The Ariel Helwani Show - Ben 'The Bane' Davis joins the Boys in studio, Conor McGregor loses his appeal, P4P reality TV shows, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

The Boys in the Back kick things off with the results of Uncrowned's poker table felt auction benefitting Ben Askren.Next, Petesy Carroll joins to provide an update on Conor McGregor’s sexual assault case appeal (04:50).Then, Ben 'The Bane' Davis comes in studio to help the Boys break down all of UFC Vegas 108 (12:22), headlined by Tatsuro Taira vs. Hyun Sung Park, before hitting Friday’s PFL World Tournament Finals (33:53).After making picks (44:06), Ben discusses competing all over combat sports (49:10) and breaks down his experience as a “new threat” on The Challenge: Season 41 (58:55).They finish up by giving their P4P reality TV shows (1:46:54), listening to your voicemails (2:17:24), and answering your Super Chats (2:57:02).

But boys in the back, but boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another edition of the boys in the back this time Thursday, July 31st, the final day of July. We push on to August and we got a birthday boy on the set tomorrow. Tomorrow. Big Rick. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

Big Rick, what are we turning? 31, 32? No, 38 years old. That hairline at 38. Almost, almost in my 40s. Why is that hairline at 38? I'd be serving my first term as president. That's what would happen.

I actually believe you. I've kind of wasted it, I've squandered it. First of all, let me, you know, that's Connor Burks. I'm Connor Burks, this is, this is Nate O'Cray. Yeah, two thirds of the boys in the back. 38 years old. How we doing, Frankie? Happy birthday, man. Ah, thank you, thank you.

As you can see, I get very uncomfortable. He doesn't like the fanfare. Don't like it. Who's the big birthday boy? Ah, this is so cringe. We had cake and cookies out there for him. Let me be honest, that thing Frank does with that, it makes me uncomfortable too.

All right, good, I'm glad. There are several people in this office who have early August birthdays, and Frank is kind of going around makes me uncomfortable too. All right, Frank, there are several people in this office who have early August birthdays, and Frank is kinda going around and grabbing them by the shoulder and being like, going over them, and like, here, I'll just go on Rick here. All right, we're doing it.

It's just one of these, it's just like a, hey, big boy, happy birthday, man, I love you, I love you, happy birthday. By the way, he did that to me. He did that to several of our coworkers, so Frank, we'll see you in HR tomorrow. Yeah. Is it each other's birthday? The big birthday boy tomorrow.

Thank you, thank you. Happy early birthday. He wanted no celebration, but on-air Jordan made him some cookies. It was very nice. And camera guy Nick brought us a beautiful cake as well. Beautiful melon cake. Yeah.

That is also for her as well. A sharing. I'm gonna consider it for me. Happy birthday camera guy Nick on Monday. We're celebrating birthdays around the office. Another reason for celebration. The auction has just ended over on eBay, the Uncrowned Combat eBay channel

for the Ariel Helwani show, International Fight Week signed Pokerfeld. Every dollar, all the proceeds will be going to the Asgrin family and that total will be $5,100. eBay user Alpha McCray. Congratulations, brother. John, up to you. I was watching at the end, it was going up, man.

It was at like 4,600 like five minutes ago and I watched it like actively climb. Ended up getting 107 bids on that bad boy over the course of 10 days. Started at 99 cents, ends at 5,100. That in addition to yesterday on the area, how want to show we did a super chats where every dollar will be donated as well to the Askin family.

That was just a bit over 1200. So almost $6,500 in total going to the Ask Confed. Yeah. And obviously I want to give a shout out and thank the winner of the auction and we'll get that poker felt shipped out to you. But everybody who bid, because as you said, there were 107, I think you said, there were 107 bids. We're appreciative of everybody who was trying to do a good thing. If you're one of those 107 people, you missed out on it, you still want to do something nice for Ben Askren, obviously you can find means to send that to his family. There's the page that they've started. So thank you to everybody who tried to do something nice for the Askren family.

Yeah. Thank you to Alpha McRae, the winner. We really appreciate that. Everyone who bid, and everyone who sent in a super chat yesterday, just $5. Just $5. Just $5. It makes a difference. Price of a cup of coffee. Alpha McRae man, eBay user since March 15th, 2002. Hey. I've been around the block.

23 years in the game for old Alpha McRae. I'm just glad that that's the case and not we're looking at like account created yesterday and then we're gonna go to, yeah, but we're gonna have to go through the whole process because they were a fake scam artist. Thankfully, it's a legitimate person. Thank goodness.

All right, thank you so much for that. Can't wait to get those funds to the Aspen family. Hopefully they can go to good use. Earlier today, we got news out of Ireland. Conor McGregor has lost his civil jury appeal against finding that he sexually assaulted a woman, Nikita Hand. In November, McGregor

was ordered to pay 206,000 pounds in damages plus cost to hand. And today three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in Dublin dismissed the appeal on all grounds. Conor McGregor was not at the ruling. So we actually go now to Ireland. P.T. Carroll joins us. P.T., thanks so much for joining us, man. How are you lads? Happy birthday, Rick. Happy birthday, camera guy Nick. And congratulations to Alfie McCray for his fantastic, fantastic bid on the poker field. How are you boys? Doing well. Well said, Pizzi. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Oh, Frank wants to interject. Sorry, what'd you say, Frank? Hello. Hello. How are you, mate? Hello, Andy. Hello, Jordan.

Let's get to the serious stuff here. The civil trial with Connor McGregor. Yeah, absolutely. So, so here's the interesting thing. This began four weeks ago and as had been published in Irish media, there was going to be new evidence. And from what I heard, like the, the, the best possible way that McGregor could get this retried or

anything like that was having this new evidence brought. However, four weeks ago when the court of appeal kicked off for Nikita Hans, she obviously successfully sued McGregor in November. When this kicked off four weeks ago, the first thing McGregor's lawyers did was say, well, we're going to withdraw this new evidence. The only problem is that the evidence had been put out across several publications in Ireland up to that point. So that obviously won the ire of Nikita Hahn's attorneys who immediately said that this should be directed to the director of public prosecutions and should be investigated for the Director of Public Prosecutions and

should be investigated for perjury. So as far as we know, based on what we heard four weeks ago, the couple who were former neighbors of Nikita Hands, who had claimed that they saw some kind of incident occur between Hand and her then partner on the same night that all this stuff was alleged to have happened with McGregor in a Dublin hotel, they withdrew this and now they are being investigated for perjury as per the DPP because when Nikita Han's lawyers said like this isn't right that they can withdraw this at a late notice, the three judges who are overseeing the appeal, they forward this as a DPP. Unfortunately, we won't hear about

this. We'll only hear if they get charged. that will be a headline. But as far as blow by blow accounts of the investigation, we will not hear anything about that. It is important to note that McGregor is not being investigated for perjury. It is the couple that came forward with this evidence. Without that evidence, without the new evidence, did I say, that was put was going to be put forward by this couple. Basically, McGregor's team came in and they said they had an exception with the lawyer, the judge who was just as Alexander Owens. They said that they used a broad term of assault when he was directing the jury like as to

what way they decided the case was go and they should have used sexual assault. However today the Court of Appeals dismissed that. They said it was brutally clear that the judge had directed them that this was a rape. That is what assault meant in this case. And they also took exception to the fact that the judge, as far as they were concerned, allowed a line of questioning pertaining to multiple no comment replies McGregor gave to the police. However, today the three judge panel, they said that that wouldn't stand up as the judge

had told the jury on multiple occasions that the no comments had no evidential value. So those are pretty much the two grounds without this evidence that they went in to get the appeal with and they have been struck out. They find that they had no grounds for appeal in this case. And so what does that mean in terms of the future of this case? Is this fully resolved? Is there anything still yet to be determined? You mentioned obviously the potential repercussions for the neighbors, but is there anything beyond

that? Is there anything involving either Conor McGregor or Nikita Hand from here forward? Paul Jay I would say that Nikita Hand has a case for some litigation as to the quotes that came out from this couple. The couple, Samantha O'Reilly and Stephen Cummins who were neighbors of Nikita Hans at the time no longer are and It was put out in big publications I'm talking like the biggest publications in Ireland the Sunday world the biggest tabloid on Sunday here Which still sells a lot of papers they gave a blow-by-blow account of what O'Reilly saw she claimed that From her window as I said, she was a neighbor of Hans she could see From her window, as I said, she was a neighbor of Hans, she could see Hans being pushed down. And although her view was obscured, she said the way that her then partner's body moved

suggested that he had kicked her. Now obviously this only came to light after McGregor had lost the civil case. I believe O'Reilly had said that she came forward with this information because she saw the case on the TV and hadn't realized it was happening until that time. A lot of people take exception with that because it was probably the biggest story in Ireland last year. So that's all going to have to be looked into. I guess Nikita would have some grounds there.

As the quote that we're just seeing here, you can see that this has affected her greatly. Her legal team had kind of said she's been dragged through this whole process again because of this information coming out. Like obviously in November, I'd say she had hoped she saw that that was the end of it, but obviously with this information coming out, it had kind of brought her back into the public eye and brought a lot of people's opinions to the fore once again. And just want to be clear, you mentioned the hand side of it. Anything for McGregor from here?

As far as I know, he is not being investigated for perjury. He would have to be implicated to some degree by that couple for him to come under that, you know, to come under the microscope in that regard. He has been, so basically up until this point, he wouldn't have had to pay the legal costs for a hand and everything like that because the appeal process was taking place. But in order requiring McGregor to pay hands estimated 1.3 million legal costs were stayed pending the outcome of the appeal. The court today ordered the hand should get a cost in the court and appeal court against McGregor. That's me reading from the article

we put out on Uncrowned earlier. So as far as this whole case, it seems to be over. Anything else will be a separate litigation at this point. Soterios Johnson 1.0 Understood. And one last question for you. What's the sense of the level of coverage of this from the Irish media? Like obviously I imagine the initial ruling by the courts was widely covered. Conor McGregor himself in attendance for this. He was not in attendance today. What is your sense of like, what has been the perception of this, the coverage from the media?

What is the general sense of how this is being handled from the Irish public and the media? Well, as you guys go live here at 1pm your time at 6pm here, the biggest news show of the day is shown at 6pm here, 6.1 it's called on RTE, the national broadcaster, that would have been the top bulletin on the news today. So as far as just speaking to my fiance Elaine on her way home, Bulletin's on the radio the whole way home. In terms of like WhatsApp groups I'm in, as soon as this decision came out it was probably about three hours ago at this point all the message groups just flooded with discourse about this case. Again like McGregor, a hugely

polarizing guy but without a doubt, probably the most famous Irish person in the world at the moment. So anything he does, it's going to be talked about a lot. And obviously we've talked about before on the show, he is massively polarizing here. And this is just another notch in his belt in terms of the various controversies he's been involved in throughout his career. Pete, thanks so much for joining us, man. Really sound reporting. You can read his article up right now on Un. Pizzi, thanks so much for joining us man, really sound reporting.

You can read his article up right now on Uncrowned.com. Thanks so much again man. Thanks lads, all the best, have a great show. Yup. Thank you Pizzi. And watch the crack tomorrow, I'm sure he'll get into it more there. Absolutely.

On Friday afternoon. All right, we move to this weekend, we have a UFC card, we have a PFL card. We were gonna go over those, we were gonna do our bets and stuff and then bring in our in-studio guests, but man, he flew all the way out here. He flew all the way out here.

So I figured, you know, he likes the game. He likes MMA. We can bring him in to talk a little UFC. I like this pivot. Bring him in to talk in PFL. So we now get to introduce, for the first time ever, a person that isn't on the Uncrowned team and in-studio guest.

We had Pizzi here, lovely fellow, but he's on the Uncrowned team. in-studio guests. We had Pizzi here, lovely fellow, but he's on the Uncrowned team. It kind of feels like that was free game. We get an actual real guest that we asked to come in and came in. So without further introduction, the Fury Pro Grappler, the Bear Knuckle Boxer, the misfits boxing legend known for his war

with Anderson Silva's son, the one and oh, undefeated karate combat fighter, the one and oh, undefeated karate combat fighter, the Twitter savant, the voice of combat broadcasting. You've seen him on Dazon, you've seen him on UFC Fight Pass, you see him on APFC, many, many more. And now, the newest threat on season 41 of MTV's The Challenge, Ben the Bane Davis. Oh yeah. He brings his own cherry. Come on baby, come on.

You got the black memo. You got the black memo, you look good. We all color coordinate. We matched. I had to come in, baby. He made an all black and you brought a Celsius with you. You gotta represent the best energy drink on the marketplace, baby.

This tastes like liquid gold. Come on. What do we got there? Little Playa vibes? We're going Playa. You know, we're going Playa. It's summertime. Gotta keep the vibes, you know, as bright as possible. So, hello, Coconut. Yeah, Playa is a beach for those that don't speak Spanish, like myself. I just wanted to get that one out there. All right. So let's start with the UFC card this weekend, gentlemen.

UFC Apex 108. Tatsuro Taira was supposed to be fighting Amir Al-Bazi, now he gets Hyun-sung Park on one week's notice. And I did just wanna float out this stat to you guys. There's obviously people, we have fights, so we should be happy. Tatsuro Taira, ranked sixth in the flyweight division, is the only ranked fighter on this card

other than Carol Hosa and Nora Cornoli who are 10th and 12th respectively in the women's bantamweight division. That's a very shallow division. Doesn't take much to get a number next to your name at women's 135. It's essentially Tatsuro Taira, the only ranked fighter on this card. Yeah, and I think the hype around this reflects that that like I don't think many people are excited to

to tune in for this one. 6 p.m. start as well 6 p.m. Eastern Eastern Standard Time to start. All I'm hearing from this is that there's opportunity for these fighters to announce themselves and steal this spotlight and create that momentum. Gang we are mentioning the lack of ranked fighters but this has the possibility to produce some you know what I mean? So silver linings all throughout UFC Vegas. The positivity is incredible. I love this. So we have UFC Mark within our presence. The guy that's on Twitter that's just like we have fights how could you possibly be complaining right now? Tyra first time we have seen him since last October he's coming off a loss to Brandon Roybal. First loss of his professional career he gets undefeated Hewinson Park on just one week's notice.

Man, Tatsuro Taira, the experience that he has in the UFC, the grappling ability that he has, I feel like this will be too much for Hewinson Park on such short notice. I think it could be an exciting fight, but ultimately I think Taira gets it done. Yeah, I'm a little bit surprised by the line. Surprised by the line and it's like minus 350 Tyra.

Yeah, well, I would expect this to have been steeper because this is a tough task on short notice. Tyra's proven, like there are ways to beat Tyra, we have seen it, but he's shown toughness in fights. He's shown his ability to kind of adapt. And the idea that like somebody stepping in on short notice, I think it's gonna be harder on them than it will be on him.

And so once that grappling game starts rolling, once that submission game starts rolling, I feel like it's gonna be one way traffic. So I'm feeling like there's value even at minus 350 range on Tyra. I mean, this is Tyra's opportunity to, again, restate himself at Flyaway. You've got a guy in Josh Van who lit things up

not too long ago, and Tyra, like you mentioned, absent for quite some time. And now he has an opponent that you should style on. This is the opportunity to beat him into the canvas, finish him inside around and go, look, I know Vann's getting the next crack, probably at Pantoja. I'm going to get the one after that. But for Park, look, he's got all finishes in his UFC career. I don't want to completely write him off. This is a massive step up, but first road to UFC guy to headline a card. That's gotta be worth something. He's gonna get the poster.

He's gonna get the autographs, everything like that. Like, that's the whole... Are we getting the poster? Tyra is what we're gonna hope for in the random UFC poster, Ben. You say massive step up in competition. It's also just a massive opportunity for him. Tyra's ranked sixth.

He can take that number from him in a division where Pantoja is essentially lapping the field. Like it's like Josh Vann got thrown into it and was like, here, fight the number one contender. You beat him, you can fight Alexandre Pantoja. Like you get in this top 10 range. It's just like, I'm one win away because Pantoja just reigns supreme over it.

So Hyun-sung Park, he could win this and then be in a title eliminator his next fight. And that's why we also have to give so much respect to Tyra. This is all downside for him. Yeah, he was supposed to be winning the number fourth in the division. That was going to be the thing that, as you said,

like reestablishes him and puts him back in that conversation, in the conversations that Josh Van is now in. He's taking this opportunity just to stay active and to keep the UFC's headlining spot intact. And he deserves a massive amount of respect. Obviously, Park deserves a lot of respect for stepping in on short notice,

but this is supposed to be Tyra's fight. And it's almost bad enough that Park is jumping up, strength of schedule wise, in this big opportunity. But, Gang, I think the thing working most against him is that undefeated record. 2025 is not the year of undefeated guys inside the UFC. So I'd say that's the X factor that's really going to be operating against him on Saturday.

So especially in mixed martial arts, it's this, this isn't boxing. I think losses benefit you in the long run. Like when you're an undefeated guy, like Tatsuro Taira was like, once you finally get that one loss on your record, you know, you need to change things. You know, like the ego takes a little bit of a blow. It's just like, okay, Taira was. Like once you finally get that one loss on your record, you know you need to change things. You know like the ego takes a little bit of a blow. It's just like, okay, I am beatable.

I need to work on things. And the fact that we haven't seen Taira since last October and his young age, I have to imagine he's made improvements in his game and we're gonna see the best version of Taira that we've seen yet. God, he's what, 25 years old? Yeah, he's young.

That is remarkable, man. Yeah, it's a fascinating fight. I ultimately side with Tyra. I think he probably gets it done. I think he gets it to the ground, and I think he, like you said, kind of styles on him in the grappling. Short notice for Park, and then Tyra, again,

one win away from potentially getting a title shot. We've seen the desire from the UFC to have a Japanese market. We saw Kai Osekura immediately jump in. Like they won a guy from Japan representing as a UFC champion and Tyra could be that guy. Yeah, it's a massive combat sports hub for them. A massive combat sports fan base. If Tyra were to stumble,

it's pretty catastrophic in my mind. Even though he is only 25 years old, man, it really does start to cap the potential. Because before this, it felt limitless, like Tyra was one of those guys that I was like, holy shit, like this guy is going to be a champion one day. The grappling game was just too slick. And also, as I said, he's shown toughness in fights, like he kind of has a complete package. If he were to

stumble here, to me, that would really like set a bar for where the ceiling on Tyra is, it would necessitate a serious rebuild, He would have to string together a ton of wins if he were to lose on Saturday. But again, that's how likely is that, right? That upset occurring. This is why I'm thinking. The odds tell you like it's like a 20% chance. All right, so I think it's less. I think there's value. We could be doubting Hyun-Seong Park, you never know. You never know.

Let's go to the co-main event, Chris Duncan taking on Matthias Rebecky. Saw this one made and it's just like, Chris Duncan, down for a scrap. Matthias Rebecky, down for a scrap. Like this should be like the co-main, people's main event, absolute banger. And as I'm saying all this,

we will get a 15 minute decision. 29, 28 split. Split where they throw like a combined 52 strikes. This harkens back to that stretch that we had where we were like, yo, that apex co-main, that they know how to book them. I swear to God they do it on purpose. They get guys that it's just like,

this dude will go to war, this dude will go to war, let's put them together and hope for the best. Yeah, and you don't necessarily need big name guys for that slot, you just need guys who are gonna throw down and obviously in these two we have it. So yeah, like you I'm expecting a kind of back and forth war but we reserve the right to come back on that when we have a unanimous decision by one or the other.

Yeah, if it turns out poorly, it's not on us. It's not on us. That was just what happened. But I guess the question I wanna propose for this Khomein, is what version of Rebekah do we think is going to show up? Because Oral Bayh and him had a completely drag out in the trenches. Unbelievable. That type of damage, I think, has to maybe affect you in some way, shape, or form, right?

Do we think that Rebekah is going to be a little more defensively aware in this one? Or still same, Mateusz,ah is going to be a little more defensively aware in this one or still same? Mateusz, that's going to show up. I would guess not and the only thing that I would also point to is that was October of 2024. So he's had some time. I would also point to the fact that he won that fight. True. That's true.

I went to war so I won. I came back. Yeah. No, I'm not concerned about that. I don't think he'll be gunshot. I think his style is only that one way. I'm not concerned about that. I don't think he'll be gunshot. Like I think his style is only that one way. He knows how to do that. And as Connor said, like it led to success as opposed to maybe feeling like, Oh, do I have to change something? Do I have

to be a little more slick and a little more technical? So no, I expect him to go to war and Chris Duncan, I think is a perfect dance partner to bring it back to him as well. Yeah. It should be a fantastic fight. I, I, I'm going to go with back to him as well. Yeah, it should be a fantastic fight. I'm gonna go with Rebekah to get it done. Same. I'll go with Duncan. All right, I love it. I think Chris Duncan's a guy that always looks like he's about to lose

and then somehow he gets it done. I think he's four and one in the UFC now. Well, he got subbed by somebody last year. I think that's his only loss. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And well, it's horrors, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We keep rolling Esteban Rivavik's

taking on Elves Brenner. Elves Brenner coming off oral bi-fight, Joel Alvarez fight, and now he rolling Esteban Rivavik's taking on Elves Brenner. Elves Brenner coming off oral by fight, Joel Alvarez fight, and now he gets Esteban Rivavik's. It doesn't get much easier for this. Poor guys who like to go to war, yeah. It's just like, yep, here you go, man. Good luck with this one. His manager's just like, yeah, you're gonna hit

the murderous row instantly. Yeah. Don't need a ranking. But he's one of those guys who's ready for it. That shoot-a-box style, that shoot a box training, like, I like what we're potentially gonna see here. Yeah, I mean, I think it's similar to the Co-Main event. It's one of those fights that has a very high possibility of being exciting and doesn't get these dudes ranked

or anything, but gets them closer to the rankings and gets them into a more fan-friendly spotlight to where they become a name that people start to know. You know, we kicked off this card breakdown with a little, you know, I was one ranked fighter but I'm just hearing exciting fight after exciting fight. I'm just saying maybe there's cause for some positivity. Every time Dana White goes, you can't judge a card until it's over, Ben's like, yeah, yeah.

He's right, you can't! That actually is true. You cannot judge a card until it's over because sometimes the best cards on paper end up being stinkers. End up being shit. I do have this theory though. Every time there's a card like this, people are like, it's always the worst ones

that are the best. I'm like, as a man that's watched every card for the last five years, I wholeheartedly disagree. They only remember the ones that did end up being good. They have these rose colored glasses. There are bits of shit cards on paper that ended up being dog shit. if you're not reframing history What are you doing? You know what I mean?

Contextualizing to fit your narrative then come on with that being said we we go to the fourth fight down on the card Which we've selected you as you're going to be the man to break this one down you you came in foaming at the mouth It was the first thing you said Carol Hosa Nora Carnoli The only top 15 matchup on this card taking place in the women's 135. Guys, when we think of stakes, this might have the highest, you know. No, it's gonna be an interesting fight. Women's bantamweight, I think that it's, like you mentioned, shallow and so there is opportunity for a number 10 contender to take out someone and then really progress upwards with something

impressive. Do I think that'll occur? I don't know, you know, but. Over two and a half for this one is minus 575. Wow. That's crazy. That is absolutely crazy. Uh, Carol Hosea been on a win, loss, win, loss, win, loss since, uh, 2021 when she fought Betch Gohea. Um, so the way things are trending, she's, she's

due for a win. She's due for a win. It's time history is going to stick true. Um, and she's taken on some tough names. If I know him at Dumont, I believe as well. And a couple of other great at one 35. Right, right. So I, I, you know, I think Carol Hose a good opportunity, but like you said, minus five 70

for the over we're heading to the scorecard. Yeah. We're probably going to be heading to the scorecards in this one too. Let, uh, I was, I was about to say legends, two veterans of the game, Neil Magni versus Eliza Zalesky Dos Santos. This should be a fun scrap.

I mean, Neil Magni always brings it, so does Dos Santos. Like this should also be pretty fun. It could be. I could see a world where Neil neutralizes him and then it kind of isn't a fun scrap. But even that to me would be impressive because of what Eliza is. Like we just talked about all these guys who like to scrap. He's probably number one on the list of all the guys that

we mentioned. Yeah. He is the one that is bringing the most like violence per second. Um, go back and watch the BSD fight. Yeah. Head down, straightforward, just absolutely brings it. So if Magni is able to neutralize that to me, that would be an impressive performance from a guy who has kind of been known to do that throughout his career, but is getting up there in age. So can he continue to do that? Like how many times can you be in there

with the young hungry guy who's coming to take your head off and still get it done? That's for me the question. I would propose the word legend, right? Doesn't Neil Magni fit that bill? If we go in the record books, his name appears, longest fight time, I think he's like sixth in UFC history, most decision wins at welterweight.

I think the Haitian impactful, omnipresent, a staple, uh, you know, he's, he's been there, he's done that. What more can he ask? Not only is he in the record books for that, he has the most wins at welterweight. I wanted to look this up and confirm this 22 wins, George St. Pierre, many considered by many of the goat and obviously the best Walter weight 19 wins at Walter weight So I guess legend call the legend. Let's give him that status He also how much the Hall of Fame it doesn't matter, you know, he went on an insane run from February of 2014

To May of 2015. Honestly, he continued all the way till August of 2016 He won seven straight fights all the way till August of 2016. He won seven straight fights, and he went four, five and oh in 2014, and then fought another five times in 2015, and went four and one. To go nine and one over two years is not bad in the U.S. And by the way, this is why every time these days

when somebody strings together two good wins and everybody's like, give him the title shot, I'm like, you guys don't fucking know what this used to be. Pump the brakes. Yeah, chill the fuck out. Like Neil Magni used to do this like every six months. Every day.

Neil Magni won seven straight fights and then was fighting Damien Maia on a pre-loss. Exactly, exactly. That is brutal. Like didn't even get a main card slot on a seven fight. You win once and it's like title shot now. Fuck out of here. Yeah, so.

And Neil's still here a decade later, doing the damn thing, right? Neil the Legend Magni, are we giving them the tick? I think we can. We're giving them the tick up? What is his nickname? Oh yeah, Haitian Sentation. Remember when Ariel didn't remember

that that was his nickname? He was like swearing up and down that he just got it like last year and it's been like seven years. Oh yeah, no, I think it's his whole career. Danny Silva, Kevin Viejo. You're excited for this one. I like that because Kevin's a dude that went the distance

with John Silva on the Contender Series, and given what Lord John Silva's done inside the UFC, it's pretty impressive to survive against him and have some moments. So Danny's a good scrapper, but I think this is gonna be a big showcase moment for Kevin, and he's amped about this opportunity. I like fighters that engage with the fans

that are active on social media. Kevin Vallejo's kids got Twitter fingers you know he is always operating on the keys and I can respect that hustle online so best of luck. Kevin get a big win get 50k. Is this 23 years old by the way? He's a baby! Yeah is this the first time ever that there's been two Argentinian fighters on a UFC card? Ooh, can't be. Can't be the first time. No, probably not, right? I don't know. I feel like Ponsonibio and somebody had the other card. Get something like a Ponsonibio on there. Who else? Eileen Perez?

Yeah, Eileen Perez. I'm sure that that's happened before, but probably rare. That's not exactly the hotbed. Are we gonna get a Buenos Aires pay-per-view? Oh, pay-per-view! Put headlining that way. Santiago Panza Nubio for the World's Best BFF Title. All right, yeah.

I'm building it together right now. Kevin Viejo's. Eileen Perez, co-main title shot. Yeah, now we're talking about it. Eileen versus Kayla, headline? Eileen Perez at 135. We'll slap a 135 women's BMF belt on there. It's just like, anytime you need a pay-per-view,

just slap a couple of BMFs together. They did kind of talk about that women's BMF belt on there. It's just like, anytime you need a pay-per-view, just slap a couple of BMFs together. They did kind of talk about that women's BMF belt, and then it just like went away. Dino never talked about it again. We don't need to do that. Renu Nakamura, coming off his first career loss, trying to bounce back, taking on Nathan Fletcher. Nakamura, we saw him struggle with the wrestling.

Like when he can't really get takedowns and get going, he definitely struggles. It's gonna be interesting to see if he's added any new layers to his game. And I think that he has. If I'm incorrect, please set the record straight, but I'm pretty sure he's been at fight ready, training with those dogs in Phoenix.

And so I think that when you're around Henry Suhudo, you're around that team, you'll probably add at least something. So hopefully it's not just chain wrestling and you know. Yeah, if not anything else, like a better game plan, right? Like an idea of what to do. What's plan B if I can't get Joshua Van down next time? Also that has aged better, right?

Now that we've seen what Joshua Van has been. No, no, no, that's Reis- Oh, Reis Aruya. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Another Japanese wrestler. He lost to Muin Gafura. He lost to Muin Gaforov in his last fight out, similar to where like, couldn't get it down. Yeah, that's where he thrives though. That's that's where he is. And he comes in as a massive favorite over Nathan Fletcher. He's like a minus

500 in this one. So we'll see what happens. And then people are calling it the Kaposa's people's main event, Adolfo Vieira taking on Treshawn Gore, another one that Ben was chomping at the bit for. Yeah, big Treshawn Gore guy. This is his time, it's his moment, the rebuild is finally here. Now we'll see, I mean, Treshawn has produced

some really fun moments. He's got big knockout power, fights with aggression. I just think that we're talking about incomplete games. Treshawn has know had some deficiencies So another opportunity to display how he's improved himself, but Adolfo Vieira. That's kind of just a Dude that never gets really away, right? He's always coming at you always trying to keep it in the fight. Well, yeah, he also Just is down to scrap with anyone He just kind of just pops around and fights anyone.

Like the fluffy fight, obviously, where he got tapped, Armand Petrosian. Yeah, it just feels like now Trashon Gore on the prelims, he's like, sure, I'm down. You do have to imagine if it hits the mat though, it's in Hidalpo's world and that's gonna be big trouble. But on the feet, I mean, I expect Trashon to have some success there, but Hidalpo,

his game has kind of like rounded out to the point that I'm not concerned about him on the feet Like we're talking about people with some deficiencies, right? Look if they can't get the takedown Hidalgo's kind of become an MMA fighter It's why the fluffy submission was kind of so shocking because of the credentials he has but the gas tank is always the question With it all for that's it like can he can he push into the third round? If it hits the mat though, I have to imagine that it's a massive advantage for him. But I expect Treishan to do well on the feet

for as long as it stays there. Felipe Boone's taking on undefeated Rafael Estevam who struggled a little bit in his last fight but was still able to get it done. That should be interesting. Pierre Rodriguez versus Ketlin Sosa. And then the curtain jerker, Austin Baschi versus John Yannis.

Austin Baschi coming back after his first career loss as well, but you gotta give him a benefit of the doubt because it was against Searod, who is the O-taker. I think he's beaten three undefeated dudes in the UFC. He's stalking those undefeated records. It's unfair what Searod does to undefeated guys. And I like the parallels on this card. It's people that have lost that O and now they're coming back for the first time to display, hey, no, I've added, I've shored up the weaknesses.

So for Bashey, I am curious to see what version of him, because I think 13-1 overall, like he's still got some great, you know, ceiling left. So we'll see. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of opportunity for these guys to still UFC fight, an opportunity, maybe not a ton of people watching it, but an opportunity to get a dub on your record and move forward with your career. Yeah, also only 23, like plenty of time. A lot of young dudes on this card.

We were supposed to have Andre Lima versus Felipe Abuns, that one got canceled. We were supposed to have Amir Al-Bazi Tatsuro, Tyra, that got canceled. Azam Abakoev, Torres Finney, that one got canceled. Francis Marshall versus Austin Bashe, that one got canceled. And then Azam Abakoev, who just ended up not being on the card period was supposed to fight

your boy Yusri Belgarui. Yeah you know the pronunciation on that better kickboxer. So Alex Peres training partner he's somebody who I know who's close to him said that will get pushed back and he'll make his debut. Yeah so we're left with with what we've got on that one. That's Saturday, 6 p.m. Eastern, ESPN+, UFC Apex 108. Let's go to, there's the card right there. Tatsuro Taira, Hyeongseong Park. Shout out to Hyeongseong Park, man.

Stepping in on short notice. I think both deserve a lot of credit for keeping it together because imagine that Taira was now off this card. Like what an absolute train wreck it would be. So shout out to both of them for keeping it together. I'm happy to go. There we go. There he is.

Shout out UFC Apex 108 that takes place on Saturday. Let's go back now to Friday, Atlantic City. Ford Wacall. Rolling the dice. New Jersey. Rolling dice. PFL championships. We get two title fights on this one, not a million dollars anymore, 500,000

in a abbreviated season, you don't have to do the regular season or anything like that, it's just right into the tournament. And first up we get Thad Gene versus Logan Storley, welterweight championship. And man, this is an opportunity for Thad Gene to go from essentially a relative unknown to becoming the PFL's

welterweight tournament champion in the matter of four months. I mean, Andrew picking up a win over Jason Jackson, former Bellator champ, and Logan Storley, former interim Bellator champ as well. This would be massive for this kid. I mean, he's young, he's undefeated. He's got the look. He, we, we saw him here in studio a few weeks ago. He, he, he's got the look. We saw him here in the studio a few weeks ago. He's got the gift of gab as well.

This is a very big opportunity for him. No, I'm excited. You know, when we talk about PFL stars, Dakota Ditcheva obviously comes to mind, but that gene, I think, has the potential to be right there. It's a big test though. I mean, Storli is a dude that just finds ways to win. So he will grill you out, gut his way to the scorecards,

and come out on top. So I am curious to see how Thad answers that problem. But I think he kind of did that against Phil Davis, right? Phil's another guy that's gonna wrestle you, try and grapple you. And I felt Thad was very effective in that fight, knocking him down, being able to evade the takedown. So I don't know, I mean, I think ideal scenario here

for PFL is Thad getting it done. But either way, that's a fun fight Yeah The the the field in this tournament was one littered with like Bellator PFL veterans And if that jeans able to emerge from this, I think it will have an effect similar to what Dakota did Where people are going? Okay That's at least somebody to keep an eye on from there Then Dakota capitalized on that right Dakota was able to rack up more wins and make herself a bigger

name and known and show that she could be at this level. I think it will be that kind of like moment for that if he's able to do it. As you said, start in the making potentially if he can get past this because of the way he can talk, the way he looks, the way he fights, he has everything. He has the complete package. We had him in studio. He's very charismatic. He's able to kind of toe that line between being like confident cocky arrogant, but like backing it up I think he has everything to be able to do it The problem is he's facing a guy in Logan Storli whose style is very tough to deal with like we have seen many fall to the

Idea of like he is just relentless on those takedowns and once he has you down there it can be suffocating So I imagine that that has prepared for this to the idea of like he is just relentless on those takedowns and once he has you down there it can be suffocating so I Imagine that that has prepared for this Specifically right it is not hard. It is not necessarily hard to come up with the game plan for Logan store Lee It's hard to execute the game plan against Logan store Lee He knows what he needs to do and it's a guy in Logan store You mentioned his style of stuff to deal with to the point that if Logan's early wins this fight It's not going to be an exciting one for Thad Gene fans and could be detrimental to you wanting to watch another Thad

Gene fight just because it's likely going to be him on the ground getting controlled for the entirety of the fight, which doesn't play well for the PFL. I'm with you. I think they'd probably never say, but I feel like they're probably like Thad Gene, young champion would be nice to have for us. The guy that also reps Haiti, I mean, this time last year, he was like the third fight on a card fighting a dude named Chris Brown. He wasn't even in the tournament. Yeah, yeah.

I think Ian Parker was the one that nudged everybody internally and said, "'Hey, throw this kid in.'" And now he's maximized this opportunity to a beautiful degree. So watching this story culminate with him getting that wrapped around his waist would just be something you always like to see but you know and you get

The tournament championship and then if your PFL give him a fight for the real welterweight title or Well, I what I was just gonna say even let's say fad loses right let's say Logan Storley wins this tournament Do not put him back in a tournament just match him Yeah, just match him from there just turn and if it's competitive Just have him fight Logan Storley again for the real belt or somebody else. Right. Like just figure out a way to keep him out of this tournament because you don't want to kind of

encounter matchups like this. He's still a young man in this game. He's still getting a lot of reps. He's still getting his legs under him. He needs the reps build him in a way that you can. So this is a, this is a kind of a nightmare matchup. If we're being honest, like this is the, this is the last one you want.

You really don't want to see Logan Storley on the other side of the bracket. If he can be successful, the sky's the limit. But I still think there's a way to pivot from here, even if he comes up short. And for Logan Storley, like this is the culmination, right? As you said, interim Bellator champion, he's a big win over MVP. He's done a lot in the promotion with Bellator.

This will be another opportunity for him to say, I am one of the best in this weight class, regardless of promotion. Yeah, then to say, I am one of the best in this weight class, regardless of promotion. Yeah, then after this, I mean like it's always tough to matchmake with PFL just because like the the lack of ranking order for them, but Shamil Masaev, the guy that won last year, if he's still with the PFL, like he's undefeated, that could be a potential fight for him. There are fights to be made for Thad Gene if they want to get into the star building business with him. Co-main event Featherweight Championship, Movleed Kubaliyev taking on Jesus Paneto.

Paneto, his last nine wins have come by way of knockout. Like he is just starching people. His one loss was to Gabriel Braga by split decision, which he has now gotten revenge for twice, both by finish. He's been looking fantastic. Won the 2023 tournament. Like dude has been on fire on the other side, Mauve lead, undefeated.

He does have the one loss to Daniel Pineda, but it got overturned because of steroids, but like he did get starched out in like the first 60 seconds of that fight. It did just get overturned afterward, but still has the O on his record. And I was actually doing some research like before this fight and randomly Khabib Nurmagomedov's YouTube channel,

as you're looking at the bracket there, first post in six months, behind the scenes documentary on Movleed getting ready for this fight. I was like, what the fuck? What is this? He took six months to make it. It was Khabib editing on Premiere Pro.

Khabib was editing everything? He was like, rather, this is difficult. Posted it himself. Yeah, so I actually watched 15 minutes of it. It was quite good. What was like, rather, this is difficult. Posted it himself, yeah. So I actually watched like 15 minutes of it. It was quite good. What was your takeaway? What was the big? Yeah, Movlid seems ready to go, man.

Seems like he's ready to go. The way this all started was I was watching back the Daniel Pineda knockout and Pineda runs over to Movlid's corner and like gives them like, like bows to him and stuff. And I was like, is that Islam Akhashev? Like he's rocking a PFL and stuff like that. I was like, oh, I didn't, I don't think I realized

that Islam and Habib were like tight with Mobley like this. Oh no, they've talked about like this guy, his nickname I think is the killer, the butcher, something to that effect. They have talked about how this guy is. And we've seen, like there's been various points where we've seen kind of like decisions and then we've seen these moments of incredible explosive

like vicious knockout power, the Damon Jackson, flying the obviously the most obvious example He's he's really solid. I think he was your pick to win the tournament when we did the breakdowns He was my pick as well The problem is like I guess we just have to stop doubting Hey Suspinator like this this guy like the run that he's been on it's hard to remember because it was an actual lifetime ago He was in the UFC and he split wins and losses. Let me just look at this up. He got two fights, Devin Powell and John

Mcdessie. He lost to Mcdessie and that was it. And like since then has kind of just come on to craft an incredibly impressive career. I've doubted him at every turn. I did not think he was going to win that tournament and he ends up going on to do it. Incredibly impressive, somebody that I've continued to doubt and has continued to prove me and probably many others wrong. I obviously, again, feel like Mobley has the pole position on this. I would pick him to win. But would I be shocked if Pinedo is able to do it again?

I'd be like, no. Pinedo actually the favorite in this one. He's like a minus 150. When he came into the PFL- He deserves it by the way. Yeah, I mean, dude, we've done recently. For what he's done, literally everyone that you fight. When he came into the PFL. He deserves it by the way. Yeah, I mean, dude, we've done. For what he's done, literally everyone that you fight. When he came into the PFL in 2023,

loses that split decision to Braga, and then he goes, Brendan Locknane, first round knockout as a plus 375. Obvious he would have been a dog, yeah. Huge dog. Plus 375, Bubba Jenkins, plus 300 dog, knockout in the second round. Then minus 110 when he rematched Gabriel Braga

for the championship, knockout in the third round. Adam Borichs this year, knockout in the first round. Gabriel for the championship, knockout in the third round. Adam Borichs this year, knockout in the first round. Gabriel Braga again, knockout in the first round. And now he gets Mauve lead. And what's remarkable about these stoppages from Pinedo is they usually just come out of nowhere. That neon loft name, the most recent thing is Braga. It's just, he finds these moments

and that shot selection is why, again, I can never pick against him. So I'm all aboard the Jesus Pinedo train, to the Moffley but I think Panetta is gonna notch another stoppage get that tournament back and you know he's another name that I think the PFL should absolutely strap a rocket to and promote to the to the moon. Well it's just the same thing. Yeah like reps Peru which is like a country that is not known for great mixed martial artists now like he's got a million dollar check from the 2023 tournament.

If he wins here, he gets another 500K. Do PFL Machu Picchu. That's what I'm saying. Now we're talking. Let's set it up right in the ruins. UFC will do it on the same weekend. UFC 331 from Buenos Aires, headlined by Santiago Ponsanibio,

Daniel Rodriguez for the BMF belt at 170, and then PFL Machu Picchu, headline by Jesus Pinedo. But by the way, this goes both ways for me. Like, if Mobleed wins, you've got a guy who's an undefeated Dagestani with Habib, and it's like, you can build on this regardless. He might be a guy that I then also,

like, separate from the tournament, right? I'm just like, this is one of our guys that we're putting on in showcase fights from now on. It inevitably kind of becomes hard to then sustain a tournament if you're taking out names that even like Mowgli to Habulayev is like moving on to non-tournament fights, but I don't know. Maybe the tournament just becomes the contender series

style like building up. It'd be funny just to take everybody out of the tournament. It just makes life. I was gonna say like. Many have advocated. What if we just took away the tournament? Do it, the tournament completely. Yeah, we just made me like. Well, I was gonna say like, what if we just. Many have advocated. What if we just took away the tournament. Do it, the tournament completed. Yeah, we just made the best fights.

I'm sure we'll build up like a ranking system and then we started building great cards and. I don't think that would work. Ben, we have a segment here where we take voicemails and Don Davis is a regular caller, so I'm sure we will hear from him later in the show. Don Davis is a big fan. Oh, and this is fight week? Yeah. He will likely be. He'll be checking in. He'll be hyping up this card.

All right. So that's UFC. That's PFL. We're getting fights this weekend. That's the stadium. We're getting fights. Come on. Fights are happening this weekend. Fights are happening this weekend. And because fights are happening, we got to do some bets. Let's run through them. Real quickly, we'll recap last weekend. It was a bloodbath, boys. It was a bloodbath. Great weekend, great weekend at UFC 318. Came right back down to earth.

Lot of red on there. Lot of red on there. Down 10 units. 10 units, people. Look at that. Put it right there. Down 10.4. MFing, did we really need the M Put it right there. Down 10.4 MFN. Do we really need the MFN on there, Jordan? It's a little harsh.

Also, the size font, 7,000. The size font is quite big. We're making sure everybody knows. Listen, I'm not the one who's losing. I got, I got. Ten units is a lot. Ten units is a lot. That's a substantial amount. Ten units is a lot.

I'm not a better, but. Okay, but wait. For 318, you were up what? Like eight units? Yes, I was up. On the year we're still up, on the broad spectrum, we are still up at like 10 units stars. You don't take that one light. I'm visiting my boys down in Charleston who don't really watch UFC.

We're watching UFC Abu Dhabi and they're just like, give me some bets. I was just like, nah, you don't need to take my bets. Like if they lose, I'll feel bad, blah, blah, blah. Did they take them? No, no, no, they didn't. Oh, fuck. But at the end of the night, they were like,

thank God we didn't take our bets. Robert Whitaker, when he lost the split decision, they're like, so how'd you do? I'm like, not good, man. They're like, isn't this your job? You're like, can I get some money to fly back? I don't know how I'm getting home. Yeah, got killed, got killed, plain and simple.

And then the Parlay Pals reversed of what we did at 318. I was the only one that got it right. Everyone else missed it. So yeah, parlay pals, my bets. I feel like Marcus Bucceccio was right there. He was right there. Honestly, if Marcus Bucceccio was- He was in the ring.

If he was there. If he had submitted Budai, we're not down 10 units, I can tell you that much. Oh, you had a lot. I had a lot of parlays that missed by one leg. And it was Bucceccio. But I, we're not down 10 units, I can tell you that much. Oh, you had a lot. I had a lot of parlays that like missed by one leg. And it was butchering. Like I needed the reachy fight to start the third round.

That one ended quickly. Like there were several close calls, but all those add up to me losing 10.4 units. It was a bloodbath, bloodbath. I think that was the second worst night of my betting career. First is Amir Al-Bazi, Kai-Kara France, June of 2023, lost like 11.7, absolute bloodbath.

Also ended in a split decision loss. We will not get it back. This is the week we get it back. This is not the week we get it back. I went light, I threw in like three Moneyline parles and like an over, under and like that's it. But before we do that, Parley Pals this week.

Yeah. Then I'm sorry you're not included in that. Whoa! Oh shit! Look at this production! This is crazy! The first time we just got a Parley Pals transition. You guys are adding some new wrinkles to this.

We knew you were coming. We had no idea. I appreciate that. We had no idea. new wrinkles to this. I literally had no idea. We knew you were coming, we had to. I had no idea. I appreciate that a little bit. We had no idea, that was big stuff. I love the guitar riffs on everything. I love how we're just like, we're metal, we're metal here. This show's very metal, yeah?

I guess we could have grabbed Pizzi's pick on the back end of that there, but it felt like he was busy. We already got it. He took, Pizzi took old Raphael Estevam. He said please and thank you after that. So Frank, you can kick us off. Pizzi took old Raphael Estevam. He said please and thank you after that. So Frank, you can kick us off, Rook will go after that and then I'll finish this off.

Yeah man, it's real simple for me. It's Nakamura, money line. It's gonna get it done, I love it. Hello breakdown man. That was good stuff. No stone unturned on that. No stone unturned, Rick you can go. I said it earlier, I think there's value on Tyra.

I'm feeling very confident in Tyra, so yeah. All right, I will go with Curtin Jerker. We'll find out real quick if we're gonna be rolling or not. Austin Boschi, I'm gonna say that he bounces back. I like that. Revenge of that first loss and gets it done. What does this give us? The first fight of the night, not much, plus 114.

But I like that, I like us being careful. Yeah, let's be safe here. I like us being a little- Let's be safe, let's protect that. This is a sketchy card, this is a sketchy card. This is a sketchy card. You gotta build back. You gotta build back. In units, you gotta build back, Shane.

Hey, it's gonna take weeks, years, everything I've ever worked for. All right, my bets real quick. Just a couple of parlay, some favorites that I feel decent about, but like, once we get into the Apex, 715, 720 PM Eastern, it's just like, why did I think that guy was gonna win? Matthias Rebecky, Esteban Rivovics,

let's just keep it rolling, we're not doing heavy breakdowns. Celeste Guido Santos, Adolfo Vieira, think that one gets the Matt the Vieira one. And then Tatsuro Taira, Austin Baschi. And then a little pacifist parlay, fights to start round two. Klein, Pulaev, Silva Alejos, Brenner,

Riebovichs and Nakamura versus Fletcher. And those are the bets. Just keeping it, keeping it light. Let's just get back on track. Keep it light. Just for, just get me in the green and we'll, we'll move on, we'll live to see another day after UFC Apex 108,

because we got UFC Apex 109 the week after. There we go, back in the warehouse, come on. And then we got UFC 319, that's when she came. I thought I was the number one apex guy, I think Ben might actually be the number one apex guy. No better venue. This is a UFC Fight Pass employee, bro. He can't be trusted. There's like a red dot that appears on my head. So what do you think about the Apex? The car's actually not that great. Yeah, it shows up. Alright, so what do we have next for your fight career, right now that we're talking fights? You didn't come in to break down Apex 108 and the Piazza.

But we appreciate you for doing it. It would be funny if that's all I came here for. I'm like, alright, thanks guys. You're cutting your teeth here on the voice in the back. I don't know. I've been boxing with BJ Flores the last three months and feel completely different as a boxer, just stronger in every sense.

I have a greater understanding of where I'm putting my body, my balance. I think the crew that I was training with for the karate combat fights that Gabe Silva fight, the BKFC fight, you know, they were MMA guys. And I love them to death, you know, they were great. But with BJ having his boxing, you know, acuity, it's just a different type of learning where I'm like,

okay, this feels right, this is clicking better. So hopefully maybe some glove boxing, but guys, I'm not rushing to get knocked out again. I mean, geez, Luis, let the chin heal. It is kind of crazy looking at your topology page. There's so much red. But that's okay. You're getting out there and doing it.

Like, Karate Combat 47, you get a dub, big dub. We got the dub, baby. Come on, karate combat. Did I pick a bantamweight and bring him up to lightweight? Maybe. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Misfits boxing, you fought Gabe Silva. Are we trying to get that one back?

I think the rematch will occur. I'm hunting Gabe Silva. So we've been in a boxing ring, we've been in the Karate Combat Pit, Fury Pro Grappling, this one, Brad Boulton. Brad Boulton, dude, the president of CFFC. 80cc level black belt. It was supposed to be a joke right me Rob

Haydack we all thought it would be funny John Morgan. We were like alright. This would be silly I was coming back from working at KC event and so I head out there on a couple days notice and I Didn't have time to really chop it up with Brad before because again. He's the president of the organization. He's busy But I just assumed all right. We're gonna roll around a little bit, he'll give me a couple submissions, we'll have some fun. And for anyone that's seen the fight, it's an immediate flying triangle attempt, and then he ankle locks me, and I was in a boot for six weeks.

I don't know if Brad intended to hurt me as bad as he did. What do you say to him after the fight? Like, you're in the boot for six weeks, like, he's obviously, you're so outmatched in this. You're running in black beltatched and it just says right here straight ankle lock 13 seconds but correct me if I'm wrong also you're saving the card right didn't they have somebody pull out and then like you were filling in to fight against him we'll frame it like that we'll frame it like

that absolutely Brad you know his is he had a great opponent lined up they fell out I stepped in that's the narrative no it all just came out of nowhere. And yeah, I think after the fight, he was like, sorry, man, I didn't mean to do that. I was drunk. I was like, that's all right. In the fight, yeah? No, actually, you know what? Before the fight, I did have a drink. I walked out of

the warm-up room and grabbed a margarita or something and then walked back up. Chris Dachas was cornering me that night. He said, what are you doing? I'm like, you know, just getting ready. That wasn't a scene in the tunnel. If somebody's like walking by, wait, that guy's like competing, no?

Dude, so like, Gerald Mirashart, a couple other people were in that same warmup room and they were all looking at me. They're like, what the fuck are you doing here? I was like, I'm competing. Is this the one that you got interviewed by CM Punk afterwards? That was the one where CM Punk roasted me.

So it's like bad enough that my medial cuneiform bone got snapped in half. Then I had to get trashed by CM Punk on the mic. But to be honest, as a guy who grew up loving the pipe bombs and the GTS, it was an honor to get roasted by him on the mic. All right. So all those are crazy in their own right. You are going against Anderson Silva's son, who how big of an, how much taller was he than you?

He was huge. Like he was, when we were watching that, like when you guys like faced off in the center, I was like, oh God, like he is significantly taller than you. And then you're grappling against a black belt. Like you're obviously outmatched in these. But to me, the most credit I have to give to you is the BKFC one over in Spain.

Like going against Oscar Willis in a bare-knuckle boxing match, I was like, this kid is actually fucking crazy. I cannot believe this. I cannot believe that you did this. You actually called me afterward. I don't know if you remember doing this or not. Like the next day you texted me

and like you didn't remember it. Like I think you were just like on the high of everything going on. You told me how crazy it was and how insane it was, and I can't give you enough props for doing that. I appreciate that, man. I definitely was very concussed after that fight. I don't remember much of the evening.

You said you weren't concussed as fuck. Dude, I got really fucked up in that fight. I didn't think it was gonna go that poorly. But it was great, man. So many people have asked why I did that, but it was a really cool experience. I had a good training camp, six weeks. I felt really good. And it's just about checking boxes.

I'm somebody that's always favored the opportunity and trying to maximize as much as I can. And it's something where I think I would look back and go, fuck, what a missed opportunity if I turned that down. And it was perfect against Oscar, because I've got so much love for Oscar, he's the man. And I was like, if I'm gonna do something

as stupid as bare-knuckle boxing, it better be against someone that I've got a lot of love for and we can have some drinks afterwards. And I will say this, I did break his hand. And so, technically, the person who got the most injured afterwards and I did I will say this I did break his hand and so technically the person who got the most injured was Oscar so we might be able to reframe this to a Ben Davis TKO victory because I was fresh as a daisy the next day but yeah well I mean you know he our guy right here in New York right because

they're like best friends with Oscar Willis so like we were watching the fight I was like you know what I? I hope neither guy gets hurt. I hope they both have fun out there. I hope it's a great scrap. Rick here is like, come on Oscar. He's like, knock him out. Knock him out. No, I'm just kidding.

We were on FaceTime together and I was just like, no. He didn't actually. Kill him, kill him. We're joking about the record and things like that. I just want to ask a serious question for a second. Heading into these fights, you are taking it seriously, right? You are training as if this is life and death,

I want to win this fight, I want to give it my absolute best. It is not just a promotional vehicle or something like that, right? No, not at all. Like I take these seriously. When I do train and I am in the gym two times a day, envisioning myself getting my hand raised.

I did, like it was obviously, I knew the odds with Gabe, but there was that small fraction of me that was like, maybe I'll, what if I land something guys, you know? I did get one good body shot on him. So yeah, you know, I think I always try my best and position myself for success, but I understand that the greater thing here is the marketing and it's the promoting of it

and it's building it up. Like the result is important, but it's not everything. I mean I'm not a fighter. I'm not somebody that's trying to make it to the UFC or become a prize fighter. So for me, the biggest thing I care more about is, hey, was it entertaining? Did we do a good job building it up?

Were people invested? Great, that's what matters. Do I win, do I lose? That shit happens but like, you know. A, there's something to be said for that because all four of these events, I don't think I'm watching any of them if you're not on the card.

And the proof is in the pudding because I don't think many people in your position would get that call. Or like, if somebody loses, they're probably not getting that call, whereas you are getting that call consistently from these promotions because they know what you bring. They know you're gonna bring the attention,

you're gonna promote it properly, and as you said, you're gonna take it seriously even if you are long on the odds, right? Even if you know that you're outmatched, you're gonna take it as seriously as you possibly can. Also, you say you're not a fighter and everything like that, but I'm looking at a topology page right here, and I'm looking at four different principles

of mixed martial arts that you've gotten into here. It looks to me like you're a fighter, because there is, win or lose, there is a respect factor gained from this. It's like you had the balls to make the walk, to get out there and do it. People have to respect that about you. I would hope so, man.

I mean, I get a lot of shit, sometimes deservedly so, right? Yeah, but a lot of people that would never do this. Yeah, and I think what I hope speaks most is, lost the first one, right, to Brad, could have stopped there, you know, came back, lost the second one. Lost the first one and ended up in a boot.

Came back, you know, so like, yeah, so I do have a level of resilience where it's like, okay, I'm not gonna let something stop me, a setback, but I don't know, I've got too much respect and admiration for the people in combat sports that are training every single day, and this is their goal and this is their lives. And so for me to compare myself on that same playing field,

I feel would not do justice to them. I'm somebody who believes that, look, if you cut hair a couple of times, does that make you a barber? No. I've fought a couple of times, I don't think I'm a fighter. I'm much more of a broadcaster. I'm much more of someone that's interested in entertainment

and that side of things. But I'll continue to fight. I'll continue to compete if the opportunities are right and everything makes sense. Dollars make sense, baby, then the bang gets back on board. But at the moment, again, I'm not really rushing to get back in it. When it comes to broadcasting, man,

we've seen you a lot now on APFC. We've seen you doing some voiceover work for APFC commercials. I was like, I think I recognize this voice. We see you doing the Zone, Misfits card, we see you in the ring with KSI. What is the ultimate goal for you with broadcasting? I don't know if I can really put one specific promotion

or one specific box. Obviously it'd be great to do UFC play-by-play one day. It'd be great to get the call up to do some of these bigger boxing events. But the longer I've been in this industry the last couple years, I've just learned that it's so challenging to get into those rooms and be in those conversations.

And so it's like, I don't wanna set myself up for failure. I just wanna be the best broadcaster I can be. Which is what's led me to do sumo wrestling play by play and pro bowling play by play all of last year. So I'm someone that's trying to just do my absolute best and if the opportunities come along that I want and that I hope one day I can get, then I'll be there and I'll say yes.

All right, your next latest, newest endeavor, I feel like this is where I should just walk out now. Season 41 of the challenge on MTV. You're no longer needed. Literally. See you later. Once again, I am now watching something, only because you are doing it.

Rick loves the challenge. He's watched all 40 seasons prior to this. I would have been watching no matter what, but this is giving me much enhanced pleasure. Now I am into it. Now I have watched, I watched episode zero, all the intros, and then I watched last night's episode live on MTV.

I sat through all the commercial breaks. I was there, baby. I was in the trenches. It was incredible stuff. How did this come to fruition? The spark notes on it was, funnily enough, in Fight Circus, so we all love Fight Circus. Yeah. And I was.

I forgot that that's on your resume as well. Yeah, the Indian leg wrestling in September of last year, or 2023, but I know March of last year, I was doing a show with Fight Circus, and they brought in a producer-director that had done so much great work in Hollywood and the reality TV world. And we hit it off. I had a really good time working with him.

I felt we had a good connection. And a couple weeks after the show, I was just on the phone with him, and I sort of asked just offhandedly, hey, how do people get involved in this world? What is the casting process like? What can you do to stand out? When you say this world, by the way,

are you talking like reality competition broadly? Or are you talking about this show specifically? Like what was the conversation that you were having on that? Broadly. Okay. Broadly, yeah. Cause like I was just throwing softballs trying to get a better understanding of the industry. And he just sort of directly was like,

well, which one would you want to be on? And this is where the whole Houdini trick of me and the challenge comes to fruition. I don't really watch reality TV. I was never the biggest reality TV fan per se, but I'd seen season 24 of The Challenge, which is Rivals 2, it's a great season. And so when I was talking to him,

I was like, I love The Challenge. And he was like, no way, the casting director worked with me for a decade on a show that he was doing. And so he was like, let me just check and see where their casting process is for the next season. And that was March in mid December, I get a call, hey, you're on season 41, you ship out February. Timeout.

So from single conversation to you're casted, there was no audition process? I had to go through the whole audition. I had to sign the tape. There was physical evals, psych evals, all the medical testing that we needed to do. Wow, that show has psych evals. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm surprised. How long of a process is that? It genuinely was like every so often from March to mid December. It was just a weird thing that I had going on in the background because last year, It genuinely was like every so often from March to mid December. Okay. It was just a weird thing that I had going on in the background because last year, you know, it was a busy year. And every five or six weeks I get an update and they'd be like, all right, hey, we need this from you.

Hey, check this email, you know, you need to fill this out. And part of me didn't really believe that I was going to actually get cast on it. Was it guaranteed when you were going through all these things, was it guaranteed that you were already on the show and you just needed to check these boxes? Or was there still like a process that needed to be filtered out where you might not still be on?

Dude, I thought I was gonna get bounced every time I heard from them. Okay. You know what I mean? I thought every phone call or every email was, hey, we've decided going a different direction. Someone established in reality TV or someone from a different show. Cause when you think about the challenge,

it is quite rare to have someone go on with no background in reality TV. That's kind of the whole shtick is they pluck from Love Island, pluck from Survivor. Didn't know that until last night. Watching it, they're like, oh yeah, one Survivor. I'm just like, oh shit. You see in the lower thirds, like everyone's

from a fucking show and then you've got Ben. But even more rare, and this is why I'm so happy that this little serendipitous thing happened, is that show in particular doesn't always do this mass casting. Even if they start plucking people, it's like two or three people per season, but it's usually the regulars.

And so this season they're doing what previously would have been called fresh meat. Now they're bringing in this whole crop of new people and you happen to be talking to this producer at the time that they're doing this. It could not have been better. Sane butterfly. Yeah, no, it's ridiculous.

And I attribute so much luck to it. I can never be like, yeah, I forced this. It's just luck. It's just right place, right time. And again, trying to maximize it. And like I said, literally until mid-December, I was thinking, yeah, they're not gonna let me on. So you said you watched season 24.

That was like, yeah, I love the challenge. So when you saw, CT won that season. When you saw him in person, were you starstruck? Were you like, oh my God, there he is? Dude, there was something surreal about being locked in a house with 16 of these motherfuckers. Because I did go back, after I had that conversation. Oh yeah, you are with Rogan.

There's me getting told, hey, you're on the chopping block immediately. Also, can we just talk about the juxtaposition between you two? This guy is just this giant, tanned, like he is like stereotype reality TV, and then you're just normal guy. Could I be more pale?

You know what I mean? Could I be- The lighting's not doing great for you. I mean, look at that. It's very blue. It's very blue light. This guy is here to play. And he's orange by nature, so like, you know could I be the lighting is not doing very blue very blue light this guy is is here to play and he's orange by nature so like you know we're gonna excuse it we got the jawline yeah we got a robot I had to

hit the robot baby they like came back from a commercial break with this I have so many episode questions yes let's go back let's let's go back I want to start with you arrive in Chile. Yep. This is where this all took place, was Chile? Santiago.

So this was February 10th to, I think the photography ended mid-April. You were in Chile for two months? Sure, yeah. I'm there the full two months. In fact, I stayed. No, but I will say a quick funny story from like immediately when we get down there, two things. One, I'd asked MTV's social team,

hey, so can I post like a, I'm taking a social media hiatus to explain my absence? Because as you guys know, I'm chronically online. Yeah, oh yeah. Too much online. And if I just disappeared, I think like that would be a little bit odd. But I completely botched this social media hiatus post because yeah because I think we spoke about it

the video that I posted makes it seem like I'm I'm going through something you know I literally said hopefully I'll see you guys soon as if I'm not coming you know what I mean like I look back and I was like oh my fucking god and so everyone's texting me like hey if you need to talk to somebody. I text you, I was like, hey man, I hope you're all good, dude. Like I saw you think, because like you say, you are chronically online. I sometimes feel like I tweet a lot

and then I look at you and I'm just like, this guy puts up 50X what I put up. It's too much. Every time I get on you have a new tweet. So the thing that you were stepping away, I was like, this guy's in some serious shit. We're gonna lose Bane. I know, yeah, he's gonna be institutionalized, man.

He's out. Just gonna take a step away, guys. I'll be back soon. Thanks for all your support during this really hard time for me. Just like, what? It'll be great if I hopefully return. And I sprinkled, I was like,

I've got some challenges I'm going through. So I tried to like, and so some astute challenge fans that when the casting was leaked, they did go back and they were like, oh, he said the thing. You were trying to do that, but I was like, I'm dealing with a really lot of difficult challenges. I'm having a very big mental episode.

I'm having a really big challenge. Nice to look at the camera. So we get down there to Santiago, and I don't know any of these new threats. I hadn't seen any of their shows, but then Jake Cornish, of all fucking people, walks up to the baggage claim, and if you remember Jake, he fought on X-Series 17

in Dublin, I commentated his fight, he was in our Cruiserweight tournament over at Misfits, and I was shocked, I was like, what the fuck are you doing here, dude? And he was like, what are you doing here? Can't do a trick on Jake Cornish. That's pretty good. He fights on Misfits and that's the Jake

that's on the challenge right now. Yeah. That I didn't know. Wow, incredible. And yeah, I don't think, casting was not aware that we knew each other either because we were the casting director and she was like, you guys know each other?

And I was like, oh, maybe we don't. No. To be fair, presentationally, you come in as like, I'm commentator, I'm personality and he's like, yeah I'm a boxer like in his fight It's the shots from miss mits Which which I think was funny But no it was it was those first couple days were a blur because we're in a hotel locked for like 72 hours

No phones. What happens in that period? I've heard about this hotel stay. What happens in that period? So you're sequestered and like they want to do The cast photos they want to do the meetings with like legal and all the people that are attached to the challenge but a lot of it was just like sitting in the hotel room and What I decided to do was because you know you're gonna give me three days I gotta work out so I pulled the mini fridge And I put it like in front of my bed I start doing step ups on it you know what I mean on the master do push-ups on the mini fridge and I put it like in front of my bed and I start doing step ups on it, you know what I mean?

On the mini, I do push ups on the mini fridge to stay in shape and then I get in the house and everyone's a fucking Marine or an Army serviceman and I was like, well those step ups weren't really that important, were they? No, Rogan was probably doing that too. Rogan was probably doing that in the room. He could be doing steroids in the room, who knows?

Yeah. Are you able to interact with anybody during that period or they have you guys like, you are not allowed to cross paths paths see anybody? They don't so with the new threats. They were a little stricter. They didn't let us like roam around apparently the vets who were a floor up were like Meandering socializing having little kumbayas and so when I heard about that I was like why were we so locked down? You know, but maybe I, and this might come out

in a couple weeks, maybe there was some communication between some of the guests inside the hotel. Maybe there were some phones that you could call the person in the room next to you. Maybe that occurred, I don't know, I can't say. Did you have to sign an NDA? Well, so I did. I was gonna say, did you have to sign an NDA

about your NDA? This show, like for context,, notoriously tight-lipped, to the point that he's making about having to put out that social media post, that's not normal. They just disappear. These people just disappear for months, and then if you're Johnny Bananas, they assume, okay, he's obviously on a show.

So people start to figure this stuff out, but he's talking about UFC with the red dot. Luna Murray's gonna have a red dot on her head. There's a bigger red dot, yeah. There is like a bazooka aimed at me with this one, so I'll pass, you know. Okay. Episode, episode zero, how far from Hotel Stay

to episode zero that we saw where you guys are doing that hill climb or mountain? That's probably more accurate. Dude, they make it seem so much shorter in episode zero Like I think nine minutes into the runtime Jeremy had already finished it dude I was on that fucking mountain for four and a half hours. Oh shit I was diabolical like we went from the hotel right to that so we go to the house like there wasn't any acclamation process You guys showed up at the house. That was the first time you guys went that Because everyone was like, yeah, it's lovely. Like that's the first time you went.

That was the first time. Because like we, and like the end of it. Six hours from when you started them out and then you get to the house and that's the first time. Literally, and I'm like, you know, disgusting. Just ran for hours and hours. But what was funny about it, and so many people made fun of Naya for wearing jeans.

Yeah, that was a rough decision. It was, and it was because the prompt that they'd sort of given us was, wear what you would wear on a short flight? Where would you wear it to the airport? Yeah so some people showed up in heels and thankfully they provided sneakers but of course they weren't able to give everyone like leggings. That's rough for Naya. And so she did get... But how is everybody else so like wearing athleisure except for Naya? That's what I don't understand. I guess everyone else

is just more casual on the flight. Cas what I don't understand. I guess everyone else is just more Casual on the flight huh? Casual fitness on the flight. I mean I always wear like leggings, you know, a tank top. So when TJ was like, yeah you're running up the mountain behind me, I was like, oh perfect. You know, I'm dressed for this occasion, no worries.

But we didn't know how big it was, right? We thought, and I talked to some of the vets and they were like, alright, here's how it's gonna go. It'll be a quick half mile sprint and then maybe there'll be a puzzle and whatever else. And then it just kept going. And it just kept on going. And I thought my fitness was pretty okay.

I had been doing crossfit with my girlfriend a couple months leading up to it. And dude, I gassed myself out on that little half mile run, like a dumbass, got a second win, but Olivia's passing me, Aviv was passing me, and she was just like, just one step at a time, and she's like, five foot one, just cruising through. So I did feel like a bit of a dumbass.

But I hit a good stride. Me, Kara, and Dee went pretty much up and down the mountain together. And so. Yeah, you finished decently on that. I think you deserve a lot of credit. 15th, we'll take dead middle. Dead middle.

I beat some of the vets, beat some of the new threats, so I can't complain about that. Okay, so you get there, you're starting this race, you're looking around, you recognize some of these people, right, obviously you had seen them from previous seasons. What were your first impressions, or what were you thinking? Were you kind of trying to gauge their level of fitness

based on how they're going? Obviously CT way, way, way in the back. What were your first impressions and what were you thinking about like the crop of contenders? Turbo is so scary. I mean, you look at him and he just looks freakishly strong and athletically able, but they were joking around. Like the vets weren't taking it too seriously

because I think Kara said this either in the episode or on Her Instagram she was like most of the vets assumed that they were gonna get a day off They thought they'd be able to watch the new threats and whatever else and so their their jovial nature quickly turned to oh fuck We have to run as well and do I feel bad for do because I remember when I was coming down He was gassed. He was I mean completely out of it. I'm thinking this guy almost went to the Olympics, you know? This guy is a great athlete, so again, I would say the biggest takeaway that I had from the mountain was confidence.

I was like, I didn't know how I would stack up physically. Again, I'm not the biggest guy, but coming in dead middle, I was like, dude, I can hang with these fucking people. Now, were you trying your hardest, or, like, Jeremy, right? Obviously was pushing the pace, wanted to set it, but now puts a target on his back at the very end of that episode. Were you trying as hard as that?

Were you kind of leaning back? Like what was your thought process and strategy heading into that? My thought process was because I hit a really nice spot with Cara and Dee, I was gonna spend time with them going up and down. Smart. Just to create more of that familiarity. I mean, me and Kara had a great time,

and again, she's... Yeah, I saw a story on social media where you said something about moving signs and... So, yeah, I feel a little bad, but after you get to the peak of the mountain and then you come all the way down, then there's another mile run. And on that run, there's another like mile run and on that run

There's this you know this like caution tape that's supposed to signify the right path Car and I did take one of those and like we took it from here, and we put it like all the way over there That's legal No As his lawyer no there were plead the fifth What any consequences you know some people they they text me after I'd said that and they were like, uh, that's cheating. I'm like, fuck you, you know?

But then people did get lost and I did. Amazing. I was like, ooh. We were waiting actually for like CT, I think America took a long time, and it was like dark. Oh yeah. Sun had set.

You see them come up, it's night. Is there anyone from like MTV on the mountain or anything there were some camera teams on like the base That half mile run up, and then there was one team up on the top, okay? But like during because I mean we're like bear crawling the inclines crazy. There's so much loose gravel I don't think they were able to put you know their bigger cameras on it, but like we had the GoPros I think they had some drones going but Yeah, me and Cara did sort of fuck over some people. Okay, we need to pull back the curtain a little bit.

The interview portion, where TJ's sitting across from you guys, is that at the hotel prior to this run? No, no, that was at a completely different random location. And so we head there in the buses, and it's kind of like on a soundstage, I think. And they told us to bring interview attire. And so obviously I brought the you know the red the turn Yeah, look great good Yeah

and so we're all in this green room and they just bring you like two at a time one person goes in the other person stands outside like this and So I'm unsure what's happening all I can hear is America crying in the interview room Sniffling and so yeah, I'm sitting here and I'm just like, what the fuck did they do to her? Like what is going on in this room? I thought the stupid thought that popped into my brain,

and this was so dumb, but I was like, maybe they brought my family and friends down. Maybe this is like a goodbye. Yeah, see you later. Like an emotional, good luck, oh thanks guys. Where in the timeline is this happening? This was before the race, I think. So we went from the hotel, did the interview,

and then changed and then went to the hotel. Got it, okay. If I remember correctly. But what sucks about it is they didn't really give you much prompting outside of think of three words to describe yourself. That was the only thing they told us in the green room. And so when we walk in there,

and it's this like 1950s, no war, detective type aesthetic. I like, I was like, okay, I'm gonna match TJ's energy. And TJ was super serious, super disperse. And so I'm like, giving him that, right? And then you see in the edit, everyone is like smiling and giggling. And I was like, dude, I chose the wrong energy for.

What was the why are you here thing? Where did the person come out? Did they actually show them? So they were like right next to us. All of the vets were in this like jury box and they'd have the spotlight and the person would stand up. But they told us in the green room as well, like don't look at the vets, like keep your focus on TJ.

And you see some people like Blue, Leo, they look over and they start laughing at it. But again, I was so fucking locked in that Aviv stands up and she's asking why are you here? And I'm just like, to prove I don't need reality TV experience to be successful. Okay, I need to give you some grace here. Sure.

Because I actually think you did fantastic. In fact, you were the only one who made TJ laugh. And long time fans of the show know that that is a very hard thing to do because he's, as you said, he's giving you the stone face. They've come into like- That's his shtick to like be a dick. Like the last like 10 years, they've come into this thing

where it's like kind of like spy noir, like as you said, like detective almost feeling, and they have TJ in this like very serious role. It's very like recent history. He used to be a little more giggly, a little more laughy and so I thought you brought a good energy to it because as I said you made you made him laugh and I noted that. I was like oh shit Ben made him laugh right off that. I was so nervous. I was shaking in that chair but yeah the CrossFit joke did get him. It was it was odd cuz like it was a little bit of a pause and then

like I got up I went to leave, and then they brought me back to ask some more questions. I don't know if they'll keep flashing back to that interview, but one of the things he asked was about the combat sports experience. He's like, so you fought a couple times before, how do you think that that's gonna play into this? And I was like, dude, I've been dropped on the canvas,

not once, not twice, four times, and I've gotten back up, kept trying to fight. I'm not somebody that's gonna quit in this game, in life. I'm always gonna push and give my best. And then they cut that. You know why? I'm curious why they didn't show that. Because I feel like that would have been very good

to tell your story. I think so. I mean, at the same time, I give the editing and the post-production team all the grace in the world. You got 32 people, 32 stories. I get it, and especially these first, I have some big moments. Ben the Bane does deliver on the show.

The 10, 15 second cam we've got in episode zero and one. Through the ball pit on episode one, I was like, they're doing my boy, I texted Rick, I texted Rick, I was like, yeah, they're doing our boy Ben Dirty Man. Is he in this show? Are you sure he's in this? I was just like, bro, are we watching the right show, man? I have not seen this motherfucker at all.

You made a great point, and I told Connor this as well, though, is there's so many people right now. There's not a lot of time to develop these stories. And if we're being honest, they're going to give CT, bananas, these people the camera time over you because you haven't really established yourself with these people yet. You don't have those relationships.

You don't have that relationship with the audience. But as you said, you're gonna deliver. I have no doubt in my mind. As you get more involved in the show, then they'll start to up that as they see who's worth. And it is interesting because there's so many narrative threads that they're juggling that there were some things that they didn't show in episode 1 of me that they could have.

So after the- Are we talking 1 or 0 just to be 100% clear? 1. So after the ball pit, you know, Nonny and I, we came 11th out of 16th. Not the best, but not the worst, man. I mean, my goal was like, look, first place, fuck that, you know. Yeah. We're not getting that year me, banana, CT, turbo, first place,. No, thanks last place though. Just avoid that like the plague. So we didn't come in last and I was happy but I After like that first because we didn't know there was a second drop

I had no clue there was a second drop and if it ended after the first one I would be going into elimination because you guys were last we did not have any balls after okay Bro, cuz like they drop and they're on the opposite side of that little puddle, right? And so me and Nani are running down and we're just like all the balls are over there and I will say this Bananas playing a little trickery. There were people that were throwing dodgeballs closer to his section. Oh Sting out there was a little bit of gamesmanship going on and so I'm seeing this and I was like well As if the dodgeballs couldn't be farther away, now people are tossing them, you know, even greater distance.

So like, bananas is getting the special treatment. Listen, special treatment, friends, I mean, the guy's powerful. He's got these alliances and they all work for him. But I will say, the second drop, lot of gold balls, and those were the important ones. Two gold balls fell directly in front of her. And so her and I, dude, we just lit,

jumped off and snatched them up, and that's really what saved us. If we didn't get those gold balls, I probably would have been in that elimination. Okay, you mentioned the Friends of Bananas, you mentioned the preferential treatment. Let's go back to the very end of episode zero. You're paired with Nani, who is in some sort of alliance,

closely aligned with Bananas. Did you know Nani? She's like obviously somebody I'm very familiar with. She's been on this series for a long time. Did you know of Nani? Did you know she was friends with Bananas? What was your level of knowledge at that point? So I've obviously seen her on a couple seasons before.

And with season 40, she was very, very closely connected to Bananas and a big part of that alliance with him. But like truthfully, not super familiar. I know Jeremy was a good buddy of mine in there and him and I were chatting a lot after he came first. Much of it was about the target he put on his back. But he was like, the two people I'm thinking are Aviv or Nani for that same social capital.

And so when he picks Aviv and then nobody selects Nani, I was I was thinking to myself Okay, I got Jeremy's second pick. He came first. Not too bad. And she was great. Like Nani was fantastic She was very supportive. Her experience was really valuable. She gave me some excellent lessons I was having a very very hard time I would say acclimating to that environment because it was so unfamiliar and... I was wondering, man. Like it's like, I had no idea what to expect going into this.

Like I literally had never seen an episode in my life before this, but like you immediately start with a physical challenge and then you get home and people just start slamming beats. Like it's just like, let's get fucked up. And like people started hooking up, like right off the rip. I'm just like, it wasn't like,

it was more of like a Jersey Shore sort of like, I guess I should have known when I was getting, like it's an MTV reality show. Like there's a brand of it for this. And so like, I was wondering while I'm watching this, I'm like, what is this like for Ben? Cause we're just seeing little snippets. He's in there for days, weeks, going through this.

What is life like in there? It's a pressure cooker. It is a complete pressure cooker of an environment. You are 24-7 surrounded by 31 people that you don't know, that you can't really trust, that are deceiving you, betraying you at times, right? Can't leave the house. Can't leave the house.

Can't leave the house, no. No, you could, like, you could sort of get outside, but then they have you gated in, and it was tough. And the house is great, so it's like, why would you want to leave, I suppose? But it just, it was so odd being in this, like, permanent game of, um. You're in prison.

You're literally in prison, you're literally in prison. And one of the things that they didn't show after that first Daily challenge was like dude. I was sobbing to Nani Don't know why I cry and so she were like sitting in the weight room And I'm crying and the cameraman dude like you're me you're going And that was odd to acclimate to as well because you'll be having, like they've got cameras and mics in every room, but like when something serious is going on, the cameraman and the boom mic operators

will like slowly slink into the room. And it's funny, but it is hard to like stay locked in and get that natural authentic. Two questions based on that. Yeah. One, mentally, you had to be aware that there was gonna be some version of that. What did you think in your head that looked like? Was it that, but even when it happens, it has to be aware that there was gonna be some version of that. What did you think in your head that looked like?

Was it that, but even when it happens, it has to be a little bit jarring? Or were you thinking of a different version of what those camera and mic situations would be like? I didn't know that it was gonna be two or three person teams with the boom mic and the camera and maybe another person on the audio. I thought it would maybe be one cameraman

and he's in a bush or something, and he's getting from some obscure angles, but they are right in your face. And I will say this, there was really not prompting or directing or fixing of this or that. People maybe questioned how scripted reality TV can be, and in my experience, not much. The times where things get a little scripted reality TV can be. And in my experience, not much. Like the times where things get a little scripted

or you're led in certain directions is those confessionals when you're doing the interviews and you're chatting, because they'll ask you questions like, hey, this person's hooking up, what did you think about that? And is this, are those confessionals after the fact? Yeah.

Okay, so it's just like, okay, react to this so we can have a snippet to play during it. And what's kind of tough about it is they filmed those like very much after the fact. That's what I was wondering. I was like, this can't be like a media reaction. No, yeah, so it's like two weeks after and they're asking you,

so you're walking up to the first challenge and you see TJ and you see the ball pit. What are you thinking? They don't replay anything for you. No. No video. No. Oh, wow. I always thought they had to show video. It'd be so hard to, I feel,

to clip up those specific moments. Cause I asked them, they literally asked me, they were like, Hey, so you walked in on this conversation. What did you think? And I was literally like, I didn't walk in on that conversation. I was like, what are you talking about?

And that's when they show the video. They're like, actually Ben, here you go. She's standing there like. And when you do that, they just bang them all out at once. They're just like, okay, this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened. Big collection, you're trying to talk in the present tense. You say no prompting.

Are they pushing you guys to do things? Like, oh, everyone go to the pool together, or you guys should start drinking, or anything like that, or is it just like, they're just like. You guys should start drinking or anything like that or is it just like, they're just like, you guys should start drinking. Here's your beer. I feel like that's the main thing. Every day.

Here's a couple shots of vodka to get the drink rolling. No man, I didn't really see that or experience that at all. People in the house were very good at just being self-starters, doing their own things. I remember with CT, CT was amazing. We were talking about fanboying, when I don't know if I fanboyed over anybody, but I just grew such an appreciation more so than I had.

For him, because he was an awesome dude. There was a game that he created a couple seasons ago where it's like shuffleboard, and you're throwing plates onto a little shuffleboard mat. And we played that probably like a thousand times. So yeah, in the sense of the production prompting, nah, all the contestants were like, let's do this, let's do that.

I remember one day, Derek Kaczynski was like, he had a chain and he took weights from the weight room and he would wrap the chain around it and lock the carabiner, throw it in the pool, and then dive in and undo the chain at the bottom of the pool. Practice, just to entertain himself in practice practice I know they do that on the show yeah and so and so Derek was like all right everybody get in everyone take a turn and it was it's just fun stuff like that they're like there is a lot of just

organic team-building that happens which I was I was like that's great that made me feel a lot more comfortable in the atmosphere Johnny bananas has talked about it on the podcast before that he's like a producer on the show because he has this weight on his shoulders from having been on this series so long. He knows he has to kind of like incite things and do things. So like to Bane's point, like there's people in that house that know they have to kind of like get people together

and do all this stuff. Is the Derek you're mentioning the one that backstabbed Justin last night? No, that's Derek Chavez, Kaczynski. Okay, different. Kaczynski's the one that's, he did this like seven months after blowing his ACL last season. Oh, the ACL guy, yeah, he's fucking sliding down. Sad, man.

I know, dude, yeah, cooked me. And I was like, whoa! Chavez, yeah, man, Derrick, very interesting first episode for Derrick Chavez, came second last season. So I think for Chavez, this was a big opportunity for 41 to come in and go, look, I was the runner up, now I'm gonna finally get that crown. And to make a move like that so early is a little tough.

I mean, that makes it hard for him. And then Justin to win the challenge is not good for him. And dominated. Yeah. Oh my God, dude. And we all expected Rogan to steamroll it. Like we all showed up to the arena that night and we were like, shit man, Justin's going home. And then it's something that's body agility, right?

It's something where it's okay, a pro cheerleader, dude, that's his bread and butter. And Rogan, to his credit, kept trying, but he just was slamming his shoulder into the hamster ball and it's not going to generate momentum. It's called inertia, you know what I mean? You gotta play a game. But what they didn't show is at one point Justin's hamster ball fell off. Oh fuck dude It fell off the tracks and for ten minutes. They're trying to like get it back on while that is occurring Rogan still going second win, bro He's like this is my time

Didn't show that yeah, and well cuz he didn't make any progress He blew the rest of his stamina in that moment. And then when they got Justin's back on, he just blew through and that was game. All right, speaking of backstabbing, man, you're at the bar and you're telling Rogan, you're like, yeah, I'll vote for Justin. And then we go to the challenge and it's like, man, who do you vote for?

Jake. Jake. I was like, damn, bro. Right, and dude, and like I said earlier, Jake was the one person I knew coming into this, and so to vote for him instantly, some people might be like, wow, what a bad friend, but I just, I analyzed the landscape and knew that Jake and I were playing different games.

We were on different sides of this coin. You know, obviously he was wrapped up in that UK, Olivia side of things. I wasn't necessarily like subscribed to the banana side of the house, but me and a couple of the other new threats and some of the vets We recognized that Olivia and bananas were gonna continue their bullshit from last year All that does is provide us a third party to sit and wait and then maybe destabilize all of the same time, right?

So I that's that's kind of where I was playing and Justin, you know again was more on that third party side and Jake wasn't and so I do feel bad because I should have, here's what I should have done. I should have gone up to Jake and been like, look man, here's why I'm voting for you. I could have bullshitted reason, but I'm gonna be voting for you. I didn't tell him ahead of time. And so he was very shocked when I stood up,

and cause he thought I was gonna go with Justin. I'm rooming with Jake and Rogan, right? And so, yeah. So it's- You got some stones on you for this one. I just knew what would be in my benefit and it wasn't Justin going home. What I love about this is you didn't make

the classic rookie mistake, which is the burn vote. You just throw a vote somebody else's direction and you burn it, that is horrible. That is the way that you really ostracize yourself. You stood 10 toes down and you made a vote, so I respect it a lot. You mentioned this kind of clique forming. Who are like the, give me like the layout of like

who are in what party? Like how does this go? Okay, I'll try it if I can remember like from that day where things were at. It sort of seemed obviously bananas, Olivia, opposite sides of things. Olivia, you've got Derek who she's closely connected to, to Theo who she's connected to Izzy makes it very clear Yeah instantly where she wants to subscribe to Adrian because she's from you know

The UK is gonna jump in that Jake Rogan as well and then bananas, you know, he had Aviv He had Nani who this season, you know, like she mentions in the confessional being with bananas has never done her any favors Yeah, but at this point in the game, she's still very much in that boat Who knows if she gets off it? But yeah, so bananas he had that crew Derek. I think was there Kazinski was was with bananas We were probably leave. Yeah, Leroy was locked in on that side CT was floating right? He's always kind of in the middle until he doesn't have to be.

Ashley's a little bit more in the middle. Michaela in the middle. Michaela was so in the middle. She was like ridiculously on the fence. People would, and what's funny about Michaela is there'd be times where like, she would pick moments to speak and like, you know, address the whole house at once,

but they'd be like such specific moments. And in the back of my head, it got to a point where I was like, why aren't you saying any of this during the rest of the time? Why are you waiting? Makes it hard. But yeah, and then me and Jeremy,

I think at this point, who else? Gabe. I was working with Jeremy and Gabe from the get go. And, um. But your strategy is just to like lay in the cut. Like you just want to be in the back, you just want to be on the side, not ruffle feathers.

You got this tie to Nani who's tied to bananas, but you're not like trying to make a move yet. You're just kind of laying low. Cause I came 15th in the fucking race. I was like, even if I wanted to make a move, I'm not going to be able to. And what sucks is I spent the whole week leading up to Going to the challenge telling all my family and friends like yeah, man. I'm gonna go in here

I'm gonna take risks Yeah, so instantly I was like alright that whole strategy that I built up in my brain is just it's not gonna work So I figured blend in like wallpaper and then attack when they least expect it. I'm gonna give you credit again because many people have that mentality and then they come in and then they take that shot and they miss and they get obliterated. Yeah.

And they fuck it up and everybody goes, now you're a target and then they're out. So laying in the cut was the right strategy. I think you've properly assessed that. I was impressed with how you handled that. Now we need to talk brass tacks here. Okay. Oh, we're just now getting into this. This is brass tacks. We're finally getting into the meat. This is this guy's dream. This is his birthday. This is my dream. I kind of want to add one thing about the challenge that was shown. Please, please, please. So, because the whole thing about winning this season is at times you'll either get to save a team from nomination or send someone up for nomination.

Now, Bananas and Dee win day one, they get to save a team. And as we're like, because again with Rowdy TV, you're starting and stopping, you're walking in to film this, then they get the drone shots, you gotta walk out, do it again. One of those times after that first Daily Challenge, Bananas came over and he was like, yeah, so the obvious choice is saving you and Nani.

And Nani was like, thank you, Johnny, thank you so much. And I was like, oh, okay. And I was like, whatever, cool. And so this entire episode, this might recontextualize the eight seconds I'm in, but the entire episode, I'm thinking I have immunity. That's what was in my brain. So when I'm talking with Rogan at the bar.

This is prior to the Rogan conversation. This is prior. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, yeah, so we're the boys. We thinkin' about Justin. He won't do that. And I'm sittin' there and I'm like, yeah. Back of my head, I don't even need to give a shit about Jay. You know what I mean?

You're like, next round's on me, man. Literally, yeah. Yeah, I'll go Justin, Jay. And then we get to the nomination and Bananas is like, Theo gets the immunity. And so I'm sitting there and I was like. Oh, so that's when you found out. That's when I found out I didn't have immunity.

He was like Theo, you were like, oh fuck. To be fair, it was very clear that that was a switching strategy on their part. They gathered and then convinced Johnny to do that. I imagine he would have saved you guys. In the event that Theo didn't get pissed at the bar because there was a group of people conspiring to throw Theo in.

It was the same group that then turned their attention on Jake. Love it. So they were like, let's take a big swing, didn't work out, smaller swing. In the same alliance though. But yeah, I was watching that altercation between Theo and Johnny with CT, we were at the bar and he was like

It goes out for a smoke break and I'm just watching this What's the bar like you guys pregame that like it does anyone get like out of whack drunk? Yeah There were people that got really fucked up I think it's gonna be an either episode two or three, but there's there are a couple fights that pop up You know And they haven't shown this in the trailer, so I don't want to like reveal anything But you know they keep showing these vets on vets they keep showing Lisa and Nani getting us to it Not just vet on vet oh

Okay, rookies get a little heated at each other Earlier in the game than they should and alcohol doesn't help some of these guys are guzzlers will I love will you're very funny Guy crazy insane and day zero they this ain't even like after the ball pit This was immediately we get to the house. He drinks like 15 beers and And somebody was like oh hey, will you look like Chris Hemsworth? He speaks in an Australian accent for the next two hours. Like, you couldn't. Off of 15 beers. Off of 15 beers, and he's like having glasses of wine.

Dude, he was gone. And you just hear this loud Australian accent the rest of the evening, which I was like, that's crazy. So these people, listen, they get rowdy. I try to not get too crazy, you know. Okay, so you're saying that you were not one of the people involved in one of those early fights? No, no.

It takes so much to get me like that riled up, you know? And I recognize if you get into a fight on these shows, you throw a punch, you're gone. These days, yeah. Yeah, so I was... Back in the day, CT used to knock people's heads off and come back next season. That's true, yeah. But I just knew the risk wasn't with the reward.

But I'm involved in one indirectly as kind of like a, hey, let's, you know. He's up, guys, he's up. Oh, yeah. Okay. Brice tags, what are they? Important question here. Sure.

It seems like it's playing out that Justin and yourself are identified as like, these are the two that could go against Rogan. These are the two guys that we want to go in there. One, were you aware of that kind of conversation? And two, now that you've seen it, does that feel like disrespectful to you? Do you feel like, hey, I should have been higher ranked

in this, like they're looking at us as the bottom two? What were your feelings on that, if you knew at the time and now in hindsight? At the time is still kind of how I feel now. Again, five of the eight male rookies were Marines, they were Army. That just left me, Justin, I think somebody else. And so I got it, like I understood it.

Again, came 15th. I don't know how Justin did on the race, but like we weren't the biggest, strongest guys. So I was like, shit, yeah, you want an easy challenge? That's probably me. If I was in that position, I'd probably do the same. Did that put pressure on you? Did you feel the weight of that?

Or because you seem at peace with it or are expecting it to just be like, I have to be ready to go and I will be ready to go? I thought I had immunity. This whole, while this is going on and I'm hearing my name, I was just like, that's crazy because. So you're doing the fucking robot

because you think you had immunity. Yeah, I'm hitting the robot because I was like, dude, I got no problems tonight. I get to just chill and hang out, which wasn't the case. But no, I figured it was not gonna be me. I heard my name floating around, but a lot of names get thrown around. And so it was important for me to never really get amped up

in that moment because if you start reacting, right, then it's only gonna draw more attention and then people are gonna wanna vote for you more. That's kinda like, that's what I learned in the house, was if you're shaking and creating waves, all that does is fuck you over further. So I was like, I'm hearing it, but again,

there was this big consensus that we're gonna get Theo. And then that morning of the nomination, I go down and there's Leroy, Sydney, tons of other people, and they're like, yeah, Jake's a lock, like Jake is getting thrown in tonight, 100%, it's done deal. And so even though I'd heard my name, I was like, well, Jake's done, you know?

No threat, right? My one friend? My one buddy. I did I did I did apologize to him a lot of people came over and apologized to him after they'd voted and I didn't I kind of give a half-assed apology a little bit because again my thinking is pretty fair we aren't playing the same game You're a big threat in this game. You going home helps me. I like you a ton. We are friends, but like in this game, bro, that's the status of it.

And he just kept saying, he was like, I don't get why you do that, why you do that? And I was like, what do you mean you don't get why the fuck I would do that? It's a reality TV show, man. And you're a monster. It's a sign of respect. It is, yeah.

I'm like, you're a great player. I know how strong you are. I need to get you out of here. Yeah. I can't say enough. I feel like your instant assessment of everything is so spot on. You've really understood how to play the game very early.

Okay, Justin beats Rogan. Are you looking at that and going like, oh shit, okay. Even if I get thrown in there with a monster like you can still win these games Oh, it's and that's the beautiful thing about the eliminations in the challenge is like it's usually an equalizer Level playing field even if you're bigger stronger faster It could be a math challenge could be a puzzle right that you get thrown into the limb with so I Really like that and it really was shown in episode one how it doesn't matter, if you could beat this guy up in a hall brawl.

We're not in a hall brawl. You know what I mean? Figure it out and Justin did. I will say it is funny in those eliminations because you see like Michaela coaching, Johnny was coaching. I said nothing. Cause I knew I was like,

people are gonna be watching me during this moment to see where I lean. And it's gonna impact my game plan of staying in the middle if I'm overtly going, Justin! I was like, people are gonna be watching me during this moment to see where I lean. And it's gonna impact my game plan of staying in the middle if I'm overtly going, Justin, just enroll. So I was just sitting in the back just like in my head going, I hope you fucking win. Please fucking win.

Please, but yeah, no, I did from the get go of this season go, okay, these eliminations, the challenge is brutal of this season go okay these eliminations the challenge is brutal Yeah, right this season is very brutal with the challenges, but the eliminations I was like very fair seem like they're they're emphasizing the level playing field Who are the people you clicked with immediately? I? Would say Jeremy Jeremy was somebody that I think understood me right off the get-go him And I had a great bond right off the bat that felt like I'd known him for years. There were many times where,

it's like when you're with a buddy in class and the teacher's talking and you're just like, you know what I mean? That type of humor and connection was immediate. And I would say he was somebody that I really, in a lot of these tensor moments, would be like, hey, did you hear about this? Or hey man, I'm kinda feeling like this, you know, in Chad.

He's like a wolf, man, with those colored eyes and the long hair. Oh my God, and the long hair? Yeah. Yeah. This isn't a big spoiler, but he does wear a Speedo at some point in the season. And god damn, that's a GQ model right there. You know what I mean? No, but he was great.

I think Guillermo was probably the top guy for me. And give us some, give us some kind of teaser. Give us, give us something. I mean, you've already given us. List the finishing order. Yeah, there's the, there's the dot on your head now. You've given us, you've given us a tease of some fights coming up, which I'm very excited about. Connor, your introduction to this, like the reason I love this show so much is because

it is like Jersey Shore combined with athletics that's what I love about it is like which is a fact that I'm drunk as fuck and then they're going to compete against each other watching on MTV linear getting Jersey Shore commercials they're still creating that show is insane it's insane to me no no I was, what channel is MTV even on? You're like a fever dream. Yeah, you're like, what's going on? 15 years. Give us something. Give me a little kernel of something.

You don't have to list principles involved. You don't have to, give me something to really look forward to. I will say, the trailer for this season's been very good. Like, I'm excited. If you can't give us something, because there's a lot of repeat contestants, is this something you would want to do again?

Absolutely. Okay, oh I love that. Oh yeah, with no questions asked, if they call me for 42, 43, I will be there and I will have a better social media hiatus video. Because like, you know, like I did think that I had a good grasp on things from the get go, I had a good vision for it,

but in those moments I made so many dumb mistakes and so many silly choices that in hindsight I was just like, fuck, I wish I did this differently, I wish I did that differently. Did you make good TV though? Because honestly, half the time that's what the callback's about. It's really not like, did you make a good call

on sneaking this person at this time or not doing that? If you make good TV, that's when the callback's about. It's really not like, did you make a good call on sneaking this person at this time or not doing that? If you make good TV, that's when the callback comes. There's one day, this'll be the nugget I think. All right, give me the nugget. One day, I do get ridiculously hammered. Oh yeah. That I think is gonna be front and center. Oh, perfect.

It was someone's birthday, and I thought they rolled out the alcohol before, but on the birthday? Oh, they're like geez. Get a drink. And what sucked about this, the funny story in the future, because I don't think they'll show this, you get the call back like once every two weeks or so you get like a little ten minute phone call and my girlfriend she had written this very nice letter to me and she's like open this on the plane and I was like okay So open it on the plane. I was like okay so open it on the plane I'm sobbing instantly right the last section though

is like watch your alcohol intake you know you're kind of stupid when you're drunk and I was like fair and so this day the birthday where I'm gone I have a green wig on I'm calling myself Jasper a Chilean hooker and the PA comes up and she was like hey your girlfriend's on the phone. For your phone call home. And I'm like, again, in this whole outfit and mode and I just was like, can we do it tomorrow? Hey, hey, hey, how you doing?

So I run up, I mean, throw everything off and then the only thing in my mind was the last section of her letter was watch real behind take. And the first thing that she's gonna see for me is beyond plastered. And so we start this FaceTime call and within probably.8 seconds, I was like, it's not what it looks like.

Oh wow. I was gonna ask if you hit it well, but you gave it up right off the bat. I couldn't conceal it. Couldn't conceal it all. Do they not, like, how are these calls home? Because we've seen the calls home, how are they not better coordinated?

How is it happening in the middle of you drinking for somebody's birthday party? Part of me feels like that one might have been intentional a little bit. I was just gonna say, I feel like this is intentional. Yeah, they were like, oh he's. Like, just to create as much drama as possible. Exactly, yeah, exactly.

That's devious. All right, last question about it, does this make you want to do other reality TV shows? Because a lot of these people come from survivor big brother shit like that So you want to do more reality TV? I would love to try and again make this one of the the side things that I'm involved with right and Bouncing around reverse engineering it a little bit getting the chance to taste a survivor experience or being in big brother You know to the point of do I make good TV? I do think I make some pretty solid fucking moments.

And I think that that could buoy me into opportunities, but it also could not. You know, I mean, it's so hard to get casted on these shows and there is such a specific thing that a lot of times they're looking for for seasons on any show. So if it is a one and done, it's a one and done, but I do hope that this is the beginning of something more.

This guy's full of shit. He's already casted for some other show. Season 148 or whatever they're coming up on. I will be watching. I'll be watching the entire season now every Wednesday night. I think I'm done. I think I'm going to tune out now. 40 seasons in, first episode, you're done. You get your make-a-wish moment getting to interview someone from the challenge right the day before your birthday. I mean, like the day we started this show,

you were like, I just wanna get someone on from the challenge. Who fucking knew it would be Ben the Van Digger? You made my dreams come true. We did it. Is this your response to Bananas doing his press tour? I saw him at Rolling Stone. I think I saw him at the Breakfast Club.

This is your response. This is the counter. I'm going on the boys in the bath. Oh yeah, I mean mean this is the biggest show in all of New York City. In the world, yeah. So yeah, bananas, eat some dirt, baby. Eat some dirt. I'm hitting the podcast circuit as well.

All right, we continue the reality TV show theme, pound for pound rankings. You have made a list, you will be joining us on this endeavor, pound for pound favorite reality TV shows. This goes back as long as you want. Frankie, what's the order, brother? Yeah, the order today is actually gonna start with me. Okay.

And then we're gonna go to, we're gonna go to Ben. Okay, Ben's second. Then third will be Connor. All right. And then I guess we'll let Rick finish us off. Sounds good, man. Take us away, Frankie. Yeah, so This might not come as a surprise to a lot of you

But I don't watch a lot of television and I watch even less reality TV. So you're so astute Yeah, study more of an academic, you know No so all joking aside my number five is based off of like what my earliest memory of a reality TV show is besides like America's most wanted or like rescue 911 cops, so I'm gonna go with the real world Los Angeles It was the second season really Wonderful cast of characters like I was so young all these people seem so old to me now looking at their ages

I'm like holy shit. These were like basically kids, right? We had the guy with the cowboy hat respect him. We got our first guy with the Respect him don't know his name gotta respect. I believe that's John. I believe that was John It's a Dan flash His name is DP he was the first one to get the boot from the house Some shenanigans that took place there And then it's like in season 3 they ended up kicking someone else out like it became a thing like if you're not getting kicked

Off the real world, then you're not doing anything right my number four is a One that was made for the sci-fi channel actually in 2014 called opposite worlds Be bare with me here One that was made for the Sci-Fi channel actually in 2014 called Opposite Worlds. You bear with me here, I'm not a big fan of reality TV shows, but I like it when they're like unintentionally funny. Ben, welcome to Frank's List. This is your introduction. When they're unintentionally funny, that actually amuses me.

So the whole process, the gimmick behind this is like we're going to take some contestants put half of them in one side of a building where they're going to basically be living like the I don't know like the cavemen and then the other side are supposed to be people who are living like they're in the future and there's just a glass pane that separates the two of them like a window but like these people the whole point is like well who is going to be the better like human who's gonna go through all these different challenges that they have put out that they didn't test any of them it's very clear they didn't which is already stupid because like the people they put in there are not cavemen

like they're just ordinary people that they just threw in a condition they're like look there's no heating there's no AC there's no food or sleeping on the ground no food no they'll get it themselves and at one point they get like a bucket of fish heads. It's like why just fish heads? Like people you know back in the prehistoric times could get a whole fish. They didn't have to just eat the head right? Then you have the future side which again it's not like the showrunners had access to the future to go get like some cool tech so it's just a

regular house like a nice one, but a regular house of HVAC and this sort of thing so This whole thing is just slated for failure to begin with the first challenge that they have someone comes out and breaks his leg immediately so then The host even asked like alright is everybody else ready to go after that and like they're like Test it so like no not really and then the host says it yeah I don't blame you wait wait which which side of the house did the person? Who broke their leg they were actually from the future? Then a woman comes out there right they just had to get the guy off with a stretcher

Second challenge starts up same game woman falls breaks her finger America gladiators are like they're on on a platform trying to push each other off. And it's like, but that fall was brutal. So the one takeaway that the woman has from breaking her finger is that she was able to see the first guy in the hospital with his broken leg. Then he has to come and tell the whole show that he's leaving.

He has to go home. They send him back. They only know him for a week. So they're all like, oh man, I'm so gonna miss you. And they're like, are you feeling alright? And he's like, no, my leg's broken. But I appreciate it.

And he was like, anyway, so. If this is number four, what the fuck? Yeah, I know. It just, I wanted to give a shout out for it because it is extremely humorous. But we have one more picture. This is the guy who ends up winning. Okay. He was a firefighter from Staten Island.

His name is Frank, shout out. Yeah. He ends up winning one of the competitions. I'm gonna assume he's from the future side, by the way. Well, he started on the future side. He gets sent over, no, no, no, okay, so sorry. He starts on the prehistoric side, and there's a point in the game

where you can actually red rover somebody and get them to come over. So he actually goes over to the future side. Then he's supposed to go back over to the prehistoric side and there's a point in the game where you can actually like red rover somebody and like get them to come over So he actually goes over to the future side Then he's supposed to go back over to the prehistoric and that's the part in the show where they actually swap sides So this dude was in the future side for 10 out of the 12 weeks They were supposed to love it so he was in like peak performance the entire I can tell by the all-white getup That's very future. You don't see just always that He's lugging a tomato at someone's face It's wearing goggles and he loves it so bad that you could hear it pop and everyone's like I'm glad we have those goggles

No, this is opposite worlds. Those goggles are made like shit. They broke and cut the guy's eye This dude wins a competition they put up against like a petite girl for like a labyrinth They're like, oh, you know, this guy basically looks like a minotaur. They're like go chase her down. You've got five minutes He does it in 12 seconds And then proceeds to like celebrate for five minutes right and the host goes up to the lady And she's like I'm so sorry that happened She's like so annoyed like why did you guys have me come out there? It gets this beast who just ended it all right moving on to my number three?

How is he still fucking Real world la there's a guy with a Struggle reality All right number three Frank number three. Oh fuck it's the great British bake-off otherwise No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, And we talk about it I could see the appeal of like watching reality TV shows the people that you have to see every day But uh, it's not my thing. You are the You're the guy that hates Wrestling and wrestling fans and like anytime it comes on. It's like I I can't watch this I don't know how anybody does this you're picked but about but about reality TV every time you mention the show

I don't want reality TV I bet joining us you piece of shit, because you're on reality TV. Yeah, my number two is Mythbusters. That's a good one. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I really like the concept behind this.

The amount of episodes that I've seen the full thing of is zero. I've just seen like, oh, for fuck's sake, Frank. We get it. You don't like the shows. We get it it I'm not sure you really understand that but number one and I have watched all of these and I recommend it to everyone here to watch them all as well is a taskmaster great one so good Andy's over here my ear saying it's so bad it's so bad bad. So don't get it on air good goes right over their head But never heard of it the shutout yeah

No, it's great. Thanks. Are you ready show that yeah the most recent seasons got Jason manzoukas? Yeah, how far along did you get Rick on that one? I haven't started yet Yeah, they're watching the challenge when you do you're gonna be quite pleased so briefly for those who don't know it's just The group of comedians to get together and they like set up different tasks that they Have to do and like a private camera and they watch it all and they kind of dunk on it It's a lot of fun in practical Jokers basically that Frank these these lists are very personal and You know far be it from me to to criticize you're already how is number four not number one you spent four hours

describing this to us. How is that not your number one? It's a TV show that never had more than one season because of all the people that they hurt and made no money. That's why it's number one. That's why everyone's spoken on this show. You were giving us an episode by episode breakdown of that show.

Myth busters, he's like, I haven't even seen it, I guess that's number two. But Opposite World is at four. At one point I zoned out, and then when I came back to you were still talking about opposite world I was like, I can't believe he's still going on about this right now and it's number four that should have been one I want another season Was like I've actually never even seen a full episode It's incredible.

All right, Ben. Okay, I wish I put as much thought maybe into my list as that one, but at number five, we have- Look at that, you got your own little graphic there. I forget what the list is like. Yeah, let's help them out, let's show them, and then you can go into it. Okay, so Chopped.

I love Chopped. I love food, TV shows. The host, Ted Allen, what's his name? Yeah. That's the guy. Ted's great, love Ted. There you go, mystery ingredients, Ted Allen, what's his name? Yeah. That's the guy. Ted's great, love Ted. There you go, mystery ingredients, always something goofy. My favorite thing was during the dessert round,

everybody would rush to the ice cream machine and just make like a random ass ice cream. Can't get better than that. I gotta be honest, I don't know Chop. What is the concept? Like what are we trying to do? The concept is you have like a appetizer round, entree round, and a dessert round.

You've got this mystery box of ingredients that you have to create a dish with. And it's all people that are like, oh, I wanna start a restaurant or I wanna provide for my family. So you've got the good backstory, you've got the celebrity judges, and then sometimes you get really good food.

I mean, these guys all could cook, you know? And that's been spun off in like Chopped All-Stars. I think there's some other branches of the Chopped universe. Got it. So number five, we'll go with Chopped. Number four, Survivor. Okay, so come on, it's the OG, best of the best. There he is, Big Jay Propst.

I think they just wrapped filming season 50, so longevity is there. I think what they do with the tribes and putting regular people in these extraordinary circumstances. You see the weight loss journeys that all these Survivor contestants go to. It's just bonkers. I almost want to go on just to you know slim the weights down. But that's that's number four Survivor. There were some people on the season of the challenge from Survivor. Did you

interact with them? Did they talk about their experiences on it? Yeah, so Dee was on Survivor as was Sydney. They spoke about their experiences. Dee was great. Sydney, you know Sydney and all of her confessionals, she's very cocky. Very cocky and she lets everybody know about it and that's who she is. I can appreciate the authenticity. You know me from Survivor. I was like every time she said that I was on my couch. I was like, I don't know. No, she was a philanthropist giving us her time, presence, and energy. Yes, sounds like it.

But yeah, four will go Survivor. Three, I think I hit you guys with Tough. Come on, the Ultimate Fighter. It revitalized the UFC. 33 Seasons of Greatness, baby. Yeah, I don't forget. No, no, don't forget the offshoot international ones. We're talking like 40 seasons, bro. That's actually, the Tough international ones

are the ones I mean, not the main fights, okay, okay. Just the international shows. No, but it did so much for the UFC, right? Saved it way back in the day and pumped so much mainstream interest. I think produced a ton of great fighters. Nate Diaz, right? Came through tough, right? So you get a lot of legends through it. Now it's a maybe bit of a stellar product. They have evolved it as much the last couple of years,

but what it did, the legacy it has carved out, I think is worth mentioning. I've seen zero seconds from the Cormier. You and the rest of the world. It's been on all summer. They were doing Pickleball, I think, last week or something, right? Did you see that on Twitter or did you watch an episode?

Shout out to them. Yeah, there you go. Let's take it to number two. So we go with The Biggest Loser. Shout out, legendary show. Shout out to The Biggest Loser, man. This was the only reality TV show that I watched when I was growing up it was always on in my house My family were big biggest loser fans and it was a really cool TV show and concept right people that are overweight coming into a

An environment where they're just focused on fitness and building healthier habits now There is like the stigma where people that would go on biggestgest Loser and then they would just gain all the way back Yeah, maybe maybe the concept was a little flawed and the you know long-term Gains didn't really stick But I think that's one that does hold a soft spot for me just because I grew up watching it And then number one come on we got to go with the challenge baby. It's the OG How could I not put anything but the gold standard? It's a great blend of everything, right?

You get everything. You get me? No, but I do think the challenge offers, like we were talking about, just the mixture of everything. You get the dating side of it, the Love Island, the Jersey Shore-esque nature, the American Ninja Warrior, the wipeout side of things.

And then you do have this survivor-esque elements of the politicking and building your tribe and your alliance and operating socially and politically. And I think that amount of factors all shoved in one makes the challenge just a really dynamic viewing experience. I can't wait to watch the entire season. I can't wait to watch you win. Hoist the trophy. I know, which I'm in all of it. They have a big trophy, huge trophy. I one-handed it actually. It's gonna be great. I can't wait for it. I actually start at number five where Ben had number two, the biggest loser. I would watch this weekly on NBC with my parents. Look at this. So legendary, I got a Wii game. Real fun. How did you play the Wii? Real results. Yeah baby, you was compatible with your bounce. Am I crazy? Didn't they used to have a Wii scale?

Do you just step on the Wii scale? Yeah, look at that. You'd come in. Do we have an after photo of this crew? You'd get your shirt, Biggest Loser, look at that. You'd get on the scale, a giant dramatic scale. You'd lose all this weight. Oh, I thought that was before and after.

Bob and Jillian. Whoops. Bob and Jillian, how can you have a? Oh yeah, legendary, look at them. Oh, Jillian Michaels is from how can you have a- Oh yeah, legendary, look at them. Oh, Jillian Michaels is from The Biggest Loser. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love how this is the photo of peak fitness in 2003. Now this is just normal ass average person.

All right, let's not- Come on, they're in pretty good shape, come on. They are in pretty good shape, and I'm talking about 2025 standards, it's like scroll on Instagram, it's just like you have to be absolutely tracked out of your mind. They're actually coming out with a Netflix doc

in two weeks about like, kind of how fucked up it was. Like behind the scenes. Well that's what he was saying, like they all gained the weight back and stuff. Or just like behind the scenes, they were just like, no, you can't eat this bro, like you need to lose the weight.

Like, you can't have it. Oh, so it wasn't like really like them losing it, they were like literally, you can't eat right now. The tagline for the doc is essentially just like, one of the producers is just like, you cannot have a show where the goal is to lose weight and it'd be healthy. And you don't.

It's, it's, you have to like, kind of like. I feel like this doc is gonna play out like the movie Heavy Weights. That's fucked. Yeah, I'm actually really looking forward to it. My parents, we tuned in weekly, we had the Wii game, we had the, you know, you could buy the biggest, it was your scale at Walmart.

How would you play the Wii game? Get the squats and the push- push? Oh, it's exercise 90x experience real fun real results For another like kind of scammy sort of pimp my ride Exhibit West West Coast custom, just putting the most pointless shit into cars. Okay. Do you know the meme?

Are you aware of the meme? Which one? Oh yeah, so like- Yo dog. Yo dog, we put a- Big in your thing. You're a nutritionist, so we put a juicer in your car. This is a casket in a hearse turned into a grill.

What else do we have? Oh, this is your mudflaps. hearse turned into a grill. What else do we have? Oh, this is your mudflaps. We put LCD screens on them. Oh my fucking god. Satellite, satellite on top of your car. Why would you use screens on the mudflaps? Yeah, juicer in the car. I heard you like TV, so I put the TVs on the mudflaps.

Just, look at this, chocolate fountain to be romantic. Like literally just the most point of shit. Also had the game on PlayStation 2. It was fantastic. I've heard about this one, like you know, the version of like the biggest loser behind the scenes shit show. All those cars, like they would fall apart.

Like instantaneously. Okay so, they can't be structurally set up. No, none of them like worked as cars anymore. It was four people that was financially strapped. It wasn't like some rich dude who had a really nice car that was just like, hey man, can you kind of pimp my ride and make it pretty sick? It was like someone driving a 1991 Chrysler Minivan

and it's just like, please, I need this to still run to get my kids to school and they're just like, found a chocolate fountain. You got a triple in your car, come on. So here's what I read is that, Pen My Ride did not fix any mechanical issues, only cosmetic enhancement. Most of Pen My Ride cars were sold shortly after the show.

The people who were featured on the show had to sign a contract that prohibited them from listing their final product on eBay. The customizations took up to six months, not a week as shown on the show, and some of the features were taken off right after the show ended because they were not street legal.

So like a... Like the screens on the... Yeah, you're telling me the juicer in the truck is not street legal? I can't roll down Ventura Boulevard with my coffin grill? My biggest issue with it was, they were like, oh, there's my brother.

There's my screw. And he has the worst car in the world, he doesn't take care of it, can you pimp it out? And there's somebody who's like, if I just had a car, I could change my brother. There's my brother. And he has the worst car in the world, he doesn't take care of it, can you pimp it out? And there's somebody who's like, if I just had a car, I could change my life. I just need a car. Coming in at number three, Viva La Bam.

Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Rest In Peace, Don Vito, Phil in April, Absolute Legends. This is like, me and my brothers loved this show in the early 2000s. They was like, this is how I wanna live, baby, like let's just be reckless as fuck. I was watching some highlights, like as I was researching for this,

I would rather die than live through a day of a Viva La Banda episode. It's just like, you and your friends, and they are just fucking with you constantly. It's like, oh, you're sitting down on the couch, they're gonna just shave your head, and you're not gonna know about it. Or just like, oh, you sit down in a porta potty, it's like yeah, oh you're sitting down on the couch They're gonna just shave your head like and you're not gonna know about it or just like oh you sit down in a porta body It's gonna explode like it's just like jackass on board. Don't you know always getting fucked over

Legend Ryan Don legend rest in peace. I should probably not like a ps2 game of that It's like every every show you get had a game component. Oh, yeah number two cops game component. Oh yeah. Number two, cops. This is just like late night. Get home with your boys, just like yeah let's throw in an episode of cops, why not? Like the starting hits just like bad boys. It's just like alright. What's happening in this photo? Why is this guy mugging for the camera? Like he knows what's going on here. That's what I always wondered because like there's no way that like these guys didn't have to sign some sort of agreement to be on the show because- That'd be a release waiver, yeah. Yeah, because there was a lot of times where they'd be blurred out, and that was definitely people that were like,

nah, I'm not going on. So the people that were not blurred out were just like, they had to be like, all right, yeah, let's fuck it. Of course, someone getting arrested on cops would be like, yeah, I guess I want some recognition for this, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I want my family to see this for sure.

Yeah, yeah. All time. $1,000 you say? Perfect. I can't get a job anymore. Literally. Bad Boys Hits, you know it's gonna be a good night. That's like 1130 special, you and your boys just got home.

It's just like, there's nothing better than it. And then a couple of episodes of Cops to finish the evening. Number one, you had it. Number three, the Ultimate Fighter, baby. 33 seasons of greatness plus all the offshoots. Look at that. The amount of moments that have come from this. Still going just as strong today.

I've been tuning in every single episode. You guys seen how many episodes of Daniel Cormier and Chelsana? Everyone remembers season 31, legendary shit, all the talent that produced that. Still waiting on the fight. Brad Katona, I mean this. Yeah.

Forrest Gryffindor, Stefan Bonner, I mean all the time. Speaks the greatest reality show of all time. I am also, just like Frank, never watch reality TV. I just don't have to be such a pompous asshole about it. At least you didn't have opposite world on your list. I think what you're misunderstanding is like, I don't watch any reality TV. Your list was inspired.

Until the Ultimate Fighter choice, I was crying with every single one of those. It's so early 2000s coded. It's fucking, yeah, it's perfect. Mine, I feel like mine is too serious for this conversation. You guys have gone in such a fun direction, but I will get through it. Number five, kitchen nightmares.

This is my introduction to Gordon Ramsay. Unlike Hell's Kitchen, which I think was more popular and more people saw where he's just chewing out his own chefs, the concept of this show is these people write to Gordon Ramsay begging for help with their failing restaurant business. And he shows up and he's like, yeah, you got fucking 16 rats hanging from the ceiling.

Like, you're not doing so hot. But the worst part about this show, beyond just the fact that Gordon Ramsay is actually trying to be patient, he's kind of opposite the Hell's Kitchen character, he's trying to help them, is he would tell them exactly what to do. This man who has run successful restaurants before,

they have begged to come, will come and say, this is what you need to do. Instead of serving lunch at this time, you need to do this, blah, blah, blah. And these people will fight him tooth and nail, to the death. They will never take his advice. I think you mentioned this is like

the offshoot of Hell's Kitchen. It's like opposite. My mom loved this show. Oh, it is fucking brilliant. My mom was always like, no, not Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares. It's just crazy though, because it's like you go through the whole casting process

to get Gordon's input and his insights. And then you just sit there and you go, yeah, I don't think that's correct. No, no, it's so crazy. What? He's like pleading with them. He's like, called me here. I'm telling you what to do.

You have done it this way and failed. Please just listen to me. And they're like, mmm. What if we don't though? No, no, I'm good. See you later, Gordon. And there's some episodes where he tries to fight through it and at least gets them to some.

And then there's some where he's just like I can't fucking I can't fucking do this I have to leave because you people will not listen to me It would sex is like the closing shot of some episodes where it's like they for close six months. Yes Always and they're gone always number four iconic television I'm surprised nobody had it if I'm being honest Jersey Shore. This was seminal. This was I'm surprised nobody had it, if I'm being honest. Jersey Shore, this was seminal.

This was like a turning point in reality TV, I believe. Like it capitalized on what the real world did so well, but added this sheen of just debauchery that we had never seen before. This had like serious cultural and mainstream. Like people wanted to see that. I was in middle school when this came out and like everyone watched Jersey Shore.

You would come the next day after an episode aired, people would be talking about it. GTO. Like, oh my God, GTO, cabs are here, fist pump, like everything like that. Like they're getting made fun of on South Park. Like that's how big they are. Like actual cultural impact in America.

And it's this small section of people that very specifically live on the Jersey shore that are exactly like this. Like they are these people and this became American culture at a certain point. And you gotta think, like if you live in New Jersey and then this becomes the entire process. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Every day you'd be sitting there going, fuck these guys. You can ruin New Jersey. There were reports of people who lived on the shore that were just like, we cannot wait for these people to leave. We hate them. We despise them. New Jersey was There were reports of people who lived on the shore that were just like, we cannot wait for these people to leave. We hate them, we despise them. New Jersey was already kind of ruined.

I mean, it just has a bad rap. But there are a ton of people, us living in the Northeast, that go and vacation at the Jersey Shore. And when anyone says that, I just chuckle. Like, oh nice, going out on the Jersey Shore. Oh, fuck. Yes, but iconic television produced, as you said,

so many cultural moments. I mean, the note lives on in infamy forever. Number three, this one is a little bit of a deeper cut. I'm not sure that most will have appreciated this one, but at the time, and for me, it's one of the pound for pound funniest shows that's ever existed. It's called Nathan for You. Oh. Nathan Fielder, who is now known for the rehearsal, which is the more contemporary version

that everybody has kind of raved about. Still a little bit under the radar, but if you know, you know. The concept of this show is, much like Kitchen Nightmares, these small business owners are begging for help in a way that they can turn around their business. Unlike Kitchen Nightmares, where Gordon Ramsay is coming hat in hand and trying to genuinely help them,

Nathan Fielder just ruins their lives. And that's the best part of that show. The fake Starbucks? Yeah, the fake Starbucks. I just watched an episode recently where he tries to help out a local ice cream parlor, and his idea is poop flavored ice cream. Poop flavored ice cream.

For the Starbucks, it's a coffee shop, and he just basically infringes on Starbucks' copyright, but calls it not Starbucks or something. He ruins their lives. At some point, they're obviously getting uncomfortable with this, but because he's there to help, unlike the Gordon Ramsay people, they kind of see it through to the end,

and then they just are left with poo flavored ice cream. He's selling the gas, but you have to send the mail in. The rebate. And the mail in rebate is at the top of a mountain. I love that you guys respect this choice, because it's an incredible one for me. It's one of the funniest things. The rehearsal is also great.

Different kind of vibe on that one. That's like an actual show. Is legendary. I mean, the season finale, I think the series finale of Nathan for you is, he's doing magic in the park. He has a timer to drop his pants in front of children. And he's just next level.

Okay, number two, the one that started it all for me, the one that started it all for many, the real world. It is just the beginning of that strangers in a house Version of television that we now come to love as we said Jersey Shore holds a very special place to me But it does not exist if not for the real world some of these pictures are from some of my favorite seasons New Orleans Las Vegas Cities oh yeah, it would I believe the first was New York and the second was Los Angeles. And Los Angeles. Austin was a great one.

Now, it's the West. Key West was Johnny Bananas. Know a lot about the real world for never watching reality TV, bro. I was like six. So is that a thing that you were watching or not watching? It's like the shit you're exposed to, you're not even consciously aware of what's going on.

Real world goes triple platinum in his household. Yeah, for sure. Real world, Key platinum in his house. Yeah sure sure key West Shut up key with Johnny bananas Johnny bananas on that key West season all right number I don't think I need to say more about the real world iconic television number one Ben said it perfectly it combines all these it combines every element it does it all it is the challenge There is no better television program. I'm not talking reality television program. There is no better television program, period. It has all the drama, as Ben has revealed to us today. All genuine, the producers are not meddling with this.

Got a D1 Glazer. Yeah, you could call me a D1 Glazer. You could call me a D1 Glazer all you want. I will glaze for the challenge all day. There was a time where in college for sophomore year, we had to do a persuasive essay, and my persuasive essay was, I should have been a contestant

on the real world world rules challenge. It was an all time presentation. I got an A plus on the paper. And now Ben is living out my dream. I am so happy that he's got this experience, and I'm so happy to know him. And yeah, the challenge is incredible. It's funny because nobody knew the challenge

when I was mentioning, oh, it's my family and friends. Nobody had fucking heard of it. I was in the DMs immediately. The only reason I've heard of it is because he's like obsessed with it. Yeah. Like, yeah, from a meta. It has a very, like, it's like,

obviously guys like Johnny Bananas have gone on to have like a wider ranging career than just The Challenge. He's known for The Challenge, but he's hosted shows and done all these things. The audience is very niche. It's large, but it's niche like MMA maybe, like kind of for a comparison. But the people who are fans of this

are die-hard fucking fans. You will not find a Challenge fan who's like, yeah, I kinda like it. No, you fucking love it. All in or all out. Yeah. Which I like. I die for this show.

All right, those are solid lists. Those are solid lists. Those are fun to go through, man. Shout out to Reality TV. Shout out to Opposite Worlds. Shout out to Opposite World, man. That was all time. That was all time stuff by Frankie.

Spoke for 45 minutes. Opposite World for all news number four. It was only one season of it. We're two hours and 15 minutes into this program. Frank talked about opposite world for half an hour. Yeah. Yeah. He literally gave us the entire breakdown.

Now I wanna watch it though. Like just to see all the people get injured, dude. You're gonna have to get Sci-Fi Plus for that one to be able to stream it. Did Sci-Fi ever do another reality TV show or was that Sci-Fi's only crack at it? I feel like that's the only crack. Fuck, I forgot one and this is gonna kill me.

I had some honorable mentions, by the way. Okay. I love New York, Flavor of Love. Those were like the dating shows at that time. I love New York coming from Flavor of Love. Shout out Tiffany Pollard, one of my early crushes. She's the best. Hell's Kitchen, The Surreal Life,

which was like other reality people in a house. The Simple Life, which was the Paris Hilton origin, Osborne's, The Traders is great. The one that I just thought of now that I should have had on my list that I fucked up is an MTV show called Fear. Do you guys know about the show Fear? Not Fear Factor.

Not Fear Factor, not Joe Rogan Fear Factor. Fear was a show where they would take these people and drop them in haunted locations, like a scene in Asylum's completely powered down, nothing. And they'd have them rigged up with infrared cameras pointed face on and they're walking through these places, they hear a pipe grow and they're just like shitting their pants.

They have to go do challenges where it's like, okay, sit in this empty grave for 45 minutes and see if you can handle it. And it's just like literal torture for these people who are very susceptible to the idea that there's creepy crawlies out there. Because I'm such a fan of horror and all this stuff, it made my life, but the people's reaction

feeling like they were gonna get killed by a ghost at any moment was incredible. My only honorable mention is Run's shout out that our red run I think that's a type in on the blackberry anything that Bear Grylls did I guess I forgot oh yeah for sure yeah an era mid-2000 dirty jobs Mike oh that probably should have made my list I'm not gonna lie the legend that was that was legendary so many there's been so many. There's been so many. So many reality TV. Not as good as opposite world.

Why does no one have a bully beat down? Ooh. That would have been a good one. What is court? That would have been a good one. Is Judge Judy like reality TV? Absolutely. I think so, yeah, I'd count that.

Is there a Judge Judy video game? Is Jerry Springer reality TV? That's more of a talk show. What would the opposite world be? You just get injured and Fuck all right, we'd be like you have to go home with a broken leg. Yeah You actually break the Oregon Trail guys friends and family. They're like Broken like we got any voice mails Frankie?

Wow, we got a graphic for it too. Hey, how you doing? It's Paz. I just want to say hello and ask you a question. Why are we still calling Max the BMF when Ilya pointed to the canvas in the first 10 seconds of the fight and Max refused to throw down? It's a symbolic belt.

Didn't he symbolically lose it in that moment? Question mark. What are we even doing here? Question mark. Thanks. Oh yeah, we needed to verbalize the question mark there. I mean, dude, he did it in the first 10 seconds. Like they didn't make it to the last 10 seconds of the fight, but the thing is to point at the end of the last 10

and you just empty the tank. What do you wanna do, empty the tank for 10 seconds and if y'all are both still standing, just go back to sticking and moving? I don't think you removed the BMF title, but I will say it's kind of a gangster move by Ilya. I do have to dock points for Max for it. Well, also, Ilya was like, let's trade, right?

Ilya won, he is the BMF, like he won. It doesn't matter if he was on the line. Nobody's the fucking BMF. Listen, the BMF title wasn't on the line that night. Oh, here we go, here we go. UFC fight pass is out. It's technically a retention. No, Max Holloway's legal representation here.

I just think it's important that we play, we don't play with semantics, guys. It wasn't on the line that night, the undisputed was separate titles. The best I can do, the best me and my client, Max Holloway, can do is give Iliya Topori the title of Lineal BMF champ. Lineal BMF champ.

I love it. Shout out. And you get a rematch against Iliya, right? You're a client. We're still... This way. This way. This way.

Fellas, what's going on? It's Alex from Alabama. What's up, Alex? the the the the the the the the the

the the the to the boys in the back. Yeah, brother. What were you guys go to vacation spots? But I do have a caveat here. I also wanna know what's your favorite family vacation spot, but you gotta add in the party vacation spot. Okay. You gotta add in the one that you pack all the boys

in the vehicle, you take them down. The accent is incredible. You load up on the drinks. Yeah, also I want to know the family spot the one you're not up to go no drink no smoke no nefarious activities there but uh yeah I love everything you guys do and keep it up, keep grinding, love it, Frank, you're the man. Wow. Fucking shout out to Alex. Shout out to Alex.

A little opposite world stream. I actually have to say, he's in Panama City, Florida. I grew up my entire life going to Panama City, Florida twice a year because my grandparents lived down there. Fourth of July Christmas every single year, maybe a couple of times in between, we'd have to spend like a week there. Panama City Beach, Florida is like, it's like reality TV.

It's, it is. Crazy shit down there. Oh, it's trashy, bro. They actually had to ban alcohol on the beach during all of the months that college spring breaks where it was so intense. So I went there a lot. Shout out to Coyote Ugly, shout out to Pineapple Lily.

When's the last time? Funeral last year. So probably the last time I'll have ever gone was last year for the grandfather's funeral. But went all the time. Is this the one you have the t-shirt for? Tanfanny's, topless. Yeah, oh yeah, disgusting, disgusting.

It's a topless bar? It was a strip club. Got shut down for having underage dancers. Oh, fucks, Christ. I never, I only went there one time, it was always a running joke with my family. That's what they always do. That was a kid most of the time.

Are you on a list? So, always went there growing up, and we would see like, oh, Tan Fan, it was just such a ridiculous name, and it was like the shittiest, most rundown building. Turn 18, and then we're down there for Christmas. You didn't need to, apparently. You could have just fucking strolled in.

I could have been dancing. You could have been working. Yeah, you could have been making money. Turn 18, and like, I was like, dad, for Christmas, I just want a t-shirt from Tanfanny's, can we go? And he's like, all right, yeah, sure. So we go on Christmas Eve into Tanfanny's, and like, these people are like eating chicken fingers at the bar.

The dancers, they perk up, they're like, oh, you guys wanna dance? We're like, no, no, we just want a t-shirt, please. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is playing on the TV in the corner and I was just like, the state of this place. And still to this day, I have a shirt. It's like airbrushed tan fannies with a big woman on it.

I'll have to wear it one day. You talk about pops, when we have like a family get together and I wear the tan fanny shirt, everyone's like, yeah! Okay, I actually still have the newspaper from when it got torn down. I gotta be completely honest,

important that I note this, we're gonna set aside the underage girls part. Set that to the side. Yes, yes, yes. Tan fanny sounds like a fucking great time. I would have loved that. It was absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, yes, yes. Tanfanny sounds like a fucking great time. I would have loved that. It was absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, if you Google it now,

it just shows the concrete slab of where it is. I'm sending Jordan a picture of the building. It was like the most- Don't send him the other ones. It was the most- Inside Tanfanny. It's really in trouble. It was like-

Strictly exterior shots. Yes. It was a tough scene. Yeah, I guess word computer, I probably shouldn't be looking up Tam Fanny's, but like the name and everything was all time. You're here for when he gets fired. So my vacation spot, both family and the box tree,

because I would go there for, there it is, look at that beauty. Oh my God, It looks fucking horrific Horrific doesn't begin to describe it. It was I couldn't imagine rolling into that spot. It was an absolute dumpster Just finished my homework and I'm already back I've got algebra too later Ripping this laugh dance, I gotta go do some homework. So, Santa Fe Panama City.

Holy shit. Holy shit. Wow. Wow. I don't even know how to follow that. I like Hawaii. Yeah, I'll roll the dice in Sandpoint, Idaho. There you go. Really? Sandpoint, that's a gem. That's a gem up north. Because of the what? Like scenery like what what so you've got this amazing lid. I'm spoiling

I'm ruining the hidden gem that is Sandpoint, but you've got this great little town super small town vibes red bricks everywhere And then you've got Lake Penderelli beautiful like big lake people are building castles unlike pen Oh shit, okay, they run out of money though halfway through the castle And so there's just a lot of unfinished castles They run out of money though, halfway through the castle. And so there's just a lot of unfinished castles. And so you're voting by and you're like, all right, so he's got this, you know, trebuchet or whatever and any, you know, went bankrupt.

But this is San Point, Idaho, 90 minutes east of Coeur d'Alene, I think. So you fly in. Can you go into the castles because they're not finished? Like, or are they going to finish them eventually? You could get in there. The castles, the trebuchets. They didn't finish the doors.

You could probably get in there. Crazy. Hawaii and then Vegas for the non-family. Shout out Potatoes. Good day, boys in the park. Marcus from Melbourne, Australia here.

Shout out JDM. Bobby Knuckles. Shout out Bob, shout out Bobby Knuckles. Hopefully by the time this is Redback. Nah, we have to shut out. Yes, a little late. In one, quick one. I love the rush more.

A little late. Bob, you guys do. Can we get a rush more of maybe short notice fighters? When all this kind of result aside, just guys that you know Dana would have on speed dial once the car breaks down at the 11th hour. That'd be cool. Thanks boys, keep doing what you're doing. This pod for me, well over here, it drops on a Friday morning, so it's a perfect way

to run through the weekend. My man brother. My man. Cheers boys. Cheers to you brother. I'll see you down in Winnet-K kill up, go Irish. Go Irish brother. Thank you. Shout out to Melbourne. Yeah yeah that's actually a good list idea. Good question. I feel like we could do like them off rip right now. Kevin Holland number one, Jail Son and Cowboy, Chris Lieben. There's like, we kinda know who those guys are.

That you'd call them. Probably. Yeah, not though, stick him in there. Kevin Holland is definitively number one. Yeah. If you call that man to fight anywhere, anytime, and there's money involved, he will be there, guaranteed. Just gonna draw it, too.

Yeah, shout out to him. Dial her up. Dial her up. Hit them checks. I feel like Strickland's taken some of those. Yeah? Oh yeah, for sure, dude, he main evented, I'll never forget, I know he had the winter break, like the one month break, but he made evented back-to-back cards

Yeah, that's sick shit. Yeah Hey boys in the back, this is Steve. What's up, Steve? Just want to let you know I'm the manager down here at Smith and Walensky. I've got a great special coming up for you Bye to Gorgonzola crusted steak. It's too free Boys out here make it right with them Smith and Walensky's gonna treat you guys, right? Sorry, what happened last time GC won't happen again. Thanks again boys That was an all-time call and it was and it is so fitting. If you don't know the story behind that Smith and Walenskis down in Miami, I went,

I ordered a steak, the guy was like, nah, nah, nah man, like you're not gonna like that. All the customers haven't been liking that one. I was just like, I don't know man, I think it'll be fine. He's like, nah, nah, nah man, like you should go with this steak. I was like, all right. And he's like, get it Gorgonzola encrusted too. I was just like, for real? And he's just like, yeah, it's great. I was like, all right, dude. So it comes with like a thick, like one inch slab

of Gorgonzola on it. I house the entire thing, house the entire thing. At this point in time, like I'm not drinking, all my friends are drinking and everything like that. We go out, we have a good time, get home around like 11, midnight, early night Miami. Go to bed, wake up, 45 minutes later. Horrendous diarrhea.

Immediately start vomiting. I go from 1 a.m. to like 8 a.m. Just like probably yacked like 15 times. At one point, hopefully he's not listening, it's the same guy that I asked out, Dakota Ditcheva, in the story, I'm at his grandparents house. One point I'm in the shower, it's coming out of both ends. It's a horror scene.

Wait, they don't know that you blew it up yet? Not in the shower, not in the shower. Shower stop, shower stop. It's a horror scene. I'm still to this day, like scarred to where like, if I start getting nauseous, I'm like, no, like no, this can't be happening again. Like that's how bad it was.

The next day I'm like so dehydrated, had to move my flight, I couldn't fly home. It was like, it was actually hell. Like that's why when a couple of weeks ago, Ariel comes in and he's like, oh, I had food poisoning. I'm like, how are you even breathing right now? Like I was like on death's doorstep. I was like, I just need some water.

And I would take a sip of water and just yapping. I was like, whatever happened, absolutely killed me. But that's perfect timing because I'm getting on a plane in four hours to go back to Miami, right next door to Smith and Walensky's. Are you gonna take them up on the offer? Absolutely not. I like, there's a Smith and Walensky's in New York

and people are like, I went to Smith and Walensky's last time. I'm like, God rest your soul. I hope it was safer than my time. It was one of, if not, I will say, I laid, I flopped down into a bed at like 7.30 in the morning. Someone was like, getting up all hungover. They're like, you all right, man?

I was like, no. I just had. I died four times. The worst night of my life, bar none. So yeah, shout out to Smith and Walensky. Shout out to them. Great food, make sure you eat. If you're in the Miami area, service is great.

Always go with their recommendation. It's a perfect time to say that this segment is sponsored. No, I'm just kidding. This segment is sponsored by Smith and Walensky. Yeah, two for one deal on the Gorgon solo in Prestige. What a perfect time to call. Oh, it was terrible. It was, mm, shout out. Shout a perfect time to see. Oh, it was terrible. It was, shout out.

Shout out Smith and Walensky. Yo, boys in the back. It's Jimmer. What's up, Jim? I wanted to say, first of all, thank you guys for all the love and support last week. It meant a lot. But second of all, I had a question this week.

a lot. Second of all, I had a question this week. Do you guys think that if Habib never retired, that we would have seen a more active Conor McGregor? Because to me, I think a part of him died the day that Habib retired. I think that a part of his passion, a part of his fire, just really died right there because he knew he'd never be able to get that one back but I don't know you know maybe he would have still broken his leg and still retired but I just feel like maybe things would have turned out a little different let me know what you guys think. Yeah so I mean like I, Peace brother, thank you for the call. We have the video of him like watching Habib retire and he's just like you can see in his face he's like man like this can't be happening,

like I gotta get that one back. So like maybe he lost a bit of motivation, but we discussed it on the show this week, I think the Floyd fight was the real turning point in his career, the payday that he got, like the eyes that he got on him, the attention of the world. And then he comes back and fights Habib and loses.

That's where I feel like the shift happened. There was a multi-year stretch after Connor fought could be where, could be was still active, right? So if it did light some sort of flame inside Connor and he really was eager to try and rematch, could be even get it back. I feel like we would have seen greater intensity from him in the UFC from 2018 to what, 2021 when could be retired.

But Connor didn't do that. So it's hard for me to think that he really in his heart of hearts wanted that one back. I don't I do think they would have tried to make it though when Dana was making that hard push for don't retire Habib I think that fight would have happened there would have been a number two now does he lose number two and then we're in the same spot that we are now probably like very likely but I do think we would have seen at least one more Connor hubby there's too much money on the line that's the only reason Dana White would want hubby to kind of stay around you do that one more time and you just fade into the into the background

yeah that'd be brutal though yeah on that back 2021 Connor 2021 could be yeah Well, no doubt What's going on boys in the back, what's up brother? That's your boy outlaw first time a long time all that First of all Air I'll put life savings on Marcus Buccecha What happened you done played Me I'm sorry, man

RDR coming off of the wind was that three four in a row What do you guys see for RDR? Who is his next matchup? I think Izzy will be a great matchup because I think it will put RDR into that level of stardom if he gets a win over Izzy and also I think it would bring Izzy back if he lost. So I just want to hear from y'all what y'all think about that. Who's our next matchup? All right, love y'all, peace.

First and foremost, condolences and apologies on the Butretja bet. I was right there with you. You guys ruined him. If you need a place to stay, don't ask me, but good luck. Ten units, a lot to do with Butretja not being able to get a single take down. And when he did, didn't do much with it.

Yeah, shout out to Marcus Butretja. The nightmare of the heavyweight division, Tom Aspinall specifically. Tom Aspinall's quaking after that one. Tom Aspinall can finally rest easy now. He's been sick the first half of 2025 because he couldn't sleep because of the fear of Marcus Buccecchia.

RD-R, he's now fifth, man. I don't know. People were talking about Paulo Costa. Paulo Costa is 12th. I know he's a big name, but I feel like RD-R is looking either for the title or someone above him. It just comes down to-

What do you make of Izzy? He said Izzy. Yeah, availability. Izzy wouldn't be bad. It's just, does Izzy want to take that fight? That's my question. I don't think Izzy would. I mean, maybe Izzy would. I mean, he took the Imo Vofai. I think Izzy wouldn't be bad. It's just as Izzy want to take that fight. That's that's I don't think he would I mean, maybe Izzy would I mean he took the email off I think Izzy might but I would actually personally rather see Kosta

I'd already are strickland if Sean hadn't stormed the cage at a tough enough event punched a fighter Then maybe that would make the most yeah, I do think Sean and already art does fit the bill but That'd be a fascinating feels like RDR is gonna be open for anyone. Yeah. Let's do Bo Nickel again. No, not- RDR Bo Nickel too. Not according to the fake Twitter though.

The fake Twitter seems more a game than RDR. Oh, God, yeah. Yeah, they got my ass. That got all of our asses, shout out. Shout out the fake Twitter. Shout out to the guy behind it. Shout out to it. Shout out Ariel Havani.

All the fakes out there. What's next for Glenn Po Poirier actually, now that we're on the subject. So Glenn had a really seismic clash with Umar Demagomedov, booked for UFC 318, but he had a tibula tear. And so he's out of competition. He tore an entire bone. He was supposed to be on the same card as Cousin? As Dustin. So this is what Glenn and I were talking about Glenn

He was so excited about this opportunity because he would say man It's a send-off for my cousin, and it's my entrance into the big show How how poetic when one poor yet closes another opens and then? He was having a gorgonzola encrusted He's fucking tibula exploded Got up to run to the bathroom and towards tibula. They made it wasn't able to find out shit tibula gone So glad I don't know what's happening with Glenn. I think we'll see I think Umar's good opponent Maybe loser of Sanhagen and Marab will throw Glenn at him, but he'll be back. He'll be back

Boys what up? Davis. Ah, Don Davis. It is finally that time, the beginning of the PSL World Tournament Finals. Welterweight and featherweight, headlined by Fad Gene versus Logan Storley. We got Hadoukenado versus Mowgli Kadylias.

And that is one of the thousands of times I've said his name. Who do you guys have? Mowgli Todd you live Don never fucks up either That I am psyched and speaking of things I am psyched about First off no fantasy fighters on my team competing this week. So that's a load off So down with the in the results overturned from last weekend, but we had some news Sheep Mohammed bin maqtum being Juma' al-maqtum joins the PFL global ownership group. We are excited to keep on building Yeah, Peter Murray's got a number of great things to say about him. And I'm excited, too.

You guys know this is my wheelhouse. This is my world. You know, I hear the criticisms, OK? I keep recommending these vintage games, hard-to-find video game systems. Well, I got something a little more mainstream, a little more up maybe G.C. Valley, OK? Boom blocks. Systems well, I got something a little more mainstream a little more Okay Puzzle video game made by electronic

We okay Engage oh but it's out there and On the theme of mainstream, this game was directed by filmmaker Steven Spielberg. You ever heard of him? Check it out, let me know what you think. And keep having a great week and great show. Thanks guys.

Thanks Don. Thank you Don. And we can actually confirm from the PFL's website, Sheikh Mohammed bin Maqdum bin Juma al Maqdum did join the PFL. Shout. Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma al Maktoum did join the PFL. Shout out. League ownership group. Thank you Don for highlighting that.

Thank you. We would have never known if it wasn't for you Don. Thank you so much. Is that real? Yeah, that's real. That's real. Don never fails to disappoint. Hold on though.

What was the game that he recommended? Who walks? No, no, no. There was one time he recommended the walking game. What was that one? Yeah, it was like Tunnel 7 or something. Yeah, where it was just you just walk. He recommends these obscure video games

and one time it was a game where it was a walking simulator. It's just an incredible thing by him. I can't believe Don has time to call him, but I mean it was a big event for the PFL. Big event, needed a promo, needed a It's a promo, shout out to Don. Thank you so much for delivering the message, man. We appreciate it. Boys in the back, it is Kevin Holland Oates.

Yes, what's up, Kevin Holland Oates. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I hope you are too. The one question I have. Kevin Holland Oates in the chat right now. Are you gonna get the signed poster for Top to Retire versus Hyeongseong Park? Highly coveted. The poster is incredible. I believe it's just them two facing each other and it says Fight Week. It really tells a lot. If you're not getting the signed poster for that, I think PFL finals, World

Tournament 2025, main card, card bad gene versus Logan Storley There's some real value in getting that fine thousand that up in the game room Something you could tell your kids about when you reflect back on your career, man. It's a big weekend of fights I think we can all agree It is a weekend of fighting the biggest of them all it's happening versus George In the Singapore indoor arena versus George Garver. It's one of them. Singapore indoor arena? Nope. I lied. It's in Bangkok.

It's in Lumpini, the Madison Square Garden of the East. They all say that. I hope you get the signed poster. I hope you get three signed posters. But for the moment, Frankie, add me on Pokemon Showdown, man. We need to run some doubles. I can get you a team pasted for you. You're gonna be fine Excuse me, thanks man Hope you have a great weekend and we'll talk later. Thanks Kevin Hollenholtz. I mean we got to get that poster up. Oh, yeah

What's good at your boy Bob Kin's boys I know when you get this mailman fighting league taking off you're gonna be looking for some talent Oh yeah. packages delivered and 500 packages lost. Mike Tons or maybe you guys need an in-ring post announcer. You guys were fighting like it was the last PTO day out there. Do you feel better winning this fight than you do actually delivering a package? Boys, I'm free. The cost is free just to you know just to promote y'all in this fighting league so I feel like that's pretty good. Y'all have a blessed weekend. Check it out y'all later. Bodkins out.

Thanks Bodkins. It's a good point. We do have to fill out the rest of the roster. Let's break some news. I mean are you do you want to be involved in Mailman Fight League? I think it makes... What experience do you have? Did you ever deliver papers when you were younger? We need to get a paper boy division. You know, I thought about it. Yeah, that's enough. You're in. Yeah, yeah.

You're in. In one ear, at the other, boom, I'm locked. Shout out to Bodkins. And weather looking a little rough out there. Frank, he's like, let's move on. Hey, boys in the back. Before we die. It's Frank. What's up, Frank?

First time, long time. We've been down since MMA out with me and my wife Oh, let's go. Thank you. Good show Shout out to Frank in the back. Hey I don't know about the shrimp cocktail, but a lot. Hey what a pull boy that's for me shout out to GC My wife is from Guyana. So mad love mad love to guy And I want to know if my wife can get a shout out. Shout out to my beautiful wife. Shout out to your beautiful wife.

Back home in Florida. I'm a truck driver, so I'll be on the road. My baby's holding it down for me. Shout out to Guyana. I'm gonna give my wife a shout out right now. You know, just pump up the volume for her, you know? Name? Shout out to truck drivers.

Shout out to your wife, shout out to Guyana. Oh, that was the whole thing. All right, shout out to your wife, shout out to Guyana. Shout out to your wife. That is fucking incredible. We had shrimp cocktail, iced coffee. We now have po' boys and lattes Both just guaranteed to get get the engine rolling downstairs Frank can you hit the breaking news music, please? I'm seeing this here

First reported by Mike heck of MMA legend shout out Mike The USC has parted ways of Martin Buday following buday's you shut up Marcus muchacha multiple sources tell Garry Guillermo Cruz and I would I fought out his deal the USC elected not to resign the rank shut up Can we reframe that as a win for that's muchacha? That's all butch a chat that has to be a doubleips, hit that Draft Kings or whatever you know. Martin Buday won on Contender Series and was seven and one in the UFC on a three-fight win streak. That's nuts. A ranked heavyweight. What did they hold on? Also there's not much at heavyweight you kind of need like Martin Buday. I cannot believe they cut him. Buday

had moved up. Well they didn't cut him to be fair fought out deal okay did not offer new deal Wow test they gave me new ranking and they just say moves up to 12 see you later like yeah bro listen you don't beat but Chacha like that don't you dare don't you there's consequences there's everyone's that's a. He just cut everybody in front of Buchacha in the rain and then fast dragged him. Wow, he only two people left are Tom Espinall, John Jones and Buchacha. What a ridiculous show this has been.

It's been fucked up. Breaking news, Martin Buday cut. That's crazy. Not cut. Parted ways. Parted ways. Shout out to Mike Heck and Guillermy Cruz, Brazilian beast. What's up boys? It's Brett from Nebraska. Ah, what's up Brett, shout out. from Nebraska? What's up Brett? Shout out.

Shout out Tyron Lue. Did my athlete challenge fell short of the line? Only hit 555. Alright so I said a pretty close line. You said a really good line. I said like 590.5 or something. Have a great rest of your week.

We'll get him next time. Thanks, bro. Thanks. Your his brother wins the day though, unfortunately, it's all right He tried to name like 600 random athletes in an hour like he just had a word document and he was just naming. Yeah. Yeah 555 that's pretty good though. That's solid Connor set the line at 590 something That's pretty good though. That's solid Connor set the line at 590 something What up boys calling in from the best state in the Union the state of Ohio Anyway, I want to talk about this heavyweight fight. That's what they say over. Why is everybody? Acting like Don has no chance. It is a complete scrub. I've been more than an M8 fan for more than five minutes I'm not casual and I remember when people were saying like this guy is a new generation at heavyweight

He's the best striker ever moves like a middleweight I understand he's not has a lot of momentum right now because of the controversial decision win over Volkov But I don't understand understand why that Volkov rematch has had more hype considering Aspenal already finished him in the first round. I think this is easily Aspenal's hardest fight because he's facing an opponent that can match him in speed. Anyways, I don't know if you guys saw some of that. One last thing before I go,

greatest TV show of all time, Vinland Saga, it's on Netflix, check it out. Be good. Vinland Saga? Vinland Saga? I don Check it out. Vinland Saga? Vinland Saga? I don't know it. When it comes to the Serogon thing, yeah, I agree. This could potentially be his toughest fight just because of where he's at in his career

and who he's fought to get to this point. But Tom Aspinall has shown he's so much above everyone else in heavyweight right now that people still aren't certain it's going to be competitive. It's a Vinland Saga manga that is also on Netflix as well. Manga. So often, right, every couple weeks,

I see a new video of Serial Gon rolling, doing some grappling, and he's getting destroyed on the net. Yeah, I'm with you. I just don't see a world in which, with Tom's grappling pedigree, this doesn't go his way quite quickly. Combo of Tom's grappling pedigree, this doesn't go his way quite quickly. Combo of Tom's grappling pedigree and also his ability to finish fights.

Serial Gaan is not one of those heavyweights with just that one hitter quarter power. It's accumulation of damage when he finishes you. Tom Aspinall is not that. Tom Aspinall has shut him off. The best way to win for Serial Gaan, in my opinion, is leg kicks, teep kicks. I think what he did against Taito Iwasa

with those teep kicks, you should absolutely try and replicate that against Tom. It's just, again, I think the speed of Aspinol is gonna be frustrating. I think how quickly Tom closed his distance. I mean, remember the Sergey Pavlovich finish. Tom was boop-bah, boom. You know, like, I just don't think Cyril can take that.

And the other thing is, against Pavlovich, Pavlovich was offering something that could hurt Tom. Don doesn't have that. He needs to stay on the outside if he's gonna win that fight. Pavlovich was offering something that could hurt Tom. Yeah. Don doesn't have that. He needs to stay on the outside if he's gonna win that fight. Sup boys? What's up man?

Mike calling from Moen, South Carolina. Shout out. Thank you GC, appreciate the shout out. Oh, he got your ass. It blew my mind. I had no idea that Mirko Crocops last name was not actually Crocops. Oh yeah, shut up. Crazy but true. That just fucking changed my whole world. I've been watching MMA for at least 30 years now, around 30 years now.

That's how good of a nickname it is. And I had no idea. So, just wanted to thank you for that and remind everyone to keep that white belt mentality and always do learning. And that's it. So Frankie, when you're done uploading the video to Spotify, add me on Xbox and we'll play some Marvel Madness. All right, later. Marvel Madness.

That was a top 10 call just for calling the shout out. Yeah. That was all time. Hey, it's Robert from El Paso shout out to everyone Frank Wow moving right on to the lightweight division I mean I'll use the for you is probably gonna smoke his ass and why not do max Holloway against Patty Pimlet I think that would be pretty entertaining fight and then you either get the Toporia Holloway rematch or the baddie against the boy. I mean to party I was gonna win either one of those I believe

So what do you all think about that? Max Patty. All right a The vitriol there against Frank and moving on from it was wild So you must have done something to that man in the past Frank B Max was Patty and bad. I feel like no one said that that's not bad Especially if Justin has no interest in signing yeah, I Patty somebody has to take him on it does make sense for Holloway That's a big big name Somebody is going to have to fight Patty and I don't know why nobody wants to fight Patty,

but somebody will have to fight Patty. I mean, I'm- It seems like they're all avoiding him for some reason. I've been on Max Charles. I'm down for Max Patty, need be. Yeah. So then you do Charles Justin too, Max Patty? Is that what we're-

What about Armin? Line it up here. Armin Ilya? Yeah. Already, title shot? Armin Charles too? Armin Charles too. I say already, title shot. He was in the title Yeah. Already title shot? Armin Charles too? Armin Charles too. I say already title shot, he was in a title shot.

Yeah, right, he had it. But he hasn't gotten that win. Armin Gamrott too? I would still be cool with him getting a title shot. So would I. Armin Bobby Green? Yeah, now we're talking. King Green, King Green.

Armin versus someone top 50. Max Paddy, not a bad shot, I'm down for it. I'm down for Max versus anyone, bro. I'm down for Paddy versus anyone too. I'm also down for Pad top. Yeah, thanks Patty. Not a bad shot. I'm down for it. I'm down for max versus anyone I'm down for Patty versus anyone. I'm also down for Patty one of the top five somebody fight them Hi guys Had to give a call Ariel told me about your new show had to check it out. Shout out to Frank It's so funny when he plays the noise But guys the reason I'm calling is I hear about this

new tournament guys and George is so excited I put my name in for the job for the postal service next week in my interview guys. I will follow up with you and let you know how it goes. This is a piss poor George. Hey hold on a second motherfucker. Okay the Diaz isn't bad though. Not everybody cares what you're doing motherfucker. I'm the real motherfucker in this tournament, George. I'm the real motherfucker out here running from dogs, hopping fences and shit. You're not putting in that work, George.

So, no one wants to hear that shit. I'm the real guy, shut up. Hey guys What the fuck is this The great fighters guys, but the Anderson I paid good money for a for like a CCTV cam footage of him Who's the first one supposed to be GSP like a CCTV cam footage of him making this phone call. I'm doing this. I'm in a room alone. Who was the first one supposed to be? GSP?

GSP, yeah. It's crazy how he got GSP, Nick Diaz, and Anderson all on one call. All on one call. That's crazy. Actually, last person, I also want to put my name in the list. Alistair Hoover.

Alistair, you might be too big for this tournament. The fact that you could guess it is good. That's how it's... The George was by far the low bar That's how it's supposed to be with impressions. You shouldn't have to figure it out. You should know Let's dump this one This 24 subs maybe this is the Boston in me But I cannot understand how everyone in the world has seen happy Gilmore and they go well the movie sucks But it's good. Listen guys

If it sucks, it sucks. Just say it. What are we doing here? Ariel's sit in there Glazing this thing like it's a Gilly Donut. What are we doing here? Shout out, Glaze. That's all, bye. Yeah, I don't know. Did you see it? It's just like a, so it was a fine movie.

I didn't know that they were doing a second Happy Gilmore. Wow, you've been living under a rock. I guess so. He was two months in fucking Chile. That's true, yeah, I was disappeared was disappeared no so like all on my social media is just like videos of bad bunny being a caddy out of nowhere and I was like what the heck I don't is it bad is happy go more too bad it's fine it's not it's not bad at all fine it's not great either but it's not bad

Sandler made like what 200 million dollars. Yeah, I'm sure I shit that What's up boys, what's up, man Henry from UNC here a legend It's our guy a couple hard-hitting ones for you today rip them Connor. I know you're a big Street Beast guy Have you seen the YouTube series where? Mighty Mouse trains death sentence before one of his fights Mighty Mouse trains Death Sentence before one of his fights. And if so, do you think you could take on Death Sentence in the Street Beasts Arena if you guys were matched up? Also, I'm waiting on that pound for pound of Frank's pound for pound list.

Little meta metadata there. Got some good ones there. I really liked last week's with the nicknames. Thanks man. Thanks, everybody. Shout out crew. Shout out, bro. And a special shout out to my dad, John.

Shout out, John. Johnny. To Chapel Hill right now to move into my house. Baby J. Moving into the house, man. Enjoy your time at Chapel Hill. That's incredible, go heels. Could I beat Death Sentence? I mean, after his performance,

I feel like I could hold up against him. Yeah, Street Beasts are the best. I think the better question is, do you have a pulse? Yeah, Death Sentence struggled, man. That's all it takes. Is he not a good fighter? Well, you haven't seen Death Sentence? I haven't seen it.

You're kidding me! I've seen the Mighty Mouse interview with him. They start on the hog cam as they move up. It was a ridiculous act. I've seen the Mighty Mouse interview with him. They start on the hog cam as they move up. It was a ridiculous, ridiculous act. I've not seen him fight. I think he went like 0 and 6 before he recruited DJ. Wait, wait, time out. He's fought six times in this thing?

I think more. I think more. And every fight he comes in with like the biggest energy possible. I'm gonna, I think he literally said, I'm gonna bathe in your blood and then he got knocked out instantly again. And then he faked it you see this he faked it

Right. He kind of played a little LeBron James on this one. But is he in on this gimmick then? No, I think that's actually him Oh, I think he believes it which is honestly the craziest part Yeah, you can watch every death sentence fight ever from a year ago in eight minutes I'm still gonna hard pass on it, but it's worth it. Now I know. He wins one of them, right? He does. I think he wins, I think he's won a couple times. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you gotta win at least some.

He's a ridiculous man. I have to mention, his cup, I don't know who issued it. That's what I'm saying. Wade, what did he issue? What does he have, like the Brian Ortega leg? Oh my, bigger than Brian's! Yeah, it's bigger than Brian's. It's like XXXXXXL, it's ginormous.

And then he wears this black skin tight suit, so it's extra pronounced. I don't know who dressed this man, but yeah. The top comment on the video is, the only man to go on foreign still be the GOAT. Which is true. Alright, here we go. Last one. What's up, boys? Salai from Chicago here again. And the walk of my dog in the rain. Trying to get him to take a shit.

Sorry man. I started calling and asked you guys, what is your greatest YouTube video of all time? A lot of videos I've reviewed clearly. What's the best one out there? Would love to hear your answers. All right, peace. What is the greatest?

What is your favorite YouTube video of all time? That's a hard one. I can't do this one off rip cause I've watched some incredible YouTube videos. I actually consume most of my YouTube and Ariel couldn't believe this. I told him yesterday via television. I sit my ass on the couch and just put it on the big screen.

Cinematic experience. Yeah, I mean, one that I used to always go back to in the day after you hit the pen with the boys is a size of stars comparison, where it just starts on Earth and goes to the biggest star in the universe, and you're just like, wow. Wow, we're not too big, are we?

All time video, it's got like 50 million views. That's a good one. I'm really getting caught off the top of my head. My favorite is the, well, honestly, generally all the news bloopers ones, but there's one specifically. Frank loves the news bloopers. This woman is like, the so-and-so Climb Mount Everest, but he's gay. Gay, I'm sorry, he's blind. Yeah, news bloopers are tremendous.

Yeah, I mean there's so, like there's some high level produced shit on YouTube now. There's some Alzheimer's. Too high quality. I would say like old machinima red versus blue, little rooster teeth. Oh wow, we're going way back. That's a nerdy cut, that's a nerdy cut. No, that's not a nerdy cut. Someone in the chat saying Tourette's Guy, shout out. That's all time.

You guys don't know about Tourette's Guy? I don't think I've heard of Tourette's Guy. I know Tourette's Guy, yeah, yeah. Tourette's Guy legend. Me and Holly bonded over the old GI Joe Videos yeah Oh, man, it was like it was like it was like voice dubs over that there was like a Power Rangers one there was an X-Men when I'm the juggernaut bitch comes from like the voice dubs of that and then there was one with

GI Joe like PSA is being voiced over There was nothing like sitting back in the day, like sitting on a sick YouTube video, and put it up around the board. It's just like, yeah, take a look at this one. And it's just all time. Or E-bombs world. E-bombs world, now we're really on. Funnyjunk.com.

Shout out. Is that all of them? That's all of them. That's all of them. Any super chats? Super chats. Got three big ones to read off the rip here. Is that all? That's all of them. That's all of them. Any super chats? Yeah, three big ones to read off the rip here. ECZ 7-1-1-9-5 question for Ben Davis. Can we get a top five pound for pound list for the heaviest dart rippers in the challenge house?

That's smokers. Yeah. Well my initial knee jerk on that was like playing darts. No. We didn't have any darts in the house, unfortunately, which sucked. People that were hitting the vapes. Are you allowed to? Like what are the rules on that? I don't know if they, I think there was a rule you can't. The question is whether or not it's enforced, you know?

And I don't think it was enforced all that frequently. I mean, CT, he'd be blowing cigarettes like a pack a day. And you know, you question him coming in like 270, I mean CT he'd be blowing cigarettes like a pack a day and You know you you question him coming in like 270 and then he's also Like man, I'm out of shape it's like yeah, dude, we know Yeah, we see you dying on the mountain yeah, where where Like I think Naya she had her vape Nani Ashley They all had their vape Anissa. I think was hitting her vape, Nani, Ashley, they all had their vape, and Nisa I think was hitting the vape. There was like one vape that just kept getting passed around.

Theo always had something on him. Was CT the only dart ripper? I would smoke with him. I would, you know, I don't wanna get crazy, but you know, I'd be up there with him. Okay, did you smuggle in anything? He totally did. No, no, I didn't, not like intentionally. They forgot to take some things out of my backpack.

So like I had, I think a notebook, I had a pen, some things like that. Oh nice. I didn't try and snuggle anything in. I should have. I mean that's one of the, now you're a vet. Now you'll do that for next time. I'm gonna snuggle like a thumbtack and put it under people.

Take out their feet. Are you saying snuggle or smuggle? Smuggle. We'll do that for next time. I'm gonna snuggle like a thumbtack and put it under people. Take out their feet. Are you saying snuggle or smuggle? Smuggle. What else we got? Hunter Reptile Ho, my Fedor Bobblehead is missing the same hand as the one on the desk. How did yours lose the hand? Probably us moving them at some point and actually dropping it.

No idea. It's been gone for a while. And lastly, Cam63, looking for resale UFC tickets to Paris. Says, I'll be there for my honeymoon. What websites are you seeing? Shout out, enjoy your honeymoon. Maybe don't go to UFC Paris.

Just enjoy the time with your wife, be a bottle of wine under the Eiffel Tower. UFC Paris Works though, Kyle Bahalia versus Nasruddin Emavav says romantic, you'll remember for a lifetime. But if you are looking for resale, Ticketmaster, TicPic. SeatGeek, did they?

SeatGeek, you could probably grab some on SeatGeek, UFC.com slash tickets. What about eBay? eBay is a little bit risky. I have gotten tickets. Oh, mileage might vary on eBay. Sorry, no eBay. No eBay eBay? eBay is a little bit risky. Oh, okay. Mileage might vary on eBay. Sorry, no eBay. No eBay. Yeah.

Google is also a pretty ... Craigslist? Do you do Craigslist? I don't know if I do the Craigslist. How about Facebook Marketplace tickets? A little Facebook Marketplace? A little FM? Alright, I think that's it. That's all the Superchats? That's all of them. All right, um

That'll do it for us Ben. Thank you so much for joining us man. We appreciate it hung out for Hours, this was this was great. We got the lowdown on UFC apex 108 PFL this weekend the challenge What's next for Ben? I shit you not this was my birthday president This was his like make-a foundation. I've been dying. He did it, he did it. Like we've done it now, we never have to talk about the challenge again. Until Ben wins, then we'll have you back on. Season 41 winner, Ben the Ben.

Go watch The Crack tomorrow, and then watch the Era of the Hawani Show on Monday. Enjoy the fights this weekend. It is a weekend of fights. So enjoy, thank you again Ben for joining us back next week see that