly 20 minutes. It was exactly 20 minutes. I'm trying to think what I could have done better. There was no. That wasn't your. The subject of the interview was a difficult time. He didn't want to talk. It doesn't matter if you asked him what he had for breakfast.

It didn't ask him if you ask him about the most thing. He's excited about most in the world. I was throwing a couple tidbits in the slack. Oh, that's brother just won. You know, I appreciate that. Probably the time it even got uploaded. I appreciate that. He was out.

Yeah. Well, I do wish him the best. It is going to be a great fight. I'm looking forward to it. And it goes down on Saturday. Don't blink. No. I think it will last a little bit.

But I think both guys hit very hard. There appears to be, so they're doing like media today for UFC 328, huh? Like I see Sean Strickland holding court in front of a bunch of microphones and stuff. Wait, this feels early, no? Media day? Yeah, usually on the, I put one in there, but like usually on the, Tuesday they'll have a, you know, they'll do like the little sit downs with the, the broadcast partners and whatnot, but there's a video here of him. I guess he's not sitting on the, on the

dais though. He's just at like a pre thing. But you think he's going to do it? See, this tells me that they don't actually mind. If they're going to give him even more stuff to do, they don't actually mind because he's actually, he's standing there. Oh, yeah, this is for Paramount. So yeah, this is just No, no, no, no. I put in here, like, there's that, what's that thing called where all the microphones go into, like, the little thing? The dais. No, no, no, not the dais. You're talking about where the microphones actually going in. Like, when a mayor, you know, and there's all the microphones and the thing.

Yeah, just a stand with the mics. Yeah, yeah. He's doing that. They don't usually do that on the Tuesday. Oh, yeah, I see that. I miss that. I only saw the Paramount one. Anyway, if we have any of that stuff, I'd be happy to play.

Yeah, what is? We're efforting. Okay, all right. Circle back, you know. Which one? Jordan? Okay. I'd love to see a Sean Strickland Daniel Dubois press conference.

Can we run back the Daniel Dubois interview and just sort of relive it all over again? Maybe that would be... Well, I do want to remind you all that Friday at City Winery will be live at 8 o'clock. Join by Daniel Dubois. Daniel Dubois will actually

be doing a sit-down reading of Oliver Twist starting at 8.30. Are we good? Can you imagine? G.C.'s like, what is this? Oh. We're out of the shit. Charlie who? Can we talk to Don Charles?

Anyone have his phone number? Because I'd like to ask him. Don Charles Dickens? What's that? We do have the Sean Strickland sound. Okay, here we go. Here's Sean Strickland literally minutes ago. How this started.

I will give you factually how this started. There's a guy named John out of Colorado. Really nice kids. It came very young and I think he's on the contenders now. But we wrestled and I may have got the better of him wrestling. I took a picture of him. Really nice kid, by the way. Really nice kid.

He's going to do very well in the UFC. And I made a joke and I said, oh, I thought you'd wrestle better for a Chechnan. And it was a joke because he's a friend. Anyways, he, uh, Chimaev, we had this, like, group chat. Chameev sent me a message and said, pretty much called me a piece of shit. He told me he's going to kill me some crazy shit. So I told Chimayev didn't say. simply go for yourself and I said, Chamaive, I will meet you at this location at 5 p.m.

The next thing he says is, oh, it was a misunderstanding. And from that moment, I just knew you're a coward. Like, from that moment, I knew you have lack of dignity. You're just, you're just not a fucking man, dude. Okay. So there's the Genesis. Makes sense, sort of, kind of. Who knows?

Anyway, I just want to see these guys fight at this point, right? Let's get it on. but he is holding court. I wonder if I wonder if Hamza is going to be holding court as well. Oh dear. Who is to check?

Who's to check? Who is to check? Who's to check? Mr. Bob. Do we have, so what do the, do the check marks suggest we have them or still efforting? Just that we're working.

They've been grabbed. We're trying to drop. I'm just wondering. I'm just wondering. I actually really want to watch that Dubois Storms out of interview one because I want to feel better about myself. Could we grab that one too? I do see here an interview with Max Holloway and Paramount and he is asked about the rumors of the Connor McGregor fight at International Fight Week and he says, we don't have nothing signed. Training camp looks like a regular training camp without a contract.

Not exactly a denial now, is it? What do you guys think? No confirmation, no denial, kind of playing it. smart you know no confirmation no denial sort of feels like a confirmation you're fair you're right no what's that there's a song from oliver twist i know there's a song from oliver twist it's like please sir is that it that's it no that's the line he's on the porridge line and he just wants more but it's not a song oh that's oliver twist please more yeah could i have another glorious food consider yourself as long as he needs me where is love

No? What is that? What was that, Frank? I was trying to give you a beat. Oh, I thought you were telling me not to do it. No. Oh. What tells you to not do something?

You look like Oliver Twist was a great lot. That was nice. I wasn't trying to say he looks like Oliver Twist, but... I still like... Super chat where they're saying, DePaul is screaming right now to his team. An orphan. He called me a freaking freaking...

Oh, let's read him. read some of those super chats. Do we have any pertaining to that interview? I could just read them. We won't show them on the screen. That's fine. That was hilarious. Daniel D. Twist. Are we going to get Illions? We already saw that. That was diabolical. I won't lie to you.

Is Dubois the most... Dubois the most tough interview ever? Steepet is pretty tough, but the problem is with Steepay, I feel like Steepa kind of likes me. I didn't feel like Daniel really liked me. And you can always go like Browns, calves, and get them back on side, you know, with Steepa. Yeah. Anyway, we have that Max Holloway sound that I was just referring to. Here it is.

Cormi said that he talked to you and that you've already started training, hopefully, that we get this Connor McGregor fight across the finish line. I mean, it's just, it sucks, right? Because, you know, it's, of course, you don't have nothing signed or whatever. So training camp, it looks like a regular training camp without contra. You know, we kind of know. where we want to fight, why we want to fight. And I just getting in the gym, getting there, getting it done. Why is Connor McGregor the fight that is most exciting to you right now?

I mean, we have history. We have history. We fought a very long time ago. And I told you guys, man, if somebody got one over me, I want to get them back. I'd love to get him back. And him having all this talk of coming back and everybody talking about how serious he actually looks like he's training and taking it and really wanted to come back to fight. It's exciting, you know what I mean? He looks hungry.

He looks super hungry. Well, I hate to, you know, upset the naysayers, but that sounds like a guy who's about to fight Connor McGregor. Does it not? Definitely does. Yeah, so I don't know what he was talking about. What's the couple of Paramount Social Team? I'm going to spike the football.

What do you mean? The cut there? What was that? It's a little slop. What is this? Also, yesterday, I mean, they posted a 140P video from that show that Dustin and... Oh, yeah. though.

I didn't see that. Who's Joe? We gotta do a little bit better here. You gotta do better. You're the partners. We got the DeVois storm out here. Okay.

But I do think Rick's point is well taken. I mean, this is the guy who launched ESPN MMA. You would never see this. Lest we forget. I mean, there were literally zero followers when he took over. Zero posts as well. We built this industry. Pre all these other games.

First post ever in ESPN MMA. It was Connor McGregor just like strutting down a hallway. Just saying that we're here. Yeah. It was probably January of 2019. It was December. Oh, right before. We had secured the accounts and did a little teaser.

I remember there was a debate. Were we going to go with ESPN UFC or ESPN MMA? I always really respected that they went with MMA. Look at the difference. Look at the difference, right? Look at the difference. Yeah. Anyway, here's hopefully a video that is going to make me feel much better about what transpired some 20 minutes ago.

Are you excited? Yeah, I'm ready to fight. Yeah, you love it, you love the destruction, the power, the blood. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's what my job is, that's what I do. What's your favourite thing about boxing? Winning, overcoming, overcoming obstacles, everything about it. And what's your least favorite thing?

I can't say. Do I need to do this interview? What's going on? Yeah, let's cancel it. That's it. Yeah. What's the next one? Just it? Yeah.

Do you want to need his finger? I'm not. You're taking a fucking... Why? Oh, man. Could someone have told me... I mean, like, it would have been nice to have seen that 30 minutes ago. I literally started looking to see what...

But it had you feel any better. Yes, I would have said, you know what? Daniel, I see you're not in the best of moods today. I'm going to try to make you feel better. and done what? And we start playing Oliver Twist music? Yeah, I was going to say a live rendition of Oliver Twist. No, no.

Look at me, I'm Oliver Twist, not you. The truth is, I really respect the fact that Daniel just doesn't care about any of this stuff. He wears his feelings on his sleeve, and I'm not trying to make him feel worse. I do appreciate that he took some time out. It is the fight business. It is the prize fighting business. You do have to do it. But if he doesn't want to do it, he doesn't want to do it.

ultimately, you know, that's, you know, that's his prerogative. I wish I just didn't get that timing wrong. I saw that one tweet. I blame the people at I have felt. They posted that and I was, we were going quickly right before the show. I'm like, ah, they had the face off. Let's throw this up. Reading is fundamental.

Now I did throw it in, nah. Reading is hard. We do have our next guest. I'm very excited. This man is not going to storm out of this interview. I can almost guarantee that. So I feel he's like a warm blanket right now in my life I feel much better about the state of things

He's the one and only Luke Rockhold Former UFC and Strike Force middleweight champion Ah what a sight for sore eyes Luke I just had someone storm out of my interview So I feel like this is going to go considerably better than that interview How'd you pull that off? I don't think he was in a good mood to begin with I don't think it was me I think it was more like

Just him not feeling into the interview I missed it. Hopefully we can do better. You didn't miss much. How are you, Luke? I'm great. Everything's going great, you know. Homsat's finally out of camp,

and now I have my freedom to stay away from all these Chechnines and the Russians. They've been kicking my ass for the last few weeks. How's your body feeling after that? It feels good. It feels good now. I have like, you know, I get in and you wrestle with these guys, and I'm just not as young as they used to. to be, so everything adds up. I get one, two days of training, and then the rest of the week I have to

take off and rehab. Wow. By the way, what about that flex behind you? The strike force belt, the UFC, I mean, that is something right there. Yeah, I mean, I've earned a few belts, so I know, it's a good way to put it. They can come on, they can come off. Yes. How many UFC belts do you have? You only get the one, right? I only get the one, but I got, I got a few of the strikes. They give you one every time? I got a few. I didn't know if they were doing that at the end there, giving you the new ones. Well, I had like the first belt with the, I believe, the wings.

Oh, yes, yes. And they converted a Viz belt too, so I got a cup. Can you explain this whole thing? We were trying to figure it out in Southern California, the Santos studio crew. Is this a new team now? You, Hamzat, Armin, we got Bear leading the charge there. what brought you all together and what is what is the state of this group um well santo kind of started i mean the jackson podcast and the jackson brand we had our thing we had a gym and then um

bear had this idea to start uh santo studio and brought in like myself and schekler and a few different pieces and then we just kind of grew into something special um you know so everyone started collaborating together and bringing bringing something something I mean, what we have here is, it's pretty unique, you know, and now Homsat, Armin, and such a cast and crew, you know, the type, we're not going to host like everyday training, but I think we do can specialize in training camps and bring in a lot of people and have a focused setting for people that want to excel, you know what I mean.

It's a special time when everyone comes together. It's what Homs out was able to bring. I mean, you got guys like Anzar and Yusif these two, 55 panors that are, honestly, the next world champions in their categories and so many others, so much other talent that's growing around it. It reminds me like the old AKA days. How did you end up there? I've been here.

I've been down south for a long time, and I've been friends of Bear, and he's kind of building this thing and join the team and be the team captain and bring everybody together. Okay, so you are officially the team captain. Well, you know, I bring not just fighting, but every realm, you know, I skate and I like to have fun and bring. You know, it's just you have motocross world champions. You have skateboarding world champions. You have fighting world champions. We have so many people.

And so every day is just, you know, it's exciting to go to work and bring everybody together and everyone feeds off each other. How did Hamzad end there? You know, don't ask me how Bear gets through to everybody. Star baseball players, star football players. he has a unique ability to bring people together. So with that and then the casting crew we have, everyone wants to be around it. Newport's a pretty nice place to be. There's not a lot of bums like L.A.

You know, it's clean and safe, and it's a good place to grow and to train. So obviously, you've been in there, AKA with some of the greatest fighters of all time, some of the toughest, strongest fighters from the Chabeebs of the world to the D.C.s of the world to the canes of the world. How would you compare what you're seeing out of Hamzad in this training camp as of late to what you've experienced throughout the course of your 10-15-year career? I mean, he's special. He hits very hard. He's so unique and obviously in his realm, so he's going to stick to what he does best. But if he can relax, and I think last time out, there's a lot of pressure on him to win.

So I think there's, I think this time, I think you'll see a lot more free, comes out and hopefully we can, you know, he gets those takedowns. And if he loses a few takedowns, he can he can show his stand-up because he's very dangerous on the feet, you know. It's just, it's just a matter of putting it all together and relaxing through the process. You know, I think that's the biggest key if he loses some takedowns, I mean, loses Sean to get up from some takedowns. And he's got to relax. If he relaxes amongst that process, he's going to get no more takedowns and he's going to be effective on the feet. You know, he just can't rush it.

Do you think he was bothered by some of the criticisms of that performance, not because he wasn't dominant, but people said it wasn't exciting, entertaining? Do you think that annoyed him? I don't think so, you know? I think the pressure was from some Chechnine ruler and then the people are right behind them. You know, there's a lot of pressure to go back and, you know, who knows what it would be like if he didn't bring that title back home. So he is the champion now, and I think he's going to. got a chance to go out there and do his thing. We've talked a lot about the buildup to this fight, the things that Sean has said about him. It feels like it's borderlining on, you know,

very personal, uncomfortable trash talk. I've seen some comments from Hamzat responding and he's very even keel. He sort of laughs it off or dismisses it. Is any of this stuff bothering him? Is it feeling personal? How is he receiving this stuff? What can you tell us? he's uh you know he he he wears it well you know he's Sean is not is not a real threat in the world of what he's he's dealt with and who he deals with uh so i think his you know sounds like we might have cadaroff in his corner so i don't think i don't think he's he's i think he's pretty safe within his mindset and uh you know we'll see we'll see how it goes you know this this fight week's going to be interesting

see how the interactions go, but I think Sean was saying he's going to bring a gun. I'm not sure if you can bring a gun out there in New Jersey, but they better check it. By the way, when you say in his corner, Kadeirov, do you mean physically in his corner or just like backing him? I don't know. I've seen some random rumors.

Oh, wow. That would be wild? I mean, it'll be interesting. Sure. Yeah. What about, you know, the stuff that Sean is saying? I've heard some comments from you about Sean. you don't seem to be a big fan of his.

How do you feel about the things that he's been saying about your friend? I haven't followed everything he said. That's not who I tried to follow. But Sean is truly a piece of shit. And, you know, everyone has an opinion. But you get down and I didn't even know who Sean was when he first rolled in to our training camp.

He showed up on our doorstep and he was just a loud idiot. and he was trying to beat up kids who were helping him and trying to knock him out consistently after he already heard him. And he's just not one of those guys you want to, you know, I like to be around. And many people, I mean, he's just not a good person.

Did you ever witness him in Hamza training together? I never did. No, I never witnessed that. So when did he come and train with you or in your vicinity? That was back in like the Ruka days. We were just training through COVID. And he just showed up one day.

And I was like, this kid was just a loudmouth idiot. And he started beating up some of the guys and hurt some of the guys. And, you know, you hurt a guy. And then you try to like, okay, you're on our turf. And then you, okay, let's finish the round. The guy's hurt. And you're going to like, okay, work the body, try to work around it. No, Sean went straight for the kill, tried to head kick the guy and knock him out again and again.

Like, he just says no regard. for human beings, you know, and especially, you know, on somebody else's turf. So I just don't. I don't appreciate people like that. And, you know, people like that can, you know, who never got out of, never have gotten over their childhood traumas seemingly who continually voice. You know, it's an obvious portrayal of what that man is and what he's been through. And what he does face, what he doesn't face. You were scheduled to fight him in 2021, right? I was, yeah, yeah.

I had a herniated disc. I wasn't going to go into that like that. That's seemingly the problem in every event I get to these days in my older age. So a little bit of a bad problem in every spectrum along the way. I make it to the dance or I don't. Does that one annoy you that you couldn't actually fight him? man you know what annoys me

I didn't get to fight in Madison Square Garden that was two injuries for the two times I was supposed to fight there that was Sean and it was Chris Wyatman so that that annoys me

the most yeah that would be that would be incredible for any fighter how long did he last with you guys when you were training over there I just came in a few times

I know I guess he came in before some other times but for me I think it was just one you know a couple times Do you think he believes the things that he's saying about

Hamzad or is just trying to get under his skin? What do you think? You've been around this game. You kind of can tell when someone believes something and when they don't. I think there was some understanding of how they worked together and how it went. But I think people grow,

and I think there's definitely some, you know, I don't think he believes everything he says. I think he tries to believe. And it's going to be a tough fight. I'm not going to say, like a lot of the guys think it's going to be easy for homes up but he's got a you know relaxation is the key to the game you know and and he is good on the feet he's great on the ground Sean's tricky as hell he's just weird he's uncomfortably like it's I don't like watching

Sean fight I don't think a lot of people do but he he's effective in getting up and and his his style somehow works so um we'll see we'll see how it all all plays out but you know i think there's there's different levels and um you know homes out comes out there and he performs every time why don't you so why don't you like watching him fight what is it about a style that you don't like i mean do you like watching him fight i think it's i think it's he's an irritating style he's he's very boring at times uh and it's just i don't know i just like watching clean clean and strikes and fight styles and he's just,

he's an ugly fighter. It's interesting because I feel like he's Jekyll and Hyde a little bit. Like he'll come out against him. He's just like, you don't. You see some of these, I've seen some of these remakes of him,

his fight style, his knee up and everything he does. It's just like, I don't know, man. And like, he is in false belief of who he is. You know,

when he fought Dracus, he quit. When his nose broke, he absolutely quit. I mean, I mean, for a guy like that to talk to all that game, you know, you could see in his eyes. The moment his nose broke, he backed out of that fight. He even found a way out.

You know, I broke my nose in the first round versus Paula Costa. I continued to go through that one. So I just, I don't like fake people. Sean seems like a fake little bitch. There does seem to be a little bit of a thought that, like, if there's one guy at Middoway right now who could potentially maybe pull. it off against Hamza, he's the guy. There are some people who seem to believe that. Do you laugh at this?

No, he's the most dangerous guy at middleweight and light heavyweight. I don't think anyone stops Hamleth weight at light heavyweight. I mean, even heavyweight, I think his skills are suited. Yeah, Sean's the toughest test for Hamza, for sure. Wow, wow. Okay, so you do respect what he brings to the table, even though you may not like watching it. Absolutely. Yeah, no, he's the toughest test.

He's, yeah, he's effective. What's interesting is sometimes he'll show up and look like the fluffy version of Sean Strickland, who looked amazing. And then sometimes you'll get a version where you're like, what happened here? What's going on? What was the game plan? What were you thinking? Like, he's very Jekyll and Hyde. Like the game plan against Alex Pereira wasn't great.

The Drickett's fight wasn't great. Well, both of them, the first one was a little bit closer. The second one was not good at all. But then the fluffy, the is he. So that's the thing. Like, you never really know. He does seem very switched on for this fight. though. He seems very, very motivated.

And by the looks of his training, he seems like he's taking it very seriously as he should. Yeah, I guess so. Will you be out there? There's a chance. There's a chance I might be up there. We're talking right now. I've got some good business practices, some good people.

And so we might take the jet out. We'll see. Are you, no chance you'd be in his corner, though, right? No, no, no. Not, no, no, no, no cornering. Do you ever corner guys? It's not really my thing, no. Why?

I like to help out around and about because it's just, I don't want to be invested completely in the fight game. You know, chasing your whole life is, it's like, it's a bit boring. I like to change it up, you know. I like other aspects of life as well. Okay. Yeah, I mean, to be in someone's corner, you got to be in the gym all day, every day. And, like, it's just, I don't know, man. I just, I don't have that.

I like a variation of life. I like to go through different stages. You know, there's chasing fighting. It's like your whole life is, it'll tire you out. So you don't want to run a fight team like D.C. is doing now. Absolutely not. I talk to D.C. enough. I know how that works.

I'm not going to be in a wrestling room, the sweatyness every day. I go through, look what I've done. I've done all these things. They might not, like, my skills are obviously suited in MMA, but I still like to challenge myself in other realms for better or for worse. You know, it's cool to learn something new, you know? And that's the key to life is change. Ever-changing is how you find, you know, some balance and happiness within it all.

If you stay in the same realm, you lose your mind. Are you still looking to compete in any way, shape, or form? I have no real urge right now. Business is good. I'm part in the game day, Sonto Studio, protein candy. So growing these three businesses the best I can and focusing here. You know, you get locked into training camp and you just kind of lose focus on business. So everything is on the right track. And it's nice to be a part of these camps and see, you know, like all the talent and get in there, you know, a couple days a week. Test yourself a bit and get back to business.

But, you know, I like to stay healthy. I like to stay in shape. But actual competition is, you know, like I said, I never say no, but, you know, it's not it. You'll never say the retired word, but would you say this is the closest you are to, like, really being done competing in anything? Yeah. Yeah. If I were to do anything, it would probably be like a full, obviously mixed martial arts. I've tested the realms everywhere

and to finish my career. It would only be that, if anything, but I don't have the urge. It is interesting when looking at your record, there's R-A-F there, there's Misfits, CJI, karate combat, BKFC, obviously UFC,

you kind of tried all these offshoots. Which promotion do you feel like had it, you know, had their shit together? Like which one was doing the best of these sort of newer offshoot type promotions? Which one impressed you the most? That's tough. There's a little bit of problems. In all of them?

You know, there's always like, you know, the growing pains of different companies. But it's impressive to see Raff, you know, what they've done recently. And, you know, the paychecks, they're mounting. And I don't know how they're doing it and what they're doing. But, you know, they put together a pretty good show. and to put together some nice paychecks as well. Does it bother you that some people don't remember the Luke that we remember from Strike Force, from the UFC days?

It was a time where I thought you were the best middleweight in the world, and obviously Father Time undefeated. Does that stuff bother you? No. I mean, I know what I did. I know what I did, and most people know who really know, no. There's just a whole wave of kids these days that are pretty, pretty sad.

It's a sad world these days of everyone's just looking for a viral moment in time. And I, you know, I'm just trying to try to live a happy life and balanced, changed and inspire myself

day to day. How do you feel about the state of MMA? Do you like it? Do you watch it? Do you follow it? Yeah, no, I watch a bit of it. You know, it's definitely, it's interesting to see. It's just unfortunate. There's certain things that I'm not happy about,

and I know you're not happy about. You know, you have the first ever, like, White House card. You have Zufa going into boxing, paying out $15 million to a guy like Connor Ben and refusing to pay a guy like John Jones,

the greatest American champion and the greatest American event ever. And that was, I think that was an absolute, absolute disaster that he couldn't fight on that card. So I think certain things like that, you know what I mean? Like why there's so much money going into this, into this fight game, so many billion-dollar contracts they're getting and you can't put together the fights that

we really want. You know, I want to see those, I want to see amazing, like, the history, you know, that's, and there's a lot of fights that get put together and a lot of people that don't get signed, but, you know, what excites me is those legendary fight nights and matchups that get put together. Yeah. I mean, another guy who's been hanging at the gym, Armand Syracian, he's become huge and he can't get a title fight. Yeah. No, I mean, that doesn't make any sense either.

I mean, Armand versus I think is the fight that everyone would want to suit. The only man that can really test him, I believe. And so hopefully you never know that that fight comes to be in Armands. And what Armin has done, you know, in competition is impressive. He's really putting himself on the map. So he's exciting to be around, to watch and see. And I want to see those fights. What impresses you about him?

I mean, just the willingness to compete every week and something else, you know, and put on performances. You know, he's just, he's done his thing. his social media is another realm of different stuff, but his competition is, you know, you cannot deny what he's been able to do and how he's performing. You know, he seems to show up and execute every time on stage.

Is he a full-time member of the team as well now? I mean, he's down here a lot. He likes it down here, as we all do, and we're growing something that's pretty cool to be at every day. And, you know, and there's just more and more talent coming through. and we all feed off each other. Does the team have a name? We don't have a team, you know, we hold camps.

Right. And I think that's the thing is, you know, is what we want to focus on is, you know, harboring, putting together, like, you know, when the energy is right and everyone feeds in here and you can build something around it, you know, continually trying to build that every day kind of deters from, I think, the goal of what we're doing.

but when the when the fight's right when the event is right we bring everything together feels like it's it's kind of a boxing model right like this is just the place where top guys come to hold their camps

and then they go and do the thing and then they come back when they have a fight or to help other people out right that's a bit more of the boxing model than the team model that we've seen in MMA aka ATT TriStar Jackson Wink etc yeah yeah no there's no down time in the

in the fight camps and, you know, it's a lot more exciting to be around and to bring people in. You know, the day-to-day training is, it's pretty tedious. And like I said before, I don't really want to be a part of that. But what we're doing in camps is like the energy and a focus and there's something at the end of it, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel every time. And so there's such focused energy when everyone comes out here. It's much better. Do you train with Bisping there?

hanging with him? Are you guys like fully boys now? Busbyn't pops in a ton of time. I don't see them that much, but, you know, I'm cool with Bismiching. There's no animosity whatsoever. There's always a little, there's always a little jabs here and there. You know, we can't help jab each other, but that's just part of the game. You know, that's life, you know.

It's a wild thing. I mean, there was a time not that long. Actually, 10 years ago next month is when you guys bought for the second time at $199. Who would have thought, not too far away. You'd be pals doing podcasts together, hanging out, training a little. Yeah, how about this? I have a good idea.

How about Bisming? How about you get back on the wrestling mat? Me and you, go to Raff. Okay. Raff rematch. You think he would do this? That would motivate me. I mean, that's all feel.

You don't need to see anything, right? Sure. I don't know. I don't know the state of things, but I thought we were past that, you and him. I thought you didn't want to compete against them. Wrestling is fun. Wrestling is no animosity in wrestling.

Wrestling is just that you don't. Wrestling is wrestling. Okay. Have you actually trained with him? Like, done anything? Is he... No, no.

I mean, he isn't really... I mean, we just showing some techniques in the cage after a podcast, maybe, but that's about it. Sure, sure. Okay. So you've like...

Have you expressed this to him that you'd like to wrestle him? No, no. I just had to... He just made me think about it. All right. There it is. Yeah. In the gym,

a lot of people think they know or talk about or maybe dream like what would it be like to have chamsat kind of smother you like have you down pin you down the way in which he dominated adricus can you describe what that's like like that strength that he has that technique that he has it seems miserable watching it on TV yeah no it's it's stabilitating him and a lot of the guys they you know they get up on top and they have this like it's it's hard to get up you know it's it's it's It's like you feel like you can get up. Then if you get up in the wrong without adjusting right, you're going to go for a ride. So it's like it's hard to get up and get out.

But, you know, that's Dreykis. Those Dreykis and Sean's got a little more wrestling background. And I'm sure it's working hard. So we'll see what is what is out there. But he's pretty vicious on top when he can put it together. So debilitating is not what. we're all hoping for it. We're hoping for brutality. And, uh, let's hope we get that. Who is his head coach?

His head coach? I mean, he's got, he's got a few people, you know. There's, there's, there's got a great cast and crew of people. Um, so that's, that's, that's, you know, it's hard to say who's his head coach. You know, I can't, I can't put that. He doesn't have one main guy. They all work together really well, man. I think he, you know, he guides himself well, and he's got quite a few people in his corner. And so everyone's got a very good point of view and outlook for him. And they're dialed in. So that's all I know.

Do you train out of the garage like the rest of them as well? No, that guy scares me. I'm too old for that, man. Going in there and getting killed, that's a, he's a legendary trainer from what I've, scene and everything I hear. Sam Calavita. Yeah, yeah, he's, you know, he's, he's truly, he's very, like, you know, scientifically gifted.

The guy, the guy has a point of view that's, it's unlike many of any people I've ever heard of. So what they're doing out there and how they're performing and how he continually, like, has that cardiovascular system. It's working for, obviously, both those guys, you know, you see that there's, There's not a moment where they, you know, where they lack anything at any level along the way of the fight. I love the idea of the Armands and Hamzots of the world just training out of this garage in a neighborhood. And there's like, you know, moms picking up, you know, their kids or grocery shot.

And like they're just, and these dudes are in the driveway doing crazy, you know, cardio activities. It's nuts. Yeah. And then Samo, he won't grow out of that space. I know he's been offered many, many opportunities that. to get something bigger and more established, but he's just, you know, the garage mentality is where it's at.

You know, you've got to have that beginner's mindset and pull yourself back no matter how good you get in the game, you know. So it's a good mindset where he can control, I guess. I can see. What do you think will happen if they face off this week, Sean and Hamzat? I think you're going to get more marketing. I think, you know, I think. It's just, you know, we'll see.

I hope there's some interactions. I think it's good. It's good for the sport. It's good for the fight. Do you think there'll be a brawl? Is that possible? I don't think Sean's got enough people for a brawl. So what do you think happens?

I don't know. I think it's going to be controlled. Homs out's a professional, man. I'm sure, you know, they know what's on the line. and I think it's going to be relatively okay. So what do you think? How does it actually play out? What are you feeling?

The fight itself or the weak? No, no, the fight. The fight. You know, I don't know. I don't know how Sean's going to deal with the takedowns. I don't know how quickly the pursuit will come for that. But Hamza, like, I'm telling you, when he puts it together on the feet, he's very, very dangerous.

And this guy hits hard, like really, really hard. So if he, you know, if he can get the takedowns, lose a couple takedowns and get back to the stand-up here and there, I think he can be very effective. He could get to a good position right away and hurt him. So it's up in the air. You know, I haven't seen, I haven't seen these guys interact before. and I know Sean is effective and I know how good Hamzad is. So I think it comes down to relaxation and mentality how they enter that cage.

And so for you training, helping out, offering wisdom, guidance, as you mentioned, you've got some business things. What's Game Day, by the way? You mentioned Game Day. What's that? Game Day men's health. It's a, you know, it's a big peptide clinic. that hormonal health, sexual health, everything,

they kind of monitor everything in every realm, but primarily focus on peptides and many different other things these days. Okay. Peptides, is that considered a PED? I don't know, but I'm not... No, I know. But like, could a fighter do that or no? A fighter can't do it, and there's certain things, like, obviously,

when then you're out, there's this one, like, obviously you take testosterone. Testosterone kind of like, it overshadows everything, but there's certain things that can enhance your own genetics and what I like and how you play that game. So, I mean, like, there's inflammation and lack of circulation is obviously the death of all of us. So there's certain things like BPC is the body protective compound. TB 500 helps your soft tissue grow. There's certain things that I don't think there shouldn't be a problem, but are. So there are regulations in certain realms and you are limited, but there's other things that.

That really helped life. And Santo Studios at Nordstroms. We are in all Nordstroms around the nation. We're taking over. Wow, look at you guys. That's big time right there. That's blue chips. We're blue chipping.

Look at this. We got protein candy about to hit every shelf in America as well. I've divided in the year. I got blue chips everywhere. Protein candy. Yeah. Like gummies or what? Canada-based.

Canada-based. We got the number one health, new health food product in Canada last year. Okay. We got every store in Canada, Whole Foods, Costco, 7-11. We got everything. Everything's rolling out this year. It's going to be big. Have you trained with Kane at all since he's been out?

I have not. Train with Kane. I haven't been up to the Bay. Okay. The Bay is, I'm going to go up there soon, so hopefully I can catch up with him and see what's up. Okay. How do you feel about the judge? Can he talk on your show?

He won't. is that real? The judge won't let him talk on Joe or something like that. Oh. I heard something like that. You know, I never... Won't let him tell his story? Like what?

That's wild. Well, that actually explains things because I didn't hear that, but I did ask his agent several times. And he kept saying, well, he keeps saying, and I don't think he's lying, like, not right now, not right now, not right now. But I didn't know that that was, you know, the reason, if it is the reason. That's what you were told? Yeah, I mean, what other reason would it be? I don't know. I think there was a documentary in production, so maybe I thought maybe they wanted to save it for that.

But yeah, I mean, he should be allowed. Or maybe, was that a part of the deal? I don't know. You never know these days what is fake and what is real, but I saw like it was like a court order or something like that. Okay. Interesting. Awful situation. Well, this is great.

hopefully you get out to New Jersey and we could see you there you'd be in the building right you'd be there in the front row 100% yeah red carpet treatment if we may get out there I'm not sure if Dana

will give me the red carpet treatment but I'll be here well you deserve it you deserve it great to see great to see you still in the mix with these youngsters appreciate you as always

congrats on all the stuff that you're doing Luke always great to catch up with you my man thank you you too all right you guys there he is Luke Rockhold

former Strike Force and UFC middleweight champion talking about all things Chamsa Chimae of tomorrow. We'll talk to Johnny Eblen about all things Sean Strickland as well as other things. So stay tuned for that. For now, though, let's talk to perhaps the

star of this past weekend and what a pleasure it is to have him on the program, on this Cinco de Mayo. He has now owned, I think, that weekend and he's hopefully going to own the one coming up in September, Mexican Independence Day weekend. What a performance against Zerdo Ramirez. Now

the first man to win a title at once 168, 175, and 200. Unbelievable stuff, and he doesn't just win these belts by the skin of his teeth. It is an absolute destruction. He destroys his opponent, and you saw the videos from this past weekend. You saw the fights. I mean, it's mesmerizing. It's breathtaking to watch him do his work.

We're talking to El Monstro himself, David Benavides, who's kind enough to join us right now, the king of the cruiserweight division. Hello, David. How are you, my man? Thanks for doing this, and congratulations. Well, thank you, man. I just wanted to tell everybody thank you so much for the love and the support they've been giving me. You know, this is a big win for me and my career.

But what I tell you guys, I said I was going to go do that and that's exactly what I did. I went in there, I stopped through the Ramirez. He was a tough fighter, but like I said, I wanted to cement my legacy. And, man, we went in there and did exactly what I said I was going to do. I feel like you have taken a big step. I feel like a lot more people were talking about you after this fight. Videos went crazy viral. It just felt like a new chapter has begun for you after this fight.

Do you feel that same way? Can you feel that? Yeah, I definitely do feel like that. And I've always knew I've had this in me. But like I always tell you, I need an opponent to bring it out of me. And I've showed so much different dimensions in my boxing game that people aren't used to seeing. I mean, I know I told you that speed was going to be, it was going to be, it was going to improve my power. Just that speed alone, you guys have never seen no speed like that.

I said I was bringing speed like James Tony, the Cruiserweight Division. But I think I'm even faster than James Tony. I don't think nobody punches with the type of combination. I punch that I punch with, the last person to do that was like Pac-Yo. So it's just, man, I'm just really cementing my legacy, some mending my legend, and I'm just really happy with the work I've been putting in. That finishing sequence, talk about the speed and the power. Again, like, I think I've watched it 30 times at this point, like the way in which this right here,

how many times have you watched this? This is beautiful. You've got to love this. I've been watching it for hours and hours, bro. Honestly, I had to give myself a break. I stayed up until like five in the morning, just watching it. just because I'm so proud of it. And then also I just want to bring up another point where I'm kind of a little bit disappointed of

that people think I'm a dirty fighter. I've never been a dirty fighter in my life. Sometimes when you're throwing combinations like that, the shit happens, you know what I mean? I'm not a dirty fighter. I don't use dirty tactics. And that elbow that I hit him with was, you know, completely unintentional.

But when you're throwing punches and bunches like that, man, I'm throwing 10-piece combinations. Every combination I threw. So sometimes that happens. But like I said, I'm not a dirty fighter. I've never been a dirty fighter and I never will be a dirty fighter. So for anybody saying that I elbowed him intentionally, I didn't elbow him. I've never been a dirty fighter, like I said, and I didn't do that intentionally.

I will be honest, and obviously this is about you, so you're paying much more attention. I did not see that. Are you getting a lot of people calling you that? Yeah. I mean, but people always say, they say what they want to say. But I just so you guys know what type of fighter I am, I've never been a dirty fighter in my life. So, like I said, sometimes some things happen. But at the end of the day, what other fighter do you have today throwing 10-piece combinations like that?

No. No burden. Especially moving up from 75 to 200. Are you the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world? Yeah, I believe in my heart. I'm the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I don't think I'm number one yet until I beat the wall. And trust me, I will beat the bowl.

If not like that, I'll beat them worse than I beat Sudo. And like I said, I'm at a point in my life where I've been professional for 13 years. I'm 29 years old. I've been to the top of the mountain over and over and over again. So I just want to keep challenging myself. I want to keep fighting against other great champions and keep showing the world that I am really one of the best of my generation, if not the best of my generation. What does it feel like to be doing this for so long, to be a part of a fighting family and now see all the dreams come to fruition? It's all happening.

This is it. This is the prime of your career, and you've got much more to do and much more to accomplish many more big nights in Vegas and all over the world. But you're living it. What does it feel like? Does it feel real? Does it feel like this is a dream? How could you describe it? Yeah, it just feels, you know, I've had patience for so long, you know what I mean? Sometimes I get to this level, you have to have so much patience. And I'm just really happy that everything I've talked about to my dad, to my brothers, to everybody that would even listen to me, you, when I tell you that if I get any of these other champions, then I'm going to demolish them. And I'm just showing that. And I'm getting stronger every single fight. So I'm really happy with this process. And I'm just enjoying the process coming up.

You know, this is something beautiful. I never thought I'd really accomplish it. I knew in my heart it was possible, but to be honest with you, it was a dream for me. But, you know, that's also a message for the young kids. You know, even if you have a big dream, you know, stay dedicated to it because you can live out and you could accomplish anything that you set your mind to. I don't think a lot of people doubted it, but it did seem like you were having a hard time getting those fights because perhaps other people didn't want to fight you.

And so to see this happen this way for you to materialize like this is amazing. Could I ask when you were thinking about the fight as you were preparing for the fight? Did you think it would go that well? Did you think you would look that good moving up from light heavyweight to cruiser weight? Like truly in your heart. Yeah, I knew that I was going to look extremely good because I didn't have to cut no weight. And, you know, 200 pounds, you know, people didn't think I have power. But I've known I've had power my whole life.

Since I was 14 years old, I've hurt every single sparring partner that's been in the ring with me. So for me, having power, I didn't ever, never question myself. So when I got this fight, I said, okay, this is when I'm really going to be able to shine. Nobody thinks I'm going to come up here and stop this guy. But I know in my heart that I could stop through the Ramirez. I told you guys, I heard him various times in sparring sessions with combinations like that. So I knew this was my big coming out party. You know, it was a shame that Canello wasn't able to watch that fight there because, you know, he got a little bit of scared.

And I think I might have scared him away. But, you know, just to show everybody, man, I'm a bad dude, man. I'm a bad, I'm a bad M-effer. He left before your fight? Canello did. Yeah, he left before. I think he's seen Mungia's fight and then he just took off. What's his beef for you?

Like, I know that you wanted it, but like, you're there, you're the main event. Why not stick around and watch the fight? I don't know, man. I think it's just, I think there's like a civil war between Mexicans and Mexican Americans. You know, where I'm, you know, everybody says I'm not Mexican. There are some people from Mexico that they say I'm not Mexican enough, this and that. So, you know, there's just like a rivalry. between us. I mean, but at the end of the day, it shouldn't even be like that. At the end of the day,

we could just give the fans what they want to see, give them a great fight, and then we could both go home in our families, and that's really as easy as it can be. But I think, you know, a lot of people, they're not, um, other people, they're not as confident in themselves as I am confident in myself. So when you're confident about anything, you know, you can make anything happen. So I'm just, you know what I mean, uh, it is what it is. But at the end of the day, the fans won, you know, the fans had a great event. The whole event from top to bottom. It was a stacked card. You know, there were some great fights.

And I'm just happy that, you know, exactly what I said is what happened. You know, I said that this was going to be a legendary fight card from top to bottom, and everybody had a great time. Everybody got their money's worth. Everybody was super happy, and that's what really at the end of the day what matters, because the fans would matter the most. I know you mentioned him in the ring after the fight, but you don't really think that there's any chance this happens at this point, right?

No, I'm just talking right now. You know what I mean? I think I've deserved it. that, I mean, I've earned that. If I don't get that fight, at least I can talk about it, like, on the bad man. You know what I mean? So, I don't think that fight's ever going to happen, to be honest with you. I don't think it would be smart.

I mean, honestly, you're going in two completely different directions at this point. I don't think it would be smart for him. Yeah. No, but, like, at the end of the day, bro, you know, we're just happy. We're happy with, you know, we're happy with everything that we've had in our career up to this point. And now I'm just going to take over. Then just plain and simple. And I'm not going to take over by just taking over the date.

I'm getting the toughest and hardest fights. And I definitely want to show you guys when I'm made up. I still have way more. This is nothing. I think what a lot of people are not talking about either is that sometimes when me and Sudo would exchange, I take punches just to get my punches off. You know, there's not a lot of people that do that. You know what I mean?

And that just speaks volumes about my character and who I am. Who I am is if I get hit once, I'm coming back with five shots. and you can't teach that. You know, you can't go in there and tell somebody you learn how to get hit and then come back with even more punches and more aggression. This is really who I am. I'm the Mexican monster. You know, if I get hit once, it's going to wake me up even more

to come back even harder. So that's like, you know, that's something that you can't teach. And that's that old school grit. And I told you guys I was going to bring that back. And, you know, I'm just going to keep continuing to give them the fans the fights they want to see. You know, everybody told me he's like, man, It's funny because people keep telling me every fight I have.

They're like, man, every time I see you fight, this is the most exciting fight I've ever seen. And when I was a little kid, I said, you know, I wanted to be that fighter where you're stuck and glued to the TV because you don't want to leave because you want to watch every second of it. And I'm just happy that, you know,

I'm able to back my words up. Obviously, there's not a mark on your face and it doesn't seem like you got hurt all that much, but what is it like, can you describe? Is it different to be hit by a cruiserweight as opposed to a light heavyweight? If I'm being 100% honest with you, I felt more power from the fighters I light heavy with than I did at Cruzewick.

Wow. Wow. And I'm not even playing. But, I mean, there's also a lot of factors to go to that. I mean, I retained more muscle. You know, I retained, I didn't have to really drain myself to make the weight. So I'm sure that makes you stronger. I'm sure that allows you to take more punches. But I was just locked in.

You know, at the end of the day, even if I have Gennady Golofkin in there, or Canelo-Alvarez, if I get hit with a shot, in my head, I'm thinking they don't hit hard. So I think I'm just a different type. a fight, I just think in a different type of way. A lot of people did like what you had to say about Jayopataya after the fight and about the Zufa Belt and whatnot. Do you think that there's any chance that this fight can happen, or is it not really on your radar because of the politics of that situation?

Yeah, that fight could definitely happen. It's just going to take some time. We're going to have to have some patience for that fight because there's a lot of politics involved. But either way, we got some other great fights before we even get to that fight. But like I said, once you want to make a fight happen, I'm in the the position where any promoter is going to want to work with me. Even if it's Zufa, PBC, wherever, you know, at the end of the day, what the promotion companies have to realize is they work for us.

If we want to make something happen, it's possible we can make it happen. We just all have to come to the table. And at the end of the day, it's not about PBC, it's not about ZUFA. It's not about none of the people. It's about the fighters that worked our whole lives to get what we want to get, so we deserve these opportunities to fight each other. You are the WBO and WBA, and WBA, Cruiserweight champion, do you have any interest in that Zufa cruiserweight title? No, bro. I don't have no interest in it. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I don't have no interest at all in the Zufa titles at all.

You know, what I've worked for in my whole life is the WBC, the IBF, the WBO, the WBA, and I'm just going to keep aiming for those titles. You said after the fight, hey, like, why do you guys keep asking me about heavyweight? Because people are asking you about heavyweight. But then yesterday, we see Turkey Al-Shake tell his ring magazine outlet that, he's interested in you versus Ussack. And so did that, you know, peak your interest? What do you think of that?

I mean, yeah, I mean, as of me for having a competitive spirit, that definitely does interest me. You know, like I said, at the end of the day, you don't know what's possible until you make it possible. You know what I mean? And a lot of people think I can't be Ussic, but if I really put my mind into it and, you know, train for maybe like a year because, you know,

I barely came up to heavyweight. I mean, I barely came up to Cruzeaway. I can't just go up to heavyweight like that. You know what I mean? But if I train myself and I prepare myself, I could beat anybody in the world. But right now, that's not possible for me and my eyes, especially if I'm,

I want to become a raining, I want to be a raining champion at 175 and cruiserweight. So that's already kind of hard to do that. If I go up to heavyweight, then I should forget about light heavyweight because, you know, the weight difference is just way too big. But I'm not going to, I'm never going to say never, because maybe in the future when I'm like 35, maybe 36, we could go up to heavyweight.

But right now, I'm really just, you know, I'm just really just paying, I'm just taking care of the cruiserweight and the light heavyweight division. So just curious, has anyone even reached up preliminary and said, hey, what is your interest in this? Like, in the last 48 hours or so? No, because, you know, I mean, my people already know, like I work with Luisa Coova, Samson Luke's and Al Heyman. And I've already told them that before. They actually, they did the one that Lisa Kuhas told me, he's like, bro, I know I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I think you can

beat Usook at 200. He told me that, or a heavyweight. He told me that like a year ago. But like I said, I got my own plans. You know, I know people, you know, would love to see that fight, but I got to give Usik the respect he deserves because Usik, in my opinion, he's the number one

pound for pound. He's one of the greatest fighters of all time. And I have tremendous amount of respect for him. So, you know, I wouldn't, that would have to be the hardest training camp for my life. But, you know, if it does happen in the future, I would be willing to take the test. Just curious, can you give us your top three pound for pound right now? You said Ussk's number one for you. Who's your top three?

It's definitely Uc, in a way, and then me. You know, for a fact, I've seen that they just put me at number three. And I agree with that. You know, I think the runs I've been having these past couple years, with beating, you know, David Morel, being Bowick, being Anthony Yard, coming up 25 pounds, my first fight in fighting for two titles at Cruzeweight and then capturing him in the fashion I did. You know, honestly, it's perfect the way they had at number three.

And the only reason I'm giving myself number three is because I have so much respect for Inouet, because that man has done so much for the sport of boxing. He's a great champion. So that's the only reason I'm not putting myself at number two. I respect that. Did you watch this fight on Saturday morning? Yeah, he's a technician. You know, big shout to Nakatani, too. I didn't watch on Saturday morning, but I've seen the highlights after.

But, man, both of those guys, great fighters, you know, great IQ. There was basically a chess match, and not only was it a chess match, I think they have almost 55,000 people in Tokyo, you know, go see that fight. So that just says the magnitude about those two fighters. If you were to guess, it sounds to me like you're leaning towards going back to light heavyweight. Is that accurate that that's what you want to do next? Yeah, 100%. We're going after Dimitri Bevon.

Okay, that's it. I told you guys, that's what I wanted to do. And, you know, just so the fans, like, they have something to look up to, that's, look forward to. That's why I give you guys my breakdowns, like, what I'm trying to do, like, what are my plans? And I told you guys I was going to come back down and fight DeVol. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Now I won two more titles at Cruiserweight.

Now it's time to capture the rest of the titles at Light Heavyweight. I love that. Do you think that it could happen? Is the dream for it to happen in September, Mexican Independence Day weekend? Is that what you want? Not right now. I think it's, I don't know what's going to happen because we're still in talks. Yeah.

He's fighting. He's fighting. And, you know, at the end of the month, he still has, what, 21 more days until he fights. So, I mean, I don't know how long he's going to have to stay out or if he has an injury or any of that. So, but the thing is that we're already talking. We're in talks. So if it happens in September, great. If it does it, it'll definitely happen by this year.

To finally fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend, to be that guy in Vegas, did it sort of live up to everything you had dreamed of? Was it as cool as you thought it would be? Yeah, it was amazing. It was super amazing. What did you guys see? Did I live up to your guys' expectations? Did you guys think I was going to go do that?

Nah, man. Like I said, pound for pound, you're probably the most exciting fighter in the sport now. and that is a title into itself. It was mesmerizing. It was unbelievable. We played that one clip of you finishing him there at the end, and then the whole highlight reel is, could we play the longer one and just have David watch his handiwork?

Is that possible? And I love the fact that you're drinking out of a juice box, by the way. You're the baddest man on the planet, and you're still drinking out of a juice box. Do we have anything to show David here? Because it's just amazing what he was able to do. Look at this, David. What do you see here when you're watching yourself do work?

So when I seen that right there, this is when I let these combinations go. I knew that coming up at this weight class, nobody's ever seen no combinations like that. You know, and that's that punch where I got hit too. You see, it hit me one. You know, the crowd went, ooh, and I got him with another four piece. It's just my type of competitiveness is on a different level. You know what I mean? Also, you know, one of my idols was Mani Pachial, so that's even the reason I even throw combinations like that.

And, you know what I mean? I'm just really happy with this win. You know, I'm really happy with this win. And it's just, I'm just kind of keep going up from here. Is this your favorite win? Yeah, it's definitely my favorite win because I told you guys, this was the biggest moment of my life. It was literally the biggest moment of my life.

We sold it out with like 18,000 people. It was on Cinco de Mile. There was a lot of stars and celebrities there. There's a lot of people. Ryan Garcia and Mike Tyson walked me out. And it definitely lived up, I lived up to the occasion. but it's not, also I worked extremely hard for that. You know what I mean?

I knew it was going to be a tough fight. I knew I had to come in prepared. But what I always say, you win the fights in the training camps. And I worked my ass off for this training camp, and, you know, she definitely showed in the fight. Yeah, what about Tyson and Ryan there? Those scenes with your son in the locker room with them? Like, that's like, that's like frame put up on the wall type stuff in the gym or something like that.

How did that all come together? Like, this stuff right here is amazing. Had that all come together with Tyson and Ryan? Yeah, so we work with some, I have my new PR, Yerma, you know, we worked with her, she brought them together. You know, I already met them before, but, you know, we had invited them to the fights, and, you know, it all came together, man, and I think also two of them guys, they're big fans of boxing, so they love to watch boxing too.

So it was great for all of us, you know. We all walked out, we shared a moment, and then they got to sit down and see the Mexican monster go to work. And can I ask you about your attire? I love the detail. I love the nod to your heritage. Was there any special significance to it all? Look at this.

This is beautiful. Yeah, so we're working with Willie Chaviera, and then we're also working with the gallery department. And then it's just basically, you know, I like to look nice. I like everything to be, you know, I feel like if you look nice, you're in a perform nice. So, you know, just my sister with the shoes, you know, and everything, bro. I think we're just bringing something different to boxing.

You know, we like to, we like the fashion. We like to look nice. and you see the gallery department, you see the kilo rosary, you know, it was a kilo on the rosary. And, man, it's just, I think I'm, you know,

not only do I look the part, you know, I show the people, you know, how an animal really looks like, and I look nice while doing it. So, you know, I just, I feel like my style is way different than anybody.

What about that moment with Julio Cesar Chavez after the fight? Did he say anything to you? Do you remember? No, so what, I went up to him and I told him because he said nobody,

I seen an interview the day before said nobody in Mexico knows me. He was like saying some stuff. And then I looked at him, I'm appointed at him. He's like, you know what? You convinced me now, David, you're a grand champion. Wow. It's like, oh, I'm barely convinced you now, huh? It was just super funny.

But just to have the respect from Julio Cesar Chavez, you know, it was a great champion, too. We shared a great moment. And I'm just very happy that, you know, that's crazy, bro. I had Mike Tyson walk me out with Ryan Garcia. year, then I had Julio Cesar Chavez, embraced me, told me that I convinced them. It was definitely just a dream from true, man.

Can I imagine. Everything I've been working for my whole life, you know, it definitely, it manifested in this one moment. It's beautiful to see. How does the Benavides family celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Oh, so we came, you know, I took my kids to a vacation. We're about to go eat at a restaurant right now. And, you know, just for me, I'm just right now, I'm just so, and.

camp for so long and I was locked in for so long. Right now, I'm just giving all my time, my attention to my kids because my kids at the end of the day, this is why I do it for. So now, you know, I'm hanging out with my kids and, you know, we're celebrating single-of-the-mile together. We're going to go get a nice bite to eat. And we're going to pray as a family. And, you know, we're just going to enjoy the day.

I love that. And I don't want to take you away from your family any longer. So thank you for doing this while on vacation. I didn't know you were on vacation. So we really appreciate that. Well done, my man. Congratulations. It's such a joy to watch you.

do your thing, watch you work and represent your people, and just the sport. This is an amazing thing to have a champion like you at the top of the game. So I wish you nothing but the best. Congrats. Enjoy the victory and I can't wait for the next one. Thank you so much, David. Thank you so much, my brother. God bless. Same to you. We'll talk to you soon. There he is. El Monstro. David Benavides, the man in the cruiserweight division. You can make a strong case after one fight in the cruise weight division with all respect in the world to Jai Patia. Love Jai. Been talking about Jai for a while. You guys know this. You can make a case that he's the best. I said, I know he has two belts now to his name.

Jai had the IBF and lost that, and it was very unfortunate. And hopefully they can figure that out. He is the Zufa champion. But it sounds like he's got his sights set on Dimitri Bivel, which would be tremendous theater. He did talk to us about Archer Berbiv the last time we spoke. That would be tremendous. Although I think given Better Biev's age and just sort of the wars that he's been in, he hasn't had like 50 fights or anything like that, but still,

getting a little bit up there, I think that might be a tough one for him, if I'm being honest. The B'Ivo fight would be an interesting puzzle for him to figure out. If you haven't watched Benavita's fight, if you haven't watched that fight on Saturday, go watch it. He is so fun to watch and just a great guy, very easy to root for as well. I wanted to give a shout out to fellow Canadian Chelsea Green. Chelsea Green, who is doing great things in the world of wrestling, announced that she had to undergo a heart procedure. This is from post-wrestling.

She underwent a procedure on Monday to address a condition known as SVT, supra, ventricular, tachycardia, hopefully I'm pronouncing that correctly, which led to an irregular heartbeat. She wrote this, my latest episode during WrestleMania, pushed my resting heart rate to 228 for almost 15 minutes. Yesterday, Dr. Gergis spent three hours working on me, and I had to be awake for the last hour of the procedure.

Thankfully, it was minimally invasive, and I'll be back to work very soon. The Mayo Clinic states that most people with SVT do not require treatment, but when recommended, it can require an operation, medicines, or a device to control the heartbeat. So I wanted to wish her the very best and a very, very, very. very speedy recovery. We did see two posts from Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. She, excuse me, we'll start with who. Kofi Kingston.

I thought Kofi Kingston's message was really, really nice. I want to pull this up real quick because that text might be a little bit too small for. Yes, here it is. A great message from Kofi Kingston, and I thought that there was perhaps a hidden message in this. I'm going to read this as quickly as possible. Kofi Kingston, one of the all-time best. What a legend. It's taking me two full days to respond to all my texts.

I hadn't been on social media until today. And I'm overwhelmed by all the messages here. So much love. So I can't help but be filled completely with gratitude. My story has been nothing short of remarkable, and I'm truly blessed to have such an illustrious accolade laid in and most importantly, fun-filled career. I made my childhood dream become the most wonderful reality. Throughout this journey, I'm so thankful to have been surrounded by great friends and to have built so many unbreakable connections with people that I'm very proud to call my family.

Most people go through life without ever experiencing a love like I have for Woods and E. Xavier Woods, Big E, that bond alone would have made this whole experience worth it. Kind of like me with the whole crew. There are far too many people to mention here by name, but to everyone who's ever supported me, guided me, helped me, taught me, cheered for me, praised me, and stood up for me, and even rooted against me, thank you. I appreciate you more than words can say. My main mission has always been a simple one, to provide a comfortable life filled with heartwarming memories for my family and largely, in part to all of you. I can now

proudly say that I've achieved that goal and more. This wasn't supposed to be a novel, so let me wind it down with some advice. This is the really interesting part in my opinion. Do your best to live a life without regrets. Control what you can control. Always give it your all and fight hard for what you believe in. Do not ever compromise or accept less than your due when it comes to your worth. Find the courage to believe in yourself, fearlessly pursue your goals and dreams because anything is possible. The kid that was too small, short, skinny and scrawny was never supposed to make it in this land of giants. Yet here we are. And so as the sun sets on one chapter, so too must it rise in another. indeed a new day. That kind of gave me goosebumps. And I thought that the part about compromising and,

you know, accepting less was very, very interesting. Xavier Woods also posted a message, which I thought was really nice. You can, you could check that out on social media. I believe I retweeted it as well. Another long one. And he does say at the very end, thank you for believing in me. Thank you for letting me be Xavier Woods. Thank you for giving me the confidence to walk away as Austin Creed. That's his real name. So two great gentlemen, two great careers. Let's see where they end up from here. I did see this amazing video from Francis Inganu squatting 100. No, 800. What? 810 pounds, 720. Get what? Look at this guy. This is a beast of a human being. What? 810 pounds? I think I could do that. I'm actually low key, LK, a very, very

good squatter. LK. Pause. No, I'm telling you. Like, super LK. Yeah, what are you squat in his days, bro? Almost even, like... Well, I don't...

Like, I'll take, like, two 50-pounders, and I'll do the... I'll do, like, the deadlift. You know? No. Like, you, like, hold them individually in your hand?

I'll take two dumbbells. Dumbels or, like, kettle bells? No, I'm not a big kettle guy. You know? I think it's overhyped. You like hold the dumbbells at your side? You hold them at your knees.

You kind of go a little bit past the knee. Butt out. Like you're closing the car door with your butt. That's the technique, a little bit of this. So you're talking deadlift. Like a deadlift. I said, I said, I'm doing squats. Like, I'm doing like the Romanian deadlift.

Right. So a Romanian deadlift. Yeah. So not a squat. But it's sort of like the cousin. Lucky squatter, though. I could do a squat. Like, what do you mean?

Like this? Like, what is the, what's the question? Like, do you want me to go down? Like, what do you want me to do? A squat, bro. It's a movement. Look at that. Look at that. You see that?

Where's the 50-pound dumbbells? I don't have anything. Here. Back looks a little odd. Whoa, whoa. Whoa, look at that right there. What, what? The stance there.

You were kind of leaned forward. What's that? There it is. Let's get lower, bro. Come on, Mom. You want you. The hamstrings are on fire these days. So I hold them like this, and I go, oh.

Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. You're not even supposed to go that low. Nice. Just supposed to go to lower. fucking out.

Not even close. Are you out of your mind? I'm impressed. Thank you, Jordan. He's holding his hands. What's this new article here? This is from Shaheen Monster Piece from Ben, just published. Was Muhammad Ali's most famous photo a lie?

The many mysteries of Sunny Liston, boxing's menacing, mob-affiliated sledgehammer? First of all, LK, some of the best graphics, some of the best paintings, pictures, whatever you want to call them. You've got to retire, okay. Some of the best in the business on Crown. It is great. Shout out to Hayden Hodge looks like, right? Okay, yeah, yeah. Shout to Hayden.

Time to retire LK. Yeah, but we're retiring LK. U.K.? U-K.? H-K. H-K. Damn it. Upper key? No.

Well, I'm excited to read that. Best in the business. What a site. It's some site for one site that on crowd, uh? Do we have any super chats, Frankie? We got one left. Oh. No, I see cheers to Kofi Kingston, 20 years in the WW.

Hate to beg, but please tell Rick to favor Bob and Cheryl's email for the tickets. I will do just that. Rick, please favor Bob and Cheryl's email. I should say also, I didn't say this up front. I can be bought, so obviously take that into advisement when you send these emails. We'll do some trades, right? Rick, we'll take some Nick tickets. Hell yeah. Courtside, maybe, if you got them.

Whatever you got, I can. be bought. What an experience. We've already got a handful of five to ten emails already. They're flying in. No, I need you guys to buy the actual tickets, all right? We need to sell this bad boy out. It will be sold out.

You better buy the tickets. No, no, no, no. I need you to buy the tickets, all right? Well, the key is, there's only two tickets. So one person is going to win two tickets. The rest of you, you can have to be. Yeah. Okay.

I'll tell you right now, whoever buys tickets and sends us a screen grab of the ticket, you will get slammed by Derek Lewis on the, on the stage. Like, we'll set it up. We are not. Do you imagine? And then you'll go, no.

No? No? Did you imagine? There will be no slamming. There will be no slamming. Legal, legal, you know, ramifications here. Insurance issues. Not happening.

Did he just offer that to all ticket holders? Actually, legal is drawing up a waiver that you can get slams. No, no, no. No, no. Who's legal? Where's legal? We got HR. Where's legal?

Is it not legal in the HR? We'll do I'm working it on and now yeah We'll do a squatting contest All right You and Derek Squatting contest

Where we're actually doing Romanian dead lives With the 50 pound Wait but who's squatting You and Derek? Who's to check? Oh look at this guys Breaking News

Just announced July 4th Wow You guys see that That news That DeZone Is gonna have select Fights on TNT

I didn't see that But that's cool You didn't see that That happened like over the spring break that we had. Anyway, on July 4th, which is a Saturday, live from, wait, wait, wait for it, wait for it, live. Okay, so boxing's the youngest world champion, the great Abdullah Mason, is going to be up, going up against Joe Cordina. That's some clash right there. Shushu Carrington, our boy, Bruce, against René Palacios on July 4th, I believe emanating from Cleveland

Wolstein Center. So that's a bit of a home game for Mr. Mason. And that's going to air on TNT and DeZone in the U.S. DeZone worldwide. That's not bad. That's like Channel 245 on direct TV. TNT. Shout out to 245. Yeah, you know about 245, 247. Oh, TBS. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, love this. So July 4th fighting because July 4th is Saturday. That's fun. I dig that. Love it. They're going to be celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence. Do you think they'll do anything for Trump's birthday, too? Hey, jump the gun there. Anyway, that just came through the wire.

Over at areaahawani.substack.com is where you can leave questions and comments for tomorrow's on the nose segment. So we'll be doing on the nose tomorrow. And also on the program tomorrow, it was asked of us. on, I think last week's on the nose, to have Dave Allen on, the white rhino. Everyone loves Dave. He's one of the funniest guys in boxing. Do you think the interview will go better than the Daniel Dubois interview?

Nah, who's to check? Dave's got no personality, man. Why would that go well? Any interview. Yeah. Well, Dave, Alan's going to join us. Polly Malinaji is going to join us. Oh, hell yeah.

And that should be interesting. Azim Zaidi, the Karate Karate Combat President is going to join us. So I talked about, we moved it to tomorrow. And Johnny Eblen and Costello Van Steenis are going to join us. Together. Time? Eh, who's to check?

Oh, okay. So that's going to be fun. And we'll talk about all things, combat sports, 328. You know, once we get closer to the paper, I've been saying this a lot because people always say, like, oh, where's this guy? Let's get closer to the fight week. Like, we like, I've always told you, when the fight is announced, we go heavy and then in the aftermath we go heavy.

Fight Week is sort of like, you know people who celebrate, they go out party on New Year's? What do they, what do they call that? What do they call New Year's? What are like the real? Revelers? New Year's Y, Y, Y, K, Y, K people do. They say, that's amateur night.

Like, those people go out on a Thursday, they like to down, you know, 12 rum and coax. It's the amateurs. They just call them pizzas? The amateurs go out on New Year's. And so to me, Fight Week is sort of like amateur. That's like when everyone, no, no. The real skill is pre-post.

That's where the real magic happens. The squats that are actually... Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Yeah. Does anyone understand what I'm trying to say? Are those people in the room with us right now? People in the room with us? What are you talking about?

I'm talking about interviews. What's going on? I feel like there's been a lot of miscommunication on today's program. Okay, everyone knows what you mean. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. It's time to go. It's time to go. Oh, what's happening in Champions League, guys? Let's see, let's see. Let's break it. Zero, zero.

Oh, was it one-one aggregate going into the final? The semi-final second leg? I guess it was. I'd like to see Arsenal make it to the Champions League final. I'd actually like to see... I'd rather Arsenal win than Man City, and I know that that upsets my son. They've won enough, Man City, right? Enough of those guys. Forest is just flying right now. I mean, Forest has run since tying Man City a couple of, no, more than a couple of weeks ago.

Eight weeks ago or so, unbeaten. And then, of course, 3 p.m. on Thursday. The best part about me revolutionizing the Paramount Plus app, which all things consider was pretty bad, you know, prior to me doing that. Now I can watch Forrest Europa League, but also do the... The PIP. They've got to work on a few things. What was the thing that we talked about yesterday

that they had to change? Full fights. Full fight cards. Can I just say, before we get the full fights, I like the stats underneath. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah, sure. Sure did.

And then, like, one guy was red here and the other guy was red there. They were taking a lot of damage. That was... I like that. But I also, like, you could see... If you were late, you could see, okay, what happened?

what did I miss? What's to come? What's next? It was all right there. I guess it's the difference between having a sports app run by sports people and just like an entertainment app. We're seeing that. So we need to work out the kings. Work out the kings. Work out the kings. We'll get there. We'll get there. Thank you to Tour of Tyra. Thank you, Daniel Dubois. Thank you, Luke Rockhold. Thank you, David Benavides.

Thanks to you. Thanks to them. Back tomorrow, say, time.