The Ariel Helwani Show - Arman Tsarukyan headbutts Dan Hooker?! Who's next for Ilia Topuria? Jake-Joshua presser reaction | The Craic

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

The Craic returns with its usual trifecta: Petesy Carroll, Chuck Mindenhall, and Ben Fowlkes are back to get you ready for the weekend in combat sports. To kick off the show, the guys break down UFC Qatar’s main event: Arman Tsarukyan vs. Dan Hooker (1:21).They also dig into the co-main event: Ian Machado Garry vs. Belal Muhammad, and discuss the stakes for the welterweight division, including what Garry would need to do to earn a title shot with a win (24:24).To wrap up their UFC Qatar discussion, the trio spotlight their favorite matchups on the rest of the card (35:23).Fresh off their first press conference, the chaps weigh in on the striking size disparity between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua after their faceoff (41:33).To close the show, the crew react to Rico Verhoeven vacating the GLORY Kickboxing heavyweight championship, and talk the latest PFL news (55:45).

Crackheads, it's Friday. Apologies for the technical difficulties, but we are here. It's a big weekend, a lovely time on tomorrow's card from Qatar, number one contenders potentially to be decided in two divisions very exciting stuff. There's also a bit of boxing on that we'll talk about later. Obviously, the crack is

known as the problem child of the Uncrown Network. That's why I saw Jake doing the old presser there on my buddy Ariel O'Wani and said, you know, game recognized game, Jake Paul. I will stand aside. I will give you the mantle for just one hour, but then I'm back for the crackheads

and back I am. I'm very interested in this weekend's card. It's a nice continuation from the whole welterweight picture that we had last weekend. The lightweight title picture also in the frame with Armin and Dan Hooker. And I'll bring in the lads now because, lads, I don't know if you saw it, Mr. Ben, folks, Mr. Chuck Mendenhall, but things got a little bit heated over on the old wayans there. A bit of headbutting, which I always feels.

Which I always feels. All of the fees. You're doing so well. I know, I was killing it. Which I always feel like, you know, chums the water a bit, should I say, before these. Look at this. I'm insane. Yeah, look at you.

Oh. Whoa. What was that? Can we get New York Rick on the ones and twos? Can we have another look at this headbut? This Armin Sarukian character who's had a bit of history. Look at this. That's all down.

I mean, that's a not insignificant headbook right there. No, that's a big one. And look. you can easily imagine when you do something like that you could have very easily split open his eyebrow you could have opened a cut there and then where would you be armin you already had and lost a title shot when your back went out on you then you wind up in a fight like this which is a potential top contender fight for you maybe depending on how things shake out and you go and headbut the guy on at weigh-ins what if he'd gotten a cut day before the fight and the fights off what an idiot you're you're going to head-butt the guy on at way-ins what if he'd gotten a cut day before the fight and the fights off what an idiot you're you would have felt like that how like i understand you know sometimes these guys get fired up armin's going to maybe punch somebody on the way of the cage if they get up his face i fine but for god's sake man yeah do just a little bit of caretaking of your own career just a little bit because you almost screwed it up for yourself again and for nothing no he's just emerging from

dana wise doghouse isn't he i mean like bottom line was he should already be in the title shot and And here he is, what is it, 19 months later, with his fight that's going to get him back there supposedly, and then he goes and pulls that, I mean, that was not a, that was not a good look. And if he had cut that open, I was just like what Ben did. We've seen this in the past where somebody comes out and does something stupid and compromises a fight. That was not a smart move. I appreciate the chumming of the water, like that aspect of it. Like, okay, well, if it didn't have juice, it does now, right? They have some bad blood, but man, that was, that was not a smart move there by Surukia. Yeah, I mean, all of the points you guys just made. And not to mention the fact that there is a really compelling dude there with floppy blonde hair that a lot of people want to see in this title picture anyway. Imagine like

Armand goes in and does a great job against Hooker hypothetically. Dana at the press conference, look man, we can't trust this guy. See what he put that way in? We can't do that with a title shot. Our first gig on Paramount, we're going to let this guy come in, this guy that pulled out. When we gave him a title shot before, he's starting to headbook guys now? That was fucking crazy.

What a crazy move. Flipping crazy. Sorry, I'm trying to correct the language. I'm using too much dirty words. I'm upsetting a lot of people. So I'm just really flipping, angry with Ironman and how he carried himself here. A lot of decorum. Let's just, let's have a quick look at this between certain Irishman and Bilal Mohamed. But not as to carries himself on the big stage, just Ian Machado, Gary.

Can we have a look at those two boys? Oh, yeah, look at this. They're saying horrible things to each other. I will admit that much. But Balal, you know, he's giving a lot of it. We'll see tomorrow. We'll see tomorrow. Ian Machado, Gary, not one that's ever been afraid to back himself.

But he is ready to go. We'll be talking about him later on too. But they are your two big fights on a very, very nice card, which is starting at a very, very nice time. You like it. For the Europeans over here. Chuck, I want to ask you, Armin, if he goes in and he smokes Dan Hooker, are they going to push the body out of the picture? are they going to push our Liverpoolian brother out of the picture that he rightfully deserves a shot at the lightweight title well first of all does this thing overlap we got a big football game tomorrow and if this part is yeah we've got a big football game going on we're we're buzzing in bosman right now we've got montana state coming in for it all baby and it's going to be something big so i don't know if these uh if these are going to overlap or not they will they will and i mean and don't worry i've already worked out a plan for how i'm going to manage that because this is what band's wearing a hop by the way this is the gris he's wearing we've referred to the gris many times and please take

it away ben what's happening go go gris uh division two pizzi i swear to god he's gonna warm your ass i've i've i've told you about this before pizzi fcs football division one double a as they used to call it the most exciting division in college football obviously because we got a real playoff system here but i believe the main card for this one in cutter starts at 10 am here in the mountain time zone. You know, you get through a couple hours, the only, the one true time zone. And then, so it's going to be around noon 1 o'clock by the time we get to the really good stuff. We got a noon kickoff here for the one, I believe the 124th edition of the Brawl of the Wild.

And this is a big one. This is the biggest one. It's ever been number two, Montana versus number three, Montana State. It's already a huge rivalry game. And this time, Montana is undefeated on the season. Montana State lost a couple early on, undefeated in the conference. The winner here will go into the playoffs as the second seed, most likely get home field advantage throughout the playoffs. And, by the way, get the added advantage of being on the opposite side of the bracket of the North Dakota State Bison, who are looking kind of scary this year.

Honestly, so, yeah, we got a big one here. The whole town is just absolutely on the edge of its seat. The most expensive average ticket price for all of college football this season, I've been told. We looked at me and my co-main event podcasting, co-host Chad Dundas, looked at getting tickets and about $320 to get in the door down there. So we're going to watch this one at home. Going to have the fights on the laptop. Going to have the game on the TV. Going to have the nachos on the coffee table.

and my children have already been told that during that time period, whatever you need, you're going to have to take care of yourself because do not bother me. Peter, that's my long way of saying that, no, they can't push Patty aside for this fight. Part of it is because he's there. I mean, like, he's pretty much part of this whole fight package, even though he's not partaking in the actual fighting, but he's got a couple of his guys there.

It's kind of good timing for him, isn't it? Because he's out there, he's, you know, I'm seeing interviews with him. I think him and Tuporia kind of got into a little bit of a mix up there. This is perfect for him. They're planting the seeds. I've contended all along that, especially with this Paramount Plus, you know, a kickoff coming up, that that's the fight to make. I don't know what Surukian, we'll see how things kind of, how things play out here.

But I'm not sure, unless it's a completely emphatic victory and he handles the microphone and all that, like that he just kind of takes that spot. I do think that he probably injured himself a little bit and not physically but his status with this thing he did. I honestly, we're kind of making a little bit of light of it, but this is a guy who has rubbed the UFC the wrong way obviously and I don't know if that will improve. We'll see. I mean, like

we have short memories in this game. If he goes in there and smokes hooker, who knows. Like it could be him, but I like the fact that Patty's right there. I don't think that you can push him aside for this one. What do you reckon, Ben? Do you think, Armand, like, you know, meritocracy and all that.

Do you still believe it or is it dead? Well, meritocracy. Air quotes around meritocracy these days. The problem with doing all this stuff, if you're Armin, like pulling out of the title fight, going out there, head button the guy in the way, and you can get away with that stuff if you have a strong fan base.

There's a whole lot of people behind you. They absolutely want to see you fight for the title. If you're the kind of fighter where, when Dana White shows, up to press conferences at unrelated events. People are going to be, like, fans are going to be getting on the mic and being like, when is Armans Rukian getting his title shot? I don't think he's there.

I don't hear a whole lot of people riding the Armin's Rukian bandwagon talking about how either he gets the next title shot or rewrite. He doesn't really have that. Maybe he could still get it. Maybe at this point, the best you could do is go full heel and just be like, Armin's Rukian is the guy you love to hate. I don't know. He doesn't seem to have a ton of fans.

support. And I agree with you that going into the first phase of this paramount deal is a factor for something like this because UFC has established a pretty clear pattern with broadcast partners, right? Like every broadcast deal starts off great. Everybody's so excited to be working together. Can't believe it. Unbelievable partners. We're going to do great big things together. By the end of those broadcast deals, maybe everybody is a little sick of each other and not quite so enthusiastic about things. We've seen that. But at the start,

USC really tries to put out the best stuff that it absolutely can. And so if you're looking for something that's really going to help out Paramount, it's going to drive subscribers, really get them to see you as a pickup that's worth the considerable price tag that they pay to get to UFC rights, you want to go with something that's big and loud and splashy. You're not concerned about the meritocracy element at that point. It doesn't have to be number one versus number two.

two. And Patty Bimba is a guy where he brings some fans with him. And you know you put those two guys at a press conference together. You put them in ads together. He's going to help you sell that fight. Armand Sarukian, maybe not so much. So I think Patty's kind of got the inside track here. I think New York Rick is doing everything to control his shaking right now on those controls. This is a guy who has protected Syrucian and his top 10 pound for pound the whole time. All 19 months he's had him in there. So the meritocracy is dying here. Rick always good for an outside pick. He had Marab in his top 10 before anyone did, in fairness to him.

And on that note, we will kick Rick into action here because, you know who's not concerned about Armand Sarukian at all? Well, it's that guy we're talking about from Liverpool with the floppy blonde hair. Here's Paddy the Baddy Bimbled talking about him and Ilya's potential matchup. You know, don't ever want to say a bad way. They're just engaging like, because he's a legend, but he's doing interviews lately being a proper I don't know what I mean, saying like the UFC old woman, he deserves it and all that. No one's holding on, you fight for it.

And my last win, I beat someone in a better fashion who was a higher-ranked opponent than he won in his last fight. So I know he's a legend, and obviously he's done a lot for the company and all that, but you kind of just demand the title shot. Then you've got Armand who hasn't fought, and it'll be, what, 18 months or something like that? So, you know, me and Seporia's got the storyline built in. It's all there.

It's half nice for me that he won the belt. even though I don't like and I'd rather I'm not be a two-division champ. It's better for me that he won the belt because if Charles would have had to fight someone else first I don't mean, but with I earlier having the belt, it's just a story line's already set up, it's all ready to go so I don't know, I don't understand

why it's not announced and why it's not already made and written in a contract but we'll see what happens over the next few weeks. Do you think, Ben, that it has anything to do with this idea that we're all kind of sitting around waiting for Paddy and Iliad to be announced. Is anything to do with like taking the showing completely off that scarred if they had announced it beforehand?

You know, like, oh, Paddy's fighting, Elliot. Armand, you're fighting Hooker for, you know, something. Yeah, that could be. You never know. Sometimes these days with UFC, it seems like they are not that concerned with getting us at all excited for anything but the numbered events. You know, when it comes to fight night stuff, that just kind of like, I don't know, it's on if if you want to watch it it's there you know this one seems like a little bit of a

different one so maybe they would hold off for this one because it's like okay we're going over there to cutter we're doing one of these things where we're trying to move into different markets especially if they're paying us just to bring the cage over there and it's as fight night lineups go one of the better ones that we've seen all year so I could see if maybe you're just like yeah it would take the steam out of this to basically tell those guys you are fighting to not fall any further from the title shot. But other than that, you know, you got at least a six to nine month wait ahead of you. Is there any hope of a Dan Hooker upset here, Chuck? Are we, are we riding off the Australian two more chair? I mean, sorry,

geez, New Zealanders. He's Kiwi, right? Yeah, yeah, sorry. Are we completely writing him out of this occasion, despite him seeming to at least get under arm and skin to the point where he's head putting him at a way in? I mean, we're always sleeping on him in a certain way. I mean, we're always sleeping on him in a certain way. I actually think that he's been a lot more dangerous since he's kind of said like, go ahead, make me the underdog, throw him in these fights that I have no chance in. He was a minus 400 for

Gamrod the last fight. Yeah. Gamrod was supposed to whirl over him too. He didn't do that. It was split decision. The previous fight against Turner, he was, it was minus 300. He was a huge underdog in that one. So Turner was supposed to beat him. This is like the exact terrain that he's used to existing it at this point, but I feel

like he's kind of fighting the best he's fought maybe with just kind of the kind of loosened expectations he's like, why not? I can just kind of fight this style that I want to fight and there's no real pressure on me to go out there and try to dethrone these guys. So he's a live dog, man.

In my mind, especially you take into consideration the context of the, what is it, 18, 19 months since Serukin is in there. Some people believe it's a myth, but it certainly, like the whole cage rust thing, but like it certainly factors in. That's a long time to not be competitive.

And you don't know, like, if it might take a round or two, if it goes like a five-round type fight for him to get his footing, for Sir Rukin to get his footing. But I do know one thing, Hooker will be bringing it the whole time. So, you know, the beginning of that fight might tell us a lot, too. But I look at Hooker, man, the same way. I think he's playing on House money and he's having a good time.

You could see it in the press conference. And, dude, there's really no more dangerous version than that of him. Yeah, I mean, I think the Gamrod comparison is a good point, because he should not have beat Mateus Gamrod. On paper, if you look at that matchup, he should lose that fight. And on paper, he should lose this one against Armans Rookie. Armands Rooken has the style and the skills to go out there, make it the kind of fight. Dan Hooker doesn't want to be in and win, you know, either late or win a decision.

That's what should happen. But Dan Hooker has found that ability to drag you into his kind of fight, especially if you're out here headbutton him at the weigh-ins or suggesting that, you know, maybe you're a little. little fired up and maybe emotion might play into it like that's what he wants that's you're you're on his territory there and i think that yeah i think you know he's kind of found a a sweet spot for himself there where he if he gets you in these fights and he said something along these lines where he's just like you know yeah you can have all these skills but you're going to go in there and get in a fist bite with me and you can never count me out in a fist bite you that's what he kind of managed to do against peterious camera and i think that there's a chance at least when i saw the the odds how big an

he was here. I thought, that's, that's tilted way too far. I can see why Surukian should win this fight, but Dan Hooker has the exact right mindset and ability to go out there and win the kind of fights that he should not win. He's kind of sadistic, too. You see him take that headbutton. The first

thing he thinks is to like, smile all big guy. I love it. He does this in the fights all the time, too. Starts bleeding. As soon as it turns into some kind of like, you know, public brutality, it feels like he's right at home, sloshing around in the blood, you know, like he loves it. Well, that's what I talked to him about that after that Mateo Schamer fight because he had that moment between rounds, right, where he's cut open, he's bleeding and it's just been a wild round and he was talking to his corner and he was just smiling and he was just like, I love this shit, man, like during the fight. And he was saying how it took him a while to get there that earlier in his career, you know, you're so stressed out. You're thinking about what's the best past of victory for me? Like how do I not screw this up? And you're you're not enjoying any of it. And he said he got to a point after coming back from an injury layoff where he was just like,

you sort of realize how this could go away. You realize that it's a privilege to be healthy enough and have the opportunity to go out there and get in these kind of fights and have this experience. And you really enjoy it a lot more. And I felt like he became a more dangerous individual when he learned how to enjoy it.

Yeah. Well, if the world has been talking about a potential matchup between Paddy and Ilya, someone forgot to tell Don Hooker, who responded to these glands, at the press carms during the week you've seen the latest updates to the rankings that they were published yesterday and if you have if you have what are your thoughts about that I didn't see it was well there's some certain changes

patipine blood is not right now in top five fuck that's hell they must be given them a title journey they must be cherry picking him a total shot. Nah, fuck. It is what it is. He's not like that. He's a fucking savage. I love him. It's fair to say that Armand, though, out of all these guys, like, to Rick's rankings and nod to them, he is the toughest matchup for Ilya, right?

Like, if you could pick one of these guys shook, it would be Armin as far as a guy to dethrone him, right? I mean, in terms of going into a fight, like, casting doubt on, okay, is this going to be competitive or not? Take his love out of the equation too, obviously, because he's gone off right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that would be the one. Like, I think that you would look at that and you'd like, oh, this is not a cake walk. Like, I wouldn't see it that way.

Whereas I think there'd be a pretty big sentiment that Patty Pimblit would be that proverbial steak being slid under the door for the champ a little bit. I don't think that that would be the case with Armand. So I think if you're looking at strictly from a, how is it going to be perceived in the leadup? and actually maybe the way it plays out, I think Armand definitely presents the bigger challenge there. Do you agree, Ben? Yeah, but I also think Ilya beats all these guys right now. Yeah.

I think that Armin comes in and presents a little bit of a different question there, you know, just because you go, all right, here's a guy who's a bit of a powerhouse who can take you down, who can mess you up on the floor, and who can really control the pace of a fight. But you've seen Ilya against some of those type guys before. I think people, they don't realize that he actually does have good defensive wrestling. And his mastery of distance is just seems to be kind of preternatural and his power.

Those kind of things, I think, change a fight so quickly when you have to stand across from him. I think that there's not anybody right now in the lightweight rankings unless Islam Mahachep comes home who presents a really stiff challenge for him. Can I ask you a quick aside? You guys have been following the game a long time But there was that moment in time When we had Anderson Silva There was John Jones GSP

They were all guys who were sort of like It was hard to imagine any of them losing at one point Like it was just like I don't know who's gonna They'd have to beat one of them would have to beat the other You know Isn't this the closest we've come like When you keep mentioning like when you mentioned that like Ilya And I'm like I agree with you

And it's almost the same with Hamzot right You're like I don't know if any of these dudes can beat Hamzot Marab you're like I don't know if anybody can beat Maraub Marab, I don't remember a time. That was the closest we've come was back then. There was maybe three or four type guys. We have like five guys in our top five right now that have that feel to them. Like, I don't know who you told you too, yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's a very good point. Like, you never really feel like you never really think about these things when you're in the moment, right? It's only when you're a move from when you look back and you're like, holy shit. Obviously, we have that picture of all the champions up there from back in the day. It's all like amazing champions. But it's a good point, Ben. right? Like there is a shitload of champions where you're like,

I don't know who the fuck is going to knock this boy off. Yeah, I also think, though, that we get excited in this sport. You know, we get a new champion. He looks dominant in a fight. And we go, his reign will last a thousand years. You know, we sometimes do that. And when we haven't seen all the different stylistic matchups that can come along. I also think that one thing we've learned, over the years. It is damn hard to stay a champion for a long time. And I remember Demetius Johnson

talking about this. I believe in, you know, our beloved editor and fearless leader, Shaheen Ashadhi used to do a series when we worked at The Athletic, where he would ask fighters about what they thought were like their five most memorable, their five signature performances. And Demetrius Johnson was talking about one that really stood up for him, which is one of the title defenses. I can't remember exactly which one it was. But it was not one of the ones that other people would have pointed it out and then like that was a big fight for me to it just felt like another title defense but he was saying you know that one i just wasn't feeling it had a rough weight cut my body didn't feel great didn't feel great in the fight and had to gut it out and get it done and if you're trying to stay

a champion for that long everybody you fight it's the biggest night of their life it's the chance to make all their dreams come true and for you you have to win just to stay where you are they are trying to to win to ascend to a new level you are just trying to stay there and it's really really hard to do that to stay at that level for a long time especially because it's like increased pressures increased attention and everybody is studying you everybody is planning for how they're going to be you specifically and i think that we underestimate that sometime we see a guy who comes up gets the belt and we think like all right that like he's just a robot and each fight is just another fight it's it's really tough to stay there it's tough to get up at five

and do road work when you're sleeping in silk pajamas. Wow, I've never heard that loin before. I just came, I can't believe I came up with that. That's amazing. Pizzi's doing the road work, though. Pizzi's out, even in the cold of Dublin, Pizzi's doing the road work. Shaving his ass. Yeah, I mean, can we get into the chafe-ass now, or should we leave it till later?

I mean, I'm happy to speak. Now you should leave it for later. People will absolutely stay tuned because they want to hear about how Pizzi had a problem when he went out there on a run. All of your segue work, you just got the perfect segue. And now you're chafing me. now I'm just kidding, go ahead, man. Go ahead.

You come back to that, but put a bookmark in that, though. I'm going to write it down here. Yes, okay. Ass chafe. Don't forget talking points. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a point. Um, well, you know, we're speaking about champions.

There's a new champion at 170 pounds. His name is Islam Makershev and a lot of lads want to fight him for some reason. I don't fuck. I watched the fight last weekend and I was like, why are all of these guys so excited about trying to beat this dude? You're saying, uh, you've decided not to fight. to fight Islam Mahatah? Is that what you're saying? I'm ruling myself out of total contention. One man who is not doing that. A man from the

same neck of the woods as myself, E. Machado Garry. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a guy put a foot forward in a better way than this two had arrived in guitar. We're all jazzed up on Morales and Pratches. This guy is honestly like a diplomat. I watched him at the open workouts.

In full Qatari garb. Let's have a look at this, please, Rick. Amazing stuff here from Ian Gary, who is firmly putting himself in the toilet conversation. Look at this. Why does he look like he's eight foot? It's like a dark ministry. He's very tall.

He's very tall. Yeah, he looks. That's your sleep paralysis demon right there standing in the doorway of your bedroom at 3 a.m. You can't hear him, but he's speaking very diligently and, you know, he's given it the full one. He sounds like a politician, to be fair to him. He has said. And he said this from Miles off. Like when Balala and him was first announced,

this is before Morales splattered Sean Brady and Pratchez did the same with Leon Edwards. Like, he's like, I need to finish this guy. And obviously that's one of the criticisms, Gary, right? Like in this age of we need spectacular stoppages, he's been getting some decisions back to back, even though he started off his UFC tenure as a knockout artist and had been the whole way up through Cage Warriors and everything.

Ben, do you think that is accurate? Do you think he needs a finish or is a win? good enough given the media attraction that Ian Gary has had like if you're looking up the videos here he's being viewed more than anyone else does he still need that finish in your mind you know I think

we sometimes mistakenly think of it as a binary thing where either you finish the fight or it wasn't that great and there are plenty of performances where we've seen where somebody has a great fight some of our favorite fights if you tell people about what are the best fights in MMA or UFC history some of the best fights. Some of the best fights

went to decision. Yeah. So you can go out there and have a star making performance, win a huge fight, and it can go to the decision if it's the right kind of fight. So I don't think a finish is absolutely required. However, for Ian Gary, it is kind of thing. If you, when he does win these decisions, they are often not that exciting to watch. That's the thing.

It's not just that the judges came in there and had to decide it in the end. It's that a lot of people did not enjoy the road there. And he has all the other pieces where, I mean, for one thing, where he's a good fighter, he's a smart fighter he talks a really good game he does a excellent job of keeping himself in the conversation all the time and that is you know he's like the anti-armine in that kind of way so you got to give him credit for that but you do need to be able to go out there and do something that's really going to feel like it puts a stamp on it but lull's not an easy guy to finish though if you go out there and you're you're taking chances in order to try to finish him that's a guy

who can beat you that way. So if you go out there and you can dominate them, but you can also make it a fun fight to watch, I think that that might be enough. But I also think that this is kind of a sneaky, tough fight. I don't think, I think a lot of people are looking at Ballol right now and being like, how much does the Bullall have in the tank? Was the lost JDM a bad night, bad stylistic matchup,

or was it the sign of a decline that you got to the title? But just as your skills were beginning to desert you, just as the miles on the Odominer or start. to catch up to you. I think that's kind of what we're looking at here. We actually had that Balal, Balal spoke to the great Chuck Mendenal here, so he might have a better insight than all of us. It does feel like, you know,

despite Balal, like, he hasn't fought a guy like Balal. He hasn't fought an out-and-out wrestler. Like, this is the thing that mostly, when you come over from Europe, this is the thing that everyone's talking about. What's he going to look like when he faces a wrestler? We saw it with Leon Edwards and Manchester. I saw it at 6am in Manchester. I will never forget it.

Chuck, what did you take from him? Like, Should we be more excited about Balal here as the dog? No, probably not. But like, his, I do think he has like a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. And I'm not, I'm never sure. If you talk to Balala before because you're never 100% sure if it's just like he's kind of pissed off in general at the way things are in the world or if it's like that he's thinking about his perception. One of the things I asked him was when he watches, you know, JDM get taken down. controlled for 19 minutes and you look back at his fight like do you think maybe you should have

done that a little more like should you have focused a little harder on just trying to get him on his back and like keeping him there and that that was the one time it was a little abrasive where I felt like he was like you know for people who don't know what they're you know who aren't in there they don't know anything about this you know that sort of that sort of response there's a chip on a shoulder but you got to remember the dude is 37 years old and he has fought a who's who and he's kind of been to the mountain top there there's always you mentioned this before been like a complacency and I don't know I wouldn't quite say something like that but it's definitely harder and harder to keep your hunger at the level that you know made you unbeatable for whatever

11 fights in a row it's difficult to kind of keep showing up and doing that especially when you know your nickname is remember the name and like you you've literally spent your whole career like hey guys remember me you know like you spent your whole career it's look over here yeah and if anybody's going to style, style on this moment and should or could would be Ian Gary, who maybe in part because he hasn't shined, a big shining moment like this, if you're able to go put away, you know, Balala Muhammad in a big spot like this, could really go over big, especially given that I think Ian is now kind of fostered. We used to have this conversation all the time, kind of more of a goodwill with his fan base,

because there for a while, we thought he was one of the more polarizing figures, but what he's shown is that he understands that shaping perception in the fight game is everything right like he can be this one day he can be this the next he can show up this and he can play a heel and he can do all of this i think if he's ever going to put it all together this would be the moment and it would this would in my mind make it emphatic that he should be next for the for the title shot yeah i think you you brought a good point there that well i mean for one thing him being 37 and fighting a guy who is almost 10 years younger than him, any and Gary.

And he spent so much getting to the title. You know, he was not one of these guys where people were looking for an excuse to give him a title shot. He had to put in so much just blood and guts to get there, to win the title. And sometimes we've seen guys where it's like spent the best stuff you had just getting there.

And then there's not a whole lot left in the tank for staying there or for bouncing back and getting back in that title picture. So I think that is one concern. I also think I can understand how when he gets asked, I'm sure he got asked a few times in this, and I'm sure he heard from a lot of people who wanted to offer some thoughts about his game plan

against Jack Delamadalena and that title plan. I remember talking to two fighters about this. Like Brian Stan was telling me once where he was like, I lost to Chal Sonan and I went in for a haircut the next week, and my barber had thoughts about what I should have done in that fight. It was all I could do to sit there and be polite and not be like, hey, get the clippers out, do your job. Don't tell me how to do my job. You know, he was just like, everybody has an opinion on it and you get really sick of hearing it.

So I can understand that Blal might be, might feel a little bit abrasive about that. I also wonder how that translates into a fight like this because he and Gary's guy who's, he can get under your skin, you know, even if, even if you don't have some of that going on. I've noticed that. He can needle a fella. And so I wonder how that. that might affect Belal's approach here. And you know what? Like you're mentioning the age there.

Beside Gary, he just looks so much older because Gary's so youthful, right? Like he's so wide-eyed and enthusiastic about everything he's doing. You know what I mean? Like he's buzzing about it all. Typical Brazilian. He hides his age, man. Yeah.

He's also, he's also, like I still think he is polarizing. But one thing he's realized is like all these people are watching me anyway. Like so all like if they're here, I have a captive audience whether they're here to shit on me or whatever they want to do

I have a captive audience and I can mold them into whatever I think like whatever he's trying to pull forward and look we saw this with the Shavkat thing he loses the Shavkat and he's like look how well I lost the Shavkat like he's very good

and like and redirects it to like hey at least I took him on well you other guys don't want to fight him well and I mean there is something to having this moment and this platform kind of to yourself in a way you know because he really got This is a good lineup overall for a fight night event.

But really, you got Dan Hooker and Armin and you got Ballal and Ian Gary. And those are the main attractions. And when you are slotted in on a pay-per-view event where we got the title fight, we got some other contender fights down here, there's a lot going on. It just feels like a lot jammed into people's heads all at once. And here you kind of got it to yourself. Now, obviously, you're going to lose a lot of viewers to the Grizz Cat game. A lot of people are going to be watching that one on ESPN Plus.

That's a given. But you do have an opportunity here to have a bigger share of the spotlight, even if it's a little bit smaller of a spotlight. I'm going to have to fucking triumphing this game tomorrow. I'm going to be scouring the European sports channels. Who's showing Montana versus Montana State? Come on, you motherfuckers. You know, when I lived in New York City, there was one bar that you could go to,

and that was where all the Montana and Montana State alumni would gather for the brawl of the wild. each year, and it was a big deal. So maybe Dublin has something like that, maybe where you can get some, find out who among you comes, got their degree at one of the University, one of the Montana universities, and you can go down there. I'll give you some tips on how you can just, like, drop the right buzzwords and blend in. They won't know. I would love that.

I would love that. You'd be like, I did it a semester abroad in Missoula. Yeah, it was great. My uncle's from Boots. Oh, God damn it. It's over. Boots down. Fuck.

I was trying I thought it was my moment You had it There listen Boot You don't want to be there anyway man That's the arm pit of Montana Isn't it Ben like

Oh no Butute is great It's one of those weird towns Where it's like You know how some towns Have this thing Where they're like We used to do a thing

And that thing defined our entire existence It's a mining place right Yeah And now they're like We don't really do it anymore But we still have that in us It still carries an odor Doesn't it?

We're still tough. We got a super fun site out there in But Butte because of all the mining. But there's still, people are very proud to be from Butte. Butte has very much its own character. You could go have a good time in Butte. And you could also wake up in a holding cell in Butte and know that you deserved it. Holy shit.

Chuck, do you hear this guy earlier saying there's only two points in this card? He mustn't know that Waldo Cortez-a-Cost it. Yeah, look, I'm stepping back in there. You know what I mean? The I poke gait fresh behind. him, the man who prevailed where Aspinall could not is fighting one of GC's favorites

Goatsy F, Shemiel Gaziyev. I mean, is this a low-key, like, contention run here? Got to be. It's a November to remember, Pizzi, right? Like, so he's jumping right back in there. It doesn't take that much on heavyweight these days, man.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The man was he had one eye, okay? He had one eye. He could have been, he was about to be taken out of the back and they're going to put a round in him but instead he fought and he beat Delea a friend of Tom Hospitals

and now he is the eye-poke king you kind of poke that man's eyes into submission I really love how he got you know poked in the eye and we're walking around holding one eye shut and we're holding the cloth to it

and everything then we restart the fight and he's fine lands that shot drops Ante Delia finishes him off with strikes and then immediately afterwards we're back to one eye shut yelling in pain about, like immediately afterwards.

That's compartmentalizing, Pennies. Yeah, he was just like, I'll worry about how bad my eye hurts and how I can't see out of it as soon as the fight is over. But until then, there's still business to be done. Honestly, it does not take a whole lot at heavyweight in general, but also in this current moment, if you can just get us to remember who you are and get us to have something in our heads.

Yeah, if you can get us to remember us to remember. the name, but also to know some kind of narrative about you, where we go, Waldo Cortez-A-Costa, which one to see? Oh, he's the guy who had that weird iPok fight where he seemed to have lost and then came back and immediately won. And then he's also the guy who three weeks later jumped in to save a heavyweight fight, got on a plane to cutter like two or three days before the fight. And when it's not, when that one, I mean, no, it's not. It's a long-ass flight, man. And to go fight, you know, a guy from the region. And he's already, I think Waldo Cortez-Costa is sitting at, what, number six in the UFC's heavyweight rankings at this point.

Somewhere. Somewhere. You go in there, you win two fights in November. That don't hurt, you know, especially you got other people like Jelton Al-Meda seemed to be like he was going to be next up. And then that ain't happening anymore. So there's an opportunity there for a guy to make a name for himself. What do you guys know about this Shem Rock? I mean, this kid's coming in seven years on the lamb.

What's going on over there, Pizzi? Yeah. so like he was he was up on like i think it was a burglary charge or something like that and then he just went on the lamb like he was over here for a while in dublin combat academy and i think i don't know what happened like either didn't do it or they didn't have sufficient evidence so then they just let him off i was hoping to organize a chit-chat between himself and a certain yeah i really wanted to talk to him i mean you hear seven years on the lamb and that's that speaks to me i'm like let's talk to that guy honestly i that sounds to me

like an inspiration because you're telling me he ran from his problems and it worked out like that's my dream that's what i'm saying that's so you're thinking like a writer now that's he just ignored it went away and was just like eventually the debt collectors from the urgent care will stop calling me and it'll all be fine and it worked like that's that's my approach to most things they were like the police were like i i can't remember how this worked out i know i saw him do an interview with TNT where he was I was wrongly accused of doing this and obviously he went on the lamb then

waste a lot of time seven years I mean Jesus I could have figured this out a bit quicker if you asked me but um interestingly like he was a big deal over here he fought an octagon that crazy Eastern European promotion they're doing all the stadium shows and he developed the great fan base he is with Paddy de Badi and you'll remember historically

like this happened with McGregor as well remember kind of opened the floodgates for a lot of fighters to come in and we see that this car with Luke Royley who's a shit hot prospect he was on cage warriors and knockout artist a bit different than uh patty in that regard much more of a stand-up fighter he's making his debut and shem rock is making his debut but i thought it was interesting the way to have matched shem because he's a really difficult he's a really difficult match up here like this is uh this is like yeah aliev isn't it that he's fighting like he is a he is a shit hot prospect

undefeated 10 and oh like really young right like a young dude 24 yeah yeah it's like fuck man, this is a really difficult fight to look winning because Chem is like a submission artist and this guy's a wrestler, so damn. Yeah. Shit hot, he says. Shit hot. That's what we're saying.

Shit hot. I mean, I know all about shit hot, but stay to the end of the show. Just to hear that one. Keep that dangling carrot dangling. Kiyoji Haraguchi, like not even a word about him this week, I feel. It's crazy, man. Not even a fucking whisper about Keoggi coming back. What is the story with that boys?

I don't know, but that's still, I was at that title fight that he had where it was like one second left on the clock, and I'll never forget that. I mean, that was one of those fights you're like, damn, man, I was there for that. So I'm excited to see him back, man. I mean, this card is really good. Like, generally speaking, this card is really good from top to bottom. Not maybe not to the bottom, but I mean, there's a lot of good fights on this card. Yeah, it's, yeah. And you think about Coraguchi, I mean, he hasn't lost since those, like he lost back-to-back ones there in, in, and.

Delator, but that was like three, four years ago, hasn't lost since then, 35 years old. So you're getting to the point where, especially in those light of weight divisions, we expect to see a little bit of decline, but hasn't happened yet. McBeckorabi, come on, man. That guy's a big underdog as well, though. No, no, he's a favorite, right? Is it a favorite? Keoggi's the underdog.

Oh, no, no. I'm talking about Oralby. Oh, shit, okay. Yeah, with Hermanson. Hermanson moving down as well. I mean, this late, I don't like that when. lads are like towards the end of the career and they make the move down that's when i'm like this is this is quite weird i know it worked out for aldo but i don't know dude i know he's the one

exception though that you can think of just like that mostly it does not work out i don't like it um right lads i need to talk to you about a press conference because the reason why we started an hour later and look ben was all over this ben sending me every two minutes wow see the way joshua looked when he came out there he was reading a lot into it well he really is a problem this jake paul that that's what these are the messages i'm getting off of ben save it for the show, man. I know you're excited. My approach to press conferences in general is Twitter will let me know.

Don't let me. I don't need to sit through all of it because there is a lot of bullshit that you have to sit through watching a fight sports press conference. You know, somebody else is going to clip out the relevant moments. I'll get to watch it in a series of 30 to 90 second videos and I'll get all caught up. I'm not worried about that at all. I think, honestly, they should be thanking us. The crack is such a popular Friday morning show that we really would have killed viewership

and attention for this press conference if we had gone on on our normal time. We felt it was only right to step aside to let them have some crumbs of attention because otherwise, man, you can't compete in the crack. In the way that Montana State and Montana will cut into the UFC this weekend, that is true. That is a true example here. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to like to you, the short hand for the crack around the office is, problem pot because we are problem charge. That's what they

call us. Problem problem pot. Yeah. Here's the thing. We might have a face off. I believe New York, Rick diligently has clipped. Look at the fucking Jesus. Damn, dude. Jesus. That is fucked. What an opposite visual

from the tank Davis one, right? Yeah. It's the exact opposite. I mean, yeah, look at that. Look at that. He is fighting a guy. What about Rick? This is incredible. That's, man. It's you go from like 5-5-5 Tank Davis to like 6-6 Anthony Joshua. You are dealing with like a foot difference in height.

It's like Tank Davis's bodyguard just showed up like, hey, you mess with my boy. It is fucking world. Look, I know TalkSport in the UK have been like, this is a travesty. This is a travesty. And I'm like, I'm fucking excited for this. I am buzzerbride. Shout out to Ari Lohani, to Ben's point. That is how press comments usually go

Ariel wasn't fucking around today He came out in the stage He's like, let's go Right, bring them out We don't need to do this shit That's because he shares our attitude towards them He's actually trying to correct it Yeah, he does

They need to bring him into this boxing space Way more of him Do you remember they used to go through All of the fucking dudes Who are sponsoring things and everything That's crazy visual right there man Man, Auntie Joshua is happier Than a pig and shit up there

He's laughing He's like, Jake Paul says something He's like, oh yeah I don't want to have to do what I'm going to have to do to Anthony. They quote to Anthony. He's just like, okay. I'm taking this really seriously. I mean, we're all so looking worried.

I'm only a sick book. Like, come on, Ben. I know. There is something exciting about this kind of matchup. It kind of feels like a little bit of a prose versus Joe's scenario. Remember that show? It was on Spike TV and they would get like, you know, a guy, like Jerome Bettis or something. He hasn't played football in a few years

He's going to come out here against the guy Who thought he was pretty good at high school And there is something rewarding as a sports fan To just see and be reminded There's a big gap between good for regular people And elite pro athlete at the top of this sport You know? And that the weird thing about this is

It feels like People are going to go in a little skeptical And being like, are we seriously doing this? Or are we having a glorified sparring match? Are we, did we come to a gentleman's agreement beforehand that, hey, it would be the worst possible time to do something. But

this is what I keep hearing from people where they're like, if Jake Paul doesn't get horribly knocked out, then this is a fix. Then this is, this is a work in some sense. That's the danger in it, right? That is the danger because it's a weird situation to go into a fight where you're like, there is exactly one

specific result i will accept as real anything else is suspect because there's so many different things that can happen in the fight right and it's also weird to be like why why would we make a fight if the only thing that we could possibly believe would happen is one guy getting absolutely destroyed and destroyed in a way that could be damaging to his long-term health like that's the it's like if he just beats him a little bit people will be like i don't know about this one like they're expecting him to get his head knocked clean off and anything elder than that. Yeah. And that is in fact the appeal because to a lot of people, they're like, all right, Jake Paul, you've gotten away with

this long enough. Right. Exactly. That's it. That's it right there. You've gotten by with this long enough. The craziest thing about it, right, is we're like, he won't do this. This is the type of thing he won't do. What he's going to do is fight these MMA guys, these older guys. He's going to keep fighting, you know, Tommy Fury or guys like that. Like, he's going to fight guys who he should have an advantage on. but this is that one scenario right where you're like okay now he's going to go against a dude who's supposed to teach him all the lessons that he hasn't learned yet and and change that whole thing that is the appeal if you're keeping if he's if he's keeping like how do i always hold the appeal how do i keep the advantage on appeal this is what you do you go against the guy who's supposed to turn the volume up right exactly because it's like if you if the stakes just get lower nobody pays to watch tight rope walker if the tight rope six inches off the ground like we want to see that there is a a chance that you might fall to your death.

And this is, this is that tight rope for him. But also it's like, here's what I wonder. You guys tell me what you think. Does Jake Paul believe he's going to win this fight? In his heart of hearts, in his mind's brain, does he believe that I'm going to go in there and shock the world and beat Anthony's. I think he has told himself, yes. And there might be some belief system there that he does. But I think he also looks at it like, hey, business, this is business.

Like, this is where you get the, you know, I think his mind is more. geared towards that, you know, over the, over the, like, I need, I believe in myself so much my skills this whole time. I've been coming. This is what it's all led to. I don't really think that he looks at it like that. You think he thinks, I'm going to wake up the morning after with no memory of the fight, but with millions and millions of dollars in my account. Yeah. Yeah. I kind of, I said this to the lads during the week. There is like, do you remember when Dylan last week was at MSG and the boys from Dagestan caved them in.

And, and you're like, you're like, uh, like if this was anyone else, I'll be like, well, like, this is terrible that this happened to this person. But because it's Dylan, you're like, yeah, well, that's going to happen. The situation with Jake Paul feels like that to me, because he keeps fighting all these guys

he was clearly going to be. Like every one of them were kind of blurred in, and I told you that pants down on the street, Pete, going, I think this is actually going to be a competitive. And then he fights. And it's not. So all of these times that's happened. And now it's Joshua.

And as I said, like the talk in the UK is all about like, this guy could get really fucked up in there. And that's only like titillating most of us, right? Because we're like, what can happen? Yeah. And you have a bunch of people saying, yes, he could and it's about time. Yeah, exactly. Like that's the thing.

If I happen to him, I'm not going to be like, oh no. I'd be like, yeah, that was always the thing we were waiting for. Okay. Imagine a scenario where you. You get really, okay, I want to clarify. I do not want to see Jake Paul getting injured. Yeah, I mean, imagine. But you wouldn't mind see him drink out of a straw, though,

or eat out of a straw, whatever Ben said last time. Well, but I mean, it's a not inconceivable possibility that he does get really badly hurt. And it's like, imagine you can, you can just close your eyes and picture a world where we're looking at headlines that say Jake Paul in critical condition after Anthony Joshua fight. And everybody will kind of go, oh, God. what have we done? What have we been a party to? This is what you wanted? Exactly.

You will be saying that to yourself in the bathroom mirror at 4 o'clock in the morning. We would be like, you asked for this, didn't you? You said you would feel good about it as long as it happened to him. And now here it is. And you'll be on some lady Macbeth shit trying to scrub the blood off your hands. And it won't feel good. That won't feel good. So that's the thing is like everybody wants to see Jake Paul get horribly knocked out.

But then we also want to see him bounce back up and be okay. hey so that we can resume like pointing and laughing but that's a that's a a dangerous place to be honestly what what do you do with him if he wins like what would you do if like he goes in if he wins like what is next fucking with me if that happens the whole fucking thing is over the whole thing right like i'm boxing like the jake ball thing like it's over and i think josh was all like this is a crazy thing to say right because i'm only thing thinking about that happening for spurious reasons. Like, I'm never, there is no

way in my head that Jake Paul can win this fight legitimately. Lance one good punch. Like, what if it's, and what if it's clear, like, Anthony Joshua wants to be a lot better than good. He's throwing hard. He slips it, comes back with a left hook, catches him cleanly. You watch Anthony Joshua's

chin snapped to one side. He falls down, asleep, just eyes open, staring at nothing. And everybody goes, holy shit, Jake Paul actually, like, even if we come away from that being like he landed one lucky punch he could never do it again yeah uh yeah like every wild i don't know what you would do i don't know that's where we would have to be out there and blanche on the corner at the the headline on the paper like the fixers in the fixes in

that would be the moment that i start to consider that these people were right and we're all living in a simulation oh my god oh i don't even i don't even want to consider it i don't like i mean yeah because you leap frog we were i was saying sitting there saying, like, there's no way he would fight. He would actually fight Francis Angano. So what does he do? He goes and fights the dude to knock Francis Angano out. Like, it's such a leap. It's, uh, as we're having this discussion, New York, Rick, you can't speak on the show today, you to the legal situation between me and boys on the back. Right. Um, you know, we're, we're, obviously, very serious. Um, we're talking about like, what if this

could happen? Like, what if he actually does get hurt? New York, Rick has given me permission to say this. Jake Paul died so he can make improvements to my house bless him it's joke we're in jester i will not be the i will not be one of the what have we done people well there you go new york rick our beautiful producer what a man uh fantastic stuff that makes me feel better because at least when i'm getting publicly stoned for my opinions uh rick will be right there beside me taking those rocks to the face too thank you very much new york rick um we can all agree though that this is vastly more like Like, if you were not, you've had no interest in the other one.

I mean, like, this one seems to me like, if you're trying to create a musty vibe for this fight, I think they've done that. Yeah. Oh, I'm, I can't fuck. This is the most interesting by a million miles. Like, it's, it's way more interesting than Tyson. It's way more interesting than anything else.

Like, it's, it's, it's, and Anderson Silver. I know. That visual right there was enough good fights on this card, Ben. It's the one you've been waiting for. Yeah. Look at them. Like, don't get too excited. I don't know if he saw this because he didn't watch the press comments.

Yes, yes, it's happening, Ben Anderson Silva v. Taran Woodley You asked for it We got it He thought this was a one-fight card He thought this was a one-fight card Looks like I can go ahead And scratch one thing off my Christmas list early

You know I knew he would love that I like how we spent like 15 minutes Talking about the Wythman Silva thing before Only does have that go away And now we've got some bastardization I'll tell you what, the bites like that, I was talking with my daughters the other night about their Christmas wish list, and one of them had wisely cut hers into two categories. One of the categories for gifts she wanted was labeled voluntary.

Or no, it was labeled optional. Okay. And I was like, the other one was not called mandatory. Okay. But that's, it's implied. She wisely let you draw your own conclusion about that one, since it's not in the optional category. category, uh, this, anything Anderson Silver related boxing on the Jake Paul undercard for me falls in the optional right category. We don't, we don't necessarily got to have it. But if you got it,

out of curiosity, out of sick curiosity, I will tune in a little bit earlier just to keep an eye on it. It's like, look, these are, it's just for the B roll for these are Jake Paul's conquests, you know, right? Your list of Jake Paul's conquest, I mean, the, the line you pulled out when this was an ounce joke absolutely fantastic i think he's the first guy to have fought a 57 year old mike dyson yeah after fighting mike perry you know is this the high water mark like is this is there a chance like what if like say as we predict joshua goes in knocks him out within three rounds it's over um is like this is the this is like the this is like the this is like the end of point break have you ever seen that movie when uh yes when he when he funny have you ever seen that movie he goes he goes

He's going out for the 50-foot wave. Yeah, Bodie, he's going out for the 50-foot wave, and he's like, he ain't coming back, you know? You're saying Jake Paul has it in his mind to die doing what he loves? Yes, I am. I think this is that moment for him. This is the end of the movie. This show is getting so fucking banned if anything about happens enough.

Look at these three assholes. He says the producer even wants it to happen. We just fucking, oh, my God. Hey, lads, all that excitement. I know we could talk about Jake Paul all day. It's Ben Fox's favorite subject and his favorite. athlete, but guess what? You can re-watch the press conference later, man.

It's quite, Pete. Calm down, Ben, okay? We need to move on it. Rico Verhoeven, a free agent. What the hell is happening here? I felt that man was always going. There's that long piece of text there, confirming what I just said.

He is, in fact, a free agent. We won't get into the nitty gritty of what he's just laid out there. Ariel O'Anne's had some thoughts about it online. He's kind of saying, is you a UFC, I play here? My two cents. A RICO moved to MMA would be huge for him and the sport, considering the state of heavyweight MMA. And I think he'd be quite successful.

Worth noting, he is a good friend and training partner of Tom Asmel. You know what I mean? They are signing a lot of Tom Asimel's friends to that heavyweight division, which should be noted. But could we have a little bit more fun here? Like, is there anything else perhaps top of mind for you, Chuck Men than all? I mean, I talked to him maybe six months ago. he was getting ready to defend his title and kickboxing

and you got the sense then that he was kind of like I would love to do other stuff because he's kind of done everything you can do in that world he's very famous in Europe right like he can't like he was talking about the different um just going to the grocery store like it being a problem

sometimes because people see him he's a huge star but like you talk about him over in America and I don't feel like it's ever translated and I think he feels that a little bit like that he's like you know I think I can compete with these guys. He wanted to do one-offs, like, again, certain MMA guys, maybe one in his realm, one in that realm. But you could tell that he wanted to, uh, to maybe do something like this. And so it didn't come as a shock to see this. Um, but I do think that like,

we followed the game long enough. You guys have seen him where you're, you're like, I think he's an instant intrigue. If he goes, it means the dude, it's like, it's when you get a guy like, who's a big time wrestler, a college wrestler, he's already done the weight cuts a million times. He's already done. He's been in the spotlight. He's polished. He can talk on the microphone, all of that stuff. This guy has done it all. He's fought in front of, you know, huge crowds, way bigger than a lot of times in the UFC. I think it's a pretty intriguing thing, man. Like, I think he's going to go in there and he's still got a lot left in the tank. And if it ends up being in the UFC, that'd be great. But, I mean, it was Ariel who was trying to get him against Ngano, right? Like, if you could

do something like that, I mean, that would be a fun fight. Like, I feel like, Like, there's plenty of options for the guy. Yeah, I mean, especially because when, like, the Angano one is an interesting one, because PFL's big problem is you got Francis Inganu, who you got for Francis Engano. Right. Yes. And you could solve that problem here, at least for the short term, if you, if you were able to sign Regal. Plus, the thing that you could offer him that the UFC can is, we know how these things can go,

where a guy who has a big name outside starts to have free agents. type negotiations with the UFC and they're not always willing to pay the upfront money that that guy might expect and they also want a lot of control like they're not signing you to a one fight deal they're not bringing you in uh with the the idea that we might have to turn around negotiate a new deal with you next year like they're they want to lock you down for a while they want a lot of control and guys in his position might feel like I don't need to give you that control I'm bringing a lot to the table here if you're not willing to pony up a whole lot money right now. Why do I need to commit to spending the next several years fighting in

the UFC or at least not fighting anywhere else? And so the PFL would be able to probably come in there and say, we can offer you one big fight, one big payday, a big opportunity to do something in MMA, but without having to sign away your entire future of the next few years to us. So like that, that is an appealing prospect. And I also think it's always interesting when you get a guy, especially big guy, kickboxer, exciting style, and a heavyweight. God knows we need some heavy weights around here. So he brings a lot that I think the UFC should want to get. It also seems, though, that the last few years, the UFC has gotten to a point where they're like,

we don't need any one fighter. I mean, otherwise, you wouldn't have let Francis Ngano walk in the first place. They're just kind of going like, the brand is the power at this point. We don't have to go out and sign anybody. So if they make it too difficult on us, we go, fine, whatever. But I think the UFC would have some interesting work for him to do. I also, though, would point out, remember the cautionary tale of Gokon Saki. Remember when he came in and we got kind of excited about it.

And then it turned out, maybe not. Right. It's true. Do you expect that the UFC will front up the cash, though? Like, I mean, this is a guy who's been fighting for big paydays. Like, he, as Chuck said, like, he is really famous. like really, really famous in the kind of, in Holland. Like he, he is, he is like a bona fide celebrated athlete.

Do you expect. Starring in movies and all kinds of stuff, right? Yeah, yeah. Do you think they'll pony up, basically? Like, because we've seen this so many times, like even, I know it's completely different, but Phil DeFries talking about, Phil the freeze who's like on this wild winning streak with KSW, he was offered 10 and 10 to come to the issue. Jesus.

When he was like a free agent, he was like, yeah, they offered me an entry level deal. Like, do you want 10 and 10? if not fuck off. So do you think they'll actually front up and give Rico the kind of money that he would be looking for? Ben. Well, no. Probably.

The short answer. No. Just because it's the tricky thing about it is like I said for them, they don't feel like they need any one guy right now. But also, you take a really good kickboxer like that. And in MMA and two MMA people's minds, he still would just be.

sort of an MMA prospect in a weird way. We would be like, will this work out? Right. Will he just come in there and depending on what matchup you give him, we'll be reminded that these are different sports? Or like a novelty. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, because it's like, what do you do?

Does he come in and fight for a title right away? You know, almost certainly not. So then what he comes in and we fight either a handpicked heavyweight or we do the other direction and we intentionally pick somebody going there and take him down just so we can make a point about MMA's dominance, you know, we put them up in there against somebody from the Caucasus regions with the A. Blinken beer who's going to take him down and feet and elbows, you know? The A. Blinken beer.

Otherwise, because it's kind of like, what would you do, right? You come in and are you hoping he can beat one guy, beat one or two guys, and then we can build to a title shot? Because we've seen that go way wrong. And I just think that if I were PFL, I'd be feeling like, this is our chance. Like if we're trying, if we really want to get Francis and Gunnar back in the cage and back in there with something that people will regard is worth doing, you could make that fight. And you could also use that as a case to make to Rico Verhoeven. Like, hey, do you want to sign like a three year or like, you know, eight fight deal or something with the UFC where you're going to be out there wearing the venom kit are going to be giving you $2,500. You know, there's a lot of that kind of stuff that like the UFC. The UFC. has such a like a stricter around it and you take a guy like that he's probably not going to be used to that he's probably not going to be looking for that at this point in his career

poor fucker have Walter Walker swinging out of his heels looking for a second and what the fuck is this Jesus Christ what else we got here boys oh yeah on the theme of boxing David Benavides v. Anthony Yard is tomorrow in Riyadh which is

going to compete I'm sorry to say with the Montana the Montana State game there's no competing with it there's no competing well we are the same time and ufc doha i mean it's all it's all going on the only yards bin's going to be watching his first down yards oh my god chuck ven than all that's a classic and listen elliot worsel has a fantastic piece out about anthony yard if you need to get yourself in the move for this for you get over there and read that it's a brilliant piece about yards relationship but loss not only in the ring but outside of the ring david benavides an absolute blue chip

prospect, an absolute savage. It's going to be a brilliant fight. And finally, PFL, they rolled out their big schedule and the lightweight belt. The man who holds that, his name is Usman Namaga Madoff. He'll be taking on UK's Alfie Davis on February 7th. They did the roll out there

last week. Usman getting mad loving Doha. He's traveled with Nomagamadoff's over there. So that looks like a fight that will be very appealing to the masses. They've also announced PFL Madrid, which I'm very excited about. I might have to jump over there, you know, to make sure...

Strictly for the fights. Madrid's nothing to see there. I mean, I heard it's a shithole, but I'll go over. And I'm joking, of course, Madrid, beautiful, but I'm just going to imagine what... This is going to have his pants down on the streets of Madrid. Let's get to the Chavin story. So what happened is. Thank you.

My cardiovascular capability is very limited. It's bad, to be honest. You know, to get out for these constitutional to make sure the blood is still flowing to my legs every now and again. So get out for a little, I'm out for a run and, you know, I'm not going fast. I never go fast. I cannot go fast. But I'm out and I'm out for about, you know, an hour, come back, get in the shower. As I'm showering, there's a stinging sensation from the ass region.

And I'm like, what the fuck is going on here? Like, have I got hemorrhoids? Like, what is going on? On closer inspection, it turns out to be a shaved ass. So both of the cheeks. like this, okay, as he's running, and I have a hairy bottom. So I think that didn't help too.

Hair is hard down there, you know what I mean? It's no soft-ass hair. This is some hard hair. And I'm like this the whole way down. And I said to Elaine, I said, Elaine, I think I had a chafe of my ass.

And she was like, is that a thing? And I was like, yeah, no, I think of chaf my ass. And she's like, I don't know if that's a thing. So what I did was, and the lads quick to tell me that, I didn't realize what I was saying when I mentioned this. But so I put into,

to Google. I will tell you now because I had it open seconds before the show. This is what I put into Google. I said, ass chafe after running, which led me to a Reddit page.

And within the Reddit page, it said, which I explained to the lads that. This is very simple. You know, you've just got to vass your ass up before you get out there. You go from,

you go from taint to tailbone with the vaseline to make sure this doesn't happen. And I was like, lads, you know, the guys, said if you just write ass on the Vaseline

nobody will ever touch it and it was only then when Ben reacted the way he did that I realized that yes in fact everyone would be very very concerned about my Vaseline tube with ass written on it in the bathroom. You could just write do not touch. You know,

something like that. Pizzi's Vaseline do not touch. It's just such a such an interesting series of choices that you made to get to this point. I also, what else could Ozzy's and Vaseline be used for everybody? I don't know.

This is clearly Pete's running lotion. That's what that's like. I also, I want to take us like a moment to appreciate this sort of close, intimate relationship that Petey shares with Elaine where he feels comfortable just being like, hey, I think I'm, I chaffed my ass. Like, let's talk about it, you know? like just he doesn't think to himself maybe i should maybe pizzi should try to make this pizzi's problem and just solve it on my own and not say anything to her not not force her to confront this like what kind

of animal she's dealing with here in her home every single day no he's just like you know what this is something i'm going through let me bring it to elaine see if she has anything that she can offer you know it's it's a beautiful thing in its own way it's a beautiful it's a beautiful it's a beautiful holiday story, you know? Just go from taint to tailbone and everything will be okay. You know what I mean? To the viewers of this show who stuck around because of the promise of being able to hear this story, are you, are you happy with your decision?

Let's say there. This is what you get. This is, I don't know what you expected was going to happen, but this is what you get. Happy Thanksgiving. So if you're in my house and you see a Tova Vaseline that says ass on it, it's not what you think it is, okay? It's a running situation where I have to put my hand in the ass

Vaseline and go taint the tailbone to make sure and you know what? Sometimes, you know, we need to go on the nips too. You know, your nipples you know when you're running, they can get aggressive too. You know, you need to make sure that they're protected. The other thing about the whole idea of riding

ass on the jar of Vaseline is the idea, right, is that I don't want somebody to come along, see this jar of Vaseline and be like, oh, This would be good, you know, to use in lieu of chapstick or something because it's, yeah. And the situation is I don't know how many people are living in that house. My understanding is it's kind of just you and Elaine, right? So you could just tell her, hey, if you see this, this is what's going on here.

You know, maybe don't use it. It's not a situation where you're going to have a party. People are going to be over and they're going to be like, well, naturally, you know, you're in somebody's house for a party. You use their hand soap to wash your hands. you understand that that's a given. You see a jar of Vaseline in their medicine cabinet. You think, hey, of course, I'm going to use a stranger's Vaseline. Like, everybody on, like, no, that's not going to happen, man.

Vaseline Vaseline. Probably going to be okay here just having this conversation with Elaine, which I was thinking the reason you weren't doing that is due to embarrassment, but that's clearly out the window now. You know, you've already, you've already said that. Yeah. I just didn't say it out loud until I said it to you guys. And that, well, I did with the chafed ass.

I just haven't mentioned the ass vaseline. at that point. This is what we talk about five minutes before the show, by the way, just for the people at home who are like, you know, where did this come from? This is the conversation we're having. I said, save it for the show. So here we are.

Right up until the music drops. It's conversations. I'm glad that I told them and I'm glad that we can all share here. That's what the crack is all about. That's what it's about. The crack. The crack, quite literally, like the crack. That's what the, that is the muse of the whole show.

Rick, do we have any super chats? I'll Rick's text me here You might have told me You're fired We got this off 15 minutes ago It says no super chats Because I'm not in Google slash YouTube I don't know what that means

The fuckers he added It should be said I didn't say that The flippers I would have said Because I don't swear Yeah Right after his whole conversation About his ass crack

Okay Listen ass is not Back word So please accept my ass story in lieu of the super chats and we aren't going to be here next week because it's uh thanksgiving which is um one of you tell me what thanksgiving is all about again what is the eating food that's right eating food yeah from what i understand american football NFL baby that's going to happen i'll be watching that so we're going to be away for a week so i guess the lasting image you're

going to have is me going taint a tailbone and i can only apologize there's going to be some super chats about this in the future i can tell you that right now Listen, any of you guys thinking about going for a jog tonight, don't go out there, bear. Go taint the tailbone with a bit of Vaseline. And we will see you in two weeks' time. We cannot wait for that. We love you so much. Thank you to New York, Rick.

You cannot provide us for the super chats. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we hope you enjoy the fight. Actually, whoa. Tomorrow, there's going to be a post show. Well, how did I forget this? Me, Chuck and Ariel, we're going to be on there. You know, this guy, folks, too busy celebrating Montana's big win. over Montana State, the Grizz, baby.

We'll be here. We'll be talking about who the new number one contenders in both lightweight and welterweight are. But until then, you go and enjoy yourself. Tainted Tailbone, we will see you in two weeks' time.