The Ariel Helwani Show - Arman Tsarukyan, Ian Machado Garry, Tyron Woodley, Nakisa Bidarian, UFC Qatar & massive weekend reaction

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Ariel Helwani begins the show with a recap of UFC Qatar, including a debate with The Boys in the Back about whether Arman Tsarukyan and Ian Machado Garry should be next for the respective champions of their divisions (04:30).Garry then joins the show to break down his win over Belal Muhammad, discussing his takedown defense, the controversial eye-poke, whether he’s done enough to earn a title shot, Shavkat Rakhmonov or Kamaru Usman as potential challengers, his viral run-in with Khamzat Chimaev, and more (42:30).Tsarukyan is next, breaking down his own big win against Dan Hooker, talking about his desire to finish the fight, head-butting Hooker at the weigh-ins, his respect for Hooker, having his father at the fight, Paddy Pimblett potentially jumping him in line, his expensive taste, his run-in with Ilia Topuria and their brewing beef, and more (1:06:47).Most Valuable Promotions founder and CEO Nakisa Bidarian is back to discuss Jake Paul’s upcoming fight against Anthony Joshua, starting with the decision to remove Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis from the original matchup, how the Joshua fight came together, and other potential names discussed, including Francis Ngannou, Ryan Garcia, and Terence Crawford. He also touches on how much Joshua stands to make, the risk being taken by Paul, critics of Paul suggesting his fights are fixed, Dana White’s comments about the fight and Ngannou (1:37:50).Ariel and The Boys give their Jake vs. Joshua press conference thoughts and react to some scenes from UFC Qatar, including a few fantastic impressions (2:13:24).Tyron Woodley returns to preview his boxing match against Anderson Silva, explaining how the fight came together, responding to Darren Till’s comments about the fight, reacting to the Jake vs. Joshua fight, and more (2:53:33).The show closes with mention of Rico Verhoeven’s retirement from kickboxing and his potential next move, PFL’s announcements for its first show of 2026, including Dakota Ditcheva taking on Denise Kielholtz, Yaroslav Amosov joining the UFC, and your Super Chats (3:29:44).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eri-A-R-A-R-I-Y show! Back in your life on this Monday, November 24, 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. How could you not be doing well? It is Thanksgiving week around these parts. Yes, here in the United States, it is Thanksgiving Week. I love Thanksgiving as an adopted American, as an American as of 2023, I think it was.

22, 23, I've always loved Thanksgiving. Who's to check? Yeah, who is to check, Bob? You know why I love Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving because there's no presence attached to it. There's no religion attached to it. And I know that there are some people who feel some sort of way about it. But for me, it is a time to come together.

It's a nice time of the year. Yeah, it's a little chilly, but, you know, it's still pretty tolerable. You come together, you eat, you watch sports, kids are off from school, the foliage, the turkey, the pumpkin pie, the pumpkin pie. What other kind of pies we have here? Anyway, shout out to the great GC. once again, the pound-for-pound best, dare I say, Numero uno set designer in the business. Which business am I talking about?

I'm talking about the set-designing business. Yeah. Comes in, crack-a-don. Pound-for-pound. Crack-a-don comes in and is it all new stuff, or are we reusing? I don't feel like I've seen some of these things before. You may have seen some of it, but it's all new. It's all fresh for this year.

Yeah. Always reminds me of the first time we did this. Was it the first time or maybe it was the second? because it was 2022. The World Cup was happening. Canada was playing Belgium on the Wednesday. We did the whole set design. We had Kayla, Marlon Mariahs, Josh Silverin, studio, PFO's in town for the Black Friday show. For some reason, this vibe always reminds me of that. I mean, we're giving thanks. We're thankful to be here. We're happy to be here. We're loving life. So this is great. Hope you're doing well, wherever you may be. And if you're somewhere outside of the United States, and this isn't Thanksgiving week, Well, perhaps you use this as an opportunity to give thanks, to be grateful, to be appreciative for all the great things, all the blessings in your life.

We will be here with you. Have No Fear. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. What are we doing on Boys in the Back on Thursday, guys? Who's to check? We'll be here, man. Make sure to tune in. No boys in the back and no crack this week because of the holiday. We did give you a post show on Saturday, rare fight night post show. So we're making up for it. And in case you're counting at home, that's already two who's to checks within the first two minutes and 54 seconds. Who's to check? Clearly Frank's favorite.

Frank's favorite. Frank's favorite. Frank's favorite drop thus far. But great shows lined up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We've got a lot to talk about on this particular Monday. Post-stacked Qatar fight night Monday here on the program. And a lot has happened in my life since I last said goodbye. On Thursday, I flew to Miami. I actually thought about staying there. You land in Miami, the smell, the vibes, the air, the humidity, the palm trees, the beautiful people, the food.

I mean, it's just why anyone would choose to live anywhere outside of Miami. I have no idea. I was loving life. I met up with my good friend, Andy Mayer. We went to his sushi restaurant, Mr. Omikaze, had a phenomenal. meal. Sure, the bill's got mollywop during that period, but we don't need to talk about that. It was a great time. And then we went to the press conference on Friday, Kasea Center, and I had a phenomenal time. I had a phenomenal time. AJ brought it. Jake was great. The aura radiating out

of AJ was amazing. We had some great moments. We'll do a sort of breakdown, a dissection, a dissecting of the press conference later in the program. But I think I think the buzz is there. I think the hype is there, way more so than the tank fight. I wasn't at that presser, so perhaps, you know, that's the difference. Who is to check? But then I flew home. I flew home. It was 25 hours or so in Miami.

Actually had a really fun interaction in the midst of a nightmare trip home. Leak in the engine, had to deplane, delayed four and a half hours. I'll tell you about the fun interaction later. And then was back home for the UFC Qatar show. and what a show it was, and what a weekend of combat sports, a ton of activity, a ton of big-time results. Had the ring show in Riyadh in the middle of the night over there, some interesting results as well,

even some fighting on a Sunday night, APFC, Anthony Pettis fighting championship, Gable Stephson doing his thing. I mean, a lot to get into here. I got to say, I'm still blown away by what Gable Steveson did last night. Gable Steven is just 2&0 as an MMA heavy way. about the dirty boxing as well, but they're doing this thing where he's fighting like every month. Can we do this for another year? Could we have him fight every three weeks or so on

random promotions around the world or around the United States or North America on fight pass? Because he is just, I mean, he is blowing through these guys. And it's like old school, 1987 WWF squash matches. And I love it. It's inevitable that he is going to the UFC. I think we all know this. And I think once he gets there, I think he's going to be an absolute force. We've been talking about him for a long time. But it is actually kind of fun seeing him do what he has been doing to the opposition as of late. In case you missed it, just very quickly off the top, here's one particular angle of what he did in his fight last night. I mean, the guy, look at this. He gets the double leg as his opponent is out, completely out. I mean,

I think he could have actually jumped over that cage. He lands. the double leg as his opponent is out on his feet he is that quick the striking is coming along and yes I know

he is fighting you know not exactly top tier talent I know a bit of a wedgy there potentially but the point is

can we just see that one more time just one more time you have to really appreciate it it is absurd it is absurd with this guy

boom he's out he's out oh my god I was saying last week I think he could beat the likes of surreal gun

like tomorrow stop it stop it was arguing. Stop it. It's crazy. Stop it. Look at this.

Look at this guy. When I said this, it was met with Gafas. It was met with hemming and hoeing. I actually think that was G.C. not me. I was just... Who did he just beat? I don't know.

You know what? You don't know. Let me read these names one more time for you. Who's to check? This is the top 10 of heavyweight. We'll start with Tom Aspinall. By the way, it's Kevin Hine. Kevin Hine.

Shout out Kevin Hine. Tom Aspinel champion. I do not think he would be a favorite. over Tom Aspinall. Yeah. I'm going to read these names, and after seeing what he can do, his speed, his wrestling. Tell me, tell me, tell me. Cyril Gunn.

After that one, I don't know, man. I don't know. Okay, that one. After the Kevin Heinwin? Okay, it's not about that. I'm on the fence. He is the blue chip. I know, like, Bonnichol got the rocket strapped to him and was an incredible prospect

and has now proven to be a developing mixed martial artist. This is a territory that we are, we have not seen in a long time. Like, he is the. Who's next? Who's next? All my ships. Volkov? Yeah, no, it's over after that.

It's over after that. Sergei Pavlovich, Curtis Blades, he's ready, he's ready. He's ready. There's not a guy here outside of Tom Aspinall that I'm taking over Gable Stevenson. He's ready, but I want to see like five more of these. Yeah, me too.

You want the Val Woodburns. I want him to go on like a mini tour around the region. To your point, we haven't seen this in a while, like a blue chip prospect who is just being built up, and we all know he's going to end up in the UFC for whatever reason. Again, I said this before he even debuted, PFL should be trying to sign him yesterday. Any promotion under the sun, it's really down to two. He's got to be in a United States promotion, obviously.

But if I'm PFL, this is exactly, look, when he fights, everyone talks about him. You see Ben Ascreen saying, this guy could be champion next year. Matt Brown said the same on Twitter, and everyone is in agreement. He is a stud. And by the way, remember when he left Minnesota after he won the gold medal, we said he should have gone straight to MMA. He did the WWE thing because he got the big money for the NIH. I.L and NXT. Then he went to the Bills, and that was a nice little story.

This could have been the case two, three years ago with him. He won that gold medal in, um, in 21. He won that gold medal in Tokyo in 21. And so this guy is just, I mean, I just can't get over. The opponent is out and you still, you're moving so quickly that

he's on the legs of a double before his opponent, like, was falling to the mat. I actually liked that he took this route, and I'll tell you why. I would have hated if he was in MMA and he was thinking about could I have gone to WWE could I have gone to the NFL and all those

things those options are I don't want to say closed off because who knows maybe he ends up back in WW at some point in the future or whatever but those options have been explored and now he can solely focus he can singularly focus on being an MMA fighter and if he does it's a problem

for heavy weight out there he is perfect for MMA though he didn't have the personality for wrestling to deal with all the nonsense he is so perfect for MMA and now linking up with Brandon Gibson, with Greg Jackson, with John Freakin Jones, of all people, the rocket ship has been strapped. And it's fun to see him do this. Now, okay, that's obviously not the top story of the weekend, but it just happened on a Sunday night, which is kind of cool. I think it's actually smart. I don't know why they did it on a Sunday night, but gives them

some attention. That promotion APFC, Fight Pass does some Sunday night cards. But the big story of the weekend, of course, UFC Qatar, the UFC's debut in Qatar. afternoon card, it ended by like 345 Eastern Time. It was phenomenal. Qatar seemed very excited to be there. And what was interesting about the buildup was it seemed like every big name in the sport was there. From Islam to Patty to Ilya, all because of, you know, Ilya is there because his brother is fighting. Patty is there because his teammates are fighting.

Ilya, excuse me, Armin, not Armin, Islam is there because, oh yeah, I didn't even get to the lineup, my bad. I'll get to the line in a second because they're I'm so excited about today there's so much going on today for those just tuning in Ariel is hitting himself Islam is there

because team is there anyway there were so many great performances so many great performances from top to bottom I thought it was a really good card on paper I thought it delivered as well some that stood out

shout out to Ismail Nardiev Great first round knockout on the prelims. Shout to Alexandria, not Penthoja. Topuria, unanimous decision win. Shout out to Abdul Rahman Yachiev for his sub in the first round, 33 seconds in. Shout out to Asu Amabayev for his third round,

guillotine choke over Alex Perez. Nicholas Dalby always game, always a tough out. Luke Riley winning, getting the bonus as well. Great scene there. that's one of Patty's teammates on the card gets the knockout in the second round and then you have the return of Kyogi Haraguchi returning for the first time in nine years

was on a three-fight winning streak when he left the UFC had only lost once in the UFC and that was to Demetri's Johnson going in there against Tajir Ulan Bekhov, teammate of one Islam Machachev, team Chhabib looked phenomenal, gets the rear naked

and then cuts one of the all-time best promos of the year. year. I mean, on the shortlist for, I think, promo of the year. Would you say so, Frank? Who's to check? Hmm. I think you have a better one for that. But fight is a fight, you know? Business! There it is, Frankie. There it is. Everything okay, Frank. Yeah, man. That was a great promo. Horaguchi's great. Called out Alex Pantosia, their teammates said he wants to fight him. That was what he was referring to there. What an addition to the UFC's flyweight division. Waldo Cortez-A-Costa lands on a Friday morning, lands an hour and a

half before the official weigh-ins and beats Shamil Ghaziv. Knocks him out of the first round. Waldo Cortez-A-Costa in his fifth fight of the year of 2025, four-and-one now, then says he wants to return on the final card of the year, December 13th. Doesn't want to fight on the pay-per-view. the fight on the final UFC on ESPN card at the apex. This is a guy who knows promotion who gets it. The pride of the Dominican. By the way, do you guys know that he's a former Cincinnati Reds

pitcher? I did not know that. Like, in the majors? I believe so. Is this the Gita? Are you fucking with us? I need a Cortez-A-Costa Reds jersey, Ace Woldo Cortez. Yeah, G.C. is the new leader of the bandwagon. I had to bend

the knee. I had to bend the knee. He's knocking people out now. He's taking fights on three days notice, five fights in 2025. I mean, you got to respect Salsa Boy at this point. Okay, so Waldo Acosta has a baseball reference page. I think he got drafted by them, but never

actually played for them. Are we sure it's the scene? Oh, it's 100%. Even in his bio, he has it listed. Oh, shut out. Semi for Cincinnati Reds, didn't actually make it to the big leagues. Did he play minors? Maybe like a Hartford yard goat. Yeah, maybe, maybe.

It's funny because there's so many Dominican baseball players and and he sat you know he's from the Dominican so like when you there's not a lot of Dominican fighters right certainly not MMA fighters so I remember saying like this guy sounds like someone who you would you know hear being interviewed after a baseball game and then I was talking to his manager and he's like you know he was drafted by the the Reds I was like oh shit shout out anyway what a performance what a story second week in a row that someone steps in on just hours notice and wins obviously his story a little different than Ethan Ewing's, but insane nonetheless, McDebec, Oroby, with the big win over Jack Hermanson,

Volcan Osteemir got the big win over Alonzo Menefield. I mean, it was knockout after, knock it after, knockout, and then we got to the main and comane. Ian Machado Garry wins 30 to 27, 30 to 27, 29, 28 over Bilal Muhammad. Kind of wish we had five rounds here, but dominant stuff out of Ian. You know, the eyepokes are definitely in question. There was definitely one at the very beginning. There might have been a second one in the second round, but after showing the replays a couple of times,

I'm not sure about that. Skill for skill, Ian the better fighter, and afterwards saying, I got to be next. I want Islam. And oh, by the way, wouldn't you know it? In every post-fight interview he does, he says, what does he say? What does he say?

I'm Connors' protege. He's Habib's protege. Who predicted all of those? Who predicted that this would be, again, not saying that there's a rivalry here, okay? Wherever you may be, PT, hold on to your hat.

But I'm just saying I knew they would tap into all of this. Ian wins. Is it enough? Was it enough? We'll dissect. We also did a nice little breakdown in our post show for you guys. So that's up on the channel. But watch that after this if you want the immediate reaction.

Now we have a couple of hours, a couple of days to dissect it all, digest it all. Think about it all. And then, of course, Arm and Tarukian in the main event over Dan Hooker, second round, arm triangle choke. I have to say some two days. later, I'm blown away by Armin. I'm blown away on several fronts. Number one, that was his first fight since UFC 300, believe it or not, April of 2024. Think about how much time has passed since then. Yes, I know he had a few grappling matches this year. He was supposed to fight for the belt in January. He pulls out on the way and day. Physique, unbelievable, seemed to be just like, I mean, like, chiseled.

Went out there. God actually caught in a couple of compromising positions. first round and second round, and he escapes these guillotine chokes. Shout out to Dan. Game as ever. He escapes these guillotine chokes with technique that I don't know if we've ever seen twice. The second one was even more impressive. He does like a 360 thing. Most people will try to pop their head out and there you see, you know, Dan in the aftermath. There was the headbut before the flight at the Wayans as well, but most people will try to pop their head out. This guy is so strong that he did this thing where he like 360ed while caught in the Geeteen and then got out and the second time he did it in the second round led to him getting

into full mount and then eventually the arm triangle choke. We can't show you that, but I think Sean O'Malley's reaction to that says it all. And so in case you missed it via the Sean O'Malley YouTube page. Here's how Sugar, a top-level former UFC champion, reacted to Armand getting out of the second guillotine. Big dick swinging here. Armand with a head outside, single-leg goes into a head inside light, dead hunger! Pulls guard! He's got him that same guanteen. Oh my God! What the fuck? Armand just did a 361-80 backwards to get out! What the fuck happened? His neck, he just twisted. It's all that shit he does in the fucking workouts and shit. He just twisted the other way. You don't usually turn that when he did. Ow!

He just went, I'm an owl. He just decided to be an owl for a little bit. Now Dan Hooker's on his back again, three and a half minutes left to go. Yeah, we need some more Sean O'Malley play-by-play, is what I'm thinking after watching. I'm an owl. It's amazing. I saw Jack Slack show a picture online. Like, if Hooker would have caught him mid-turn and just, like, cranked back, like, he'd have snapped his neck.

Obviously, he's got a very strong neck, but you don't usually see that sort of thing. And then, of course, in the aftermath, you see, you know, you're, you know, You see Armand celebrating, and there's the stuff with Hamza, and he's calling out Ilya. To me, the best part about the aftermath and the celebration was all the food eating content that we got. I mean, we got a tremendous amount of content. First, first thing you see is him carving up a camel. This guy's carving up a camel in the aftermath. Looking like he just went to the gym, hair all quaffed to the side.

He's got pomade in there. I don't know what he's got. Who eats camel? Have you guys ever eating camel before? Never had, but I try it Yeah, I'm down Yo, I would never try Look at this guy

Just eating it What is it that you don't like About the camel? I find camels to be Just a little bit dirty I don't know Dirty? Do you think the chickens

And the cows and chickens I didn't know You could eat camel Oh yeah bro You can eat anything You just don't know What's gonna happen afterward

I didn't know camel was like on the menu Like I didn't know Camel was something That was being offered up You knew about this? Well I mean like Shavkat They ask him

What his favorite animal is And they're like, what's your favorite food? And he's like, also horses. Yeah. They eat different meat over there. Sure. No, I knew about the horse meat.

Shout out to Overeem, but like I didn't know. I didn't know about the camel. Yeah, yeah, man. Same thing. Just got a couple of humps on the back. I think me and G.C. are going to eat some camel for a fight for this one. You think the hump is like juicy? You think that's the meat?

I wonder if they eat the hump. I thought there was a lot of water in it. I thought there was the whole point of them. Well, anyway, then the guy is like showing up on the PJ. He's got the fancy cars. I mean, really playing up the, uh, the lavatory. lifestyle. Look at this.

I don't know what's going on here, but look at this. This is some kind of scene. Conspicuous by his abstent is M.MA manager Danny Rubinstein. I don't see him hanging out in any of these. He's just joking day. Then he's on the plane eating another delicacy.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Just a little macdough on the plane. Why do we love the food content so much with Harman. Can I just say... Who the fuck is we? I think I'm the only one on the team that actually is loving this right now. Yeah, that's right. No, I actually do love this. The McDonald's on the PJ is a big move. Is a huge flex. RFC-esque, they say. They say that he was inspired by RFK.

Okay, so guys, I have to say, Mia Kupa. I'm walking one back. So for all the haters out there, I'm walking one back. Tell us. We did the post show on Saturday. And I said, all right, first event, Paramount Plus, it's less than two months away now. Well, that's actually two months from today, believe it or not. January 24th, 2026, Las Vegas, T-Mobile. That's the rumor. They haven't announced anything yet. So they could throw us a curveball, right? Just like this thing, they could throw it just like this, flick of the wrist. I said, you've got Ilya. He hasn't fought since June. You've got Patty. He hasn't fought since April. There's the history there. There's the beef. Like, that is the perfect

fight to start this thing. Put that on Paramount Plus. Watch the subs just skyrocket, right? After doing some dick, now, and I said multiple times, I said, please, I want to be very clear. I am not saying that Patty deserves this more than Armin, but I'm just saying because he hasn't fought, because Ilya hasn't fought, and I suspect they want to get, they want to get into a training camp. If they haven't even started one already, I suspect they're going to want to announce this. Get rolling with the promotion. There's a lot of history there. And you have Armin sit in the front row and you say he is next. Like, let's get some decorum here.

Let's start figuring out who's next. What's the pecking order? People misunderstood what I was trying to say. There's like, what? You're saying Patty above Armin? No, I'm not saying. But if you watch fighting for more than six months, you understand that a lot of this is based on timing,

not always on merit. Number one contender is without a doubt, without question, Armand Surukin, but timing. Come to find out, it sounds at least as of now, and I'm not reporting this as definitively, but it sounds at least as of now, that that fight isn't scheduled, believe it or not, for the January,

PLE, if you will. Still not your worth to call it. Are we calling a pay-per-view still? What are we calling these? Numbered event. I don't feel like it rolls off the tongue. And that's what's called. It sounds like that's not the plan.

What I'm hearing the plan is frontrunner, Kayla versus Amanda. Now, could they do both? Sure, of course. Why not? But I'm not hearing that that's a part of the mix. And so if that's not a part of the mix, if it's not Patty versus Zilia,

scrap those plans. We've got to move on. It's got to be Armin versus Zillia. Like, because the next one is Sydney. And now we're talking about, and obviously it's not happening there. And now we're talking about March. Like, there's no way. Armand versus Ilya is the number one fight in a lightweight division.

And dare I say, it's close. It's close to as big as Patty versus Ilya, given how popular Armin is getting in that part of the world. And just how good he looked in this fight. And so I say if we're not doing it on January 24th, and it sounds at least as of now that we're not, Scrap those plans. Ilya, Armin, Paddy, Gachy. What do you say? I'm with you on some of it, but why?

Why is there an expiration date on Ilya Paddy? Because you straight, you, it was, it was, it was the plan, it was the right move when Armand, Armin just fought. It was the plan, the right move when Armin was out, when we didn't know how this fight was going to go. Okay. When there were a lot of questions about his health, could he make the weight, is his back, okay, all this stuff. Now that he looked like that, we got to move on. We have to do it. I'm sorry.

But couldn't Armin get the fight the winner? Yeah, but then we're talking about Armin not fighting for like 10 months. If this fight isn't happening in January and then let's say March at the earliest, right? Because it's not going to happen in Sydney. We suspect Volka will be on that card. Then the winner of that fight is not fighting until like, I don't know, October? But we're talking about another year out for Armin? I understand that from the Armin-sur-Ukian perspective.

If we're touching all the chest pieces, right? If we're accounting for every piece on the board, I think you only get one shot with Patty and Ilya. And you have to take it. Patty beats Gichi. That is not a risk. You're not putting him in there against Armin. Patty beats Gichi for sure.

For sure? I think Pat. Look, obviously not for sure. What's Patty Pimblitz best win, truly? Mike Chandler. Yeah. I don't think there's a big drop off there. I don't.

I really don't. Respectfully. Like Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Bobby Green. Those guys are not in their primes. Like, who do you think wins, G.C.? Patty or Gatchie? Yeah, Patty, but I'm not sold on it. I do agree with Rick that you kind of do only have the one shot at Patty versus Zillia.

It's just like in the fight game, these plans that you lay out can so easily get screwed up. Well, what the hell? Then what do we do with Armin? He gets the winner. What the hell? Then he's the guys off hunting for a year. And at that point, that would mean one fight since UFC 300. Oh, it's awful.

From UFC 300 to like UFC like 335, he would have. What is he? If we're coming at this from the perspective of what's best for Armand Sarukian, I agree with that, completely. If we're coming from the perspective of what's best for the UFC, is there a big difference between Patty? Yes. It would attract a much wider audience.

It would attract more casuals, but man, from a meritocracy standpoint, it's Armand. I literally just said, like, I don't really rate the wins that Patty Pimbaugh has on his resume. Like, I don't make any secret about it. How do you rate this one? Is beating Hooker bigger than beating Chandler? Honestly, they're probably at the same point in their career in the way that they both dominated each of them. I kind of rate them the same.

But beating Charles Olivera, to me, matters more than any of those by a mile. He had the title shot. And he was in there with this one. No, I know. If you ask me who I think is the best lightweight on the planet right now, it's Arm and Sarukian. I think Armisarokian is the best lightweight on the planet right now. Oh, better than Elia. And I thought that he was number two behind Islam.

As soon as Islam left that division, I think he's the best lightweight on the planet. But if you're asking me to run the UFC's business, if Paddy Pumbit is there, he's now ranked number five in their rankings, I believe I saw graphics being made about. Dan Hoker moved down. You got to move Patty up. You take this shot while you have it. You take this shot while you have it. Patty Pimblit is the Kike Hernandez of the UFC Lightweight Division. Easy, easy, easy.

On the group project. Like, how do you go up seven months after your last fight? Dan Hooker lost. You got to move home. I actually think he was at eight? Also, don't the rankings usually come out on Tuesday? Why did they come out on Monday? I feel like they've been coming out on Mondays later.

Oh, and also, Hooker losing to Armand shouldn't necessarily drop you down. Like, that's the number one guy. You shouldn't get penalized for losing to the top guy. No, Patty's number five. I don't need to think about it. I think it was the way that he lost. Sure, sure, sure. I'm with you on everything about Armin, every single bit of it.

As I said, I think he's the best lightweight on the planet right now. I think he can beat Iliate Tuporia. I think he probably will beat Iliate Tuporia if they face off. I believe in Armand's Rukian to a high, high degree. But if you want to do the best business, you do Patti versus Ilya while you have this opportunity right now, and then Armin fights the winner. And if it's Ilya, you've got that same fight that you were angling toward

and it's built in business. And if it's Patty, who then beat Ilya Teporia, now you've got Armin versus that guy, which is even bigger. It's perfect for me from a business perspective I think you just do it while you have it. I'm foaming at the mouth to see Armand versus Ilya Foaming at the mouth. You'll get it. Two fights from now.

You know what pisses me off about all this? I want to see Ilya versus Armand so bad. I want to see Illy versus Islam so bad and I feel like we're not getting either of those necks. What the hell? You know what I mean? Like the UFC has some blockbuster juicy like rivalries.

There's heat there. And I feel like we're not getting either of them. I'm surprised that you're so. down on Patty v. I was going to say both those fights have I'm not as big as that. I know. And then the third one also has Ilya to pour in it against Patty Pembley, which might be his biggest rival, dating back to what, 2021 with the hand sanitizer boy days? No, 100%. Listen, I've been, I've been the one, I've been the one carrying the Paddy versus Lillia flag for all this time. And it's a tough day for the people who say that I like, I only pick based on my relationships. No one's probably

been meaner to me than Patty. But like, we got to call it like we see it. That said, Armand fought, and maybe it's recency bias, I feel like you got a strike. Because if the, again, if they are going to book it for January 24th, then I'm all the way down. Let's go. Let's do it. Announce it today. What are we waiting for? If it ain't happening, then we

need to book Armin versus Ilya in my opinion. From a business standpoint, it's Patty. From a meritocracy standpoint, it's Armin. I don't know if it's that much bigger, by the way. It's bigger. It's a dude, it's bigger. Patty's following us. But that much bigger? Let's go. Let's do the Instagram check. We're doing IG. I mean, just from a

casual standpoint, you are going to have more people tuning in for Patty the Batty than you will, Armin Sarukia. How many followers do you think Armin has? 2.8. Damn. That's my guess. Are you looking at that? Exactly 2.8? Yes. I have to be on these socials a lot.

Patty, I'm going to get... All right, so even the Instagram check is like, it slows him out of the water. I was literally saying this on Saturday, but I was like after talking to people, after doing my due diligence. And by the way, can't wait for Kayla versus Amanda. That's the one.

That's a great fight. Are you surprised they'll start the Paramount Plus era with that? No, because what other option do they have? Who can they put in there? Alex? Ilya Patty. No, but it seems, look. Oh, I don't understand.

If Ilya was going to fight, we would have been announced already, no? Like, Ilya is, like, how far are we? When is that fight happening in January? January 24th? We're two months away. Two months away. Like, that's, you know, Ilya is not a guy you announced. We did Charles and I.

I know, but that was then... A month and a half. We knew that fight was going to happen. It was just they were waiting on the Islam stuff to resolve. Still didn't announce it or sell tickets for it. I love both fights. Man, what a performance from Armin, right? Unbelievable.

He looks like a star out there. Does he not? He is the best light of the planet. I will say it again. I believe that. Does he beat Islam at 155? No. Nobody beats Islam.

God, what a fight that was. We should have had that one, too. The real winner in all of this, to me, is Ilya to Boria. He's got a lot-buster fights. He's got money fighting. Everywhere he looks. But we got to see this guy fight. Yeah.

Paddy. Patty versus Ilya. Armand gets winner. Problem solved. Everybody's happy. What do you do with Gaichi? Because he's threatening to retire. Retire.

Yeah. Like, I love Jessica. I'd like to see him fight. But if that's the stipulations, like, I'm not that interested. If you want to go on a meritocracy standpoint and be like, Patty doesn't deserve it over Justin, Armin does. So I just don't see a way where Justin ends up getting the title shot. All right.

What about 170? So last week, obviously we had the new champ, crown, Islam. Michael Morales, tremendous. Carlos Prachis, tremendous. Ian, we said, got to do something incredible. Got to get the finish. Doesn't get the finish, but does win rather dominantly against Balal. Was it enough?

He's banging the drum. He's getting on the microphone. He's cutting promos in English, in Portuguese. He's doing everything that he can. He's even getting into it with Hamzad. He's making himself very relevant. Was it enough, guys? What do you say?

What do you say, Ray? You told me that Shavkat was healthy last week, yeah? Yeah, yeah. No, it was not enough. Okay, so what is it now? Is it Shavkat versus Islam? Yes. The crazy thing is, like, that might have the least amount of heat on it.

You just told me before that all you care about is the meritocracy. The guy hasn't fought. There it is. The guy hasn't fought. He hasn't fought in a year. You just told me it had to be Armin over Patty. Yeah, I'm saying he hasn't fought the same way Patty hasn't fought. Armand now fought. It's all about who's hot.

Who's doing the work? He beat in. He's been injured. Okay. Can I tell you? I think the big winner was Kamar Usman. Aye. I don't come away from this weekend thinking that Kamar Usman. No, I think they're going to pull a steep John Jones on us. Yes. And that was annoying and this would be even more annoying because there's like five guys who are getting skipped over now. We're getting echoes of like the past, right? This one would be like another steepe.

the other one the if patty gets a title shot it's like echoes of like cheeto or dan henderson or something built entirely on this like rivalry from the past that's like omel meritocracy yeah that's what i'm saying omali when he fought chito or or dan henderson when he fought bisbing um i think i think i think ean has done enough i think he has done more than enough how i shovcott not then it's it's it's more of a like okay you haven't been active if we're if we're going to go if we're going to go with activity yes obviously he gets it because he's, you know, he's sitting on a win. His last fight was a win over Ian.

If he's not ready to go, but now... You said he was ready to go. I'm going based on that. Okay, so you're going shove cut, Islam. Yeah. It's got to be Morales versus Prachas, right? Sure. Love down for that.

I'm also down for Morales, Gary. So who's Ian fighting? If, because you can't do Ian versus protest, obviously. Morellas. That's what I was you saying. No, okay, but then who's protest fighting? JDM. Usman?

Usman. Yeah, hell yeah. What about Usman Gary? I go back, I think I said this on Saturday, or maybe it was last week. Shavkat, Islam, Usman, Gary, Morales, Pretches. Great. And look, am I going to be hard up if Ian Gary gets a title shot? Absolutely not.

To your point, he's the one guy in the division who's like, give me fights, give me fights, give me fights. I'll risk my contendership every single time. He's the one guy who kind of like beats that drum the loudest. To me, it just feels artificial if you're skipping. over Shavkat who beat him, right? Like, if Shavkat's healthy, that guy is the same guy that everybody was talking about being the future

champion. Everybody was clamoring for it. I want to see that promise realized. But if he can't, if he's still hurt, if he's not ready to come back, if the timing doesn't work, and you slide Ian Machado Gary in there, I'm happy as a clam. I think that guy has earned every bit of it. He has been the one who says,

I don't care, I'll fight Balal, I'll fight proches, I'll fight anybody, and lived up to it. I respect that. crazy how in both way classes there's like a queue of four or five guys. Also it is kind of crazy that Shavkat had the title shot against Belaw and then Belaw had to pull out just like Armin unfortunately he had to pull out on that side it's very like mirrored it's it's weird right and Islam was there and now he's there and yes just follows Islam yeah I mean these are all good problems to have but I want some I want some resolution to some of these it's too much

there's a lot of like campaigning and jockeying and I like it better when it's like this guy won. Yeah, it's like we just unloaded the clip on Walter White there was this minute where I was just like man none of these guys are booked at all and now we just got all the fights and now it's like now it's on to book him again and we don't know how it's going to happen. I don't even know what we resolved like obviously

some things were resolved right. Morales wins protest wins but like no one really I don't know if anyone broke through because the UFC hasn't given us any indication that anyone has broken through. Morales broke through but I still don't think he's clear for the title show. Yeah. If Armin and Ian end up getting

not the next shot but the shot after that is that such a crime I feel like that's totally justifiable and reasonable I mean the Armin one is a tougher one because like you know he had the title shot and you know he got hurt and everything like that and he's won five in a row

since 2019 by the way second most wins at 155 pounds tied for tied for second 10 Islam has 10 and then Charles has 11 so no These are all very similar to Shavka Got hurt, had the title shot

Shavcott is right there If Shavkot's healthy I do that fight But What is the outcome that you all are most upset with Camaro's been fighting for the belt At 170 And 155

Gates you fighting for the belt Yes We're just hating on that team I'm probably I'm probably not upset about any of them Because I They feel like We'll get the bit

They're not going to win the fights And then we'll get the business It's a waste of time. Waste of our time. That I can agree with. And there's got to be some sort of merit attached to these titles. I mean, like, enough already. Do Islam Usman in January and just, we'll just get out of the way. Islam Usman, golly.

Let's get out of the way. January. You know what I could foresee happening? Islam beats him up. He retires in the thing. Thank you. Like, it's just like, it's a lifetime achievement award. There is no.

Now, Usman v. Gary is a fascinating fight. Fascinating fight. And that's a real fight and you win that fight. Okay, now you? Now what? Shavkat doesn't get his shot because Usman now No, no, Shavkat fights at the same time and that's an Oh, Shavkat, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just the business while we, all right, fair enough. I mean, if Usma gets a win, he'll be undeniable. He'll be undeniable. They will give him the shot. Joaquin and Ian, that would be a title shot. Yeah, I mean. Islam Waukeen? Based on, based on the...

By the way, for a second when you said Joaquin and Ian, I was like, wait, what? He would have beat Usma. No, I know, I know. I thought you were advocating for Ian to fight, Joaquin Buckley. No, no, absolutely not. Sign the contract. Let's go. By the way, we're so fired up. There's so much to get to here that I completely skipped over the entire lineup today, 38 minutes in.

So I do want to let you know in a couple of minutes, we're going to be joined by the aforementioned Ian Machado, Gary, who is still in Qatar, by the way. Talk to him about where he goes from here. Talk to him about the big win. And just, you know, how good he looked in that fight. It was a dominant win. Didn't get the stoppage, though. So I'm curious to hear what he has to say about that. After that, we'll be joined by Armantirukian, so the top two winners on Monday.

Very nice. Talk to him about the win over Dan Hooker, how the hell he got out of those guillotines, where he goes from here, what does camel taste like, what's his McDonald's order? You know, the big, important stuff. After that, we'll be joined by Nikisa Badarian, CEO and co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions. Talk about the promotion for the AJ fight, December 19th. Netflix, how they landed on AJ, what happened with Tank, all that stuff and more, and then we'll talk more about the presser, and then we'll talk to Tyron Woodley, the former UFC

Walterweight champion. There's a lot to talk to Tyron about. But most importantly, it was announced on Friday that he's returning to action in a six-round, a 195-pound catchweight bout on the undercard of Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua against Anderson the Spider-Silva. Who would have thought? And this is Woodley's first fight since he was knocked out by Jake Paul in Tampa some four years ago now? Is it four years ago? That's crazy. If so, yeah, I think it was four years ago. Unbelievable. There you have it. Now, he's in London shooting a film, filming a film. I believe it's the Roadhouse sequel, but he's been training with the likes

of Michael Venham Page over at London Shoot Fighters which I think is pretty cool so there you have it there's the lineup on a Monday afternoon we don't have our guest do we

I was trying to land the plane that would have been perfect I was trying to and no let's get to our first case of the day but it doesn't work out that way. We were talking about Gable and his incredible knockout. We were talking about all the big performances from Saturday's UFC also on Saturday was an unbelievable Octagon finish. They had a lot of great finishes on that card. Octagon is rolling right now. We got to figure out how to go

to one of these events. But did we see a potential submission? of the year contender. This is Enrique Magiurera. Look at this. Shades of Toby Amada versus Jorge Madhvidal. Look at this. Inverted triangle. This is absurd. What? How? I think he did tap standing up. That is crazy. How did he set that up?

How did he pull that off? Nah, that was crazy. Is that the sub of the year? Usually we give it to like the high stakes fights, but that might have been it. Can we see one more time, one more time, Andy? I just wanted to see how we set it all up. Oh, here. Here it is, here it is.

Look at this. Look at this. Like, okay, he's hanging on, he's hanging on. He's like... He's thinking right now. he's like, all right, time to go inverted triangle. Do you think so? I don't know.

It's crazy to do that upside down. I think he taps like right... This thing's locked in at this point. Yeah, right there. I think he's tapping right there. Wow. Shout out to Octagon. This was early on the card, too.

There was like 10 finishes in this card. Man. I think they had like 20,000 people too. Incredible stuff. So, like I said, a lot to get to, a lot of great results. Great time to be a fight fan. Things going on all over the world. All kinds of highlight reel, results, finishes,

all kinds of great fights with big stakes attached to it. Let us start the day with the man. We were just talking about huge win for him over the former UFC welterweight champion. And now he says he wants next. No more waiting around. No more dilly-dallying. It's his time.

The future is the present. He is Ian Machado, Gary, and he's kind enough to join us from all the way in Qatar, I do believe. There he is. Hello, Ian. How are you, my friend? Congratulations. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. It's always good to be back here. It's a routine at this point now.

That's right. Every win, we're always back. On a Monday, and I appreciate it very much. Thank you very much to you and the family for making this happen. And so two days removed now, 48 hours removed from the fight, three rounds over the former champ, hard fought, dominant win. I had at 30 to 27, two judges agreed. How do you feel about what you did out there? absolutely delighted like it was domination from start to finish i pieced them up on the feet and did exactly what i said i would do and then i stopped every single one of his takedowns nobody has ever done something like that to belal it was easy easy you really you yeah it was dude i beat him on the feet it was clean there was never really any danger on the feet and then there was

was never a point in the fight where I believed he was going to get me down. Every time he shot, I was a step ahead of him. The separation was simple. It was clinical. It was efficient. And I was able to pick him apart on the feet. We spoke before the fight and you were emphatic about wanting to stop him and thinking you would stop him. And almost going as far as to say, like, I have to stop him in order to separate myself. Do you feel disappointed that you didn't do that? No, I know how tough, Balala's fought myself, JDM, Leon Edwards. These guys are former champions, and this man hasn't been finished in nine years.

You told me that, do you know what I mean? You said this to me the last time he spoke. I wanted to go out there. I have the, Ariel, I have the highest expectations of myself whenever I entered out of Octagon. I know how talented I am, and how good I am. I tried. He kept coming. You see that third round.

Did you see that comment on the third round that I hit him with? Yeah. I caught him with that one, two, that bone. I hit him with a spinning back fist, wobble them. And then it teed to the face. And the guy was still there, and all three of those landed crisp and clean. That just shows how tough Bilal Muhammad is, and there's a reason why he was the champion. I thought to myself afterwards, I wish this was a five-round fight because it was just, it was a lot of fun.

It was really enjoyable, and both of you have fought in five. round fights and we've seen great action in those championship rounds, so to speak. What do you think happens if this goes into the fourth or fifth? I break him. I think the fact that he wasn't having any success in the wrestling early on would have only played into him getting more desperate and opening up bigger, which means that the shots land cleaner. And I would have finally found that finish, I believe.

But it wasn't five rounds. And if it was, I would have continued to dominate. very, very early in the fight. It seems like an old cut, an old wound reopen. And then there was a stoppage. It was the first jab arrow. Wow. I remember watching it.

I was stood there. I was moving. Boom. Cracked him straight down the middle with just a piston of a jab. His head snapped back. He comes back. And I just see this cut open. I was like, oh, blah, this is not going to be good for him.

That job's going to keep going. But seconds later, the action stops. due to an apparent eye poke, and you insinuated afterwards that he was looking for a way out. You feel that way. The first one was the first time in my entire professional career

I'd ever eyepoked him. It was a complete accident. Then later on, I believe he was looking for a way out because my hands were not open, my fingers were actually curled. And he was still claiming it was an eye poke. And I vividly remembered,

like feeling like I was clenching my fingers in because there was no way I was having anyone sit there and take an opportunity away from me because of an eye poke right I've seen it with Cyril Gannon Tom Aspinall recently so I was

clenching my fingers in so tight that whole fight to not make sure that there was no point deduction that there was no excuses nothing so the second he called it again I was like not a chance There was no way a finger went in your eye. My knuckles were closed.

And I was correct. Hence why Rich Mitchell went, move on, let's go. There was no wipeout. Okay. You did stuff every single one of his takedowns. 0 for 7. How proud of this are you?

When you are looking for a fight with Islam Makashav, the pound for pounds number one in the world, the current welterweight champion of the world, and he's someone who wants to grab a hole of your leg and take you down and in a warm-up fight stylistically when someone wants to take me down and get me to the ground with Blal-Mohamed

and I take, I think it was ten takedowns I stuffed that's a pretty good reason to want to see the fight with it is that do I mean I, someone said on the broadcast I had stuffed 14 of 17 takedowns of Blal-Mahmahad and Shafkat Rakmanov that's so many numbers era so you know what the naysayers say to this

the naysayer will say well jdm had great success stuffing ballal's takedown so one plus one doesn't necessarily in their fight did he against jdm against balala back in montreal i thought he did no did you see him get pointed back

no he did stuff a bunch but he was taken down yes i think it was like once or twice so you you him. No, no, but he was, exactly, but he had success. He actually got the success. He had nothing against me. Yeah. And I vividly remember coming on to this channel and speaking to you, and you were speaking about how amazing Jack loves after that fight. Yes. Oh, yeah, 100%. 100%. I'm just, I'm just trying I did a lot better than Jack, dude. No, 100%. 100%. And this was a three-round fight, obviously. So there was a lot that was crammed into it. Um, And so, okay, so you have been very vocal since the moment the fight was over as to, you know, deserving the title shot and you've gone on the microphone, you've talked to everyone, including Islam, you've said, come on, let's go defend the title.

How confident are you two days later that this is going to break in your direction? I believe it's absolutely the fight to make. I don't believe there's a bigger fight or anyone who's more deserving of the title shot right now. my opinion is it's down to two people i think you have been the more active one and and your resume especially this year makes you one of the guys the only other thing is what about schofcutt shop cut does have you know the equalizer but how does it how does it play out with his injuries i heard he's available come january i don't believe a word of that right that's my thing

that's the first thing i think i don't believe a word of that but also the sport's moving fast this man has to get back in there soon so when you've got someone like me who had a very very tough and close fight with that man he won the opportunity to fight

for the title and due to the fight with me he has been out injured and has not been able to be active whilst i've racked up a win against the current number five in the world and the number one in the world in belal mahomet so would all do respect to shavkat and i have nothing but respect for him let's talk about him when he's actually back because he's not right now so in my mind he's just trying to maintain relevancy by showing up at these fights and being in the picture and saying he's going to be back

but he's not back. I'm here and I'm ready and the best ability is availability and I bust up that knee so bad that night that he's had two knee surgeries on it since then and one of them failed and this one's let's see it's still new.

Did you have a chance to talk to Hunter Campbell while you were there? Do you have a sense for how he's leaning? I didn't get a chance to meet him afterwards. I spoke to him afterwards. He said, I looked great. I was through,

my media went through everything and he was gone by that point. I'll give him a call around the week. But it doesn't really matter what his first opinions are of the night. There's been a lot that's happening in the vision. I'm the most deserving. There's no argument of that.

There's no debate about that. I've fought the hardest road. I've beat the toughest guys. And I am next. It's the biggest fight you can make. in the welterweight division. You've got the current champion, the pound for pound number one in the world

in his fan macchews. You've got the most polarizing wealth to weight in the division, a guy who keeps winning in I'm a shadow Gary. These two guys alone can sell the fight and put on this massive fight.

But then you've got this bigger picture behind the scenes which is the lineage of legacy and greatness you've got Kabib and Connor Baghistan and Ireland it's now come down the next generation

Islam and Mashad O'Garid back at it again at the highest level of the sport for a UFC world title how does it go this time no i mean it's a promotional dream it's a layup really from a promotional standpoint by the way shout out to you i don't feel like enough was made of this you tied conna mcgregors wins in the ufc with that win on saturday how about that is that surreal to do that this soon it's not surreal because i know how good i am and i know what i've been telling you since before i was

in the uc what i'm going to do aerial and i've i've been true to my word on that but to do it this fast, and tie the amount of wins he's had in his entire U.C. career, and basically inevitably guaranteeing I'm going to get that record, it is pretty wild. Yes. The most wins by any UFC fighter in Irish history is, it's going to be owned by me, and that's pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, you're on the cusp, and wouldn't it be crazy if it's in a title fight that you break it, I mean, you know, just like...

Not only... Here's what's at stake in this next fight for me, right? Ian Machado-Garry versus Islam Makashev, the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, the current welterweight champion, looking to break records, break the history of the sport, and have the 17th consecutive win in UFC history, right? That 17th consecutive fight, on the other side,

you have a guy who's wanting to prove and achieve his genes of being the best wealth weight on the planet by beating the baddest man on the planet, the pound for pound number one in the world. In doing so, I will get a belt wrapped around my waist and I will not myself as these most successful and victorious Irishmen in UFC history and I will surpass the inspiration that was Connor McGregor and I will become the most victorious Irishman in U.C. history. So there's a lot on the line in this next fire area. And there's a hell of a lot of stake

when it comes to pride for me and my nation and me and my teammate and child's elevated. There's a lot behind the scenes that people are making in this fight. And I'm excited for it. I'm buying everything that you're selling. Here's what depresses me, Ian. I feel like they're going to do Islam versus Camaro.

That's, there's no chance. there's not a single chance you know why by the way for the record I don't agree with it I think it would be a travesty if they do that but they it's not happen but they're going to all collude behind the scenes you know how it goes with the management they're going to give them a lifetime achievement award

I don't give I don't want to curse I'm not going to I don't give a flying you know what I will scream and shout and fight anyone in the world that fight's not happening

Kamar Usman is irrelevant He's had one win since 2021 He's the last one down the list He deserves a title shop The fact that we're even Mention in his name amongst this This

title contention Is bollocks He's nowhere near the top He had one win Over a guy who's had Nearly double digits lost in the UFC and Joaquin Buckley

and you've got guys out here that are absolutely destroying the division that are far more deserving than he is so he can with all do respect he can sit the fuck back in the back in line and wait and fight another fight and get more relevant and fight someone up the rankings but there's no way on on on god's green earth that he is fighting for a world title next not when i'm here And this is why I said it. Islam Makashev has a right and a duty as the champion of this division to fight the best guy in the world, the rightful number one contender in the world. And you're looking at him. It's Ian Mashad O'Garie.

What happened with Chamsad in the back? Honestly, dude. Here's the video for those that missed. Ridges. So right where we are right now is. He's at the door, waiting to go left or right. We're waiting for security. I am being stopped due to other fighters leaving the building as a security.

Measure. Armand's Perukian and his team have just come out of medicals. I believe Armand was tying his shoe on the ground. I came out. I put my hand on Armand's back. I said, hey, dude, I just want to congratulate you. Amazing win. You looked phenomenal.

He stood up. shook my hand. He gave me a cuddle. He said, you looked amazing to. Put his hand on my shoulders. He looked amazing too. You looked amazing to do. Congratulations. I looked at his coach. I shook his coach at hand. I congratulated all of his team. I then took a step back. And then I see Camza. And I'm like, oh, hey, champ.

Didn't see you there. Congratulations. Good work tonight. And then I said, when are we seeing you back? He said, I don't know, brother. Anyone. Smash everybody. Typical Camza answer. Right? I then put my hand on the shoulder. I said, see you. Like, see you later. but nothing else right completely friendly a gesture of good like goodwill and congratulations to the team

i then take a step back turns sit my water right can we go now we ready i turn around and there's a security guard in front of us and i'm like huh why are you there we just had a cordial conversation with no animosity whatsoever we're not going to fight and then i think in that moment due to a potential language barrier and misunderstanding, I think Kamsat took that the wrong way, as in like, he's not going to fight me. And then everything switched, and he just started to curse,

and he said, fuck you, bitch, but like all these things, I just turned them on, what's wrong? And he just pushed me. And I was like, dude, that's so childish. I just came over and celebrated, Armand and his team, of which you are a part of. Congratulations on the victory.

And now you're turning into a little child pushing me and verbally assaulting me. This is ridiculous. You're meant to be a champion in this sport. Don't dampen your friend's energy and bring this negative energy. Be happy. Be proud of what your friend just did.

And don't come at me with that energy. So I think it's a massive misunderstanding and a massive over-exaggeration on Kamzats being and just I guess I shouldn't expect someone like Kamsas to have the to have the self-control but I think he's just always looking for a fight

and it was a massive misunderstanding and I think he looked like a child, not a champion. Did you see his deleted tweet about you? No. white boy you will not survive one minute in my world I definitely would and I'm pretty sure we're both white so I don't know what the point

the white boy is I think you're right I definitely I definitely survive a minute I have no plans going up to middleway anytime soon but if you want to sit there dude I'm getting to fly do I need to prove myself very or do it does everyone understand

anyone, anywhere, any time. If you can guarantee anyone's going to do it, it's me. Do you feel like you are getting that respect now, finally? After all these fights, do you feel like you're finally getting that respect from the people? Because you did refer to yourself as polarizing, and so that's why I wasn't sure what you were referring to there. Whether they tune in to watch me whoop or they tune in to watch me get whooped, they're still tuning in, Ariel.

And I know for a fact, all of the, the numbers on Fight Week, mine are the biggest. They always are. I know this, Errol. It's not a conversation. Every single fight week I do, I pull in the most traction, the most numbers. Whether they respect me or not, I'm going to keep doing my thing and my job is to go out there and fight. And I have the time of my life. I'm living my dream and I'm beating the best in the world. Did you see Islam, by the way? I know he was there too. I didn't see him, no. I would have loved to. Yeah.

I thought we could have maybe got a little bit of an interaction, a little bit of a face, I wouldn't expect the face suffer and that, but we could have had a little bit of a little bit of transfer of energy and that would have been fun. But I have nothing but respect for Islam. However, he's the champion of my division right now. And he's the only person that's stopping me from achieving my dreams right now because he's the only person in front of me. So I need to go and need to get a fight with him.

I need to take him out of that way, take him out of my path, so I can go and achieve that dream of being a UFC world champion. What's Michael Morales' beef? I don't know. I've never met the dude. I've never spoke to the dude. I've never even seen him in person. Whatever beef he has, he's invented it in his mind. It's ridiculous. I don't. Eric, I want you to tell me a top 10, top 15 in welterweight that you can think of off the top of your mind that hasn't. mention my name since I've been in the O.C.

I'll tell you, you can't. You physically can't. Islam, JDM, Sean Brady, Balal, Cratches, Morales. The list goes on. Like, it's not a conversation. They all want to fight me because they think they can beat me. They all want to fight me because they either do or they don't like me or they want to,

they want to beat me because they think it's going to get them somewhere. They can't beat me and they can't stop me. So I don't care for any of these guys calling me out. Morales, in my opinion, that's the first fight. He's actually done something of worth in beating Sean Brady. So prayer to play to him. He's still in my mind. He's a flashing the pan.

He's new and this division needs to do more. You called Leon, by the way. I'm shocked that he showed up on fight. What a beautiful, what a beautiful sight to see his head bouncing off the camera. Oh, my dear. Oh, my dear. Oh, my dear. How does this play out, Ian?

What do you think? What is your prediction? When are you fighting for the belt? The ball's in Islam's court right now. Whenever he wants to go, whenever he's ready, wherever he wants, I've said it. If he wants to do it in Dagestan, Russia, I'll be ready and I'll be there. He's mentioned he wants to do it on the White House. I think that's too far away.

Why wait? I understand that he has Ramadan and you have to respect that. However, that's a long time away. I would rather we fought sooner and I'd rather we get this over and done where and I can get that belt wrap around my waist because I don't like inactivity

and Islam isn't the most active fighter in the World to 8 division or in the UFC for that matter. Final one, I know you're not online a lot, but any response to Darren Till? He wrote like a whole long thing about you. Did you happen to see that? Anything you want to say in response? I have not seen it.

I can't read that fast. I'm not even going to try. Don't even. I have no care for what Darren Till said. I have not read it. I won't read it. It's irrelevant to me. But at this point, he's just looking to stay relevant as well.

He's kind of turning into a new version of a Dylan. than us in my mind just trying to mention people to stay relevant well you are very relevant my friend incredible win incredible run incredible performance incredible year for you what a bounce back this time last year you're about to fight chafat right darrell this net we never left well i mean you know we took we took we took a massive we took i know i know when no one else on the planet would yes and i fucking went there and i nearly beat the guy you know no i know and then you took the It was a blemage to my career and it was on a short notice. But, you know, sometimes that could affect someone and you don't know how they're going to respond and you responded in a big way.

Two huge wins, short notice, two contender fights, one main event, one co-main event. Be proud of yourself. Enjoy it. Dude, I have just locked myself in as the number one contender this world. I have beaten number five in Carlos Pratch who's knocking everybody out in conscious except me. I have just beaten the former champion in Bilal Mohammed, someone who was awkward. and goes out there and finds a way to beat everyone. Well, he couldn't beat me,

and he couldn't have any success in that fight against me, and the takedowns or on the feet. Now I'm cementing myself. I have earned the right to fight for that title. I have fought the hardest road and the toughest people in the division to get here. You cannot take this away from me. I am fighting Islam Makashev next

for that welterweight world title, wherever and whenever he wants, whenever he's ready. But that belt is getting wrapped around my waist in 2026, And there is nothing, nothing's stopping. Can't wait. Thank you, Ian.

Congrats. All the best, my friend. Appreciate you. Love is always, the friend. You're the man. You're the man. There he is. The great Ian Machado, Gary, perhaps the number one contender at 170 pounds.

Great stuff from him. All right, let's not waste any time. The star of the show, of course, main event, Armin Sruki, in first fight since UFC 300. First win since April of 2024 had the grappling matches, but we wanted to see him back, and what a performance. He's kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about this performance. So excited to see him.

There he is. Hello, Armin. How are you, my friend? Hello, I'm good. How are you? Good to see you. Where are you right now? I'm in Dubai right now. No, but this is a very nice place. Where is this? A hotel? Yeah, it's a hotel. It looks like not even a scratch on your face. It looks like you haven't even been in a fight.

No, yeah. Nothing. Just clean face and so I'm so happy I didn't get any damages. and I'm healthy and can jump into the next fight as soon as possible. As you know, we've had a few performances lately in the UFC where there's been dominant wins by a grappler but not a finish and the fans have been upset about that. Did you want to show your dominance on the mat but also get the finish to prove that you are not like everyone else

that you are going to finish fights? You know, I'm supposed to finish him. If I beat him by decision, nobody going to say this guy is a deserve fight for the title. Or, you know, people could say, like, you couldn't even stop Dan Hooker how you want to beat Topuria. So that's why my goal was go there, finish him, Grandin Pound, TKO, some mission, anything, but finish. And before FISA said, it's going to be in the second and third round. Taking a step back, we'll get to the fight in the moment.

As far as the build-up to the way-ins, obviously I know what happened in January. I had nothing to do with the weight cut, but it happened on the morning of the Wands. Were you nervous? Was it like a cloud hanging over your head? did you feel relief once you made weight everything was okay and then it was on to the fight yeah of course uh but last time i was backup i met the weight and the people people started to

say oh this guy can make weight and they didn't know that i have i i i never had a problem with my weight cut i always i'm always professional and i'm not super big for 155 and uh i can make weight not easy but not too hard I don't struggle with a weight cut and so and for this camp I didn't think like about fans and about I just was focused on myself and for my camp and for my like recovery and don't get any injured because you know second time it's gonna be hard for love At the ceremonial way-ins you headbutted him

and this drew some criticism the likes of Max Holloway and other fighters said this wasn't very smart the fight could have gone cancelled you could have got a hurt he could have gotten hurt why did you do this

I mean you know if you ask me now that that was my fault that was a big mistake I shouldn't do that but you can control yourself you know especially me I don't know

on my mind okay I'm going there and be quiet course said be quiet no emotion just go there stay don't even like uh try to push him or like to show emotional yes i said yes coach no problem in in five seconds i just boom you know uh it's like automatically you know i'm i cannot control myself first five 10 seconds that's why it's a little bit dangerous on my mind yeah i'm super quiet but someone even trying to When I try to scare me, you know, or like to show like some crazy things and I'm going crazy so fast.

Did did you get a talking to? Did anyone get mad at you in the back afterwards? I was surprised how Dan Hooker is a man. He could like just say, you know, guys, I got hurt, just give me my money. I'm going to get ready for the next one. You know, that's why he has a boss And I really appreciate it He, he's not like a pussy

And he's the real deal, you know And he said, I like it what Armand did I was super, I was super happy that He like stayed like a man I like the back and forth between you guys On social media yesterday. It seems like there's a lot of respect Maybe now there's a friendship There was bad blood, but now maybe

Maybe you train together, maybe your friends now Oh, when we don't have a like, that problem between us. It's just a trash talk and like make fight more interesting, you know. And we're all fighters. And of course, I want to beat him. He wants to beat me. And we hate each other. But when his fight is done, I'm good.

Okay. Knowing that your father was there for the first time since 2019 seeing you live, Did that make you anxious? Obviously, you always want to win, but in front of your family, you want to look good, you want to make them proud. Was that on your mind? My goal is just to perform to win the fights.

But father is good when he's there. He motivate me. He motivate me. And then nowadays it's the same. If I'm going to be alone, I'm still going to do my job same, you know. I was worried that he might have injured Pahumpa with his slam there. Oh my God.

It was double-double-slam. I was laughing like maybe five minutes non-stop when I watched that video. I actually texted Pahumpa and I asked him if he was okay because I thought maybe he might have broken his rib there. He slammed two people, right? Who did he slam beforehand? He slammed someone and then he slammed. Pahumpah. No, no, no,

Hisslam just Parumpa. Okay, okay. Does he have a wrestling background? No, village wrestling background. What is that? I mean, no rules just wrestling. They don't know how to wrestle, but it's like, how do you say, in our village, they always wrestle, but they didn't have coaches and someone who can teach them.

Okay, but he wasn't the one that got you into it, right? Yeah, yeah. Oh, he was the one. He wanted my dad? Yeah. No, he just wanted us to do any sport, and he just let us to pick whatever you wanted. Okay.

Now, as far as the fight goes, I have to say I was blown away by both guillotine choke escapes, but especially the second. Did you see the video, by the way, of Sean O'Malley reacting to it? No. I'm going to play for you because it's a very funny video. okay here's Sean O'Malley reacting to you getting out of the second guillotine

it's incredible stuff big dick swinging here armid with a head outside single leg goes into a head inside light dead hunger pulls guard he's got it that same guillotine oh my god what the fuck Armin just did a 360180 backwards to get out what the fuck happened

his neck he just twisted it's all that shit he does and the fucking workouts and shit he just twisted the other way you don't usually turn that when he did ow She decided to be an owl for a little bit. Now Dan Hooker's on his back again, three and a half minutes left to go.

I mean, his reaction says it all, and that's respect from a great fighter. How do you do that? You trained to get out that way, or was that just instincts? No. No, the first one, I did, like, techniques,

how the techniques says, how the book says. Okay. Second one, I just did the opposite side because I know, like, my flexibility, I just can turn 360 and, like, be on the top. It was unbelievable.

You know, it was funny about that. You got some heat for the back drills that you were doing. People said that this was what caused the injury, and I feel like you proved... All good, no, it is. Your core is so strong and your flexibility. I feel like all that work came into play here on Saturday. Yeah, for sure. My hard work, all exercises, everything.

it helps me a lot for my wrestling for my grappling you know I'm very flexible so but for that fight I couldn't show how I prepared my the ups kick I would like to throw that ups kick but I I didn't show because I wanted to throw that the kick on the like last for last rounds, last two rounds, you know, when he got tired. Okay. I chock him out and I couldn't show, but I know for

for Elyer, I don't need even flexibility to throw that upskick. It's easier. He's too short, you know, but Oliver and hooker is too long. That's why I was doing a lot of yoga stuff to get more flexibility. Sometimes when people don't fight for a year

and a half, they're a little bit rusty, but it didn't look like you were rusty at all. all. I mean, first 32nd or first minute, I was just trying to find my range, my striking. And then when I started feeling I'm good, when I threw the knee,

so I said, okay, I'm good. I'm here. And I feel everything. I control everything. And now it's my time. Okay. So, speaking, of your time, let's talk about it. Do you think you will be next for Ilya? Do you think you convinced the UFC to give you the next shot at him?

So 100% got to be me. No way they can give petty people at fight. Everybody's going to laugh at them because I'm number one contender, I proved it again and

what do they want from me, you know? And I went there performed just destroyed and hooker and they want to put the guy who is fake making rank did you see he moved up to five now this morning

did you see that bro how you can beat like a number 12 or number 13 and became number five I was beating everybody in our division I beat like I was on the five or six win streak to get in top of

15 you know and like this guy just beat six people and like he's number five did you speak to i know hunter campbell was there did you get a chance to speak to him about what their plans are just after fight i showed him title fight title fight and he said i don't know he said uh yes or i didn't understand but hopefully hopefully it's a title fight next i was thinking that in january they were going to do ilia versus patty and then you would be next you would be the guy sitting in the front and you would get the winner but now i'm hearing that no way you you want the the next time ilia fights it has to be against you is what you're saying it has to be me whatever they want to do yeah their plan was maybe that i'm gonna struggle with dan hooker and uh they go they could

push me on the back and they say yeah listen you like just barely won't then hooker, you've got to wait. But now they cannot say anything because number one contender is here and I show up in Qatar to show everybody masterclass and

you know like I don't know hopefully it's me nothing to say. Hopefully it's supposed to be me. Do you think that they wanted you to lose? Not lose, maybe just

win by decision that they could push Perry Pimlet. But it's crazy to me. You're a very easy guy to get behind, to promote. You have a big following. Everyone online likes you. You represent different countries. I don't feel like they want. Maybe they were upset

about the January thing, but I feel like that's long gone now. Do you still think that that's a thing? No, that's gone already. Because I was back up, now I did a fight and they They thought it was a fake injury and it was a weight, weight issue. But they got the doctors, and they could do MRI and check my back. Now, the content, I have to say, who's your social media guy, Armin?

Like, who's behind all of this content? It can't just be you. It's just you? You're the brains behind all of this? For example. For example, the camel eating. The camel feast. I didn't...

This is you... Where do we get this camel from? I didn't even know that you can have camel. Listen, I told to the media. I'm going to beat... I'm going to finish then hooker. And after that, I'm going to eat camel. And then I called...

Before the fight, I called my friend. He's Qatari. And I said, bro, get the camel after the fight. I'm coming... I'm going to come with victory. And then with Hamzad, my team, we went there to the room and we ate a camel and lamp. It was so good.

And that week was such a perfect, like, I wrote the book. It was like a perfect, like in the book, even better because I got bonus. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You said it's going to be for a watch, but it looks like you have a very nice watch right over there. What is that watch? What kind of watch is that? Richard Millie? Millie?

What does it go for? RM 30-0-1, I think it is. 30-0-1. So you want another watch, but that looks like a nice watch. After each fight, I buy for me a watch to remember this watch from the hooker, this watch from the Allovera, this watch from... He's watch from the Alvarez or Den Hooker or Oye, Ben Yildarouche. And from all fights, I buy watches.

And I'm making more money, buying a little bit expensive. And then you're growing up. Yes. That one's like 500K? That one? A little bit, maybe more. Okay. Can we talk about something seriously here, Armin?

If, you know, me and you, we like to talk serious, right? I feel like for the longest time in your career none of this like Armin is a rich guy thing was a thing but now all of a sudden it's a thing and I feel like you're leaning into it with the jet and I saw you going on the jet eating the McDonald's

so what is the backstory here what is the story? Like is it from your dad? Tell us what the real story is because you know UFC fighters at this point without a belt you're not living like this so what's the real story?

Yeah but jet costs 20K I met a lot of money and for me 20K is not big money you know, and I deserve to fly with a private jet. I agree. We just flew to Dubai with the team. We were 13 people.

If you're going to buy for 13 people, it's going to be kind of same, you know, if they're going to fly business. That's true. You're right. Yeah, it's like 20K and you get there with your family, with your team, and enjoy your time. But for that jet, I didn't pay. My friends paid.

Nice. It's good to have to have. friends like that but like your family history what what is the industry that they were working in i already told you it was construction okay and they just killed it they're doing okay it's a great i think it's great i think this is a brilliant if you're behind this this is a great gimmick you know a gimmick is like in wrestling everyone has a character a persona yeah this is good i mean people think like i'm uh I'm rich and I'm not motivated and but I work harder than everybody and I wake up and I think

I don't have anything in this life and I got to kick my ass every day even today morning I wake up and I wrestle with Olympic champion we did like a crazy workout and then we went to the to the beach we played volleyball after volleyball we played ping pong So all day we train today. So it's our lifestyle. We just, I love what I'm doing and I'm enjoying every moment. So it's a dreaming life, you know. Yeah, no, it's a great life.

You don't want to break, though? Maybe just like relax for a couple days? I hate, I supposed to stay here one week, but I already want to leave tomorrow home. Wow. Yeah, so I suppose to stay here one. Because I get bored. I got to go and train. I have a goal.

I have a goal that so pushed me and I'm thinking about the belt so much, and I know that bell is going to be mine because nobody worked harder than me and I deserve to be a champion as well. Did you see Ilya in Qatar? Did you see him at all? Personal, no. No. What is this clip that he posted of your interaction?

When is that from? He's such a bullshit there. He just came, hug me, and then he's saying, this is a slap. If it was a slap, I'm not man anymore. If he slapped me while I'm laughing, what are you talking about? I could kill him there right away. Where is that? At the PI? Nothing. No, for us, for us, if you someone slapped you, if he didn't.

do anything you're not man you're bullshit you're zero in this life you know you got you got to forget what you you're you see fighter or you're working or you can get to the jail you you got to slap it back and like just uh i mean i don't want to talk about that beach how long ago was that because because you look much different you're much younger there your hair is different your beard so it's a couple years ago oh no no no it was in june in the backup i I was in backup, and he came, say, hi, bro, how are you? You know, this media thing is just for the media, hug me. And then, like, he started, like, talking shit after that.

I said, boy, like, you're such a fake guy. And on the person, like, you're, like, behaving, like, a good friend, you know, not friend, like a good guy. And, like, on the Twitter, you're starting, like, talking shit. I said, okay, I'm not fake like you. He's in the, in the life, one person in the social. media another person I don't want to be fake I'm real like if I want to say

something to you I'll say I'll say the same thing you know do you have any idea what's going on with him right now he hasn't fought since June and we don't know Charles has fought he's trying

he's trying to find easy fight and to defend that belt and go up and the UFC trying to make make him make him to be a superstar and defend the title because right now he cannot go

up to the 170 because he didn't defend the title. Why he got to go on 170? You've got to prove that you're real champion? Oh, did we lose him there? Oh no. We'll connect with him in a moment there

but Armin is cooking right now. Armand's cooking with Gaz. With Crisco? Or is it Cisco? No, I think it's Chris. We were talking about the slam. We could show this now. We have the video of his dad. Armand's dad, legendary character.

Look at him, slam. Here, oh yeah, he picks up, Armin. That's it. He picks up Armin. Look how happy he is. Beautiful stuff. Now watch him slam pahumpa. Look at this.

Look this. Nice little hug. Ooh. This is amazing. Shout out to Sayad who took that. That was incredible. It pops is agile. You can move.

Next, he's going to slam Chubza right here. He's about to slam him. He's like, no, maybe not. Pahumpa was in the mix because he's in, he's in, he's in, he's in, he's in, um, Kiyogi's corner, he's Pantosha's guy, uh, Kiyogi calling out Pantosia. He's kind of off into the corner smiling. I asked Dan Lambert, hey, uh, how do you feel about two of your guys now kind of in the same way class and one of them just called out the other?

And, uh, he was like, you know, we knew that was going to happen. He's a competitor. We'll see what, you know, goes down. Obviously, Pantoja has to fight Joshua Van. But he said that this was the first fight that Pahumpa was in Kiyogi's corner, and he called him the evil boss. Like, he wanted to have his future opponent's head coach in his corner. Just, you know, keep your enemy's friends closer type of vibe.

I thought it was brilliant. I loved it. Just had a couple more questions for Armin, but man, he is not having anything. any of this Patty Pimblit stuff. What about that watch there, G.C. What do you say? 500 bills? There's a lot, man.

Some kind of Richard Millie. Richard Millie? Yeah, Richard Millie. It's like that, it's that iconic look, the like curved. It almost looks like a race car itself. You knew what it was? Oh, for sure. Oh, my God.

Obie J has worn them in games before. Yeah, they're a very popular watch. Any sign of him? That's a lot of money. No, none, none yet. I'm going to guess his phone died. You think that's what it was? Charlie, yeah. Didn't this happen last time? Yeah, it did happen last.

Back in like the room with the painted Italy behind him? You remember what he said last time? He was like, I thought the 10% would be enough for you. I would imagine the same thing happened, yeah. Oh, man, there's just something about his delivery that I find very funny. I enjoy it. Also, I mean, you know, we're in the social media world here. The fact that he's the head of his own social media, very impressive. You know what? Fight Feast Camel. Can you get Camel? Can you get Camel? Can you get Camel in New York City? Who's to check?

You think so? We would have to cook it ourselves, but we could order it. You don't think any restaurant would make camel? Let's find out. Google's a powerful tool here. Yo, next time Armand Fights. Bronx Zoo is what's coming up. Yeah, it's tough.

That is tough. A little camel action, fire up the PJ, get a little McDonald's. I wonder what his order is over on the year. V-rays, NYC, serves Big, meaty, yummy camel kebabs. Jeez. Yeah, V-rays.

Oh, wait. Where is this? Oh, camel and illegal pheasant at NYC's wildest Indian restaurant. V-rays. Let's look it up. Oh, yeah, it's still open. Where is it? New York City?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty good reviews. What is V-rays? What kind of cuisine is this? Indian. Indian. Curries and grill. Curries and grill. Let's see menu.

I'm trying to see if it's on the menu here. Chef's tasting. Camel. Honestly. Oh, my God. You want to hear this? You can only do the chef's tasting menu. Exotic meat tasting, $88.

You get to try alligator, yak, whatever that is, kangaroo, ostrich, and camel. Jeez, ostrich. Can you figure out which one makes you sick? Do any of them make you sick? I don't know. I was at the doctor recently, and he was like, any stomach trouble? You travel over to Europe Eat any horse or anything

No, but I stayed right here in NYC And had some camel Good eye on the camel And ostrich What do you think that meat tastes like? It looks dark, right? Yeah, probably like dark chicken meat Yeah, it looks tender

Looks tender I can feel you're getting a little craving No, no I feel you're rubbing the fingers together Not quite pineapple Oh, look how dark it is Look at that with the rice I'm more of a, I'm more,

look at that platter though I'm more of a white meat type of guy. Yeah, you're more of like a chicken breast. Yeah, sprinkle of salt. A little boil chicken. Get the fuck out of here. Look at this, look at this, look at this. I can watch this all day.

A little rice there, the hands, no problem. How you doing? That's what you got to say, why you eat it. How you doing? That's what he just said right there. He said, how you doing? How you doing? I'm meeting the camera with my fingers.

Alam alaikum, how you doing? How you doing? So yeah, we can go get camel tonight if you want to. You want me to snag a resi? No, I'm good. Imagine being the friend that took the phone call from him. He's like, get the camel ready. Yeah.

I'm going to bring in a victory. We're going to eat camel. Hell yeah. Should I go ahead and cook it then? Hey, I want to let you guys know while we're sitting here. We just relaunched ariehalwani.com. Go to areahorwani. com right now, 20% off for Black Friday.

Just got a text from my guy, Brandon, and we just relaunched it. I'm kind of doing this off the cuff here. I should have had some pictures but we've got some new stuff in the works Arielhuwani.com So all millions of you watching right now Ariahawine.com, buy something for your family. Christmas holiday, Hanukkah, Kwanza,

whatever the case may be. Arielhani.com, 20% off right now for Black Friday. Do we have a code or something? Let me see here. Let me see. No, it's just 20% off site wide. How about that? Ariahawani.com.

The merch is back, baby. The merch is back. Any sign of Armin? This is a... Hmm. Do you think it just died? The phone just died. Hello, Armand, how are you?

This is Ariel. I just wanted to ask you one last question. Let me ask. Oh, you know what? I just WhatsApp them and it's one tick. That's bad. That's not a good sign. You got the merch?

Show them the merch. Yeah, look at that. Look at that picture right there. Look at that header. 20% off. Sitewide. Starts now. Arielhuwani.com.

From the set. I'm wearing the Elnarese shirt right there. I'm trying to text Danny here. This always seems to, mom, this always seems to happen. Oh, there, yeah, shout out. Thank you, Dan. El Narez Grande, the Action Bronson Co-Lab. There's the keeping score tea for all the haters.

Lucha Helwani, or Hiiwani, excuse me. 20% off. right now. Ariahawani.com. We do. We have sold out. Just because of this mention right here and now.

How about that? Anything else we have to show from Armin? Well, I wanted to ask, the only other thing I really wanted to ask was about the little Hamzat Ian Gary situation.

Yeah, we do have the impersonator, but I wanted to do that later. Yeah. Okay. What sweater is that? This is a champion sweater. Shout to our friends over at a champion.

It was very cold today, and I just, I didn't feel like taking it off. Do you like it? I love it. Bit of a different look? That's what I was getting at. It seems more homey. Yeah, cozy holiday season. We got the Thanksgiving motif here.

So what do we do? What do we do? What's the protocol? I mean, there was really one more thing. Who's to check? No, no, not helpful right now. What do we do? Hmm

But fight is a fight You know Business Not very helpful Should I ask Siyat I mean I don't really know Should I try to call him Yeah I'm gonna try to call him

Should I try to call him Rick did you try to call him Give it a dial See if it goes to voicemail or not I'm kind of afraid to call him to call him I've reached Armin Sauru Kien All right here we go I can't get to the phone right now

I'm calling him second it's like that long distance uh tone you know overseas i think his phone died you think he'll come back later or do you think we lost them any guidance guys any here's the hoping that he'll come back okay we'll let you know if he does all right uh Rick you handle that one. Maybe he has Danny? Yeah, I'll talk to Danny. All right. Okay, so we'll reconnect with him. For now, though, let's move along to our next guest. Massive couple of weeks for him. Holy smokes. What a stretch. We thought on the 14th of November,

we thought that we were going to get Jake Paul versus Tank Davis on Netflix. That did not happen, of course. And then shortly thereafter, actually a week ago, last Monday, we found out early morning that it's going to be Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua. A lot of people thought it was nonsense, that it was BS. And then there we are on a Friday afternoon in Miami, and there they are, and we get the face off, and the fight is happening

on the 19th of December, live and exclusively on Netflix. It's actually happening. He's going up against the former two-time unified heavyweight champion of the world, the Olympic gold medalist from the 2012 games. By far the toughest and most challenging and most accomplished opponent that he's

ever faced, and talking about Jake Paul, it's going down. AJ versus Jake Paul. Jake Paul versus AJ and the man who put it all together is the co-founder of most valuable promotions, the CEO of the promotion as well,

the one and only Nikisa Badarian is kind enough to join us on this Monday afternoon. There he is. Hello, Nikisa. How are you? I'm good, Ariel. How are you?

I'm doing great. Great to talk to you. Congratulations on getting this done. I actually want to start like 10 or so days ago. Ultimately, let's put Tank Davis to bed. Okay? ultimately, can you tell us from your perspective, from MVP's perspective, why did you pull the plug on that fight?

Pretty simple. When we made a decision to fight, Dervante obviously knew of his past, the challenges that he'd had. In this massive platform that we were giving him, our hope, our belief was that the world was going to see a more mature tank Davis, give him the opportunity to show people that you can't judge the past, look at the present. And when the present kind of started to reflect the past, that was a very easy decision for ourselves in Netflix to cancel that fight. What do you say to the people who say part of the reason why you canceled it was due to the ticket sales? I could tell you unequivocally not once was that discussed at any level.

We're partners with Netflix, the biggest media company in the world. It takes a lot for them to ingest a live piece of content. into their system to make a decision of that magnitude would never be driven by ticket sales. If somebody says, oh, it must have been ticket sales, they're obviously not operating at the largest level. No promoter, no sports media IP drives the majority of their revenue from ticket sales. It's driven by the media rights revenue. So it was never contemplated. And we felt very good about where ticket sales were. We had reduced prices right around the time. that we decided to not do the event. Miami is a late buying crowd. Anyone who lives in Miami can

attest to even in the days of LeBron James, it would be quiet until the third quarter. So we felt positive about the ticket sales. There was no discussion at any level around. Ticket sales aren't going great. Let's use this opportunity to cancel the event. Okay. So once you make that decision, Netflix is on board, Jake, and you obviously want to try to fight by the end of the year, what's the game plan there? Who are you reaching out to? And ultimately, how do we get to AJ? I think, look, the number one driver of why we wanted to have an event in 2025 was not about Jake, was not about Netflix, was not about me or MVP, Jake and I. It was around all the other fighters. It was around the teams of Jake, the teams on MVP side, everyone who was looking forward to having

this massive event in Q4 of 2025. So that's number one. Number two, we had multiple discussions with Netflix to see a list of opponents that they were in favor of, talk to Jake about what he was willing to do. And, you know, Jake Paul being Jake Paul, he wanted to focus on the biggest, baddest names possible that included Terence Crawford, that included Ryan Garcia, that included Tommy Fury that included Anthony Joshua and we probably had 30 or 40 names that we kind of reviewed and I will say at least 12 or 13 names that agreed to do the fight some within the two week

period actually but from a Netflix perspective they they were very keen on Joshua they were interested on Crawford they were interested in Ryan Garcia as potential opponents for for Jake Paul they were interested in Tommy Fury at some level as well and the one that Jake gravitated towards was Anthony Joshua. Once it became clear Ryan couldn't do the fight as well. Ryan was also something that he was interested in doing. And the deal came together mostly because Jake mentioned this as of March of this year. That's the first time he was on a podcast and said,

I think I can beat Anthony Joshua. Everyone laughed at the time Eddie Hearn said this is another media attention-seeking moment for Jake Paul. I made it clear then to Eddie and to the media. Jake was serious and we wanted to do it in 2026. We had further conversations with Match Room in July of this year with the understanding that if Jake got through Tank Davis, and even though that was an exhibition, it was very much structured to be a real fight in every way, shape, and form, then we would look to make Jake versus Joshua in 26. So that gave us a head start. in terms of trying to come to an agreement with Matt Trum and AJ, and we were able to get it done.

I just want to ask about a couple of those names that you mentioned. Garcia's interesting because a day or so later, Oscar Delahoya said he's a DeZone fighter. This ain't happening. And of course, we know there's no bigger DeZone name than Anthony Joshua. And so is it true that the DeZone component stopped that fight from happening? And if not, why didn't that fight happen? yeah look ultimately we work with the promoter that has the promotional rights of the athlete they have to determine whether they were able to provide the services of that athlete or not so from a golden boy perspective i think you probably saw in the last week they announced that somehow and kudos to oscar for getting it done ryan garcia's fighting for another world championship in january or february so i think they already had that plan in the pipeline And I don't think anyone looked at Ryan Garcia fighting Jake Paul as a walk in the park for Ryan Garcia. On the AJ side, they've talked about they were planning to do a fight this year. And so it wasn't a big fight.

So here was an opportunity to do a massive fight that wasn't expected for anyone involved. And Eddie was able to get his release from DeZone for this one fight. Terrence Crawford. It has been said. Jake said it. He said yes. Was it just a matter of he said yes? yes, but he didn't want to fight in 2025 again?

I think, look, they were very interested. They said we want to do this. I think the timing didn't allow us for us to get to an understanding and a structure that made sense for all parties. But it's something that we would like to pursue in 26 for sure. Okay. And then the last name, of course, and I don't actually think you mentioned him yet, was Francis. Francis was the one who broke the news that you guys spoke and ultimately said, thanks but no thanks. And so can I ask you about your side of that story?

How did those conversations go? What was discussed and how did it end? Sure. Francis was one of those names where I was making calls to get a list together of potential opponents to discuss with Netflix. Jake has always said he would love to box Francis Nangano, has never said he wants to get into a cage with Francis. But he views Francis as fairly one-dimensional as a boxer and thinks he'd have a very good night at the office. against Francis. So that was the logic of calling

him that Jake wanted to do it. Netflix hadn't said yes or no. And I think Francis's story is pretty accurate. He said he wasn't interested. It was, you know, Jake wasn't on his level and he wouldn't want to do it. Were you surprised by that reaction?

I was very surprised. And then in talking to Jake and his team and to others, my conclusion is, Francis cannot afford to lose to Jake Paul, right, in boxing, because he's already been knocked out by Anthony Joshua. So if he wants to have any future opportunities in boxing, it certainly wouldn't serve him well to go in there against Jake Paul if he feels he can't destroy Jake Paul. And I have to honestly believe in Francis's heart of hearts, he knows Jake has been boxing for

five years now as a professional. He is not a one-dimensional fighter, and it would be a difficult fight for him. Are you still? If it's beneath him or below him, it's kind of ironic that Jake is fighting Anthony Joshua, I guess. Yeah, of course, because the math doesn't really add up. And so I'm still interested in the fight, especially given this back and forth. Are you guys still interested in it?

Like post-A., regardless of what happens, I still feel like that's a big fight. Do you think you'll still have interest? If Jake beats Anthony Joshua, I don't think fighting Francis Nangano is a big fight, right? so that that's i guess going to be determined of it let's see what happens with jake and a j and then then go from there okay um ultimately like once you got to the point okay it's it's it's you guys in matchroom and obviously de zones involved how difficult was it to get this deal done because it happened so quickly for such a big fight was it just like you guys worked really hard to make it happen or was it actually as easy as it seemed from the outside look it was nonstop for a good

days, I would say we have great partners at Netflix. We're obviously great partners with DeZone as well. And I have to give Eddie Hearn credit, right? It comes down to the fighters. Jake wanted to do this and AJ wanted to do this. And Eddie delivered for AJ. If AJ had said, hey, I'm not interested or maybe I need more money. That might have caused hurdles. But once there was an alignment between the two fighters that, yes, we'll do this now, I think I got to give, I got to give the props to Eddie Hearn. He delivered. We gave him our offer a certain amount of money and he was able to make it happen. Do you have any idea how significant this offer is for AJ? Like, do you think this is the most he's ever made in a fight? I don't think it's the most he's ever

made in a fight and I can't really speak to it. Yeah. That's a much question for AJ or Eddie. But it's a great payday, of course. Anytime you fight Jake Paul, there's different, you know, spectrums of what great payday means. But anytime you fight Jake, of course, you're going to get a great payday. Jake is the face of modern era boxing. How do you feel they're taking this challenge? I mean, I thought AJ, we'll get to the presser in a moment.

But overall, he said all the right things. In all the media beforehand, where it's, you know, essentially Eddie and Frank Smith speaking, it's like, hey, this will be a nice Christmas present and then it's on to our big plans next year. Do you feel like they're taking this series? or do you think they're just showing up for the big payday and they think it's going to be another walk in the park?

I think from a Joshua perspective, he's taking it extremely seriously. This is a do-or-die event for the future of his boxing as a professional, right? His legacy doesn't change. The chatter of, oh, he's fighting Jake Paul and impacts his legacy. Oh, what if he loses? It's over. No, he's an Olympic gold medalist, a two-time champion. And no matter the outcome with Jake Paul, his legacy is solidified.

And one of the most well-paid fighters in history as well, which is important. So I think, but AJ understands if he loses to Jake Paul, any future plans are severely, if not totally impacted. So he's taking it very serious. And I think he wants to come out and make a statement. The last time we saw him in the ring, he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois. Imagine he knocks out Jake Paul and the amount of, you know, virality and Internet. credibility that he will get through that. From an Eddie Hearnan perspective, I just kind of find it humorous, right?

It's almost like they're placating to Riyadh season to say, oh, the serious stuff is next year or the big stuff. Definitely the big stuff is not next year because this is the biggest fight. Whether you like it or not, this is bigger than anything that Anthony Joshua is going to do in February, I think is the timeline they've said. and outside of the UK, this is a much bigger fight globally than Joshua versus Fury. It's not even close. So this is the biggest fight.

This is the biggest event. They can do whatever they want in 2026 and, you know, we look forward to cheering them on. Really interesting feature on you and how this fight got made in the athletic last week. And I urge everyone to check it out. At the very beginning of it, you say you are quoted as saying you didn't want this fight to happen. Can you explain why? Well, when he first brought it up in March, I said, you're crazy. This doesn't make sense.

And he spent time telling me why it made sense. In July, he was very keen on ensuring that it was happening in March, April of 2026. And I think around like September, October timeframe, I'd gotten him to a place to see a plan where it was Dervante, then a couple of other fights, and then look at AJ at the time frame. I'd gotten him to a place to see a plan where it was Dervante, then a couple of other fights, and then look at AJ at the, tail end of 26 or early 27. Because I wanted Jake to get more in-ring experience, get back to being at a heavier weight after going down for Gervante. And I feel like he was in a, you know, we're starting to align on that strategy. So that, you know, that, that was, that's the background of it. And when everything fell apart and you call an audible of this magnitude on such a

short time frame, it's, you know, there's a lot of risk that goes into that. In that same article, Robert Smith, the head of the British Boxing Board of Control, and others have said this shouldn't be sanctioned. There's too big of a discrepancy in terms of experience. What is your response to those people? They're hypocrites. They're not focused on the real problems of boxing, which is having these journey men and women were effectively on a circuit of getting beat up and knocked out to give Ws to up-and-coming prospects and contenders. I think in the UK there's fighters that have 50, 60, even I think I saw one that is 100 losses on their record.

That's the real problem. People who are coming there to lose, literally having a couple of wins built up, coming and getting knocked out. You know, I made the example of one of Joshua's opponents. I think it was his 10th opponent. He got knocked out by Joshua and then got knocked out seven more times right after Joshua. That's a guy who shouldn't have been sanctioned to fight Joshua to begin with because everyone could see what was happening.

Everyone knows what that process is. A lot of promoters do it. I guess I understand it to their desire to build up records. But Jake has a massive amount of experience being on the biggest stages. Jake has the best team around him on a 24-7 basis. And Jake is coming in against Anthony Joshua. shock the world and win. He's not coming there to be a stat patting exercise for Anthony Joshua, which is what a lot of boxing is and which the likes of the British Boxing Board of Control

obviously are aware of. And so, as you know, with every announcement, there's all kinds of chatter. So I'm just asking you these things to address them once and for all. The talk that, hey, there's a wink, wink, handshake, you know, hold them up for a few rounds, scripted, not like all this shit that comes up every single time Jake fights. What is your response to all of these accusations, you know, these criticisms, all this stuff? I think it speaks to how incredibly impressive Jake Paul's accomplishments are that no matter what event it is, even though he lost to Tommy Fury, split decision, many people thought Jake won, even that one maybe was scripted people would say, right?

if you remember, my dear friend Mike Perry put out a script of how that fight was going to go and how Jake was going to beat Tommy Fury. And for people to say that these fighters are taking paydays, I guess Tommy Fury must be the one true noble athlete in the world, as you can see that by the conduct of his father, John Fury, that didn't take the massive payday to follow a script. The reality is it's absolutely ridiculous. It's illegal. It's a federal crime.

in Jake's 13 fights to date, the only time there has ever been any variation of true professional boxing with the highest level of integrity is when he fought Mike Tyson. And that's when we agreed to two-minute rounds instead of three for the benefit of Mike Tyson, and we agreed to 14-ounce gloves instead of 10 for the benefit of Mike Tyson. And both of those were clear, public, and we got the commission to agree to state. make it a professional fight, which meant they could go at it 100%, and it would show up on their records. And that's it. And so to be clear, nothing of that sort going into this fight. Absolutely not. 100%. Categorically not. A little over a week ago after the UFC MSG

car, Dana White was asked about this fight. And he essentially said, off the top, wasn't aware of it, but yeah, I'll watch that one. And I think I and the rest of the world want to see Jake get obliterated. I'm paraphrasing here. I'm sure you saw the clip. What did you make of it from Dana? So I saw kind of three key things.

And the last one is telling for the first one. So the first thing I think he said was he wasn't aware of it. The second thing he said was a bad idea. And the third thing he said was, yeah, I'll watch it because everyone wants to see what's going to happen and it's finally going to happen. So to be clear, there's obviously a clear distaste for Jake Paul when you're talking about I want to see him get knocked out. But that's been well known and I understand the dynamic that's been built over time.

To say I wasn't aware of it is a blatant lie. Dana lies on a frequent basis so it doesn't surprise me. But I know for a fact, TKO was aware of this event, of the discussions, of the conclusion, and that it was going to be announced. So that's a blatant lie. How do you know, by the way? I know people at TKO at various levels. It was a blatant lie. Okay.

To say, you know, he's not a- Dana White pays attention to every single thing that Jake Paul does, whether he wants to admit it or not. He pays attention to it so much that there's fighters out there who have guidance from the UFC that, hey, if you fight with MVP or if you fight Jake Paul, you're not welcome here anymore. You can't come back and use the performance center or you won't be considered for future fights. That's the reality of how deeply,

I don't know, angered they are, but what we've been able to do. It's very anti-competitive in many ways from my perspective, but it's something that we've come to accept. But the notion of I wasn't aware of it, blatant lie. It's bad, I think he said, and I don't know what that means. that it's bad, as in, is it bad because it's not two world-class heavyweights?

Is it bad because it's dangerous? That I'm not clear on. What I will say is it's a lot safer than, you know, a slap contest where there's two people standing there in front of each other with zero defense, hitting each other as hard as they can to their face. Jake is going to be defending himself. Jake's going to be moving. So it's a lot safer, less bad than that.

And then, again, the last point comes back to, you know, what everyone wants to see, I'm going to be watching. That just shows you the level of interest that he has in seeing the downfall of Jake Paul. By the way, as an aside, since we're talking about him and also we spoke about Francis. Last week on the Andrew Schultz show, Dana talked about an incident between him and Francis around the time that Francis fought Alistair Overeem and then fought Stipe for the first time in for the belt. So about like eight or so years ago, this is when you were at the company, and I'm just curious, rare to speak to someone who was there at the time. Did you know about

this? Have you heard of this? Is there any validity to it? Listen, what I know is that Francis is always difficult to deal with because he wasn't a yes man. He wasn't just going to do what the company asked him to do. And at some level, you have to respect that. At the same time trying to portray this negative image of a former athlete of your organization who is a prominent figure within your sport from a quote unquote like president or commissioner of a league the most major organization within the sport just speaks to to Dana White from my perspective so it's it's really not surprising to see but ironic given who's actually saying these things about Francis Nangano.

Look in the mirror first, determine who you will are before you start to talk so negatively about people that are fighters within the sport that you oversee effectively. All right, let's get to the presser. Friday, you're right there for the face-off that has now been much dissected and seen by many, many people. And, you know, everyone's breaking down your reaction, Jake's reaction. What are you thinking when you see this? And now even when you're looking at it, you know, three days later, there's a massive size

discrepancy here. So if you notice at the start of the face off, Jake is looking down at his chest. Yeah. Jake had said to me that he was going to motorboat him or he was going to do this to his chest. And I said, Jake, I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense, man. Like, this is a pretty intense situation. But up to you, you obviously make your own call. so I think in that moment he was actually like considering doing that and then upon reflection probably thought okay let me just look up versus doing this that that I think is what happened with Jake there from my perspective I was just looking at the size difference someone was pretty pretty dramatic right six six versus six foot slash six foot one but I thought they were both stoic I was watching both of their eyes and they didn't neither blink

once, which is pretty impressive to do for like a 20-second time period with that much concentration eye to eye. So it was, it was pretty remarkable. And then when they faced forward, first Jake was looking at him. And then when Jake looked away, Joshua glanced at him. So, yeah, a lot of amazing energy. And I think it's going to be another record-breaking night come December 19th in terms of viewership. We put the two recent face-offs side by side. the one would tank from a couple of months ago in this one, and it's literally the reverse. I mean, look at that.

It's crazy. Jake's the big dog on the left. He's the small dog on the right. Does this give you any type of pause, any type of concern? I mean, it's by far the best opponent, by far the most accomplished, the biggest, the toughest, all that and more of his career. Listen, I've said this, and I'll say it again. Jake has a better shot of looking good against Joshua.

than he did against Dervante Davis from my perspective. Could he have knocked out Dervante Davis at a higher probability than he's going to be able to knock out Joshua? Yes. But could Jervante Davis have used his supreme boxing skill set,

precision, speed, footwork and made Jake look much more of a novice boxer than he is? I think so. I think with Joshua, Jake has a better chance of showing that he's actually come a long way as a boxer in demonstrating his capabilities and pulling off one of the greatest upsets in boxing history. So I've heard you say You consider him almost like a son at this point You're so close Are you more nervous?

I'll never forget being there And AJ knocked out Francis Who had never been rocked or knocked down before And he was out cold And it was scary Like his leg was twitching Are you afraid of what could happen? I'm not saying you think it's going to happen

But there's obviously that possibility AJ is still AJ at this point Are you afraid of what could happen? I'm not afraid of Jake Paul getting knocked out. I don't want him to get knocked out. I care about him deeply. Just like I'm sure his dad, Greg Paul, doesn't want him to get knocked out, right? So that, like, I do not want that to happen. I am not afraid of it. I am not going into it thinking it's not possible. It certainly is. And the reality is those types of knockouts are not what leaves long-term damage. What leaves

long-term damage is going 12 rounds, toe-to-to-to-taking repeated blows to the head over and over again, right? So this idea of, are you not afraid what could happen to Francis, could happen to Jake Paul? That could happen to Jake Paul. That could happen to Anthony Joshua. It happened to Tyrone Woodley, who was coming back on this card, right? It's happened to many boxers. It happened to Francis, and he came back into the PFL cage and had a spectacular performance. So that does not, that does not scare me, but it is, there is the potential for it, absolutely. By the way, Speaking of Woodley, who's going to be joining us in about 40 minutes, how do we end up with him and what happened to Chris Weidman? Chris Weidman unfortunately had an injury for him to kind of discuss what the injury was, but it was clear he couldn't make even the updated timing of December 19th.

And, you know, he asked if the fight could be rescheduled. As you can imagine from an Anderson perspective and from an MVP perspective, we wanted him to stay on this card. And so we went through a process of identifying different opponents that he was okay with and Netflix was okay with. And we felt, you know, we're appealing. And I would say the ones that made sense, most were concerned about the short turn because they all respected Anderson as a fighter, as a boxer, how slick he is, how quick he is, right? how tricky he is. Tyron, to his credit, man, jumped on the opportunity. There you guys are.

In London. Yeah. I hit him up on Sunday. And I said to him, would you be interested? He said, maybe. Then I was flying to London to announce Jake versus Joshua. We met on Tuesday. at, I think he called it a hookah lounge,

but it's like a lounge restaurant that serves hookah, just to be clear. Okay. And we kind of agreed on terms over that dinner. You did tweet yesterday, or no, maybe it was a couple of days ago, something regarding the boxing and MMA media, and I just wanted to get some clarity.

Seeing some of the tweets by boxing in MMA media today makes you realize a lot. What are you referring to here? I think like even media memorandum. have become social media influencers. They try to put out, like, you know, statements that are not appropriate if you're a real journalist from my perspective.

And even, look, even you, you play with the fans, but... What are you trying to say? You're lumping me with these slubs here? What are you trying to say? My point is everyone is looking to put out content that engages. And so what happens is, like, when I see, when I see a Dan Raphael like

LOL this can't be real blah blah blah it's just like that would never be okay in the old world of traditional media right or Brian what's Brian's last name is it Campbell Thomas what's his name

Brian Campbell yes if you're talking about CBS sports I was so anti-UFC and Dana White in the past now I see him taking shots at like MVP or Jake Paul suddenly and saying you know saying stuff that just is very odd to me so I just think it just shows you that true journalism with full integrity is being is becoming murky right because because people really want to be heard and seen and feel like they're getting engagement I think the differences if I may and I'm not defending them I think the difference is like

something like Twitter didn't exist, so you didn't get people's real-time thoughts. It was a lot more, you know, package carried it's on a newspaper, radio program TV, and that's a gift and a curse. Sometimes we say too much. Sometimes we react too quickly. I wish, you know, I could take a couple of them back as well. And so I think that there's no filter anymore. Like you can literally go on your phone and tweet something and a million people see it.

That didn't exist 10, 15 years ago. And when it comes from a journalist, it can be viewed, you know, it could be deciphered in a different kind of way. So that's... I think that's a great way. There is no filter and it is the responsibility. Yeah, responsibility is the right word.

It's to filter themselves. 100%. 100%. Yeah, there's no editor for your tweets. I want to let you go in a moment. But I did want to ask because I got into a bit of a spirited discussion with Lou Debella about three or so weeks ago

on my program regarding the three-minute rounds. And I asked them like, why are you so... I mean, this is another guy on Twitter with all due respect to Lou, very critical of this. fight and of a lot of Jake Paul Cummings and Goings, but in this particular case, he's talking about the three-minute rounds

and he's getting fired up, and obviously I know about the history with Amanda Serrano, I know about the history with Sharnika Johnson, and I don't know if it's coming from a place of, you know, personal business dealings or if he truly feels this way, did you happen to see the stuff that he said regarding the three minutes saying that it's virtue

signaling, basically saying that he called it a civil rights movement and said it was all nonsense that women shouldn't be fighting three-minute rounds. So on Amanda, I can understand the frustration of, you know, working with her for so many years and never being able to accomplish what we accomplish with her in a short amount of time. On Sharneka Johnson, Lou DeBella still has a financial interest in her. And in terms of three-minute rounds, I'm a big proponent for choice, right? It's not a civil rights activity, but I'm also a big proponent of creating.

great compelling product and the whole idea of three minute rounds is to allow the women to operate like the men do by not feeling rushed and allowing them to set up their shots and have more conclusive outcomes in the product and it's up to a fighter to have that choice if a female fighter against the fellow female fighter to both same females want to fight three-minute rounds as they do in the amateurs amateur boxing is three-minute rounds there should be nothing limiting them from doing so you know i learned a lot of great things at the ufc from lorenzo fortita and one of them was you know him pushing to have women's mama and when we brought in women's MMA. It was a true meritocracy. And every single female fighter had the same opportunity as the

men. And then that went all the way to the rules, to the gloves, to the rounds. And that's what we want to make sure exists for women's boxing. And there are women who say, I prefer the two-minute rounds. And we wholeheartedly support that at all times. But our passion and drive for it is to allow for choice, equality, and a better product. But if the relief is it's more dangerous, yes, every sport is more dangerous, the longer you play it. And if we're really looking for safety for the sport, then there should be a push to make men's fights 10, 2 minute rounds as well, because that will certainly reduce the amount of injuries that occur within men's boxing. Final prediction, December 19th, what are we going with?

biggest event of 2025 Jake Paul by decision Okay, wow What a scene And then of course everyone will say that You know he carried him And then it's like he's damned if he does damned if he doesn't right

Like it's like he won't get the credit That's the crazy thing My take is unless he gets obliterated and around No one's going to want to accept the result And that's ultimately I think Joshua said it well right Like, Jake is not Francis Nangano. You have to remember that.

Francis Nangano is not a boxer. He even started MMA later in life, as you know better than I do. Yes. But he's not a boxer. So Jake is going to be more elusive. He's not going to come straightforward, looking to exchange with Anthony Joshua head-on. And so, you know, I fully expected to go better than it did with Francis Nangano. Absolutely.

Can't wait. It feels infinitely big. I thought AJ was phenomenal on Friday, way more engaged and into it than Tank was a couple of months ago, thought the moderator or the presser was way better. I mean, like everything. It was just kidding. I'm just kidding. Looking forward to... Friday, December 19th. Yeah, that's right. It'd be an unbelievable night. The co-main with Alicia and Layla, two women to that three-minute round point doing 12-3, or 10-3s, 12-3, sorry, is going to be a true back-and-forth fight

from my perspective, and you have Anderson Silva and Tyrone Woodley, two MMA gloats, that both have fought Jake Paul, obviously, but I think they'll put on an amazing fight as well. I know you're talking to Tyron today. Looking forward to that. Thank you, Nikisa. All the best. Good luck in this sprint to December 19th, less than a month away, believe it or not. So looking forward to it very much and appreciate the time. Thank you. Have a great one. There he is. Nikisa Badarian, the co-founder of most valuable promotions, CEO as well of the company, December 19th. And yes, there I was at the press conference on Friday, beautiful Miami, Florida. I hate Miami sports teams, but golly, do I love

Miami. What a place. What a place. Nice little arena as well. And AJ was just, he was just phenomenal. I mean, the aura emanating off that guy, as the kids like to say, he, I mean, he's built like a Greek god, chiseled. I think we can update it to you like to I like to say, the kids like to say, I mean, listen, I'm not trying to D1 glaze, but I just want to give the guy his props. We had a nice little back and forth, AJ and I did, because out of the blue, he hit me with the UNO card, the reverse card, and he asked me for my thoughts. And look, I'm here as a broadcaster. I can't wait in on the proceedings. I thought I held my own, maybe.

Maybe not. Anyway, take a look. Here it is. What do you think? What do I think? Yeah. You're asking my opinion. Of course.

No one cares about my opinion. You're on the podcast talking about your opinion all day. That is true. Please check it out. It's called the Ariel Hawani Show and Uncrowned. I can't believe that we are standing here, honestly. I'll give him all the credit in the world. Oh, you don't give me no credit.

Well, I don't know. I'm just going. I'm going. All the credit in the world. And I've been one of your biggest supporters and backers. I think you are, you are, you are disrespected and mistreated in the UK. Why? You always focus on the negative.

They're always, because they focus on the negative. And I think they use your credit for taking this. not subscribing to the notion that... There's people out there that give me credit. Okay. We focus on those people. You are one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. You're one of the faces of boxing, not just UK boxing.

You have sold out multiple stadiums. Your win over Vladimir Klitschko is one of the all-time great moments. Your Olympic gold medalist. The fact that you are taking this challenge and not saying that you are above the challenge. No, I'm not above the challenge. I've got to work hard. Says a lot about it. Yeah, that's what I'm going to work hard.

You've got to keep my head down. I've got four weeks. I've got to put the work in. I'm not here to announce myself to the public. I've got to come in under the radar, do the promotional agreements that I've signed up to do. Nothing more, nothing less, and get the job done. I mean, I freaking love this from AJ. He's not looking down on the challenge.

Obviously, he's getting paid. He recognizes, I mean, he's going, with all due respect to his own and Netflix, infinitely bigger as far as a platform is concerned. Everyone knows that. That's not a hot take. And he's taking it seriously. And I said, man, I can't wait to hear how Ben Davidson and Lee Wiley. like break down the tape and then he hits me with

he's not with him anymore and he's training in Spain with T. Musick who saw that coming? I mean breaking a little news at these pressers as well I thought he was in great form do you guys think I did

pretty well up there? I thought that was a very tough spot and you did well. AJ asked for how you felt but then he really did like as you're kind of explaining he's throwing you a new thing to react to

he's like don't be the focus on the negative meanwhile you're trying to get to a larger point and then he's like oh yeah yeah yeah not too big for the challenge but you did very well can I say something about that I got a DM by the way did you change your shirt Connor I'm not gonna lie it's cold back here man throwing a little jacket I didn't realize you

normally everyone's always like oh it's so cold I'm like nah I'm fine today is that cold maybe I'm coming down with some Thanksgiving week tradition oh no strep last year oh no oh no that's why I'm wearing this it was cold in here too that's fucking illegal I had a journalist from Europe.

I don't even think he's from the UK, but he's from that part of the world. Hit me with some DMs afterwards being like how dare you suggest that we've been unfair to Anthony Joshua. Name names. If you're going to do that, name names. I'm like, what? You want me to start rifling off names?

And to say that the British public has treated and covered AJ the same way in which they do Tyson Fury, like when Tyson, and I actually want to give Petey credit for this, because we were talking about it afterwards, because I wanted to take his temperature as well, Ptzee put it wonderfully, and he said something to the effect of, like, when Tyson Fury had his issues, they called it like a mental

health crisis. When AJ broke down after the Usik fight, they said he was soft, he was weak, that he was mentally broken. It was completely different, just that particular case alone. I remember after that second Usik fight, I mean, they said that he was done, the way in which they kicked him while he was down. And the reason why I brought up the Jude Bellingham story that's transpiring in the UK is I think that there are a lot of similarities by the way in which Jude Bellingham is treated by the media over there and fans and the way in which AJ has been covered and treated by the media over there and some fans.

And so I don't think that that was an out of bounds statement. I don't think that that was an out of bounds sentiment. And I remember when I went to the UK after the Ussick fight, I was there to cover Clash at the Clash at the Castle in Wales for BT at the time. And I remember doing some interviews, and I remember saying that I don't think that the UK media has treated and covered Anthony Joshua Fairley. Do they have to be like, you know, do they have to be sycophants? No.

Do they have to be fan boys? No. Do they have to like, you know, never criticize him? No. But I think that he gets dealt with a different kind of pair of gloves than other fighters get dealt with. And so I was curious to hear what he thought about the Jude Bellingham story. He said he didn't know much about it, said some nice words.

I thought it was a very fair question. They're both from the same country. They both dealt with a lot of public and media scrutiny. But I think that to say, and I like the way he's responding to that being like, forget them. There are a lot of people who support me and back me, and that's the way in which he should feel. I definitely feel like for the most part, the UK press and media want to say this guy, Look at Gareth. Gareth comes on the show, and the first thing he says is, this is a stain on his legacy.

The first thing, not the result would be, not a loss would be, just him taking the fight as a stain on his legacy. What? How? Based on what? Based on the platform he's fighting on or the payday that he's getting? Like, I just think that they, for whatever reason, they treat him differently. I don't know what it is. But anyway, I thought that he was in an unbelievable mood.

He seemed very happy to be there. seemed like he had missed the fight game, seemed really excited, said that he was going to fight on the re-ad card this past weekend in an eight or ten rounder against the guy, I think his name is Cassius Kane, who was in Jake's camp, who Jake said he injured or knocked out or something. And so like who, what would you choose? Would you choose an eight-rounder at five o'clock in the morning on DeZone pay-per-view, or would you choose an eight-rounder against Jake Paul in Miami just his second fight in America by the way. Second time fighting in America first time was Andy Ruiz in 2019 on the biggest platform in the world. I mean, it's the biggest no-brainer of all time. I know. You definitely take that cash-as, whatever his name is. Yeah. By the

way, you should respect that guy's wishes. Say his name. Like, you know, he's asking for names. Would his name have come to mind if you were rifling all names? This guy, no. No. That's all I needed. No. You know what? I even want to make sure. Because this guy was like, we've treated him fairly. And who are you talking about? And yeah, it was like,

I'm like, You're showing the zest in the I was like The shoulders are wild Yo, I was like What are you talking about man? Name names Name them

How dare you Name this guy I'm like what You want me to like Pull out a piece of paper You want me to be like Okay And so in no

And look I don't like when people Go the MMA media But I don't think I think the The UK based media Let me be very clear

Just so you know How point did I'll get Have been Very critical and unfairly covered this guy at times. And I feel like at times they have not treated him or covered him the same way in which they have

other stars of their region over the course of the past 10 years. Is that clear enough for you? I think so. Were we going to say, Rick? No, that's clear. Okay. I agree.

I wholly agree with you, by the way. It feels like a very obvious point. I don't even know if the... Has anybody else other than this one person disagreed with it? Because it feels very obvious. It was weird that he was coming. I mean, I guess, you know, kudos to you for not, like, publicly tweeting

and going to the DMs, but it was very weird. He's like, name names next time. Like, what? Do it. I'm like. Do it. I want you to do it.

I'm riffing here, right? Named names. I'm hosting the damn press conference. Chill. What did you guys think of the press? Like, did it make you more interested in the fight, less interested in the fight? Same.

The face off was insane. Yeah. Like, I knew there was a size difference. When they were standing next to each other, I was like, damn, this is a massive. massive disparity in size. The dude that's bigger

is the one that is more skilled and more experienced. Like it's this is a tall task. No pun intended for Jake Paul. There's nothing that Jake or Anthony is going to say that's going to change anything about this fight for me.

There's not a single thing that could say into a microphone. It's all about what we're seeing right here. Honestly, I feel it makes me feel more confident with the way that Anthony Joshua is acting that he is going to win and he's probably going to knock him out early. Man.

By the way, the fact that Nikisa said that he was considering motorboating him in that moment, like it makes me view this entire face off differently. I don't think Anthony Joshua would appreciate that. No. But he didn't seem to be in good spirits. Not going to lie. I think he knows, much like Tank did, I think he knows he's joining the circus for a second.

And that's okay. Yeah, but he's treating it much differently. Like, he's treating it as a proper competition. I think Tank was like, me do the least amount of promotion and talking as possible, let me like steal this money in the middle of the night and then we'll be back to the regular stuff. Let me downplay this like I'm better than it. Yes. AJ's not giving off that vibe. He's not giving off I'm better. Even though like I asked him multiple times, various questions that would inspire that sentiment and I didn't

get that vibe from him at all. I think that's just a difference in their individual levels of professionalism. I don't think there's any way that Anthony Joshua respects Jake Paul in the way that he if he was preparing, like you just can't. There's just a reality of no matter what he says, he can't be preparing to fight Jake Paul in the way that he would prepare to fight Usik. It's just not the same. They're not the same challenge that is ahead.

I think he wants to go out there and knock him out of 30 seconds. But he could do that rolling out of bed which is what he's going to do. He's going to, he could roll out of bed that morning and Jake Paul's going to sleep. It's great. Well, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. That's happening. The fact that he had a date on the books is big because, you know, he

had the elbow surgery. And so I was like, all right, Does he have, he's always in shape, but does he have three weeks to prepare? No, he was ready to fight this past weekend, apparently, so this is just more time. Golly. I mean, how, let's see what happens. I have a lot of respect for Jake. He doesn't have to take this fight, obviously. And obviously, there is only a certain amount of fighters that Netflix would be interested in having him fight.

But this is, I mean, of all the names listed, I mean, obviously Terrence is an incredible fighter, pound for pound grade, and Ryan's an incredible fighter. But in terms of the size and the power, no one as skilled and, and, and, you know, and as freaking intense as AJ. It's a tall task, and I am very curious to see how it all plays out. Okay, let's get to some other stuff. By the way, I wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Tony Lapidus,

who I think does a tremendous job imitating AJ. I think the Helwani needs a little bit of work. I don't think that my voice cracks and is as high-pitched as he makes it out to be, but his AJ, I think, is phenomenal. here it is he just posted this yesterday in case you missed it Anthony Joshua we're all so excited to see this fight between you and Jake Paul I can't believe it's finally here how did you feel in that press conference it was all pretty friendly right

yeah yeah yeah yeah most definitely aerial do you know what the things I feel this is great I feel like I got all the respect for Jake Paul for taking a fight because that takes a lot of heart you feel I'm coming from but honestly the entire presser I just had my eye on that chain you feel what I'm coming from I was like give me that chain that chain was dancing you feel it was like some money gave me that chain you feel me

but yeah yeah I'm looking forward to the fight and I'm in fight mode you feel I'm coming from absolutely and you've been out of the ring now for what like a year like what have you been doing buddy yeah yeah yeah most definitely so

I've been out of the ring for a long time but the reason for that was because my focus and my priorities were my businesses oh they were because I was in the world of business I was a CEO I was a general for a lot of businesses But to get back into the sport of boxing, I had to shut a lot of my businesses.

But I learned a lot that that way of thinking can be applied to the sport of boxing, you for what I'm coming from. Oh, really? That's so interesting. Can you give us an example, like staying ahead of your opponent, like strategy? Oh, come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So, for example, sometimes in business, if you're the CEO, when you're the general,

you want to be the bishop on the board to hone in in your opponent. That's exactly. And make him sign that sweet deal, you feel me? but in the world of boxing, you want to be the night. Because the night can attack from all different directions. You feel what I'm coming from. I think I do. So, hopefully, when I get into the ring with J. Paul,

I'm going to teach him about chess, which is a metaphor for life. I'm going to teach him about the world of business. And I'm going to teach him a few things about the world of boxing, a few tricks that maybe he don't already know. You feel me? So by the end of it, they're going to call me AJ PhD in it. I think that's phenomenal. Did you send in the video of you saying that?

So stop it. It's not that accurate. It's not that accurate. It doesn't, listen, I... That's spot on, then. I'm imitation. Did you record that for him? I think his AJ is 10 out of 10.

The AJ is good. The Hawaii is... Desperately. Okay, thank you. Oh, I'm no. I was going to say it's the best. Thank you, bro. Thank you.

It's not even the Hawaiian. There's no way I would guess that unless he tags you and says that in interviewing by How Juan. Frank said he thought it was spot on. I agree. That one's kind of like a Katie Taylor impression. Like Al Forrenz, Katie Taylor? Yeah. The cracking and like it's, it almost feels like he's dogging on you a little bit and doing an impersonation.

Okay, thank you. I thought it was great. Don't disrespect. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Rick loves Tony Lapid. I think the AJ, he does the best AJ, Mike. Best AJ, best Hawwani. I don't know about that. I don't know about that. What about this mimic bro character? Mimick bro all over. This is a man who does impersonation. Okay, which. Different levels. Let's let's let's let's let's for those that don't know mimic bro is a guy on social media on Instagram is where I see his stuff he does a phenomenal I see it on TikTok a month before that but all right fair enough he does a phenomenal uh ilia Islam and Hamzad I think those are his main three he let's show the one before this weekend just to give you a taste because then he actually

meets the guys which is wild uh here's mimic bro in case you don't know who he is the the is this is the one where he's like calling everyone up and all that stuff not on the scene in Qatar you You guys know what I'm talking about? This is him. We got it. All right, all kinds of craziness. Here it is. Here's Mimik, bro.

Hey, what's up, brother? All good, brother. Al-Han-Dul-Lah. I mean, this is... I am with Chanko. Ah, I see. John Pork. John Pork.

Brother, don't call him John Pork, man. He is very upset about it. His name is Chanko. Chanko. Call him Chanko. That is incredible. I see, brother. But why everybody calls him John Pork, man?

Brother, I tell, Chan Ko, not John Pork. Brother, forget about everybody, man. But one thing, one thing only. Don't forget about it. Ah, you're a fight, man. Yes, about my fight. I don't know, man, that's a crazy time. In Dubai we sleep that time, brother.

You can never miss it, you know? You have to watch it. when I become double champion. But listen, man, listen, I have the best solution for you. Yeah, brother, tell me your solution more. Just one thing. Go to App Store. What is it?

What is this? What is it? Okay, shout out to Fight Alarm. You didn't watch the whole video. I didn't get it all the way to there. Jeez. Oh, wow. I didn't realize it was an ad.

We're not an actual Mimic Pro Stan like that. I'm sorry. Well, thanks for letting me know. I mean, what is this? Free ads here? Fight Alarm. Shout out to Fight Alarm. What is fight alarm?

It's an alarm. He said last time you slept, he's telling him you, you got to set the alarm. No, I think it's so alert you a fight is about to start. Yeah, the fight is going to happen. Wow. Bad idea. Yeah, not a bad idea. I mean, I've heard of notifications before.

No, no, fight alarm. Notification. I mean, you can literally put it on your thing and it will tell you when this fight is about to start. ESPN app and stuff. Oh, I didn't know you could do that on the ESPN app. Yeah, also, you could just like go into your clock and just set an alarm. What is going to fight alarm? You don't know when it's going to start.

Yeah, okay, fine, fine, fight, fight alarm. Shout out. Hey, bro. Anyway, if you close your eyes, that's Islam and Hamza. He met Hamza, but there was no real, like, he didn't play for him. He did meet, he met Armin after, and he did the Ilya. And Armin actually, like, took it seriously. Like, he, like, faced off with him.

He was great. Take a look. Stare them. Why are you running? Why are you running? I will take your eyes, though. In the first one. Oh.

Oh. That's it. If you want, Armand, I love wrestling. Send him two, three years, Dagestan, and forget. Incredible. By the way, there's that other guy that I see. He's giving out the Kazakhstani robes. Dean Mukhammed.

I need one of those Kazakhstanian robes with the belt. Hook us up. Hook us up. Fight alarm. Hook us up. Hook us up. And then he met Ilya and did the Ilya to him and I think he might have done the Islam as well. Anyway, look at this interaction How are you?

How are you? Take your lights out in the first round. Hi. It's over. Congratulations. Do you know who is? Honestly, wait, wait, finally. Look, he took him.

Exactly the same. How it comes at... Yeah, man, now I'm with my brother, brother. He imitates Islam, Hamza, Ilya. Yeah, brother, today we smash some guys. Now I'm with I'm with Ilia Toppuriya, brother, the machine, the real one, man. Actually, I will ask him, what's your favorite submission? And I will submit him in front of Kabib.

I love it. You'll do that. But one thing, don't forget. Do you like it or not? I'm the best M.M.A. fighter in the world right now. You are talking about me, right? Send him to three, in Dagestan or Georgia. Wow.

Thank you very much. I love how excited Ilya is. You know this guy. You know this guy. Man, shout out to that guy. I don't know. What's his real name? Anyone know know.

Just know him as Mimic, bro. Yeah, they know Mimic, bro. And the guy with him that gives it out, you know, he also, the Kazakhstanian robes, he also had a, he got the video of Dylan Danis getting pulled out from 322. Yeah, guys been all over the place. Oh, wow. Damn. Shout to him.

Okay. Speaking of Hamza Shama, if he did speak to media out there and said that he's not fighting until after Ramadan, believe it or not. This is not good news. Here's the quote. I have a small operation on my foot. I'll be stepping away from training for a couple of weeks. Heal my wound. So we'll prepare after Ramadan, whoever they give me, I'll face.

Now let me, and that's via Adam Zubayrev, he was speaking to. Ramadan 26. So, you know, it ends end of March, but, or March 19th, to be exact. So it's not too bad. That's actually not too bad. He wasn't going to fight in February. I wasn't really expecting him to see him back before that anyway. So not the worst thing.

I mean, obviously it's not a serious injury. The arms seemed okay and the push. The push was intense, right? everything with Hamzad is intense I'm still surprised at how it it went from zero to 100 with those two I think Ian's assessment of it was exactly right like Hamza didn't understand

what Ian was saying which I think he took as like you won't fight me you won't fight you know you're not going to fight anybody and he just let him have it you don't play games with Hamza so here like Ian seems oblivious right or not

he thinks this is still friendly but then this guy jumps in and right now he's saying this guy won't fight me. This guy won't fight me. Get out of the way. You don't have anything to worry about. Hamsat's like, oh, I won't fucking fight you. I'll fight you right now. That's how I feel it went. No, 100%. I think what Ian was saying was like

we're fine. Like, we're fine. This guy's not going to fight me. We're just standing here. And then Hamsat was like, oh, I'll fight you. I'll fucking fight you whenever I want and just shoved them. Armin. Say it. Yeah. It's all right. All right. See later. See later. It was crazy. You know what?

Shout to the UFC security staff because there were all these dudes there. Paddy, Ilya, Hamzat, Islam, Ian, Arm, like all these guys. Hamzaa pushes the shit out of you and Gary and the guy steps in, he's like, guys, guys, let's just relax. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just relax. You know, it's weird. Like, who's the... Okay, let's exclude John Jones for a second. Yeah. There's, like, no American stars. Everyone is from Europe. You know what I mean?

I mean, John Jones also has, like, one fight left, if that. I'm just saying... There's really none. It's Kayla. European right now and it's so, you know, Eastern European, caucus region. Like, it's, it's, it's really incredible. When you rifle off those names, they're all, those are the biggest names in the sport, right? The most popular guys. Obviously, Alex is in the mix, but like, it's, it's amazing at how few American superstars. Like, who's the biggest male American superstar

who's active? Sean O'Malley? Probably, yeah, yeah. Speaking of Islam, he had his, uh, his face up on the, uh, the buildings in Doha I mean, this is a sign that you have made it. Isamahachev, a week after his victory in Madison Square Garden, is walking around town, and there he is. Lit up. Pretty damn cool. They love him over there.

He's also retaken the throne from Teporia, most Instagram followers among active fighters. What's he at? 11.8. Damn, has he surpassed Habib? No, Habib's at like 40 mil or something. Oh, wow, wow, okay. Well, well in his way. He did land back in Dagestan yesterday. Health court spoke to reporters there, very cool scene, a lot of media. It's always cool to see someone, you know, from the sport get this kind of attention. Again, someone lands back home in America in Arizona or Colorado or New York. No one's covering it. But obviously over there, it's a much bigger deal. Here's a soundbite that I wanted to play and I'll read it because it's in, it's in Russian, but there's subtitles about what he wants to do next.

at 170 pounds. Who do you see is the most dangerous opponent in the welterweight division? A reporter asks him. The most dangerous? Well, two guys fought on my card. Both won their fights by finish. Both are young and good at finishing fights. But right now I think our division is the most active, the youngest, the most competitive.

Too fast. I think the UFC will decide soon. And yesterday there was a good fight. A former champion fought a young guy. I think we have at least three or four contenders now. And soon, probably in about two weeks, it will be clear who the next challenger will be. Then someone else asked,

yesterday after Ian Garry's win, are you interested at all since he called you out for a fight? Especially considering it will be a new chapter in the Dagestan-Ireland rivalry. Yeah, that would be interesting. He's also a good fighter. He's on a good winning streak, and he's young. I think it'll be interesting.

We'll see he didn't surprise me yesterday. if he's surprised the UFC then maybe he will be next Shafkat hasn't fought for a year contender can't sit out for a year with injuries and then come fight for the belt yeah we said hello he congratulated me we shook hands well if he recovers and the UFC decides he's next

why not referring to Shafkat Rakhmanov that's weird so here we have Ian Gary at the press conference on Saturday talking about I'm the protege of Cona McGregor he's the projee of Habib even mentioned it here you have a reporter asking Islam about it, you have Islam not refuting that, perhaps apologies

are in order for the guy who said, of course this is going to be the theme, of course this is going to be brought up, of course this is going to be a part of the buildup, like this idea, again, I don't think anyone believes that there is an Ireland versus Dagestan rivalry that makes no sense, but it just so happens that two of the biggest stars in the history of the sport come from those parts of the world. They didn't like each other. They still don't like each other. And now there happens to be two guys who also come from those parts of the world. One very closely linked to the other. One has openly said he's a massive fan and this guy is the reason why he got into it who are now potentially in line to fight each other. Of course this is going

to be drawn upon. Of course this is going to be talked about. Dare I say it would be promotional malpractice if it's not talked about. Who's the one that was saying that? And who was the one that was saying it was crazy? Can't talk about it because he's not here. Love you, Pizzi, Pisa. Yeah, come on. He can't defend himself. No, yeah, he's going to text me.

That's like victory lap number three you've taken today. He can't defend him. Am I wrong? I need to go back and watch this clip. I don't even remember this being that heated. We had the text exchange. We had the post show. Pizzi gets crazy.

I know. I need to go back and watch it. I'm serious. I need to go back and watch it. He goes crazy on his point. Pizzi's not here, but I'm going to try to play a vessel for Pizzi. The Paul Hughes, Usbander-Machimedav being the newest chapter. He goes crazy.

It's insane. Okay, that's a stretch. Here's Pitchie's point. And he has always stood by, and I understand where he's coming from. The key to that rivalry is that the countries themselves don't care. Oh, this is perfect. Thank you. So, in my home country of Ireland, we don't actually have a rivalry with Dagestan.

I never said that. And so in order for this to be heated up, in order for this to engender the kind of passion from the fan base that is required to reach the levels of Habib and Connor McGregor, the fans of these countries, the fans of the fighters from these countries would have to then invest themselves and they are not invested. It's not about the countries at this point. It just so happens that the two guys come from those places. It would be akin to like, what's a good example? What's a good example? you know, there's no history between Oklahoma City and Indiana

but they've now played each other in the finals and if they meet again in the finals obviously it's not going to happen to the pace or suck then it's going to be a thing that's going to be drawn upon. It's not a thing. I agree with that holy.

It's not. It's not a thing. It's not a thing. You're insane if you think it's not a thing. It's a reference but not a... And the particulars are playing it up. It's not even the promoters. The particulars are playing it up.

That's the thing. Case closed. Ian Gary and the reporter are playing it up. The reporter... The UFC will... I agree with him. I mean, Gary's one half. And this guy didn't say that's nonsense.

Islam didn't say it's nonsense. Right? You're taking somebody not shutting it down in the way that Pizzi does as an acknowledgement that, like, it's a big thing, but it's not. He's just... He's watching Man United right now.

He has no idea we're talking about it. DZZZ, I hope I did well representing you. Freak out about it. No. There is no rivalry. No. I love it. Well, guys, speaking of Connor McGregor,

he resurfaced on Twitter. yesterday. How about that? Hey guys, I am back. I was blessed to meet the most forward-thinking doctors from Stanford University and undergo a series of treatments to address trauma. I traveled to Tijuana, Mexico and underwent ibogaine, or is it Ibojane? Gain. Treatment at Ambio. Watch the Netflix documentary just released titled In Waves and War as it is the exact place I went. It was incredible intense and absolutely eye-opening. I was shown what would have been my death how soon it was to be, and how it would have impacted my children. I was looking down on myself as it happened, and then I was looking out from the coffin.

God then came to me in the Holy Trinity. He is mighty, Jesus, his child, Mary, his mother, the archangels, all present in heaven. I was shown the light. Jesus descended from the white marble steps of heaven and anointed me with a crown. I was saved. My brain, my heart, my soul, healed. I was 36 hours under before I finally rested. When I woke, I was me again.

the most enlightening and enchanting experience I have ever undertaken. This treatment is worth its weight in gold. It is very, very tough, but it absolutely saved my life and in turn saved my family. Thank you all for your inspiration, motivation, encouragement, well wishes, support, and most importantly, for your prayers. They worked.

I am my child again. But this time, with the knowledge of my adult, to my family, my friends, my fans, my support, my team, baby, we did it. The world is in for a treat. To God, I am yours. Thank you for bestowing upon me this incredible blessing that I take with great care and absolute seriousness. I live my life per your word, word, and nothing more.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your great grandson, Connor McGregor. He's back. Pretty incredible. I had talked to someone close to Connor about this just last week, and they told me about the experience. They told me about the trip and all this stuff. And so in the end, we say what we said a couple of, you know, a couple of weeks ago, a couple of months ago. At this point, actions speak louder than words.

This sounds great on paper. And if you're a fan, you like it, you're excited about it. But we have to get to the fight. We have to see how he looks. We have to see what kind of shape he's in. We have to see what kind of mental he's in, what kind of physical he's in, all that stuff and more. If you're a fan, yeah, you're excited about all of this. John Kavanaugh's comments excite you.

even his face feels like he feels it looks like he's healthier and hopefully he's in a better mindset but like all this could change in a second there have been too many incidents and so let's see let's see how it transpires how it looks how it evolves but that is quite the return in the end it was a little over a month i was expecting it to be a bit of a of a longer hiatus from social media um but here he is he was even with the uh The guy who, I guess, some people say, eliminated Osama bin Laden at the Black Forge. You guys see that?

I think he's in that documentary. You know the one? What's that called? I didn't see this. I just want to be clear when you said that. He eliminated Osama bin Laden. He was with Connor McGregor at the Black Forge. Like, it sounded like you said he eliminated Osama bin Laden at the Black Forge.

I'm going to be clear, that didn't happen there. Imagine it comes to past that Connor. That was the one who was there. on the night. Connor was there. And Osama bin Laden was at the Black Forging. That's what I thought you said. And John Sina broke the news.

Yeah, let me clear. You know that story? I do know that story, yeah. John Sina, we have a lemonade. Oh, Tom. What do you guys think? That's a nice message, right? Yeah.

When you said trip, did you mean the one to Tijuana or the trip on the Ibegain? Both. I think both. Yeah. I'm reading about it. It seems pretty intense. It's intense. Someone told us about it on the show.

Who told us about it? I know Jake did Ashwaganda or whatever it is. Ayahuasca? Ayahuasca. Who did? Oshuaganda is like a daily fighter. Wait, Jake who? Jake who?

Jake who? Jake Paul? Yeah, yeah. Kane Velazquez? Didn't Kane talk? It might have been, yeah. Somebody had mentioned it. You're right, but I'm not recalling who. I think it was Kane, yeah.

Hmm. Oh, Tyne Woodley's calling me right now. Right on time. I mean, sort of? Oh Oh Oh Armin just texting me

That his phone died Just go back to the charger What do we do What do we do What do? Can you guys help me out? I'm dead silent What do you want to do

The last two questions With Armin if he's available Well, is Tyron there? He's not. He was calling you, man. Does he need the Zoom link? I gave it to him already. Yeah. Wait, he's right here.

How was your weekend, Frank? It was actually really good. Where'd you go again? Went upstate. Hell yeah. Which part? It was called New Hamburg. A little hamlet there.

What's a hamlet? Like a small township. You know, there was a nice art gallery I went to. Oh, dude, when you said that earlier, I thought you said Hamilton. Oh. And that they, you watched a live performance of Hamilton. Nope, nope. That would be on Broadway.

Yeah, I was wondering why there was a Hamilton performance. I've been to, wait, you said New Hamburg? Yes, sir. I've been there. That's fun. What'd you do there? I don't remember. All right.

Is it near Syracuse? No. Well, maybe. I don't know. What's it near? Like, what's the biggest city it's near? Looking it up. New Hamburg.

Why'd you go there? This place looks bleak. Wow. Well, that's not how I would describe it. It was beautiful. It's right by Wappingers Falls. I went to this place called the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, those in the chat that know what I'm referring to.

They know what's up. But it's really nice. It used to be in Manhattan. I had checked that out like 15 years ago, but it was requested from my son that we go check it out. So we jumped on the train and we went and checked it out. And it was a lot of fun. Day trip or you stay?

Day trip. Although they have on the property that you can. stay the night. We just decided to come back. Did you take the green line, the Hudson line up there? It took the Hudson line. Nice. Yeah, man. Okay. So I'm about that Tyrone Woodley, eh?

So did he, what am I supposed to do? I already gave him the thing. Does he need... What about Armin? What is Armin saying? I'm texting Armin too. There's a lot happening here. He said, my phone died. I was like, yeah, figured. And then I said, can we call you for two? minutes.

He just didn't say anything back. What? He just didn't say anything. What did he say back to him? Phone died again. Maybe. Well, it says he's online. You know, what's that?

Yeah, Shada what's up. I like what's at. Yeah, man. Rick, I'm sent... Small little messaging app. Yeah, yeah. Rick, I just sent you his number. All right.

Armine or Tyrant? Well, you have tyrants. Yeah. from like 2011, we've been talking to him. The realist. For those just tuning in, we are efforting to get another interview on the way. Nah, you know what? This is the show.

This is what people like. They like, they like, they like, they like, wait. Do you want to remind you, 20% off Arielhuany.com. We've got a special Black Friday sale, but we love you so much. We are giving it to you early. Arielhuwani.com. There it is. How about that action Bronson co-lab?

It's my favorite one. I think so. I wear it at least weekly. You actually have it? Yes, sir. That one and the last one that was on there, the Lucha Helmani. Oh, yeah. Which one do you have, G.C.?

The Action Bronson. I've never seen you wear it. What am I going to do? Wear it to the studio? I think it would be a nice show of solidarity. I don't know if I've ever seen you wear it. Have you worn it? it? I wear it all the time. Why do you start wearing it? I'll wear mine. Fair enough, fair enough.

How about Wednesdays is now Ariel Hawanee Merch Day? Um, we need to get some hoodies. Yeah, hoodies. Say less. It's hoodie S-Z-N. Can we just get some black hoodies with the uncrown logo embroidered on the chest, small? Oh, yeah. Wow, man, you're cooking right now. Wait, wait. Left side, right side? Left side, chest, small, embroidered, got to be embroidered. Crown just right there. Just the crown, not the word spelled out. I don't need the word. How about? How about it? How about a sleeve it says uncrowned no no that's awful so just the logo right here and that's it nothing else that's all i need what about the back or if we want to get you know kind of you know hipster with it

we the uncrown logo and then films underneath it's the uh documentary oh yo that's sick right there that's actually sick that's for like the people it's like i yk i yk exactly yes um Wait, wait. Okay. I like that. I like that. Now, hoodie or like crew neck like this one? I'm hoodie all the way.

Yeah. Yeah. Black? Yeah. With the yellow? Should the back say no kings? I don't know. That might get confused around New York City.

Frank, what do you think? It's just blank on the back. All right. And to be clear, when you guys say hoodie, you're talking pull over kangaroo pocket, not a zip-up, right? What's a kangaroo pocket? Like, uh... Oh, the middle, yeah, I never heard anyone say that before. I just heard a pocket.

Yeah, yeah, front pocket. Yeah, I like this. I like this. You think Armand's eating McDonald's right now? No, I think he knocked out the Mickey D's yesterday on the plane. He's cooking something out, so... There's plenty of camel left, though. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

I saw a video of him and Nina Drama, and they were eating some sort of, like, Dubai-shaped cake. Dubai-shaped cake? It was, like, the big building in Dubai? Oh, I thought... First Caliphah. Do you think it was... Brother, shout to you for knowing that name. Shout out.

Is it... Do you think it's that shape and Dubai chocolate? It actually looked like regular chocolate. Tie it all together? I remember Dubai chocolate was really... That was a thing. It was a thing for the moment.

I actually introduced you guys to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now any store you go into, they got 15 different kinds. Yeah, and I think they're all Fugazi. Yeah, it used to be really special. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rick's back.

Rick, what do you got to say for us? About what exactly? I don't know. about anything? Any update on the... Yeah, we're efforting. We're trying to figure things out. Circle back.

By the way, your favorite fighter, Waldo Cortez Acosta? Yes, salsa boy. Yeah, what the hell? This guy took this fight. You're firmly on the bandwagon now. On Boys in the Back last week, I said, I respect him flying over to Qatar

on short notice like this. If he gets it done, I will give in. and become a part of Salsa Boy Nation. So you're in? Yeah, yeah. Against my will, I am in. I mean, what's there not to like at this point? It's unbelievable.

Now he's getting knockouts, too. Now he's getting knockouts. He tweeted me. He said he wanted in. He said he wants to get the call up to the big leagues. Didn't happen in his Major League Baseball career, but he wanted to happen in his MMA career. Do we have the visual evidence?

There is visual evidence, I promise. and there it is. I wrote Dominicano Sasa Boy is inevitable Waldo is undeniable waiting for you invited to come to the show

myself and my coach want to come when you're gonna invite it us need to come before I fight December 13. Does this mean he has the fight trying to do one more

before the end of the year? Well I can't tell you on Wednesday's program Salsa Boy will be there. debut. Let's go. It's big. Are you going to confront him?

It's big. Are you going to confront him? There's nothing to confront. There's only support. Yeah, that's perfect. Stay right there. Is he talking to a salsa boy? Yeah, he's talking about it.

Okay. Talking to Woodland. Shout out to him. Well, this fight was announced on Friday. Tyrone Woodley versus Anderson Silva. Kind of came out of nowhere. We thought it was going to be Anderson Silva against the one and only Chris Wydenman, the trilogy.

First time in a boxing match. We had them both on just a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, Wyden Woodley, and so in enters Tyron Woodley, who is kind enough to join us to talk about this fight that is happening in less than a month.

There he is. T. Wood. How are you doing, area? How are you doing? I'm doing good. I can't complain. I'm in London freezing my balls off. All in all, I'm doing well.

What are you doing there? I'm filming a movie, Royal House, too. Okay. And when does that end filming? I'm going to end a little bit earlier just because of the fight announcement, But in general, like, the good thing about this fight when it came about, I had started training anyway.

And I was training, one, because I had a little extra stomach on me that I wasn't used to happen. So I was trying to get fit for the movie. And then, you know, it's Chandler here, Michael Vennam Page, Wonder Boy. So these are people that I've either fought or never going to fight. So as a martial artist, I was just excited to get a chance and opportunity to train. with these guys. They've been working old Wonderboy to his bones in the ground, so I haven't had a chance to work out with him yet,

but me and MVP had got a lot of good work in. By the way, without giving away too much, how does the Connor character play into the sequel? I can't really say. Okay, okay. I'd love to tell you, but I can't say, but I can't say Michael Chandler is in the movie, Dustin Poirier is in the movie.

Oh, okay, interesting. interesting. So we just had Nikisa on about 45 minutes ago, and he did tweet a picture of you guys meeting in London. He was there to announce the fight. So tell us how this came across your radar, because you're there, you're probably not thinking about fighting in the midst of all of this, and now here's this big opportunity. So how does it get presented to you, and what do you think? You know, very similar to the second Jake Paul fight. I was in Atlanta, Georgia filming Copacott at that time, and Nikisa lived in Atlanta as well. And he hit me up and said, hey, how are you doing?

I said, I already know what's going on. I said, Tommy ain't going to come to the fight, is he? He said, you free for lunch tomorrow? I said, cool, yeah. And basically, he presented the opportunity. And, like, in that situation, I was kind of training, like, my coach GT who's sitting right over there now, I had brought GT to St. Louis, and I told him, I didn't feel like that fight was going to happen.

So we started over from scratch because it's a lot of things that I needed to learn basics that I didn't have. So we started from scratch and working on those deals. And then if a fight presented itself, we'd be in position to take that fight. So this is the identical exact same thing. I'm on a film and he's in the same city. And he texts me two days. He texts me on Monday. He said, man, I see this Instagram.

You're saying, it's a comeback season, you train. What are you training for? I said, I'm training for the unsigned fight. He said, oh, cool. Two days later, he texted me and said, are you in London? I said, what's going on, the key? He said, meet me at this lounge. I said, I bet.

So he talked to me about the fight, told me who he offered the fight to, and just say, you know, this is an opportunity for you to take a fight. it's going to be on this date, da-da-da-da, and I'm like, this is a fight that you, it's like the fight you needed to have that you didn't know you needed to have. I never even thought about fighting this in my life. We grew up watching them as a goat, you know what I mean?

And he was a weight class above me, but I wasn't even in the UFC during the time when he was the champion. So it never even crossed my radar. So when you presented that fight, it was more of a legacy fight for me, like to put that skeleton in my closet that I beat Anderson Silva. It's something personal for me.

So that's why I was excited. I'm thankful that I was already kind of training so that I would be able to take a fight, which would be short notice to everybody else. I was kind of already gearing up for something that wasn't signed. It's a wild thing just looking at you two there. I know, man. I like it. I like it, but it is crazy, right?

It is crazy, especially on such short notice. your last fight, by the time this fight happens, will be almost exactly four years to the date. December 18, 2021, this is December 19th. And so were you at peace with never fighting again? Or was this inevitable? Were you going to fight again? I felt like I was going to box again.

Like, I took one year off completely because when I fought Jake, you know what I had just came out of the UFC. I had fought looking earlier that year. I fought Jake twice at the end of the year. And from the age of 10, I'll wait a 40. I never had a break. I was an athlete straight through for 30 years with no break, no offseason, never had one. I was an athlete all the way through.

So I took a break for a year for myself, right? Then that following year, I had a set up to fight KSI, a setup to fight Floyd Mayweather, a setup to fight Manny Pachial. Those three fights didn't happen. Then I signed to the GFL. That's still in the works, and that's still something that's delayed at the moment. So I was ready to fight, but I'm like, God, is this, you telling me that it's time to walk away from it? And I never really felt like I got clarity or heard if that was a situation. Then I was telling myself that, hey, you know what?

Maybe I should just put down mixed martial arts and give that part of my life a proper ending, but I'm still, I still want to box. I love boxing. I want to do that first. And, you know what I mean? it's easier to train the boxing component because it's only one martial art and it's easier on your body. Everything goes into complimenting each other.

Jiu-Jitsu is certain to condition and sometimes don't agree with the sprinting and the wrestling and the sparring. Sometimes they go, they're counterintuitive where you actually are so sore from this that it affects you to be able to do well in the next martial arts. Boxing, everything is kind of,

It's combined to all go together. So I've been thinking about that all year, and I didn't expect to fight until next year. But I'm like, let me take a boxer fight. One that's big, one that makes me excited. And when this opportunity came, this fight is big. It makes me exciting. It's a legacy fight. You know what I mean?

And I'm already training. This is a legend, dude. Let's get it crack. I saw Darren Till say that the two of you turned down fights against him. What's he talking about? I already beat you like a drum. Why would I turn down a fight against you? You didn't land one punch on me.

Okay. You didn't even swing Augusta air by my face. He's just trying to involve himself in a moment. Cloud is a very powerful drug, and we all are using it. We all are selling it. Some people get high if they hold, they own supply. He's clearly consuming the cloud. You know what I just gave him some credit the other day.

I said he's looking really good in boxing. even if the opponents aren't like, you know what I mean, top-tier boxing, but I thought he looked real slick and real crispy in his last couple boxing fights. So I still go give him props, but I accepted the fight against Derritu. I accepted that fight before it was even offered to Luke Rocco a longer time ago.

And, you know, I always keep receipts if anybody want to try to act like it's a lot. But I accepted the fight against him the first time it was offered For whatever reason, that thing didn't come forth, but I accepted the fight. And that's for him. I already did what I needed to do against him. I have my best performance on my life against him. I don't have to go back in and do nothing to prove anything in that fight. So that was more of giving him a chance and maybe try to get his get back.

But, no, yeah, I accepted that fight. So I can't see Anderson saying no to any fight. Anderson say yes to me quickly. How are you balancing? yes quick he said yes quick it was all this all happened in 48 hours crazy how are you bouncing filming and training at the same time but a good thing about it is you know you know my coach gt last time i thought we was training at word hours anyway because when i was on cobra kyle sometimes we're training three or four in the morning and just you know from his time when he was

trained in floyd mayweather um floyd like to train in word hour so it's just getting your body used to it. The time that I'm going to need to train here, if you do the math on me fighting, I think I'm the, I think it's Anthony and Jake, the main event, and then Alicia and her appointed the co-main event. And then I think Matt Anderson are fighting before then. If you do the math on that fight, we're going to be fighting at 11 p.m. Which means if you, if you are fighting on that time zone that I'm in, which is five hours back, I need to be training at three or four o'clock in the morning anyway. So I'm going to get my work in.

I got a great situation. Shout out to London Shoe Fighters. Also shout out to Michael Vennepage for opening up his gym, all his coaches. So they're going to allow me to access the gym at really weird, strange hours, like four or five in the morning. And your graphic guy's crazy because he with the shit. Yeah, man. I'm on the graphics real quick. And this was not premeditated.

I know. I was going to say that. Yeah, you got a solid team. By the way, I love the Strike Force gloves. You just happen to have those on you or they had them there? Man, you know, I bring it with me to motivate me because that was an era that built me, to be honest, not the UFC. The UFC was the byproduct of all the hard work I put in through Strike Force. So I put those on on purpose.

When I did my sparring session yesterday with MVP, which he's a MVP, I say I would never want to fight you, brother. but I'm thankful I have him to help me get ready for this fight I won my roof is sports for yesterday and it's just I felt Duke Spirit come through me and I was training and it was just something I was pushing it was a kid named Felix from the gym and he just won Saturday but he had a fight so I was helping him out with the um stopping the guys

from escaping from the takedowns when he take him down and he tried to get away and we was doing this MMA circuit So this is a circuit for somebody that's in their training camp to fight. So I was in the circuit with them, and I wasn't in the training camp to fight yet. So I said, you know what, let me just see where I'm at. So I pushed myself like I had a fight coming up. And when I got done, I just felt like this is how I felt. These are the numbers I was putting up on these cardio cooking when I was in World Championship training camp.

And then I had on the roof of shirt, and I just felt like a lot of emotion come over me. and I know that as a man, it's okay. It's okay to feel, you know, those emotions, but I felt my cautious spirit. And I felt like, Tyrone, you should have some fight left in you. So when Nikisha hit me up 24 hours later, after I did that, I couldn't say no. It was nothing in my body that got nervous.

It was nothing in my body that said, overthank this. It was like, let's get the money figured out, right? And let's get the everything that, the logistics figured out. It was not yes or no to the fight. I say you can tell everybody else that either turn down a fight

or ask for more time or ask for more money, you can tell them they can go and find another fight. This is my fight. And I'm very sorry about the tragic passing of Duke. We spoke to Anthony about it

and I know how close you were to him and you've written some beautiful things about him. You know, it's only been like a month or so since this happened. How are you dealing with that? You know, it hit me home. hard because I'm very thankful

for one. You know, a lot of guys, you know, Duke's a fighter. So with fighting comes emotions. And, you know what I mean? He's a fighter that trauma bonded. He trauma bonded with Anthony because Anthony had lost his father and Duke had lost

his close loved one as well. So they bonded off trauma. And when you got somebody there was a world champion fighter and his coaching of the world champion athletes, it's testosterone on her, you know what I mean? so people butt hands at times. I don't have one negative experience with Duke.

I've never been in an argument with Duke. I never had a bad rapport would do. I never had a bad conversation would do. Not one time. So very few people in my life, I have 100% positive experiences with this person. And I was in Milwaukee for my son's soccer game

and I said, let me stop out of the gym. But I ran out of time. So I extended my trip. I stayed the extra day. I met with Duke. We sat in the lobby and talked for five hours. The next day, he said, come to the gym. I got some young fighters that, you know, I want you to see.

It would be good if you come through the gym. So I extended the gym. I mean, so I might stay even longer. And I went to the gym and I trained with these young MMA fighters. You know what I mean? I was tired as hell. I ain't going to lie to you. But I held by home.

I'm not letting nobody get over on me. But it was just so dope to see how much the sport has evolved and how he's just so. far ahead of the curve. So that's my last experience with Duke. I was texting him about some business stuff. I said, hey, dude, hit me up when you get a chance. I got this business stuff that I want to run by you, right? Hour later, Anthony called me and said, Duke passed away in the sleep. And I'm like, I just text him. I was, I just called. I was just like trying to get him on the line, and it just hit me like, it hit me like a bad Ross.

I'm like, I even cried their heart and so long, and you don't realize what somebody mean to you, especially when he wasn't sick, he was young, you know what I mean? And it was just like, out of all people, that's the last person I would have ever thought that went to glory, but it's our job to keep his legacy alive. It's our job to make sure his daughter's okay, and she's set up. It's our job to make sure that the Rufusport brand in general continue to have, you know what I mean, the legacy of greatness that he instilled it to us. We built something special in that basement. I wasn't even a Rufusport fighter.

I was an American talk team fighter. Still am. And he opened up his door to me. And in that basement, man, I remember it was Paul Felder, me, Anthony Pettis, Sergio, Ben Aspen, we was tired, we was beat up, negative. 14 degrees, and we found something, and we dug in our spirit, and we made ourselves two things that we knew we was too tired to do. And that moment of time was why it became a championed that. Wow.

Beautifully said, truly. A few things I don't want to ask you about, because it's been a while since we've last talked. Obviously, a lot has changed in the welterweight division. You were once a welterweight champion. What do you make of Islam and how he's looked at 170, and then all the jockeying of position at the top, including... An old foe of yours, Kamar Usman, who's still in the mix.

You know, I don't follow it as much as I should. I hate to say it. I was really supporting Belage just because he was a teammate of mine at Roof Sport. And I feel like he's a definition of somebody that had overachieve what they were supposed to do on paper, right? For his attributes and his natural abilities, you know what I mean? I feel like he overachieved that and you always got to go for the underdard. dog, but his work ethic is disciplined and his belief in himself. He is associated himself with people that help elevate him as an M.

M.A. fighter, so I supported him. But these other guys, I really didn't know a lot about, to be honest. I think Mokachev is dominant. And the one thing I know about the Dagestanian culture is thereflex is not cars, not women, not jewelry, not clothes, not money. It's discipline. and it's keeping that undefeated record. That's what's most important to them. So they have done that time and time again, and I feel like he's a product of that culture. GFL was something you were a part of when we last spoke.

Clearly not anymore. What happened there? What went wrong? Yeah, I wouldn't say clearly not anymore. You know me? I still talk to Darren. It's just I feel like, I feel like the GFL came out the gates blazing, and I feel like it was very, it was very, it was very smart in my mind to get the roster that was crazy first, and then use that roster to go and pitch, to pitch this to investors and pitch this to people to get behind it.

I think that was genius. If it was me, I was a billionaire person, and I was sitting back. looking to buy a league, I'm going to look at this league as people that's already proven products with already strong brands. And I feel like that's a smarter thing than trying to build something from the ground. Name recognition means something. It's good to have talent. But branding is also about if people know you.

And that's just, it's entertainment first and then it's sport after that. So with that said, I feel like it was just that first event. I feel like it was a few more wrinkles in that first event. And then the people that were associated with and people that were thinking about it on the sidelines or watching to see what happened to get involved with it, right? It's a difficult thing when you're trying to get into a new league, right? And I feel like some people that were thinking about joining or investing in or buying the team, I feel like that first event not taking place on schedule. kind of gave them a little bit of anxiety. So I don't think it's overweight from what I'm, what I've heard is not.

But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, I think everything is in God's time. What do you make of this Jake Paul Anthony Joshua fight? Do you think Jake has lost his mind? You know him probably as well as anyone. I mean, Jake has been lost his mind. Like, what's new? Like, he lost his mind when he fought me. He lost his mind when he fought Anderson when he fought Nate.

He lost his mind when he wanted to fight professionally and switched off from, from amateur, it's really kind of been a theme. And I feel like the only person that hurt him ever was me. The only person that he lost, it was somebody that actually boxed him, that actually took

him serious, used the jab, moved around. And I feel like we've seen fights where Anthony didn't do that, and we've seen fights where he did. Depending on which version Anthony Joshua comes out, depends on if Jake has what we would call

a chance. When you're fighting, if you got knockout power, you got belief in yourself, you got some speed, agility to move around, you always have a chance. You know what I mean? We've seen crazier things happen. Francis Agano is a terrible comparison to this happen to Francis. He's not even built the same as Jake. I would say Jake's a little bit faster than him. He has more power, but he's slower in distributing that power. And I feel like, Anthony probably took him a little bit more serious just because he's actually a bigger heavy wave with power. And I felt like he did everything to make sure, for instance, didn't even get a chance to use it. So I don't have to make a prediction because I'm fighting.

I'm not commentating. But, you know, I love when people doubt me. So I'm never going to, I'm never going to doubt somebody if they believe in himself. Do you think he has a chance, Jake? I mean, people think I'm crazy. But they yelled at me when I said, I thought the fight with him and Anderson was even. Remember I said that?

And everybody went crazy on me for saying I thought that fight was even. I don't think this fight is even. I do think that Anthony Joshua was as a better boxer. I think he has more power. But I don't think there's no chance yet can win. Dang, dang. Because, you know, everyone's saying like one or two rounds.

I mean, I would say one or two rounds. two rounds is what he would have to do to convince me that he's going to knock him out. I feel like if he gets, if he can find a way to get past one or two rounds. Who's the he you're talking about here? Because I was talking about age. I feel like, I feel like if Anthony don't stop him in the first two rounds, I feel like he's going to give Jake confidence. And I think it's going to be a decision.

But I feel like, I mean, I'm going to be real like, he's a great boxer. He's got a good power. He was always like the little point guard that was a heavyweight. And I just don't, I don't know why Jake wanted that fight. I don't know what was going through his head, but he always got something up his sleeve. So I don't know. I mean, I'm not fin of saying, hey, let me fight fucking Anthony Joshua. I ain't the one to socked up for it.

And I don't know what's in Jake's mind, but I do know that, like, I've did some things that people just said, oh, never do, oh, my God, I can't believe you doing that. Like, even the other day, I was at, you know what I mean, I was at this, um, um, um, um, um, The director of this movie, birthday, it just passed. And he invited us to his house to celebrate his birthday. And somebody came up to him,

oh, I heard you fight against the Civil. It's such a start notice. I said, don't do that, dude. Because you're not fighting. So why are you nervous? You don't have to get in there. You don't know what shape I'm in. You don't know my game playing.

You don't know my mentality. And I said, what you don't know is as a fight, that's the last thing you want to do to us, is if we don't have fear, don't try to come in, inject fear into our mental because we are the one that's fighting. You're not. I'm not

teaching you how to watch. I'm not coming to the post office and telling you how to sort mail. I'm not, oh, I'm not coming to your restaurant. I'm like, oh, what if the person got an allergy to lobster and you put it in the fucking ravioli and they die and they come in soon? I'm not doing that. Right? I'm letting

you do you. That's your job. It's my job. Is there a chance this is your final fight? Um, no, I don't think so. I mean, I am getting closer though. Shit, I ain't going, I ain't going to 50, Anderson. I ain't doing that, but I don't think this is in my last fight. I think, I think definitely I'll box a couple more times next year. I am contemplating on the MMA thing, though, because the GFL was exciting because we was making a lot of money. So I was like, it wasn't even about, it wasn't even about the money. It was a principle that people saw us being valuable enough to pay us that amount.

So that type of love made it fun. And I felt like there were so many guys with great names and big matchups that we either saw and we want to see again that we didn't see. I was excited about that. I don't know. The MMA thing is the boxing thing I'm definitely going to do more of. The MMA thing is what I'm still playing and asking God about. It got to be something special for me to fight. What about R.A.F.

Michael Chandler's fighting for them this weekend. You know, Real American Freestyle Wrestling? Yeah, he texting me right now. He ain't texted me about something else. But they texted me about something else. But they asked me to do that. Izzy style asked me to do that. I'm like, man, shit.

When I stop wrestling, I stop wrestling. Okay. I use wrestling in the MMA, but I ain't really with it. I'll come to check it out. I support it. I support wrestling for sure. That made me who I am. But, I mean, once again, if you offer me, you know what I mean, me versus Johnny Hendrix.

That'd be something old school. Yeah, motherfucker, I owe you from the Big 12th championship. I think I forgot about that. I would do it if it's something like that. All right, for now, though, December 19th on Netflix. What a turn of events this is. crazy. Tyrone Woodley, former UFC Walterweight champion against the former UFC middleweight

champion Anderson Silva. Never thought we'd see this. It's at $195. You like that? I like that. Yeah, I'm close to that now. I wait like $200. Okay. I'm just, you know, me, a lot of people don't know I was 205 shredded, cutting him on 70, so I was killing myself to make that weight.

I like, when I fall as Jake, I don't have to cut much weight. I felt good. Anderson is a little heavier. I wanted him to come down and cut a bit because you know what I mean you're taller you got longer reach you know I mean there's some other attributes I'm not going to give them publicly but it's some things that I need to just make sure you know me balance out the playing field well I'm looking forward to it looking forward to seeing you out there this is great are you going to stay in London the entire time yeah I mean I feel like

it's cold here it ain't no distractions it is women here but I'm not my folks my coaches are looking at me over there. I'm cut off from that. You know what I mean? I got a great situation. I got MVP. You got another training partner named Mumps as a softball same size, real smooth, real slick, great pad work. And I feel like what I need for this fight is reminding me of the group of sport days that like negative 14. I don't know, I know you've seen it before because you've been the East Coast. But until people can go and throw hot water in the air and it turning to dust. They don't understand that. I don't need to be comfortable like I was when I was training for Jake in Miami and, you know what I mean, all these little bikinis around and stuff.

I need to be in this apartment, you know what I mean, washer, dryer, TV, train, go film, go to sleep. We'll see you out there, Tyron. Thank you very much for doing this. Good luck. Much appreciated my man. There he is. The great time. I'll be there, Anderson Silva. Yeah. Don't be surprised. I won't. I won't.

I'm not doubting you. I'm not doubting you. Tyrone Woodley, returning December 19th. So some familiar faces, some familiar names for us in the world of MMA and a nice little addition. Of course, very excited to be a part of it. Looking forward to it as well, a great way to end the year. We'll tell you about our end of the year plans. But for now, there is some more news to get to on Thursday, my friends.

we got an absolute shocker. It came through the newswire, and it was that the face of glory kickboxing, the, I mean, the most accomplished and decorated champion in the history of glory kickboxing, their longtime heavyweight champion, I believe 12 years he was their champion. You know the man, Riko Verhoeven,

had all of a sudden decided to vacate the title and was leaving the organization. That was it. Here it is. He posts this. It's not a goodbye. It's an until we meet again. And so he posted on social media that he joined Glory in 2012, and he gave it all he could.

So that's 13 years, but it was time to leave. Glory also posting on social media, a big thank you, Terrico Verhoeven, an update. It's interesting what they're doing. They're doing these tournaments and stuff. It's a little PFL-E, if I do say so myself. But there you have it. And so I did a little digging, and I found out that RICO is actively speaking to multiple promoters slash promotions, and that the UFC is one of them. And this is something that we've talked about for a while. How would RICO do in MMA? He's dabbled in the past, but many, many, many years ago. And it was just a, I mean, it wasn't even a cup of coffee. It was an espresso shot.

And then, of course, there's the, you know, the idea that we floated last year, him versus Francis and Gano, remember that? That obviously wouldn't happen in the UFC, but I would love, I would love to see him fight in the UFC. I think it would be a shot in the arm. Obviously, he's friends with Tom Aspinall, training partners as well. It would be a while, not a while, actually, but it would be a minute. But, I mean, sign me up for a real.

Rico Verhoeven versus Alexander Volkov. Sign me up for Rico Verhoeven versus Sergey Pavlovich. Sign me up for Rico Verhoeven versus Waldo Cortez Acosta. Sign me up for Rico Verhoeven versus Derek Lewis. Who doesn't love this? Rick, I know you love this as a long time KB guy, kickboxing guy. Also a big Rico fan. Like the guy is absolutely one of the best kickboxers of all time, the best heavyweight of the generation, and just kind of like ran out of opponents. Like there was a lack of heavyweight talent that could really challenge him. I would love to see him challenge himself against some of these guys.

MMA, to me, is the most fascinating because I just think it leaves him the most vulnerable, and that's the part I kind of want to see, right? Like, he looks invincible in kickboxing. Now, that's not to say he's never been like rock, tested any of those things, but he's actually shown the heart that I think some people questioned. because he's so pretty, because he's so well put together. They thought he wasn't tough. It turns out he's actually extremely tough.

I would like to see him tested in the MMA cage. I would like to see him tested, period. Honestly, there's a lot of opportunities and options for him in boxing, too. Like, I want to see RICO and boxing. Boxing is fascinating. Heavyweight division is great right now. But it's just less fascinating for me because I think he will adapt better to boxing. I want to see him challenged.

I want to see an actual challenge for RICO Verhoven. And I think in the MMA cage is where we'd see that the most. Rico in glory, RICO and kickboxing has run its course. Yes. It's way more interesting to see him in MMA, UFC, way more interesting to see him in boxing. And so I'm curious, but... PFL too? Anyway, MMA, yeah.

Versus RICO is... Oh, my, I mean, that's the one. That's the one. That's the one. That's the one. That's the one that I talked about. I have not heard of much talks surrounding that. I definitely heard about the UFC, some other stuff as well. So let's see. but this one kind of came out of nowhere. And if they do book, you know, him versus Rico or someone like that, I'm going to take, or him versus Francis, I'm going to take full credit for it.

Because, like, we're really the ones that kind of started that whole thing. For sure. We did it. Yeah, I think so. Georgio Petrosian announces retirement. You're more of the kickboxing expert. Significant? Yeah, very significant.

Another one of the best of all time at the era that, like, we are past Georgiole Petrosian's better days. like this was the latter half of his career in a way that I think Rico is still very much more so in his prime, but one of the best of all time, undoubtedly, like a guy who carried the flag for kickboxing for a very, very, very long time. So yes, this is extremely significant and hats off to him for an incredible career. Speaking of legends, Yo-O Romero said on social media that he was offered the fight against Anderson-Silvin. I know some other names as well. Ultimately, they decided to go with Tyron Woodley.

What do you guys think? Yowell versus Anderson or Anderson versus Woodley? Like which would we rather see? Yeah, yeah. I mean, we haven't seen Tyron Woodley fight in four years, as you just said to him. And Yowell Romero's been active, you know, with DBX and everything like that, bare knuckle and he's been getting knockouts. Plus, Yowell just has that character, that charisma additional value.

Or like the kid say? Yeah, I'd say Yowell Romero has. As the kids say, I think it's just you say. I think it's just you say aura. I think I'd prefer you all Romero, but I'm still looking forward to this one. All right. I did want to also update that the PFL has been busy. Their first show, well, their last show of the year is actually on December 13th in Lyon, but you can tell that there's there's a bit of a change in the air with John Martin announcing all these fights, and they're stacking the deck. Two title fights announced for their February 7th show in Dubai. That will be the first show of 2026, PFL Global they're calling it.

The main event is going to be Usmander Magamadov against Alfie Davis. Alfi Davis is actually going to join us on Wednesday's program, mainly to talk about that tattoo that his friend got with Don Davis involved as well. They are going to officially crown a 100 and, no, 170, pound. That's right, 170 pound champion. They announced that as well. Kurimagomadov going up against Musayev. There it is. And those are the two most deserving guys. And they announced this morning that Dakota Ditchava is going to be on this card, but not in a title fight. She is going to be going up against Denise Kielholz, who's a former kickboxer as well. And from a style and, you know, in particular striking standpoint, like it's a very intriguing matchup.

Dakota obviously younger and has been on fire as of late undefeated. I did think initially that this was going to be a title fight, but it sounds like they're going to try to wait for Dakota to fight Liz Karmouche if she could get by Denise and they don't want to have three title fights on the same card. And so while it seems like Dakota might be their most popular and maybe their most talented fighter on the roster, she is still going to be without a belt for the foreseeable future. That being said, it definitely seems like they are stacking the deck here.

They're getting rid of the tournaments, as they said, and they're looking to put on the best fight cards possible, which I think is good news for fans. Speaking of the welterweight division and the former PFL slash Belator Waltor Waltroweat Division, Yaroslav Amosov guys, is coming over to the UFC. He announced this himself reports that he, He is potentially going to debut in December.

So let's see, but that would be a very nice addition, a very interesting addition to the UFC welterweight division. I have seen some reports that Alex Pereira versus Carlos Alberg is going to happen on the January 24th Paramount Plus card. I did check in with some people and they told me that this was not true and that the hope is still White House card against John Jones. That's the current hope and there's been no discussion of a Carlos Albrecht. fight. So I had reported earlier that what I mentioned on the show that Kayla Harrison versus Amanda Nunes is being discussed. I don't know if that's the only title fight on the card, but I can't tell you that Ilya versus Patty isn't being discussed. And that's why I've sort of changed my stance. This could all change by tonight. They could call up these guys

and say, we want you to fight on the card. But that's as of Saturday night and yesterday when I was checking in post-show, I was checking in. And yeah, that's what I came up with. Do we have any super chats? Before you get to the super chats. Oh, breaking news? Well, it actually looks like Yaroslav Amosov. His fight got announced. Oh, it did?

Yeah. Oh, hey. It's Neil Magnet. Okay. December 13th. Hell yeah. At UFC Vegas 112. That's a pretty tough debut, right?

I mean, I know he's not like a rookie, but they're throwing him right in there. Neil Magny is like the perfect litmus test, right? The perfect lip-less test. Yeah, it's a nice litmus test. Wouldn't it mind if you just threw him on the pay-per-view the week before? Yeah. But I guess you've got to get that amazing treatment. You know, welcome to the UFC.

You've got to fight at the apex. Here is the final UFC on ESPN card for you. Enjoy it. Like, it feels like the most lame duck card of all time, right? Play us out, Yarislaw. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the final ESPN fight is going to be Brandon Royville against Minnell Cap, right? Sick.

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Big week for the flywights, that, you know, sixth to the 13th. It started with the fly weights and it ends with the flyweight. That's right. That's right. Henry Sehood over St. T.J.

Dilshaw. Okay, Frankie. What do we got? Your thoughts, guys, on Eddie Hearns' last two years backing Haney. All of a sudden now, Eddie doesn't promote Haney. He is boring fights, question mark. Okay, so we didn't talk a lot about the boxing today. We will, in fact, have Devin Haney on the program tomorrow and Ben Whitaker,

who's going to be making his matchroom debut on Saturday, November 29th. I'm very excited about that. I'll tell you about the full lineup tomorrow. It's a banger. Devin Haney beat Brian Norman Jr., much to the chagrin of 1GC, because he's from Georgia. He actually dropped him in the second round, and I thought, holy shit, if Devin Haney could stop Brian Norman Jr. After how good Norman looked in his last fight, wow, like he will shut everyone up. In the end, he did not stop him, but he won a very one-sided decision. Norman just didn't show up.

I don't know if he got hurt. I don't know if he was dazed, rocked, whatever, but he, I mean, he threw very little. And afterwards, you know, a lot of people blamed Haney, but to me, Haney's a great character in the sport right now because him and his dad, they do their own thing, they ruffle feathers, they talk the talk, and for the most part, they walk the walk. Yesterday was the Ryan Garcia fight, and, you know, he gets that one back. I think everyone wants to see him get cracked. Everyone wants to see him lose.

Everyone wants to see him get knocked out. And he's just not doing that. He doesn't get hit a lot. And people, you know, I think he's not taking chances. But he's one of the bigger American-born fighters right now in terms of notoriety. So I thought it was a significant win. I thought it was a solid performance out of him. I thought Brian was the one that just didn't step up.

The talk going into the fight was Brian has never fought anyone like Devin Haney. And that was true. And Haney has been fighting top dogs for the last six or so years. And Brian didn't meet the moment, it felt like. And Eddie was very critical of him. But like when Eddie's promoting him, he's not going to be very critical. And when he's not promoting him and there's been back and forth and there's been a little bad blood, he's going to be critical. So I don't put much stock into it.

Abdullah Mason, Sam Noakes was probably the best fight of the night. And Abdullah Mason, youngest champion in boxing right now, looked phenomenal. And again, you know, Kishon Davis, Abdullah Mason, like these guys, these are all top-ranked guys. Brian Norman, they should all be fighting on top-ranked car. yards. And they're not. It is very weird. It's very, very weird. David Benavides won in the main event against Anthony Yard. Absolutely demolished yard. It was never close. It was never going to be close. And then the moment the fight is over, I'm like, let's go. Dimitri Bivel, David Benavita is 175. Let's do it. And then he says he's got plans to fight Zerdo Ramirez on Cinco de Mayo

weekend. What? So now he's moving up, which is great. I mean, that's a big time fight, but I wanted to see him versus Bivow, I wanted to see Zerdo versus Jayopataya. I like the idea of him moving up, like shout out to him, that's a big jump and much respect. But we've all been talking about Jai versus Zerto, and we've all been talking about if Benavides could win this fight, he didn't get the Canelo fight, let's see him get the Dimitri Bival fight, the guy who beat Canello. And then they announced that Zerdo potentially has another opponent in January, and if he gets

by him, then he's going to and they're like, oh, why do we keep doing this in boxing? Why do we keep announcing fights and then say, oh, wait, there's one before that one? Who is it? Who is it? It was Robin Saffer. Come on.

What are we doing? On the zone, and then if they keep the fight, if he wins, then he's going to fight David Benavinez. It's very strange. Bam Rodriguez was another star. looked phenomenal and he continues to look phenomenal and he continues to look like one of the best power power fighters in the world.

And if we can maybe one day, one day, one day get the Na'OA-N-OA fight, that would be tremendous. What else, Frankie? What else? I'm calling it right now. Gable UFC debut at the White House 100%. Man, man. I mean, Gable just, he's a freak. The explosion when he fight.

I mean, it's just something. He's got the look. He's got the accolades. gold medalist, national champion, University of Minnesota, the Brock connection, the Jones connection. I just want to see like five more squash matches just for fun.

Let's get them on like the rise in New Year's Eve card. Let's just have him go like around the world. Fight a bunch of jobbers and then debut on the White House card. Sure, that makes sense. Olympic gold medalists. If Kayla wins, you'll have two Olympic gold medalists. And there haven't been a ton in UFC history and you'll have two on the same card.

and keep Henry Suhudo around and you can have three. How about that? What else, Frankie? What else? Usman versus Shafkat, Islam versus Gary, Prochis versus Morales. Usman Shavkat. Usman Shavkat. Yeah. There's a little connection there with the training.

Wait, what is that? Sorry, I'm Dutch. Islam, Gary, dig it, dig it, dig it. Prochis Morales. Yeah, all right, sure. No problem. I fuchs. What else? What else?

Islam has more lightweight title defenses in his belt than Kabib did in his two-year division championship. At this point, has he surpassed Abe in the all-time fighters list? Yes, I think so. I think so. I think he did it after.

Can we talk about Franks? Just butchering that? That was fine. I mean, it's a little bit weird that some of those more lightweight title defenses in his belt, Abe, and is a two-division champion. Yeah, I got it.

I got it. I got you smoke, Frankie. It was all good. What are you saying? Two-year run and the run. I don't know what that was, the two-year stuff. That confused me. But I'm kind of, if I'm being honest, when they put it up, I'm reading it.

I'm not really listening to them. You're not even listening. Yeah, yeah. Probably for the time. But I think most people would agree with that. I think only the biggest Habib Stans would disagree. By the way, speaking of which, what's this? He's like, what's this like, tweeting like some, like, emojis?

and stuff. Oh, yeah, telegram emojis? Yeah, what is that? The pop, yeah. What is that? In telegram. What do we got there? What do we got there?

What is that? I don't know. I'm not on telegram. What is that, though? Like, is it just like you pay for the emoji? Like, you can now use the hat in your, in your... Yeah, I don't know if you're paying for the emoji or if it's like a, you know, non-fungible token, as they say, as the kids say, an NFT.

What is? Oh, you think that's it? I don't know what it is. Who's paying for that? Is it a collectible? Are you, is it a digital collectible? which is there money involved or we don't know oh yeah you're definitely paying for something for sure is it like the uh is it like the uh is it like the uh the camel eating the banana that darin till was

hawking a few years ago uh no i don't think i don't know i don't know i don't have telegram is it like bloch asset if it's if it's if you're just paying for emojis then it's just like he's just giving up his likeness for you to use the the hat as an emoji can i shoot for a second Can I shoot? Sure, man. If you eat the show, dude. Go ahead and rip it. I saw someone commenting on this.

You know, there's a new thing now that if someone has you blocked, you can still look at their page. Do you know about this? Nobody blocks me somewhere to wear, yep. Anyway, Chabib or someone who runs his account has had me blocked for a while, but I was like, oh, wow, I could look at his page. And I was a little bit surprised that, like, almost every tweet was some sort of commercial. Yeah. I mean, it's akin to Tony Con, every tweet is him thanking someone.

Is it? Yeah, it's just like a brand. I think it's a little bit different. I'm just saying, you know, some guys, they get off social media so much and they just, yeah, you know? It's just a lot of, commercial. It's a lot of, like, tech stuff.

Tony King. I mean, Corey Sandagan's Twitter is mostly, like, draft games. Okay. It's a telegram digital collectible gift. Digital? That explains it. Don't love that.

Don't love the collectible. We don't need the digital collectible. Telegram digital collectible gift. Yeah. We all know exactly what that is. I thought it was just like you got to use the... Listen, GDP. I was just surprised that every...

Like, it felt like 90% or not, you know, was like a bunch of different stuff. And it wasn't like, you know, Pizza Hut. It was like this type of stuff. G42 AI. Yeah, what's that? What's that one? It's the leading AI and cloud computing company based in Abu Dhabi.

They're committed to invent a better every day through the power of people in tech. No, it sounds interesting. No, he tweeted at Pavl Doroff, founded CEO of Telegram. That seemed like the seed for the next tweet. I always see you in the gym. I think it's time you come and train with the Brotherhood. Is that the seed for the Muslim Brotherhood that Dana was referring to? It's got to be.

Oh, gosh. Yeah, he's in a bunch of tokens. multi-bank dot ios it's a deep dive gc tell us the dollar sign mbg token what's that one what's that one i don't know man i'm not a crypto guy like that uh yeah arena 2x six aside world series it's a lot right it's significant is it not i just don't think he really gives you shit about twitter and people offer him a bunch of money to tweet these things so he tweets them that that's what my theory would be are you trying to say that maybe dana white was right that he did retire because he got all this money from these

opportunities, the telegram, emojis and whatnot. July 12th, he's coming to New York. Okay, well, this time the arena's different. Join us for a powerful line of purpose. Wait, sorry, July 12, 20, 26? July 12th, 20, it was actually August

2nd, 2025. But what arena? What are you talking about? You said July 12th he's coming, so is that? I think he's just reading, like, in real time. It's like, it's like Evan and Gestell? I think he's just going in real time. I just can't tell if...

I just can't tell the New York thing if he was, like, actually there in person or if it was... I think he was in person. Oh, this is... Oh, you read this from back. This is 2025. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Got it. I'm scrolling through. You're going back. You're going. Got it. Washington Vest. Keeping your money halal is easy with Washington Vest.

Money halal? Keep the money halal, bro. Got it. Isn't that... And then the random retweet of, like, who are the 10 ghosts? It's an MMA. And he's in the picture.

Are any of those, I haven't seen it in a while, but are any of those sponsors for Eagle FC or? I don't know what happened to Eagle FC, me. I'm serious, man. I go through some of these fighters' old typologies, and I'm like, man, remember Eagle FC? There was a dude on this weekend's card that was a, that was an Eagle FC alumnus. Yeah, Waldo, no, no, no, no, no.

not Waldo crazy name difficult name to pronounce I got it right here where's he that Seguide Izgakamayev nah

yeah he fought an Eagle FC twice 2021 really? Yeah one by rear naked choke both times shut up all right shout to Eagle FC man What else Frankie?

What else? Ariel you need to stop labeling this is Ireland versus Texas Ian reps Brazil more than Ireland he literally changed his last name to Brazilian last name. Actually, he didn't. His middle name is a Brazilian last name, and it's his wife's name.

By the way, for the record, I have never called this Ireland versus Dagestan. I'm just saying, I bet you this is good. Just to be clear, I have said, I bet you this is going to be used as part of the promotion. I don't care about Ireland versus Dagestan. It means nothing. I'm just saying these two guys have a history

and now these two other guys have a history. Like, trust me, don't get me wrong. Like, there's no part of me that's like, oh, I can't wait for the conclusion of the the famous Ireland versus Dagestan War. But I'll tell you what, if you draw upon Connor and Habib and without a doubt, the most bitter rivalry in the history of the sport, now you're talking box office. You know this. Everyone stop pretending like you don't know this.

You know this to be true. Anyways, well, what else, Frankie? What else? Shout out to the Bronx Zoo Camels. Yeah, shout out. I've been to the Bronx Zoo. I like it there. It's a good time.

is that is that should we not say that I mean they're just saying hi to the camel well you don't like the wrong zoo no people sometimes people say like oh zoos are mean and stuff oh yeah all right thank you Frank

yeah now it's on you oh what else Frankie what else lastly question for New York Rick chances that the Jake Paul camp picks up an injury in the coming weeks and the Joshua fight is cancelled and never rebooked why do you ask New York Rick

we'll have to ask Duncan 9661 for a response Tell us, Duncan. Not happening. What's not happening? That, that scenario that he's laid out. Jake Paul will be fighting Anthony Joshua in December, 100%. I agree. I mean, I don't think that there's like any sort of like thing that they're going to pull up.

Of course, something can happen, but what would be the point of promoting it? It's just to do that. It doesn't make any sense. If anything, you want the public to start, like, then you start, you know, then you start losing people's confidence. Trust. Can't do that. you can also accomplish the same thing by doing what they've already done, which is like Terrence wanted the fight, this, Ryan Garcia wanted the fight. You could have just thrown Anthony Joshua's name into that list to get the clout from the Anthony Joshua thing. There's no reason to actually book it and then pull out. It makes no sense. Thank you to everyone who sent in super chats. I just wanted to bring up one last tweet and then we'll call it a day. And this was from our old friend Kenny Florian. You know, Dana White was on a program that is hosted by Shannon Sharp? Or is it Sterling Sharp? One of the Sharp brothers.

I have to be Shannon. I'm kidding. I just want to make sure you guys were paying attention. Anyway, he talked about, actually, it was a tweet from our good friend Andrew Feldman, who's prolific on Twitter. Well, let me read Andrew's tweet first. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Dana White says being a UFC fighter isn't a job or a career, but an opportunity to get famous and, quote, make as much money as you possibly could make. He has said this for a very long time. essentially admitting the real money isn't coming in the octagon, the UFC gives you a platform and you're expected to use fame to make the money elsewhere. And Dana has already talked about how rare that actually is when speaking about Connor

McGregor. Everybody else has to make all their money in fighting, he said. Nobody has done it outside of the octagon or ring at the level of Connor McGregor. So the message is simple. This is what Andrew writes. Use the UFC to get famous because fighting won't make you rich. Be like Connor, the one who got bigger than the brand, which the UFC has been cautious and never letting happen again. Sounds like quite the opportunity. This is what Andrew wrote.

Now, Kenny Florence, a former fighter who fought for the UFC, multiple title fights was a tremendous commentator. I still think he is. He quote tweeted that and I thought his take was very interesting. He wrote interesting take, except the UFC brand is built on the backs of athletes who treat this like a career every single day. From the athlete's side, it looks a lot like a career. Full-time training, full-time risk, full-time sacrifice, full-time accountability, no PTO, no off-season, no safety net. You don't sacrifice holidays, health, relationships, sleep, and years of your life for a, quote, maybe you get famous, end quote. You do it because you're obsessed with excellence and you're willing to pay the price. Most people won't. Fame doesn't

create fighters. Fighters create fame. And without fighters treating this like a career, there is no UFC. And I thought that point was incredibly astute. And Dana likes to talk about this opportunity, this window, it's not a career, it's a short, you know, a short shelf life. And I just, I think that that's incredibly deflating for the fighters. This is their dream. This is their life. Everything hinges on this. And Connor McGregor doesn't get to that other stuff unless he is successful in that window. And so that window is the most important thing in the world. It's not not just like, it's not just a moment in time. And so that's why when he's at the press conference and someone says, is Brady Morales a number one contender friend? He's like, sure. And by the way,

whatever happened to that? Is anyone sticking to that? Is anyone even bringing that up now? And I say, like, he is saying that with the apathy of someone who's at the bar and is like, yeah, want one more? Yeah, sure. Why not? Put it on the tab. This is their life. And everything that happens afterwards is contingent on how they do in this short window. If you're an all-timer, you're going to be great afterwards. If you're a so-so fighter, you're going to be okay. If you're a never-was, you're going to have to find a new career. And so to just dismiss it as this thing like, hey, it's just a short-it's what you do with it.

It's how you use this as your springboard, as your platform. No, these guys are worried about this, the fight, the winning streak, the opportunities, and they're being used as these little chess pieces. And that's why, like, the log jam right now at 55 and 70 is frustrated because, like, this is everything that these guys want. Everything. Shafkat Rachmanov, this guy's had a halacious year. He's dying for that title shot.

Ian Gary, clearly, dying for that title shot. Carlos Prachas could change his life. Michael Morales could change his family's life. Armin Tsurukian dying for that title shot they all want to be the guy they all want to be who Connor has become and like this idea that it's just oh you know

it's just this small it's not this is their this this will be the most important five to 10 year period of their lives this is it everything has been building to this moment it all culminates here this isn't the pit stop this isn't the thing that gets them to the next step.

Frustrating. Frustrating to listen to that. But I thought Kenny Floreen put it together very nicely. And shout out to Kenfiel. He does a great job. Speaking to the Bitcoin as well. All right, tomorrow on the program. Tomorrow on the program, we have the aforementioned

Shafkat Rachmanov. Haven't heard from him in a while It's an all-timer kind of day Devin Haney will join us Ben Whitaker will join us Carlos Prachis will join us Money Moikana will join us Some people take off

Thanksgiving week not us Some people go on vacation This week not us Some people say that we're slipping Not us Right guys Damn right Yeah

Any word from Martin Oh, wait a minute Oh No Oh fuck Can't do that to me That was a nice Oh

No Still nothing Who did that? A lot of different people I think you I think you literally did that on impulsive Did I? Yeah

It's like that video of the two guys on the street And they're like Oh yeah that's the best You know that one? Yeah, yeah. Classic. Anyway, it's time to go. Oh.

No. I don't believe you. Please go. Frank, what are your Thanksgiving plans? It doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter what your Thanksgiving plans are. No, I'm kidding. What is it?

I thought we're working on Thursday. No. You just made this whole speech about how we don't take days off. I mean, Monday through Wednesday. And then everyone gets to enjoy their time off. Should we talk about the making of the holiday party, the second annual uncrown holiday party? Should we not go there? Let's not go there.

Let's go there. Multiple texts. Multiple asks. Hey, guys, what about this day? What about that day? Who's the one initiating? Who's the one asking? Multiple being two?

No, no, but I've asked multiple times. Who's the one to respond? You did have to ask more than once. 12 seconds and gave his preferential date. 100%. Same here. It was actually you. Was it you and Frankie?

That's right. And then Andy, the rest. Crickets Multiple times Hey guys We should go out Let's get some soup dumplings Let's have a grand time

So 12 3 on there Yeah It has By the way Just for You stream it Full transparency It has to be you

Because if any of us Decided to make a plan And try to get you to go If you know So busy That's not true I show up Every time I've been invited

I've shown up Oh on Thursdays Thursday Thursday Thank you, Conner, we're talking about a separate date. I have a no Thursday pause. Are you showing up to the separate Christmas party? I've already RSVPed.

Oh, yeah? I didn't know if the RSVP was concrete or not. Oh, wow. They didn't know if that was a maybe. Wow. Well, you thought it was just a token RSVP? I thought it was a maybe, you know? Thank you, Armin.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman Woodley. Thank you to Keith of Derry. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. Back tomorrow, side time. Peace, my name.