The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 34: Nakisa Bidarian, Frank Warren and David Feldman all join the show, massive weekend recap/preview, more

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo kick things off with the weekend recap, starting with Hamzah Sheeraz’s huge knockout of Edgar Berlanga (04:49) and Shakur Stevenson’s back-and-forth victory against William Zepeda (07:43), and Ade makes a bold claim for Hamzah’s next fight. Nakisa Bidarian is the first guest up and breaks down MVP’s record-breaking Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3 event, highlighting its significance for women’s sports and what could be next for the biggest stars in the sport, including Jake Paul and Claressa Shields (14:43).After a quick debate about Ariel’s in-ring interview with Ramla Ali following her controversial victory (41:12), the duo is joined by Queensberry’s Frank Warren to discuss the possibility of Hamzah Sheeraz vs. Canelo Alvarez and this weekend’s undisputed heavyweight blockbuster: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois 2 (47:01).BKFC founder David Feldman closes the show, confronting Ade over his criticism of bare-knuckle fighting while breaking down their upcoming tournament, developing young fighters, and drops some news about Conor McGregor’s return (1:01:18).Next up, they buy or sell on Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios (1:18:21), Shakur Stevenson vs. Conor Benn (1:20:11) and Gervonta 'Tank' Davis' future (1:23:01), before looking ahead to thiz weekend's action (1:25:46) and delivering the Parting Shots (1:27:11).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and Ade right here on the undisputed global home of boxing. D-A-Z-N, that's the zone for all you noobs and what a weekend in the sweet science. I can't wait. I've been foaming at the mouth. I've been waiting very impatiently for 5 p.m. Eastern, 10 in the UK for this particular show because we are coming off a fascinating

and scintillating weekend in the sweet times from right here in New York City, 24 hours of just absolute madness from Madison Square Garden to Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens. What a weekend, so much to discuss and what a weekend to come. Two massive shows on Dazon.

One on pay-per-view, one not on pay-per-view. And you know, I tried, I tried so hard to hold Ade hostage. Just like Nottingham Forest are holding Morgan Gibbs White hostage. I was not successful in doing so and so unfortunately, he is back home. I tried. I mean, he was just here. I tried. But he left. He left us. I tried. Just like MG Durden is trying to leave for us high and dry. How are you, sir? I'm good, Ariel. What's why have you got a baseball in your hand?

It was actually not a baseball. This is a Schleiter. This is a Schleiter. It's a it's an Irish, uh, Gael-like ball. It's in honor of our good friend Katie Taylor, who, I don't know if you saw, was victorious on Friday. So it's a nod to the Irish out there. This is the ball that they use, a Schleiter. Do you know the All-Ireland, the O'Neill ball? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Anyway, a little culture. A little culture goes a long way out there, right? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Anyway, a little culture, a little culture goes a long way out here, right? Forget it. No, no, no, no, no, no interest in that stuff. Welcome back home. You were fantastic.

Thank you. Club World Cup commiserations. Oh my, oh my. PSG, congratulations to Donald Trump's favorite team, Chelsea FC. I mean, what a time it was. What a time. That was crazy.

Did you get an exclusive with Donald as well? I didn't, I didn't. I didn't. Clearly, I thought I was the face of the company, the face of the broadcast, but no, clearly not, which is good. It makes me go back and work harder. So I've come down, I've got my notebook in front of me. I've got like, okay, things I need to do to get next to President Trump, work harder.

Well, you were killing it over there. I was having FOMO. I wish I was in the UK. There was some concert, three day concert called like the Wireless Festival or something like that. My guy Aubrey was just killing it. I mean, it was just- Your guy who?

Sorry, your guy who? Aubrey Graham. It was just like killing it. It was Central Sea and then it was Dave and then it was Lauryn Hill. And then it was like, I don't know, some other people. It was just, it was a three day extrav Lauryn Hill and then it was like I don't know some other people It was just it was a three-day extravaganza. I love wireless festivals. What is that? I've never heard of them Do you remember like like six or so years ago when?

I think it was there was an artist named Alex and he brought up Dave and then they were singing the Tiago Silva song You remember that at Glastonbury? Yes Damn it. I tried to get cute. You thought I didn't know that. You were well taken. You thought I didn't know Glastonbury? I thought, I thought, yeah, no.

Come on, come on, come on. You should know your boy better than this now, sir. Have you ever been to the Wireless Festival? Cause it seemed like a great time. No. No, it's not really for me, you know. For the kids? I'm not really a concert person, loud, screaming,

shouting, I'm more a chilled bar, a little jazz cafe, 500 people, that's kind of my vibe. All right, all right, all right. Okay, you're a little too posh for that kind of scene. I'm a little, no, no, no, no, I'm a little too old. Old, all right, fair enough. I'm a little too old for that, like I can't just be running around sweating

for five hours whilst this Aubrey guy entertains us. No, I get it. I get it. Well, that's, I mean, that's the way I like to roll. So I did have FOMO. Nevertheless, it was a great weekend of fighting and boxing in particular here in New York City. Like I said, from MSG, Netflix,

Katie Taylor minus round of three, Ultimate One by Taylor, now three and oh, we put that to bed to the event in Queens, headline by Hamza Shiraz defeating, knocking out Edgar Berlanga. Let's start here. And by the way, I do want to say today's program has a bit of like a promotory, businessy feel to it.

In about 11 minutes time, we'll be joined by the co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, Nikisa Baderian. Talk about his massive show on Friday. After that, we'll be joined by the great Frank Warren needs no introduction Talk about Saturday in Queens and also this coming Saturday at Wembley Stadium his guy Dana Dubois going up against Alexander Usyk for the second time and then we'll round out the show with the founder of BKFC that's bare-knuckle fighting championship the one and only Dave Feldman who is going to attempt to finally convert the hater that is Adi Ola-Dipo

Into a bare-knuckle fan. So stay tuned. Good luck. Good luck to him. Good luck to him. It's gonna be great It's gonna be great theater. Let me ask you this 24 hours in New York City So many great fights so many great fighters great performances. Who was the MVP? Pardon the pun who was the star of the show? Who stole the show? Hamza Shiraz. Yeah? Hamza Shiraz.

Why? Well, he's gotten into someone's backyard and this person has been chirping for the best part of four months and he's been calling Hamza things I can't repeat on this channel. I'd love to say the things he said, but I can't repeat it

because I mean, this guy has been going off. He then walks in to the arena with Fat Joe and Remy Ma. And I'm like, okay, I'm a bit nervous now for Hamza because Edgar Balanga looks mean. He's taking his time. He's walking slowly there. He said, you know, this is his backyard, right? As well, we're in New York, we're in Queens. I'm like, this could be dangerous. Hamza destroys him, obliterates him. This is Hamza, he's moved up in weight, who's coming off a controversial draw. People are like starting to question Hamza a little bit. New trainer, you know, new surroundings. Like this was Hamza's back against the wall moment. And not only did he go there and get the W, he knocked him out. I mean,

it really intruded. He should have knocked him out in the fourth. The referee was clearly trying to, you know, save Edgar Balanga for another round, but he went into someone's backyard and knocked him out. This isn't a case of going life and death. This is the case of saying, you are here, Edgar, I am here. There are levels to this and I'm way above you. And now all of a sudden, I mean, I know, you know, Turkey likes to make fights before they're made. Now we're in potentially Canelo. Canelo gets past Crawford. That's how he's catapulted himself. So the answer is a simple one. It's Hamza. I know some might say she goes to Stevenson, but it's not. It's Hamza. Okay. So I don't necessarily disagree. I love the fact that five months ago,

everyone was writing off Shiraz. Everyone was saying that he was and never was. Everyone was saying that he deserved to lose to Adamas. I thought so as well. In the end, it was a split draw, but everyone thought that he lost that fight. It was a bad look. It just wasn't the type of performance that everyone was expecting. It was a big step up for him. And now here he is moving up, going, as you said,

to Berlanga's backyard. I think a lot of people thought this is a tremendous opportunity for him, that Berlanga is ripe for the taking, that even he admitted it. To me, I asked him, were you expecting a fight like this, of this stature, on this type of platform, with this type of spotlight on you coming off that Adamas fight? He said, absolutely not. And so he took advantage of it all,

looks way better at 168, and punches his ticket now into the Canelo sweepstakes. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, we're getting Canelo versus Shiraz in May of 2026 because what if Crawford pulls it off? And I think he is going to pull it off. They're running that one back, right? They're running, they're running that one back. It's just nice to be in the conversation. And so, yes, I agree with you in the sense that he stole the show. He closed out the show. I remember seeing people on Twitter and I was questioning it myself, but like Lou DeBella was, why is this fight headlining over Shakur versus Zepeda?

And going into it, I think we all agreed, Shakur versus Zepeda had the two better fighters combined, two undefeated fighters combined, but it was the perfect way to end the show. All just pushed back with Shakur because of the fact that he's a WBC lightweight champion, because I rate Zepeda higher than Berlenga, and because I think Shakur Also shut up a lot of people with that performance. They said he couldn't do it. They said he couldn't take a shot They said he was Tom and Jerry all that stuff. What can you say about him now? Nothing. He was exciting It was thrilling of all the a sides. Shakur was the bigger a side of everyone in that fight card. Yes

So I agree I think Shakur looked incredible this Tom and Jerry stuff is. And Shakur decided to show you that I don't need to be a Tom and Jerry. I can fight inside of a one-oh. I can go toe for toe, but Shakur was a favorite to beat Zapata. Sure. I don't know if Shiraz was a favorite. I can't remember the odd lines, but I don't know if Shiraz was a favorite to beat Balanga. Shakur is a pound for pounder. Zapata isn't. Shakur's a pound for pounder, as a paid arisen. Shakur's a, some people say a generational great. Shakur's a free weight world champion.

So that didn't, what Shakur did on Saturday didn't surprise me, is what I'm getting at. For Shiraz to knock out Balanga, that kind of surprised me. If anyone was going to knock out anyone in that fight, I maybe thought Balanga was going to knock out Shiraz and maybe Shiraz will get a points victory. So I'm still going to stick with Shiraz, but I have no sort of anger towards you if you're picking Shakur Stevenson. All in all, the show delivered. It was a lot of fun. Berlanga deserves a lot of credit.

And this isn't new or unique to Berlanga, but I will just say this. He sold the hell out of that card. The stunt with Oscar, real or not, I don't know what that was at the press conference, was highly, highly, highly entertaining. He talked a lot of smack, he sold the fight. Shiraz wasn't really giving up much. They're just different people and that's fine. But what annoys me is, you talk that smack,

you lose to a great fighter and now you get clowned on. And I know this is the time that we live in, you talk smack in the NBA and you get dunked on, you're going to get clowned on, you're going to get turned into a meme and all this stuff, but he's getting a lot of heat now and I don't know if he would have it any other way. It's just like, we want fighters to sell fights.

We want fighters to talk smack. I wish, and I know this is never going to happen and it will only get worse. I wish we lived in a world where we didn't maybe rub it in their face when they, I wish, and I know this is never going to happen and it will only get worse, I wish we lived in a world where we didn't maybe rub it in their face when they, you know, when they talked the talk and necessarily didn't walk the walk but still went out there toe to toe, walked into the fire and lost to the better man. You know what I mean? Like this idea that like we're going to clown him for that is silly. Would we have preferred the fight to have no buzz,

no talk? No, of course not. But he did talk a lot of smack area. I mean, he said some stuff and I almost feel like he understands sort of what that means. But I also think what he's doing right now is collecting receipts. He's like, okay, one second. So you said this about me, you said, and if I was him, that should be the motivation to get in the gym, stay in the gym and become serious with this. Because there's part of me that's like, OK, there's Edgar Balanga, the boxer, and there's Edgar Balanga, the celebrity superstar.

And ultimately, stick to the one that got you to where you are. And that's Edgar Balanga, the boxer, because I think he's a talent. I think there's something there. He's in a division where there are so many good fights as well. But I mean, if you are talking that smack, you should expect there to be some comeback from it. I mean, if you're walking to the ring with Fat Joe and Remy Ma, and you're getting knocked out like that, there's going to be a bit of a blowback. There just has to be. So I'm a Belanger fan.

I agree with you. He sold the whole event. No one on that event was talking more than Belanger was talking. Hence why it was main event. I know what Lou DeBella is saying, but sometimes you've got to get something to a main event status. And Edgar Balanga did that. But boy, oh boy, he spoke a lot of smack and I think he'll be back. I think he just needs to kind of reevaluate what he wants from the sport of boxing because he went on like a world tour after beating, sorry, losing to Canelo. Dude, you lost. You won a couple of rounds. Let's kind of just refocus and understand that. And then sort of, again, I don't know if it's a trainer switch or whatever, but something needs to change in that camp.

Okay. So what do you think as far as Shira's concerned? And I know you've been following him for a very long time watching his fights and like him as a human being. Obviously you wait to see what happens on September 13th. If Canelo rolls, then maybe there is a chance. What do you think actually happens? Who's his next fight against? And is he waiting until May of next year?

Because let's be real, that's probably the next time Canelo's fighting. Does that seem smart to wait almost what? Ten months, right? To wait ten months after this massive win. No, no, no, no. He's team. He's management team. I speak to them quite a lot.

They've got a jump on this now. Like, we are desperate for a new superstar. You had one in your studio a couple of days ago, yesterday in Conor Ben. We're desperate for a new superstar. This is the time you jump on it. So for me, in order to crown him, he has to fight a fellow Brit over here.

And there's no better name than Chris Eubank Jr. Like let's stop this Chris Eubank, Conor Bend thing at 160. I mean, it well and done. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? You're saying rematch off the table? I say you don't do it. I say you go straight to Hamza Shiraz versus Chris Eubank Jr. I remember speaking to Hamza Shiraz before Carlos Sadame's fight. I think it was either Talksport, it might have been in this show. And I said to Hamza, what would you want more? A world title or Chris Eubank

jr he said Chris Eubank jr he understands the magnitude of that fight and and can you can you imagine like the press conference for those two like sometimes you need that fight over here and I think I think if you were to poll it with boxing fans and this is going to be close so this is going to be quite controversial I'm going to say considering how good Chris Eubank and Connor Ben was I think if you pull it and say what would you want to see next Chris versus Hamza or Chris versus Connor? I think it will be very very close. Bear in mind. You're out of your mind. You have absolutely lost your mind Headlines Wembley Chris versus It does the numbers but what makes sense?

What makes sense? Okay, what makes dollars? What makes dollars? If you're Chris Eubank, you're getting way more money. It's a massive, massive platform. Didn't Connor even say that there seems to be a bit of stalling? Didn't he say he's putting a deadline on Chris?

Yeah, oh, yeah, oh, 100%, 100%. There seems to be an issue there for some reason. And I he's putting a deadline on Chris? Yeah, oh, 100%. 100%. There seems to be an issue there for some reason. And I just want to know, if you're Chris Eubank Jr., do you just not say, okay, you're not enough enough trying to kill myself at 160. Give me a big name at 168. The winner fights Canelo. Because there's been a lot of talk about Chris fighting Canelo, right?

That's been there. And Hamza fighting Canelo. The winner of that fights Canelo. All right. Well, let's put a pin on that because I think that's a really interesting one and I do not agree. I do understand where you're coming from, but that's a massive left turn for what they have planned potentially for September 20th. So we were talking about Queens. Let's talk about Madison Square Garden on Friday on Netflix. Now we could talk about it or we could bring in

the man who put on the show, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, the one and only Nekisa Baderian is here to recap a very memorable night for both himself, Jake Paul and the entire company, Nekisa. Thank you for the time. Congratulations on an incredible event. And do you accept these congratulations? Was that a success from the fight, the results, the action, and then of course the numbers that you released yesterday as far as the viewership is concerned? Most watched professional women's sports event of 2025. Do you accept these congratulations?

Was that a smashing success for you and the company? I expect I accept the congratulations. What I don't accept is where Ade was. Ade, where were you Friday night? We're in the building and people said you were not there. What happened? Okay. Okay. I have to confess.

I have to confess. Now I was with my, my wonderful lady, my wonderful ladies here. I'm not going to bring her into the camera, but we were, we were in New York. She wasn't feeling too well. I was like, okay, what do we do? What do we do? Do I, do I drag her along? Do I come without her?

I was very interested. Nekiso, you know, I even came to the open workouts. I was really invested in this one. I'm very upset that I was in New York Nekiso, you know, I even came to the open workouts. I was really invested in this one. I'm very upset that I was in New York and didn't come. I feel embarrassed. We missed you as well and we appreciate the support. Very happy with the night, very happy with all the performances that we saw and, you know, beyond, beyond satisfied or happy with the outcome.

To think that women's boxing put on an event that sold out MSG, the biggest gate for any women's event at MSG, they've had WNBA, they've had WNBA All-Star Game, they've had women's NCAA, they've had Venus and Serena doing tennis events, and we blew all those away. Biggest boxing gate ever for a headlined card by two women. And then the most special part of it to me is, they fought three years ago

and did 1.5 million viewers on Dazone. So here we are three years later, 4X the viewership on Netflix. But more importantly, or more impressive, they did more viewership than the Stanley Cup final. They did more viewership than Coco Guff winning the French Open in the US. Right? They did more viewership than the WNBA finals, which has become the biggest brand for women's sports. So I'm happy for women's boxing. I'm proud of Amanda and Katie for carrying the torch.

And I'm proud of the other 14 athletes that were on that car that delivered as well. Now I got a message from Amramla Ali of some of the global folks that have reached out to her since the event to connect with her because of the impact the event had for women. So a very successful outcome and thank you to Netflix, thank you to MSG, thank you Ariel for being a part of the event.

Okay, I was worried for a second there you were going to say you got a message from Ramla saying that she hates me after the post- all these great milestones, did they exceed your expectations or was this what you were expecting? I think viewership wise it met my expectations, right? If you spoke to me in advance of the event, I said if we reach kind of 10% of Taylor Serrano too, that will be a phenomenal success. Because what the issue is, people try to compare this to Paul versus Tyson.

That was a different product, a different headliner that was cross-generational. You can't do that. You have to compare this versus the appropriate comp set. And if you compare it versus the appropriate concept, it's an unbelievable outcome. I think the UFC had a women's headlined event two, three, four weeks ago. I don't know when it was. Look at those numbers and look at this number, right? And this is a tremendous outcome for women's boxing. A tremendous outcome for boxing, by the way, right? No, look at Shakur Stevenson. He fought head to head with Taylor Serrano three years ago.

He fought head to head with Taylor Serrano three years ago. We sold more tickets and we did bigger viewership numbers. Chakor Stevenson fought the same weekend as Taylor Serrano this time around. We sold a lot more tickets and we did much bigger viewership numbers. And that speaks to the quality of this fight card, whether it's men or women and what it could reach. And Nekisi, you're comparing the numbers to some of the other sort of female athletes and what they've done in that same venue. You mentioned Serena, Cocoa, Goff, what the WNBA have done recently. I thought it's fantastic. What impact do you think Ke and Amand have had and will leave for female sports?

Again, not for boxing, but for female sports in general. I think Trailblazers to show that a sport that only entered the Olympics in 2012 could headline a venue like MSG and sell out twice. I think to get viewership numbers that are bigger than some of the most successful men's brands and men's sports in the US, it just gives women and girls around the world confirmation that the hard work, the dedication, the sacrifice can lead to success and greatness beyond just what you have in terms of in the ring, but also getting the return on investment. And that investment is your time, it's your life, it's your friendships, and that's very important. Those two are definitely set a mark for the sport. You would have spoke to Amanda after the fight,

I'm guessing. Firstly, how is Amanda? It's tough, I mean, I was doing the show with Ariel a couple of weeks ago, and I said, Amanda deserves one. Like, this freeze it doesn't tell the true story of this trilogy, it doesn't. I mean, it could be two-one. It could be two, one either way. So Amanda hasn't got one.

How is she feeling? And is she going to continue? Is that it for Amanda or is there still more in the tank? So I think, look, how do you feel after not getting the W on paper for a third time? Of course, there's some sadness, some remorse. But overall, there's some, you know, some sadness, some remorse, but overall, there's a, there's a feeling of gratitude and understanding that she dared to be great three times as someone

who's won a belt at 115 pounds and is really 126 pounder. She, you know, she should be thrilled with what she's been able to do against Katie Taylor, who's a tremendous champion. That's Ariel Hawani likes to say in his mind, the goat of the sport. I think Amanda, Amanda Clarissa, Katie, Layla, Christie, they're all goats in their own way. Is it the final song for Amanda Serrano? Absolutely not.

She's 36 years old. She's a dominant champion at 126 pounds. And my expectation is whether it's this year or early next year, she will be back in the ring defending her 126 pound title and marching towards undisputed. Is there a world, Nekisa, because you have so many women's fighters

under your umbrella now, is there a world where you continue to be in business putting on Katie Taylor fights against one of these fighters? I know you recently added Holly Holm. There's a bunch of other fighters as well. We could go through the list and there's more out there who I would think if I'm on the outside looking in, I want to sign up with you guys because of what you're doing. Or is this the end of your sort of business relationship with her after these two great fights? So we're, we're a hundred percent interested in continuing to work with Katie Taylor. And I feel she feels the same and her team feels the same. And they've told us as much, obviously she has a relationship with matchroom

and she's going to respect that. Our priority is to give Chantel Cameron the opportunity to get her belts back at 140 pounds, whether that's through the WBC, where she's the interim champion, whether it's the other sanctioning bodies, that is something that we're squarely focused on and have been so since Sunday morning. So you'll see, you know, you'll see us take action in that regard. I think there's a roster of athletes that we have that could all make sense for Katie Taylor once the Chantelle Cameron 140 pound belt becomes something that's more clear.

I appreciate that you always put up subliminal or maybe not so subliminal messages behind you when you do these interviews. And so can I ask about the one right at the bottom over there, MVPW. What can you tell us about your plans for MVPW, which I presume the W stands for women. Uh, it stands for women. It stands for winning. Okay. That's it.

It stands for creating a reference brand for women's boxing that exemplifies the best athletes in the world. Where it's not about the UFC model that I get asked of having a belt. The belts are an accomplishment and achievement that these fighters appreciate. There is long-standing value in the WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF. And our goal is to have all of the fighters that have the ability to have those belts under one umbrella so you can put on a quality card like we did Friday night and feel really good about So you can put on a quality card like we did Friday night and feel really good about what you're watching on TV.

Clarissa Shields, this is my only small gripe, Nekisa, about the event is that you had all these incredible female fighters. Some of them will go down as all time greats. And the one name missing was Clarissa. The relationship between you guys always seems a bit frosty, I have to admit. Shadesha Green came through against Savannah Marshall.

It seems to be, for me, a fight that makes sense, Shadesha versus Clarissa. Is there a potential to be a working relationship between you and Clarissa? 100% the fight with Clarissa and Shadeja makes a lot of sense. 100% Shadeja versus Savannah again makes a lot of sense. And we want to focus on those three athletes and creating two, three, four amazing fights. I think I see no reason why we wouldn't do a deal with Clarissa Shields once she gets

through July 26 to make her versus Shadayja happen. Okay, I'm happy you said that that was going to be my next question. If Clarissa does come through and we all expect Clarissa to come through because she's doing this. I expect Clarissa to be in another fantastic knockout. That's what I expect. Then there will be conversations immediately after to make Clarissa fight on MVP. Yes, I think it was on Ariel's show or this show that she said she has one fight left

with her existing promoter. I'm not close to what it is. Right. Obviously, we have to wait post then. So once it becomes clear after her fight on July 26th, I think, then then we'll start to engage in those conversations. And I know for a fact that Clarissa is a smart businesswoman and she's a great self-promoter. So she's gonna have lots of opportunity to do interesting things.

What I will say is MVP is the only truly genuine brand that's supporting women's boxing from A to Z in every way possible. And I hope she looks at that as a positive, irrespective of the controversy and, you know, bullshit that goes back and forth on, on our side and her side and Jake and myself and her. Nicky says, you know, it's a, it's a very fickle game. Uh, five months ago, we were just talking about a guy named Hamza Shiraz. Everyone was writing him off. Now he's the cat's pajamas.

Cause he knocked out Edgar Berlangan. I feel like Alicia Baumgartner kind of experiencing the same. And I think that's the only way to cuz he knocked out Edgar Berlanka and I feel like Alicia Baumgartner kind of Experiencing the same she did have a window, but it seems like some people are trying to say Oh, maybe she isn't the person who we thought she was going to be so two-part question for you one What did you think of her performance against Jennifer Miranda and two did you happen to see? What's your core Stevenson had to say about her on my show yesterday? And if so, do you have a response? So part one, she's fought four rounds in two years

and she stepped in against an undefeated fighter who was an unknown, right? Very little tape on Jennifer who signed to MVP as well. And sitting there real time, I thought it was a close fight. And sitting there real time, I thought it was a close fight. I watched the fight actually today, and Clarissa, Clarissa, Alicia clearly won. And it was a phenomenal performance actually. And when I listened to the crowd and their reaction and the exchanges, it was actually, it was a very entertaining fight.

And I give it to Jennifer Miranda for being more prepared than she's ever been, moved to Vegas for training camp. She was the bigger athlete in the ring that night, And I give it to Jennifer Miranda for being more prepared than she's ever been. Moved to Vegas for training camp. She was the bigger athlete in the ring that night, which we didn't think was the case given she usually competes at a featherweight at 126 pounds. So of course we wanted to see the best of Alicia Baumgartner, but she just took on a new coach.

She's been in the ring four rounds in two years. I think she, I think she did tremendously well given that on the Chikor comment. I, I, I saw that. Yeah. He said, he said he's not a fan of her or she's not that good or she thinks she's strong. Something, something that nature, right. And I, I don't, I didn't see the interview. So did you ask him what he thinks of Alicia Baumgartner for some reason? Like specifically of her?

Well, we talked a little bit about the card and I was saying that I'm a fan and all this stuff. What the question was, how it, you know, I've done a lot of interviews in the last two days, I don't exactly remember, but I didn't know that there was- I don't know why he would say that about Alicia, but I will say, same thing I said earlier, Alicia and Amanda and Katie and the rest of the women outsold him and outviewed him twice

on the same weekend, right? He fought the same weekend as them in April of 2022 and he fought on the same weekend as them here in July of 2025. So if they're not strong, they're definitely bigger draws than Shakur is at the moment. However, I did watch Shakur's fight at a dinner that I was at.

We had it on, and I think he put on a masterful performance. I think he put on a star-making performance, and he should run with that and move forward and hopefully start to be someone that can sell out arena, start to be someone that can drive real viewership. Cause, uh, kudos to him and, and taking the fight the way that he did and putting on the show that he did. I thought Ellie Scotney was brilliant and not just as, as a fighter, but just like her presence. She

has such a lovely demeanor. I love that she, um, that, that, what she did all week was beautiful. I wanted to ask her a few follow ups. Unfortunately, we ran out of time as I was walking into the ring, following her performance to do the post fight interview. I got a text from Sky Nicholson who said, tell her I want her next. Let's make this fight. I didn't get to ask her that question. Sky Nicholson, Sky Nicholson, who's a great fighter, a great fighter, a great fighter, a great fighter, a great fighter, a great fighter, a great fighter. to do the post fight interview. I got a text from Sky Nicholson who said, tell her I want her next.

Let's make this fight. I didn't get to ask her that question. Sky Nicholson, Sky Nicholson, who's under the match. What weight does she fight at? Well, she's now moved down. She's now, I believe, 122. Is 124.2 a weight class? I don't think officially. I don't think officially. Like it's, it's, it's, Do you want that? Are you interested in that? But I think that could be a big fight. I'm not because of the following reason. It's comic when they were both signed to matchroom

and Ellie Scottly wanted to fight Sky Nicholson, Eddie Hearn would not have the conversation. I wasn't there. This is from Ellie and her team, right? So they wouldn't give it the time of day. Now, Ellie's got me clearly a budding star, clearly in my mind showed the best boxing skills of that entire card, right? She's a phenomenal boxer and the personality, the more it shows you, the more you're going to fall in love with her.

She's the unified champion at 122. We are working to make her the undisputed give her the opportunity to become undisputed 122 if you're a fighter who wants to compete at 122 pounds number one demonstrate that you can make 122 pounds don't put your head up high and say I got a knockout against a fighter when you totally disregarded the weight. Embarrassing. Number two, show that you can actually sell some tickets. Headline a card. Show some viewership. Do something. Social media is awesome. It's great. You do well on social media. Love it. But Ellie Scotty is the champ. She calls the shots. You want to fight Ellie Scotty? Let's do a 16 by 16 inside the ropes ring. Call me Eddie if that's interesting to you. I think you're going to get a text Nekisa. I could stay talking women's boxing all night

because I'm fascinated by some of the matchups that could happen. But I have to ask about Jake Paul. Who like every time Jake Paul does anything gets headline stuff now. And look, credit to Jake Paul and what you guys have done at MVP. What next for Jake? But what is the plan? Obviously, ranked with the WBA in the Cruiserweight division. There's been this talk about Gervonta Davis. You call that Anthony Joshua. He's he's doing photos with Zardo. What is the plan for Jake?

I think whatever he wants it to be, right, where we're looking at him coming back at the end of the year. And there's kind of a number of different conversations that we're having. His goal is twofold. Number one, to become world champion. I saw Don King put out a fake press release today. Like, it's just, it's crazy because people know by using Jake's name, they drive more engagement.

Don King put out a release and said, we didn't accept Jake Paul's offer of step aside money. We've never talked to Don King or the fighter that he represents or think about any of that. So Jake does have a unique drawing power. Like look at Google and look at Google search trends. Jake Paul had more interest in him than Elatoporia and the UFC event that happened the same night as him. I'm not saying we did bigger numbers. I'm not saying that we're bigger than the UFC. I'm saying the interest is there

in whatever that young man does. So we're gonna pursue him becoming a champion and we're gonna pursue doing massive global events that bring outsized attention to the sport of boxing. What happened at Friday night in MSG is a direct correlation of what Jake Paul did last November. Had we not had that event and put Taylor Serrano as the co-main, that opportunity wouldn't come to fruition with Netflix.

They would have never seen the drawing power of these two athletes and the product. So when there's opportunities to fight a Joshua, a Tank, a Tyson Fury, whoever it may be, right? Jake's going to pursue those because we understand what that does for the sport and we understand that it's disruptive and we understand that long term people will look back and say, wow, that was really a pivotal moment. One other thing on Jake. Last week, to my surprise, I saw a photo with Jake and his Excellency, Turkey Al-Sheikh. Does that now mean that there is an open door for MVP and

Jake to work alongside Riyadh Season or these ring magazine cards? What did that photo tell the world? I think it told the world exactly what Jake tweeted, that Jake is focused on growing boxing. Jake is a disruptor and Turkey Al-Sheikh is also focused on growing boxing and has been in many ways a massive disruptor in the sport because he's been able to break down the barriers of promoters and the roadblocks of making fights together. And so when Jake and I sat together on Monday night in New York, he said, you know, we should we should meet with Turkey and just put the bullshit aside and figure out ways to make boxing bigger.

And that's that's really the extent of it. Love to see it. I thought it was fake. If I'm being honest, thought it was an AI, but I was looking for the one of maybe you two together, but we'll have to wait for that one. We'll have to wait for that one. That was that was a fascinating turn of events. By the way, later in the show, Nekese, we're going to have Dave Feldman, a BKFC on, because

Addy's been a BKFC hater. He's also, by the way, he's a bit of a Tam Tebow hater. Can you tell him Tam Tebow's the truth? I've been trying to bang the Tam Tebow drum over here. Maybe after the win on Friday, he'll finally believe. I'm not sure. Does he know enough about Tam Tebow to be a hater of Tam Tebow? Yeah, he doesn't believe. He doesn't believe is the problem.

No, no, no, Canadian Olympian, unbeaten, she's got good range. Oh, now he's on the bandwagon. Now he's on the bandwagon. I love it. I'll get to BKFC, but Tam is an Olympian. She's finishing her masters. That's right. Three languages. She could be her masters. That's right. Three languages. She could be a runway model given given the height. She is the future of women's boxing if she continues to focus on the sport the way that

she has and her embracing the three minute rounds. Oh yeah. Her fight prior to this one she got the finish at 255 of the first round. This fight she dropped her opponent at like 245, 250 of the first round and got the TKO in the last 15 seconds of a three minute round as well. She is going to be a trailblazer for the sport. Get on the bandwagon now. What was your reaction about Dave Feldman? It's just that he thinks it's a little too gory. He thinks it's a little... you know, I get it.

I get it. We're trying, we're trying to, we're trying to ingratiate him. I don't think, I don't think it's a little too gory. It is too gory. It is. Yeah, my thing about BKFC, just so you guys know, it's a great brand and ownership of a sport, right? Kudos to Dave Feldman.

The quality of the fighting sometimes doesn't meet the goriness of the fighting, if that makes sense, right? It's kind of like Taylor Serrano one and two versus three, but even one and two still displayed a high level of skill. And sometimes what I find with, with BKFC is the skill level isn't equivalent to the, to the goriness, if that makes sense. No, it makes sense. What's next for MVP? When's the next show? Uh, August 23rd is our first ever MVP show of significant magnitude without Jake or Amanda, right, attached to it.

And then we'll be, we'll be announcing another, another event next week as well. Oh, love it. Love it. What's that about? Why you always got to ask a follow up question now? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You clearly didn't want to tell you what it was yet because he doesn't want to announce it.

Maybe he does, maybe he does. Maybe you're wrong, maybe he does. Go ahead, go ahead, prove him wrong. We'll feel great about what we've been able to do in boxing for four years and we're excited about the future. We're going to continue to invest in women's boxing and we're going to strategically invest on the men's side as well. Okay. Love it.

Thank you, Nikisa. Congratulations on a great night. Historic night. MSG, Netflix. You can't beat any of that. Appreciate your time very much. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Nikisa. There he is. Nikisa Badarian. Great stuff there. Wow. That response to the Ellie Scott and the Sky Nicholson question, that was something. Hey, that is clearly, you know you can tell there's clearly setting guard on the background.

Yeah. That response didn't just come off the cuff like that. There's clearly setting guard in the background. But it's a fight that we want to see. We want to see that fight. You've got a boxer versus a brawler, right? I think most people would have sort of Sky Nicholson as the boxer and Ellie Scotty, don't worry she can box, but she likes to tear up as well.

I think it's a fantastic matchup. And he's right as well though, if Sky can get down to the weight and show that she can make the weight, then let's do this, let's do that. Because Ellie Scotney has been begging for that fight for some time. I know that from facts.

So I'm happy for Ellie, happy for Sky as well. She looked good the other day. So let's kind of give Sky credit. It's a good fight. You know, I have to say, I'm really curious to see where they go with MVPW, especially if they can come to terms with Clarissa. Because as you said, like that was the one thing missing. I mean, there were 17 titles on the line on Friday. And so, okay, it's good to have everyone on that one big card. But now where do you go from here? Do you disperse

them among other shows? Do you just continue to gobble up every single top ranked female fighter on the planet? Because I don't think that's as hard as some might think. There's obviously the Caroline Dubois out there. There's the Fandora's out there. There's the Clarisha Shields is out there and on and on it goes. But there aren't as many as if you're trying to dominate the men's ranks. Where do they go from here and what do these shows continue to look like? Because it's the one thing that no one else is really doing and investing in, and it's the one thing that could really separate them from everyone else. Yeah, and I think what he said at the end there, the back end of sort of a show

without Amanda or Katie or Jake, whatever. So they do need to kind of develop that next star and Clarissa's right there. I mean, Clarissa's on a conveyor belt like, okay, here I am. Imagine her and Jake together. And look, obviously I don't know the situation with Dimitri Solita. So Dimitri, you don't send me any letters, but Jake and Clarissa, I mean, it almost sounds too good to be true. They'll sell any event so well. And Alicia Baumgartner potentially against Amanda Serrano. I mean, they've got so many matchups there. So, um, I think it's a win. Honestly, I think what they're doing is fantastic. I think the numbers are good and I'm happy that he said the numbers are good

because anything trying, anyone trying to compare it to Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson is just a bit silly. It was never ever going to do anything like that. But I think what? Six, seven million represents good business. So, um, hopefully it stays and, um, hopefully sort of the in-ring interviewers don't ask fighters awkward questions after their fights. You know?

So as long as everything- Oh, that wasn't an awkward question. That was a statement. That was more of a statement. Oh, oh. Are you saying it was an ill-advised statement? I felt sorry for her. I, you know what it is?

I felt sorry for her after. Why? You watched the fight? Because I did watch the fight. Yes, I watched the fight. You know what it is? I felt sorry for her after. Why? You watched the fight? Because I did watch the fight, yes. I watched the fight. Do you think she won? No, I didn't. Do you think it was even remotely close?

I think it was close. Really? I thought it was 6-2. Yeah, I do think it was close. I thought it was 6-2. I thought it was 6-2, yeah. Okay, but okay, so let's say what? Let's say it was 5-3?

Let's say it was 5-3. Let's say it was 5-3, yeah. That's literally one round different. But okay, fine, go say, let's say what? Let's say it was five, three. Let's say it was five, three. Let's say it was five. Let's say five, three. That's literally one round different, but okay. Fine. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Number one, but it sounds five, three sounds a lot better than six, two. Okay. But it's just one round, but go ahead. I just, maybe because I know her personally, I just felt sorry for her. I think she's a wonderful person.

Soon as you kind of, soon as you kind of arched your back down and did this, I was like, oh, I don't know. I don't know what that means. All I'm trying to say is I don't like when people shy away. It was egregious as far as the scoring is concerned. The broadcast itself, I think, had it six to, if not at worst, five, three. And so I could stand there and say, some people are saying, or Twitter is saying, I could hide behind that, or I could just say, hey, with all due respect, I don't think you won, tell me why I think you won tell me why I'm wrong tell me why I'm wrong and and then

I saw some people say like oh you know she's been through so much which by the way I gave her all the props throughout the week activists time woman of the year Olympians. I don't care about all that stuff. Oh she's done all this for her to have to answer that. What does that have to do with the scorecard? You walk in there. No no no. By the way what about Lila Furtado? Is she just like a bystander in all of this? Does she not deserve the win if she, if she fought her ass off, which she did. Like it's ridiculous how all these people tried to make it into a thing because Ramla

is such a great representative of the sport and her country. And because she's done so much and she's such a role model that she deserved to get the win or that she deserved to not have to answer. By the way, did you go back to the interview and listen to what the basis of her of her defense was as far as why she deserved to do it? She said it was the knockdown. It wasn't a knockdown. Which wasn't a knockdown. Yeah. Case dismissed. What do you mean? It wasn't even a knockdown.

And I know she doesn't have the benefit of watching it in real time I do replays right there in front of me the glove never touched I think you know is I think that's the harder thing for fighters and I think the bit you're saying that that she doesn't have the benefit fighters in fights and again we both interviewed hundreds of fighters in base for some reason think they've won they do I fury who sticks a great example and fury this 40 was Rob no like fury you lost the fight I could you know you know, but I wasn't going to say it to him, but you know, you lost the fight. I feel like sometimes fighters genuinely are having the fights and they don't know. So when they then get thrown the question, I think it almost stumps them like, huh?

I thought I was winning that fight. So maybe. Listen, I'm not trying to say that I'm perfect or anything like that. And I know it was, it was somewhat polarizing. Is there a case we made you say like, okay, do you think you did enough? But that to me is reserved for a close fight. That to me is reserved for Taylor Serrano too. This to me was not even close. This to me wasn't even close, and so that's why I felt the need to at least, as the kids like to say, stand on business and tell her that I hear in front of you, I hear

in front of you don't think that you did enough. Now please, here's your opportunity to tell me and the broadcast by the way, which said it way more than I did, because I'm not sitting in the booth, why we're all wrong. And I, have you, have you ever said this? Yeah. This is your first time Talking about this. Oh talking about this particular interview. Yeah, I talked about it yesterday as well I talked about it yesterday as well. And I said I would do the exact same thing. I don't have regrets I I'm upset that people Made it out to be something else and we don't need to get into all of that

I have the utmost respect for I tried to look for her backstage to clear the air. And I do think that she deserves a ton of credit for how she handled it. A tough spot. The clip that circulated didn't have the back end of the conversation, which I reiterated. I'm not trying to disrespect you or anything. And she said, you know, fair play to you for voicing your opinion and da da da da da. She couldn't have been classier. She couldn't have been a more perfect

representative of her country, of the sport, of everything she believes in. No issues with her whatsoever. There has to be a winner and there has to be a loser. And if someone wants to say that that was too much or too opinionated, I'll accept that. I'm not trying to say that I've done this a million times. I haven't. You've done it more than I have in that particular case. But I wasn't trying to be disrespectful. I think, what did you say? It was a silly question. What did you say at the beginning of all this?

No, I didn't say silly. You said something. You said some word. I can't remember. You've gone on this rant. Well, you pissed me off. You pissed me off. This Ariel Hiawani 10-7 thing.

Well, you pissed me off. I was like, I'm not, wait, wait. Ah, you annoyed me. I can't remember what, no. Ah, you annoyed me. I can't remember. I can't remember what I said. Ah, you annoyed me. I can't remember what I said. I can't remember. Those in-ring interviews aren't easy. I find them. Everyone has them.

I think you enjoy them way better than I do. I adore them. And you know what? Yeah, and I'm like, oh, here we go. Here we go. Every time I'm walking, I'm like, oh, here we go. No, I love them. And I think actually what I'm missing is like more reps.

You know, the last one that I did was like so long ago, I'd like to go back to the time I was like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, go. Every time I'm walking up and down, here we go. No, I love them. And I think actually what I'm missing is more reps. The last one that I did was so long ago,

I'd like to do it every month so that maybe I can- I can't remember the last one you did do. I can't remember. Well, I did the Anaheim card, the Jake Paul, Julio Cesar Chavez card, but I did, prior to that, it was the Netflix card. It was Paul Tyson. Yeah. So it was like seven or so months in any event. I did want to ask you do we have oh

Okay. Okay. So can I get into the next point or should we not get into our next point? Okay Very quickly should Asia green Clarissa Shields. Is that the one you want? Cuz I by the way, I actually thought Savannah won that fight too Let's I didn't have a chance to say that but is that the one you want? Because I, by the way, I actually thought Savannah won that fight too. I didn't have a chance to say that, but is that the one you want? Shadesha versus Clarissa. If you said that's just Shadesha. Oh my God, no, she's too emotional. Oh my God. Yeah, that's the one. That's the one now.

I mean, there seems to be like a little sort of four kind of thing going on between Savannah, Shadesha, Clarissa and Francia Cruz, but I think you got to go Shadesha. You got to go Shadesha, Clarissa. So if Cruz deserve, but I think you gotta go Shadesha. You gotta go Shadesha, Clarissa. So if, and Clarissa will win her fight, then I feel like MVP have got to surely make her an offer to fight Shadesha. I think that's a big fight. Hell yeah, love that fight.

I feel for Savannah, it was a close one, and she had to overcome a lot. Would like to see her more, and also her first fight in two years, so she deserves a lot of credit for that. In a matter of seconds, we're gonna be joined by the Hall of Famer Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions. He's got a massive show coming up in just, what is it, four days time at the iconic Wembley Stadium. I do want to tell you that this particular interview is presented by our UK partner, Just Eat. Yes,

how about this? Their new Just eat plus benefit is currently on offer at 599 for 90 days Just see plus offers you free delivery and has everything you need from your favorite grocery stores to local restaurants. Check them out Thank you so much to just eat plus for their support now Let us say hello to the one and only Frank Warren who is kind enough to join us to talk about a massive weekend ahead And a massive weekend that just passed here in New York City. Frank, thank you so much for the time. And congratulations to you and the team, Hamza Shiraz, with the massive knockout

on Saturday against Edgar Berlanga. Come on, be honest with us, Frank. Were you expecting that or maybe something a little bit different? Maybe the maybe the victory, but maybe not quite like that. Good evening, Ariel. Good evening, AD. I was expecting it. When we had that little, I never really get involved in stuff when the guys are doing a face off.

You just don't want to see anything happen. But Edgar was really going to town. And cut a long story short, I actually said to him, think about what you're saying. I said, because I'm going to tell you, he's going to knock, you know, think about what you're saying. I said, I'm going to tell you he's going to knock you out. And that's what he did. Wow. Well, what a performance for him. And now his name has been put into the Canelo sweepstakes hat. We were debating this earlier because obviously Canelo has the fight in September,

September 13th. What if he loses? Do they run it back and he usually fights September, May. Are you in favor of him waiting to A, see what happens and then fight in May or do you want him to be more active? I'm happy to him to wait to see what happens. Obviously we all get, you know, look whether we want to or not is going to happen. You know, it's an unbelievable fight in September and I'm looking forward to seeing that but in the meantime we've got to make sure we do the best thing for our man and I'll make sure that happens and he needs to be active and if we can get another fight in we'll get another fight in but he's announced himself good and proper in the new weight division and it showed as I said last time that he was weight drained. I it showed, as I said last time, you know, he was weight drained.

I could see that. I mean, anybody who knows anything about boxing could see that. And despite being weight drained against the Damis, he, you know, those last three rounds, he tried hard as he could, and he banged his hand up. He had a problem with his hand,

but, you know, I'm pleased now we are where we are for obvious reasons, but he can fight. He's an unusual type of fighter, being a tall, skinny, he looks skinny, but tall, rangy guy, got great reach, he moves well, and he can fight unusually for a tall guy inside. And that's one of the things, when I make a comparison to Tommy Hearns, I don't think he's the second coming to Tommy Hearns.

I mean, he's got that style of bat and he throws shots similar to what Tommy did. If he can do 20% of what Tommy's done in his career, it's going to be great for him. But he can fight and he's a young man and he'll only improve more now, especially Randy Lee. Frank, it almost felt like liftoff on Saturday for him. The emotion as well when he kind of went to his knees after and he got booed going in and he got cheered going out and I guess that is the biggest indication. But his three biggest fights, Frank, have been away from the UK, right? Carlos Adames, I guess, Ama Williams, and this one.

Is the job now to make him the big star over here? Because he has everything, right? He's got the look as well. As you say, he can punch, he can put people on their backside. Is now the job to kind of make him a big star over here? The job, I mean, obviously that, like any professional boxer, is to go where he can achieve and get the best purses because that's the sport he's in and that's what he does for a living.

But we're not, you know, he's not going to be forgetting the UK and we certainly won't forget the UK. You know, he'd be an attraction over and I mean, it were the greatest respects, you know, we, you know, as much as we're that tiny island, we produce good fighters and the British public get behind their fighters like no other, I don't think like any other nation does. I mean, proofing the pudding is the fight we got on Saturday. And previous shows, you know, we had our last, God knows how many shows have been nigh on sold out. We got a show on in Bournemouth with Ryan Garner that sold out before we even put it on sale.

So, you know, the British public, they get behind their guys and, you know, when he does eventually come back and have a fight, you know, that happened. He's not going to forget where he's come from. But obviously, you know, if there's a big fight in Riyadh or anywhere in the States, it's something we would do. And certainly if he's fighting in Canelo, you know, that's probably the the direction we will have to go if it's Canelo who wins the fight against Crawford. I do want to talk Uso Dubois I promise we're gonna get to it but me and Ariel will kind of go back and forth a little bit because I said I remember speaking to Hamza before the Carlos Adames fight and I said would you want a wild title fight or would you want to fight Chris Eubank jr. Next and he jumped immediately and said Chris Eubank jr

Um, yeah He's told you I've told you I'd like it the problem you got is convincing the opponent All right, well, let's see let's see how that all plays out Let's turn our attention to a fight that we know is happening That's this Saturday Wembley Stadium the iconic Wembley Stadium. Who would have thought? Daniel Dubois headlining at Wembley Stadium against Oleksandar Usyk for undisputed gold. Frank, a year and a half or so ago, it's an undisputed title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandar Usyk, and it's historic. Now I feel like we've gotten so spoiled.

Oh, oh yeah, no big deal. It's just another undisputed title fight at Wembley Stadium of all places with one of your own Daniel Dubois headlining, trying to right the wrong of a couple of years ago. I saw the face off earlier today. You were right there, front and center. You've known Daniel for a very long time. Who is this guy?

Who is this Daniel Dubois yelling at Usyk's face, the unflappable Alexander Usyk? What were you thinking when you saw this? Look, you know, since the first fight he sort of found his voice and I think that first fight, you know, out of bad comes good, you know, I'm not going to go for all the controversy and whatever but you know what happened happened but since that fight he's really grown up mentally and as a person you know he's got all these you know the same skills that he had in mate and he's really grown up mentally and as a person you know he's got all these you know the same skills that he had in mate and he's obviously you know fine

tuned those with with with Don his new trainer but he's he's got a real you know he's got this thing about him and he you know and we made a decision after the fight with Usyk we sat down we had a we had a real head to head, real, you know, saying how it was and how, you know, how in my opinion he gave the fight away when he was in a good position, which he did give it away. And, you know, what he needs to do is to change and he's changed. And we put to the test, you know, mentally, I thought I've got to get him in with somebody who I know is going to try and intimidate him, try and bully him. And that was Miller. And I thought that was got to get him in with somebody who I know is going to try and intimidate him, try and bully him.

And that was Miller. And I thought that was a good move to make. And he did try and do that. And he came back and he held his own. And obviously then he went, he beat him and beat him in the last round and showed that at any point in the fight, he's a dangerous, dangerous puncher, stopped him in the last round. Herkovich, the fighter that nobody wanted to fight, he fought him and had a couple of rounds, tough rounds,

where he was getting caught continuously by getting caught with that right hand and not moving his head. And then touch wood, he came through that and came through in good style and turned it round and done a job on him. And the fight against, you know, Britain's hero, AJ, Wembley, 96,000 people were there it was

it was just phenomenal atmosphere he walked into the ring first I would say 95% of the people there were behind AJ and not only did he do a job on him he commanded it from from day one he commanded that fight with a superb jab box well you know put him on the floor a few times and came through and done what he had to do. So we are where we are now and today was quite interesting because they tried to intimidate him. All the all the all the U6 crew, they were obviously chanting for their man, they were

trying to get in his face and it was a bit unexpected, under-expected back then, but they did it but Daniel just, you know, started screaming back at him and wasn't being intimidated. And I liked that. So I know he's your guy and you're gonna back him, but what are you feeling? How do you see this playing out on Saturday?

What are you thinking right now? Think right now, I think Alexandrov is a good fighter coming forward. You push him back, he's obviously not as good. I don't believe he's as good a fighter fighting on the back foot. So Daniel will be trying to, and I hope doing that. But I think Usyk will come out and do as he did against AJ and certainly as he did against Tyson in that first round. He came out throwing punches and he came out trying to intimidate the opposition. And they've all got it in their head that Daniel or they

You know, hopefully they got it got it wrong in their head but they think that Daniel was gonna fold under pressure and that's what they're looking to do they're looking to put it on him and I think I think I think that first round the first couple rounds. I think they're gonna be really really exciting I think anything could happen in this fight. I really do. I think they're going to come out, they're going to try and knock each other over. It's not good. It's not. This is, I don't think this is going to be any anywhere near a tactical fight. It will be from the first bell, letting shots go trying to take the central ring, try to be the dominant fighter, not looking for count, not looking to be somebody on the back foot counter and

looking to come forward and letting their bombs go. Frank, over 40 years in the game, you've had some incredible fighters, some incredible ones, right? Lennox Lewis, I'm sorry, Joe Kalzacki has been there, obviously Tyson Fury, Ricky Hatton. Considering who Oleksandr Usyk is, if Daniel Dubois were to become undisputed heavyweight world champion, would it be your biggest success story? It'd certainly be up there, that's without a doubt. He's been with me from day one, he's been with us since he was 17.

We'd done the deal with him when he was 17, he's 27 now, so it's 10 years. It's gone so quickly, the 10 years, but yeah, I would think that's well and truly up there. He's, especially the couple of little bumps he's had in the road, but you know, that's life. You have to get over things like, and that says a lot about your character as a fighter. You know, you look back on people's careers, like Canelo, Canelo got beat by Floyd Mayweather.

You know, there's lots of fighters who suffered suffered defeats and come back and shown what they're all about. And Daniel's done that. I mean, he's done it in great style as a heavyweight. He's probably had the hardest. In a short space of time, you know, he's been out a while, they've been out a while now, but since he in between fighting Usyk and his last fight was about 14

months and you look at the guys he fought I mean they were they were all world all you know ex-world champions world ranked two of them three of them undefeated and his resume is unbelievable he's been that he's been an active heavyweight and he's been at he's been at the top level and producing the goods and this has been good the top level and producing the goods. And this has been good grounding for him coming up to this fight. He's been with a guy who's considered to be the best heavyweight of his generation. And he's a great fighter. He's done it. He's an Olympic gold medallist, unified the cruiserweight belts. He was undefeated, undefeated his heavyweight, unified the belts.

I mean, this guy's a monster and he's confident and he believes in himself. He fancies the fight, that's why we've made it. Daniel fancies the fight. There's arguments for both of them, who you think, how it's gonna turn out, who will win. But I just feel that, you know, if Daniel does the business, it's the first time the four belts

have ever been on the line in the UK. And he would be the first Brit to ever win those four belts. So I suppose my long-winded as always answer is, We'll let you go to second year because I know it's getting late there Frank. You've had a long day and a long week ahead. One last question. It's an easy one. True or false, the winner of this fight fights the un-crowned champion Joseph Parker. Well, the WBO have ordered that. But if Daniel wins, when Daniel wins, the situation is there is a rematch clause for all six, so we've got to deal with it. Well, that's the only way we could make the fight, you know, otherwise

the fight wouldn't be happening. And, you know, sometimes you've got to do these things to, if you believe in your guy, you know, it's give and take, it's negotiation and we work our way through it. But Joe is very much aware of that. So he knows what the situation is. So let's just see how it all pans out on Saturday. And then in the meantime, we've got all these other guys with us, all these other heavyweights that we work very closely with.

We've got them all into really good positions. If they're not mandatory, is they're certainly interim champions. So there's gonna be some seriously good fights being made. The heavyweight division has never been so active. The guys are earning money. I mean, poor Joseph had a, you know, had a problem with Daniel pulling out at the last fight.

Having said that, he's in a great spot now. He has the opportunity to fight the winner for the four belts. All right well let's see how it all plays out it goes down this Saturday on Dazon pay-per-view exclusively we appreciate you very much Frank good luck to you and the team thank you as always for the time and I can't wait to see what transpires Saturday at the iconic Wembley Stadium. It's very kind and we very much appreciate you and all what you guys do for the sport too. Thank you so much. There he is the Hall of Famer, the one and only Frank Warren. Again, shout out to our good friends over at Just Eat for presenting you that interview on this here program. Again, their new Just Eat Plus benefit is currently on offer at $5.99

for just 90 days. Just Eat Plus offers you free delivery and has everything you need from your favorite grocery store to local restaurants. I'm actually flying to London to be there this week. You didn't know this. I'm not attending. I'm sitting in a flat that I got on Airbnb and I'm ordering some Just Eat courtesy of my good friends over at Just Eat Plus and I I'm gonna sit back and relax and watch the fights On his own paper

You really good friends over at justy plus they're sending me over across the pond to watch Usyk Dubois to thank you so much to them. We appreciate them very much. All right, let's keep the train rolling along here And let's bring in our final guest of the day. He made a slight cameo there for a brief moment. I've been looking forward to this one. I have been looking forward to this one. It scared me when he came. He's the boogeyman. I've been looking forward to this one because let's be real you have been a BKFC hater and truth be told. No I haven't. Hate is too strong a word. Truth be told I was once a hater, maybe a non-believer.

And I've been converted to a believer. And so we are going to bring in now the founder of BKFC, the one and only Dave Feldman, a tremendous guy who is going to turn Adele O'Dipo into a believer in a matter of minutes here. First things first, Dave, how are you? Thank you so much for coming. Well, I'm doing great, man. Thanks for having me, guys. And I definitely am turning you into a

believer today. Okay, so here it is. I want this to be a nice look at that. He doesn't believe he doesn't believe already. Adi, what are your problems? Go ahead. The floor is yours. Firstly, Dave, congratulations. Don't be a coward. No, no, no, no. Firstly, congratulations on the success of BKFC. Right? I mean, anyone that can sort of bring something up from the ground and turn it into a behemoth, and fighters are getting paid and everyone's... I have to applaud. I have to applaud. My thing with it, and it isn't just, it isn't the bare-knuckle thing.

I'm a big fight fan. Anyone wants to fight, I'm happy to watch them fight. My thing is when you have people that have clearly come to the end of their cycle in boxing and MMA. So boxing and MMA have both said enough's enough. They're old, they're done. And then when I see them wind up at BKFC taking their brain cells, I'm like, okay, that I can't deal with. That's my only gripe day. Like if it was a case of we had young fighters coming through, they're like, okay, cool. These young fighters are healthy and they haven't had damage.

When I see damaged fighters that boxing have decided enough's enough and MMA has decided enough's enough, that's my gripe. I'm like, one second, if they're not good enough anymore for those two combat sports, why should they still feel like they've got something left for BKFC? I mean, listen, I agree with you 100%. If they're not good enough for those two sports, they shouldn they still feel like they've got something left for BKFC? I mean, listen, I agree with you 100%. If they're not good enough for those two sports, they shouldn't be in BKFC. But we rarely take somebody that's not good enough for boxing or MMA anymore. We did it at the beginning because we created a sport from the ground

up. There were no bare knuckle fighters to get. We had to get boxers. We had to get MMA fighters. We had to get guys who were former world champions and not guys that were at the, you know, very end of their career, but guys that were leaning towards the end of their career. That's what we had to do to grow to sport. Now I think we're signing a lot of, uh, a lot of really good talent here. I think, um, we have some guys that I think are in the, are in the primes of their career in both boxing and MMA. We do have some former world champions we just signed, which I don't think are at the are in the primes of their career in both boxing and MMA. We do have some former world champions we just signed, which I don't think are at the end of their career. I mean, they've had a good career in boxing, some of these guys, but I don't

think they're at the end of their career where they can't fight anymore or we wouldn't be signing them. That's not what we're doing. Um, aid also, I think it's good for you to know that, you know, we have across the board on the 117 events that we've produced so far, less concussive and self-concussive damage, less facial fractures, less hand breaks than boxing or MMA. So we have to be doing something right with putting the right fighters in there

and not getting them hurt. Okay. You know, on the part of sort of fighters that still have something to offer, and I hate doing this because these are fighters that I've grown up absolutely adoring. Andre Alovsky is an example of someone that for me, so his best years, maybe a decade ago, I could go that far with Andre and he's fighting now. And Andre, don't message me, I love you.

I'm just trying to say, I'm scared to see you still continue. Austin Trout's a great example as well, someone that I think maybe seven, eight years ago was at his best. He's fighting. That's my concern, Dave. Again, when I see fighters like that still continue and they were- Go on. Austin Trout, I'll disagree with you on.

I think Austin Trout could compete and I think he's in a very good position in his career. Under Arlossi was matched against the right guy for him at his age. That wasn't really a threat to him and it was a pretty exciting fight. I'm not sure what we're doing with Andre Arlosky. We were asked to do a favor. We did a favor. We put him on. He's a legend in the sport and I don't know what he has left and you're absolutely right there. So we will definitely evaluate that before we move forward with it. But we also just signed and maybe I don't know what your opinion is on this but we just signed former two-time

world champion and Olympian James DeGille to a contract. We also have a bunch of other boxer and boxing world champions that were signed into contracts. And listen, I think that there's, there's an opportunity for these guys to compete at a healthy level and make some money. And while we're building the sport and bringing guys up from the ground level. So we aren't privileged to have a boxing that's been around since 18, 1891, I believe it was, and we're not privileged to have MMA fighters, you know, that have been around for 10 years. We're six years old right now, and we're just developing this as much as we can, bringing guys up from the ground up, but also bringing guys over from boxing and MMA.

And I think we're doing a pretty good job of it because our injury stats tell us that. Okay, okay. So, so how about this one? On Thursday, you guys had this champion summit. You had all the big names, all the champions. Conor McGregor was there and you made a massive announcement regarding this tournament that's gonna culminate next spring.

Tell Adé about the champion side and the amount of money, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow here. Perhaps this will help. Yeah, we're gonna do a, we're gonna call it the world's Baddest Man Tournament. It's gonna be 185 pounds or 275 pounds in open weight division, bare knuckle. The winner, it's a $25 million all-in tournament.

The winner will walk with $15 million. We'll have 30 fighters in that from five countries, five continents around the world that will start in March of 2026 and culminate in March of 2027 over 10 events. So listen, I'm not mad at you, Aide. I'm not mad at you. You aren't schooled enough on this sport, meaning you haven't really paid a lot of attention

to it. You just hear certain things. But if you really pay attention to this sport and understand the injury levels and the kind of fighters that we're getting involved now, you understand what we're trying to really build this thing from the ground up and that's what we're trying to do. And listen, you, you will get like this, this beautiful knockout you're showing, you get beautiful knockouts here. That's what you get with, with a bare knuckle. But as a physician, not me, but as my physician had told me, I'd rather guys get knocked out with one punch than than standing there and get beat on with gloves for 36 minutes.

The one thing with sorry, the one thing with a lot of former boxers and I guess former MMA guys and girls is can they pass their medicals? What what's the strict testing that goes sort of in place before their fights to know that they're okay to kind of go through with these fights? So the Association of Ringed Side Physicians in the United States has a standard of medicals that they require throughout the United States. We exceed all of those standards. So every one of our fighters has to, it's obviously the blood test, the eye test, MRI, the brain.

We have it all over, all across the board. We don't leave any stone unturned. That's you know, all across the board. We don't leave any stone unturned. That's why we grew to where we were. We weren't cutting corners. We weren't trying to do things that were easy. We're not trying to get guys hurt. Listen, I'll be the first one that if I don't think that guy can compete, he's not competing in an organization. That's not happening. I will say this, Dave, when you just announced the money and someone walks away with 15 million, who am I to tell fighters to kind of, you know, don't chase that kind of check, right?

It's a ridiculously big check and it's the kind of money that I mean, you don't really get in MMA, you certainly don't get in MMA, you kind of get in boxing nowadays, but certainly not MMA. So look, as long as these fighters are healthy and they can fight, I'm never going to say a fighter should kind of walk away because I've been kind of sort of hit on the face a few times for saying that, but I'm just worried about the health of the fighters. I have an idea. I have a good idea, Dave.

I do believe, correct me if I'm wrong, September 27th is your next UK show, correct? In Manchester? In Manchester, yep. Adé, let's get you over there. Front row, let's get you over there. See it for yourself and then judge. How about that? James Digio will be the main event

What do you say? I? What are you busy that day? No, no, no, you afraid so they come no no Chunky, I know James chunky. Look look I've not seen James fight for a long time. He's in shape I mean the last time I think I saw James was Chris Huberton jr I think sort of four or five years ago. So James is still around and he's doing his thing. I'd love to go and support my brother. Beautiful. I love the meeting in person. And once you see alive in person, everything changes for you. You completely understand the whole entire game.

And listen, just looking at it from the outside in, you might think the kind of thoughts you're thinking because you're not really paying attention to the evolution of this thing. You're just looking at one fighter or one stat, but across the board, we have less injuries than boxing or MMA and more stringent medical requirements. One of the big announcements- Would you say Dave, that you are getting- Okay, go ahead. Sorry, I didn't say- I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say No, no, no, no, no. No. Would you say Dave, that you are getting sort of younger fighters involved in the sport? Like those that could potentially go to boxing, are they going to bare knuckle? We didn't have anybody to go to. So now that we got these guys turning pro in boxing, they got their turn and pro in MMA. Now we got guys turning pro in, in bare knuckle. They're,

they're not, the problem is the requirements across the board with bare knuckle at the beginning, because the regulars didn't know enough about it is we couldn't turn a guy pro in, in bare knuckle. They had to be an experienced MMA or experienced boxer. Right. And now we've been able to develop, um, you know, and have a history of the medical, have all the data that we have. And now these, the commissioners are kind of opening up a little bit more and letting

us turn guys pro in this sport. But I mean, the whole key here is look in the next three years is to not have to bring up former boxing world champion or a former MMA fighter in like that's the goal. The goal is not to do this. The goal is to develop this from the ground up, but it takes time. Like anything does. We didn't, you know, we turned a key on this thing. And, you know, I think we evolved tremendously

since, since 2018, when we started this thing. And I think we're, we're in a place that nobody ever thought we were being in. We couldn't get there if we were getting guys hurt. We just couldn't be in the place we're in. One of the big announcements last week, Mike Perry is back. You and Connor both announced October 11th, he is back.

The face of the promotion, in my opinion, he's been huge for the company and you've been huge for him as well. It was announced that he's fighting the dreaded TBA. Let's break some news here, Dave. Well, what do we got? Who is it? I don't have it done yet, Ariel. I swear I would break it. I was I had a it. I was, I

had a call at 2 30 today and the guy moved the call until 8 o'clock tonight or I would have been able to break it. I can't break it. Now, Connor, like he said some big names, sorry, some big accolades, some big synonyms, some big sort of descriptions to describe who this TBA person and that took me to one place. You can't read my mind but like this is a big name right that he's fighting October 11th? Absolutely. Okay okay okay okay okay. He's fighting a big name.

All right all right all right well uh what about Connor because he and uh Mike had a little face to face there and he said you'll dance for me and then we'll see if you'll. It was tremendous. This scene right here. This is great stuff. I mean, uh, the birthday boy, Conor McGregor, what a week he's had. Uh, what do you make of this? Is this possible? Is this a real thing?

I mean, look, he's got two fights left in his contract and you know, he's got to get, he's got to get, get right. And you know, the whole world's waiting. he's got to get, get right. And you know, the whole world's waiting. Is he going to get in shape and fight? And he told me in person, he whispered in my ear, he said, I'm in the test and pull. He said, I'm getting ready to make my comeback. I'm going to fight on that big card and then I'm going to,

I'm going to have another fight and then we can talk. Oh, wow. Oh, wow. The big one being the white house card. That's what he said. Wow. Wow. Okay. Well, there's some breaking news right there from Dave. Appreciate that.

And you also announced a whole bunch of other signings, Tiago Santos, Joel Romero, Jamel Herring. And so it feels like this is like a new chapter for you guys. This was a big deal. The big tournament that you had been hinting. Yeah. I mean, look, it was, everything takes time. And that's what a lot of people don't understand. You know, they just, they hear about it and they want things to be a whole different way than they possibly can at the time.

But things take time. Through the $25 million tournament together at the beginning of the year, because I was thinking about it, I wasn't prepared to really do it. Now we're completely prepared to do it. We have the locations, we have everything in place for it. So, you know, that's a great thing for us. As you know, also, we announced an equity distribution plan for the world champions

and fighters that have at least 10 fights with us that stay with our promotion. And I think that was a groundbreaking thing on that champion summit as well. And we got a lot of back and forth going with a lot of our champions. And I think we created some good storylines there, some possible storylines. I think we're in a great spot, man. I really, really truly do. I think it took a long time to get here

and a lot of hard work and a lot of sleepless nights, man. But we're here, I think we're two years away from really breaking into true, true mainstream. Another sold out event at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. You're going back to Sturgis on August 2nd. That's going to be a huge, huge deal. That was once occupied by World Championship Wrestling at their Hogwild event. Now it's a BKFC show, which I love. That's great. Julian Lane in the house. You're back in Manchester on September 27th. Rome on the 25th of October. A two-day event in the house. You're back in Manchester on September 27th. Rome on the 25th of October,

a two day event in the UAE in November. So you've got big plans all over the world. I think we made some headway here. I think this was good. No, no, wait, once I will say this. Headway has been made. Okay, this is good. Let me get cage side, rings side for September 27th to see my boy Chunky. And then who knows why will they say Dave, I will say this again. I said at the top of the show, congratulations on sort of how you sort of just brought this up and to hear those kinds of numbers and the type of people your signings incredible. I do miss you on the mic though, Dave, because I remember the early days when you would get in

there and just say what you needed to say and get these guys fighting. There is a part of me that misses that. You must miss it as well, Dave. You know, the thing is, is you do things in knee jerk reactions. I'm, I'm the most passionate promoter in the world. There's no one more passionate about this because this is not just a promotion for me. This is my life. Like, you know, I dedicated my whole entire life and put everything

in my life into this thing. So sometimes I say the right thing. Sometimes I say the wrong thing, sometimes I say the wrong thing. But at the end of the day, I'm speaking what's on my mind and I get the fighters to really love what they're doing with us. They're getting taken care of very, very well with us and they're gonna fight their ass off for us

each and every time. And that's really all I can ask for. Great stuff, Dave. Thank you so much. Congrats on the big announcements last week. Thank you for coming on. Sorry we were a little late. Not everyone is as prompt as you are.

So we appreciate your patience very much and we'll talk to you very soon. Appreciate it guys, thank you. All right, there he is. Dave Feldman, the founder of BKFC. That was good, that was good, Ida. That was good. September 27th, I'll see you there.

You know what's the funniest part about all that? I've never been to a BKFC event. What? And I'm volunteering you. What's the funniest part about all that? I've never been to a BKFC event. You never, what? I'm volunteering you. I'm like, you gotta go. You gotta go and witness it. You gotta experience it live. That type of money he just mentioned.

I mean, 15 million to the winner is just, that's crazy money. That's crazy. So I don't blame the fighters. Again, I mean, and he made some great points that they couldn't have just sort of, you couldn't have just signed sort of young pros money. That's crazy. So I don't blame the fighters. Again, I mean, and he made some great points that they couldn't have just sort of, you couldn't have just signed sort of young pros to come to the to the organization. You almost had to get the names from the champions and stuff, but hopefully

there's a mix in it. There's a dilution of sort of young people plus the veterans. Because when you see, when you do see these veterans fight, for me, it is a bit scary sometimes because again, I mentioned Andrzej Lofsky there and I mean, you covered him sort of way more than I know him and, you know, he's passed his best years ago. So when I do see him fight, I'm like, oh my God, this is going to be a car crash. So there is a bit of that with me. But I mean, as long as they pass the medicals and they're fit and healthy, who am I to complain? Worth noting, he did win his debut.

So there's something to be said for that. But I echo everything that you're saying. Obviously we want them to be healthy, and we do know that sometimes fighters stick around a little too long. We do know that they come back when they probably shouldn't be coming back. This is a part of combat sports,

and this is a perfect segue to our last segment of the day which is a little game we like to call Buy or Sell. I don't know if you know this, but on Saturday, Matty freaking Pacquiao is coming back at 46 years young fighting for the WBC welterweight title against Mario Barrios. He has not fought in four years. He's coming off a loss. Did have a couple of exhibition bouts in between there, but who knows what those are. Are you buying or selling this fight? Are you into it or not? Are you gonna be watching? You staying up late? Or are you saying, now I'll look at the results

on Sunday morning? I'm buying it. Ooh, yeah. I'm embarrassed. Yeah, it's Pacquiao. It's Manny Pacquiao. Yeah. I don't care what anyone tells me.

Whoever says they're not buying are lying. I'm buying, I wanna see this. And if I'm Floyd Mayweather, I know Floyd likes to make it about himself, I'm ringside, because if Manny does land that home run, I'm getting in the ring. Wow. And're going to see Floyd versus Manny. Really? We're going to see. Oh, a hundred percent Floyd will fight Manny if Manny wins. Can you imagine how big that fight is? I know. To like grandads. Not on the radar at all. By the way, if Manny

wins, he's the WBC champ. What's he fighting? He's fighting Floyd for the WBC title. All of a sudden it becomes the, uh, the old guy belt, the green belt. You don't think Marissa Solomon would do this? No, I know. I mean, you put Manny Pacquiao in the rankings. Yeah. I mean, Floyd will fight Manny. I'm 100% but yeah, I'm buying, I'm buying. Is there more? This is exciting. Yeah. And by the way, um, there's, there's five major cards from all over combat sports on Saturday. If you're a fan of MMA and boxing is, as we are, there's a lot going on, on Saturday. This one kind, kind of flying under the radar. You've got, you know, Fundora versus Zhu2. You've got Barrios versus Pacquiao. You've got Pippel Cruz on there against Fierro, Brandon

Figueroa. Like this is one of the better PBC pay-per-views of the last couple years since their deal with Showtime kind of, you know, evaporated. So I'm looking forward to this one happening at the same time as UFC 318, which isn't ideal, but we'll make time. All right, buying or selling Connor Ben versus Shakur Stevenson. They had a little impromptu, tada, teddy. By the way, I'd like to buy the podcast, the Shakur and Connor Ben podcast, because they were a great duo. What do you think? You like the idea of Shakur moving up to 147 from 135 to fight Conor Ben? Buying. Yeah.

Absolutely. Like, take everything I have. Yeah, give me, I just need a presser between those two. And you know what's crazy? And look, they were very respectful. But I mean, these guys were what, two inches away from each other. A little bit of that. Yeah. I was worried for a second. I know Connor's temper. I know he's temper.

And Shakur's a fighter, right? As well. So I mean, when Connor said, you know, I want to fight right now. And Shakur was like, you ain't going to do that. And I was like, this is fantastic. And look, you saw them up close. Shakur's right. Connor's not the biggest 147 guy. He's not. He's not the biggest. And Shakur, to be fair,

looks like he could fill out a little bit as well. I mean, it's a fight. I mean, if you're a turkey watching that, you're thinking, one second, I never read this one under the radar, but if Shakur can't get the fights he wants, Javonce Davis, Lamon Roach, whatever, Floyd Schofield, and Conor can't get what he wants,

I mean, we could see it. I know it sounds crazy, but Shakur will think, I can outbox you. And Conor thinks, oh, it takes his one. So it could see it. I know it sounds crazy, but Shakur would think, I can out box you. And Connor thinks, oh, it takes his one. So it could be fascinating. I love the idea of it. Okay, buying or selling, because Connor was saying, you know what, maybe I don't go the U-Bank junior route.

Maybe I'll go after the green belt. Maybe I'm gonna go to Las Vegas. He wasn't sure. He was sort of figuring it out. Maybe I'll sit in the front row and I'll call out the winner. And he said that he spoke to Mauricio Sulaiman who told him, yeah, I'll make that fight, no problem. You buying Connor Ben really skirting the U-Bank junior

rematch to go after the belt, which as we were talking about earlier, like makes him way less money? I'm buying it because that's what I would want for Connor. And I get it, I get it. Like the U-Bank junior fight is more money and it's a bigger fight over here, right? I mean, they are sort of whispering Wembley Stadium because of how good it done first time around

at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But if I'm Conor, I'm not a 160 guy. And I think we saw that in the ring. And look, he was so competitive with Chris U-Bank, but I'd rather him get to his natural weight and start going for championships. I, even Mario Barrios wins. I think Conor Bain could beat Barrios. I really do believe that with the damage that Barrios has taken and Conor being fresh

and he's like a pitbull just waiting to be unleashed. I would say stick to your weight class and start really having some good fights. Look what's around 1-4-7. Devin Aney's there, Ryan Garcia is there, Brian Norman's there. T. Fumaney's there Ryan Garcia is there Brian Norman's there Tifio Lopez is gonna jump up anytime soon I read today that um bar bows are on a world bowser says he wants to jump up There are so many big fights. So if I'm Connor I am buying him being ringside in Vegas for Pacquiao versus Barrios buying or selling after his latest Running with the law. We don't know what this all going to translate into, but Tank Davis, once again in hot water, the Roach rematch off

and he takes an extended period of time off, thus putting his future in question. Because remember, he did say he was going to retire at the end of the year. I don't know if anyone believes him at this point, but do you think this proposed August 16th, now we're hearing August 30th date, is now up in smoke? Yeah, it's up in smoke. Big time. Big time. There's been no conversation about it, has it? It's almost just like It's almost... now we know why there's been no conversation, right? Obviously because of what's transpired, but Yeah, that's done. I'm worried that Gervonta is just gonna take a long time out. Hopefully, look, I don't know what the situation is, but if he comes through it,

I do think there is a case of, okay, we need to really sit down and someone around him, I don't know who that person is, needs to kind of just shake him and say, okay, look, dude, you could be the face of this sport and you're kind of messing it up. I know you said the other day, I think it was Shakur potentially could be the face. Gervonta is the face, I think. And you're messing it up, you really are. There's so many big fights, so many big money fights. I mean, there's talk of Jake Paul.

And you're kind of just blowing it up in smoke. So hopefully he comes through what he needs to come through and we get to see Gervonta. Because Gervonta, I think is fascinating. Honestly, I think now that he's his own spokesperson and there's no Leonard Elaby or Floyd Mayweather, I feel like we are starting to see his personality. I find it quite warm and endearing sometimes. So I just hope he can sort out what he needs to sort out.

All right. So like I said, we've got the PBC pay-per-view this Saturday. You've got Usyk Dubois as far as the zone pay-per-view is concerned on Saturday afternoon here in the United States. And then of course, Saturday evening over there at Wembley Stadium. By the way, what do you make of the rest of the card? You like the rest of the card? I don't mind it. Honestly, I think we've become so spoiled because of these Riyadh season ring magazine cards.

I like some of the fights. I love Lawrence Okoli, my boy, versus Kevin Lorena. They were supposed to fight at Cruiserweight, Bridge of Weight, now Heavyweight. So there's some intriguing fights. Solomon Dacus versus Vladislav Sarenko. When I used to actually call fights, I did, in South Africa many years ago, I called Vladislav Sarenko's first two fights. So it's intriguing that we've both come kind of full circle and I'm going to see him now at Wembley Stadium.

So there's sort of personal intrigue for me. And look, obviously, look, it isn't one of these sort of Super Bowl, Riyadh season cards, but 90,000 people bought tickets. So there has to be some intrigue there. Oh my God. It's gonna be an amazing scene. Getting a chance to be at Wembley for Dubois versus AJ

is one of the great career highlights of my life. And Dubois was fantastic in that fight. And if he fights like that, I know Usyk is a completely different fighter, but I don't think Usyk is just going to roll through him and, and, and the guy who fought Usyk back in 2023 in, in Poland is a completely different human being now and the confidence that's been said a million times.

So I can't wait to see how it all pans out. And then we'll end the night right back on to zone with, I think number one on your popcorn list, Mr. Bam Rodriguez over in Frisco, Texas, right? He was number one on your popcorn list, Mr. Bam Rodriguez over in Frisco, Texas, right? He was number one, was he not? He was, I think it was either him or David Benavides, but it probably was Bam.

We'll say for these purposes, Bam. Yeah, for the purpose of this show, let's just say Bam. Dude, I love this fight and I find it very risky. This Fumilele Kafu can scrap. Is he as good a boxer as Bam? No, but he wants Bam to have a fight. Like let's just go to the center of the ring and let's sort of man-o-man this one. And if you're Bam, there's no way you haven't at the back of your mind got one second, I've got a guy called Martinez in November. So I've just got to make sure I come through this one unscathed.

So I feel like this one could be that banana skin that we always talk about, that boxing seems to do when things are announced before things are finished. So I hope for my sake, because I'm a big band fan, that he comes through unscathed. But it wouldn't be surprising if I wake up and it's like, oh, you know, from the lady who landed one, it wouldn't surprise me. And of course, we know that he has this next opportunity set for November 22nd, and that has been the theme, right? That has been the theme. You have that next one, you slip up, or something happens, God knows what else. So, a great day to be had on Saturday right here on Dazon. Of course, before we go, thank you very much to our good friends over at Just Eat. It is time for our parting shot.

And where are we going? Where are we going? What are we doing? for our parting shot. And where are we going? Where are we going? What are we doing? Ah, there's- If you, I don't know, you play games, but so I almost thought like, you're gonna go to that,

what's her name? The Olympian Canadian superstar- Wow, what's her name? That you've already crowned. Nah. Oh, I forgot, sorry, apologies. That's too obvious. What's her name?

Tan Thiebaud. Tan Thiebaud, I was gonna say it, but I was gonna say it incorrectly. If it's not Hamza, then I don't know. I don't know what you're doing. If this incorrectly if it's not hamza then I don't know I don't know if this is not hamza sure as I don't even it should be hamza It's a guy who looks exactly like hamza. This is Andrew Stroud of BKFC fame his I don't know his earlobe his earlobe His you should you should have you should have played this when they felt was on his earlobe ripped

Have you ever felt something like that? I remember seeing it with, is it Stefan Struve fault someone in the U.R.? I can't remember. I'm trying to do this impression with my UC knowledge. Well, no, it was James Thompson and Kimbo Slice. That's it. He had a cauliflower ear and the ear got ripped off.

I've never quite seen the earlobe rip. But anyway, that's not it. That's not it. It's actually... Okay. I know you're a big fan of the Mohawk. Esteban Rodriguez, you're familiar with his work, right? One, two, three. Three second knockout.

Wow. The fastest KO ever over Julio Perez. I mean, if you want entertainment, then clearly this is the sport for you, isn't it? Can we, can we, you know, wait, is this it? Or is there, Hamza? Nah, there's one more, there's one more. Of course.

We'll go back to New York. The aforementioned Tamping Ball. Yeah, you are so stupid. Yeah. Look at this. Precision, speed, power. Looks a lot bigger than their opponent. I will say this.

Like, what are they both wearing? Look at this. Look at this. Let's see. Let me look. Let me look. Oh, that upper cut is a bit nasty. Yeah.

Clinical. Oh, body shot as well. Oh, oh, oh, oh. All over the gaff. Temptivo, the pride of showing again. Wait, one second. It wasn't really a knockout. Oh, yeah. It again. Well, one second, it wasn't really a knockout. Oh yeah, it was tremendous. Look at that.

It wasn't really a knockout. Honor, respect. What's that honor? What's that honor chest? Ohana means family. It's Hawaiian for family. Oh, you didn't see my post-fight interview with her. We talked all about it.

Oh, you only saw the controversial one, did you? Yeah, that's the one that went viral. That's the other one. That's the one that went viral. Typical. Typical. When you work, I watch everything. Wait one second. One second. I offer you notes.

Are we not showing Hamza? No, we don't. Okay. I actually think we have it in the vault, but I didn't have it lined up. We showed it earlier. I have a rule. If we show it earlier in the show, we can't show it again at the end of the show. No, but you showed Tebow in the show. No, but you showed T-Bow in the show.

No, we didn't. I told them to show it, but they didn't actually play it. Oh, okay. Do we have the hums on? Maybe we do. Yeah, if we do. That's the great... Oh, there you go. There you go. Look at this. Bang. Bang, bang, bang. Yeah, there he is. Dude, he's a superstar now.

I'm happy for him. He's actually a superstar. Yeah, same. The Fat Joe curse lives on. Look, he's a superstar now. I'm happy for him. He's actually a superstar. Yeah, same. The Fat Joe curse lives on. Look at that. I thought there might have been a Remy Martin, Clarisha Shields thing ringside, but there wasn't. We were okay.

We were okay. By the way, isn't it Remy Martin? Is it really Martin? You don't know anything about the rap game. Sorry, this week's been so busy for me. I've been looking at Conor McGregor photos. Wow. Hey, you know what? Shout out to Edgar's partner, his wife, his fiance. Did you see when they were walking out of the ring and she put his head up? Yeah. Someone else did that back in the day. Tevin Farmer did it.

Tevin Farmer. That was right. Tevin Farmer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out. It's nice to have.

No, you got to do it. That's nice. It's nice to see that. It's nice to see because it's going to be a difficult period for him. Yeah. It's going to be difficult period. There you have it. He comes to London or he comes to London.

Yes. Courtesy of my good friends over at Justeat. By the way, once again, 5.99. That's five pounds and 99 pence, is it pence? That is pence, yes. Yeah. For 90 days, Just Eat Plus, there it is, offers you free delivery and has everything you need from your favorite grocery stores to local restaurants.

Yeah, I'll be sitting there. It's a free delivery. One second, let me see. Free delivery for 90 days. Get Just Eat Plus for only five pound 99. What's the asterisk? Let me read the asterisk. We want sponsors. We appreciate that. I'm going to sit back, maybe get a curry, a kebab. What do you see? Okay. Yeah. And I suggest you get some Nigerian jollof rice. That too with the hands like this,

like, like, like Izzy does. No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But what do you do? What do you do with the hands like this? Show me that. You mix it up like that and then... And then you have a bowl, right? You have a bowl. You have a bowl of water. You wash your hands and then you go, yeah, that's what you do. Not for the germaphobe type, but, you know, when in Rome, as they say, or...

Indeed. Nigeria. Good luck. Good luck this weekend. We'll be watching great stuff. And of course, we could have done a three hour show today. There was so much to get to, but this was a fast paced show. We appreciate Akisa Baderian. We appreciate Frank Warren. We appreciate the great Dave Feldman for stopping by. We appreciate all of you. Thank you for your continued support, whether it's here on the Dzone app, YouTube podcast feed. Adé, go crush it this weekend and we'll meet up right back here next Tuesday evening. Good night, enjoy the fights.