The Ariel Helwani Show - Bret Hart, Yoel Romero, Ryan Bader, Eddie Hall, Jessica Eye

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Ariel Helwani and the gang kick off the show (00:45).Eddie Hall, the 2017 World's Strongest Man, discusses his massive KSW fight against Mariusz Pudzianowski, training with Tom Aspinall, beating the Neffati brothers in a viral 2-on-1 and more (07:26).Ryan Bader discusses his PFL release, what's next for his career, his old UFC rivalry with Daniel Cormier, landing the role of Mark Coleman in The Rock's new Mark Kerr biopic and more (35:30).Yoel Romero discusses his knockout victory in the official Dirty Boxing debut, his viral "go" interview before the Israel Adesanya fight, advice he'd give to Adesanya after the former champ's latest loss and more (1:02:10).Former UFC title contender Jessica Eye break news of her BKFC signing and discusses her plans in bare-knuckle boxing (1:39:57).Wrestling royalty Bret Hart discusses his latest (and third!) WWE Hall of Fame induction, his legendary match with Stone Cold Steve Austin, his view on modern wrestling, Hulk Hogan's recent criticism and more (2:00:59).EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/uncrowned Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Errrya YD Show! Back in your lives! On this Tuesday, April 1st, 2000 and 25. Hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well I am doing great it is April the Sun is shining and there ain't no April fool's jokes around here my friends none of that we keep it real you know one of the things that I loved most about Walter Cronkite who I've read a lot about watched a lot of things on I've told you one of the watched a lot of things on.

I've told you one of the reasons why I love the name Walter. I wanted to call my son Walter was because he was the most trusted man in America. That was his nickname. That was the moniker. They called him Uncle Walter because everyone believed when he said something, it was the truth. And I've tried to be the same.

And so I don't like when people betray that trust on this particular day, April Fools, April 1st. When you're in the media, you should not do that. I feel very strongly about this. People come to you for the goods, for the news, for the facts, for the truth. And so there ain't no April Fools on this day. And I know what you're thinking. This lineup, too good to be true. There is no freaking way that Ariel Hawhani, me, my idol will be on today's program, April 1st, but it is true. My very first hero, the very first celebrity that I ever looked up to, that I ever admired, adored, wanted to be like. The very first, number one, young Ariel,

five years old, six years old, taken, smitten by a man who wore pink and black, who had cool shades and cool long hair, the excellence of execution, the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be, the legend himself and the soon to be three time WWE Hall of Famer. He was inducted in 06 I believe for his tremendous singles career.

He was inducted in 2019 for his incredible run as a tag team with the late great Jim the Anvil Knightheart, the Heart Foundation. And in a couple of weeks, he'll be a part of the first match ever inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, WrestleMania 13 against Stone Cold Steve Austin. I'm talking about Bret the Hitman Hart, the pride of Canada, the face of Canada. Our hero, our national hero, gonna be on the show today. I mean, what a day, guys, what a freaking day. I mean, that's it, that's the mountaintop for me.

I've talked to him twice before. Once in person, UFC 149 in 2012, and then once via the phone in the ESPN days. Today via Zoom and I can't freaking wait. Prior to that we are going to be joined by Jessica I. Remember Jessica I? She's been in the game for quite some time. She has some news to break with all of us. It's been a while since I spoke to her. I am looking forward to that chat very much. Prior to that, I'm going to be joined by the great Joel Romero, aka Joel Romero the Timeless Wonder himself. The man who was just victorious about nine or so days ago at DBX one dirty boxing one he won on their I don't know what to call that first event their soft launch their inaugural event who knows but the man is is still a marvel a genetic jackhammer an

athletic freak the guy's just a beast Joel will will join us. At 1.30, we're going to be joined by the great Ryan Darth Bader. And he had some news last week, which we broke first here at Uncrowned. He has now parted ways with PFL Tour. He never actually, I don't think he actually fought for PFL. He fought for Bellator, of course, heavyweight champion, light heavyweight champion, Grand Prix winner. And he's parted ways with one fight left on his deal, still wants to fight. He's a part of that Smashing Machine movie that is coming out in late 25. He's playing the role of the great Mark the Hammer Coleman.

What an opportunity that is for him. And he'll stop by at around 1.35 to talk about what's next. In a matter of moments though, I'm very excited about this one, a little something for everyone on the program today. The great Eddie Hall is going to join us. Are you familiar with Eddie Hall? We spoke about him yesterday on the program. He is going up against Mariusz Pudzianowski. You know, we say, but I think in Polish, the W is more of a V situation.

In any event, this is a five time strongest man winner, world's strongest man winner, going up against a one time world's strongest man winner, and it's a bit of a dream matchup because obviously we know that Marius has been fighting in MMA for quite some time under the KSW banner. Eddie Hall just kind of dipping his toe into the MMA scene, training with the likes of Tom Aspinall. Had a boxing match many moons ago. Had a two-on-one MMA fight in June of last year, which went viral because he weighs approximately, I mean, can we get a picture of Eddie Hall?

Let's just show the people who we're talking about here in case they're unfamiliar. 2017, World's Strongest Man, five time Britain's Strongest Man, six time UK's Strongest Man. He's a freak. And I say that with the utmost sincerity and love. That's Marius on the left, Eddie Hall is on the right. He's an absolute beast.

And so they'll be competing at KSW 105 at the pre-zero arena in Poland. And it's a bit of a dream matchup. It's two four-minute rounds. I understand Eddie wanted two, he's two four-minute rounds. I understand Eddie wanted two He wanted he wanted I think two two-minute rounds and I think Marius wanted two fives And I think they settled on two fours

Two four-minute rounds hit the gloves by the way are gigantic that he'll be using. Did you guys see that back in June? He went up against two guys at the same time. I don't know what their combined weight was, but the scenes were unbelievable. He was power bombing them, he was beating them up, he knocked one out, won the match. I mean, look at this. World Freak Fight I mean look at this

world freak fight league Look at this. That's Eddie Hall two on one I Think combined his opponents didn't weigh as much as his as his leg 37 years of age against 48 years of age. Like I said, one world's strongest man versus five. An incredible resume. One of the most popular figures in the world of strong men going toe to toe on April 26 in Poland. A dream matchup, if you will, and it's a dream opportunity for us to have the great Eddie the Beast Hall on the program.

Let us go to the monitor right now and say hello to the big man. There he is. Hello, Eddie, how are you? Hey, I'm very good, man. How are you? What's happening? Are you getting a massage?

I'm getting physio. So I'm gonna get certain times of the day where I'm allowed to get physio because my wife tells me exactly what I've got to do at home. So I'll get an hour to get my physio done and this is that hour. Let's do the free time I get. Is this problematic for you

to be doing an interview at the same time? No, no, it's fine. Okay, who's holding up the phone? So I've managed to stick it on a stand hanging from it like hanging from the ceiling. Gali! That is well done on your part. Absolute legend. Thank you so much. Well, it's great to have you on. It's a great honor for us. And this is very exciting for you.

Would it be fair to say this is a dream opportunity? This is a dream fight? Maybe you didn't back in the day dream of fighting Marius, but because of who he is in the Strongman world, because of who you are, to be going up against him in any kind of feats of strength has to be some kind of a dream, right? Oh, 100%. I mean, I grew up watching Marius Ponraski, you know, pull out the, lift out the stones, pull planes. He's probably one of the main reasons why I even got into Strongman. So yeah, to be competing against Marius, albeit in a whole different world,

in the fight world, is a massive privilege. And Marius is, you know, he's, there's no small task on Marius's behalf as well. You know, he's got 16 years experience, 26 or 27 pro fights. But he's pulling it all on the line to fight me. That's for sure. How did this all come about? Your idea, KSW's idea, his idea? Uh, kind of my idea.

Um, I was training to fight Brian Shaw, uh, and Martin Ford and Mike Mitchell Hooper, which are all, you know, just gigantic men, will strongest man with us that fell through. And I just felt a little, um, a little miffed, you know, and I men, world's strongest man with us. That fell through and I just felt a little a little miffed, you know, and I felt like I did I did sort of eight months training for no reason whatsoever. So I decided, you know, I've got to do something with this. So the next man in line was Marius Ponoski. So I put lots of feelers out and, you know, been in communication with KSW for over a year, and it's finally come to fruition

My understanding is you know, they just officially announced it last week This fight is happening in you know, some 25 days did it get a little bit delayed because of perhaps some issues on his part I don't know. I didn't really know you know that we've been in talks for over a year and It's literally this last two or three months where it's been like, right, Marius wants to fight, this is when it's gonna happen. And there's been a lot of ifs, what's, buts, and coulds, but finally Marius signed the dotted line

literally last week, so here we are. Okay, so a few details to go over. Two four-minute rounds, right? Yes, two four-minute rounds. So I wanted two-minute rounds. Marius wanted five-minute rounds. And somehow we've met in the middle, nowhere near the middle at four.

Yeah, how do you feel about that? Not too happy, you know? Obviously I wanted the two-minute rounds because I'm so big. I'm 160 kilos. My fitness isn't going to be anywhere near what Marius is. And I've never fought MMA before. And I know MMA is a lot more taxing on the cardio. And obviously when you get that adrenaline dump,

all that cardio goes out the window as well. So four minute rounds is a big ask of me. But it was literally I say yes to that, or fights off. So I had no choice, you know, this is one of Marius' demands and we all know why. Obviously he's gonna get the advantage in the cardio aspect and so you know I can't really blame him for wanting that. But it's definitely given him a massive advantage going into this fight. Wait a second, wait a second, You said you never fought MMA before. I was just watching highlights of you fighting two geezers.

You power bombed one of them, you knocked the other one out. That looked like MMA to me. Yeah, I mean that was more of a freak show and they were in the two minute rounds, to be fair. Okay. There were three two minute rounds. And I just managed to catch him in that last round, that last 30 seconds and do the business. That was great fun by the way.

I'm a massive advocate for these two V one battles. I wanna do more of them. There's great fun for me and I think the general public wanna see it. So I'm all for it but bring me bring me more 2v1s. We'll get back to Marius but since we're on this this path here that came about because those other opponents fell through and you didn't want to waste the training camp so you said all right I'll

do this? Yeah yeah basically I mean that was obviously Marius was the main target but the Ne Fati brothers were talking shit about me online, so I just sort of said, look, keep my name out your mouths or I'll fucking sort you out. And before I know it, I had a contract under my nose to fight two Polish kids in a ring in Blackburn in England. So I don't even know how that happened, but it happened. And you'd like to do more of it?

Yeah, 100%. I'd say that I thoroughly enjoyed that. That was like, it was good training for it. It was the fight itself was great atmosphere. And win, draw or lose, I just think it was just a great, it was a spectacle. You know, it's like David versus Goliath. It was just great seeing two small guys against one giant.

I just thought it was great to see. So obviously your background isn't in mixed martial arts. I know you train with the great Tom Aspinall and his team over there, and you know, that's the best that you can get. But I'm wondering, would it be fair to say that this is the type of career that Eddie Hall is looking after?

Like you have no grand illusions of being a UFC champion or a KSW champion or anything like that. You just want fun as you put it, freak show fights. Are you comfortable with that or do you want something more? No, I have no aspirations to be a ranked fighter. And I think it's pretty pointless. You know, no one wants to see me get in the ring with an average-sized guy and fight. I genuinely believe that's a lose-lose for me.

If I lose the fight, it's like, ha, ha, ha, you lost someone half your size. If I win the fight, it's like, well, you just beat someone half your size. If you win, you lose. So it's a lose-lose for me to go into a fight world and fight, if I'm being honest. And where I see my career in the fight world is the freak fights. Fighting the giants, doing the two V1s.

I feel like that's where I belong. As soon as they put me fighting Joe Bloggs, the normal average man, it's gotta be the Marius Pornostes of the world. Your deal with KSW, is it exclusive or can you fight for anyone at this point? At this point, it's, you know, I don't even know. I think it's exclusive, yes.

So, but you know, I think there's causes in there where I can do the freak fights, you know, like the 2v1s cause it, it doesn't compete. I was just, the reason I asked that is cause, uh, I feel like someone of your stature, your size, your look would be a huge fan favorite over in Japan as well. They, they like those types of fights. So I was wondering if you ever thought about that or explored that. Um, I mean, if it goes on, I would love to be a part of that.

But I say it's just getting the right context. If you know anyone, please throw them my way. Okay, we'll talk offline, but they seem to be treating you very well in KSW and very excited to have you over there. This dream of being a fighter after you accomplished so much in the Strongman world, how did this all start? Where did this come from? I mean, it just sort of fell into place really. accomplished so much in the strongman world. How did this all start? Where did this come from? I mean, it just sort of fell into place really. Half-all, Bjoernstern, offered me a fight after the,

we sort of had a feud in the strongman world. So that came about. So I trained for boxing for a couple of years, fought Thor, and then I just sort of stepped back. I had a good year to myself just working on my family. I had two more kids in that year and then it was like right knuckle down again now and then I got a contract to fight in Qatar against Brian Shaw and Martin Ford and people so that sort of clawed me back into the fight world. You like MMA more than boxing as far as competing and training?

Yeah, I think I much prefer the MMA. I think it plays into my strengths a lot more. End of the day, if you're strong, I think that's a good percentage of the battle in the MMA world. And as you can see here, it's going up against someone like Tom Aspinall. I mean, he's proving a point

that strength means absolutely nothing. But Tom himself is a strong guy. You wouldn't believe how strong Tom is. He is a stronger opponent. What is that like? What is it like to be in there with arguably the best heavyweight in the world? Very humbling. There's nothing like thinking you can fight and then getting in the ring with someone like Tom Aspinal and he just plays with you. He can literally throw you around and stick jabs in your face

like you're a little kid in a schoolyard. So yeah, it's very humbling getting to the ring with someone like Tom. How often are you training with Tom or at his gym? At least once a week. So I was up there this morning training with the Tom Aspinal camp. Um, now and again, I'll spar with Tom. Um, so yeah, it's just, it's just as it went really.

So, so they put this fight together, the world's strongest fight, a dream matchup, if you will. Uh, you got to do some media with him last week with Marius. What, what type of vibe did you get from him? He's somewhat unflappable. He's somewhat stoic as well. I saw your great video blog about meeting him in your conversations, and it seemed like a lot of respect and love, but when you're facing off

with a guy like him, who let's be honest, at this point is somewhat of an MMA veteran. It's amazing that he's still doing this well over 15 years after his debut since coming over from Strongman. What type of vibe did you get from the the legend? I think Marius was really nice you know he actually made me feel quite comfortable you know very pleasant very smiley very lots of handshakes lots of pats lots of compliments and same to him you know it's there's no there's no sort of disrespect there at all I've got

massive respect and admiration for Marius. And I think he has for me as well, because he knows what it takes to get that Will Strongest Man title. He knows what goes into it. And you can't help but have respect for a man that's been there and done what you've done. Do you think he's trying to be nice to you

just to kind of like soften you up, lure you in, and then attack you? I mean, first of all, the four minute thing, an advantage for him, he's flexing his proverbial muscles there, the A-side, if you will, oh, this is my organization, this is my country. I don't know, is this a part of a plan, do you think?

Maybe, maybe, but I would rather us be, have pleasantries and shake hands. You know, I don't think it does us or the sport any favors if we're calling each other names and winding each other up and spitting in each other's faces. You know, we've all seen that. It doesn't work and it doesn't play off very well. So, you know, if it is a ploy, then I don't know.

Fair play to him. But I know when that bell goes, I know Marius is gonna flip that switch and it's gonna be every man for himself. So it is not drawing me into a false pretent. You mentioned you're around 160 kg. How much do you hope to weigh come fight night? I'd imagine that fight night, I'm probably gonna be around the 155 kilo.

I may even be close to 160. You know, I'm not particularly bothered about my weight. My fitness is there as of now. So I've got no sort of goals to lose any bigger amounts of weight. I think Marius is about 123, something like that. So it's going to be 30, maybe 35 kilos between us, which is quite a lot. So 123 is 270 pounds for our American audience. And you said 155-ish? That's- Yeah, probably more, let's call it 157.

157 is 346 pounds. There's no weight limit here, right? No, there's no weight limit. Golly, this is unbelievable. This is tremendous stuff. Can I ask, what is, I'm fascinated by this, can you take me through a typical day in terms of your diet? Pretty much 90% carnivore diet,

so loads of salmon and cottage cheese for breakfast. Lunch is like one kilo ribeye steaks with black pudding, bacon, halloumi cheese, loads of duck eggs. Dinner is usually the same. Snacks is sort of like full fat milk with protein powder and stuff like that. Wow. And when you say loads of duck eggs,

like how many are we talking about here? Probably I have about eight duck eggs a day. Wow, what's the difference? I'm not big on the eggs. What's the difference in duck eggs. Like how many are we talking about here? Probably I have about eight duck eggs a day. Wow, what's the difference? I'm not big on the eggs. What's the difference in duck eggs and chicken eggs? Duck eggs have got probably double the amount of vitamins and minerals and probably about 40-50% more protein as well. Really? Wow. And you get them at the grocery store?

Yeah, there's a special supermarket over here. It's Marks and Spencer's it's like a snobby high-end. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah So yeah, we're gonna get food from them I didn't realize they were snobby, but it makes sense because I know that they took over the the Liverpool arena I think it was called the echo and as a result of the naming rights going to them They don't allow MMA there anymore because they think that they're above MMA. Have you heard this? Yeah, hey, mine is Marks and Spencers.

You can't knock the Marks and Spencers. Okay, all right. It's literally like, it's like Queen. Oh, I didn't realize. Like Queen royalty over here. Yeah, so, yeah, you can't knock them for that. All right, I didn't realize. And so when you're training for a fight,

are you also lifting a lot as well? Are you keeping up with that? So up until 10 weeks out, I left quite heavy and then 10 weeks out from fight. I switched to just, um, just fight training and swimming. I actually do a lot of swimming. So I didn't do any weight training, coming into a fight. What do you enjoy more, uh, preparing for, I know it's relatively new for you, but like preparing for a fight or preparing for a competition?

Um, that's it. It's a close one. I think I've been doing a lot of weight training. I've been doing a lot of weight training. preparing for I know it's relatively new for you but like preparing for a fight or preparing for a competition? It's a close one I think I think mentally I'm just so done with strongman yeah like you know I've competed in strongman for ten years and I just it got to the point where I actually hated the sport because it just became such a stressful thing getting prepped and competing against the best in the world. I would say fight prep is so much more enjoyable.

You get in these camps and you're traveling around, and you're fighting all these different people. You're learning. I think that's what makes it exciting for me, is you're learning all the time. Whereas strongman, you're not particularly learning, you are just lifting weight to me to be over and over and over again. And after 10 years, it doesn't become much fun.

When's the last time you competed in a Strongman? So my last Strongman contest was, jeez, I guess one of the world's strongest men in the middle of, I think, May 2017. And then I retired. I did Britain's Strongest Man in the following January as a bit of a farewell to the British public. So that would have been my very last contest, Britain's Strongest Man 2018. Wow.

And you've never been compelled or had the itch to go back? No, I did what I set out to achieve. I wanted to win the World's Strongest Man and I did that. So that's like my childhood dream achieved. And then I guess the icing on the cake was pulling the 500 kilo deadlift. You know, it was like the most historic, iconic lift in history in strength sports. And to be able to achieve that, that was just like the tip of the hat, the sort of cementing

of my name in the strongman world. And that was enough for me to walk away. In your video blog, you told an unbelievable story about Kind of how troubled you were as a kid. I didn't realize 13 years of age. You're an alcoholic. You're doing drugs You're kind of in a very very dark place and strongman or lifting weights going to the gym got you out of it How did you get into such a dark place? It's such a young age. I mean, I have a 12 year old I can't even imagine him doing the stuff that you're talking about, you know, the drugs, the drinking.

I believe you had a child as well, right? Yeah, it was, it was like a series of unfortunate events. You know, it started with the anxiety attacks, sort of creeping in. And I believe that was from having very severe ADHD. And at the time, I just didn't know that I had ADHD. And off the back of that was diagnosed with depression. You know, I guess I just fell into the trap of feeling sorry for myself. And I'd lash out at teachers, at pupils, and obviously I'd vent a lot of my frustrations out on drink.

And, you know, at 13 years of age, I was a paid athlete. So I was a paid athlete. I was a full-time sort of swimmer. I spent all my money on drinking drugs. Like, almost every single day, I would get a crate of beers and just drink myself to sleep. Wow. Who, like, set you on that path? almost every single day, I would get a crate of beers and just drink myself to sleep. Wow.

Who set you on that path? Were there people that you were looking up to who were a bad influence who told you this is the right thing to do at the time? No. I mean, I say it's a tough one to gauge. I mean, it's just something that fell into place. And I just felt like that drink,

especially just was such a good coping mechanism. At the time, it was just such a nice thing to do and like an escape from this hell inside my head. So yeah, I just, you know, I went to that place as often as I could really. And how'd you get out of it? Going to the gym. I think, there's my mom sat me down one day

and just sort of said like, what the fuck are you doing with your life? Like you are throwing your life down the pond, you're expelled from school. Like you've got to do something with yourself. And she ended up buying me a full-time gym membership. And I started going to the gym, I think, my late 14s, early 15s.

And every time I went to the gym, I just felt good. You know, I just started feeling better about myself. I'd walk out with this feeling of self-worth, this incredible feeling of self-worth. And that was like my new coping mechanism. Rather than going to buy a crate of beers, I'd go to the gym and train for four or five hours. Wow. Did you finish school?

No, I did not. I was expelled from school at age 13. For doing what? It was actually a fight that ended my school career, but um, it was usually something to do with my dick. So with your what? It was always my dick getting me in trouble, just fucking getting my dick out and dragging girls.

Okay, I thought like in the middle of class, you're showing off, you know, the kibbles and brits. Yeah, I mean, I probably did that. Oh, okay. I thought like in the middle of class you're showing off, you know, the kibbles and brits. Oh yeah, I mean I probably did that. Oh wow. In school, yeah. My gosh. You were a beast. In a different way, I guess. And do you feel like the gym and all that, it gave you, you know, we talk about the endorphins and feeling better, but then having to strive for this career this thing How like how do you see where do you see that for the first time and say that's going to be my path? That's going to get me on the you know, the the right trail to a good life

Where do you see that for the first time strong man? I'm I mean geez I I guess I mean I guess the ADHD took me on took me down that wrong path You know and all those incidents at school what were because of sheer impulse I guess the ADHD took me down that wrong path. All those incidents at school, what were because of sheer impulse, fighting and all that kind of stuff. It was just stuff that I couldn't really control. And going to the gym sort of reined all that in.

And I just became obsessed. Like I was with my swimming when I was younger, I was a national champion swimmer and that sort of helped me, helped me keep, keep my energy levels at bay. And then I just went to the gym and yeah, it just, I just became obsessed with it. And I ended up, I think I ended up doing my first strongman contest when I was 19. Wow. And I think I put it on my Facebook page when I was 19.

I'm gonna win the Will Strungis Man one day. And here I am, there I was 10 years later. I won it 10 years later to the day when I did that. To the day? Pretty much, yeah. Holy smokes. Are you familiar with Pacer Allen, Arnold Allen's father? He's a bit of a strong man as well.

Yeah, no, I do actually, yeah. No, so I speak to Arnold Allen just now and again on Instagram, just say hi and how you doing and that. Yeah, but I'm well aware his dad was a decent strongman. Legend. All right, so how do we think this goes? Because I'm sure you know this, Marius has lost his last two fights in a row,

both by stoppage, first time he was ever TKO'd in his last fight, never been KO'd clean. But do you feel like he's on the back end now? Do you feel like he's ripe for the taking? I mean, Lou, I mean, Marius is a fierce athlete. He's a fierce man. I think, you know, we're both capable of knocking each other out,

but I'd like to think that, you know, it is one on points, I think is going to be the way it's going to go down or it's going to be a stoppage of some sorts. It's going to be one of those two, in my opinion. Okay. So points would be you going eight minutes. Uh huh. Yeah.

Look, I think I can do the eight minutes. I mean, it's going to be a tough ask. Yeah. But I think the eight minutes is doable at this point. Do you have a dream fight? A dream opponent? This is pretty much my dream fight. This is it. I think so. You know, if you're going to ask me, like if you're going to put two world's strongest men in a cage, which two world's strongest member would you want to see in the cage? And I think it's me and Marius. Marius because he's got the experience and me just because I'm game.

You know, I'm just want to get stuck in and have a go at it. What if it wasn't a strongest man? What if Marius wasn't a strong? No, meaning like someone outside of that world. Is there is there a scenario, maybe a two on one is something fun that you've thought of that you'd love to cross off the old list. I don't know maybe Jake Paul and Logan Paul I'd love to get those two in there in together. Oh yeah you versus them I mean they're a lot bigger than the Nefati brothers. Yeah yeah but still I think it'd be very uneven. You think you could kick their ass?

Yeah 100 percent. Powerbomb. Powerbomb swung straight across the door. I love what you did though. Your back was against the wall You didn't let them come, you know from the back I believe there was a clause in there where you couldn't power bomb although it looked like a power bomb if you ask me What you did to the young man there? So I'm happy you didn't get DQ'd Yeah, it was just like we had we had a good chat before and me and the coaches dead and we just said Luke you know, we're well aware of my power. And it was just like a mutual thing

of no slamming on the neck, which I did not do and could have done very easily. I could have followed that power bond through and literally have snapped his neck. And I didn't do that, but could have. Can I ask you before we let you go, and I appreciate the time very much on this Tuesday, were you ever in talks to fight Dylan Dennis?

So the Misfits put that out on their Instagram, and there were no talks, I'll be perfectly honest. There were no talks whatsoever. Well, I didn't know of any talks. There might have been talks behind my back, but I saw that on Misfits Instagram and I immediately sort of messaged my contact through there and I said, you've got to make this fight happen now.

I'd love to fight Dylan Danis. So that may well happen one day. I probably would have fought, because they were meant to fight this Saturday just gone with the KSI and Dylan Danis. Yeah, if they'd have given me like two weeks notice, I'd have taken that fight. I'd have fought Dylan Danis and then me as well.

How big are the gloves that you're gonna be wearing? Four ounce gloves. So yeah. Yeah, but what size? Well, I tried on the two XLs and they're very tight on my hands. So I've asked KSW to get me some three XL and four XL made. Love them. I'll probably end up with the 4XL.

Wow what a scene it's going to be. What a scene. Eddie, appreciate this very much. Good luck to you just a few weeks away. Like I said, KSW 105 on the 26th of April. What a great scene it's going to be. You versus Marius Pudjanovski. A dream fight for fans of Strongman and it's very cool that you're doing this in training with the likes of Tom Aspinall in preparation for it. So I wish you all the best, thank you for some time here and looking forward to it very much. Thank you, I appreciate your time mate, thank you buddy. There he is, the great Eddie Hall, the beast they call him. By the way, XTB KSW 105 will be available exclusively on pay-per-view.

Viewers around the world outside of Poland can watch it only on kswtv.com. How can you gain access to XTB KSW 105? In Gliwice, outside of Poland? Fans from other countries can now buy their access on kswtv.com. That's for the event, ksw105. This platform offers access to top quality materials. It also allows to watch the event both live and on demand in full HD. And it's where fans can get English commentary for the event, plus able to re-watch the event

seven days later. So that's big time stuff. KSWTV.com or on pay-per-view here, excuse me, in Poland, KSWTV.com here in America. So it's an open weight fight, two four-minute rounds, Mariusz Pudzianowski going up against Eddie Hall. I have to say, I will be there. Not literally there, but I would like to watch it.

And we've already laid this out. This is some kind of day. What a day this is turning out to be. April 26th, we got FA Cup semi-finals. We've got Ben Eubank. We've got this card, KSW 105. We've got UFC in Kansas City. I might be missing something else.

NBA playoffs will be in full swing. What else? Incredible. All right, well, looking forward to that. We move along now. Later in the program, by the way, Brett, the Hitman Heart joining us at three o'clock. Jessica I with some breaking news.

Joel Romero joining us at 2, but let's talk now to a man who made some headlines last week. We told you first that Ryan Bader has parted ways amicably with the PFL, had a long, long run, a successful run in Bellator, a light heavyweight champion, a heavyweight champion, a heavyweight Grand Prix winner

as well, and with one fight left on his contract, worked out a deal to, like I said, amicably part ways. We wanted to have him on to talk about what's next and what led to the parting of ways. He is kind enough to join us. Let's say hello now to Ryan Darth Bader. There he is. Hello, Ryan, how are you?

Good, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. Great to talk to you again. So I guess congratulations on being a free man. Can I ask why did you want to part ways with one fight left on your deal? Yeah. So we, you know, we had that movie offer and so I was looking to get a fight, you know, this last summer, past summer. And basically, you know, that was taking a little, little while.

I was missing training. You know, I last summer, past summer. And basically, you know, that was taking a little, a little while. I was missing training, you know, and I wanted to approach a fight, you know, full training camp. And so, um, I didn't know when I was going to fight. I didn't know who, you know, it was kind of up in the air because I'm the Bellator champion. You know, they acquired Bellator, but you know, going forward is kind of, uh, it's kind of muddy, you know? And so she's kind of decided, you know, let's have some fun, you know, see if there is a possibility where we can get released, you know, with one fight left. And we did, we were both happy. And, uh, now I have the opportunity to kind

of, kind of look around. It was a different mind frame for me too. You know, I'm kinda, I'm 41 years old. I'm at that point now where, you know, I could be done, but I'm looking for something fun. You know, these different opportunities, whether that's MMA, grappling, boxing, anything. You had the one fight sort of under the PFL banner against Henna Paheta. You were representing Bellator and the champion versus champion. And we've seen some of the Bellator guys express some frustration, some disappointment in the business dealings with the new ownership, the PFL ownership.

What was your experience like? Yeah, it was fine. You know, I was, I kind of considered myself under Bellator banner the whole time, even with that last fight, you know, it was Bellator versus PFL. So I really didn't have, you know, a real deal fight under

the PFL banner. You know, so I was dealing with all the, the old bell tour guys, you know? Um, yeah. So it was, it was more me than anything, you know, it just came time where, yes, you know, if I go into a fight, I'm looking to win. I'm looking to be a champion, say the champion, all that kind of stuff, you know, but that mindset, you know, take something out of you. If you're like that, you know, 24 seven, I have 43 fights, you know, so I was thinking about just being done entirely. But now that, you know, I got my release and we, we see some of these new opportunities, you know, come to our desk. I kind of want to get at least one more fight in and go out on my own terms, you know, last fight obviously got smoked real quick and don't want to get at least one more fight in and go out on my own terms, you know.

Last fight, obviously got smoked real quick and don't want to go out like that. And I want to go into a fight, you know, knowing, hey, this could be my last one and enjoy that whole process. So there was a point there where you thought maybe you were done. Yeah, I mean, I want to compete.

And if that's not in MMA, I was like, okay, you know, that's fine. But yeah, after last fight and going to that fight, I have one more fight on my contract that I have one left. So I always thought, okay, I have that, right? The movie came about, that took some time. And then, you know, going back to the, you know, the gym training and whatnot,

just kind of like, when's my next fight? Who? I can't just go in there and fight anybody, which I would. It was kind of like, hey, just give me any kind of fight. But obviously there's gotta be Bellator champion versus kind of who. And that was taking a little longer than I wanted. I wanna get one in kind of quick.

And basically we just kind of, we talked and, you know, I got released and, you know, for me going forward, like I said, I would like to do one more MMA fight. We have some potential offers on the table. And so we're kind of collecting all those and kind of seeing what route I want to go. Can I ask you about those offers? Can you tell us more about any of the intriguing ones?

I mean, we've been talking with Risen a little bit and I have a couple kind of grappling offers, which would be more, you know, just on the fun side. You know, Risen's kind of intriguing, you know, with that movie being filmed and about, you know, Pride and Cytotown Super Arena, all that kind of stuff with it. Movie coming out in the fall.

It'd be a cool little segue to go in potentially fighting Japan after that, you know, and that's for me, just thinking about that. I had interest in it. It sounds fun. I want to go in there, you know, and I've always liked to fight in, in, you know, different arenas, different organizations, you know, coming over to Bellator was fun, doing the heavyweight Grand Prix was fun. And so this isn't just a normal fight to me,

it's something that I would wanna do. I love that. Do you have a dream opponent in mind if it were there? You know, they're doing a heavyweight tournament, so potentially somebody in there or maybe a winner, we gotta talk and get the money right, financials right and all that kind of stuff before we explored anymore. But that's definitely intriguing. And like I said, some, some cool grappling stuff and, you know, I'd be even open to some, some boxing, just something

different. I've been in this sport for so long, you know, and it did, it gets monotonous a little bit. And I just kind of in a different mind frame from, okay, I'm going in there, I'm chasing this title, I'm winning this title, I'm keeping this title. You know, like I said, 41 years old, it was kind of time for me to step back and be like, okay, you know, I want to do something that I want to do. I want to go into this fight, say, hey, it might be my last one. This is a fun deal. I'm excited about it.

It's something new. You mentioned the movie, the movie, the smashing machine on the life of Mark Currie. You play the role of Mark Coleman, the legendary Mark Coleman, the hammer. Is that all done filming? Are you all wrapped up? Yeah, we got done with last August. It was a good time. You know,

obviously I don't come from that world at all. I got a text message from the director. All he said was, Hey, it's Benny. I have a question about this MMA film. And I had no ideas. Movie business or whatever. I blew him off for like three weeks. And then finally we get, he's like, Hey, really? They talked to you. Then he, he told me who he was and whatnot. So we did a zoom audition and didn't hear anything after that for like another two weeks figured, didn't get it. And then got a text was like, Hey, see you in Vancouver in three weeks. So we filmed over the summer. It was a lot of fun. Obviously the, the fighting, the MMA part is in my wheelhouse, but you know, the, never done it before.

But had a good time, thought I did pretty good. And so we'll see what happens with that too. There could be some opportunities that stem off that. Was that ever a thing you wanted to do or this completely came out of left field? It was out of the blue, honestly. And it was at perfect timing. Like I said, I've been fighting for so long.

I wanted to do, explore different options. And that's kind of what led to me parting ways with the PFL too. It just came about randomly. And I kind of felt the same things I feel when I walk into a fight, right? It's kind of an unknown, I've never done it before. It's scary. You have nerves, you know, and it was new.

So it was fun feeling that, you know, outside of the fighting world. Did you have to memorize a lot of lines? Yeah, we had a good amount of dialogue. You know, how was that? You know, based on obviously the documentary smash machine and it follows that pretty well, you know, and so if you watch that you kind of see where Coleman comes in and out, you know, we could use our own words, you know, if we have the gist of the scene. So that was a little easier.

But yeah, it was a whole new process for me to learn, you know, we're in there. I mean, 13 hour days a lot of times, you know, Monday through Saturday, and it was a grind, but I think we made something special. What was it like being on set with The Rock Dwayne Johnson? Yeah, I mean, he's a hard worker, obviously, you know, he's outside of on set, you know, he's in gym, he was super good to me, you know, we'd,'d talk a lot, you know, coming on set and they have to set up and whatnot.

So around each other a lot. And he was really interested in the sport of MMA, asking questions, interested in my thoughts and everybody else is there, you know, stunt guys and everything. So yeah, it was awesome. And I think he's gonna do it justice. Just curious, did you speak to Mark about playing him? Did you have any interactions with him?

Yeah, I did. You know, we we spoke on the phone and then I actually got producers to fly markup Coleman up for about a day and a half so we can come on set and kind of you know Watch some scenes and see how it all plays out Is that is that is that like a different level of pressure to be playing the guy and he's watching you and you want to do his role, his life justice? Yeah, it was kind of weird because he came on and we were doing a scene, kind of like the weigh-ins and stuff and he was right there watching, you know?

And so, you know, talking to the director and everything, I was like, hey, do you want me to try to mimic his voice or whatnot? And he was like, hey, you just do you, you know, what I saw in that audition on zoom is perfect and kind of run with it, you know, cause directors don't want a bunch of the real guys, you know, and trying to change things and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, I think we all did well. Um, you know, the rock played a good Mark Kerr. He had his, you know, his mannerisms down his walk and, um, the fight scenes are, you know, his mannerisms down his walk. And the fight scenes are,

you know, are pretty true to form. So if you watch the fight scenes in the movie, you know, they're spliced up a little bit, but they're, it's actually what happened in the, in the real fight. Oh, wow. Were there other MMA fighters involved as well? I mean, we had boss Rootin playing himself and we had Usyk. Oh, wow. Yes. and Igor. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, so that was pretty cool and he's good guy and got to kind of mess around with him in the in you know The meantime we're all waiting around Wow Yeah, and then we had a lot of like lower-level guys in there as a stunt guys

You know if they look like an opponent or whatnot, so that was pretty cool cuz I can go in there And I'm like, hey, let's make this look as real as possible. You know, I can give you a little bit, you know, you know, because usually it's big. No, no, you can't touch, you know, other people in there in the fight scenes. But there's a couple of times we're actually going at it pretty good. Did you get a chance to lift with the rock? No, I looked with his stunt double. Oh, why? And yeah, both big dudes. But yeah, I lived with his stunt double, Taddewye, and yeah, both big dudes. But yeah, I mean, Rock, he's big.

I'm a big guy. Yeah. You know, you walk in there and yeah, DJ, I mean, he's just jacked. He's big, he's tall. And you know, obviously Kurt was too at that time and he plays it really well. When he first walked in, the first, we do a little camera test, he walked in the rock with hair, all that kind of stuff,

a fake cauliflower hair, I didn't recognize him, he looks pretty good. Oh wow, and have they announced the release date for that yet? It's gonna be this fall. Okay, and will it be in theaters? It'll be, yeah, theaters and IMAX. Amazing, amazing. So that's very exciting.

And I think the Ryzen thing makes total sense playing off of that, going back to Japan. Did they reach out to you guys, or did you reach out to them? Did you come up with this idea? I believe they reached out to my manager, yeah. Brilliant, brilliant, I love that. And brought that across our desk,

kinda told us about it, and definitely interested, and we'll see if we come to terms. We've seen some guys go over to bare knuckle these days. Are you interested in that at all? I mean, it'd have to be a lot of money to do that. It's intriguing and all that, but yeah, I mean, it'd have to be a ton of money to go in there. I love to compete in whatever it is.

Like I was saying of his grappling boxing, you know, bare knuckles, a little lower on the list, but you know, if they make you an offer, you can't refuse. You know, why not? You were one of those guys several years ago, you were on a winning streak in the UFC. You were doing well and got a big time offer from Bellator and, uh, and it seemed to have worked out great for you in your career, but we're starting to see a situation where there are less options right now for fighters. Like there's PFL but then that's it and PFL buying up Bellator obviously eliminated one of those options.

What is your take on the state of MMA right now, especially in this country? Do you think it's in a health, obviously the UFC is thriving and making a lot of money, but what about the rest? Yeah, we were just talking about that. Obviously the UFC is thriving and making a lot of money, but what about the rest? Yeah, we were just talking about that. I feel like when I left the UFC and signed with Bellator, there was definitely more options. You had Bellator, PFL, one, go down the line.

And now, yeah, you really have PFL. You have, I don't know much about one, and then potentially have some newer promotions coming up, you know, like the GFL, but it's kind of a scary deal because they're not really proven. They haven't had cards yet. You know, when I see a card, um, you know, happen, yeah, different story, you know, but, um, that's one of the deals where we're like, and not talking shit about them at all or anything like that, because I don't know, just hearsay, but it's like, okay, is it really gonna happen?

Are they paying these guys what the fighters are saying? It's intriguing, and if you can get in there and get a fat purse, and if they go under in two or three fights, then you got paid. But just one of those deals where, I gotta see them do an event first. Have you talked to them at all or your management? Yeah, we talked to them a little bit.

You know, they obviously did their draft and have teams. So you'd have to kind of come in as an alternate. So some other, the other options seem more intriguing, but you know, kind of same deal. Just how you'd like to bare knuckle, you know, if you come and it makes financial sense, you know, it doesn't really matter what I'm competing in, you know, kind of same deal, just like the bare knuckle, you know, if you come and it makes financial sense, you know, it doesn't really matter what I'm competing in. You know, at the end of the day,

there's times and yeah, I wanted to be a champion, I wanted to, you know, to compete and whatnot, but I've been through all that. So now it has to make financial sense. And I'm always gonna wanna compete, so I have to be smart about it too. This is part of the reason why I think their format doesn't necessarily work,

because if you wanna, a fighter gets out of a contract, stuff like that, like all of a sudden you're locked in because you have this team format. You know, I understand what they're trying to do, but I feel like fighting should just be, let's put on the best cards possible and not shoehorn ourselves into these types of things where we're trying to make the fight league

like basketball or baseball or football, you know, stand. I agree, you know, but they want to kind of, they want to be different, you know, and stand out. And there's only, yeah, so many ways you can do that in this fight game, you know. Yeah, that was one of my concerns too, you know, okay. Well, I was getting, talking about potentially maybe getting a release right when they were doing that draft, so I'm like, well, I guess that concerns too, you know, okay. Well I was getting, talking about potentially maybe getting a release right when they were doing

that draft, so I'm like, well I guess that's out. You know? So they, I mean they might run a few, you know, do a year of that, you know, and then be like, all right, we're established now, let's just put on the best fights. You know, because I think that gets a little too complicated. Yes.

By the way, I saw you on the softball field recently with your old teammate, Aaron Simpson. I believe you said it's been 25 years since you played? Oh yeah. How'd that go? Yeah, when I was a kid, probably more. Yeah. That was fun though.

You know, get a couple of the old wrestlers back, some football players and all that kind of stuff. And yeah, we hit a couple of home runs. I mean, the fences weren't too far far about a hundred yards, but you know, I have my kids there and everything. And the first time that I totally with, you know, the first pitch and I'm like, Oh, I can't strike out and slow pitch softball from my kids. But then I hit a little Homer after that. Yeah. Aaron's doing good too. Is he, is he still coaching, training?

Yeah, he trains a little bit, you know, call it like kind of the old man training. They got a basement in Scottsdale, a bunch of like retired fighters, the football players gonna get together, get after it. And yeah, I think he helps him coaching here and there, but he's not really in the mix of, you know, competitively coaching. Obviously when we think of Arizona State Wrestling, we think of Kane. Have you been following his story?

Yeah, you know I saw Kane Right when he got released from prison, you know after he did his nine months, you know, I saw him at Fort Brad we're doing a little shooting competition and charity event and he was in good spirits, you know and He said he was in good spirits, you know, and, um, he said he was in there, you know, he had to, he gets some books on an iPad and he did a lot of reading and, and, you know, thinking and whatnot. And, you know, we see this, okay, yeah, he got five years, which is terrible whatnot, but reality, he has three served, you know, he might do a year, a little over a year. So honestly, I think that was kind of the best case scenario

because I didn't think they were gonna give him nothing or time served. And so, you know, he'll go in there, keep his head down, you know, and even the way he approached this one, you know, taking full ownership of it, you know, it's terrible what happened, but you know, he'll be in there now before we know it. Yeah, it seems like everyone is backing him

and every parent out there understands what was going through his mind to a certain degree and sympathizes with him and his family. So it's nice to see the community get behind him. So in conclusion for you, is it fair to say you're just looking for one more? That's it, you want the right scenario, the right setting, you wanna go out on your terms.

You're not looking for any long-term deals or anything like that. You want one last dance, the right setting. You wanna go out on your terms. You're not looking for any long-term deals or anything like that. You want one last dance, if you will. Yeah, I mean, I've never kind of pigeoned myself. That's why I never come out and say, hey, I'm retired, you know? Because if an opportunity comes along, like, I feel great. I feel just as good as a, you know, 41 as I did at 30,

you know, but there's a time to kind of move on. And, you know, for me, I'm not going to go in and sign a six fight deal with somebody. You know, I'm not even saying it's one, it might be, Hey, fight two more times, you know, but I don't want to put a definitive deal on that, you know, so right now it's pretty new. We're a free agent. We're looking at different offers. And for me, I want to approach this like what is the most fun? Lowest stress kind of like I'm gonna go in there with a great, you know frame of mind and go out there and have fun

And maybe go out on my own terms, you know regardless walking into something where saying like hey This could be my last one and I I haven't had that. Like I said, last fight, you know, it was, oh, I had one more. I had one more on my contract, you know? So I definitely want to get one in. Is there a guy, you've had a very long and illustrious career, a guy that escaped you, that you never got a chance to fight,

that you wish you would have had a chance to? Man, I don't know. I mean, DC is probably one of them. Yeah. You know, whether that's, I mean, DC is probably one of them. Yeah. You know, whether that's, I mean, we can do a little boxing match or whatever would be fun, you know? But there's no guy, you know,

I fought everybody in this game. And so it was never one where I was thinking about like, oh man, I wish I had it. You know, I wish I fought Shogun when I was at 205 at UFC. I was a big fan of his, you know? Obviously, Fador is one of them and I got to do it twice, you know? But yeah, I mean, big fan of his, you know. Obviously, Fador was one of them, and I got to do it twice, you know. But yeah, I mean, maybe him and something. But other than that, just kinda look at the options

and be like, all right, yep, that looks like fun, let's go do it. You versus DC, I'll never forget that press conference. And you guys, you had a date, right? You were supposed to fight in New Orleans, were you not? Yeah, exactly, yeah. We went over there to promote and everything,

and then, yeah, he got called up to fight for the title. Right. I always wondered if you were really upset when you stormed the press conference. Were you just trying to sell the fight, or were you actually really offended or bothered by him? There might be a little selling right there. Yeah. Between us both.

I want the easiest guy in the division. I was like, okay, maybe he crossed the line with that and maybe he really got pissed off. Yeah, if we had a little gentleman's agreement, you don't have to go that far. I could get a mic and I didn't have anything. Great times, great times. Well, looking forward to seeing what you do next

and looking forward to that film as well. Can't wait for that. Maybe the greatest MMA documentary of all time. I don't think that's a hot take, so I can't wait to see what you guys do. Thank you for the time, Ryan. Great to talk to you and all the best. You too, appreciate it, buddy. All right, there he is, the great Ryan Darth Bader.

Who remembers that? I believe it was after the, was it after the Anthony Johnson fight, I think it was. Yeah, I think it was. MGM Grand DC press conference. I want the easiest guy in the division. I said, give me Ryan Bader. I want the easiest guy in the division to the division I say give me Ryan Bader give me I think DC was shooting and I'm not sure cuz Ryan's such a mild mannered nice guy

I don't know if he was you know Taking it as personally as seriously, but it's one of the great press conference moments moments like that We don't get anymore because they do these these one-offs for For a minute there, I thought the one-offs were good because each guy has his own moment to shine, but we really did get some great moments up there. By the way, I mean, there's nothing stopping somebody from walking in on an individual. It's not the same.

It's not the same. See, now you're just doing like back in my day. It's not the same. Yo, we had some great ones when it was all the winners up there together with you I'm not our PT's Twitter banner is is is McGregor Patty Hulahan khal pandra Norman Park all sitting up there together I'll be longer sleeping it's all good I love it great moments but you can still have the Ryan Bader DC

moment if somebody walks in on an individual press conference I stand by crashing the press conference Dana Black stand by it. It's just not the same. It's not the same. Crashing the press conference. Dana Black, Anderson Silva. Oh, the Dana Black. Connor, Connor holding court up there after beating, beating out. Connor can still hold court by himself. He was by himself.

It's not the same buzz. He went before everybody else. You want the promoter standing next to you. Dana says something, he responds to it. Hey Dana, give me this guy next. Like you don't have that. The magic's not there. I Don't disagree guy in the division. That was a great moment. It was a great move I look at that time who's messing with DC DC was the man and he was the man back then

It's if people don't remember for my money Me is it possible DC was the second best ever behind John Jones? That he just, he was better than everybody, but he just wasn't better than John Jones? Oh, of course, they fought twice. I mean, one time. I'm saying though, is he second?

Is it possible? On the gear, as they say. Supposedly, allegedly, allegedly. Allegedly! Well, he tested positive, did he not? Hey, by the way, a bit of a controversial thing popping up regarding Jack Della Maddalena, of course, won half of the main event UFC 315 on the 10th of May. Apparently, there was some sort of like GoFundMe or something set up to raise funds for members

of his team to come over from Perth to Montreal to corner him. Have you guys seen this? Anyone see this? Anyone at all? I didn't see it but then I saw the response from I think it was Bilal to Jack Della's comment when he said just when I was gonna donate to your fundraiser so your coaches can come enjoy your spirit airlines. Okay wow Bilal flexing the champ. Anyway my my understanding, because I looked into it, because I was like, that's kind of weird. I mean, the guy is headlining, and obviously he was supposed to fight Leon Edwards,

and all that went down. Apparently it was just some sort of paid appearance, and the sponsor putting it on was trying to do a good thing for Jack. He never asked for it. He didn't need it. He didn't want it. This is according to his team,

the appearance has been canceled, he's not asking anyone for any money, any funds, any charity or anything like that and again, according to his team, he's all well and good, sorted, everyone's coming over who needs to come over, all the team members, there's no need for any charity, any donations, anything like that. And I can understand why this would bother Jack if it's not needed and not true.

A, because it gives ammunition to his opponent, and B, it does look a little funky, right? I mean, he is the number one contender fighting for the belt, and he's asking for donations. It might be something that you see in a smaller organization, but you don't expect that sort of thing when you're fighting for a belt and he's asking for donations. It might be something that you see in a smaller organization but you don't expect that sort of thing when you're fighting for a UFC title. So I wanted to see what was up. Like are you guys really looking for donations? They cleared the air, they told me it's been canceled and they told me that it was never something that

they asked. Apparently this sponsor just tried to do it to help out out of the kindness of their heart, and it sort of went to rye. So, there you have it. In a matter of moments, we are going to hopefully be joined by Joel Romero. It's been a while since we spoke to Joel Romero, And of course, who could forget he is a part of one of the greatest interview moments of the last decade. We remember this one. In fact, just a couple days before the last event that I ever attended, it was a Yoel Romero against at Desonia in March of 2020. You all is talking to the great Phil Murphy, Big Guns Phil of ESPN fame, still there, still doing his thing. And we all remember what happened, right?

Shall we watch it just to mentally prepare us for this great opportunity to speak to Joel. And it is Joel, by the way. Okay, here it is Joel by the way okay here it is he beat him one time oh my gosh it's all it I feel like the clip needs to be longer next time we play I mean for him it's great but like he sets it up with Muhammad and do we have a longer version of it? Oh, okay. Well, let's play it again. I wanna play, can we play one more time

just so I can digest it? Yeah, yeah, here it is. Shorty man. Yeah. Dirty boxing. He beat him one time. Yeah, he's talking about Muhammad Ali. He was the shorter man and he did the dirty boxing.

And now, Yo Romero is the face of dirty boxing. He just won a couple weekends ago. Got a great knockout, killing it over there. His second win under the dirty boxing umbrella. He's an ageless, a timeless wonder. Unbelievably, they say he's 47. He looks 34. He looks fantastic.

He's flipping over the ropes, knocking people out, looking like an absolute Greek God out there. He's the great Joel Romero, the soldier of God himself. Always great to talk to him. Hey, my friend, Joel, how are you, my friend? Como estas? Hey, Ariel, hey, you speak Spanish. Of course, my friend, mas o menos, en poquito, en friend. More or less. A little bit.

A little bit. Oh, but very great. I like to dance. I like to sing. Hey, but you've learned a lot. Man, you lost me there. You lost me there. How are you?

No, no, no. Really, really, really, man. Yeah, yeah, you learn a lot. Where are you right now? Are you in a bunk bed? Yeah, I, you learn a lot. Where are you right now? Are you in a bunk bed? Yeah, I stay in the, I love this place. I love this place.

This is the room for my kids. It's a very quiet, a little dark, not too much light. I put the light on because I know I have a meeting with you. But I love this place and this and the house that does have the most of the, the most choir plays. And now I, I, I rest because I need to go training three o'clock. I make a wrestling training session today.

And now I, I stay very quiet. You know, I need to rest for go to the, for the, for the session for the training wrestling session. Yeah. I love it. Man, you don't stop training, huh? You still do two a days? Now I am. I'm training only two times in a day, two sessions.

One day, two sessions. One day, one session. Not three years ago. Now it's only one and two, one and two. Today is two. Okay, okay. And what are you training for? Okay, okay. And what are you training for?

Today, I'm training wrestling, that's the first session. And the nine, like a nine, nine, 30, I make a little boxer, but it's only technique. Okay. Not too hard. Now is the most hard session training. I make it a little boxer, but it's only technique. Not too hard. Now it's the most hard session training for today. But what I'm thinking, UL, is you're 47, right?

Supposedly, 47, they say? No, in two days, 48. Golly, you look like you're 34. You look fantastic. Thank you, bro. It's unbelievable. And so why do you still do this? What else do you have to prove?

Hefty life. That's the most important. And I think in the second, God give me blessed anatomy. That's what I think. Yes. How do you feel physically? Amazing. Amazing.

Amazing, amazing. No injury, no, no elbow pain, nothing. No other pain in the knee and the elbow, nothing. My shoulder, no, no, I don't have a pain in the knee and the elbow, nothing. My shoulder, no, I don't have a pain. Training, I training very smart. I training smart, not too much crazy. Like maybe 20 years ago. So what's been the secret?

Is it because you're training smart now to remain healthy, to remain active? Is that the secret to your longevity? I think it's God. God? I think it's God. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no heavily life in the sport, you know. But I think it's God, because when I have the injury in my neck, the doctor say, you career is done. And thank God I'm still training, I'm still computer, I'm still can move my body, you know, and I'm still work because many people broken the same because I broken the C4.

Yeah. the same, because I broken the C4. It's a very, very danger. Completely, completely, completely broken. Wow. Yeah, completely, completely. And the doctor say, thank God you still, you know, die. Do you think you didn't die because your neck was so strong, because you were so fit?

I think it's God. And the second, my trapeze. How you saying in English? Your traps. My trap is very big. Yeah. Big, big, big, big. And see, my neck is not down, you know

But I think the thing is God the first is God God saying and now that's what I think is I think that's a now you need to see what I do In your life is no you not you, it's me. Everything is about me, it's not about you. You are human. You are normal human. I am the God. I am the really power.

That's what I think of God telling me when that's happen. By the way, speaking of which, I saw when you walked out in your fight dirty boxing you were wearing a t-shirt That said God's name in Hebrew Yes, I let you know I speak Hebrew myself. So I was able Yes, remember remember doesn't know the first time what I told to you. Yes, yes, yes. So why did you wear that? Because I love, I love the God for the Israel. I believe in Yahweh, I believe in Yeshua. I believe in the God Abraham. I believe in the God Isaac. I believe in the God Isaac.

I believe in the God Jacob, yes. Amazing. Have you ever been there to Israel? I never, I never, I never stay in Israel. You gotta go. I stay, no, I wanna go, I wanna go one day. That would be amazing. They'd love you there.

I stay very close. I stay in... Jordan. Jordan. I stay in Jordan. I saw you baptized Mike Perry. Yes. Yes. This is you.

Yes, yes, yes, true. Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. What was that like? Amazing. Amazing.

That is amazing time. Look at this, yeah! My crazy brother. I love that guy. You went to the Dead Sea? Yes. I stayed, no, no, no. I stay in many place.

I stay, and I go Jordan like three time or two time. I don't remember. Yes, that's the first time where I stay in Jordan. But I love Jordan. I love the people. I love, I have a very good friend in Jordan. And I say I want to back again. And the people say, no, when you want it, you can come in.

And I go again. And the second time when I say Jordan is amazing, I say Mount for Nebo. OK. Nebo was when Moses died. Oh, wow. Yes, Moses died. When Moses dead, oh wow when Yes Moses that I stay in many place

It's amazing. It's amazing. I said the people the people need to go to the for the Israel Jordan and I just because this Area is very rich in the history. Of course, yes. It's the oldest region. You were so close to Israel. You were right there, right next door. You should have went. Yeah, the next time I go. Okay, okay.

I'll tell you all the spots. I'll tell you the tips. Okay, okay. Okay. By the way, Yoel, Dirty Boxing, two and oh now for you in there. What do you think of it? You like it?

It's amazing. It's amazing because I said, yeah. Look at you, look at you. This is unbelievable, you killed that man. Yeah, bro. I feel bad. After this, I feel bad because, yeah. He not recovered.

He needed the- Oxygen? Oxygen, yeah. Oh gosh. But believe me, I want a little play. I don't want to kill that guy, believe me. Yeah, yeah, no, I understand. I want to play because I want to feel it.

I make it boxing. Yeah. Because that's my dream. My dream, I want to make boxing a boxer. Yeah. So that's my dream. My dream, I want to make boxer. Here you are. In the future, I want to make a one five or two five and the really boxer. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So who's the dream? I want to do it. Well, you should do it. You're Cuban, Cuban boxer is legendary. You should do it. Yeah, I want to do bro. I feel that that's my dream. I want to do it the same same with my dad, my brother,

my cousin, you know. All my family make boxing, you know, and have a good history in the boxing for Cuba. My family has a very, very big name. Olympic champion, world champion, professional champion. You know, I wanna do, I wanna do. It's the only way. I wanna say my daddy, I do, because when I saw John, maybe five years, I wanna do it, and my father say, no, I want to do it. And my father say, no, you're not doing wrestling.

Because he say, he said, oh, thank you. Ah, so that's why you went into wrestling. Yeah, yeah, he say no boxing. I'm not a sport, but boxing, no, no go boxing. Wow. And my, there another brother what I have, more young than me, he do it. Why you say me? I think my dad don't want it because I am the first boys.

You know, I am the first boy in the family for him. You know? I said no, no, no, I don't want my boy making boxing. We're always tougher on the first one, and then as we go down, we become less and less tough, right, with the kids. How many kids do you have now? I have four.

Four, how many boys, how many girls? Three girls and one boy. It's always the wrestlers, they all have all the girls. You guys always have so many girls, the wrestlers. One girl is a wrestler. Yeah. Oh, yeah, how old yeah, she is a 15 years Wow and another one she's Gymnastic yeah. Yeah, she had all Eight years eight years. Yeah, she's two-time

eight years yeah she's two-time Florida champion the regional champion wow two times yeah it's amazing she's amazing and now the many many um people watch it and now look at it she's the most She's the most bad. Come here, mommy. Come here, look. Daddy is in an interview on TV. Yeah. What's her name? I don't know. What's her name?

Ana Mila. Ana Mila. Ana Mila Romero. Ana Mila. Yes. I changed my name. You changed your name? Ana Mila, how are you?

She said... She said, she changed the name. What's your name, Sao Alonso? Hey, Captain Moana. Captain Moana? That's your name now? She said, the name now is Captain Moana. Okay. He say the name now is Captain Moana. OK, Captain Moana, te gusta te gusta cantar?

Mommy, mommy, el te pregunta si te gusta cantar. Tito. No, no. Moana likes to cantar. She say she say she don't want to talk to you. Ah, gosh. She say I don't want to, I don't want to respond to him. Okay. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

But I mean, Ven aca, miren es un amigo de papá. Please. No. A mi no me gusta el de papá. No? Oh my goodness. Really?

Ana Mila, really? You're not going to talk to your dad's friend? Oh! Wow. He talks a lot about fists. He talks a lot about fists. He knows a lot about fists. I'm here with my, and now she touch. Okay, okay. I love it.

I love it. I love seeing you as a dad. It's beautiful. Do you think any of them will follow in your footsteps to become Wrestling Then Fighter? Do you want that for them? Ariel, you know, for me, I can support all where my kids do it, you know? But I know she wanted to make wrestling and boxing, taekwondo, whatever she want, I support. But I do sport for many years, you know?

Like maybe like 40 years. That's what I do. I make sport for 40 years you know and The secret for this is discipline is discipline you need it Conviction you do Do it. It's not like a so so 50%, no, no, no, no. It's 100%. You need to do 100%.

Everything what you do in your life, do it 100%. Not like a 15, 16%, no, no, no. Maybe you can beat it. No, you don't win. But the most important is not win or you lose it. The most important is you do it the most bad way you can. And that's what I taught to my kids.

So you say you do something, think it, come to your bed, you had here and to say in his funny this is our mother this is another another teacher for you thank you this I'm water I'm water I'm water I'm water pillow I'm water. I'm water pillow. Pillar. Yes. Put your head in the pillow and thinking about it, what you want. So you have a conviction. That's what you want. When you stand down, you put it, you feed and the, and, and, and,

and the mat. and And The mat Now you say that's what I want to do now is the hundred percent and they put it all myself and this commandment You know That's what I taught my kid She she she she training is only training like a practice Tennis tennis hmm And she learn about

No About the the the discipline They how you how much you can push yourself in the light. You need to push yourself in the light because when I see the light now, I think the light is so, so, so, easy. So easy. And when you compare it,

compare the life for this time, or the time for my father, for my grandfather, now the life is more easy, you know? Yeah. But life easy, the people is not stronger. Yes, they didn't struggle. Life easy, people not stronger. Right, right.

You have to struggle, yeah. Yeah, and now, you never know what happened maybe in 20 years. Is it the life is changed, it's the time is changed, it's a little more stronger, it's no more easy. We have

big problem because life is, is it hard? The life is changed, the life is hard, and the people is not stronger. We have a big problem. Because all the time life is easy, you know, more stronger. And then now the life is changed, the people, what can you do?

Mama and daddy is not here with me. Now I need, that's an example, no? Now we don't have no more water, we don't have no more electricity, we don't have no more car. Now I need to work many, many, many, many, the longest distance. Wow. I don't like it because I have Metro I have a train I have a car motorcycle oh where's my motorcycle I know I have a motorcycle now oh my goodness I need the world for 10 me as I have a wall for 10 meters. I have a wall for maybe 20 kilometers, 10 kilometers. It's not good. Oh my God, I don't want it.

Yes, you need it. You need to push yourself. Now you can help. How? How I can help my daughter? I can give my daughter I Can give something Sometimes it's on time saying you need to go and take You need to feel it you need to feel it

this This this this test when you need to go and take it something when you need to go and take something, when you need to go and fight for something, you need to test it. That is the most important in the life for your family. You need help. in the life for your family. You need help. And help is not all the time, give. Take it, take it, take it now.

Go. Go and take it. Because you never know what happen in your life in the future. You know what you're saying here is beautiful. So thank you very much. You're so wise. You have a lot of wisdom.

It reminds me of one of my favorite moments involving you, one of my favorite moments, one of my favorite interviews of all time. I didn't do it, you did it with ESPN. You know which one I'm talking about? I think, I think is that, when I fight Alessandra. Yes, this one.

Take a look, let's watch it together. Let's watch it together, I wanna ask you about it. Let's watch it, here it is. Shorty man, D.D. Boxer, he beat him one time. Everything is possible in your life when you believe. When you believe, everything is possible. You have a tool, hands.

Amen. Everything is possible. Go. Go. And take it whatever way you want to to be. Legendary, intense. Yeah. Wisdom. What a great moment, right?

Yeah, because this is not, is not, this is my soul speak. This is my soul speak. In this moment my soul talk. Because I talk about everything what I do in my life for this moment. For everything what I it in my life. Many people know my history, my real history, where I very young, like 12 years young, I make a decision. I wanna make something different in my life.

I wanna do it. Um, I Want to do my dream I Want to believe in my what I think in what I feel in my soul. I say, okay, that's what you want. You believe that you can and now go. You need to go for this, for this dream. You need to fight. You need to fight.

Go, you are going and fight for your dream. And this moment, what I talking, that's what I, Go, you are going and fight for your dream. In this moment, what I took in that, I remember, I remember in this moment, everything what I need to do in my life, you know. I don't know in English, but I want to speak in Spanish a little bit. You can speak in Spanish. We have a translator. She'll translate for you. Beautiful. You go with that, Andy?

Thank you. Okay, she's going to translate. Our director, she'll translate. You say it in Spanish, in little parts. Thank you so much, Adria. You have to fight. In that moment where I was speaking, it was my soul speaking. The best things to come out of an interview is not what you have written down on a script. It's what comes out of your soul. What you've had to fight for. is what comes out of your soul. What you've had to fight for.

And that's what I transmitted to the world. No matter your situation. If you believe and you know what you're willing to do, go and do it. You're already a winner. Already a winner. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you, you all. Love it. I love the passion and thank you to Andy. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. Amazing. Can I ask you, what would be your message to Israel, to Israel Desenia? He's now going through a bit of a rough time. You fought with him. You spoke of that before

his fight. Now, what's the message to him? The advice? After the fight or now? Now, now, you know, he lost his last fight and some people are saying, oh, he's finished. He's too old. He's this, that he's not too old, right? No, I need to translate it because I need a translator because you're what I wanted from the heart I'm here I'm here yes okay gracias no creo que haya terminado su carrette he doesn't think his career is over just think on ground respect to put it right he has a lot of respect for Israel. He's a fantastic fighter.

He's very smart. But he's possibly fighting his hardest fight right now. And it's with his ego. But he's possibly fighting his hardest fight right now. And it's with his ego. His ego is blinding his intelligence. And that's why it's his toughest fight. And what I would tell him right now, I hope he can see this.

And I'm giving him this advice as if I was giving it to myself. Tomando así el segundo mandamiento de nuestro, de nuestro Yeshua. Taking the second commandment of Yeshua. Ama a tu próximo como a ti mismo. Love others like you love yourself. Oh, what? We just lost him. What the? Why did it turn into like the matrix there? What happened there with the screen?

It's a production thing. Oh my gosh. Video returns. Yo, first of all, W Andy, W Andy. I mean, W's in the chat for Andy. I mean, that was incredible. W,, W W W W, oh my gosh. That's not easy by the way. But he's good when it comes to that stuff, right? Because he'll talk in like little short bursts.

There it helps a lot. But I can't believe that just happened while he was talking like that. It went, did his phone die or something? What happened? I'm not sure, but we're working on getting him back. Wow. What the, did his phone die or something? What happened? I'm not sure, but we're working on getting him back. Wow. Well, we don't need a Fabiano.

You've been bumped. More Andy Condit, W. Andy, Andy is a dog. More Andy, we love Andy in this chat. Look at that, Andy. You've got a whole- Thanks for the love, guys. Yeah, you've got a whole freaking fan base here. Yeah, it was like the Shadow Realm.

It was like... What a guy. I mean, Yoel's just... What a great character. What a spirit. Crazy timing for this to... Like, the call to die. Oh, yeah.

Dropping bombs and troops. No, listen, it almost makes it better in that moment. I wonder if his phone died. I've never seen Zoom die like that. I guess it's just because we're doing it in this particular way, but way cooler than a regular Zoom chat dying. It just kept going,

doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. But he is such a unique character, speaking from the heart, turning 48 in two days, I believe he said. Yo, Romero. The timeless one, yeah. Oh, April 30th, oh, my son's birthday. So 28 days.

His last fight, by the way, was in February of 24, when he beat Thiago Santos, so not that long ago. What a legend. 16-7 in MMA, but of course, a illustrious wrestling career as well. You all, we have you? Yes, I'm here. Oh yeah, sorry about that.

I don't know what happened. No, no, no, I'm so sorry. It's my fault somebody called me. Ah, okay, no problem, no problem. Yeah, but I'm still that. I don't know what happened. No, no, no, I'm sorry. It's my fault somebody called me. Ah, okay. No problem. No problem. Yeah, but I'm still here. I'm still here. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, I think that what I was attached to was the second commandment of our Lord Yeshua. Love your neighbor as yourself. Yeah, he's saying that he left off saying, love others like you love yourself. And so the advice I'm giving him is as if it were for myself.

And he's giving out that advice like he's giving it to himself. And he's giving out that advice like he's giving it to himself. Take time to recover. Try not to do strong sparring where you can have blows. And try not to waste so much body. What you need time to recover your body. His body is like wasted a little bit. He needs to just recover his body, get it back. He's had some strong hits. And that has diminished his neurons. When that happens, when they start to lose their strength, then the body weakens.

That brings a lot of insecurity in yourself. And that's his biggest fight right now. It's with his own ego and it's making him be blind to his intelligence. that not only do you think, because now you're fighting, that you have to come back, you have to come back, you have to prove something. And that's the mistake. Talk to Danan, talk to UFC, give them time to come back and be Israel again. They're still there.

Talk to Dana, ask for a little bit of time so that you can get the real Israel back. He's still in there. Live a healthy lifestyle. He's just giving him advice. He doesn't know his personal life. Sure, sure. No alcohol, no smoking. Live a healthy lifestyle, eat as healthy as you can. Be surrounded by healthy people. People who are not talking about sports. To talk to you about the ocean, the sea, history, things that will fill your body, your soul.

Nothing that has to do with contact sports. No sport that is coming close to what you do. If you're going to watch movies, nothing related to war. All the contrary. Let it fill you with passion and love. That's going to make your intelligence, your mind, open up again. Just like how the skies open up when the rain's going to come down. And then the sun comes out, clouds go away. That's his opinion. And when he comes back and you know, he says says talk to Dana and the UFC hopefully they'll

give you time to rest because you really deserve it. You've done an amazing job. We're going to have the real Adesanya back. Yes, to that same Japanese doll warrior you like to see. That same warrior of the anime. I love it. I love it. Great advice. You're such a good guy, Joel. And I'm so happy to see you thriving and being successful and continuing to fight. And you still have a lot more fight left in you. Boxing, MMA, you're with GFL, you're with Dirty Box.

It's coming out with Musashi. Musashi. Unbelievable. So we will talk to you're with Dirty Box. Yeah, GFL is coming out, it's with Musasi. Musasi, unbelievable. So we will talk to you before that one as well. It's a pleasure to speak to you and a pleasure to catch up with you. Keep doing your thing, my friend. Thank you so much.

All the time is the pleasure talk to you, my brother. Same here. Thank you for the translator. Andy, legend. Andy, amazing, amazing work. Muchas gracias. Amazing. Gracias, un placer. Thank you Yoel. Dios los bendiga. Shalom. Shalom my friend. Shalom. All the best. There he is. The great Yoel Romero. The timeless, the ageless one. What a legend! And great job Andy, great job. Yeah! That ain't easy, that ain't easy. Golly, that ain't easy.

So good, so concise. I actually understand Spanish. You got everything right. I knew it, I was trying to see. I knew the whole thing. This was a test? No, I had no idea. I'm just kidding.

Some words, entre vista, this and that. She's directing the show while translating Joel Romero. W, W, W Andy, W Andy. All right, let's move along now. We've got Bret Hart coming up at three o'clock, but we wanted to talk to our old friend, Jessica I. We haven't talked to her in quite some time, and she has some news to share for all of us.

So without further ado, we go back to the monitor and say hello to Jessica Evil Eye, the pride of Ohio. Hello, Jessica, how are you? Long time. I know, Ariel, long time. How are you? I'm doing great. How about yourself?

Honestly, I'm really, really good. You know, my time away from the UFC and my time away from fighting has really been good for me. What have you been doing? Gosh, well, there's been a lot. So we won't unpack all of it. Okay.

A lot of it was, you know, really's been a lot so we won't unpack all of it Okay A lot of it was you know Really dealing with a lot of physical health that I had went through that I think a lot of people didn't understand like what I Was going through towards the end of my fight career I think a lot of people like kind of got confusing like the times when I'd started missing weight and started having all these problems I don't know if you knew this or even saw it, but I ended up contracting a parasite. Oh, I did know that. You ever seen, you ever heard that show, The Monster Inside Me?

Yes. Yeah, legitimately, Ariel, there was a monster inside me. Like there was a worm about that long. What? Yes, yes, yes. I passed that worm about five weeks before I had my retirement fight with the USC, which was back in 2022.

And on, you know, after that happened, you know, in all reality, I wasn't ready to retire, but my body was just so exhausted. I mean, I went through so many health issues that, you know, only the USC really knew about, you know, they, my gallbladder removal, getting sepsis, getting E. coli, you know, and having all these struggles that, you know, only the UFC really knew about, you know, they, like gallbladder removal, getting sepsis, getting E. coli, you know, and having all these struggles that, you know, right before I had my retirement fight,

we finally found it, this, I met this lady named Kylene that works out of Cleveland that did all of these special tests on me to find out that I had had a parasite that had been living in me for roughly about seven years. Geez, how does that happen? How does that develop within you? Well, I mean, I think we're starting to see more information out about nutrition and understanding.

I mean, we saw Dana make a huge transformation with his body by good nutrition, the correct testing. So for me, it was finding the right people that believed the symptoms I was going through. So gosh, I mean, I fought with a world title with a parasite in my gut, you know, and nobody believed me at times when I struggled those two times to make weight or three times to make weight that I kept saying like, things aren't right. I don't feel good.

Why am I gaining weight all the time? Why am I losing weight? Why do I just feel like I'm kind of crazy in the head too? That I found a really amazing doctor named Kyleen Bogdan out of Cleveland, Ohio that believed in me. And we did this special test and we found the parasite. And what does that feel like when that's in you? Like what kind of symptoms are you dealing with?

I mean, so many things. So like, it's so funny, even down to like, I feel like I look at pictures of myself and I just realized that it was so inflamed because of nutrition, because of what it was doing to me. So overall body inflammation, injuries, I mean, like anxiety, issues with memory, issues with cognitive thinking, you know, it would mess,

it's a parasite, it literally attaches to your body and It sucks your nutrients. So it was slowly doing that I mean to the point that I felt like I was almost dying You know it It kind of all comes full circle, right? You know, so I took that time off and I'm proud to announce Oh, here we go. Here we go I'm super excited after. Oh, here we go. Here we go. As I said, I'm super excited. After a long time of negotiation, I am signing with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.

Wow. That's our breaking news music. Okay. Why are you doing this? Oh, you know, because first of all, I think that we all can contest in my fight style, right? I started out boxing. Steve Bay and I both did, right? We both came from strong style. You know, we both started out our career with boxing first. Our coaches had us two boxing matches and I think that showed throughout our whole career, right? We had solid striking

abilities. So, you know, after I retired and spent some time working on my mental health, working on my physical body, I was just like, I know I'm not done. And the fact that Jake Paul, and just the way that boxing has been going and watching Bear Knuckle just, you know, take a completely new lane, you know, why not? You know, I'm so young, I still have all the ability and need to be able to fight

and they need some good strikers over there. You know, some of us good MMA girls need to come over and show them, you know, how tough we are. I love it. So is this, because you hadn't fought since 2022, did they reach out to you? You reach out to them? How did the ball get rolling here?

You know, it's kind of crazy. They reached out to me and they reached out to me right after I had reached out and you know, I was really just, I needed a break. You know, I feel like I started fighting when I was 19. You know, it had been nonstop for me that I didn't even know who I really was. That me stepping away allowed me to spend more time

figuring out who I was. I mean, Yolo was just saying it, right? He was just talking about how you need to sometimes get away from the industry. You need to step away and reset your mind so that you can be that warrior. Be that person we were when we first started fighting who was fierce and could go in there

and put on a beautiful performance. So they had reached out to me. I'm actually, I live in Florida now. I absolutely needed to get away from, you know, Cleveland and the the lack of sunshine. Love my I will always love strong. So I love all those guys. They know that. But there's something about sunshine. Yolo was just saying it go outside, have conversations with people that

are outside of the industry and rejuvenate your soul. You know, so, you know, here we are after they knocked on my door a couple of times and I threw out some crazy numbers to them about wanting me to return. And then they finally came financially correct and motivated me enough to be like, you know what, maybe these guys will take care of me in a way that, you know, I wasn't taken care of and my UFC fight, my fights. Yeah. And that's financially rewarding. I mean, we do want that, right? As much as everyone

will say it's not about the money, but it's not also about the brain damage or the physical damage our body takes. It's got to be somewhat motivating, right? Yes. Well, you guys are your prize fighters. Sometimes people don't want to admit that, but ultimately we all live for money, right? We work, we want to support ourselves. Like fans want to believe that you guys are just doing this for the love of the game, but you can't go to the bank and deposit for the love of the game. You can't go to the bank and deposit a title.

You need to have something to actually walk away with, to show that you put your mind, your body, your spirit through the wringer. And so yeah, you guys deserve all the money in the world. That's why I've always supported fighters getting paid as much and more than you guys do get paid, especially in MMA. As you probably know, you've done your research, you've watched. Bare Knuckle is rolling right now.

They're on fire. And it is still a gruesome type of fighting, right? There are some fans who just say like, this is too much for me. Did you need some time to warm up to it? Seeing some of those knockouts and those cuts and those bruises? You know what's really funny is I went to my first event

back in December, right? And it was gnarly, you know? Like I definitely will, I like fighting, right? And I like boxing. And it wasn't until I went But then I realized how savage some of these years are right like and even having a conversation with David Feldman about you know I mean which you know kudos to David Feldman it been Extremely generous with his communication and his, you know, communication throughout this entire process, you know, made time for me, talked with me, gave me his opinion on everything and, you know, kind

of what their direction was with me. So that being said, when I went to my first event, I was like, okay, this is crazy. This is cool. But it's totally up my wheelhouse, you know, I mean, if I was given an opportunity to take a boxing match, you know, maybe on an MVP card, I would absolutely take it. I think that's, you know, my best, I think that's what I'm my best at. I mean, I think we can contest to seeing my fight style,

knowing if I can throw these hands without having to get taken down changes the whole game plan, you know, with everything. So, okay, so you signed with them. That's official Do you have your first fight lined up? Yeah, okay. Yeah, when is it? Yeah, it's gonna be made 10th in Salt Lake City, Utah Okay against to I you know what? It'll help me out with this okay

Who's the girl who wants to take it? You know who wants to who wants to be Jessica I's the retirement fight? Because I feel like, you know, I know that any of the girls that are going to be in the division, I don't want them to think that I don't respect them and I'm just going to come in here. I'm willing to show what I made up. But I mean, I've gotten over 17 UFC fights. I've got over 25 pro fights. I think I'm built for a good fight. So I'm hoping to come with somebody correct. What weight class?

125. So obviously the first one that comes to mind is Paige Van Zandt. Is she a possibility? I'm trying. Me and Paige actually met up and talked at that event. And I mean, Paige, you and I both said it, like bare knuckle, talk with her, right?

Like she, me and her, said it, like, bare knuckle, talk with her, right? Like she, me and her are, we were ready to do that. We had two times before that we were supposed to fight, you know, my returning flyaway fight to the UFC that, hey, let's make it happen. Right. I know she's with GFL, so I don't really know the dynamic. I mean, they had, you know, proposed an agreement with me that I turned down. I'm absolutely done with MMA, done.

I'm done with MMA in that way. I'll help coach, I'll help other people, but I have no desire to step into an octagon. Again, I would much rather just throw these hands. Any particular reason? Is it just because of the type of training, your body? Why are you going? My body, overall, overall my body, my back.

Anybody who know, the PI knows, right? My back was, we had to manage that for so many years. I mean, DC one time came backstage before a fight because he knew how bad my back was. And he was like, you got this girl, it'll be all right. It was actually before the Valentina fight. I was so injured and so messed up that he came in the morning of the fight and gave me some positive words.

And I'm like, yeah, it's all right. It's just the back. I can still do this. But, you know, considering the difference of the training, my body is just developing. I'm in better shape. It's easier to do. I don't have to worry about blowing an ACL out, you know, in my 30s, because that seems like the worst possible thing in the world to me. And so you've agreed to the date, but is it just basically like get me an opponent, you'll fight anyone?

To be even more upfront about everything, this has been a negotiation for all, they actually wanted me to fight in Dubai this week. Okay. And I don't think they could secure an opponent. So that was kind of the biggest issue, but still, I'm not really sure who the next opponent will be. I know that there's been some girls online

that always say stuff and look, I'm coming into this with just enjoying fighting and wanting to get my chance to showcase. If someone wants to create beef with me, that's gonna be boring for them. Okay, and how many fights did you sign up for? Just one. Oh, okay, and why is that?

Well, they want beef, so I'll say, let's just say this, right? We're getting our relationship going between me and Baronocuo, and like I said, David has been absolutely incredible, right? He has been upfront about everything, about my demands when, you know, saying that, hey, look, I would like to make this kind of money, right? Like we can get there and we did.

And with this type of, you know, maybe three fights and then I fight for a title or three wins and I fight for a title. But we just started with like, hey, let's get this fight, undergo, see how we do, and then we'll move forward. Okay, have you talked to any of the female fighters about like maybe in your conversations with Paige about just what it's like to get hit with bare knuckles?

Gosh, Ariel, you know what's crazy is like, all we did in MMA was four ounces of glove. And I'm not saying that there's a whole big difference, but I trained with men my entire career. And that was that was not necessarily the thing to do. But I know what it feels like to get hit in the face, right? With some very strong punches. Yes, maybe they're not exactly Bare Knuckle. But if anybody knows anything about my childhood, I was, I've seen my fair share of knuckles, unfortunately from family members more than opponents. So, Oh geez. All right. Well, I hate to hear that.

Oh, I mean, you knew a little bit. You knew that me and my father, unfortunately had had some stuff, but I feel like if there's going to be a person that's meant to do this or help the other girls who's meant to do something like to understand it, I feel like if there's gonna be a person that's meant to do this or help the other girls who's meant to do something like to understand it, I feel like I can be a great add to this. I could be one of those other people that brings notoriety for fighting in the positive way. And it's my artistic expression, right? It's my church. It's my therapy. Is there any chance that it's just like, you wanna go out on your own terms, healthy,

in good spirits, and you just do this one, and then you're good, you're content? I don't wanna just do one, right? You know, like, cause then, you know, like, I don't know. And that's hard to say. I know I'm gonna go on one no matter who it is, right? Like, there's just been so much mental work that I have done over the last two years of my life

and the position it's put me in. I feel like at times I'm not even the same person that I once was. I mean, who is, right? Who are we? Who we were at 20, who we were at 30, or not who we are at now I'm 38, right? I'm not the same person.

That would be a travesty if I was. Seeing what they're doing with Connor, Connor leading the charge, he seems very much into it. He seems very passionate about it. He's at all the events. He's holding court, press conferences, face-offs. What do you make of that partnership? I think it's great.

So I literally was at the event this past weekend and I was shocked. I was like, oh, Connor's actually here at this event because I had been to the other one. I know he does come to them, but I know he's busy. But I actually went over and said, Connor, please make sure they take care of me. I promise you I'm going to come in guns blazing.

I'm going to fight harder than I've ever fought, because punching and boxing is my style. And considering I was actually just training this past weekend with Leah, the Soul Snatcher, who's at the same gym as Bret Hart. And I don't know a little bit kudos to me, Johnny, Bret Hart's coach that Jessica you're perfect, you're gonna be you're gonna be a BKFC champ, your fight style, your movement. He's like, I'm gonna call it now you're gonna be the champ. And I wish for nothing better for myself than that. So when I seen Connor and seen everybody

at the event this past weekend, was like, hey, take care of me and I'll give you the best fighter that you've ever seen. And that's what it's about, right? I know that you say you're done with MMA and you told us about how sick you were and that's unbelievable that you're fighting for the belt With with a seven inch. I think you said seven inch

Worm in your in your Geez Louise, can you at least look back on your like you look back on your career with fondness Do you look back with with pride and happiness or do you feel like? Man, if I wasn't sick if I wasn't feeling this way, if I didn't have this inside of me, things could have gone differently? You know, it would be wrong for me to say that like if I didn't have that or if it didn't,

you know, it was just a part of my story. It's what's helped me get to this position in my life. It's what's allowed me another opportunity to fight again and given me another opportunity to move forward and My coach I'm working with two new guys out here in Fort Lauderdale Zeke Is my boxing coach and Zack is my strength coach But he said to me just once you fight this bare-knuckle people are not going to even remember Your UFC career and some of those losses and that knockout that seems to haunt you so much,

they're gonna see for who you are now and that's what's most important. So for me, it's like, I can't discredit that girl that got me here today, you know, and got me in this position to be financially, you know, taking care of in a fight and also being given the opportunity to fight again. Well, you know what I mean?

Like you can't discredit the whole, you know? Sure, sure, sure. It helped shape you into who you are today, into what you've become, and this is a new chapter, so looking forward to it. Congratulations. Good luck in training. Good luck in the debut.

You said May 10th? May 10th, yeah, in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City opponent, the dreaded TBD. I know. We'll see who steps the dreaded TBD. I know. We'll see who steps up. We'll see who steps up. Open challenge. Open challenge, ladies, let's go, come on.

I love it. Well, good luck to you and I'm happy that you're healthy and in good spirits and good shape and looking forward to seeing how you do over there. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you. There she is, Jessica Evil Eye, the pride of Ohio, now living in Florida.

And as you just heard, the newest member of the BKFC team, they continue to add familiar faces. So let's see how she fares with them. Everyone going over there. Interesting time. Interesting time where you'll have no names from the world of MMA go over to BKFC, go over to boxing, go over to grappling, all kinds of stuff. In a matter of moments, my friends, we are hopefully going to be joined by a very, very

special guest. If you know me, you know how much this individual means to me, like I said at the top of the show, the first person that I ever, like as far as a famous person is concerned, first person that I ever looked up to, that I ever admired, that I ever wanted to be like. You know, later I was a gigantic Patrick Ewing fan, he's my favorite basketball player.

I loved Thurman Thomas as well. Loved those Knicks teams, those Bill's teams. I was an Expos fan and all that. But the first celebrity, if you will, larger than life hero that I ever remember capturing my attention, my love, my admiration was Bret the Hitman Heart. And it was partially because of how cool he looked, the hair, the glasses, the pink, my admiration was Bret the Hitman Hart. And it was partially because of how

cool he looked, the hair, the glasses, the pink, the tights, still love pink till this day. It was also because of how he wrestled, the intensity, he represented Canada. I loved the Hart Foundation, the yin and yang of him and Jim D'Anvil Nightheart. I remember when he got screwed, WrestleMania four, Battle Royal by Bad News Brown hit him with the, uh, I believe it was the ghetto blaster. I remember feeling some sort of way. Like this is, this is when wrestling really works. You feel something in your soul.

You wanted your guy to go over. You wanted your guy to get that W. And honestly, it was in that moment that I think I fell in love with him. Now, WrestleMania IV was 1988. So I was five and a half, believe it or not. I was watching wrestling back then. My dad was like, what are you watching? I'm like, yo man, Pops, it's Bret Hart.

He just got screwed. We need to watch this over and over again. And then I had the rings. I had the LJNs. I would recreate it. And as I've said time and again on the show, getting shots at the doctor, my mom would say, close your eyes, think of something that makes you happy.

And I remember exactly where I was. I thought of Bret Hart winning the WWF Championship. And this is before he became a single star, before he became, you know, that guy, the champion. But the thought of him winning made me happy. That was my happy place. And I've wanted to have him back on the show for a while now. And I'm really thankful and grateful that Jesse Katz of Roots of Fight, my favorite brand, incredible people, incredible human being, him in particular, he's been fighting, thriving, scratching, clawing his way to get to this point, has done such a great job. He helped coordinate all of this.

And so it is a massive honor for me, a massive privilege to say hello to, in my opinion, the greatest of all time, not just my opinion, everyone's opinion. The best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be. No one represented this flag on the international stage better than he did. The first man that I ever looked up to, the first man that I ever admired, the first man that I ever wanted to be like as a youngster, to have him on the show. Hard to even express into words how much it means. Without further ado, let us say hello to the one and only Brett the Hitman Hart. to have him on the show, hard to even express into words how much it means. Without further ado, let us say hello to the one and only Brett the Hitman Heart.

There he is. Golly. Brett, how are you? I'm really good. It's a huge, huge deal for me, a huge honor for me to have you on the show. It makes me even emotional just talking to you because of how much you've meant to me and so many like me of my age. So thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Means a lot to me too. So I appreciate that. How are you doing? I'm doing really good. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I can't be happier. Everything is really

good. Life is good. Life is good. The hit men are in the playoffs. We're up two games. You know, a lot of little things. Everything with my family is good. Things are very positive for me right now. Lovely to hear that. So happy to hear that. And congrats on the Hitmen. And we are pulling for them. Love what you've been able to do with them over the years. Obviously, and there you are representing one of the great logos, one of the great jerseys in all of sports. Obviously, this past week, at the end of the week, we got some tremendous news.

You continue to make history, even at this point in your life, you're now going to be the first man to ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame three different times. 06 as a singles competitor, 19 as a tag team competitor, and now the first match to go into the Hall of Fame three different times. 06 as a singles competitor, 19 as a tag team competitor, and now the first match to go into the Hall of Fame. You and Stone Cold back at WrestleMania 13, historic stuff. When did you find out about this? I found out a few months ago that it was was going to happen, but I, you know, you never know. It's never going to happen until it happens. So, happen, but you never know. It's never going to happen until it happens. So, um, you know, and then I just found out a few days ago that, uh, that the

announcement came out and, uh, so that kind of verified that, that it was in fact going to happen for me, but, uh, it's a big honor. I'm really quite proud of that, especially that match and the work that I had with Steve Austin. I think it's, you know, would you ask me in truth, if I thought there was a better match somewhere? I mean, I don't think there's been a better match. It was just magic what we did that night.

So that was actually what I was going to ask you. You've had a litany of legendary matches. Where do you rank that one? Is it literally at the top? It's always, it's been at the top probably since I had it. And, um, you know, I, I have a lot of, I have like my, my all time favorites. Um, I think the match I had with the Bulldog at Wembley was probably my first greatest match, um, in the sense that it was the first one that I didn't, wasn't

a team or it was just me by myself going out there and, uh the sense that it was the first one that I didn't, wasn't a team or it was just me by myself going out there and, uh, putting that match together. And that was a beautiful match. And the Ironman match with Shawn Michaels. I mean, you can say what you want about our relationship. And, uh, you know, the thing, the truth is, is that it's, it's a hard, hard to top that match. It was, that was a great match to two guys in their prime pitted against each other, both going 100 miles an hour, giving

everything they could. Those are my top three. But Steve Austin's match was just such a gem, like all the little things in it, the little twists and turns. The objective was sort of an experiment. I don't think anyone realized that we were... I knew when Steve found out that day that I was going to turn heel the following night on Raw, I was going to do an interview where I turned heel on the fans. We were the only two that knew that. I don't know even in Steve's case that it necessarily

helped him and I put the mask together, but knowing that was going to be the end result. My instincts told me that Steve was also going to turn. I think Steve's attitude at the time was that he was going to try to resist that a little bit and try to stay heel for as long as he could and maybe was going to turn eventually down the road, which is basically what happened. I kind of knew it was a heel turn and a baby face turn all in the same match. And the psychology of that and just the way we orchestrated it is, it's, I always think about, you know, when I walked out to the ring, I was, I got a pretty hearty cheer from everybody. I was, I was the good guy and I was the hero going out. And when I walked back through the same crowd at the end of it, I was definitely the bad guy and it was like, so what happened in 30 minutes or 35 minutes that changed all that. And that's, that's, that's the storytelling.

I think that the reason I think that match was as great as they they're, they're saying it is today. It's one thing to want to do that, but then to actually execute it and then have the fans fall online. I'm wondering if you were nervous, you guys want to do this, but were you nervous about like, Hey, they love me so much. Are they actually going to get it? Are they going to turn on me as well?

You know, I had no doubt in my mind. Um, like it's, it's funny because Steve and I had worked at Survivor Series not that long before that match and we kind of threw everything into that match and that was a great match too. We threw everything but the kitchen sink into that match and things developed over that time I think when Sean forfeited the belt and all that, it was kind of like, I know we're getting into WrestleMania, I thought it was going to be Sean and me wrestling again. And it's like that got changed or altered.

And suddenly it was like, it's you and Steve again. It's like, we just wrestled each other and did everything. I thought I'd wrestle Steve. I loved working with Steve. But at the time, I was like, I'd rather work with Steve next SummerSlam. And by then we can kind of develop new identities and have a new story kind of for them. And I thought it was time, because I went over pretty straightforward and clean right in the garden. And so when they said it was me and Steve,

and then when we were told it was a no holds barred or I quit match, it was like, it really just puts a limit on the match. Like you lose all the false finishes. I remember going, it's the kiss of death. Like the Bob Backlund match I had a few years earlier was a similar thing where the Iquip match. And it was like, it hampers the storytelling

and it limits you to what you can do. And I remember when I showed up in Chicago, Steve and I went out to the ring side and we sat on, he sat on the ring apron and I sat in the front row and we just kind of talked to each other. And we were both like, what do you want to do? And I'm like, I don't know what the hell can we do? Like we done did everything, you know? And so it was kind of this blank page. And So it was kind of this blank page. And, you know, I just remember sort of thinking, like reassessing everything and going,

this reminds me of a school fight. You know, it reminds me of back when I was in, as a kid in school. And it's like, you know, I'm kind of like the popular guy in the school when everyone likes me and I'm gonna be on the quarterback on the football team or something like that. And it's like, and you're this sort of badass kid that just came into

the school and you're causing all kinds of problems for everybody. And everyone's kind of talking about you and there's a buzz in the hallways. And I can remember this in my own lifetime. Where was that that kind of vibe? And it's like, and I remember we just started there. It's like, I see it, you and me get in the middle of the ring, I said, I think it should be you just charge me, take me right off my feet, and we just start going at it. And then we just kind of just kept piecing it together one little piece at a time. Then this would happen. And how about if we go out on the floor? Because that was the only directions we got from, from, from the office or Vince McMahon was that you guys can fight through the

crowd and go up through the barriers and up through the stands. We'll have security all around you and you can do whatever you want. That was it. And the rest was up to us. And, uh, I can remember asking Steve, I said, what kind of holes you got, what kind of submissions, cause it's a submission match. And, uh, I said, I remember I named the ones I had. I said, I can put a figure four on, I can put the sharpshooter on, I can put a sleeper if I have to, I can put, you know,

we went through the different holes and he was like, I think all we had was that he was, it's the tree stump puller. It's where some kind of hold that he'd seen, which was a pretty, pretty good hold actually. And it hurt a lot when he put it on me, but that was it. And it was kind of like, all right, well, let's, let's see what we got. And the way we just talked about it was like, all right, well, it's just to get the match going, let's brawl out in the crowd.

We got Shamrock to kind of, Ken Shamrock was actually a big part of it because he just gave that authority in there that we needed for the storytelling. And him watching us as we went through the crowd, a fight all the way up through the stands was at that time. And I don't know that it's ever been done before, but I know it was pretty intense. And we went up there and brawled all the way up through the crowd. I remember when I went to give

Steve, or he punched me or did something to me and bent me over and went to give me a pile driver. And I remember going, oh my God, don't give me a pile driver on the cement stairs. Like it's too dangerous. And next thing you know, I could tell he wanted me to give him a backdrop and, uh, I ended up backdroping on the stairs thinking that I would never do that. I would never want that done to me, but I appreciate the, uh, and that tells me what kind of effort Steve was giving for the match. And, um, Steve took a lot of hard bumps in that match. And, uh, we, we, we ended up brawling back through the ring.

And then I think the storytelling is just, I always love how, when I grabbed the bell, like I put the figure four on the post on Steve, which I'd never done before. And that was, again, it was something different and new and fresh. And I always thought in my mind, I always like to do things that were fresh that I'd never done before. I always try to think of something new, two or three things that I could do that I'd never done before for fans that would go, geez, I've never seen that before. I've never seen that before. I've never seen that before. And the figure four in the post

was one. And when I put that on, I remember going back over to the table and I grabbed the bell and then I walk over and I set the bell on the apron. And it was, it was, I think the drama of all that is sort of going, I don't want to use, I want a chair. And I went back and got the chair. And then it wasn't the right chair. It's got to be the right chair. And I grabbed the metal chair with no padding on it and slid that in the ring. And I think it just was, it made people, they were like, oh, that he's like, they understood,

they forgot all about the bell. Everybody forgot about the bell. So they're sitting right on the apron, which I remember telling Steve. I said, they'll forget all about the bell. Everybody forgot about the bell. So they're sitting right on the apron, which I remember telling Steve, I said they'll forget all about the bell. They will keep watching the match and we just keep the focus on the action. They'll forget all about the bell,

which is the key to the whole match. And the chairs and the chair shots, both chair shots that Steve gave me were good solid chair shots, especially the one where I was on all fours where he bent over and whacked me over the back, which you know, I told him to do more, gave him permission to do it. I knew it was going to hurt and it did. Mostly it was like a slap sound, but it was really stung.

And you know, that's the realism of what you try to create. And, you know, I've always loved so many things in that match that we did. One of my favorite spots in that match is where I'm punching him in the corner and I back up a little bit and all of a sudden he laces me right in the crotch and kicks me right in the groin. When I always think of Ric Flair doing these, the ones where they give you the forearm up, it's like, come on, does that really even hurt? But that one, the shot that Steve gave me, that's where you could feel the momentum change. And it was such a heel thing to do.

But you could feel the audience sympathizing with Steve. And that was really such a beautiful layer to the match that that single move sort of sets the whole pace for the rest of the match. And you know, I just, you know, the whole match and the way I just watched it, knowing as I do this interview, I watched it match and the way I just watched it, um, knowing as I do this interview, I watched it back yesterday. I haven't watched it in a little while, but it was, it just makes me always feel so good when I watch it. Cause it was such a fun match to watch and you could see the emotions change.

And what the very end, when I went back on Steve, after I got the victory and started to stomp his leg and Shamrock threw me down and all that, it was... And then me and Ken Shamrock almost go toe to toe. And you could feel the explosion and the fans ready to just go crazy again, like over that. And I remember, you know, my logic at the time was that I just had a hard fight. I'm not going to have another hard fight with another guy that's totally fresh. So I've been, you know, still baby face, but I walked out of the ring and left.

And a lot of people saw that as a coward, but I think my fans that, that appreciated me was like, you know, he shouldn't fight a guy that's fresh after he just had this match. And, uh, it was the sort of that balance of being a good guy and a bad guy that was so beautifully told. And Steve too, you know, even when, you know, when he went and it is finished on the referee was like, you know, he's still a bad guy, you know, it was, it was, it was just a beautiful story. I loved it yesterday. I felt pretty good when I watched it.

And I think, you know, I don't believe if they were gonna induct any other matches, the first one, I would go, it's not better than the Steve Austin match. Legendary match. My heart, my heart of hearts, I go, that was the best match. And you know, that was one of the few matches

that I can think of in those last years of some of the great matches that I had, where I didn't feel like I, you know, I didn't feel like I, you know, I didn't feel so beat up. It was great storytelling and it was great professionalism. Like it was all the kick and it was great professionalism. It was all the kick and the groin, never hurt. It was carefully thought out and orchestrated properly where it was not a painful kick and

the groin because that's a pretty... I remember telling Steve, I said, if you're standing really close to me, you're going to kick me in the butt, but I got to pull my equipment up a little higher than normal, which I did. And I said, you got to reach around and kind of kick me in the seat of the ass and I'll sell it the right way. But it was like, it wasn't like I would have, it would have felt pretty, it would have been, it was my, my idea, my move.

And if it had hurt me, it would have been my fault. And Steve did such a great job. Even the chair shot, even the bell shot at the end of the match. You know, the truth is, with the bell, I actually went right over his head. I missed his head by about, you know, less than a quarter of an inch. The bell just went right over his head, but it never touched his head and never hurt him, never hit him on the actual skull. And you know, he sold it fantastic. And that's what I love about that match is what I said many, many times is no animals were harmed in the making of that movie. It was just a fun, it was fun when we came back, that movie. It was just a fun, it was fun when we came back. You know, even the blood, which was a big no-no at the time. You know, the blood. I remember when we came back, we pretended in

the dressing room to have a heated argument about it, almost a scuffle where we almost kind of got into it again. And I remember Chief Jay Strongbow kind of pulling us apart or pulling me away from him. And it was all mostly just to kind of cover our tracks so we didn't get anyone into trouble, that it was an accident. But it was, you know, we had to fool everybody.

The only persons that knew about the blood were me and Steve. And, um, we kept that pretty much a secret for, it would have been a secret for years until I wrote about it in my book. But, but, um, again, it was, it was, uh, to me, the highest level of professionalism that you can get in a professional wrestling match. You know, we both really worked really hard. We took a lot of hard falls, large hits with the chair and stuff like that. But we also really protected each other and looked out for each other. And it was, you know, when they told me they were going to duck that match, it's like, well, they should. That was maybe the best match ever.

Your book, by the way, one of, in my opinion, the best wrestling book out there. I read it on my honeymoon and I always wondered if you were going to write another one. Cause I think the original plan was like a multiple volume series, right? But then you just went with the big one off the bat. Is there another one coming? Yeah, I think so. I'm still working on it and kind of playing with it in my head. It's more, I mean, I don't know that I have much more wrestling to talk about, although I think so. I'm still working on it and kind of playing with it in my head. It's more, I mean, I don't know that I have much more wrestling to talk about, although I think I have some very interesting chapters about when I came back in 2010 and did that whole storyline with Vince, which was, you know, a lot of people don't think about it or rate

it that much, or some people thought it was really bad or not, not very good stuff. Um, pro wrestling wise, but I, I loved the stuff I did with Vince in that time period. And, uh, I was grateful for the opportunity to come back and rewrite my ending. So there wasn't quite the, um, I found as once I left WWF and retired from wrestling in 2000 and around that time period, it was always a bad ending and people always, you know, everything they talked to me about was sort of stuff that was triggered bad feelings and bad emotions and was the screw job of work and that was all pretend. I remember Scott Hall and different guys circulated this idea that it was all planned out and

that me and Vince planned the whole screw job and it never was real, which is not true. I was always really frustrated that that was the final chapter in my career, in my life of wrestling. And when that whole opportunity presented itself with Vince, I knew it was a chance to rewrite the ending a little bit. And I don't know if it was the greatest ending, wasn't the greatest wrestling that I ever did. I don't, you know, it was, but at the same time, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed every bit of it.

And I wouldn't change anything. I think it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed every bit of it and I wouldn't change anything. I think it was an important page for me to turn the corner and move on and get on with my life and not be... I've never been asked that much about the screw job or at least whether it was real since then, even though you'd think that you'd get bothered by that even more. But I loved the storyline that I did with Vince and it was some of the stuff we did was really good. And I thought the final match that I had at WrestleMania

was everything you get hoped for under the circumstances. And I was always really proud of it. I loved how it ended and what we did. And I would love to write about that. I mean, in fact, that would probably be the opening chapter of my second book, if I can get the time to focus on it and write about that. Do you ever think that we would see a time,

a day and age where Vince McMahon is alive, but not a part of WWE? Yeah, I think we're kind of going through that now. Yeah. Is it weird for you? No, I'm, I'm, I feel that, um, as great as he was and as far as ideas and imagination and you know, in a lot of ways there's nobody like him. Um, at the same time, I'll feel that he kind of governed things in a shady way. He didn't care necessarily about the craft.

And I always thought the fact that what he did to me, I was maybe his, I like to think I was his greatest artist. And in the end, I was just another, you know, get rid of him, boom, he's done, you know, and I think as much great greatness as Vince brought to wrestling, he also brought a lot of negative kind of corrupted thinking to it. And it's kind of hard to explain. But I just I think, you know, that, you know, that it's more, there's a little more integrity right now. That the guys that are being pushed, are being pushed, because they're talented and not because they're Vince's favorites.

Do you watch the product now? I try to. I do. I watch certain guys and I try to watch the pay-per-views. I find in a lot of wrestlers, and I won't necessarily name anybody, but I find that the wrestlers are more actors pretending to be wrestlers today than actual wrestlers. I miss the ruggedness of the characters, like guys like Curt Henning and myself, or Dynamite Kid, or that whole era of wrestlers that broke

into the business in the 70s or late 70s and early 80s, we were still the real, we were from the Harley race, Terry Funk generation trying to copy them or mimic them or, you know, knock them. And I think that's why I still think the 90s was the best, best era of wrestling. I, you know, when I watch some of that old 90s, 90s wrestling, it was really good. Really good stuff. And I find that today's wrestling, And I find that today's wrestling, it's a little bit more about promos and your character on TV and not so much your work rate. And I like guys that throw back a little bit more to the work rate.

Like Roman Reigns is a guy that, for example, that I think tries really hard to earn the respect of my generation and be more realistic and just more credible and more believable and not so much an actor. And I find that, especially AEW, that I find that they're mostly actors trying to pretend to be wrestlers and they ought to get on with this real wrestling and just quit acting so much. Um, I was curious if you saw Cena's heel turn and what you thought of it, how it's being executed up until this point. Um, you know, I didn't see it.

I heard about it and was surprised by it. Cause I, I probably a guy that's I think said in the past, I don't think there's certain guys that just can't turn heel. It's like it's important. They're their style and their characters and the way like to me, British Bulldog never really was a great heel. You know, he was a great wrestler, but when he turned heel, he was still doing press slams and power slams and, uh, strong man stuff. And he really didn't change his style too much. And he just had a different attitude, but

you know, it's heels need to be cheaters and sneaky and really get the ire of the crowd kind of thing. And it takes a different kind of skill to that. And I just found some guys like, I didn't think Lex Luthor was ever as good a heel as he was, as he could have been just his style. He mostly did strong men stuff. And like when he, when he got heat in a match, it wasn't really, he wasn't really cheating much.

He was mostly just doing baby face stuff. And Bulldog was the same. And I thought the same for John Cena. The way he looks, the way he works, he's going to still be doing power slams and running like strongman kind of stuff. And I didn't see him cheating, like pulling trunks to win and, you know, rape choking guys and gouging eyes and the kind of stuff that like when I switched from heel to baby face or baby face to heel, you could see the style change, but I also remember sort of saying to myself that just cause I turned

heel doesn't mean I forgot how to do a drop kick. Like why can't I still do a drop kick? You know, I can still do a drop kick and use that kind of psychology. Like you're not limited to just doing cheating stuff, which I think is a mistake. Some guys that do turn heel suddenly can't wrestle anymore. And it's like, that's not, you know, if your gimmick or character was a good wrestler, you need to still be a good wrestler, but you need to be just a more ruthless competitor. As far as John goes, I know that I trust that John can pull it off.

I haven't seen anything that he's done, including an interview. But it's not, I'll be honest, before I heard that it happened, I would have said it's going to be hard for him to do that. And maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But it's hard to have been the character that he was, especially with the Make-A-Wish stuff. And he was like me, he was a long time hero. And when you turn bad, when you turn heel, it's kind of a fresh start for you as a character. Like you're completely, you know, you got to not be a good guy and resist anything that turns you into a good guy. And I thought I

balanced that out pretty well. I kind of, as I'd worked heel, I was a heel before I became a baby face. And it's like, so they kind of reverted back to my old character as much as I could. And I think people understood that like, oh, now he's cheating, he's no good now. And the Canada, US stuff of course was, you know,

gasoline and fire, you know, it was like, but I trust John, John's a very capable, he's a very smart worker. And I'm curious to see how he pulls it off. And I look forward to watching him. When we were talking earlier today, I said I'd keep you for 25 minutes or so we're over that time. Do you have a couple more minutes? I just wanted to ask you. When we were talking earlier today, I said I'd keep you for 25 minutes or so. We're over that time. Do you have a couple more minutes?

I just wanted to ask you a couple more things. Sure. Okay, I appreciate that. We won't keep you much longer, I promise. Cause one thing I've always wanted to ask you, I'll never forget this. When I was in the first grade, many, many moons ago, my parents surprised me with tickets to the Montreal Forum,

the incredible venue that is no longer with us. In fact, I have like a newspaper ad right here actually in the studio from the Montreal Gazette from way back in the day that I put in here just to sort of remember those times. This particular one is I think from a few years later, but it was an ad for the last event at the old Montreal Forum.

And there you are front and center. And the only thing I remember from that, that event that I attended, which was back in, I believe 91, if my memory serves me correct, it was you versus Mr. Perfect. And, and I adored you. Like I said, there was no one I cared about more and, um, you guys were magic together, summer slam. I mean, all your matches were magic, but I remember the finish vividly and I've

never seen it since I never saw it before. And the finish was you guys had it going, I mean, back and forth. It was an all out war and he was out cold and you crawled and the ref went one and you went on top of him and the ref went one, two, and then the time limit bell went. And so it ended in a draw because you guys went the distance. And I remember as a kid being like, ah, he was, he was a second away from winning. Do you remember this? I'm sure you did it all across the country, different house shows and whatnot.

It was such a unique finish. I do remember me hurt my wrestling and, um, you know, I do remember that when I first worked with him, that he always went over. And it was Kurt that said, you know, because he didn't like, Kurt was my biggest advocate or biggest supporter. And he went to Vince and said, I get more heat doing a 20 minute draw with Bret Hart than I I do beating them. When I get a 20 minute draw and when it's a tie and I go back to the dressing room, then Brett asked for five more minutes. And then I come out and I turn my back on Kurt when he when I think he's gone back to the dressing room, he charges

back and runs under slides under the bottom rope, he would always jump me and leave me land and then he would climb up on the top rope. And I did him with a gut shot and he crotch himself on the turnbuckle strut which was always, I don't know how he did that but it was always that was kind of the finish we did in most markets and I can remember and that finish that you just talked about I don't remember it and I'm kind of glad that it was something fresh and different than what we did in a lot of places.

But I will say, Kurt was, if I could pick one guy to have one match with, one more match with in our prime, it would have been Kurt. I loved working with Kurt. It would be either Kurt or Owen. And they were the most fun to work with. And Kurt was really the guy that helped him and Roddy were the two guys that helped launch me and get me up from sort of the middle of the card kind of to them and made me a main event guy. And I never forget that. And I loved working with Kurt and he had a lot to do with my,

you know, going on to win the world title and stuff like that. You guys were tremendous together and I'll also never forget WrestleMania 4, the Battle Royale. Feeling like you got screwed by Bad News Brown. That's, you know, like talk about like pulling on the heartstrings and being emotionally invested and you're like having a guy and wanting him to go over. I thought you won the Battle Royale, then he hits you from the back and smashes you with the trophy. That to me felt like a turning point. I always say WrestleMania 4, one of my favorite WrestleMania's,

people don't talk about it as a great one. But for me, because of that battle royal and that moment, that's when I fell in love with you. That's when I said like, okay, this is my guy and I want to see him get over. I want to see him get propelled to the top. Now I remember that time period and I remember when Vince told me only a few days before WrestleMania that he wanted to turn me babyface and that split me out from Jim and all that. And I remember that was a big sort of question mark in my head. Because I love being Jim's partner and I love being, but I also knew that here was a chance

for me to get my know, to get my big break as a single guy. And so I was, I was like, I'll do whatever you want. But I remember Vince telling me that he had more fan letters than any other wrestler. I had more fan mail than any other wrestler in the company and he couldn't figure out why, but he was going to go with me and he was going to give me the, his big push, the real push, the one I've been always been waiting for. The one that they've been telling me that was, they were going to give me for so many years and, uh, you know, and they never did that.

That wasn't my big push. They died. He went out and I wrestled, um, bad news and jobbed out to him right away. Um, so that he could work with Hogan And they kind of, I remember it was like a broken trust in the sense that they promised me everything and delivered nothing. And then later said that I didn't have enough charisma or I didn't know I was missing something that they,

you know, they put me back into tags and put me back with Jim. But I was always like, I was, I was ready for a big push, and they should have maybe found a way to make me rather than break me. I think the fact that I went back with Jim and kind of got over still as a tag guy, and the Heart Foundation got over and won the belts again. And you could feel, I think then when Jim and I lost the belts the second time that Vince promised me the big push and all that again. And I could tell, I wrote about it in my book where there was a day after we lost the belts to the Nasty Boys and they brought me to the

TVs in Las Vegas and right away they said, you're going to work with Kurt Henning for the title. He just won the belt from Kerry Van Eric and I'm like, okay. And I said, who's going over? And they're like, well, we're not changing the belt right now. And I said, so you're going to put me in a match where I don't win again. You're going to kill me off again. Okay. So I'm not doing all quit. I'm going to go home and take a break.

And I held my stood my ground that day and uh, ever Pat Harrison plead with it, like kind of telling me like, it doesn't really matter if you win or lose. And it's like, Hey, trust me, it matters. And if you're not going to give me a push, and you're not going to let me win, you know, if you're just going to turn me into a guy that never quite gets the job done again, then I'm going to go home and take a break. And then they changed everything and put Bulldog with Mr. Perfect. And then that's when I kind of knew I said that by SummerSlam, they're going to be going, we need someone to work with Kurt and win the belt. That's when I would be right for the pick it right.

They can be perfect timing for me to win the belt from Kurt. And so that's how important it is sometimes in wrestling to use your own judgment and your I've been, you know been left behind. I've worked hard enough and left standing there by Vince and the right hand, the Bookers and Bruce Pritchard and guys like that for so long. This idea that always at that time was that I couldn't cut a promo or I wasn't a good mic guy. And I'm like, my attitude was that if I don't have anything, if I can't get the job done as a baby face, they start to look for guys that are going to get the job done. And it's like, if I go out and challenge somebody and then I don't win, You're kind of blowing my tire.

I can't be in the running for that. And it's hard to talk about it. I don't know, what am I supposed to say in my interviews? Like, oops, sorry, I lost last week, but here I'm gonna beat this guy and then you lose again and you keep losing all the time. It does matter. Winning or losing does matter. And I'm glad I stood up for myself at that time.

I mean, I could talk to you for hours, Brett, but I want to let you go. This has been such a thrill. I want to thank our mutual friend, Jesse Katz, of Roots of Fight for multiple reasons. A, for making this happen. But B, I never feel cooler when I go to my kids' school, when I'm going to the kids' soccer game,

than when I'm wearing my hitman gear from them. It's all I wear, and they've got incredible stuff over at Roots of Fight that they've done with you. Dating back to the early days, there's CM Punk and others rocking the gear there. I have all of it. And I love the old school stuff with the Japanese writing. I legit don't feel cooler than when I'm rocking your stuff.

Cause you're my guy and you're everyone's guy. And speaking of CM Punk, uh, he said some very nice things about you recently. Two Roots of Fight. I just wanted to play this for you very quickly and then we'll say goodbye. All right. All right. Thank you. Here it is.

Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Bret Hart. Bret Hart is the Wayne Gretzky of professional wrestling. And it's an empirical fact. It's not just an opinion. It's not just, Oh, I love Bret Hart. Bret Hart is the Wayne Gretzky of professional wrestling. And it's an empirical fact, it's not just an opinion. It's not just, I love Bret Hart. It's proven. And obviously we know Bret Hart as the best WWE champion of all time. He was a guy who, like Piper, I looked at and I said, of all time. He was a guy who, like Piper, I looked at and I said, I can't look like the ultimate warrior, nor do I want to, but this guy's legit and that's achievable to

somebody like me. To have him as something that I can reach to, a goal to attain, I'll never come close, I'll always fall short, but like, you know, shoot for the stars, wind up on the moon kind of thing. Like Brett is the measuring stick. I believe that all professional wrestlers should hold themselves to. Nobody better ever. So there you have it from one of the top guys now. They all feel that way.

I really appreciate that. And, you know, I know I heard like something a few months ago where Hulk Hogan was talking about me and he said the problem with Bret Hardis is that he really does think he was the greatest wrestler of all time. And I remember thinking about that and going, yeah, maybe like that might be the most truthful thing he's ever said. And then I think, you know, when you watched a lot of the wrestlers today, you don't see anybody imitating Hulk Hogan or the ultimate warrior. You see a lot of the wrestlers today really trying their best to capture my

style or some of the guys that I worked with, like that, my kid or Kurt Hanning and my brother, Owen and stuff like that. And it's like, yeah, they're wrestling my style. And, uh, that's, that's the biggest compliment that I can get from today and stuff like that. And it's like, yeah, they're wrestling my style. And that's the biggest compliment that I can get from today's generation is that. That's an incredible point. God bless you, Brett. Thank you for everything.

Congratulations on this incredible achievement. Once again, I'm so happy that you're being celebrated. WrestleMania week, you deserve it. Many more of your matches deserve to be there as well. Wish the best to you, your family. Nattie's doing amazing. We had her in studio a few weeks ago and it's just amazing to see you thriving, happy, healthy and getting honored this way because you deserve that from now until the end of time. You deserve more accolades. So I will stop there but this means the world to me and I really appreciate

it. I'll look forward to seeing you hopefully at WrestleMania. Hopefully. Thank you so much, Brett. All the best to you. There he is. Take care. God bless. The great Brett, the Hitman heart. I mean, could we say, I mean, listen, you know how I feel and I try to keep it professional. I think at the end there, he was like, all right, enough of this guy, all right?

What am I like Chris Farley talking to Paul McCartney? You know that skit on Saturday Night Live? Remember that time when you guys sold out Shea Stadium? It was awesome. But that's how I feel. That's how I feel. That's from the heart. That's a shoot brother. That's from the heart. That's my childhood hero. And to have him on my show and to have him for 40 or so minutes, thank you so much to Roots of Fight. Thank you so much to Jesse Katz for making that happen. There's nothing that tops that for me, honestly. It's just, you would have told that kid in the doctor's office, five, six years old, that one day he can

have Bret Hart on the show and talk to him like that, wouldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. And it is the truth. When I wear it, the guys can attest to it. I'm always wearing my Roots of Fight stuff. Love the hoodies, love the jackets, love the sweatpants, love everything they have. The stuff is beautiful. Can we show them some of the stuff once again, just one more time? Rootsoffight.com. I never get more compliments than when I'm wearing my stuff. I've got a Mellow jacket, Syracuse one, they've done a great collaboration with Carmelo Anthony, which obviously speaks to me, near and dear to my heart. I was there when Mellow won.

Loved the Roddy Piper stuff, loved the Macho Man stuff, loved the Ric Flair stuff. Love the the Bret Hart stuff, obviously. The punk stuff. The Roy Jones Jr. stuff. The Cassius Clay stuff. The Joe Frazier stuff. I even got some Pink Floyd stuff and some ACDC stuff, which I know Frank has been eyeing. I mean, it's just, it's an amazing company. It's a Canadian company. And I remember meeting Jesse Ketz many, many moons ago. It was the week of, I believe Diaz BJ. So what was that? What was that? One.

Why do I want to say 137 or something? 137, 137, 137, 137. Yeah. I think you're right. 137. And that's when, when he was just kind of launching and I introduced him to our, was it 137? Yeah.

I introduced him to our friend, John Beer. And then you ended up working with them as well because you worked for the company and to see all the collaborations and all the stuff that they're doing some 14 or so years later is pretty remarkable. What about Bret Hart on the show, Rick? What, what do you want to have? Incredible. Incredible.

I feel like you asked him about the Stone Cold match and you didn't have to say anything. He just took it and went with it and talked about why it's the greatest match ever. I'm convinced. I mean, first one. First one. And they're calling it, I believe they're calling it something like the, the, uh, immortal.

Yeah. What are they calling it? What a moment or something, I believe. We have the, we have the way they announced it, uh, in the tweet on, on mortal moment, yeah. Mortal moment. There it is. Hall of Famers, Bret Hart, Stone Cold.

Who deserves it more will receive the inaugural WWE Immortal Moment Award in person at the 2025 Hall of Fame ceremony. That's Friday, April 18th at the Fontainebleau. Once again, there it is, WrestleMania 13. Golly. And you know, Bret was the one who was responsible for getting Stone Cold into WWE because Bret, excuse me, Stone Cold left WCW and he had a cup of coffee with ECW, and as the story goes, Brett told Vince like, yo, this is a guy that we should sign.

This guy's perfect. Pretty good business. And then apparently, as the story goes, the next week Stone Cold's in the locker room. And then we know what happened to Stone Cold. You talk about your John 316, you talk about your Psalms, you talk about your Bible, well Austin 316 says, I just whooped your ass. Ah, you know yourself what a time. Brett freaking Hart. Yeah. Incredible. I think he liked the ad. I think he liked the ad. I think he liked the words. Did I go too far with the, you're the best think you like the ad. I think you like the ad. I think you like the words. Did I go too far with the you're the best, you're the best, you're my hero?

No, I don't think you went far enough, if I'm being honest. Oh my God. It was great. It was great. Well, thank you. What a legend. What a moment. What a moment.

What a time to be alive, guys. By the way, Forrest is playing right now. What is the score? Oh, we're up. Hey, Forrest is magic on and off the pitch. Forrest is magic. Hey, Pizzi, what do you have to say about 1-0 in the 45th minute? Oh, I got some bad news about that.

Did they just tie? No, Pizzi's not here. No, I know, but still. No, you're asking to wait for Pizzi. I just, you know, unfortunately. GC, I know, but still. No, you're asking for a pizza, unfortunately. GC, is it weird that you were so into Forrest when we were in 17th place and now you don't even watch the games anymore?

The text thread is dead, the vibes are dead. You guys still have that text thread? You never put into the text thread. It didn't say anything. What do you want me to do? It was blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue. What are you gonna do, hop into a dead text thread? It was blue, blue, blue, blue, blue.

No, it says anything in it. I'm sitting there watching. What do you want me to do? Hop into a dead text thread? It was blue blue blue blue blue. No one says anything in it. I'm sitting there watching. I just don't need to gloat, you know? Third place. I knew this was coming. I knew this was coming the entire time. Oh, did you guys happen to catch that Premier League promo starring yours truly?

It was pretty great. I mean, what do we got? Bill's playoffs now, Blue Jays opening day, Premier League. Mr. Promo. Who else? What's the nickname? What are we going to call you now? Yeah. You want your thing promo'd? You want your thing hyped? You know who to call, all right? Who's gonna be the first that you step out of the your fandom space with?

Meaning like they just want my vibes? That's what I'm saying, yeah. You're not affiliated, right? The Chiefs hit you up. Yeah, fuck no fuck no it chiefs hit me up I say kiss my ass all right there's your there's your response the Arizona Diamondbacks just a real random team I mean I could be I you know the cheddar makes it better you know I could be I could be enticed you know be great to do one for the Knicks I mean that one obviously would be a big one I did I did you know it all kind of started really with elimination chamber when I did the one on Montreal for WWE in 23 You know I did that that video which I wrote which I was very very proud of a lot of people got upset about

That but I I enjoyed it. You know it's a fun bit. I feel like on air Jordan had you doing voiceover like ESPN I feel like no No promos, just uh... You know the essays. We did some features, some essays. Yeah. It was a great time for most. Shout out to the essays.

Don't remember, you remember one? Alright, I guess they weren't... We did one on Israel Adesanya when he beat Robert Whitaker. We ran one right away when that ended. I guess they meant more to Jordan than you. Yeah. What'd they run on, Sports Center? Yeah, I did a couple of those. I guess they meant more to Jordan than you. Yeah. What'd they run on, Sports Center? Yeah, I did a couple of those.

Yeah, Sports Center. Nothing like the DC feature you did with Chris Dumanello. Shout out. That was a great one. E60. Shout out to E60. Two parter. Great program.

Great program. Guys, we play two on Tuesdays, so we do have to go. No, before we go, we have some Super Chats. Oh, fuck. Gosh. All right, here we go. Who's reading them this time? Because Frank's on hiatus.

I am. Frank's about to get Wally Pipped. I mean, there hasn't been one technical audio difficulty on this program. Frank, you know who Wally Pipped is? Look him up if you're somewhere back there. Anyway, go ahead. He's looking him up right now. Okay, first one, Agent P sending us 40.

Jordan, what is this? Do we know? 40 something. A great moment for you, Ariel, right on the Hauwani Show. What is that? What is that? That's 40 rupees.

Oh, rupees. What is that, like six cents? Easy, easy. We don't want... That's seven cents, but we accept any 40 rupees. If you want to send it 100 times, that's a lot of money. Yes, thank you. Thank you for your donation. Next one, Mason Bickner, shout out member for five months.

Happy five months guys. Mason always in the chat. Shout out to you, Mason. Thank you for being a member for five months. Um, next up we just have, Oh, uh, Jordan, the other one, I guess we're not doing, uh, Gareth Jones, uh, 5 Euro saying the best there is, was and ever could be. Pleasure to see Brett. Very happy to see Brett. He had a few questions for Brett. Unfortunately, it's not that type of show. We don't do the fan submission questions,

but we appreciate your support and thank you for your donations, Gareth. Next up, Ryan Maddux, 199 saying Yoel makes me so happy I was smiling the whole time. Uh, me too. Uh, inspiring. So good. So good. Uh, from Yoel Romero.

Next. More inspiring was Andy jumping in there. Wait up. Oh, you're jumping, you're jumping the gun here. Sorry, sorry, I didn't read them. KidoKey999, Ariel, that Yoel interview was easily one of your best interviews ever. Shout outs to Yoel. What a genuine soul.

The interview, interview put a big smile on my face from his laughter and much more with TD Andy also. Wow. So shout out to, or, or no, W to Andy. He's saying it was a W for Andy. W's in the chat. W's in the chat.

Here's the thing. I had nothing to do with that. I mean, I had nothing to do with the Brett one either. I, sometimes you just have to sit back and shut up, let them cook. You know what I mean? And that's what we do. Yeah. We know that feeling. All right.

Cole B five bucks, Ariel and crew has anyone pulled an April fools on you that you'll always remember also Dana announcement later today. Any guesses on what it will be? Any chance that's an April fools. I don't think so. Well, when we walked in today, Frank hit us with the, uh, Hey guys, uh, it's my last day. No, I'm not going to lie? I don't think so. Well when we walked in today Frank hit us with the hey guys it's my last day. No no

he didn't say hey guys that's how I knew that was up. Oh that's how you knew. He also said that this was the start of his two weeks. Two weeks right right right right right right. He thought he was quit. So he tried to hit us. Last night I tried to hit the kids with we're moving to California that we got a house in Manhattan Beach this then the other I think they believed for like my daughter definitely believed were they happy or sad no they were they were devastated Yeah, what about our friends? What about school? What if your kids were like great? When are we moving? I mean I would have said

Let's do it But it was so you're saying that this one by Frank and this one that you tried to pull yesterday are the ones you'll always remember forever. Cause that's what the question was. This is the core memories of April Fool's now. Yeah. My mom used to be big on the April Fool's. So in French, April Fool's translates into poisson d'avril, which is fish of April. Fish.

I don't know what it has to do with fish. Yeah. It's poisson d'avril. Like you don't say April Fool's, you say poisson d'avril. Why that is, I don't know. And so she did something, I remember with the Dr. Fish calling, saying that someone was sick. It was a whole big thing. She was quite the prankster back in the day. And I think my brother tried to play a prank on her, saying that, or I think she played a prank on him, saying that he was going to jail. You know, we always do that type of thing. Hello police. Hello you're going to jail. Yes. For being bad. That type of stuff. Anyway. But this Frank one

you'll remember that. Yeah I will till the day I die. And he will lower you down into the ground. Okay last one Ryan Maddix 499 and this chat is for Andy only so everybody else cover your ears. Thank, thank you for translating so well. What a freaking moment from the goat. The donation should go straight to her pocket. So a lot of love for Andy in the chat. Uh, earlier there was just a bunch of like comments, more Andy content, W Andy, Andy is

a dog, more Andy. We love Andy in this chat. So everybody loves Andy. Hell yeah. As do we. I mean, that's, that's not easy. Just for the record. Well, you know, very complimentary on the back end as well.

Very complimentary. Yeah, shout out. Yoel, showin' love. That's a guy who's been translated before because he's spoken little, like, excerpts, right? He knew how to break it up. Yeah, he understood the assignment. Jordan told me one of the favorite April Fish jokes

among French children is to tape a paper fish to someone's back without them knowing it. The longer the paper fish stays on someone's back, the funnier it is. So maybe. Why is it called April fish though? That's the question, yeah. Do we have any comment from Andy?

I wanna hear from Andy. Andy, please. What do you have to say? I just wanna say he made it easy, man. That is not easy. He made it easy. So shout out to him too. Your favorite fighter for Andy.

What a pairing. Up there, up there. We're gonna see Andy ringside at the next 30. We're homies. Yeah. By the way, we're homies. Yeah. By the way, you know, Rick does a great job of finding interpreters. Like when we had John Whaley on, we found someone. When we had Charles and Norma last week, found someone.

Are we okay, like if it's a Spanish speaking fighter, are you able to, you know, do both jobs, interpret and direct? Um, let's circle back. Okay, alright. We'll talk offline. I mean, I just felt like we found, you know, it's just like we just stumbled into this, you know, it would be great. Trial by fire.

Okay, I mean, what better than that? We found out this morning, I found out this morning, I woke up to a text from Bret Hart saying he could come on today. I mean, and then dreams come true. And then dreams come true. And then dreams come true guys. Uh, in about, um, an hour we're going to do our other show on Dazon and the bronze bomber is going to be joining us. Deontay Wilder.

Hell yeah. First interview since it was announced last week that he's coming back. The big man. That's how we do also Pat Brown Olympian turned pro won his debut on Friday. I mean, the guy can punch, absolute beast, cruiserweight. Remember that name.

He'll join us as well myself. Adele O'dipo, by then Forrest should have won against Man United and will be rolling. And then I got a courtside date tonight at the Garden. All right? You know yourself, it's a great time to be alive. You can hear my music and we shall be on our way. What a day, guys.

Oh, oh, tomorrow on the program, the hits just keep on coming in studio. One of the all-time best comedians right now doing his thing. Tremendous, tremendous special on Netflix right now. If you haven't seen it, go do yourself a favor, watch it before tomorrow's show. It's entitled Life, the Great Andrew Schultz, the second best MMA journalist on the planet.

We'll be joining us in studio, second time, Andrew Schultz in studio. He was on a couple years ago when he had that whole streaming issue, but now he's just absolutely blown up. I mean, he headlined and sold out MSG twice! For a New Yorker, what's better than that? What a time. Yeah, Schultz is on. Thumbs up to the chat. Thumbs up. Oh, come on! Force 1-0! Forest of magic on and off the pitch. Forest of magic on and off the pitch. Forest, a magic on and off the pitch.

Did you guys see that promo? I mean, there I am, middle of the night, in Queens, on a soccer field, walking up there, with my Forest scarf. They had the old school boxing mic. Yeah, it was fun. Who'd have thought? Who'd have thought? What a life.

What a time. Like Izzy once said after he beat Alistair, I hope you can all be as happy as I am right now. I hope you can all feel what I am feeling right now after getting to interview my childhood hero on my show. Thank you, Bret Hart. Thank you, Yoel. Thank you, Ryan. Eddie, Jessica. Back on Wednesday, same type of place at the same pace. I'm out of here.