The Ariel Helwani Show - Bill Goldberg, Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, Chris Curtis, Patricio Pitbull, Steve Garcia, Mario Barrios

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Ariel Helwani begins the show with some news and notes, before Chris Curtis calls in — on his birthday — to talk about his hard-fought win over Max Griffin, his return to welterweight, his altercation at Tuff-N-Uff, his struggles at middleweight, and more (06:39).Steve Garcia is next up after his big win over Calvin Kattar to discuss wanting a headliner next, fighting up the rankings, putting together a six-fight win streak, and more (28:10).Legendary wrestler Bill Goldberg joins to reflect on his final WWE bout and reveals his feelings on fighting for the heavyweight title, his disappointments in the delivery, competing on three-weeks notice, working with Gunther, his relationship with Triple H, and more (48:05).Mario Barrios joins the show before his WBC welterweight title defense against the returning Manny Pacquiao. He expresses his initial doubts about the fight, details his preparations, hopes to fight Conor Benn, breaks down Canelo-Crawford, and more (1:32:09).Ariel is joined by the crew to debate which fight is the biggest over the packed weekend (1:48:30).Patricio Pitbull joins alongside his translator and coach Eric Albarracin to preview his second UFC fight against Dan Ige and discuss what went wrong in his debut against Yair Rodriguez, opening a gym, looking toward the BMF belt, and more (2:05:05).Stephen Thompson closes out the show after his controversial split decision loss to Gabriel Bonfim in Nashville to break down fighting through his 40s, breaking Randy Couture's record, connecting with Rory MacDonald, running karate camps, and more (2:21:06).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome is the 15th. You know why I screwed that up, Frank? Because you're so excited for Connor's birthday? That's exactly why. Team outing, going to the, well, should I not say, because I don't want people to- You shouldn't say. Yeah. Oh, maybe I should say. No, well, oh yeah, we are going next door.

We are going next door. Wow, we can give a four-view on Thursday, or on next week. Yeah, yeah. No, we can give a full review on Thursday, or on next week. Yeah, yeah. No, what screwed me up was that my laptop audio was on. Oh, you've been doing that. Yeah, I've been known to do that. And it's like, ah!

You're like talking, you're like, what's that noise? And my initial instinct was that it was Frank's doing. Oh, wow. But then I quickly realized it was my doing, and so I got the dates messed up It is in fact July 15 tomorrow's the 16th GC's birthday the 17th Pizzi's birthday and my father's birthday as well So it's a great time to be alive. There's so much to be thankful for what a Monday We had here on the program with Shakur Stevenson and Connor Ben

I'd say we I'd say we made a little magic and And don't worry, to all the outlets out there, especially the boxing ones who steal our content, I don't mind, I've always been in favor of people using our content. I'd say the proper thing to do is to probably credit, but nothing surprises me with these jabronis. So we'll keep doing our thing. We'll keep producing the good content, the unique and entertaining content for all of you,

and they will have to live with themselves. And don't worry, it's on the house. Do what you want. It's okay. You wanna, you wanna... Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh We've got a great show planned for all of you today after a tremendous post-Netflix Monday. We've got in total on today's program nine guests. Well technically not nine on this program.

Nine today because you know on Tuesdays we like to play too. We've got the Aero and Adet program at 5pm Eastern on Dazon, on their YouTube channel, on their platform. We've got three guests there on that show. It's a real promoters slash businessy angle, so to speak. We've got Nikkisa Bidarian, co-founder of MVP, the great Frank Warren Hall of Famer, and then Dave Feldman, who's going to try and convince ADE as to why he should be a Bear Knuckle fan, or at least not a hater. So that's three guests on that show. On this show six guests. Back end of the show

we'll talk to Stephen Wonderboy Thompson coming off his frustrating split decision loss to Gabriel Bonfin this past weekend. Split his freaking shin doesn't get the nod Patricio Pitbull is returning to action this Saturday at UFC 318 against Dan Ige. We'll talk to him about that one of the more anticipated fights on this card prior to that we'll talk to Mario Barrios the WBC welterweight champion who faces Manny freaking Pacquiao this Saturday on Amazon Prime pay-per-view, PBC card, the champ at 147 pounds, a lot of people gunning for him including the aforementioned Conor Benn. Prior to that we'll be joined by the

Hall of Famer Big Bill Goldberg. What a freaking legend. Said his goodbye to the squared circle on Saturday. It's Saturday night's main event in the ATL. Atlanta, really the epicenter of the combat sports world with all the WWE stuff that happened recently, the UFC event in June. Home run derby, all-star game, technically not combat sports, but you get this like impact. So it's like somewhat combative in that regard. I'm not combative in that regard. Anyway, we'll talk to Big Bill, always a pleasure. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Steve Garcia, who has now won six in a row and is finally ranked at 145 pounds. Very much flying under the radar,

had five stoppages in a row, and then met Calvin Kader. Is there a more under the radar winning streak right now in the UFC than his six in a row? Maybe Mobsar, but I feel like we talk about it enough. Anyway, prior to that, in a couple of seconds, we'll be joined by Chris Curtis, who had a win on Saturday as well, snapped his two-fight losing streak, beat Max Griffin via split decision. So that's your six pack, and in total, nine guests coming through uncrowned HQ today. Oh you were gonna have a hard time finding

guests. I think six tomorrow too. Earlier this morning outside Wembley Stadium, one of the big fights happening. In fact probably the most consequential fight of the weekend with the most stakes attached to it. The most important fight of the weekend with the most stakes attached to it, the most important fight of the weekend, undisputed gold in the heavyweight division. A year and a half ago, a little over a year ago, May of 24, an undisputed heavyweight title fight, everyone was ranting and raving about it. Then it became like just old hat. Now all of a sudden, we're getting it again and no one's talking about it it it seems like. Alexander Usyk and Daniel Dubois part 2. They met in 2023 in Poland. They couldn't have it in Ukraine. Controversial ending. Was it below the belt? Was it not below the belt? Anyway,

they had their face off and it was shades of Kobe Bryant and Matt Brown. Not Matt Brown, Matt Barnes. Look at this. He didn't flinch. He did not flinch. Dubois trying to get in his head, trying to get under his skin. Frank Warren loving every second of it. Dubois in his face. Usyk, unflappable. I'm hyped. What a fight. Wembley Stadium. Incredible. I was startled there by the Usyk Usyk.

That's good stuff. I'm looking forward to that. There's five events, five pretty massive events happening this weekend in the world of combat sports. Later in the day, I'm going gonna rank my most anticipated fights and the most important ones of the bunch. That's what I'm gonna do. That'll be later. For now though let us say hello to our first guest of the day. He got back to his winning ways in his return to the welterweight division, the 170 pound

division, a hard-fought win over Max Griffin. Split decision. I think he thought it should have been a unanimous who cares it's a W we're talking to Chris Curtis who's kind enough to join us to lead off the show hello Chris how are you I'm gonna good what's up I gotta ask you though are you picking for Dubois versus Usyk what are your thoughts on that like I'm so curious I love this fight I don't think Dubois should be getting the fight. I think it should be Joseph Parker, but nevertheless, uh, Usyk in my opinion should win, but I think Dubois is an infinitely better fighter than the one who fought him in 2023. Way more confidence, way better, but ultimately I think Usyk is one of the best heavyweights of

all time and I think he will win via decision. What do you think? Same thing. I definitely think this DuBois is a lot better than what we've seen. Like you've, I mean, we can throw out the notion of him being a quitter and whatnot. Like, no, like, you know, he's, he's much more skilled than he was. I do think it should be Parker.

I really think it should be Parker, but I think this DuBois is gonna put up a better showing than last time, but I still think it was six probably scale for scale. But most technical heavyweights we've seen heavyweight, light heavyweight, we've seen the last 20 years. So it's, it's, I gotta go to sick, but I'm interested to see how much of a dog do walk

and be. Was it a below the belt shot back in 2023? What do you think? Very controversial. Was it legal? Was it illegal? I belt shot back in 2023? What do you think? Very controversial. Was it legal? Was it either legal? Yeah. I would say it was legal.

I like looking at it, like, I get it. But knowing where the cup, where your cup actually sits, I like, it was on the belt line, but I don't think he hit anything. Like, it's just knowing like in chunks where you're like where the cup sits. I think it was legal. By the way, you big boxing guy. that's I came from boxing boxing still my

first love like yeah in terms of watching and following do you enjoy more than MMA yeah yeah I would definitely follow boxing a little more closely than I do it I don't uh I don't watch MMA really unless it's somebody I know fighting or if it's somebody like I want to fight boxing I try to follow as much as possible. Okay. And still off social media, huh? No social media presence whatsoever these days.

No. I've got TikTok. I have a TikTok that I use. You know, just I try to do a live once a week. Just, I got shamed by an old head in the gym one day about like, you know, he's like, think about the people that inspired you when you came up and they had interviews and whatnot. And now social media is how they do that. Think about the people behind you.

But maybe you have something to say to inspire somebody and you just take that away. He shamed me and I felt really bad. I was like, damn, the old heads, right. So I do a TikTok. I try to do like a live once a week just to talk to fans, like offer advice, go questions, just interact. It's kind of something you owe the people behind the fans, the people who care, and the people, the fighters coming up behind you. So like, he really shaped me. Like, I felt really bad from the old head. So he made me kind of suck up

and just at least try to interact more and put something out there and try to have some form of positivity for the people behind me. Who was the old head? Well, just an old boxing coach at the gym. I didn't know this guy's name. Oh, wow. He's just one of the old heads in the gym. He straight up shamed me and I was like, damn, I went home and thought about it for three

days. I was like, man, I feel really bad. But no X, no Twitter for you, right? No Twitter, no Instagram. You feel better? Yeah. Oh, I love it. I love it. I absolutely love it. It's a TikTok so much less insane place most of the time. So it's just easy to deal with

You know, I got moderators who run that stuff for me So yeah, it's just nice to be able to interact and try to give at least a little bit a little piece of yourself back And like the trick is though, you can't get pulled into it. Like I don't uh, I'll answer comments here and there But I don't let myself spend too much time on it. Okay I had the the good fortune of seeing you at extreme couture just a few days before your fight You were just about to go out. We were there in Vegas. It was great to see you and man I was saying to the guys who are with me from the show and I was like freaking Chris Curtis looks shredded You look shredded and this was like 10 days or so before the fight,

maybe a little bit more. And this was your return to welterweight. You were freaking shredded out there. How difficult was it to get to 170 and how did you feel? Hilariously, this was probably one of the easiest, one of the best easiest cuts I've made in my entire career. So I shit you not, anyone that says money doesn't solve all your problems has some really unique problems or they're just not good with money. Because making $1.70 when you're poor is

very different than making $1.70 when you have financial needs. This was an easy cut. This was easy. Everything was easy for me between the the UCPI and S&C staff. Like you know, they were very worked every day. I talked to everybody. We all linked up every day. They worked very closely hand in hand with my nutrition and my lifting schedule and whatnot. And then me being able to afford like high quality food and like you know, being able to afford meal prep and chefs and stuff. This was an easy cut. This was, I was absolutely expecting to suffer for this. And you always suffer making the weight,

but even the weight cut itself was probably easier than my last two cuts to 1.85. It was a very, very easy cut. Ultimately, why did you make this call? I'm 5'10", man. I'm 5'10". Even at 85, I've never weighed more than 205 pounds. But I'm a very very very small middleweight. Like you got guys like Strickland who's 230, Brad who's 215, 220. You know, these guys are big. And like if you ever see like our

team photos at 85, I am definitely the one that doesn't belong in that picture. I've never been, you know, I've been 205 tops my entire UFC career. And even I think, you know, I was thought GSP was weird for saying like, oh, you know, being 80 being 85, it was hard on his body. Like, no, man, I get it. Like it took me four years to put on 15 pounds of muscle. And that came with a lot of side effects. I had a lot more injuries. Uh, I lost like a lot of flexibility in my shoulder. I got slower, you know, I have a knee and back pains and whatnot, losing the weight again and getting down to 70. I feel amazing.

I feel fast. Like I don't hurt. I sleep better. Like it's just, I'm not meant to be above, you know, like 200 pounds. It's just, it's just harder. My body, even being 200 pounds is hard on me. So I think 70 is just, you know, but it's just the size my body should be around there.

I felt great. I felt absolutely amazing. It took me an hour and a half to make weight. Wow. And you look good, got the dub. Happy with the performance? Yes and no. It's weird.

So like even with the cut being so going so well, you're always a little bit nervous about how your body's going to feel in the fight. And you know, we, uh, we had the fight in time. I was in Thailand and then I got this fight. So I flew back two days after I got the fight and we didn't have time for a practice cut. There was no nothing. It's just, all right right We're gonna jump into it and this should work So you're always a little bit nervous about how your body's gonna feel after you cut and you start fighting So that was a little bit nerve-racking and then like in the fight, you know, we had Things we were we things we train things we plan to work on things

We wanted to do and then you get cut in the first minute and a half Which completely throws your old game plan out the window Once I got cut from the head, but I was like, okay, like I can't What I what we wanted to do we plan to do is got to change now because it was it was a really bad cut So we got to the end of the first round talk to the doctor at the second and she's like I'm going to second She's like hey, it's it's pretty bad. If it gets any worse We're gonna have to have a talk about what to do next. So now I'm like damn Okay, like so

For me it sucks because you know, we're landing anywhere from or throwing between a hundred and forty to you know 200 punches sometimes in around in practice, but once you get cut you're like man any fighter will tell you you're at your most Vulnerable when you're punching so I like, the more my volume goes up, the more I'm gonna risk having this cut opened up worse. And I just, I didn't want to, wasn't gonna, I didn't want to lose to Max Griffin. I especially didn't want to lose to Max Griffin on a cut.

Like that, oh man, that would have broken me. So, you know, it's- Why, why? Because you don't hold Max to that same, you know, standard? No, I, so here's the funny thing. I have never had a problem with Max Griffin I have never say anything but complimentary of him dudes of that. He's been around for a long time. I've never Whispered thought or breathe the bad word about Max Griffin until the day before the fight and I see the interview

He's like fuck Chris Kurtz. I don't like Chris Curtis and I'm like fuck me. What did I do? So that pissed me off. So like from that point on I was like I'm gonna fuck you up in front of everyone and for that like I I saw that and I was pissed I was like bet like that everyone asked me like why was I talking so much and like laughing at him and like Haunting him in the fight. I was like I was fucking pissed because I've never had nothing but respect for you in like okay I see that they'd be for the fight and I'm like back. I'm gonna make you look stupid What do you think about one of the judges scoring it for him? What I don't know that it's it's this sports weird like unfortunately, I think In MMA there are so many aspects of a fight and we do we have the judging criteria, right?

You're fighting the criteria, but I don't really think anyone knows how it's supposed to be weighted and there's so many aspects of MMA it's not it's not boxing where we've got you know uh general ship and like effective offense whatnot there's like there's so many other things that go into it I don't think most judges know like what the fuck they're watching or what they're supposed to be scoring. I Don't know how Someone gave him two rounds. I gave him like you can argue me maybe he got the first round if you got the headbutt and like, you know, like it just Kind of like made things weird for me to have to adjust my game plan. Give him the first round cool

I get it. Whatever second and third round. I have absolutely no idea how like It's weird for me because I feel like once again I got into a fight with a guy who everyone's like he's a dog He wants to fight and then he fins the next leg to wrap like next three rounds like trying not to fight He felt scared to me. He felt he genuinely felt like scared to be in there. I'm like whatever I won the last two rounds. I know like I know for a fact. I won the last two rounds I thought I won them pretty clearly pretty cleanly, but I mean, I'm not a judge at the end of the day All I can do is fight You know not my best performance, but not my worst I got to for me. This was a test

This is a test. It was a test run, you know We got it was a we got the test a test. It was a test run. We got the test in combat under fire. It passed the test. Going forward, I know what I can do. I know where my cardio is, how my body feels. We made the adjustment. There's nowhere to go but up for me from here.

It was my test run. We passed the test. I'm confident. I can't control what the judges do, so we should go out there and fight people. What I thought wasn't talked about enough was the fact that you got into two scraps in the span of like two weeks, which you deserve a lot of credit for. Chris didn't fight anybody.

Chris Curtis attacks, you didn't like that. You didn't like that. Chris Curtis attacked, technically Chris Curtis attacked no one. If anything, I am the beacon of peace. Confronts? I am a beacon of peace, Ariel Hauwani. I am a beacon of peace. What happened there?

What happened? What's your side of the story? It's just, you know, hotheads and, you know, people, I'm never gonna be mad at somebody for beating a teammate of mine. Like, no, I'm never gonna be mad. Like, it's a fight. Like, fights happen.

Like, if you got a winner or a loser, it's fine. But, you know, when you start telling a guy like fuck you suck my dick I'll fuck you up you got that that's that's that's a little bit far all right tell me fuck you it's one thing like cool I love you so we fuck you my mom told me fuck you whatever I don't care but when you tell a grown man I'll suck you know fucking suck my dick and I'll fuck you up now we as a man we have you know there's like two there's an option two options you know suck fucking suck my dick and I'll fuck you up. Now we, as a man, we have, you know, there's like two, there's an option, two options. You can just suck that guy's dick or you can fight him.

So like, when it happened, a lot, you know, it's exciting moment, everybody is, you know, kind of hyped up and like, I'm just, I'm not from this social media generation. I believe in fighting people. Like as a man, you know, you should be like, if you say shit like this, understand that like it's going to result in a fight and this generation of like oh, it's just words

Like no shut up like my generation if you said this shit to a grown man, you're gonna get hit It's just how it goes. So, you know it little bit of hot tempered but like midway through of my bro We can't like don't we can't fight this dude on TV like in a movie cake So, you know cooler heads prevail for the most part But I'm from a different generation man, like these social media kids and all their bullshit like oh It's just words being adult like no shut up like shut up But you're your fucking little girl like and where I come from at my age like no you did this shit Like you're gonna be into you're being a fight. So times are different man. I'm a relic of the past unfortunately

But uh, you know, I like a relic of the past, unfortunately, but, you know, I like that past. And whatever the shit is now, like, I don't know, kids are weird. But like, in my day, you said that shit, you were going to be in a fistfight. That fighter Luis Hernandez, you know him, you have a history with him. And if not, have you seen him since? No, I've never, never known this kid. He was just fighting a teammate of mine. I was going to congratulate him on the fight. Like he won. I wasn't mad at him like bro, like you beat my teammate It's happened. I've cornered guys who've lost before I've had teammates corner me when I've lost

I wasn't mad at the guy like I've never met him before I was gonna congratulate him after the fight and Benny's like fuck you suck my dick. Okay, fuck you up No, I'm like, what is this bro? Like, okay So, you know it I've never met him it happens. I'll uh at some point, you know I just had so much fight shit going on. I didn't get a chance I'm gonna figure out how to reach out to him at some point just talk to him like hey man, like, you know what? This was dumb like you're you're in your fucking moment and uh, you know, I got took offense I got my field took offense to it. I I got in my field, took offense to it. I'll reach out to him at some point and talk to him, but I don't hate the dude. Like I'm not mad.

He won man. Like, you know what? It's just a weird thing to do. And like everybody got pissed off a little bit of bad look for everybody, but I'll reach out to him probably the day or tomorrow. I'll try and get ahold of him and kind of just, I don't, I'm almost 40, man. I don't, I don't need the beef. I don't need the bad karma.

I got other shit to worry about. So I'm happy for the dude. Congratulations. Like I'm like, you know't, I'm almost 40, man. I don't need the beef. I don't need the bad karma. I got other shit to worry about. So I'm happy for the dude. Congratulations. Like I'm like, you know, celebrate your win, but be careful who you say, what you say into who, because that shit's, we're not all like, you know, TikTok kids, like we will actually fight you. And by the way, I know there was a little concern of like,

would there be any ramifications? Is Nevada upset about this? Are there any issues stemming from it? We had some very interesting meetings with Nevada. So like, yeah, so we had Nevada, they kind of come down on us, so it's one of those things to where like, Nevada understands how the situation got out of hand, but Nevada's also like, this isn't acceptable so I got you know I got I got a punishment for it Shawn

got punished for it so like at that point you know you got to take your licking you can't really argue because like yeah like we did have a fuck up and like you know there varying degrees of fuck ups but we we could have made different choices so I'm not mad about it at all they were pretty fair about it. They're pretty cool about everything. Is this one of those things like, hey, man, like we know that, like, you know, this is how you guys see it, but we can't have this going forward. But I ended up paying a decent little penny for this.

Like, yes, cost me. Wow. What was the punishment? Was it just a fine? I got a fine. Sean got some other stuff. I'll let him tell you guys about that at some point I'm not gonna out his business. Okay, I ended up with a pretty like a pretty interesting fine from the volume But but you know corner people like you're not barred from doing any of that or no, I'm good I'm good. Like mine was a little bit different from Sean's so I'm fine It's just they got me with a nice little fine back into the day, you know, I made a choice to go in there

So like that part falls on me, but Nevada's been very understanding and you know, they they had a good talk with a good conversation with us about like What would you know, it's essentially they're really like you guys fucking know better and like, you know, you didn't they understand But this is we can't have it happen again. We have to say, you know, they're like lay down ground rules on about has been great but and they're costing me but in the day, you know, I appreciate Nevada for being a preparing us out and being Reasonable with everything so I like Nevada. I always love fighting in Nevada and that's why they're very very

They're a very human commission. They understand fighters, they understand the people we are and the industry we're in. So they're very good at walking that line and being like, hey, this is what it's gonna be. So it sucks, you always hate losing money, but at the end of the day, I fucked up, so you gotta pay for it. If nothing else, it showed that you and Sean

are on the same page, that you're buds, that your partner's in crime again. Like you were in unison. That was nice to see. We there's usually when most things will have each other's back. It's just there's a like he drives me insane. I drive him insane. We're great friends.

We're questionable teammates just because the way we approach fighting, we're great friends. He's like, he's like, he's honestly like a brother to me. Still. We're great friends. We're horrible teammates. All right. I can respect that. By the way, correct me if I'm wrong. Today's your birthday, right? Yeah, 38. I'm old as fuck. Bro. What are you doing spending it with us here? Jeez Louise, you do you have anything fun planned for later in the day? No, I don't celebrate birthdays man. I stopped doing that and I was like 13. Uh, come on. We got we got some childhood

Try my least celebrate birthdays, but now I'm fine. Uh, my manager Lance his birthday is actually tomorrow So we celebrated our birthdays yesterday Okay, he's running around to another stuff and this is the homie so we did our bro. We had dinner yesterday And that's about it for me I'm gonna hang out gonna go to practice here in a little bit to help out with Sparring gonna hang out with with my youngest and my fiance. But that's it, man. Like I don't, people always ask,

oh why don't you celebrate or do stuff? Like I kind of live a fun life to where I can, like every day for me, I get to be around the people I love, my family, my friends. I got nothing to worry about in my life anymore. Like every day is a celebration for me. So birthday is just a day, man.

I get to do this every day is a celebration for me. So birthday is just a day, man. I get to do this every day anyway. I love it and respect that very much. Is your eye okay? God, I got so many fucking stitches, bro. I will say thank you to the doc, 23 with 12 double internal stitches. So there's 12 inside and 11 outside. Luckily the doctor was a plastic surgeon.

So it's like, it's in my eyebrow here, but it did a really good job of a like sewing it back But if you look at my like a tick-tock what I've received the picture I'll send it to you like my eyebrows hanging off. It was so gross. It was fucking disgusting So head but it again like but what else would be new but it's healing nicely does it feel bad as it could. It's gonna be more ugly than it was than this is just. Man yeah but hopefully a few days of swelling goes away i'll be looking back to mostly normal who's next who do you want. Do i'm there there's like so much stuff going on i think we sent it to be fun okay i think Okay, I think we're too like old dogs. Like I love the city Luke. I think they'd be a really fun fight I know Jeff feels got a fight already. So he's doing his thing. I think we gave you really fun

I think they just be a really fucking fun fight. I would love that I think that would be great for you is great to see the fans show you love after the the fight as well That was great to see Nashville had love walk My walkout, my walkout on the mission was amazing. And like, where is he? Like my boy Tony Parker. So they got right here in the tank top. Yeah. My first one of my first wrestling coaches in MMA, Tony Parker. Wow. Yeah, dude. Like I had so many people come from Ohio. One of my boys, Jordan, had a executive suite up here at the at the arena. I had so much love from Ohio. On top of that, do Tennessee love me arena I had so much love from Ohio on top of that do Tennessee love me I got so much love from Tennessee I do Nashville's amazing like Nashville's absolutely amazing it's one of my top

three places I've ever fought like they're such a cool crowd like so much love it's absolutely awesome like that was a really fun night for me love it well congratulations enjoy the win enjoy your birthday, whichever way you want to enjoy it. Glad to hear that the cut, the eye is relatively okay for now and will get better. Always great to talk to you. And it was great to see you a couple days ago at the gym as well.

Dude, get back to Vegas sometime, man. Or come visit me in Thailand, man. Come get some sun. It'll be good. I don't know how you doing. How are you doing, son? I'm good. I'm Middle Eastern. So that's that's my natural habitat

You can stay in gloriously. Yes. Yes. Come fucking come hang out in Thailand, man. You'll love it You and bear can become golden and great. It's great. That would be fantastic Thank you, Chris. Congrats. Later, man. Good to see you. There he is the great Chris Curtis the action man great win for him at 170 pounds what a great guy great demeanor demeanor, always jovial, happy. I'm happy that he's in a good place and that he's able to celebrate not only his birthday but a victory just a couple of days ago in Nashville. One of the other big winners from Saturday was Steve Garcia.

As I said at the top of the show, it's now six in a row for him, somewhat under the radar. Five in a row were stoppage victories. And then he met Calvin Kader, who's always a tough out, but he got a nice, hard fought, well earned, dominant decision win. He's kind enough to join us. Let's say hello to the great Steve Garcia,

who is here with us. Hey Steve, how are you? What's up, Barry? How you doing, buddy? It's great to have you on. Congratulations on the win. Six in a row now in a very tough featherweight division. I was wondering out loud before you came on at the top of the show

if this is one of the more under the radar winning streaks, especially because you had five stoppages in a row in the sport. Do you agree with that assessment? Are not enough people talking about you considering who you're beating and how you're beating them? Yeah, man, I think that, I don't know if I've been tucked away at the apex for too long or I don't know exactly why I haven't been, you know, throwing out there a little bit

more, I haven't been pushed as much, I don't know. But I must be doing something right if I'm here talking to you, brother, so I'm happy to be on your show, this is cool. Okay, well I appreciate that. It was interesting, in your post-fight interview, you said, man, it's good to fight in front of a crowd again. You had been tucked away at the Apex for so long. What did that feel like, to be out there

in front of a sold out crowd in Nashville, showing you all that love? It must have felt like a breath of fresh air. Nashville was electric, man. I honestly had to go back and fight there again, man. It was such a good time. I had a blast. I think it's a good place to kind of go out there

and get to throw some hands, you know, and everybody was excited for the fight. They hyped up this winning streak I was on. I had to make myself as undeniable as possible, man. This is the only way that I could get seen. I don't have, I don't have a mouth on me. And I've said it before, man, like, I know humbleness doesn't sell, but chaos do. And so I had to like knock out everybody just to even get to this position to have this opportunity. They gave me Calvin cater. It was supposed to be at some Barbabwe, but that's okay. Calvin Kader is just a fit opponent as well, and we got the job done, man.

I was excited. So then what was really funny was you were like, oh, it's so great to be out of the Apex. And then when you were asked about what's next, you're like, I'd like to headline an Apex event. Don't go back to the Apex. Yeah, well, I'm not trying to buy it off like more than they're willing to give me, if that makes sense. So I probably need to like, no, just a little bit.

You know what I mean? But yeah, I want to I want to headline one of these cards, you know, eventually. And I feel like they won't give me a Nashville or though they won't give me one of those. I'm not sure. I mean, I feel like I barely just got this platform. And I'm over here. I'm like, all right, I'm next in line to get a headline shot so I'm not trying to get crazy out there but you know man what the hell like yeah let's

headline a good five me and M8 or me and whoever's you know within my realm of where I'm at right now let's get a five round in there how about that? I think you deserve that you've done enough but I think you should be fighting in front of people in fact I think all of you you should be fighting in front of people. In fact, I think all of you guys should be fighting in front of people, every single fighter in the UFC. I think it's long past time that you guys get that opportunity. Now you're ranked 11th, by the way, so that's a big deal. So I would think the next fight would be a top tenor, right? You're not gonna go backwards. Honestly, I don't want to go

backwards. I was back there, you know what I mean? I know what it's like yeah, I've been this dark horse man and Man, it's it's uh, it's okay man. Me my team we've been saddled up this whole time, man We just been climbing this mountain and we've been going on the way to the top But yeah, I love to fight you at least you know forward or or within my realm for sure Definitely definitely want to start pushing forward towards that belt. That's, that's the goal. Right. And, um, you know, I just, I want to go put on good shows for these fans too. Cause you know, these, there's nothing like, like I said, when we went to, when we were at the apex,

it was very quiet, but I have my family. I actually got really comfortable there. I got, I had this like this whole thing like planned out. I scheduled it. Everything was perfect. I felt like really comfortable. And then coming to Nashville, uh, it kind of brought me out of my comfort zone a little bit, but it was worth it because the electricity that you get from the crowd from everybody else, man, it was, it was something else that I hadn't felt in a little while. I think last time I felt it was in, uh, I fought in Miami, um, uh, with the, with the prayer and, and I was on a two card, but I was, I was the first fight. I think I think it was his first or second fight. And you know, and they, there's, there's the electricity at, at the beginning is nowhere near how it

is at the very end. And, um, I'm grateful for the whole journey, but man, it's most, it's really nice to be, you know, in these like areas where you're almost like co-feature or the co-main or you're just on the main card and, you know, people are there to watch you, man. It's a good feeling. So what's interesting about it is your streak started, I think it was in 2022 when you beat Chase Hooper

and you were low on the card. And the headliner that night was Calvin Cader versus Arnold Allen. So it just kind of shows how far you've come in in the last three or so years which is a testament to you. But you know to your point maybe you're not getting talked about, maybe you're not getting the opportunities, but I feel like now you're turning the corner. I feel like it's coming. Are you sensing after Saturday that you're starting to get a little bit more respect? I feel like it's coming. Are you sensing after Saturday that you're starting to get a little bit more respect? I

Feel like I feel like it's coming man. It's trending in the right direction. So that's that's important. I I definitely feel like I have this chip on my shoulder because nobody took me serious and I'm just I've always I've always felt that man I've always had this like like I'm a nobody trying to become somebody and I'm just this kid out of Albuquerque that and You know not trying to throw shade on my on my this kid out of Albuquerque that and and you know not trying to throw shade on my on my stage because you know I love my people but we have this like mentality that like you know we want you to do good but not better than me and it's it's just this weird type of atmosphere sometimes we're all very rugged here we always want to be one up in everybody and um I get that I got that a lot coming

up you know what I mean I didn't feel like got that a lot coming up. You know what I mean? I didn't feel like I, like a lot of people had that like support that like, I feel like some of these other people get and that's okay, man. Like, you know, I'm very strong in my faith. I just knew if I just stay strong in him, I was going to be, I was going to be all right, man. And I just kind of just stayed on this path and this journey

that I felt like we were guided down. And it's all I've made, made all I made sure for sure was like My family my coaches that we were all on the same page and we were all gonna go make You know make waves in the ufc. So Um, we're knocking off goals. We're we're hitting marks and we're just gonna keep climbing up this this ladder that You know, we're all trying to climb up and pull each other down. It's almost like that crabby effect. And it is what it is, but it's a sport. So when you're talking about this, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the term imposter

syndrome. Did you feel at some point earlier in your UFC career like, hey, maybe I don't belong here? Maybe like where you started to doubt yourself, you were lacking confidence and now that's starting to change. Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, sort of. Sort of. You kind of hit the nail on its head. yourself, you were lacking confidence and now that's starting to change. Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, sort of, sort of. You kind of, you kind of like hit the nail on its head.

Uh, you kind of get this imposter syndrome, like maybe I'm not good enough to be these guys like I, like, there was a point in my career where it was before I fought, I think it was before I fought contender series. I like, I was like, if I can't beat this guy, I thought, uh, uh, really, you know, um, talented bet, you guy, I fought a really talented bet. His name was Abel Collum. And this was back at 135 pounds when I used to compete there. And I was like, if I can't beat this guy, I'm just going to hang him up, man.

If I can't beat this guy, I can't go on UFC and beat these guys. I smoked them and then my coach is like, what? No, they believed in me before I really got to see the true potential. And that's why when I tell people, I? No, it's like they believed in me before. Like I really got to see the true potential. And that's why, like when I, when I tell people, I'm like, it's really hard to, I don't know why, but it's really hard to believe in yourself, man. It's, I don't know if it's cultural. I don't know if it's environmental.

I don't know what it is, but like to believe in yourself is something powerful. And I think that people need to like give themselves more credit for what they uh what they're capable of you know what I mean we all kind of lack things but you know everybody lacks things you know what I mean we just obviously have to overcome certain obstacles and stuff and I was able to do that and I felt like I had I had like a down I like had a down moment when I lost in Singapore and obviously it was during COVID it was like had a down moment when I lost in Singapore. And obviously it

was during COVID. It was like just a whole whirlwind of just like nonsense kind of. And my coach, my, or not my coach, uh, my manager, Jason house, he told me, he's like, you know, man, he said, I think we got you one more man. And I told him, I was like, bro, I'm not going to embarrass you. I was like, I promise you, I'm not going to embarrass you. I was like, I'm going to make this worth it. And I just had to believe in, I had to go for it. I just went forward, believed in myself, and we got the first fight on our streak with Chase Hooper, and history has been made ever since.

You haven't lost since. But by the way, that Able Column fight was in 2018. You're telling me you lose that fight, you would have walked away from the sport. I would have walked away. I would have hung them up. Yeah. Golly, what would you have done?

Uh, I was going to school to be a firefighter. So like I had, yeah, that was kind of more or less my, my deal. I mean, I have some, some history and some, some accounting and different things like that, but, uh, sitting behind a desk for me is kind of, kind of tough. I've done that before and it's not my cup of tea, but yeah, I would probably have been a firefighter. Wow. I mean, the amount of pressure on you in that fight,

like you told this to your team or are you just saying that to yourself? If I don't win. I told my wife, I was like, if I can't beat this guy, I'm gonna hang him up and that's gonna be it. That's gonna be it for my fight career. I've been doing this since I was 15 years old and yeah, that was it.

And look at you now, were you disappointed you didn't get the finish, that you couldn't extend the streak? Oh yeah, absolutely. But I mean, without the streak or no streak, I was more disappointed because I almost had him in the third, man. I mean, I just say it, but his, his like bet showed,

you know, I, I, I nailed them. Uh, and I had him folded kind of backwards. And if you, if you, if you kind of just take a step back, all I needed to do is probably kick him and, and hit him with a couple of ground and pound shots, but he did so good. He kind of like tripod it up, turned into me and he was just able to grab onto a lake. And, um, yeah, man,, man, you you fight these guys. They know how to stay in the fight like Calvin Cater There's a reason why that guy is so hard to finish, but I believe in myself I truly believe that I if I would had two more rounds. I could have finished them I I truly believe that but that's also why I want five round fights because I want to give myself every opportunity to get the finish I've been able to do it in the first two rounds,

as of lately, but as you climb the rankings, you fight the better guys, it's gonna be a lot tougher. I do wonder if the layoff hurts you in any way, shape, or form, because your last fight was in September. You were supposed to fight in February, as you said, then the Barbossa fight falls through. Do you think so much happens between September and July

that you were kind of out of sight of the mind and why did it take so long for you to get another fight? Yeah, man, it was, it was kind of weird, man. Like I had just fought September and I thought, you know, and I got the call maybe like a month later about no, no, no, no, no. No, yeah, that's about right. About a month later about fighting Barbosa in, I think it was like December and I was like I was like man I was like and I think I was dealing with an injury and I and I was kind of just like I was I was kind of burnt I killed myself in training and I mean I know we all do but still and then he's like well would you want to

fight him in in February I was like absolutely I'm like sign me up like today like right now what's going on and so that was going on there was you know a lot of stuff leading up to that fight but you know we were we were excited for it and we get like a call like a week week before that he has to pull out and I was like alright cool I was like well why are they looking for like another person or anybody else and they're like we can't find anybody. And so I'm probably just like hanging by a thread for about a week.

And then fight week like almost is like right there. You know, it's like a Saturday, Sunday. And I was like, look, man, I was like, I need to know if we're in or not. I was like, I'm cutting weight. There's a lot of things going on here. And they're like, nobody wants to make the weight. And I was like, well, they'll find it 50, 55. I was like, it works. It's, it's fine. I'm good

with it. And then still nothing. And then I think we had one taker and it was, I think it was C rod and he said, but I'm only fighting at 45. And I'm like, man, I was like, dude, I literally already just like committed to go into 50 or 55. I was like, he won't meet me at 15. He's like, no. And so I was like, okay, well I guess this, this card is shot. So we ended up going to Vegas and then I get another phone call like, Hey, would you, would you want to fight C rod and in, in Mexico? And I was like, I mean, yeah, it's fine. I don't, I don't care. I was like, I want to get one in and then like two or three weeks later, nothing. You know, we had a contract, nothing like that. And then all of a sudden I see

him fight my former opponent, uh, Mckesley Acosta. I was like, okay, well I guess I'm not fighting that guy. And so I talked to Jason again. He's like, we don't have nobody right now. We're trying to figure out, you know, who's, who's, you know, going to fight you. And I'm trying to figure this out. And after a while, probably another week or two go by and I talked to Jason, I'm like, look, man, I was like, let's just let's just stick to what's been working. Let's get good preparation for each of our opponents. I was like, give me an eight week camp and let's go out there and put on performances that people aren't going to forget.

And so yeah, then it was like a big, you know, gap there for a minute. And then right when I get to like a big gap there for a minute. And then right when I get to Newport, I get a phone call from him. He's like, hey, you wanna fight Calvin Cade? I'm like, yeah, let's just do it. You spoke in the aftermath of the fight or in the buildup to the fight,

you were asked about the featherweight division. And I think you referred to Aaron Pico getting Dana White privilege by getting this opportunity. They all got Dana White privilege, not just Aaron. But now it looks like the fight fell through, that Movstar is out. So what do you think is going to happen? What do you think should happen? Because now, because I agree with you, you said Movstar should have been next.

And I 100% agree he has done enough. He should have been fighting Volk and Volk seems to agree, but now he's out. What do you think happens at the top of the division I'm not I'm not exactly sure the situation I know this just happened what a day or two ago it was an injury or was it like it was an injury that's what um in my personal opinion just this is just being a purist like this is not hating on anybody from Bellator I was there trust Trust me. I know, I know how, how that whole situation works. Um, you know, can I have, you know, like patchy, like he's, he's a good friend of mine. Like I'm trusting me. I love these guys, but you

know, I think, I think getting, getting that high of a shot, even Patricio like right away getting a year at like three was kind of like, like I wasn't ranked, but if I was ranked at that time, I'd be upset because I'm like, bro, he literally just like jumped the whole line to get there when everybody else is literally beating people in the, in the actual league in UFC and for them to get just like that immediate, like almost like number one contender spot was kind of like, yeah, I don't know, man. I like, it didn't necessarily rub me the wrong way. I just could see it being an issue for everybody else in the division because like,

I just know I'm like, bro, I'm working my ass off and these guys come from a different organization. I know they're doing the same thing. However, you know, you got to look out for your own. And so I felt for the rate fighters in the division. I'll in the band away even when michael chanler came over there's a lot of people this come over. And i think that they probably need to like have those guys by anywhere between. Maybe the number five number ten. Brinks you don't find her that's what i think. You know fighter that's what I think but you know what if I'm if I'm Aaron if I'm patchy if I'm

MVP if I'm Chandler give me give me the best guy ever and then I can only you know pretty much work from there, you know, so I don't blame them at all for trying to You know fight the best guys that they possibly can you see and see where they they match up? I think Aaron would have been great. But uh You know, maybe they can get him like great, but maybe they can get him a year or maybe they can get him Arnold Allen or something. I don't know the situation really, and I don't know how long Moz Bars will wait. That's gonna be interesting.

What about for you? Who makes sense now? Who do you want? Who's the name? Anybody, anybody. I'm one by one, but of course I wanna fight, I wanna fight up, you know what I mean? I wanna get close to that title. But anybody within my realm,

I think when I called out anybody in my realm, I just wanted a main event. So I know I called Apex, you know what I mean? I probably should give myself more credit. I'm like, hey bro, give me the- Yeah, forget the Apex. Yeah, give me a headliner, you know, and mean I probably should give myself more credit I'm like yeah bro forget the apex yeah I'll give me a give me a headliner you know and that back in Nashville or or or whatever and I told Jason I was like look man I was like I've never been to New

York so I was like maybe an MSG would be fun that's on my bucket list yeah man there's there's there's there's fights you could be they could be made I think all the fights in the rankings would be fun for me. And I think if I had to pick one, maybe an Emmett would be fun. I think that's like a headliner worthy. I mean, he has a big name. I need to prove that I can beat someone like him.

That's a fun one. Yeah, I don't know if loss is above me right now. I haven't. Well, there's, Dan Egan and Pitbull are fighting this weekend. Okay. So, you know, Pitbull would be an interesting one. Ege as well. They're, they're right above you.

Ege is 10, you're 11. John Silva has the fight coming up. Noche, UFC. Yousef Zalal, Josh Emmett, Aljoe has the fight. Lerone Murphy is six. He's got eight in a row. So I feel like one of those names. Yeah, absolutely. Light him up, man.

Honestly, I'm that type of guy that will just do one by one if I have to. Because if you get to the top, if you, I mean, look at Marab. I mean, this dude is just freaking just, he didn't care who he fought. He just, he fought him. He beat him and that's what makes him so great is that he didn't care who he

was. And John Jones, same thing. Like a lot of these guys that just you put them in front of him and don't get me wrong. Like if I if I got pushed to the top, cool, cool. Like I'm not I'm not gonna hate that. But I also you know, I understand this business. I understand this is the most brutal sport that you can ever get into. And that's my style. It's just to be violent, to go out there, you know, killer be killed type of thing. That's usually how I approach my fights. And you know, I, I wish

I was able to get to finish this past weekend, but at the end of the day, you know, I know these guys a little bit more seasoned, more vet, and I was trying to do my best to make sure that I got my hand raised, but I was always looking for that knockout. I was still always looking for that finish. I was trying to hit him with big shots. I mean, I even think DC was commenting that I was throwing from the hip sometimes, you know, it was just, I was hoping one of those big ones

would get him, you know? Just how I do it. Again, as you just said, the higher you go, the harder it is to finish these guys. So a hard fought win over a Calvin Kader is very, very impressive. Congratulations on the win. Great to have you on the show. Congrats on all your success, Steve.

Looking forward to what's next for you. Appreciate the time very much. Thanks for that. That was an honor. Yes, there he is. Mean Machine, Steve Garcia. Another great fighter hailing from the 505. Albuquerque, New Mexico has won as we said six in a row and

The five previous wins were stoppage wins over some tough competition at 145 pounds now ranked 11th in the UFC's featherweight division. So that was Saturday night also on Saturday night in nearby Atlanta We had Saturday night's main event and we had the much anticipated, long awaited retirement match for the one and only, the inimitable, the incomparable, Bill Goldberg, who told us just three or so months ago, he guaranteed in 2025 that he would have a retirement match at WWE. He guaranteed it and I do believe there were some naysayers who didn't think it would happen, but in the end, he headlined back home in Atlanta Against Gunther and there he is the legend himself. Hello, Bill. How are you? I'm doing great, man. How are you?

I'm doing great. You look fantastic, by the way Well, thank you. I worked my ass off It was it was you know, I got more than three weeks to prepare so I Had to put my nose at the grindstone and give the best performance humanly possible. When I got the opportunity, man, you know, you can't say no. So 58 years old and all beaten up and broken down. I did my best, man.

But I ate a pizza yesterday for the first time in five months and I almost got sick. So, ugh. Oh my gosh, The body rejected it? Yeah, it didn't know what was going on. Had absolutely no idea, but it was all worth it, man. We had a good time. Okay, so I actually wanna go back to the beginning

relatively, when we spoke about all this, when you said, did you already know this was happening? Did you know the date? Did you know the location, all that? Or did it materialize afterwards? No, it was all known for a while. I had worked me, Bill. You worked me. You know, for the first time I was able to at least fool somebody without, you know, I don't know, man. It was, it was around November. Actually, we started talking actually. Wow. We started talking, actually. The date was thrown out there

and it wasn't really confirmed until after the first of the year. And we made it happen, man. You know, like I said, it was an honor and a privilege just to be able to get something like that done, man, especially years removed from my last match and accelerated age and just getting the opportunity to kind of put a stamp on it the way I wanted to. Well, not the way I wanted to, but as in control as I could be, you know, I would be remiss in saying that I didn't garner that opportunity. And, you know, with with open arms and I was very appreciative of it.

OK, so so when you were approached about this, was it always Gunther, was it always Atlanta, was it always Saturday night's main event? Yeah, I mean, I can't say that I was too thrilled about part of that, but you know. Which part were you not thrilled about? Not well, I mean, the Saturday night main event and live TV in Atlanta, I mean, you always

have your dreams of how you're going to do things and ultimately to have a little bit more control over the time and the space would have been much more preferred, let's just put it that way. And you know, but to be given that opportunity on such a special show with the lineage of the show, to be able to go against the world heavyweight champion, to be able to go against Gunther, you know, I mean, hey, all again, it was a honor and a privilege to be able to be given that opportunity

and I had to make the most of it. In other words, would you have preferred a PLE? 100%. Cause you get more time? Yeah, absolutely. They cut me off for fricking 20 seconds with the microphone in my hand for God's sakes. So I was working my way towards that.

Yeah, I got two weeks, man. I got two weeks before I can really spill the beans and make my feelings kind of known about the entire rundown from the inception of the idea to its delivery. It was a little less than to be desired but for the again I'm not gonna complain because nobody not many people get that opportunity. You know, there are a number of variables that were such that, you know, you're put behind the eight ball and to be able to go out there and perform and I don't know, 12,

13 minute match, 15 minute match felt like 115 minutes. But you know, it was a great opportunity and Gunther was an unbelievable guy to work with. It was awesome. I had a good time, man. I was laughing in there when he was chopping me. I mean, I actually had fun. By the way, the official time I do believe is 14 minutes and 23 seconds, which is your longest match since 2003, triple threat against Triple H and Kane.

Yeah, man. I mean, so where are all the people that said I can't go more than two minutes and all he sweats so much when he walks to the ring People listen to the me. I pour a bottle of water on my head before I walk to the ring So there's a reason why I sweat all the time that didn't and I slept so um, yeah, I couldn't have done it without without my my dance partner and uh It was awesome, man. I've never chopped in my life. I've never been chopped in my well, you know flair chopped me but

That was fun, man I had I had there were moments of that match where I actually I actually enjoyed myself And I can't say that I've done that very many times. So for that and a plethora of other little reasons I Think that I had a good time Saturday night, not even sore, man. My hand is the only thing that hurts a little. Broken?

I don't know, who knows? I don't know, I don't know what happened. Maybe when I went through the barrier or something or who knows, one of those injuries, I'm gonna tape an aspirin on it and it'll feel better. I loved the nod, I loved the walkout. The entrance was phenomenal. Having your old friends there, having your son there.

Ernest deKat Miller, Gage, your son, Josh Barnett, Chuck Sito, Doug Dillinger, knocking on the door, like the old days, like the first time you walked out. The six man, who was the six man? To Lann. Okay. Look him up. Have your guys look him up? To land. Okay. Look him up. Have your guys look him up right now

because you need to look him up. He and I did a show together, it was called the Knife or Death. And we met on that show and we have become extremely good friends. He's an absolutely wonderful human being. He's taught me a lot. Military.

He's got one hell of a past, and he's a prominent figure of the world as we speak right now. And he's, I was just honored and privileged to have all those guys. I had like 10 guys all together, and then, you know, like I said, in two weeks I'll be telling everybody

about the whole story. But- What's the two weeks? What's the two weeks you're talking about? You have an NDA? I got two more weeks, yeah. be telling everybody about the whole story. What's the two weeks? What's the two weeks you're talking about? You have an NDA? I've got two more weeks. Yeah. Let's just say that.

So, um, was that your idea? The walkout was your idea? Yeah. 1000% man. I got to get your, I asked, I asked, there were a couple of things that I asked for, you know, I'm not going to ask for green M&Ms, but there were a couple things that I thought were really cool that I asked for and a couple of them were granted and a couple of them weren't.

But Dillinger being there was really special. Obviously, I'm not gonna throw wrestlers out as far as who I want in the crowd because I don't really wanna get into the relationships between the WWE and current and past wrestlers. So I didn't put many people down. I mean, I put a lot of big football players and Tyrone Spong was originally supposed to be there and CT Fletcher was gonna walk me out. And we were gonna do all kinds of different stuff.

But all throughout the build up, I mean, I only had three weeks. We only had three weeks to get a hold of these people, right? And so it was tough to be able to get everyone because everyone's schedule was booked, where they were either on tour or they were doing something. My football coach, one of my coach from the Falcons is in Ireland, right? So I mean, I can't get ahold of these people

three weeks before and expect most of them to be able to make it. And so, but the people that did make it, man, were a huge part of my life, man. And it was awesome. I had Falcons teammates, Georgia Bulldog teammates, I had family members, I had television, I had the writer for NCIS was there,

had my accountant there, first time she'd ever been to anything like that. So I mean, it was a lot of fun. We had a- It's amazing. But by the way, so you told me that this was sort of in the works November and then confirmed in January. Why the three weeks notice?

If you kind of knew, was it kind of stop and start? You know, I would have loved for them to announce it in January and have a buildup to it and do something like that that I thought was maybe worthy of my career. But let's just say that they chose to do it with three weeks notice and you know, it what it is man it's it's it's part of the package it's part of the part of the it's part of the the the meal that you get dealt

and if you would be I would be remiss in thinking that I thought the meal would be different but uh it was shame on me for thinking that it would have been different. I just love the way that I've been able to navigate my words. Yeah, no, you're fantastic at it. You're fantastic. What about having your son by your side there? I mean, that must have made you emotional, right? To walk out with your son. It was incredible to see.

Yeah, it's awesome, man. Are you kidding me? I mean, he's my life. He's why I do what I do. Obviously, my wife also. But he's an extension of me. And we're walking through stuff, and the security's late getting over the rail

to get him after he hops the railing. And I'm like, guys, just let me give you some advice. Just imagine me, but 40 years younger, or 30 years younger. Yeah, 40 years younger. He did this kid's got piss and vinegar, you know, just oozing from his his pores and he's doing his best to play college football right now and he's having a great time and he's a redshirt sophomore or redshirt freshman coming up and but to say that he wouldn't consider possibly in the future doing something in this business I mean I'd be a liar if I said that that

wasn't a small possibility but the kids like me he wants to be a football player that's a dream of his and then his backup plan you know I mean, he's an extremely lucky person to have a backup plan to go to the WWE or be a professional wrestler. I'd say he's got it in his blood. Did he just get the Goldberg tattoo? Is that the famous one? Did he just get that?

Yeah, and I felt indifferent about that because I don't want anybody, I don't care what anybody thinks, but I don't want him to feel pressure that he had to do something like that. But it was purely his idea. And we flew down, a guy named Mike Parsons down in Tampa. And we did a day trip, flew down there,

drove down to Orlando area and then got it done. And then drove back and then flew back that evening. And it was a great trip, man. down to Orlando area and then got it done and then drove back and then flew back that evening. It was a great trip, man. If nothing else, then it was a day to remember that I will always have with my son that nobody can take away. It was awesome.

When you were back in the mix here for a moment, were there any series talks about him, okay, like when you're done, we want you, you're gonna come here, you're gonna go there. Any talks about that or is it just kind of being left down the line? Him doing it. They tried to get an NIL, but when I found out how much they were gonna give him,

I put the brakes on that one. Okay. But they would be ignorant if they didn't have idea that it could be in his future. So no, I mean, it hasn't been a hard press by any stretch of the imagination, but he's got plenty of time. Why was this so important for you?

Why did you even want to do this at this point? Because again, like I said, the last time I had the opportunity to go out and perform it was in Saudi Arabia I had three weeks notice to prepare I was sick and It's just I it was a horrible way to go out for me because I really didn't have a hand in it I felt as though I Did someone a favor and it put me behind the eight ball. Therefore. I didn't want to go out and it put me behind the eight ball, therefore I didn't want to go out, you know,

hanging my hat on the door with that performance. Let's just say that. I'd say that's 95% of the reason. Yeah, it would have been wonderful to do it immediately after that or shortly thereafter that. But, you know, if I had to wait for four years or whatever it is, I don't care. I mean, I got a great opportunity.

I had an opportunity to fight for four years or whatever it is. I don't care. I mean, I got a great opportunity. I had an opportunity to fight for the World Heavyweight Champion. Is it officially out of your system now? You know, in combat sports, people retire and then they come back two years later, three years later, one year later, six months later. Are you officially done?

Will you never wrestle again? I can't say that. I mean, in principle, yeah, I'm done. But I worked my ass off for five months, and I don't think I've dedicated that much of my life towards one goal, like one night. And I don't know. I would be remiss in saying that it did feel as though

it was a waste because I only went out there for 14 minutes and that was it but Yeah, man. I mean i'm 58 years old my my body's kind of torn to shreds. Hopefully I was able to cover a lot of it up and uh You know, but uh, and I had my retirement match. I had 91 people flying from all around the world You know that were personal guests of mine I don't know if I want to kickstart that again and say hey guys guess what I didn't I didn't retire I'm gonna go one more time, you know, you don't plan stuff like that in the world of professional wrestling I guess you're not retired until you're dead. But you know in principle, yeah, I'm retired Can I ask and perhaps shoot straight with you bill? It feels like you until you're dead. But in principle, yeah, I'm retired. Can I ask and perhaps shoot straight with you?

Bill, it feels like you're battling like mixed emotions here about everything. That it's something that you're not quite sure how to feel about in the immediate aftermath. Is that accurate? Let's just say I'm pissed off at the way I went out. I mean, because it was, I put so much into it and I don't feel as though the effort was reciprocated to put a stamp on, you know, what I accomplished.

Again, I'm not going to say that I'm not ecstatic about the opportunity that I got, but you know, I was a WCW guy, man. I was, I was, I don't know, man, I don't know. I think it could have been done a little bit differently. That's all. And I'm happy with my performance. I'm happy with, you know, the setting, you know, but could it have been better? Absolutely, it can always be better. And I know you mentioned this two week thing,

but I'd be remiss if I don't mentioned this two week thing, but I beer miss if I don't ask what specifically could have been done differently? Could you tell us that? Well, there's about 100 things. I mean, I did three interviews beforehand. Ariel, I did three, right? In six months. You know, it's just, they cut me off 30 seconds into my speech, months. You know, it's just, they cut me off 30 seconds into my speech, bro. You know, I mean, you don't do that.

But you know, it's all good. It's all good. Do you think that was their call or the network's call? I think it doesn't matter because it's live television and you can plan for it. That's all. That's all. So, and plan for it. That's all. That's all. So and I know it is what it is and you know the match might have gone long and it is and that

and whatever it is but you know I just think that it could have been it could have been a little classier prepared than it was and I'll just say and that's a mild understatement. Yeah, man, come on. Come on, man. By the way, did they know that you were gonna speak afterwards? Was that part of the plan? Oh, yeah, 100%. Okay.

But I never heard I was gonna speak for like 28 seconds. Right. It is what it is, man. It is what it is. I got the opportunity to speak for 28 seconds. How did you react when you went backstage and realized that it got cut off? It is what it is. I got the opportunity to speak for 28 seconds. How did you react when you went backstage and realized that it got cut off? Cause I'm sure in the moment you think that this is airing

across the world, right? I don't care. You know, I don't, it's not worth me. It's not worth me. I'm not going to snivel over it by any means. I got an opportunity to have it for 28 seconds. Not many people get that, But it just, you know, everything throughout the years have built up to something like the ultimate rib.

I guess that was the ultimate rib. You think that was intentional? You think that was done on purpose? I'm not saying it was done on purpose by any stretch of imagination. I'm saying that it wasn't prepared for on purpose. That's all. So, I mean, they wouldn't do that to Taker, right?

I don't think. They wouldn't, they're not gonna do that to Cena. Cena's going around the world doing his retirement thing. Mine was just the World Heavyweight Championship match. And to be honest with you, I mean, I'm going to catch hell for that. I don't care. It was a World Heavyweight. Dude, I had World Heavyweight matches all the time. That doesn't do anything for me.

I mean, it does, but, you know, make it, make it, make it different than just an angle, at least at the end, do something, say something. I don't know. I just, it just felt a little and for me, that's all. That's it. And like I said, man, I'm not here to bitch and moan because I don't do that. And I'm not complaining by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just, you ask me a question and I'm answering.

Yes, sir. I did see the speech, because some people recorded it and posted it online. It's a great speech, and I hope that in some way, shape or form, they upload it and that you could see it in HD. Watched the whole thing, it was incredible. And you did mention in that speech that your father-in-law had just passed away

And so I'm very sorry to both you your your wife of course your son your whole family On on that awful news. Here's here's a couple of photos of him How difficult was it to you know? To focus on the task at hand while going through all this because it seems as though you had a very close relationship with them. Oh Man, you know stuff like that's always burden us. I mean, there's no good timing for anything like that I mean it was a travesty and and you know, but the the fact is that we had him for a long period of time He was of accelerated age and you know, the last number of years of his life weren't spent, you know, in the most positive way physically and so, you know,

it was part of a plethora of things that weighed heavily on me prior to this match. But I am no different than anyone else. Everyone has issues. Everyone has things that they have to work around and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And again, my whole journey in doing this, whether it's coming back, whether it's doing stuff before my son was even born, is a, I'm writing a book for my son,

right? I'm doing this all for him and uh I'm just showing that you can persevere no matter what the issues are and everyone's got issues. Don't bitch and moan about them. Put your nose in the grindstone and work your **** off. Period. End of story. No matter if you're fifteen or fifty-eight or whatever it is, no matter if you're rich or poor or green or white, I don't care. You've heard me say it, you know, and it's kind of like the part of the speech. I don't even remember the speech because I mean, I don't know, it was weird. I had all these people in there and it's just a weird deal. I'm not the most emotional guy in the world

by any stretch, but I don't have a problem you know speak in my mind and telling people my views and the most important thing for me and You know is you're only as good as your next match You know you you you put your nose in the grindstone You don't complain you work your ass off and that's how you beat people and you shove it down their throat And whether you're 15 or 58 or 19 playing football or you're doing your retirement match you you give everything you got and It was wild because

afterwards Like I said, I had like 90 something people there and afterwards we had a room in the back that was put together at the last minute and think the WWE or TKO group or whoever did it. But I looked around the room and I had manned people from all walks of life, whether it was ex-Falcon's teammates or whether it's too lamb or whether it's my good friend who pretty much runs this town, who flew in on his private plane.

He'd never been to a wrestling match before, or my accountant, or my wife, or my son, Josh Barnett, everybody that was there was of the same character, and we're all alphas in our own respect, and we lead by example, and there needs to be more people like that and there more needs to be more people like that that Don't pound their chest and take pictures of themselves and and put it online just to show people that that's who they are So, you know

I got 27 seconds to to make that statement Because I knew that they were gonna cut me off at some point because they had mentioned that they were gonna run it online I knew that they were gonna cut me off at some point because they had mentioned that they were gonna run it online. So why not get a lot of views online when you know that you cut him off on live television? I mean, you see where I'm coming from, Eric? Yes, sir.

Gunther, you mentioned him for a moment there. I just wanna ask, as a dance partner, as a guy who is one of the faces of the company now, what do you think of him working with him for the first time? I just really apologize. Number one, I clipped him once with the right hand. And number two, man, I laughed when he chopped me,

but I didn't know what to expect because, you know, you feel these chops throughout your career a little bit and they're loud, man. It looks like they hurt. They, you know, you look at the skin, and it leaves some good marks, and it's devastating. It's a great work punch, right?

But I thought it was gonna hurt more. That's all. And it just startled me. And I didn't mean to do that, and I really apologize, because I didn't mean to do that. And I really apologize because I didn't mean to, that's not a rib. I'm not trying to downplay his move, but it just, it caught me off guard.

And I completely broke character. It's a great photo though. That one that we just showed. Yeah. I mean, look at that. I mean, I know it's just, I can't believe that I did that. I feel so bad, man, because I love that kid. And to be able to have my last match with him,

it was fricking awesome. The kid's extremely talented. And man, would I love to have a chop fest with him and have 10 more of those matches because each one you do with him is better. It's like having a match with Josh Barnett probably. You don't have to worry about where the punch is coming from,

whether it's gonna be a punch or a knee or a elbow or whatever it is, it's just a barrage. And that's how Steiner used to be. And it was an honor to work with the kid and I really am appreciative of him Helping me out and making this old man look, you know Like he could do some stuff I did love the factoid from josh barnett who said on social media afterwards first time in his life that he stepped foot

In a wwe ring, which is pretty remarkable considering his career. Did you know that? No, I didn't I didn't you know, hey, my job also is to get these people together and, and give them experiences like that. I mean, for me, it's, it's, I'm not going to say it's second nature. And I'm not going to say that I don't, I'm not extremely excited and appreciative that I do it, but that's what I do, man. And world heavyweight championship fight. That's what I do. You know that I do it, but that's what I do, man. And World Heavyweight Championship fight, that's what I do. You know, I don't... So I enjoy it and to have the Falcons in there,

you know, the big story always has been the coolest part of my wrestling career is when the Falcons saved me at the end of the night after beating Hogan, and I told you that story. Yes. So to be able to give people like that an experience that even through their lifetimes, they've never been able to accomplish or never to step foot in, it's cool, it's funny. You mentioned rib, but you mentioned it for different, like as a joke for those that don't know

or a prank in the world of pro wrestling. Unfortunately, it does seem as though Charles Robinson injured one of his ribs after the spear that he took. Are you familiar with this? He posted this online that he broke a rib. Yeah, I mean, you know, here's the deal. I asked for Charles to be in there. Charles and I have a long history, and Charles has taken that before, and I might've broken a rib last time. I mean, I think that's the best but he's taken the spear a number of times, a lot of times actually.

And more power to him, man. I love him to death, but I do apologize for the rib, but you know, it'll heal like the other one did. Yeah. What about you? Other than the hand, like you went through the freaking barricade, no serious injuries, your body's okay, you went 14 minutes.

Look at that. Body accelerator, man. Yeah. I'm telling you, I'm not gonna sit here You went 14 minutes. Look at that. Body accelerator, man. Yeah. I'm telling you, I'm not gonna sit here and do a commercial, but there's no way in hell I could have done that area without going to get the stem cells.

Absolutely no way. The body that I've lived with prior to that, it couldn't have accomplished it. So, yeah, man, just I woke up and my hand was swollen. I don't know what happened. I think I might have gone through the... Who knows? Who cares? To be able to get out of that match, because of my knees, I got a bad knee and everybody complains about, oh he's limping and man, it should be limping. I earned a limp And if I got to go in with shoulder pads and a helmet and a knee brace on, I'm going in,

but I'm going out like a warrior, right? So yeah, my knee's bad, my shoulder's bad, but the stem cells allowed me, my neck's bad, stem cells allowed me to go in there and give it my best at whatever age that I am. And I could not have done it. There was no way I could have done it without him. So I am an absolute firm believer and wow,

what a difference, just unbelievable. Could I ask? Burnt my butt off. I did, I mean, I completely changed my diet for five months. I've never done that before, never done that. And I did everything to set the stage for the stem cells to do their thing. And I tried to do as much Muay Thai as possible

without hurting myself. I posted a bunch of stuff. The reality is every time I went in there, I had to pull back. I had to pull back because I knew I was going to hurt myself. And the last thing that I needed was for me to, you know, and I'll post it here soon, I got 100 cc's of fluid taken out of my knee a month ago.

You know, just the day before we were going to train, something happened to it. And that wasn't in the playbook at all. So I've been nursing this thing. Couldn't do legs for three weeks. Couldn't do cardio for three weeks. Couldn't kick. So, you know, there's, man, there's so much to deal with,

but it was fun. I had a great time, man. I had a great time. Did you bring anyone out as far as the wrestling training is concerned to, you know, knock some of the rust off? Yeah, a guy named Jimmy House, who's a big friend of, he's a fan of mine. And then he's a powerlifter. He's a jujitsu kid.

He's a CT Fletcher. Uh, is he's a, he's a kid does everything and he's a wrestler now. Um, the Von Erics are local and I brought them in to help me out. And I couldn't have done it without, there's so many people, man. You know, my trainer, the guy who stretched me beforehand, you know, two days a week for five months. There was a, Team Goldberg was,

there was a plethora of people that landed a helping hand. I love it. By the way, the locker room a bit different than the last time you were there. Any interactions backstage? Anyone impress you? Anyone come up to you and say something? Were there any good stories from being back there with the younger crew? Well, I mean, there's so much younger, man.

I mean, Braun obviously is a kid that I know. Steiner was in the back and his dad was there. I got to spend some great time with him, man. We got some great work done. brawn obviously is a kid that I know. Steiner was in the back and his dad was there. I got to spend some great time with him, man. We got some great war stories, you know, working in Japan and then riding together and geez, Louise and the Kurt Henning days and Rick Rude days and Kevin Nash and um but uh you know But you know, I didn't really, I mean, Cody, obviously, Cody's a great kid, great relationship with his family. And there were a plethora of people back there that were nice enough to come up and thank me and say something about my career.

But there's just such a discrepancy. I haven't met 90% of those kids. By the way, speaking of Kurt Henning, 27 years ago on July 12th, the day of this retirement match, so to speak, do you know that you went up against him at bash at the beach 1998 the one that was headlined by Hogan and rodman and milone and ddp you were the co-main against henning you beat him in three minutes and 50 seconds You remember this about the one outside in new york. Uh, was it in new york? Was it in new york? Uh san diego san diego, yeah

Kurt henning man. He was he was one of the best absolutely one of the best best human beings and best workers. And, um, God, the stories, I can't tell you half of them because they're but, um, he was under the ring. The NWO had to stay under the ring one night and it was when we had the three hour show and it was the entire NWO and he knew that he was trapped under the ring with them for three hours and so he had hard-boiled eggs and yeah it was it was a scene so people were throwing up in buckets and oh it was horrible but those were the days man those were you know those were the days

when you could bully people and then get away with it. Maybe good and bad days in that regard. 100%, yeah. It was, I did like the nostalgia, I really did. And seeing Doug Dillinger, incredible. Have you kept in touch with him? Are you friends with him? I've spoken to him a couple of times,

but in all honesty, I mean, I was so inundated with trying to figure out who I invited and who I didn't invite. You know, Dillinger was brought to my attention from some official of the WWE. Oh, wow. That I'm appreciative of. Okay. Needless to say, like, you're not showing up at SummerSlam. Like, that's it for you?

Are you done as far as this WWE run? Is there any sort of, like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, say, you're not showing up at SummerSlam. That's it for you? Are you done as far as this WWE run? Is there any sort of lingering aftermath so long? Sayonara? Yeah, I don't think I'm lingering anywhere around the WWE in any time future. Oh, man.

Way too stressed imagination. But like I said, man, hey, wrestling world, you're never retired until you're dead. And I ain't dead yet, man. So it was reinvigorating. It was a lot of fun. It taught me that I could do things that I never thought that I could do.

Any chats with Triple H back there? Any chats with him? Yeah, just, you know, how's business? How's everything? I come or it is asked when he came up behind me You know we we speak Infrequently, but we have a really we have a good relationship. I believe it was tumultuous throughout times of our careers to say it mildly, but

You know, it is it's it's where it's at, man. It's, it's, it's triple H. Got you. Um, where do you go from here, Bill? Where, what's next? What do you do now? Oh man. I got August 29th. I think we got a home game against Georgia Tech at the University of Colorado with Gage. Oh, yeah, hopefully he's

He's on the field instead of just hanging out on the sidelines But uh, either way man, i'm gonna be there and that's kind of what's next I mean i'm jumping back into my cars and uh doing some tv show stuff in the automobile world And trying to put some smiles on kids faces and i'm gonna have a little bit of fun man And i'm gonna trade my ass off and i'm gonna get back in the automobile world and trying to put some smiles on kids faces and I'm gonna have a little bit of fun man and I'm gonna trade my ass off and I'm gonna get back in the gym The kickboxing gym and I'm gonna have some fun man. I have some fun Okay, but now take it easy a little bit now you let the body rest chill out. It really is. It's really it's really hard I've spent probably eight hours on the tractor already this morning and

It's tough to just chill. Eight hours. What are you doing for eight hours on the tractor? Mowing 200 acres. Golly. And trying to dodge rocks at the same time, and not shooting rocks out of my lawnmower and breaking the windows of my garage

like I've done previously. So it's a really cool existence out here, man. out of my lawnmower and breaking the windows of my garage like I've done previously. So it's a really cool existence out here, man. Like I said, we got 200 acres. I got 15,000 square foot garage with 40 cars in it and a bunch of animals and our boy will be home on Friday and we can talk about his future and talk about my future. I got a lot of cool things coming up and I ain't dead yet, that's for sure. I've just begun. Oh, okay, last one, is it hard for you mentally to go from network TV, you're in the ring,

thousands of people, millions watching at home, and then on a Tuesday morning, you're on the tractor. Is that a hard thing as a supremely famous person or do you like that juxtaposition? Is it hard to go from this? It's harder doing the other way. Yeah. It's harder being on the tractor

and going on national television. Right. Right, but like I said, don't let me downplay it by any stretch. I'm hugely honored that I would ever have the opportunity to do that once, but it doesn't faze me. It is what it is. You know, I can be shoveling horse shit here in five minutes and you

know, there's so much. The real world is pretty amazing and uh it's tough to get away from it, but I do very much relish the opportunity and the uh the privilege of being able to be in situations that people want to be in. I mean, I think it's get away from it, but I do very much relish the opportunity and the privilege of being able to be in situations that people would die for.

And I don't take it lightly and I'm not done by any stretch of the imagination. It's just I'm going to hang out for a little while and I'm going to go eat some freaking pizza. Yeah. And hopefully, you know, I don't know, it was weird. Really weird. It's like I ate an anchor or something, but I will be eating cheese again

and I might even have some bacon. But yeah, it's been weird, Ariel. It's been really strange, but it's been fun. You're a mensch, Bill. It's such a pleasure to have you on. It's so great to talk to you. It's so great to have a friendship with you. I was so happy for you.

It was great to see you back in the limelight in a main event in Atlanta. And I know it wasn't exactly as you had hoped and planned, but just from afar, not knowing the finer details, it was pretty damn cool on a Saturday night. And all the little touches, all the little nostalgic touches. Again, I know you probably wanted more and better, but just from afar, 10,000 feet away, it was pretty nice and it warmed my heart. So thank you. Appreciate you very much. I still have my Bill Goldberg long sleeve t-shirt that I bought in 1999. I still wear it holes and all and my wife says I need to get rid of it. And I say, no way. I need you to send

me your address because I have a chair for you. Oh, wow. From the event. And I can't thank you enough for being the person that you are, not only as the human being, but as a reporter and as somebody who is highly respected in your field.

And thank you for always being there for us, not only the entertainers, but the fans at the same time. And I very much value your relationship and your friendship. And yeah, man, I've only just begun, like I said. I'll be walking freaking Gage out here soon somewhere. That's gonna be great. That's gonna be great. That's gonna be great. Thank you, Bill.

Congrats. Appreciate your time very much. 100%. Be well, my friend. You're the man. There he is, the great Bill Goldberg, kind enough to join us after his retirement match in Atlanta on Saturday, on Saturday night's main event,

a proud Georgia Bulldog. Perhaps Mr. Birx was watching that one. I know he's a big fan. Fellow alum, did your dad go to Georgia as well at GC? Yeah. He went there too? Yeah. Bros did as well?

Nope. Just you? One brother went to Georgia Tech, the other went to Alabama. How do you go to Georgia Tech? Yeah, bit of a rivalry. Engineering. Better?

Way better, way better, yeah. Got a great job. Yellow jackets. Yeah, go jackets, yeah. Got a great job. Yellow jackets. Yeah, go jackets, baby. Really go jackets? Can you say that as a UGA guy? It's okay.

I've been to quite a few Georgia Tech games. He was in the marching band there. Oh, okay. Where do they play? Bobbi Dot Stadium, yeah. Downtown Atlanta. Where do the dogs play? Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia. Yeah. Bit of a size difference there like 55,000 versus 93,000. 93 is UGA.

Correct, yeah. One of the biggest stadiums in the world. But is that true? Yeah, just hanging out on a college campus. Yeah. Bill Goldberg, the man. Interesting stuff there. The man. Very interesting. All right. Two weeks. Two weeks, yes. I was like, what is he talking about? What a character, what a legend.

And great to see him with his son in particular. That picture of the chop is just unbelievable. Imagine having peck so big that it just sort of melts into the peck, the chop from Gunther who can chop with the best of them. It just sort of melts. Look at that. Golly. Imagine looking like that at 58.

Could you imagine? Can't imagine looking like it at 31. The shot, we were talking about the face-to-face shot. Gunther really does look like a 1950s pro wrestler who wrestled the likes of Frank Gotch and Hackenschmidt, George Hackenschmidt, gorgeous George, like just something about his trunks and his boots and his arms and his posture and his hair,

the legs, he's really a throwback. Everything. Love that guy. Looks like he's gonna say Y.I. Otta. Goldberg looks like a, like Goldberg looks like 1998 Goldberg right there in that shot, right? It's incredible. In a couple seconds we're gonna be joined by Mario Barrios. After that we're gonna be joined by Patriciorios. After that, we're going to be joined by Patricia Pippel. And then we'll round out the A.H. show with Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, who had that frustrating split decision loss to Gabriel Bonfé. Mario Barrios is defending his WBC welterweight title.

That's 147 pounds this Saturday on pay-per-view. One of the better PBC pay-per-view offerings on Amazon Prime Video, as you see right there, Fandora versus Tzu 2. Tim Tzu going to be joining us tomorrow on the program, as is, I can tell you, Manny freaking Pacquiao, the pride of the Philippines on the program tomorrow. Are you kidding me? Angel Fierro against Pitbull Cruz, part two as well. That's a solid offering. Fundora versus Zou. One was incredible about a year and a half or so ago. But this big one is the one that a lot of people have been talking about since it

was announced because Manny Pacquiao, you know, obviously up there in age, I believe, I believe 46 if my memory serves me correct. Let me see here. Let me just double check so I don't mislead you. Yep. 46 turns 47 on December the 17th. Legend of the Game, one of the greatest of all time. Hall of Famer, of course. Returning to action, and not just returning to action, but getting a title shot. First getting the ranking and then getting the title shot, which seemed to have irked a lot of people. A lot of people didn't think that he had done enough. I mean, it's a little bit, you know, it's's a little bit unique but he is Manny Pacquiao and these things happen in the sport of boxing. It is for the very prestigious WBC welterweight title

which we had Conor Bennett on the show just yesterday talking about how he's sort of weighing like do I want the rematch versus Eubank or do know, the WBC fight? It seems like he had a conversation with Mauricio Soliman, the president of the WBC, and seemed to imply that he was given some sort of indication that he could get it. Obviously, the U-Bank fight is a bigger fight because it will bring a lot of money but, you know, to his bank account, to his pocket, but let's be honest, he also wants some belts. The last time Manny Pacquiao fought was four years ago, or was it five years ago? 2021, so five years, no four years ago, I was right, against your Dennis Ugas. Lost that fight, but prior to that had won three in a row. Beat Keith Thurman, beat Adrian Broner,

beat Lucas Matisse. So it's not like he was losing, you know, seven straight, So it's not like he was losing, you know, seven straight, but he is getting up there in age. A lot of fights, 62 wins, eight losses, two draws, three losses of course via knockout, none bigger than the Marquez knockout. And so here it is on pay-per-view. One of the many big fights happening this Saturday, one of the many big boxing events happening this Saturday. Usyk Dubois in the afternoon here in the United States. Later in the evening, the great Bam Rodriguez returning in Texas. And then on Amazon Prime pay-per-view, the return of the Pac-Mount, Matty Pacquiao, challenging the reigning defending WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios. The aforementioned Barrios kind enough to join us right here now from Las Vegas.

There he is. Hello Mario, how are you? I'm good man. How are you? I'm doing great and it's great to have you on especially ahead of this massive fight. Could I ask, when did you first hear that this was a possibility? I remember speaking to you at AT&T stadium on that Netflix card, same card, of course, that Jake Paul fought Mike Tyson.

You had a big opportunity there fought to a draw against Abel Ramos. Was this on your radar even then? Did you know, hey, if I get by this, if I retain Pacquiao's next. Yeah, it was actually after that, that fight with Ramos, I got word that Pacquiao was interested in coming out of retirement, you know, to fight me. Yeah, it was actually after that fight with Ramos. I got word that Paiq was interested in coming out of retirement to fight me. So yeah, it was actually after that same night. Do you think that he's coming out of retirement

because he wants to fight you specifically, or do you think he wants your belt? I think he wants my belt, but yeah, I think he's after the green strap, especially coming out of retirement. Yeah. What was your reaction initially when you heard about this? Did you think like, nah, there's no way? Or like, were you skeptical? Were you excited? Were you not interested? What were you feeling when you heard about this in the early stages? I was kind of skeptical. And then I didn't really think that it was something that was going to unfold.

But you know, the way everything has gone this year, you know, I mean, here we are. And yeah, you know, I mean, initially, I mean, I was, yeah, I was like very surprised, but I did say, you know, I mean, if that was something that he wanted to do, you know, it would still be an honor. And yeah, I mean, you know, now we're here, now it's fight week. And so it's pretty crazy the way things have like unfolded.

Yes, you're fighting a living legend. There were some purists who were upset when he got ranked And so it's pretty crazy the way things have like unfolded. Yes. You're fighting a living legend. There were some purists who were upset when he got ranked and then got the title shot. Do you understand where they're coming from? Yeah, I can understand it, but I think just, you know, the fighter, everything that like Manny has given to the sport of boxing, I think he's one of those legendary type of fighters, he can do that. But I mean, yeah, I can see and I can understand

the criticism behind it. I will be honest with you, you're 16 years younger than him, you're an incredible fighter in your prime. There is a part of me that's just a little bit worried from like a health standpoint, right? Because of the age gap. Do you understand where I'm coming from? Usually you're not fighting someone

who's 16 years older than you and you're 30 and he's 46. It's not a very common thing. I mean, it did happen in that Jake Paul Mike Dice fight. The gap was even bigger. But you're not Jake Paul. You're a lot further along in your career and a lot more seasoned and a champion in the WBC. So do you understand some of that that concern from some of the audience? No yeah yeah for sure. I think even you know when I first

heard about the fight that was you know the reason why there was so much uh well the reason why I had so much like skepticism over it because I didn't believe you know that one that Manny was going to come out of retirement to fight again and two I didn't think that he was going to come out and try to fight me you know for the for the title but allegedly allegedly, you know, he's looking better than ever. You know, he's rested. So, you know, I started to go in there on Friday night and take care of business. Is this considered, at least in your opinion, a dream match for you? Or was there such a gap in age between the two of you that you didn't even dream of something like this? Cause it was so far fetched. It didn't even seem at all possible.

I think it was one of those things. Um, I never really saw possible or at least like, it wasn't something that I pictured that would be happening, um, more like a, like a fantasy type of matchup, right? Like I was explaining to somebody, like, you know, when you're playing fight night and you're matching up, you know, fighters from like different eras. Yeah. That's what it really does feel like.

It's kind of even surreal that we're here talking about a Manny Pacquiao title fight in the year 2025. As you were preparing for him. His last fight was four years ago. And like I said, it wasn't like he was on a six fight losing streak, but I'm just wondering as, as you're preparing for him, are you watching tape of vintage Manny of Manny from the last few years? How are you game planning for him based on what?

Because four years at his age is significant as well. Yeah, no, I mean, um, I think, you know, four years for for a fighter in their prime is, you know, is a lot. But let alone for somebody at, you know, 46. And but yeah, you know, like I said, you know, they're they're saying, you know, he's faster and he's rested. So we have been preparing, you know, as if we're fighting, you know, they're saying, you know, he's faster and he's rested. So we have been preparing, you know, as if we're fighting, you know, a, um, necessarily a prime Pacquiao, but a Pacquiao, you know, within the last like 10 years. So we have been looking at a lot of those, those types of fights and that's kind of, um,

a lot of those type of fights and that's kind of, no, I started to go in there and expect Manny to be on his Ps and Qs and that's exactly what we have been preparing for. Did you watch any of his exhibition bouts? He had a couple of those since his last fight. Is there anything you could take away from that or do you feel like that's not a real version of him? I feel like it's not really a real version of him, but you know, there's still, um,

how would I say there was there's still habits, you know, that he made in those in those those little exhibitions that, you know, were able to pick up on like, okay, you know, like he has a habit of Doing this especially when he fought I think I don't know if he was Korean or Japanese or He fought another tall opponent You know that had that had reach and size over him So I made those just like like little things that we were able to take away But we weren't really looking too hard at those, at those performances from those exhibitions. He's had throughout the course of his career, a pretty good record against Mexican fighters, Eric Morales, Barrera, Marquez, et cetera. Is that a point of pride for you to get one for La Raza, to get one for the country?

I think deep, yeah, like deep inside of me, there definitely is. I was always a proud Mexican kid, a proud brown kid. And so when people would bring this fight up to me, a lot of people would assume that I was a big Pacquiao fan. And I'm not saying I wasn't, right? I just know anytime Manny fought against a Mexican fighter you know I was going against Manny just because like that's I was I was that kid

growing up if he was fighting a Mexican fighter I was going you know for the for the Mexican fighter but I mean there's also been plenty of fights you know where I have rooted for Pacquiao. But yeah, there's definitely that deep inside. I had talked about it on the special that Amazon did during the lead-up because they called him the Mexicutioner for a while, I'm a very proud Mexican kid with indigenous roots. And so I know for even that fact alone, there's a lot of people that are rooting for me to win.

But yeah. Yesterday in our studio, we had Connor Ben and he was talking about that he might come to the fight that he spoke to Murcio Suleiman and he feels like he could get the winner or he might go in the direction of this rematch against Chris Eubank Jr. If all goes according to plan for you, what do you think about a fight against Connor Ben? Do you think that he is deserving of a title fight? Yeah. I that he is deserving of a title fight?

Yeah, I think he is. I had always said, you know, that that, you know, a fight with Conor Ben, it would be, I think it would be a very exciting fight and yeah, I had heard like rumors that because of his ranking, that it would even become like a mandatory or something but I would definitely entertain a fight with Ben. I think it would be a big fight for boxing and that's exactly what I'm looking to continue to bring to the sport. So that's kind of why this fight is still so important for me, for my career. Because it's going to continue to just make those big fights.

Speaking of big fights, what about Brian Norman, the WBO champion going up against Devin Haney in November, November 22nd. That was announced last week. Could I ask who you like in that fight? I like both, man. Uh, you know, uh, Brian, you know, he's a, he had a sensational, um, title defense, you know, with his, uh, his knockout over there in, uh, I believe Japan and, uh, well, yeah, you know, Haney, I feel like Haney is the one out of both of those fighters, you know, who has more to prove.

Just, you know, because I feel like for Norman, you know, it's just another title defense. But I think Haney is trying to, you know, is just another title defense, but I think Haney is trying to, you know, prove his his position and in this division So, yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see you know, because I think Norman definitely, you know, he's a He has skills and he has definitely has the like power behind him and um but yeah you know Haney is a tremendous boxer so yeah it's gonna be interesting to see and uh you know even

you know the winner between that one will be someone that I have um my eyes on. What do you think of Haney's last fight his last performance in Times Square? What did you think of Haney's last fight, his last performance in Times Square? He got the win. That's all I can really say about that. Yeah. Was it one for the highlight reel perhaps? Yeah, not really. I mean, technically, you know, he put on a boxing lessons against

Technically, you know, he put on a boxing lessons against Let me this but I don't think yeah, I don't think he he wowed anybody But yeah Could I ask in two months? We have a guy who spent a very long time at 147 Terrence Crawford moving up to 168 I know you had the one fight at 154, but it feels like a 147 pounder versus a 168 pounder when he goes up against Canelo how do you think he does against Canelo? I Think he does really really well actually. Oh, I think he wins. I Think it's a fight man It's hard to say

But um, I think it's one of those fights, you know, you can play, you know, 50 times and every 50 times you can get something different because both those dudes, Canelo and Crawford, they bring so much to the table, you know, stylistically. I think Canelo's at a point, well, actually both of them are at a point in their career where they have accomplished so much from jumping weight classes to challenging the best. And yeah, I think this is one of those fights here you only get once every century. And at first a lot of people were talking about

the like size difference or the size of that of that Nish Canelo was gonna have, but it looks like, you know, Crawford has gone up in a very, you know, strong and like healthy way. It's just gonna be, you know, interesting to see the way that he handles, you know, the punch, Canelo on fight night.

But I do give Crawford a really good chance. But yeah, I still have Canelo, you know, in that fight. I'm so leaning with, like, towards Canelo, but I wouldn't be surprised, you know, if Crawford does, you know, shock everybody. Two more quick ones. Were you surprised that Rolito Romero beat Ryan Garcia and it seems like he'll be made the official champ now that Boots Ennis is moving up? Are you interested in maybe him next, if all goes well on Saturday? Um, yeah.

You know, like I said, that goes to, so it remains the same for me, you know, fight, uh, fight the best of my division, you know, you know, fight the other titles, you know, with the other champions. Unify the other titles, you know with the other champions But yeah, I mean I thought when Roly fought Ryan Garcia, I thought Ryan Garcia was gonna have a little better performance. I thought it was gonna be you know, um a lot closer but

But yeah, you know Roly came out and Roli is also, you know, he's somebody I've considered a friend for a very long time. And I am happy for him. But at the end of the day, you know, we are in the same division and if he gets elevated, you know, to full champion, he is somebody, you know, I'm going to have my eyes on also. What's the official prediction? You versus Manny freaking Pacquiao on Saturday. How are you winning? By any means necessary, you know, whatever it takes to make sure, you know, my hand is raised

at the end of the night. Whether it's outboxing him, whether it's, it's, I know if at any point I have, I have him hurt, you know,, I'm not gonna hesitate to pull the trigger on him because I know that old legend, he's in there to still take what I have. Looking forward to it. There it is, PBC pay-per-view this Saturday night, 8 p.m. Eastern on Amazon Prime, Manny Pacquiao, the returning Manny Pacquiao,

46 years young against the champ Mario Barrios. Thank you Mario. All the best to you my man. Congratulations on this opportunity. Looking forward to seeing how you do on Saturday. Appreciate it man. Thank you so much. Mario Barrios kind enough to join us the WBC welterweight champion and tomorrow on the show we'll be joined by Manny Pacquiao. That is always a great privilege and honor as well. Patricia Pitbull going to join us from New Orleans to preview his fight against Dan Ege on Saturday and then we'll round out the day with Stephen Wonderboy Thompson. I mean who else touches all corners of the combat

sports world? We'll go from Goldberg to Barrios to Pitbull to everywhere in between on this show. But I did want to have a brief conversation with anyone who's available back there about what is the most important fight of the weekend. I would say from a sentimental standpoint, I think we would all agree that for us, Dustin Poirier versus Max Hallway is the most sentimental fight of the weekend because it is Dustin's last dance because it's his retirement fight and he's one of those guys that I actually do believe will sail off into the sunset. I can't see him coming back. He's been talking about for years. His wife wanted him to walk away. He's done it all. He wants to be healthy. He wants to be

able to play with his daughter. He's expecting another child in the latter portion of the year. So I think from a sentimental standpoint, I mean, this is something, you know what I was thinking guys? You know what I was thinking? There's an interesting picture painted on Saturday. It's very symbolic in many ways. Because over in South Africa,

you have fighters like Johnny Eblen and Dakota Ditcheva who probably won't say it, but we all know are frustrated, right? They're frustrated because they feel like their career is stalling, they're not getting attention. Where are they going? What are they doing? Are they champion?

Are they not? What the hell is going on, right? This is the card, Cape Town, ESPN+, Road to Dubai champion series Then you go over to To England and you have the undisputed heavyweight title Perhaps the richest prize in all of combat sports Perhaps the prize that gets you the most amount of money in combat sports at one time You are the baddest man on the planet if you are fighting for the heavyweight title and the undisputed heavyweight title. In the four belt era, there's only been one

undisputed heavyweight title fight and that was in May of last year because remember when when Usyk and Fury fought for the second time, it wasn't for undisputed gold because Daniel Dubois was IBF champ. And by the way, I'll say once again, it is an absolute travesty. It is a crime what is being done to Big Joe Parker. Joseph Parker, the Big OO's is being F 12 ways and once on Sunday. He was supposed to fight Dubois. I still don't understand why that fight didn't happen. He has to fight Bacolay on 24 hours notice.

Bacolay becomes this like darling. And why isn't Joseph Parker on the card? Why isn't he at least fighting someone? Why is everyone else getting a fight and not Joseph Parker? And then I'll have the idiots on Twitter say to me, oh, he's IBF. Oh, he has to fight to unify this and that. Who gives a fuck? First of all, they're step aside all the time. Second of all, they were supposed to fight each other, and he didn't show up. That's an unofficial win for Joe Parker. Joe Parker will join us tomorrow on the program,

live from London, to give us a piece of his mind, because he's being screwed. Why doesn't he have at least fight? How can he not have a fight? It pisses me off. He's too nice, and they're taking advantage of him, and he doesn't have someone banging the drum saying that he must be fighting.

Then you go over to New Orleans and it's the final dance, the last dance, for one of the most beloved fighters in the history of the sport. What a story. Then you go over to Las Vegas and it's everything the fight game has always been about. It's a guy who had his last dance who's now coming back for more and we're watching it like this right. We're just hoping Pacquiao survives. What's up? And then we'll end it in Texas with perhaps pound for pound number one on everyone's popcorn list as far as boxing is concerned Ben Rodriguez who has a fight by the way scheduled for November and what has been the common theme whenever they've announced two fights in a row The one in between the white stuff of the Oreo Is a stinker or someone stumbles?

the Oreo is a stinker or someone stumbles. Ah, we were doing so good with the posters there. What happened to the band poster? Did we not have it? We were doing, you were hitting me. Didn't know that one was coming up. We were dancing. That's on me. I'll take the elbow.

We were dancing there. We were dancing. You were hitting, it was like we didn't even plan that. So what's the most important fight? GC, what do you say? The most important fight. the most important fight? Yeah, undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. I thought you were going to say Silver on the line? Oh yeah, potential another win for George and MMA.

It would have been great. No, Usyk, Dubois. Which fighter are you most looking forward to? Oh, Poirier, Holloway, no doubt. No doubt. No doubt about it. New Orleans, Smoothie King Center, Dustin Poirier, Final Walk to the Octagon, Dance Partners, Max Holloway. Lil Wayne.

Lil Wayne. Is that happening? I don't know. Confirm? They should let it happen. The fact that they're doing this event in New Orleans just for Dustin Poirier makes me think that they might let Lil Wayne walk as well. They hate those things.

Massive star. And when done right, it's so good, right? So good. Like look at Friday with Amanda Serrano. Oh my gosh, I could have harped forever on how much better that atmosphere was than any of the UFC fight nights I've been to. Friday, I keep saying Saturday, Friday MSG better than any atmosphere you've ever experienced

for the UFC? Not even in the same universe. Best atmosphere you've ever experienced, period. Nah, nah, nah, there's been some really crazy college football games. No, no, no, combat sports. Combat sports? That, yeah, yeah, the like, the buildup right before the main event was about to start, like the the arena was on tilt. It was insane. It was actually deafening, like my ears were

kind of ringing. And just like the pockets of like these Puerto Rican fans going crazy, then the Irish fans going crazy, and then just like the music, the DJ was blaring fantastic music, everyone was hype, it was it it was amazing and then he had the national anthems go on it was incredible by the way shout out to the DJ the MVP DJ Evie is his name he's he's actually I mean like when he did the when we did the press conference I was I was getting hype from the music every person had their own walkout song so yeah the little Wayne needs to happen on Saturday night. But most important, Ousick Dubois,

most I'm looking forward to, Poirier All the Way. You guys doing Watch Party for Everything? What are we doing? I don't think so. Just UFC? Yeah, just UFC. Casuals. I mean, we'll have our eyes on everything.

Feel free to switch it on. We'll get you live from the Casa de Hauwani if you want to. You told me call time was like 12, Hauwani, so that we could go live to PFL. For PFL Africa? Yeah, you and I. Yeah, shout out. Oh, you are going to Hauwani's house to do it?

Yeah, we're doing it live. Oh, wow. Is it Dakota, what is it, Alina's back? By the way, no. Can I just say, the PFL, and lest we forget, I was gonna mention KSW 108, but I wasn't sure if you had the poster for it. I don't have that poster either.

So I do have the Bam Rodriguez one if you want it. Oh, let's see it, let's see it. Yeah, it's not a bad one by the way. That artist poster, the artist series poster for 318 is great. Can I just say though. Always better. This PFL card is actually a really good one

as far as their standards are concerned. Yeah. Johnny Eblen, Dakota Ditcheva, AJ McKee, Corey Anderson. It's not bad. The dance partners aren't amazing. I imagine, I can't find any lines yet, but I would imagine that Eblen and Ditcheva are going to be massive. Ditcheva might be a gigantic, like this one. Like a minus. Minus 2000. Yeah. Is that what you're Ditcheva are gonna be massive. Ditcheva might be a gigantic. Like a minus 2000.

Is that what you were gonna say? Yeah, like massive. James T. Minogue! I remember Samigah and Nava from the Bellator. Yeah. That's always gonna be a problem for PFL though, is the other side. Who is the B side? It's always gonna be an issue. The fact that these fighters are fighting, I think, is a major positive.

The infrequency with which we see them is a major negative, like they need to be more active. We need to see them more. The problem is, and actually, you know, Johnny Eblen was, was, um, was someone who suffered from this, like when, when you kind of fight on those prelims and then all of a sudden you get a title shot. I remember Johnny Eblen got a title shot

against Gagar Musasi. I think you guys were there. Were you not? I was in attendance. Yes. He was a massive underdog. Who's Johnny Eblen? He was just fighting on, on prelims. And think you guys were there. Were you not? I was in attendance. Yes. He was a massive underdog. Who's Johnny Eblen? He was just fighting on prelims. And so you have these guys, like,

can anyone tell me anything about Costello Ben Stenis's last three fights? Also, a name I remember from Bellator. Yes. A fixture on the Bellator prelim scene. And he's fighting for the belt. So if you do nothing to build up these contenders and just say, oh, let's, like, I got into an argument with someone from Bellator who got really mad at Pizzi and I when talking about the, the Uspender, Maga, Madoff, Paul Hughes thing.

And he's like, oh, we're going to put this guy in. Meet BFL. Oh, what did I say? Bellator. Well, maybe that, that gives a hint. He's like, oh, what do you mean? We're putting this guy in, it makes all the sense. He's in a mock attack.

I'm like, no one knows who this guy is. What are you talking about? You have like three interesting fights right now with stories attached to it, with actual emotion attached to it, with actual selling points. What are you doing? Why are you not making those fights?

Enough of this. By the way, I think both things can exist and both things can be true. You can, you can continue to create contenders for these, for these champions because I don't think they're ever going to have like a really like convincing B side for a lot of these matchups, right? Dakota is kind of in a category on her own. Johnny Eblen is kind of in a category on his own. Just throw in people. Just throw in bodies. Give them title shots. Start building them up the way other promotions have to to say, this is our champion. They cannot be stopped. They can beat the UFC champion.

And you just continue to do that. When you have a huge enter in Maga Madoff, you do that. You take advantage of that. When it feels like there's a capable B-side, when there's a fair pairing, you do that. You take advantage of that. When it feels like there's a capable kind of B side when there's a fair pairing, you do that. But in the meantime, like it does nobody any favors for Johnny Eblund to be sitting out this long. And then you do that. Then you throw them in there with somebody that nobody knows who this person is. You have to keep them busy or you have to have a competent foil for them. But if you just do this thing where they fight every six months and you throw somebody in from a pre that was fighting on a prelim last time, it doesn't work. It just doesn't work. It doesn't work.

You, you, you look, it's good to have. But if he ran through four of these a year, I think there's a, there's a case to be made that this makes sense. Right. If Johnny Eblen gets built this way where it goes, Johnny almost the best middleweight on the planet, there's nobody in the UFC that could touch

them and you just now, you know, he has to win those fights, but you keep doing that. I think it's going to work better strategically than if it's just like we see him so infrequently and against no somebody we know is not in his caliber. Johnny Eblen is one of the best middleweights in the world, but yeah, get that recognition because a he's not fighting enough and B he's not fighting against people who you could

say like, oh, look how good he is. If Johnny Eblen was in the UFC right now, and I know he had the close call against Impa and that maybe took a little bit of the shine. Is he fighting number one contender fights? Is he, the patchy thing kind of screwed everything up, didn't it?

Now everyone thinks everyone's a fraud I don't think I mean pitbulls debut wasn't great either like they're you know sometimes it's not the joining he might be on the zoom he's talking about I can assure you he's not okay what do we do Johnny Eblen versus like a Jared Cannoneer I think I think I think Johnny's the favorite in that fight is he not probably at this point in Canada Johnny Eblen versus the winner of Whitaker RDR, next weekend's main event. That's a tough task right there.

We can do these kind of things until the cows come home. How are they going to get somebody like that to compete with Johnny Eblen? That is the problem for PFL. And that's the problem with when they signed Francis and Ghanu. That's the problem every time they had a big signing in the Bellator era. It can't just be one person. It can't just be a champion and nobody else. You have to create compelling things.

I don't know if that tournament is the way you do that. I think you just need, you need some names to, to sign with this promotion and, and be a challengers. I am, I was very critical of the Pacquiao fight, but I won't lie. Like I need to watch that. Yeah. I just want to know what he looks like, you know? And also, you know, I'm very critical of the Pacquiao fight, but I won't lie, like I need to watch that.

Yeah, I just wanna know what he looks like, you know? And also you see the videos of him going like, brrr, and I know that's just a 30 second video, but it's Manny freaking Pacquiao. I was just talking to our guy Leo outside, a Filipino, and he was just like, yeah, it's a religious experience. You would go to church and they'd tell you to like, go with God and go Manny, like it's that. So it's Manny fucking Pacquiao. Of course I'm going to watch it. I'm going

to watch it like this though. Yeah. Actually, you guys might be on air when it happens. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's going to be somewhere. A little side stream. You're going to do scorecards for that too? A little side stream. No scorecards for the Pacquiao. Frank will be doing scorecards for that one.

Filipino flag? Filipino flag? Who me? I mean, I guess, because we only have, well, are we going to do Hawaiian flag, or are we going to do? You got to do Hawaiian and Louisiana. Oh, state. Both states.

Because they're both US. It's kind of boring. Filipino fight feasts. That would be a fun one. They're talking. Right? Who's eating the balut? Who's eating the egg?

What is that? That's the duck fetus. The duck is in the egg. I'm out. Wow. Wouldn't do it again. The duck is in the egg? Yeah.

Legit? Yeah. Like an actual duck. Yeah, Frank ate it one time and looked right into the dead fetus' eye. I opened up the eyelid and there was nothing there. It still horrifies me. Stop, stop.

What are you talking about? I've even talked about this on the show. A Vietnamese... He's told me at lunch like 18 times. I'm like busy eating a hard boiled egg and he's just like... You know this one time. One time I ate a duck fetus. PTSD runs deep.

By the way, why you say Vietnamese? We're talking Filipino. It's a sheer delicacy. I thought you were going to thought you're gonna say I was gonna say what huh you thought you're gonna say all the same I was gonna get HR on you Vietnam is in in the Philippines is that what Frank was about to say I think that's what he was implying next you're gonna say The well nothing Well case w108 as well yeah, I mean I think there's another one too. I think there's another card. Oh Yeah

What do we got? Why do these guys look like has March? Why does what does the dude on the left look like it? This is his UFC 5 like the the video game the dude on the dude on the left is Oscar Willis No, the dude on the right. Sorry. No, right, right, right. Oscar Willis is on the right video game character on the left the video No, the dude on the right, sorry. No, right, right, right. Oscar Willis is on the right, video game character on the left. The video game? He kinda looks like, the guy on the left looks like the bad guy in a high school movie. Like he's the jock.

Like the smile, the chin up. He's the guy who stuffs the sympathetic good guy who's just trying to talk to the girl while they're holding their books up. And he's just like, yeah bro, get out of the way. The train is rolling through. You know what I mean? He's not quite Tanner, but he's like that type of guy. The filter's just throwing me off. I don't know what it is. What filter? The filter on him. It looks like he's a video game character. There's a filter on him? Why is the other guy with two of those up? He really does look like Oscar Willis.

What a bizarre poster. Also, as far as KSW standards is concerned, like pretty low rent, no? Yeah, actually, KSW puts on bangers, but I don't really know the lineage of their posters. Oh. All right, well, there you have it. We'll be joined by Wonderboy Thompson to round out the day. But first, let's go back to New Orleans. We were there yesterday as Paulo Costa was just checking in. We'll speak to another great Brazilian fighter competing on the main card.

He is the one and only Patricio Pitbull who is going up against Dan Egan. His second UFC fight. There he is. Bom dia. Bom dia. Tudo bem. Tudo bem. Captain Eric. Long time, my friend. Como estas? Right. Good to see you again. Good to see you too. Eric, long time my friend. How are you? Good to see you again. Good to see you too. Okay, we're in New Orleans my friends. This is a big fight for you, Patricio. Can I ask difference in terms how you're feeling this fight and April in Miami? What is the difference? It's the Miami and the U.S. He was it. I am feeling good. I'm feeling ready. You know, my debut was with the, I have a defeat, I was defeated.

And now I know I need the victory. So I am very concentrate on this. Focused, I'm very focused on that victory. Sometimes we hear about people making their UFC debut. They get octagon jitters, the lights are different. I'm very focused on that victory. Sometimes we hear about people making their UFC debut, they get octagon jitters, the lights are different, the pressure is greater. Did you feel that in your debut in April? No, no.

For me it was the opposite. I was very calm and that was my mistake. Why do you think you were so calm? I f**k don't know. was my mistake. Why do you think you were so calm? I fucked up now. All my career, like 10 years, in Bellator I was fighting for the title. So it means 25 minutes fighting and it's so cadet show my role.

I'll cover it because I'm a vocal cause it's the urgency. Menus prod, he got a little bit more urgent, less ready, and now everything is different. for the three rounds. Okay, you think you started too slow? Yes, for me that fight was like a it was like a chess match. I'd love to be more violent from the start. Was Yair better than you thought? In this way, you know, he came a little bit more conservative than I anticipated from watching his fights. and the different fighters of that time. UFC you want to make a great first impression in the aftermath of the fight, how did you handle it? Were you very down?

Were you very upset because it didn't go your way? Yeah, Luta, how did you feel? Were you upset? I was frustrated because I really wanted to debut here with the great victory over an ex-champion. But Nintendo, it was not possible. Now he looks forward, trying to beat Daig, who is a guy who will tell me that I'm going I was a little bit frustrated. I fought a former champ. I wanted to put on a show, but unfortunately that didn't happen. But now we got Dan Egan in front of us and that'll be our chance.

I saw you put out a poll a couple of days after the fight about a former champion. I saw you put out a poll about a former champion. I saw you put out a poll about a former champion. But unfortunately that didn't happen. But now we got Dan Egan in front of us and that'll be our chance. I saw you put out a poll a couple of days after the fight about who you should fight next. Dan was one of them. Did you want Dan next? Was he your choice?

One of the options, Dan Egan was your first option that you wanted? No, when he signed the first fight in the UFC against Yair Rodriguez, he had already offered himself to do this fight. So we always visualize him as a good fighter for us to do and gain more space within the organization. Are you talking about Yge or Yair? Yge.

Yge refused you? No, he wanted to fight me in the beginning of Yair Rodriguez. He is violent like me and he comes forward so it's going to be a nice fight because it's going to show some love for everyone. By the way, the English is getting very good, Pedruchio. Always when I can, I try my friend. I love it. And can I ask, you know, we saw Pachi Mix's debut, it didn't go well, and obviously you didn't win your fight. Is it fair that people are basing your career,

all the body of work on these debuts? Like for Patchy, people want to write him off because the debut in the UFC didn't go well. For you, it didn't go well. It feels like there's so much more pressure on you guys coming from Bellator, because people are using this one and only fight, your appearance in the UFC, as a sort of referendum on the whole state of your career.

What was the first part of the question? So you know how Pachi's debut didn't go well? to represent the Bellator brand, because you were the two champions, and now you're coming with two fights. In the fight, everything can happen. I'm focused on that. I know I need to win to get in the division. So I'm focused on that.

We called other fighters and they arrived from other organizations and they did well here. Organizations are even smaller than Bellator. So they don't come to the case. The fans say what they want, sometimes they say a lot of nonsense, but what we're focused on now is victory and trying to get close to a possible athlete to be able to dispute the title. are going to hate. You know, the Bellator champions have gone over and done well as

well. And that's why we're fighting Dan Egan now because he's a little bit higher. He's a legend when it comes to personalities and fan favorites for the UFC. So a victory over someone like him will put us in a great placement in the featherweight division. Were you shocked when you saw how Pachi fought? Were you shocked when you saw how Pachi Mix fought? Yes, I knew that his performance could be better. He didn't fight like he always does. He was a little bit...

He was a little bit out of range, so I know he'll go for it. more tentative than he was. But yeah, from my point of view as a coach, I mean, remember he only had three weeks. I sent him a message when that fight came up and I was like, get a nutritionist because there's a big fight that's gonna open up for you. Oh wow. He only had three weeks to lose 30 pounds. Wow, wow. Okay, that is something that isn't being brought up. Can I just ask, what do you think about Aaron Pico and how he'll do in the UFC? I want him next. You want Aaron Pico? Yes. Of course I'm focused on my next fight, my next opponent.

Maybe if I win this match, I want Aaron Pico because I was a long, long time in Bellator and he also was not possible. He didn't came for the belt. And now we have the chance to do that. So I'm very excited to my next opponent will be him. He was scheduled to fight Movstar Evov and now it seems like the fight is off. Are you saying if all goes well on Saturday, you want to be the one to fight him next? Yeah, I'm ready. If you put me to fight him next week, I'm ready. Let's do it. I love it. I love it. Much respect. He's being put in this position to fight the number one

contender. You were the Bellator featherweight champion for many, many years. You were the face of the division. Does it bother you that he was put ahead of you despite not being the champion in Bellator? We have a guy that's now fighting for the title against Pantoja, who was in a very distant rank, and now he's going to play for the title. So the rank isn't taken into consideration. They want the guys to drop out and get in there. So, yeah, the rankings don't matter coming from, as long as you come on and put it on the show, which we plan to do, you could jump the line. I saw a tweet from a reporter named Aaron Bronstetter who just tweeted a couple of pictures of the car that you're riding in in New Orleans.

Is this your car here? What is this? Oh, that's the surprise, Ariel Hauwani, you just ruined it. I so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,

so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so of riding in a muscle car. So we got, this isn't Fast and the Furious, it's just ferocious. It's UFC 318, so he bought the baddest motherfucking car we could get. And it's from the Fast and the Furious. It's the same exact car that Diesel drove and Patrice Pitbull's about to pop a wheelie on Danny Gay. 50K.

Yes, so you're riding around in that. He will be once we go downstairs, he hasn be once we go downstairs he hasn't seen it yet he hasn't seen it Aaron ruined the surprise how did you just no not me Aaron Braunstetter don't blame me what the hell Aaron shouldn't have posted it either but that's cool i mean it's sitting out front that's the he didn't like everybody did he know that you were doing this for him no what the hell this is awful? I'm sorry I got a little I got another piece of information for you. Go ahead go ahead and 50k E gay Me and Henry said who the one that gave him his name 50k really when when Henry and I gave it his first fight in The UFC we gave him the nickname 50k and fate is gonna give it this fight UFC 318

Night of the BMF. You know, before he became the Bellator goat. Oh, I love it. He was the BMF. He was the BMF of Bellator, you know, 10 straight wars. And then I came to him and said, if you want to have a long career, we need to change and fight a little bit smarter. But on Saturday, we're not going to turn back the clocks to the old Pit Bull. We're going to bring the best version of Pit Bull, and that's the most

dangerous version. I love it. I love it. Everyone needs a Captain Eric by their side to cut a promo or two. Can I ask you, Captain, as his coach, how do you feel about the matchup? How do you see it going? Well, we called for this fight. On Sunday, the day after the fight, we called for this fight as soon as on Sunday the day after the fight we were calling for Dan Nigue. You know, Dan Nigue is one of To me, he's the people's champ Uh, this guy's he's fought on one day notice one hour notice He's the first data white contenders guy that fought for a main event in the ufc

And you know what? He looks just like patricio pitbull Uh, and he's like this is like his twin brother He looks just like Patricio Pitbull. He's like this is like his twin brother, so this isn't just a fight, it's a DNA test. And on UFC 318, we're gonna see who's got BMF blood, BMF in their blood. I love it, I love it. By the way, parabéns, Patricio, you opened a new gym for you and your brothers, Pitbull Brothers Arena in Natal.

Pitbull Brothers Arena in Natal. Yes. It's beautiful. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. I want to come there to train. Yeah, let's do it.

So this is an, this is inside one of the greatest soccer stadiums in Brazil. Wow. Yes. It's the Arena das Dunas. Yes, Arena das Dunas. Yes, where USA beat Ghana 2-1 in the World Cup. Did you know that? Yes, yeah. Yeah, I knew that.

So the gym is in the stadium? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, inside. What else is it? Is the stadium open? It's right next to the... Wow. What else is it? Is the stadium open? It's right next to the VIP parking. Okay. Wow. Okay. So, and your brother, Patricki, he's fighting in Ryzen, right? End of the month?

Yeah. Next week. Next week. Will you be going to Japan? Of course, yes. Okay, so this will be one of the first fights without Petriki in the corner, but business first Ryzen. Obviously, you know, Paulo's fighting as well on this card. So it's a, you know, a little bit of BMF, a little bit of BLF a little bit BLF UFC 318 where beauty meets violence Okay to last ality. I love it. I love it. Who do you like poor air Holloway? Who's your pick? Oh I'd love to see Holly Win this match, but I think party is gonna win the with the. Okay. And the last one, your fight.

How does it go? How do you see it playing out? I'm going to be the first guy to knock the egg out. Oh gosh. You are gonna see that. I can't wait. Thank you, Patricio. And sorry for ruining the surprise,

but please blame Aaron, not me, okay? He tweeted it. Okay. I'm sitting here in New York. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I have no problem. Always great to talk to you. And good luck, my friend. And great to talk to you. I'll send you a video York. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's always great to talk to you and good luck my friend and great

I'll send you a video when we get it when we bring him down It'll be on UFC embedded and it'll be a big surprise for for pitbull and petrol works in the car and everything It's a it's a BMF car. That's for sure. I love it. Thank you guys. Good luck. Thank you, brother Thank you. See you. Bye. Bye. There is. Captain Eric and of course, Patricia Pitbull. How did I get blamed for this? I just saw it on Twitter. And I'm getting blamed for this? Aaron, how dare you?

I can't believe you ruined the surprise. I can't, he's like, I tried to tell you it wasn't me. And then you ruined the surprise of his gym opening as well. I didn't know about that either. In the arena, by the way, where USAB got it. Do you remember that? Yeah, shout out.

2-1. Frank tried to warn you. 2010? What? This is a message Frank was gonna send it and he forgot to hit enter what do you say not sure this is a good idea stop it sorry man it did you really put that no no put that well you guys gave me a you gave me the the check yeah like a check of this is not yeah I checked it off cuz I had it and Frank forgot to hit enter to say something doesn't get like it. This car was used in one of the Fast and Furious.

I mean, Aaron did it, not me. I can't be blamed for this. This is crazy. No, but you presented it to Pitbull. This is crazy. This goes on you. This is unbelievable. You know what?

No good deed goes unpunished. That's the bottom line. Very excited about that. And Captain Eric, he really does cut a mean promo. He's tremendous. All right, let's go to our final guest of the day. He was in action this past Saturday in New Orleans. No, not New Orleans.

They're in New Orleans this weekend. He was in Nashville, another city with an N at the beginning of it. Close fight, which I thought he won, if I'm being 100% honest. Hard fought fight. And in the end proving that age is nothing but a number.

And to this 43 year old, newly turned 43 year old, it was pretty damn great to see a 42 year old do his thing. Gash on his shin and all. He's the great wonder boy Thompson. We go from the BMF to the NMF. There he is. Hello Stephen, how are you? Oh, my brother? What's up? Glad to be on with you. It's good to talk to you, my friend. It's good to talk to you. And I appreciate the time,

especially after a tough weekend and that gash, man. Holy smokes. Have you ever seen it? I would love to if you want to show it to us. Check this out. I don't know if you'll be able to see it too well, but. Oh, here it is. Oh, golly. Yeah, man. Hold on. Let me see if I can get it. Oh yeah, there it is. Oh my. It's just like three layers of stitches in that bad boy.

How many total? Oh my goodness. I have no idea, to be honest. I know they did like, they started from the bone, the muscle, and they worked it in like three layers. I didn't count, to be honest with you, but super, it's definitely painful now. I think my foot hurts worse than the shin, but I don't even know, I

didn't even know that it happened during the fight. I had no idea. Really? Gabriel Bonfim kept pointing down to it. I'm thinking in my head this guy's trying to get me to look down so he can like, you know, he's trying to trick me. He's trying to trick me or something. But had no idea that it was like that. You've never experienced anything like that, right? In all your years? Never, never experienced anything. You know what? That's always been my fear because of the Luke Rockhold situation. And I don't mind going like shin to shin with guys because, you know, I do some shin conditioning. I don't think a lot of UFC fighters do it.

Fighters do that, but I do. So I don't mind going shin to shin with guys. And it was always the fear of mine, and dag nab it if it didn't happen this past weekend. So that happens in the second round. In the third, you have no idea? Because you were still using it, and landing, and using it effectively. you had no idea.

Well, I knew in the third round, going into the third round, it had happened because in the corner, I had looked down. I just saw blood. I didn't realize how bad it was, but I knew it was split. So, hey man, I mean, when you're out there fighting, dude, you just gotta throw it.

You can hurt later. Amen. And I thought you won. I really did. And that's what made it so great. I was like, later. Amen. And I thought you won. I really did. And that's what made it so great. I was like, even despite all that, I thought you won. Did you feel the same?

Man, yeah. I mean, I felt that I did enough to win the fight. Clean strikes, I felt great during my movement. I think I felt I had more damage. The damage was in my favor. I mean, Bon Fim, tough fighter, half off to the guy, but when the crowd, the analysts, you know, and the team are all like this shocked about the decision, like something's not right. You know what I mean? I've been in this game for a long time and, you know, I know what

it feels like to win a fight and I know what it's like to lose a fight and I didn't lose. I felt like I didn't lose that fight. So yeah, two days later, three days later, how do you process this? Because obviously you like, you don't want any moral victories, you want to win fights, you don't want people to pat you on your back. So how do you feel about it? How do you process it? I mean, if you know, I lost the fight, but I felt like I won it. When you got your family, your team, your friends and family back home, I mean, everybody who saw the fight thought I had won the fight. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. So it kind of goes back to like, what do we do about that? I think there's got to be more accountability with the referees. I know that's not the UFC fault. That's usually the commission's fault, but there's got to be some more transparency for sure. Some more education, I feel like, when it comes to the judging of these fights. I saw one of his coaches, after the scorecards were announced, go up to you and share some words.

What did he say to you? Do you remember? Gabriel Bonthiem's coach? Yeah. From the look of their faces, I think they were surprised that they had won the fight to the nose with it. They all spoke Portuguese, very, very little English. But I know Gabriel was just in awe in the fact

that this guy's been watching me since he was like 15 years old. So he was a fan, which is pretty cool. So I've been in the, yeah, yeah. So it's pretty cool that you're fighting somebody who was a fan of you at 15 years old. I'm like, thanks a lot for making me feel even older, bro. Did he say that to you?

Yeah, yeah. He told me he was a fan since he was 15. Damn. For sure. How does that make you feel? I mean, it's cool that I'm fighting this guy, that I was a in some way an inspiration for him to you know, to make this a career for him And so how does the body feel after a fight at 42 you last fought in October?

Like how are you holding up other than the shin? How does the you know the muscles? How does the body overall feel? Man, I feel great. Wow, I felt great out there during the fight. I felt fast, I felt accurate. My mind was sharp. My reactions were on point. Same thing with the Buckley fight. I mean, I felt like I was winning until I wasn't. But in this fight, I felt great.

I felt phenomenal. And usually the fight, going out to fight, that's the easy part. That's the easy part. That's the easy part. The training, the eight-week training camp, that can be a little bit more difficult because of the, things don't heal up like they used to. And I've spent my last three or four fights, I spent more time during my recovery than anything else. Again, my massage therapy, the baths, listening to my body.

When I first started, even though I was fairly late in my career, I was 28 when I had my first fight, I saw some pictures of me not too long ago. I looked like I was a baby, man. At 20, I looked like I was 15. I was like, what the heck? And it seemed like it was yesterday.

I could go from training into another training session, back to back to back and feel fresh for every one of them. Don't feel that way anymore. You know, things don't heal up like they used to, but I feel great right now. I feel phenomenal. Uh, you spoke before the fight that you had two fights left on your UFC deal. And so now you have one more. Um, I would imagine you want to keep going, right?

Oh man, you know, a hundred percent, you know, it's, I do want to keep going, you know, I thought about it, of course. And I'm realistic about, um, you know, where I'm at in my life and, and, you know, how my body feels, you know, I still got gas in the tank, man, you know, I'll talk to my team, my family, and we'll make the right call whenever, you know, whenever the time comes. But, uh, I feel great. I think I wanna honor my last fight for sure. Don't know who, but I definitely wanna do it.

I wanna make that happen. Do you think you may go past the last fight, meaning new contract after this one, keep going. Depends on how I feel and how the fight goes 100%. You know, my goal obviously was to beat was a Randy Couture's record. You know, I think he was like 45 maybe. I think it was 45, right? 45 maybe 46 maybe. He might have been 46. I don't know. But I feel amazing, man. I feel great after the fight besides my foot. I felt great during the fight. I felt faster than he was. Then, you know, Gabriel Bonfio was what, 27?

I felt phenomenal, man. By the way, Randy, 47. So he was 47? Yes. All right. You got five more years. Let's go. Is this really a thing?

Are you really gonna try to do this? This would be amazing, 100%. Wow, wow. And there's no part, like we see this weekend, Dustin Poirier is like, you know what, I'm good. And he could probably keep going too, right? He's, he just fought for the belt. There's no part of you that says, hey, it's been a good run. I'm healthy. I'm in my 40s. Most people don't make it this far. Let's go out, you know, before the game kicks us out, so to speak. You know, it all, it's obviously, you know, really has to do with what happens my next fight.

I feel like if I go out there and I put on a show and I, you know, get a good finish, you know, why not, let's keep going. If not, this is something that I wanna plan with my family, my team, obviously playing with the UFC, but let's go out with a bang, man. Let's get one in South Carolina. Yeah! Wouldn't that be great? Let's do that go out with a bang, man. Let's get one in South Carolina. Yeah.

Wouldn't that be great? Let's do that. What the flip did, man? I mean, I would love to, I think that would be amazing. Obviously, obviously I got to get this thing looked at, but, um, you know, everybody's all the talk right now is the White House fight. Everybody wants to get on that card and how big it's going to be. And that would be cool to go out with a bang like that, but it would be cool to do it in my hometown as well.

Oh my gosh, that would be incredible. And you deserve it. You deserve it all these years later. And by the way, shout out to you doing some ESPN desk work. What do you think? Dude, I'm loving that. That B's getting kicked and punched in the face. Yes. For sure.

I love it. I love breaking down fights. I feel like this is like a calling for me. You know, I think Chris Wyman, you you know did it this weekend for my fight. So Being out there with Anthony Heller, you know, Alan Jaban and all those guys They make it easy. They make it easy and it's enjoyable for me. Did you ask to do that or did they ask you? um, I believe they asked me about it. I did it back in the day, I was in 2013 with Fox. And at the time, of course, I was going up in my career, I was fighting, obviously, the best guys in the world. And I was leaning, trying to get to that title fight. So that was kind of a little bit that was at the top of the game. That was at the top of my list on where my focus should be at. But now, this is really cool to transition to that. I think this is something that I want to do after my career. I got to say,

speaking of that era, it really warmed my heart to see Rory McDonald and you training together. And Rory, and you probably have greater insight into this. I feel like has kind of emerged from the shadows over the last couple of months. Like he's back on social media. He was at the event in Montreal. It just feels like he disappeared. And I love Rory. He's one of my favorite guys.

I have the little doll of him right over here from the fight against Robbie Lawler. Could, could you tell me how you connect? And you guys fought, I believe in Ottawa, many, many moons ago. Could you tell me how you guys reconnected and what it was like training with them? Yeah, I had some, actually some really good guys come in for this camp.

I had, you know, Lorenz Larkin as well. Like one of my favorite strikers in the MMA game for sure. I mean, unbelievable explosive fighter, but Rory, I think is better now than when he was before he retired. Wow. And I think it's because he found that fire within him again. He was out, he went MIA for three years. I deleted all social media, I think. But then recently I saw that he got back on social media, was doing some training, was doing some social media stuff. So I'm like, now is it? This is something that I wanted to happen for the longest time. Even before we fought each other, I was thinking in my head, I would love to

have Rory McDonald because he is one of the best to ever do it. And finally, I got my chance. I saw him on social media. I was like, let's get in touch with this guy. Let's see if he wants to come out and help me out. And he was phenomenal. Wow. He was freaking great. And even I feel like he's better. I feel like he's I think because he loves the game. He fell in love with it again. I would love to see him fight. Well, really, because you think maybe like he got that the fire back maybe the time away. I think because he loves the game. He fell in love with it again. I would love to see him fight Wow, really? Because you think maybe like he got that the fire back maybe at the time away allowed it to reignite It's just it would just be to me. This is for me and it all depends on what he does I think he just refound the love for the game again and that may be all he needs to be satisfied But I just think with talent like that,

it would just be a shame for the world not to see him fight again. You know, that's just me. That's just me. Cause he is one of the best to ever do it. One of the best fights that I've ever seen with him and Rory and to be able to share the octagon with him. He was still super young at the time

and I feel like he's still young. I think he's maybe mid thirties, but I think he's maybe mid-30s. But I think he's better. I think he's better than when he was. So you just sent them a message? That was it? Like you just slid in the DMs and said, come on out? I was like, I DMed him. I was like, hey, man, I got a fight coming up. Would love to have you out for my camp. And he agreed. The sleest guy, man. This is the nicest guy. And at one point they called him the psycho. Yeah.

You know, he had to make that, I guess, that transition to go out there and step out in the cage and the oxygen and do what he needs to do. But the sweetest guy, man. And so informational, so much information in that guy. And, you know, I guess experienced at a young age, starting at a young, I think he had his first MMA pro fight at 16, I think.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And got in the UFC, he was like one of the first guys for people to say like he had the whole package. He wasn't just a specialist, he was good everywhere. So at this point, like other than the, I wanna make it the Randy Contour, what is your why?

What is your reason for doing this? For me? Yeah, like what is the thing that's keeping you going? What's the motivation to put your body through all of this? You know, for the longest time, it was always the title. And obviously, you know, that's still cool. That's still cool to wanna strive for. But at this point, it's to see how much better can I get.

How much more information, how much more I can take in, how good can I get. I feel like that's something that we should all be striving for in whatever it is that we love and the combat sport is what I love to do. Fighting is something I do for the fun of, for the honor, for the glory. My passion is always teaching, but I always – my test to see how good I can get, how much information I'm getting, how much better I'm getting is the fight. That's my test. All right, I've been working on this, this, and that. Now let's test this in the fight, right?

So, and I think that's what keeps me motivated. That's what wakes me up and it gets me up to go train. It's like, all right, what am I gonna learn today? How good am I gonna get today? What's my strength, my speed, especially at this age, how much faster can I get? Can I keep this up? And that's always a question in my head.

You know, there's no slowing down. There's always improvement in everybody in this sport. And sometimes we all get to a certain age and it's like, all right, it's downhill from there, from here, you know? Not in my height, my head and not in my heart. It's still way upward. Let's see how it goes.

You're such an inspirational person and you're so positive. Do you at all waver at times as far as your confidence? Like, you know, you're now on the streak and you haven't wanted to feel, like, do you start questioning yourself? Do you start thinking maybe I'm not that guy? Does that ever creep into your mind? I feel like it doesn't, but can you tell us

if it ever does in a quiet moment? It doesn't. I mean, we all you tell us if it ever does in a quiet moment? It It doesn't. I mean, we all have our ups and downs, of course, and usually sometimes it you feel a little bit more during like training and stuff like man, I wake up this morning, my back's hurting, my knees are hurting. It's like, you know, do I want to go to the gym today? Do I want to go to school? Do I want to train? And I'm like, nope, Do I want to go to the gym today? Do I want to go to school? Do I want to train? And I'm like, nope.

I don't care how I'm feeling, I'm going. And I always feel better after. And I strive for that feeling. Every time I hurt, I strive for that feeling after the workout. You know what? Yes, I'm hurting today, but how much better am I going to feel after I get this workout done? And it always does.

It always feels so much better. I gonna feel after I get this workout done? And it always does, it always feels so much better. My body feels better. When I stop training is when I feel the worst. You know, that's when I feel the worst. If I continue, and it doesn't have to be intense, it doesn't have to be a crazy hard training session. Just training period makes me feel so much better. So no, you got your ups and your downs,

but very rarely does that ever happen for me. I'm a human and no, man, I kick that out of my head. I don't let that creep in. I don't let it creep in. And I've always said I keep good positive people around me. I've got a small team that I strive for and I want to be there for my team like they are for me. We got some

up and coming amateurs. We got my buddy Weston Wilson who got in the UFC, my buddy Gino Morelli, who hopefully is going to be, he wrestled for Penn State. He's undefeated right now and looking to get him in the contender series and he helped me and I want to be there for them. Jared Saskar I love it. I love it. At the gym in the summertime, is it very busy with the kids? Crazy! Karate camps weekly, my man! Yeah, so how do you balance that?

Like, I was thinking, maybe a summertime fight isn't great for you because you want to focus on the gym and the kids. Is it hard to do both? Well, to be honest with you, for about, for like the last two or three years, I stopped doing the karate camps if I'm in training camp. If I'm in training camp, I'm still teaching now because I started teaching at like 4 p.m. and we don't get done till like nine o'clock.

But during camps, that starts at 7 a.m. And I used to do that. I would start at 7 a.m. and not get done till like 10 and still find time to train during the day. But now I can't do that dude. I can't do it. So I still teach but I stopped doing the camps when I'm in training camp. Now that I'm not in training camp, we might get back into, you know, the kids love it.

They like to see Mr. Steven. Yo, Mr. Steven, are you coming to camp today? Like I'm here to hang out with you, bro. So I'm just like, all right. Are you still driving the bus? Every day, bro. Yeah, that's crazy. I remember one time there was like a tornado

and you were talking to us in the bus. You remember that? I talk about that all the time. That was probably the coolest act, like coolest thing that has ever happened to me. You were unflappable. While I was on with you, there was like a freaking tornado behind me. We all had to run in the elementary school.

Remember that? Yes, yes. And we were just unbothered. What's going on, man? It was wind, hail. It was wild. You're crazy, man. I mean, it's amazing the love that you have for these kids, the love that you have for

teaching for martial arts, for karate in particular, you, your family, your dad, your brother, it's, you're one of one, man. You truly are. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it, brother. I love what I do, baby. I love what I do. So let me ask you. Just like you, man. Amen. So, so the NMF, there's, they've never defended that title. It's just one of one. That's it. I've got, I've got two of them, actually. I got, I got two of them. Actually, one of them is like right behind me. Oh yeah.

Where's the second one from? The second one's at the gym. I think I fought, Descente Luque is when you gave it to me. And then I got another one I think at, who did I fight? I don't remember who I fought. But also in my eyes, in NMS, I don't remember who it was. It might have been Jeff Neal. I'm not sure. He's such a sweet guy. It might have been Jeff Neal because I fought him and I fell down at one point.

And because I allowed him to come up in the first round, he was like, you know what? You let me stand back up. I'm going to let you stand back up. We high-fived each other. He let me get back up. He could have full advantage of that and jumped on top of me, but he didn't. That's the NMF way. Yes, sir. Who do you like in the BMF this weekend? Oh my gosh. I can't wait. I wanted to get on that card. That's just an epic card. Yeah. I mean, Max Holloway versus Dustin Poirier. I have much love for both of these guys. I mean, they both fought each other twice. Yep. And well, this would be the third time. Yep. And

Poirier won both times. And this is the third one, his last one. So I know he wants to go out with the BMF. I got much love for Max Holloway. He's like one of my favorite fighters, but I'm leaning towards one man, Dustin Poirier. So I mean, just for the, for, I mean, the guy's a veteran too. I think he had his first fight in 2010, I think. Yeah. 2010. So I would like for him to go out with the bank.

I would like for him to get it. Especially, you know, this being the retirement fight back home, New Orleans, it will be very special. Regarding the before I let you go. How long does this take? Like, what are they saying until it's 100% until you can kick with it again? I before I could kick with again, man, I think they said like 1012 weeks or something like that. Wow. Okay. You know, because the foot I know it's broken and Oh, the foot is broken. The foot is broken. Foot's broken. I think I did that like three kicks in kicked him right in the dang elbow. My goal was to break his arms. I wanted to break his arms. I don't care if I hit him in the arm.

You know, like I said, I could hurt later, but uh, It's not very an MF of you to want to break his arms. Well, I mean, you know, he's trying to damage. I know, I know. I love the guy afterwards. I just love him afterwards. So you broke your foot and the shin. Same leg? Yep. Same one. Geez Louise. Okay. So the foot is broken. You need surgery? I don't know. We got to get it looked at um, just to find out which which part of the foot is broken

This is something out if you took extra's of my feet Man, I think i've broken my feet so many times just in my kickboxing days. Yeah, kicking those too so Um got the foot broken and the shin like I said the what i'm worried about is infection And because I know I think it was in the third round, he had me up against a fence and he was using the bottom of his foot to hit me in that area.

And he was kind of healing that area. So you got nastiness on the canvas. So trying to keep that thing clean, trying to keep that thing, you know, to not get infected is pretty tough. All right, well, you've got some work you could chill out now a little bit, right? You can hang out with the kids, chill out, do your thing. And hopefully we'll see you maybe, I don't know, early next year, probably with the 12 weeks. This year is probably a little

bit a little bit tight. So early next year. Yes, sir. For that last one, but not the last one ever. Just the last one on this deal. And then we get a new deal. Cause Dana White said some very nice things about you in the press conference. I don't know if you saw. Oh man. Thank you, Dana White, brother. Thank you, my man. I mean, he knows, he knows what's up. He knows I can still hang out there with the young bucks. So yeah, man. I mean, I got one fight left on the contract. Well, like I said, Do you have like a dream opponent for that last fight on the car on this contract? I don't, man. It could be any, you know me, brother. I don't fight anybody. I don't fight anybody. I don't even, I don't care. Where's Tyron Woodley's butt at? Let's bring him back. Who? Tyron Woodley. Tyron, Tyron's my guy. No, I know, I know. You know what? I gotta apologize

for Tyron because during camp, he had called me, left a message, and I failed to call him back. Wow. So much going on. And Tyron, I will give you a call back, my brother. My bad. I'm stripping you of the belt. I'm sure someone who doesn't call people back, that's not fair. I want to break someone's arm. You don't call people back. For goodness sakes. What else don't you do? You don't clean the air filters in your house. What's the, what else is going on over there? They're clean, brother. They're clean. After classes, you know, I'm off in math. I'm cleaning toilets. I'm doing it, brother. You are, you are. You're the man. Thank you, Steven. Get well soon. Great fight. Appreciate your time as always. Thank you, brother. You have a good one, my friend. You too. There he is. The great Steven

Wonderboy Thompson. What a guy. What a, soul. What a testament to just being a huge, having a huge heart, being a good person, treating others with respect. And what are the all-time great vocabularies, right? What the flip dip? Did you guys get that one? I thought it was great. Could we get a drop?

What the flip dip? Or what about dang nabbit? Come on, I feel like GC back in the Georgia days used to say Dang Nabbit. That's a very southern thing to say. What do you think, Frankie? I think so. Dadgummit?

That one too? What the flip dip? Nah, that's NMS type stuff right there. Dang Nabbit. Yeah, that's Ned FlandMS type stuff right there. Dang nabbit. Yeah, that's Ned Flanders type stuff. Yeah, I love it. And then he had another one. I don't remember it.

Maybe it was just dang. What a guy. The man. I can't believe you can say dag nabbit and then someone can cut a hole in your shin and you just keep fighting. Oh my gosh. That was a gnarly, gnarly gash there.

And then he still says that he feels great. He feels great. How's your body? Great. I'm like, you have a giant hole in your shin. And he's kicking. He's using it. Could you imagine if one of us experienced something like that, you'd be like, please.

Tears would fall from my eyes and you guys would take me to the hospital. Get me to the hospital. Now. Yeah. And this guy's using, he's not just like trying to survive, he's using it as a weapon. It was nice to hear Dana White give him some props. It was nice to see that. I thought that was good.

And you know what? We need to have Rory back on the show. I feel like something's going on here with Rory. I feel like there's a bit of a comeback developing in front of our eyes. He's talking about, you know, he's got the fire. He's looking great. He shows up in Montreal.

Rory disappeared. No social media, no nothing. He was done. He hated the sport. Maybe hate is a strong word, but he said he was, you know, he was done with it. Now all of a sudden he's showing up for training camps. He's showing up at events.

This is a very interesting development. Want to let you know that tomorrow we will have on the nose back, the post is up right now as we speak, arielhelwani.substack.com. Yeah, there it is. It's been so long I forgot the actual URL. Helwani.substack.com. Yeah, there it is. It's been so long I forgot the actual URL. Could you believe it? Also tomorrow on the program, it's another jam-packed day.

As I said, Tim Tzu going to join us to talk about his rematch against Sebastian Fundora. Joseph Parker going to join us to lay down the gauntlet on all the meshugas happening in the heavyweight division. Manny Pacquiao going to join us to talk about his fight against Mario Barrios. Mike Santana is going to join us. TNA headliner big show this Sunday. TNA Slammiversary, UBS Arena, Long Island, New York. We going, guys? We going? See you there. Sunday? Yeah. Got plans.

Thad Gene gonna be joining us, talk about his fight against Jason Jackson. By the way, Santana and Thad in studio tomorrow on the program, OTN as well. And I could just predict this. It's July 2025. From now, you remember how we had that 9, 10, 11 month period where it was like

who's going to headline UFC 300? And then it was who's going to headline the sphere? Now the new one is who's going to headline the White House? Because every interview Dana White does is about the White House, who's going to headline. I understand he was on a McAfee show earlier today talking about the same old thing. It's going to be the sphere on steroids, all this stuff. Again, this is going to happen. I still think there are people who don't believe it's going to happen, but let it be known. I said from the beginning I thought it was going to happen.

The question is who's going to be on it. Is it going to be Connor? Did we make our predictions? Did we make our predictions yesterday? I said Connor and Michael. And what did you say? He said it's Shafkat Islam in Vegas that we support. Oh wow.

I guess I didn't make mine. Yeah, what do you think? Jones Aspinal? No. Original. I mean, how many choices? John Jones is not coming back. You don't think he's coming back period? I'll say he's coming back. He might come back. He's not fighting Tom Aspinall. Question is how do we get in? I was the lone holdout on the Tom, just pay John the money he'll fight Tom Aspinall. I have been proven wrong. He has not come back.

He's found his why. Yes and it's not fighting Tom Aspinall. I have been proven wrong, he is not coming. He's found his why. Yes, and it's not fighting Tom Aspinall. He said it himself. You think he just wants to fight, but not against Tom? Yeah, he ain't fighting Tom Aspinall. What a bad luck that would be. Imagine if Tom is still the champion, he comes back to fight someone else.

He will not fight Tom Aspinall. Really? No. No, I think he does. I think he has found his why. Anything he does in front of the White House. What is his why? On the lawn of the White House. Yeah.

He wants to lose in front of Trump, that's his thing. Big enough. That's his king. What? My brother has to perform a lot at the White House. Maybe he'll be there. Yo, could you imagine? That'd be sick.

VIP access? What does he do? What does he do? Marine Corps event. No, I know, but like what event? Oh, like a lot of things. Easter at the White House any like major presidential Yeah, when the when the president walks up on stage, that's him. That's him. Yeah, what which instrument again big one. Nah clarinet

Yeah Didn't have to go through basic training didn't have to do any of that walks through the airport with like his marine Whatever they called on uniforms everyone's like thank you for your service you're welcome I play the fucking clarinet never they never send him overseas hell no what do you mean he's the biggest he's what was a keep going butterfly he's there's he does not have a tough bone in his body they'll never be a time where they're like yo, man We need to go into the reserves like we we need you they have actuals get the clarinetists

We need you in North Korea stat get the woodwinds on the front line Just for the morale just to hype up the troops and then and then it's not happening just for the morale just to hype up the troops nope you imagine is your actual present sergeant Burke's John versus Tom yeah I think I'll go with that really I do I do think I like you're like I I think it's you're like a hundred percent hundred percent gonna happen I have not called a single person maybe I will I think John could definitely fight on the card I don't think it would be Tom. 4547?

Yeah. Is that the direct line? Oh no, it's a call. DHT? No, DJT? DHT. DJT. Wait, who did you say?

4547? Oh, that's brilliant. Could you imagine? Could you imagine if it was actually that? What would the first three numbers be? USA, 4547. Yeah, there it four, seven. Yeah, there it is.

Yeah, like sup BITB. Nailed it. That would be incredible. Yeah, I'll go with that. Although I do think Connor has a chance as well. I mean, we saw he's working out. Oh boy. He's lifting weights.

He's lifting weights, man. Oh man. He's lifting weights. He's lifting weights. Man I've... We'll talk about that on our subscriber. Do we say the name of it Rick? What? The trending name is Meatgate for Mr. McGregor. We just had Wonder Boy on. This is where we go. I just want to know is like is that a Jerry rig thing or is it like can you buy that or is that yeah? Yeah, are you in the market? Work out. I mean, I just I didn't know if that was like something you try you trying to get fit like if you put the Are we gonna have a long to break it down Sounding as a full breakdown more. Oh, Chael, Chael loved it. Nobody loved it more than Chael.

Anyway guys, Heart Out 353. What a bandit. Big show. Stuck the dismount. Yeah, big show coming up in about little over an hour's time. It's a bit of a business type show. Six guests, NBD on this program.

Three coming up at 5 p.m. EST over on the Dazon YouTube channel. Let's see if we can see some of our, I don't know, some of our regulars over there in the chat. Shout out to the chat. Thumbs up. Hey guys, we're climbing up the ranks as far as subs are concerned. Everyone watching right now, if you haven't subbed yet, can you give us a thumbs up and hit the sub? We made a pact, we wanna get to 331 by the end of August.

Possible, guys? That's what we're shooting for, right? 331 end of August? And then we go to the Canuck to celebrate. You're fucking right. Well, we might need like 333. Oh, because... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right, listen, listen 33 my favorite number so yeah Shut up. I've been playing with the ball here because I've been trying to like break it in You know like I'm a pitcher coming into the bottom of the night Sort of yes She's like up to the press conference. Yeah, you know everyone likes to That's what hurling ball. I think it's a slitter. I think PT said. You ever watched? Schleuter. Schleuter. You watched Gaelic football?

No, I watched a game with PT on Saturday. It was a trip. At a bar? Yeah. You guys went out to a bar? Several. Damn. Where where where was that playing? Dead Rabbit. Oh, yes, of course who could forget? Thank you very much Goldberg Steven Thompson Chris Kurtz just your Steve Garcia my rebars. Thank you to them. Thanks to you. Thanks to them back to mom