The Ariel Helwani Show - Colby Covington, Oscar De La Hoya, Muhammad Mokaev, Salahdine Parnasse, Dalton Rosta, On The Nose, news and notes

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

Ariel Helwani begins the show with breaking news of Gable Steveson signing with RAF, then brings in The Boys in the Back — live from the Seattle area — and Petesy Carroll to answer your On The Nose questions, with topics including White House card announcements, Conor McGregor continuing to tease his return, whether a Jorge Masvidal comeback is in the works and against who, Jon Jones amplifying support from Francis Ngannou, Paul Hughes being forced out of his next fight, and more (6:54). Colby Covington joins Ariel for the first time in a long time, previewing his upcoming RAF 7 match against Dillon Danis, discussing his relationship with the UFC, not being selected for the White House card, his beef with Bo Nickal, challenging Georges St-Pierre to a grappling match, whether he’d ever ask for his UFC release, and more (1:01:32). PFL’s Dalton Rosta makes his show debut, breaking down his upcoming fight against Impa Kasanganay and wanting to earn the next title shot with a win, then talking about his early days in amateur wrestling, how the loss of his father impacted his life and career, fighting in his hometown of Pittsburgh, and more (1:33:56). KSW double champ Salahdine Parnasse checks in, discussing his decision to re-sign with KSW despite UFC offers, fighting Kenneth Cross on the MVP card on Netlfix, forays into the fashion and music worlds, his interest in boxing, whether he will again attempt to capture a third title in the future, and more (2:03:04). Muhammad Mokaev is back on the show, talking about his matchup against Adriano Moraes on Netlifx, the strength of the card overall, grappling Arman Tsarukyan at Hype FC, believing Kyoji Horiguchi is UFC’s best flyweight even over champion Joshua Van, talks of fighting Demetrious Johnson, being offered a UFC BJJ match against Mikey Musumeci, training with Moraes previously, and more (2:33:54). Oscar De La Hoya returns, detailing Golden Boy’s new broadcast deal with DAZN and the state of his relationship with Vergil Ortiz Jr. following Ortiz’s lawsuit against Golden Boy, then giving his opinion on Zuffa Boxing, their belt and the Ring Magazine belt, before discussing Ryan Garcia potentially fighting Devin Haney next, the Ali Revival Act advancing through Congress, his ongoing feud with Dana White, and more (3:01:19). Ariel answers a few more On The Nose questions (3:35:12) and ends with your Super Chats (3:41:18).

Lay and gentlemen, welcome to the Air. On this Wednesday, March 3,500. And 26. Hello again, everyone. I was just making sure if my speakers were on because it always sort of throws me off when I start to hear myself or anything coming out of the laptop here.

So it is wonderful to be here on a somewhat lovely Wednesday, a mild Wednesday here in New York City. Gosh, what a show yet, plan on the show. One of those days where I'm like, I can't wait for one o'clock, Eastern Time. I can't wait. So much to get to.

On the nose. Five incredible guests. A ton of news. Massive events happening this weekend. Whether it's the UFC in Seattle, PFL in Pittsburgh, R.A.F. in Tampa. Boxing, PBC over in Las Vegas as well. There's so much to get to.

Golly. There's a brand new uncrown.com that I want you to all check out. There's a redesigned uncrown.com. to our friends over at Yahoo for continuing to up the stakes and making the page and everything that we're doing looks so good. Very, very excited about everything. Back into the program, speaking of boxing, we're going to be joined by the Golden Boy. The great Oscar Delahoya, we found out yesterday that they have signed, Golden Boy Promotions,

has signed with DeZone, re-signed with DeZone, I should say. This was a little bit of a, I don't know, a bit of a saga, not quite as long as the top-ranked saga, but top-rank Domino Falls, then we get the Golden Boy news. So like we said yesterday, DeZone now the home, top-ranked Golden Boy, Queensberry matchroom. Not a bad stable right there, in addition to all the other ones that they're working with, Salita promotions, misfits, et cetera, et cetera. So not a bad stable right there. It's always great. It's not a clapback Thursday. It's a clapback Wednesday. It's always great to talk to Oscar. There's a lot going on in the boxing world, so it can't wait to pick his brain. Now, prior to that, so

he's going to be on at 4. At 3.30, we're going to be joined by Mohamed Mokaiev, who we found out yesterday. We'll be competing against Adriano Morais at the Netflix card on May 16th, MVP MMA. I don't even know if that's the official name that they're going with. I think it's just MVP, to be honest, but it's good to distinguish. Busy time for those guys. Makayev, Morice, 125. What a big fight. One of the many big fights on that card that we found out about yesterday in earnest. We also found out Saladin Parnas, one of the best young fighters not ever signed by the UFC fighting in KSW, multiple time champion, the pride of France. He's coming over as well.

We'll make his American debut on that same card, Intuit Dome, Inglewood, May 16th, Netflix, MVP against Kenneth Cross, a fight that a lot of people are excited about. That will be on the main card, by the way. So that will be on Netflix come May 16th. Shout out to our friends over at Netflix, by the way. opening day today. Giants, Yankees, can't wait to see how they present MLB opening day for the very first time. So I'm excited about that.

So Parnas will join us at 3 o'clock. Dalton Rasta is going to join us at 2.30. He's competing on that PFL Pittsburgh card this Saturday. Big fight for him. Impakasangade is his opponent. And there's a bit of a middleweight tournament. As I said to John Martin yesterday, who I thought was fantastic, and it seems like you guys agree. Straight shooter, no BS, no fluff, no nonsense, seems to know what he's talking about,

seems to come across like the guy in charge, which he is. No fight matrix nonsense, no rankings nonsense, just gives us the goods, understands as a TV guy, they bring him in to close these big TV deals, but as also a fight guy, I think they made the perfect hire here, if I'm being honest. Like, not a retread, not a recycled face, not a person who's not a person who who's just being used as a mouthpiece of figurehead who actually knows nothing about what's going on and makes no decisions. Very much enjoyed the chat.

And we talked about how Castel Van Stenis successfully defended his title, Friday, Madrid, and then you move along eight days later, and you've got former champion Johnny Eblin who he has a history with, going up against Brian Battle, who they signed recently, Impa and Dalton,

two guys that they're obviously very much behind. So the middleweight division in focus, while the UFC's middleweight division is in focus on Saturday, too. This is good. This is good for the sport. This is good for the biz. We'll talk to Dalton about all of this and more. And then, my friends, it is in fact true.

And I can't wait to believe it when I see it. Kobe Cunnington is going to join us at 2 o'clock. I have not talked to Colby Cumberton since 2020, mid-2020. It's been about six years the last time we spoke. In any way, shape, or form. On air, text, I even went back to my text. Nothing since 2020. RAF has made this possible.

Chad Bronstein has made this possible. He's going to be competing this Saturday at the RAF event, which is taking place in Tampa against Dylan Danis. Obviously on that card as well, RIF 7, Armist Surukin against Georgia Apulis is on it as well. But Colby has been in the news, and I hope he'll show up. I've been told he's going to show up. I have no reason to believe that he's not going to show up. I have no idea what to expect. I think I've been fair. I think I've kept an open mind. I've said that I'd be happy to have him on. Just as I say, I'm always happy to have anyone on. I look forward to the chat. I think it's going to be interesting. And I can't wait until 2 o'clock until it actually goes down. So that's the lineup. Five incredible guests on this Wednesday, March 25th. I did want to say, regarding RAF and we'll get to On the Nose in a moment. We have a lot to get to at the top of the show.

We do have some big breaking news from the world of wrestling, freestyle wrestling, to be exact. I've confirmed with the good people over at Real American Freestyle Wrestling that they have, in fact, signed the big fish. The one that we thought they would sign from the jump, he's been quite busy, but he seemed like a natural shoe-in from the start. He is the Olympic gold medalist, the multiple-time national champion, the multiple-time All-American, the future UFC fighter, we suspect. Gable Stephson has signed a multi-match deal with RAF, Real American Freestyle Wrestling. You can see him compete on Fox Nation. He will make his debut, RIF 9, May 30th, Dallas, Texas.

Opponent TBD. I hear they're going after some big ones. And, of course, White Hendrickson, who beat him. him last year in the national championship is a member of RAF. That's not going to be the match off the bat, why competing this weekend. They're going to build up to it, I'm told, but that's a massive signing for RAF. It seemed like a natural fit. Gable's got some big plans this year. Wouldn't be surprised if we see him debut in the UFC in the next few months, maybe even International Fight Week. There was some talk of the White House card. International

Fight Week is going to be a very big one. Stay tuned for that. For now, we know May 30th, his debut with RAF, he signed a multi-match deal with them, Dallas, Texas, Fox Nation. There you have it, Gable Steven, some news off the jump. Perhaps just as big as that is the fact that the boys have in fact landed in the shoot. Yes, they are there and they are joining us from there. Oh, my dear, look at these guys. Look at these cans of pisses.

And I'm not referring to Pizzi with that painted on smile on his face. He doesn't know how to react to this scene. Pizzi, the boys are in the shoot. Look at G.C. Rocking the old school throwback, Seattle, Seahawks, Sean Alexander. Look at Rick with the Northwest Sun beaming on his face. What a scene. What a scene this is.

How are you guys? We're doing good, man. It was it was hectic travel leaving the studio yesterday to then get here, land around, you know, 11 local time, pick up the car, pick up Casey, shout out to young Casey, the legend who was here with us. Wait, where'd you pick him up from? Where'd you pick him up from? Where was he?

Airport. Okay. But he was, you know, and then we came to the muckle chute, the casino resort. And let me tell you, it is something, man. It is something. Okay, so. I'm looking out at like, lush, evergreen trees

right here and mountain ranges. It's great beautiful. We're out here. We're, we're, in the middle, like we had to get the car last night. We were the last car out of the lot on the rental car place. We had to drive out into the forest. I am looking at nothing but evergreen trees and mountain ranges in front of me right now. You were the one, G.C., who I feel like really truly manifested this, like you put this out there. Has it, I know you've only been there for like 12 hours or so. Has it lived up to the expectations? Your early thoughts on this,

like, this mythical place in the Pacific Northwest known as the, what is the official name, the muckle shoot casino what is it the casino resort okay okay out here in auburn washington uh yeah i mean we got to explore the place right now we're on the 18th floor so we're as high as you can get in terms of the hotel above us is the 19th floor which has a steakhouters and restaurant that i can't wait to check out this evening uh has it lived up to the height it's tough to say uh you know we arrived here at about 1 a m local yeah on a tuesday evening and then we got up got some breakfast around 8 a mm on a wednesday day morning. Buffet, what do we got over there? What's the spread?

Bobby Flaz hasn't opened yet. The breakfast spot was still closed down for maintenance. I got a PV&J, but it's all part of the muckle shoot experience. Yeah, I mean, is a casino the happiest place on Earth on a weekday morning? Sure. Maybe not, but we'll see tonight. I think things are going to start wrapping up. The wallpaper, the decor is very MGM grand-esque. I feel like you guys. are in a prime spot right now with that sort of gray wallpaper. We did get a photo of you guys upon

landing and it was a great interaction. Here's the boys. I mean, these two guys, I was talking yesterday that I was worried whether or not they hit it off back in 2021. I mean, look at these two cans of pisses here. Look how happy they are. I mean, these are two road warriors. And it was great because obviously we know that the great state of Washington is known as the Evergreen State, G.C. dropping a little tree in there. And of course, where does Pizzi's mind go to? Pee Tee, what did you say? you saw the tree. I said what anyone would say when they saw a tree, mate, okay? I thought it meant that the boys were after having a fatty boom, buddy outside,

and they were telling us that they were baked, and I was like, fair play. You know what I mean? Evergreen tree emoji. No, I get it now. Okay. All right. I'm not from America, GC, all right? But I will say, you've gone for the Scarface suite there, and the stripper pole there in

the background of Ricks is quite dubious, I must say. Yeah, yeah. No, actually, so that's not a stripper pole. is like, okay, yeah, sure. My bed has a lofted, like, you know, top here. Yeah. It looks like that's my bed over there. Uh, you know, up and coming. A canopy, yes. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Andy. We have a canopy on the bed here. It kind of pissed. Harry, you mentioned road warriors. Can I actually just pull the everybody here? You know, I am a true,

tried and true road warrior. I'm a man of the people. I'm flying economy. I'm in the back. I'm as close to the bathroom as one can possibly get. I just wanted to ask you guys how you feel about, this was almost a seven hour flight, a little bit over six hours, how you feel about reclining fully in economy? Not allowed, it's not allowed. And you should fight the person in front of you

if you're going to get thrown off the... At all, period? Not even like... No, what you do is, right, if they do it to you, you just go, for fuck sake! And then if they turn around, just be staring at them like that.

You all right, mate. You all right? You all right? You know what I mean? It's absolutely ridiculous. You know what I mean? We pay 20 quaid for the seats. Get over.

Relax as much as you. I had buddy in front of me in my lap, the entirety of the flight last night. Was buddy, right? No, no, no. It was, it was. Rick, I would have slapped upside the head. Yeah, I mean, as soon as that flight took off, he went, just all the way back into my lap.

I don't even know why United makes it legal to recline that much, but alas, we made it. So, did a loud expletive out of him? you like just to let him know how you felt about the situation? I gave like a little pushback. It was like, come on, man. They gave me like a little. Ah, yeah, those are great. Yeah.

You know. I'm just curious, truth be told, like, in all fairness, it's been a while since I sat there. So like, how does it work now? Do they go all the way back? Or has that? This is akin to the, when you ask us about, like, how do you get into the subway and everything?

It's been, it's been, it's been for me. Yeah, the economy. Yeah, they crack all the way back. Like, I couldn't even watch my TV. anymore. Like the TV goes from being right now. So like right down here it was... Oh, so you guys get the beds too. You get the full like layback bed?

This guy was like, he was cranking this thing too. He was trying... I thought he was going to break the seat for a minute. He was trying to push it back so hard. It was it was egregious. It was egregious use of recline. Actually, you were traveling yesterday. United came out with this new thing that everyone's going crazy about. Surely Frank saw it on Reddit.

Did you see this Frank with the... You can actually now get a full road to yourself and everyone's going crazy over this. So perhaps you know, could you not have done this previously by the war? No, no, this is a whole new thing that they've rolled out. They've got these new planes, you can get the full row to yourself, you can

lie down. I know, but actually, you're just buying three seats and then laying down something on it. I used to do this all the time. Now you're just buying one. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's what they're saying. It's not just buying one. No. What about, what about the buy that row? What about the little like, uh, jug of of hot nuts.

Do you guys get that too, or is that? I've never, I've never even, jug of hot nuts? What the fuck is a jug of hot nuts? It's a little cup of warmed up peanuts. Yeah, yeah. Oh, not just peanuts, Frankie.

Okay, mixed. Cachews, almonds, but they're all very hot, like steaming hot. This is before after the towel. Yeah, after the towel. Oh, nice. Or you clean your fingers.

The towel is that. And you know, you know, obviously you're always up there in the front, your first off, off the plane, first on as well. I actually had to go to the bathroom so bad. Line was backed up out the wazoo out the back. I tried to make an attempt at the front. No. Oh, yeah, they pulled the curtain.

Don't even bother. You can't bother. Don't even bother. So what is on tap? I mean, obviously the next few hours are tied up here, I would imagine, unless you guys are going to leave us high and dry like you did yesterday. Francis was on the show yesterday. I don't know if you guys saw, but.

I didn't say, congrats, ma. Yeah, no, it was good. As you mentioned at the very sale end of the show. Yeah. No, as you mentioned, we were weighing in watching Francis from the Uber on the way. I wasn't sure if those were like later grams or something. No, no, no. We saw exactly what was happening.

Shout out to Franklin. Later today. I had it open on the laptop. I'm writing up podcast copy for Frankie. This grind doesn't stop. Speaking of today, we are going to do the show. We're going to be locked in. As soon as this shows over, we're going to go meet up and get a tour of the entire facility.

They're going to take us to every place that we need to see, roll out the red carpet for us, white glove service, and take us to round and show us the best of the mock. And so we're really looking forward to that. And then we're coming live from the muck tomorrow for boys in the back. And so hopefully we'll have some tails to regale everybody with. Yeah, and hopefully the internet will be a little bit better. I mean, it's okay. I thought that was my end. It's very, yeah, I thought that was my end, maybe. Oh, no, did you not hear any of that? No, we heard it. It was very Blanchardstown-esque, Sirka, 2010, you know, like, or 2025.

We're also going to Galaxy, Muckles, Casino and Resorts, very own club. Oh, sick. All right. Well, this is a great time, guys. All right, well, we'll get more details of your trip. I'm assuming throughout the show, but we do have a ton of questions to get to. So time now for everyone's favorite second of the week. It is time. And just to be fully energized while I do this, I wanted to open up this can of Nama water, courtesy of our friends Rose Nama Yunus and Pat Barry, they sent us these hydrogen-infused water cans here. I'm very excited about this. I love my water.

I love my H-2-O, especially during the show. Oh, yeah, would you look at that? No, this is not an ad. It's not an ad, Frankie. This is just for our friends, Rose, Pat? That's good water. Are you sure this is not an ad?

I just like helping everyone out. I like helping everyone out. Nama water. Love it. Be your best. Check it out. There's even a Thug Rose signature on here. Beautiful stuff.

Matt from SLC is up first. G.C., please blind rank these recurring rage bait moments. All right? You ready for this? Ready. Ariel's integrity as a journalist questioned. I feel like that's really been coming up a lot lately I'll go four

Whenever Pizzi's music starts playing You know the one I almost feel like that isn't rage bait That's like almost like a tune And anthem to get him going I'm gonna go too So good when it starts playing I thought maybe Frank would play it

When we started Yeah man Mom's gone Frank Frank Frank when somebody tries to tell him How to do his job Yeah look at that Look at that

That's number one. The quickest way to get Frank to not do anything is to tell him to do it when you aren't his boss. So good. I want everyone in the chat. I love when I complain about something and then the chat either chimes in via the chat or via email tweet and they try to sort of like diagnose what the issue is from afar. Frank loves it, by the way. So I urge you all to continue to do it. He really, really does appreciate it.

Ariel. I love you specifically. Yes. Ariel the morning after a big Knicks slash Bill's loss And then finally Rick dying on another hot take hill He does say in brackets

Bro is so high strong but is 100% The people's champ He's the least high strong of all of us He really is like legitimately The least always That should be two but I'm going to go five That's all I've loved All right there you go

Um Hey this question is for Pizzi thoughts on Sala leaving at the end of the season, end of an era. Now he's not referring to Saladin Parnas. He's referring to Muhammad Sala of Liverpool FC. Yeah, I mean, probably the hate that he felt

from Liverpool supporters there. Probably pushed him out the door if you asked me. You know, a lot of blame getting thrown. Sala's way early in the season I felt. It's unfortunate. The greatest player in the football club's history, you know. It was time. It was time.

Is he going to Saudi? I feel like that's not a thing anymore, right? No, I think, I think he'd be a great, great for the market out there. I think he'd destroy that league. But I still think he's capable of playing top level football. He's brilliant. I think people were talking about the football leaving him this year, Jamie Carragher.

But I still think he's very, very talented player. And, you know, Premier League is so fast. I think you play anywhere in Europe still. Still playing the Premier League for a lesser team. But I don't imagine he'll do that because he's solo with Liverpool. But great player. I think the best player in the history of Liverpool Football Club. I would love to see him in the MLS.

Antoine Grisman signing with Orlando. I think that would be tremendous. Yeah, he would be brilliant over there. He's a great player. I think anywhere he goes, he's going to be a massive asset to any team. Lex, hey, Ariel, now that the UFC White House card is official, which ones did you know beforehand and which ones did you find out about in the announcement like all of us?

So this is kind of a weird one because I don't want to do the thing. It was like, oh, I knew about it. But if you're asking me, like, which ones I knew? I'm out of the breaking news game in the sense that I don't get the rush. I don't get the excitement. I don't bother people to break news. But I'm constantly talking. I'm constantly talking.

I think you can figure that out by the things that I say on the show. Which fights did I know? And also, like I said, the brass at the UFC made everyone swear up and down that they would not leak anything or anything. They wanted to make the announcement.

God bless, make the announcement. I don't care. I really don't. By Saturday night, I knew Ilya versus Justin. I knew Alex versus Gunn. I knew Bo versus Kyle I knew Sean

versus Zahabi I didn't know Garcia versus Lopez I didn't know Huffy versus Chandler and I think that's all of them right there's six so I knew of four I didn't know the other two

in honor of March Madness Trivia for G.C. Winning his NCAA men's basketball coach John Wooden Mike Shosheski winningest NCAA men's basketball program UCLA Kentucky

Program with the most NCAA championships UCLA correct guess Bill Self's all-time home record 431 and 112 that's a tough one

342 and 22 which is unbelievable 22 holy shit What about GMAC go to Syracuse huh? That's exciting Do you see that? Huge Macamara? Yeah. Steve Buscemi, Ariel, what is going on with McGregor?

He sent a cryptic post yesterday about being back and mentioning something about an Irishman. People think it's he and Gary, which I know is not going to happen. Is there anything you could tell us? Has an opponent been agreed upon? Also, whatever happened to your interview with him that was supposed to be rescheduled? Well, I did see this post last night from Connor McGregor on Instagram in which he says, the rumors are true. Mr. Confidence returns to say fighting again.

Call your grandma. Nanny, we did it. Watch and pay me. F. You pay me, you fat Irish prick. You don't have my money. I put your brain to sleep. Cia's in the casinos after. Muckle shoot? The Mac loves yas all. I got love for y'all's. I got love for y'as all. It's an honor. It's light work. It's easy. For life and eternity, it's McGregor. Big Money Mac Daddy McGregor. I expect fawning of the highest for life. I do that. this fight game, easy-peasy, the sound of my shots, off the head, go Bing in greet dot laser form, go BHB. What's BHB? Anyone know that? What's BHB? No. Watch divine magic when I fight. Hey, Paramount Plus, see you guys soon. I'm so excited and born ready, the notorious kind of regard. What did I tell you on Monday? I told you on Monday. It would be something disastrous at this point if he's not fighting July 11th International Fight Week. And I believe, I didn't ask, but I believe this is what he's referring to.

And I told you, Max Holloway ain't playing games. So frontrunner Max Holloway, Connor McGregor, he's confirming it right then and there. There haven't been any other rumors about his return. And so I think that the UFC recognizes that, you know, they've got to get the biggest star back. I think they're going to pay him better than what they were talking to John Jones about. better than the Connor Ben number, all that stuff. And I think people are going to be very excited about it.

And, you know, even Max said 170. Like I said, when Max put out that clip, I knew exactly what he was doing. He was planting the seed. He hasn't talked about Connor in quite some time. There was a time where he was chasing that Connor rematch. He hasn't been doing that. And then he did it, and it made all the sense. Imagine thinking before that BMF title fight that the loser would end up fighting Connor.

I think we thought maybe if Max would have won, they would have done a BMF title fight. But perhaps this is an indication that they didn't love the Charles fight. We'll see. We'll find out more as time goes on. But he confirmed it there, and I think we're going to see him July 11th.

That's what I feel, and that's what that tells me. Now, the Ian Gary thing, I don't think, Ptze, he's not referring to, like, I think he's just like kind of talking slang stuff there, right? he's not funny. I think that's a line from Casano actually. Oh, okay.

There. But funnily enough, a journalist reached out to me this morning. I wake up to this message, get a message about 6.30 a.m. And they're like, here, Pizzi, I'm just wondering, and no offense to you when I ask you this, but are you the fat Irish prick that he's talking? Wait. And I was like, what? Was this journalist a friend of yours?

Yes. Elaine thought it was the funniest fucking thing she's ever heard in her life. She was like, well, you know, if the shoe fits, no, what are you going to do? You know? That's not very nice. I was like, no, that's a quote from a movie, mate, but how are you? That's, thank you, you know?

What the F? Bad fun. What the fuck is that? Yeah, seriously. Thank you. Are you guys still friends? We're working through it, you know? That's a rough one.

Pee, how do you feel about that? It's pretty funny. That's pretty funny. How do you like this? If it is, in fact, Max Hallway, do you like it? Love it. All right? Look, I remember the Maxo Holloway days.

We were only discussing his jaunt over to Dublin with Jameson back in the day. And we're all very excited about it. I think he's the best option. If Nate's not on the table, I think that's the best option. I think it's a really, really good fight. And I think it's two fan favorites against each other. Obviously, the return of McGregor, I think that would make for a huge international fight week. You guys like it?

Rick, you like it? I do. Yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense. It's just like what other. name can you put in there with Connor that there's some kind of history and is going to be an exciting fight to the point that you were making just a moment ago I think Charles could have been that fighter but I think he lost the opportunity with the way he fought Max as evidenced by the fact that Max is the one now in the conversation but I like to fight a lot I think you know there's

you can roll back that ancient footage of them looking like babies fighting and then just say this is the time for the new era and I think they'd put on a great fight do you see you like it love it you got the history between the two, return to the Mac, biggest star in the sport, going against a massive star in Max Holloway. They're going to give us a fun fight.

I imagine that it will be striking. Yeah, love it. Is there a better option? Guess the line? Guess the line, Jesus. Yeah, guess the line? That's a good question. At 170, I presume,

Connor is not going down to 55. I still have to fix Max Holloway. It doesn't really matter the weight class. Just because of his recent activity, his success. We haven't seen Connemarrier five years. I would imagine

like Max Holloway and like the minus 175 minus 200 range. I mean, it could even get bigger than that. I could see people betting on Max Holloway just because of his form. Is there a better option? There's really not.

Like, who else is out there? The only one that I could think that would actually make a bigger splash potentially would be Patty. Patty versus Connor, I think would be a fight that gets a lot of people talking about it.

But outside of that, who's more popular? I think Max is more popular, but I think Patty versus Connor as a matchup, would probably have a little more juice. The Connor and Max history is so far removed that like the modern crop of audience, that's not even like part of the equation. Now it's just like Max is an exciting fighter and Connor last time we saw him was an exciting

fighter. So I like it, you know, as much as almost anything else out there, Patty's probably the only realistic name that I think you could throw in there and have a little bit bigger splash. To be honest, I still feel like it should have been Chandler, but. obviously that ship has sailed Diaz ship has sailed I agree with you and actually the next question

is actually tied to this coincidentally what's up Ariel and crew this is from Ryder I saw Mazvedal say the UFC wants him to come back and they have an idea who the opponent is any chance it's

Covington versus Mazvedal too and are you guys interested in that fight? Well I've seen a lot of people say because I saw that clip I think it was on Jorge's podcast where he said he was

approached by MVP they never really got to the point where there was like a sign thing or anything like that, but he was approached and he's still under UFC contract and the UFC wasn't just going to let him walk away. I think it was misrepresented that he might have been free and then ultimately it wasn't the case. And, you know, they've been, you know,

we were talking to Masvedal in December and he was saying, you know, he's talking to UFC about the White House and all this stuff. And I feel like he has said for a while, like his last fight was what, 23 or 24, when he had the retirement fight in Miami. It was April. I remember because I was in Montreal.

It was Passover time. And it was 23. So it's been almost exactly three years. April 8th will be three years. He was away and then he came back and they've just kind of been sitting on him, doing nothing. And I saw people say,

oh, he's got to be talking about Connor. He's not talking about Connor. The Connor fight is not the one that they're talking about. Would that be a better option? Do you guys like that better than Max Holloway? Jorge versus Connor is more of a better. I think it's a good option though.

Yeah. I'm with Pizzi. It's on par. I would take Jorge versus Connor. No problem. But I like fights for Jorge more. As an example, the one that he called us dorks for shitting on at the time, I think makes all the sense in the world now, which is Jorge versus Leon. That fight makes all the sense in the world to me now.

You're 100% right. Yeah. It's a great way. You're 100% right. Leon is completely out of the title picture. now. There's nothing that he's tied up with that he has to worry about in terms of that. You bring Jorge back. Now that one,

the footage on that one, I think you could tell a million stories from. And so Jorge versus Leon, that's box office for me. I would definitely want to see that. I don't want to see Colby versus Jorge. That's not you. What about Colby versus Connor?

This is what the guy was asking me originally. I just wrote. Oh, no. It's not like that. Max. Yeah. The max one has a great story behind it. You might as well put Charles in there then, right? If you're opening up the potential for somebody to wrestle, that seemed like that was the BMF prize, right?

Like whoever wins this gets Connor, you might as well just do Charles then and tell him, hey, Charles, maybe strike with Connor this time. But yeah, I don't love Kobe versus Connor. No's, no nose. I was wondering if you could elaborate on how lots of, oh, and by the way, to answer the other part of the question, I've already talked about why he didn't show up that day.

go back. I mean, I talked about, I think, like, the next week. So that's fair. That's like a year old? No, that was October. I was wondering if you could elaborate on how lots of fighters, John Jones or Ilya, wanting more for Islam, are able to request more money to fight.

How does a fighter sign a contract with certain terms than request more? It's just, it's, it's, it's the Wild West, man. They can fire you, you know, a fight into your, or release you a fight into your six-fight deal. Everyone knows that everything's negotiable. and oh, this opponent has this number attached to them? The contract just kind of keeps you there so you don't leave. But other than that, it's the wild freaking West.

Now, they could tell you to go take a hike, but all the fighters know, all the managers know, hey, you're going to offer a big-time fight, we're going to negotiate for more money. That's just how it is. It's very Wild West-ish like that. Jalen Brunson can't say after year one, unless they want to renegotiate, but more often than not, teams don't in the major leagues. Like, hey, I had a great year. I was an MVP candidate, give me more.

No, also, by the way, there's a salary cap. And so it screws up everything among the team. There's no salary cap in the UFC. So they could do whatever they want, when they want, how they want. And so guys take advantage of that. They just know that's the game. It's all very fluid. Colin.

Ariel, why do you feel the need to mock and downplay anime whenever a guest is into it? I get that you don't know anything about it or care. But when the fighters have a genuine interest, it comes across as very condescending and borderline bullying. Instead of claiming that Pikachu and Charzart are the main characters of every anime,

maybe just listen and learn or stop bringing it up so you could play the whole Too Cool for School Act. You're a pro wrestling fan. You should understand what it's like to have your hobbies belittled. On a related note,

watch Hajim or Hajime No Ipo on Netflix. It's an anime about a young, up-and-coming boxer and deals with a lot of behind-the-scenes aspects of combat sports. Sounds like something that would be up my alley. I don't know what you're talking about.

I open my heart, my mind, my soul to the anime discussions. I'm just not a ball in nowhere like you guys are. So what do you want me to do? Fake it? Do you want me to pretend? Anime. I've never said that it's like loserific. Was that a drop?

What was that? Yeah, that was a drop. That's an old school. Are you saying it right now that it's a good. Welcome to the team. I've never said, but this guy is implying that I'm acting like I'm quote unquote too cool for school. I like pro wrestling, as he said.

So I know what it feels like to have your interest belittled. I'm not belittling. I may not understand it. I may not get the appeal. I may not be a fan of it. I may have had an existential crisis when my kids were collecting Pokemon cards for two weeks and thought that they would end up being,

you know, like Pokemon card trading, magic, video game playing type of kids. But in the end, it all worked out. It all worked out. Oh, you're doing it right now. That's going for you, Rick. Yeah, Rick, you are eating that.

It all worked out. It all worked out. You're hating it right now. You're hating on it right now. You do the video game, you're like, I sit there and watch my kids and like, you know, they seem to enjoy it. But like, I just couldn't fathom in my brain. It is Red Dead, by the way. It's Red Dead.

He's a shot out. Great, great game. Good kid. He's galloping on a horse. I mean, I'm like, well. Is he having a sound level? Yeah. No, see?

I'm asking questions. All right? There's a little bit of condescension, no? No. No, but little link's the perfect word. This, this question asker has nailed it. Kelper Dana White's hearing

gets worse by the minute he can't even understand English anymore but then as soon as it's an easy question he can all of a sudden hear and answers it is he okay

I don't know I don't know mate you maybe you should ask him that next time you're at a press conference you probably want to be great point yeah

hey Ariel for Pizzi named these top 15 UFC fighters based on their nicknames black jag so what is the question here you have to guess who it is

Colborke Carlos Oldbro Okay, the sniper? I don't know the sniper. You know the sniper, GZ? Yeah. Isn't that Sean Woodson? No, that's STL sniper or something, right?

Maybe. I think that's just his Instagram. Oh, wait. He gave me the answers below. It's Imovov. I'm not going to. I'm not going to bemovof. Okay.

The best? I just think of Ravens because of Ben, folks. When I'mov, go ahead. The best? Don't disappoint me, P.C. Anyone want to steal it? Yeah, Cedric Dumbay. This guy says Taturotira.

He's saying top. Okay, but also... Yeah. Okay, yeah, sorry. All right. Well, also... Dube is in French, though. It's like, what, what is it?

Milleur or something? Le Miel. Yeah. I was a little bit annoyed with the Dubei thing. Oh, God, you guys are K. And then it ends up being like... But what is it? He announced it today.

It's like some rap song. Oh, get the fuck. He is a multi-talented, you know, artist. The rugful announcements. Annoying. Annoy. I got, I got the... best thing lined up for you guys.

It's gonna be a crazy K.O. You won't, and it was, it was not a fight. I could tell you that much. Magnum. Yeah, Wily Zhang. Walking Trouble. Oh shit, it's, uh, is it Jacoby? No.

No. Walking trouble. It's, uh, it's an Eastern European dude. Yep. Auntie. Oh, I did later, yeah. My boy. Only saw him over there, Manchester a few weeks.

Um, did you greet him as walking trouble? or just? No. No. All right. Sorry, man. Ooh, thank God. Jesse says,

Hey, Ariel, with John Jones sharing some of your content lately, any chance you can reach out and get them on the program? I feel like that'd be a gigantic one and make some noise. Has he been sharing our content?

I figured he'd share the Francis thing because I thought that was a brilliant answer by Angano yesterday on Jones. I thought, like, genuinely brilliant. I was like, whoa, edge of the sea kind of stuck there with Francis. The interview was brilliant. And you really challenged him.

Mario, I don't think you, I don't think you meant to, but like, I mean, obviously, you're trying to challenge to some degree, but yeah, what are you trying to say? He really took it badly at one stage, but that made the interview so much, Mark of Belling, I thought. Um, which part? When he, when he was saying to you, uh, about the haters, just focus on the criticism. Yeah. Yeah.

And you're like, hang on a second, man. I thought this was pretty balanced interview. And he was like, no, no. I haven't seen John share any of our stuff, although I think I'm blocked on his Instagram. So maybe it's over there, but. That was Rick. Yeah. Welcome to the club. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Number one, John's own supporter for two decades and get shit on. Guilty by Associations. I've been blocked by quite a few as well. Don't worry about that, Rick. I don't mean? It's like a Pulitzer Prize in MMA.

Oh, he did? What? You are right, mate? Whatever your hearing is not on air. Dan. Speak from your chest, Dan. Don't be so shy. He reposted.

Snap, he reposted your interview with Francis on his story today. Oh, he's still not to be. Frank, what's going? Did you guys hear that? No. Francis. Francis. I nailed it.

Oh, okay. Francis. Wait, why can't Rick hear that? Yeah, why can't I hear that? It wasn't for Rick. Frank is having a fucking mare over him. A mare. You know what's so funny?

Every, he cracks me of Eddie Hearn. Every time when he talks about Zufa boxing, they are having an absolute, he always drags out absolute mare. A mare. It's great comedy. That's what I just thought of when you said it. Our pound for pound British slang, Connor had absolute that.

Yeah, he did, yeah. But mayor, I would argue mayor is the better word. No, but the way you put the emphasis, the absolute, like that, that sets it off. Okay, wow, Johnny Bones. Johnny Bones posting, well, it was via Red Corner. Like, I love Red Corner, but he wasn't posting. Let's get the interview going, yeah? Yeah, let's go, Johnny.

Oh, he says he appreciates Francis advocating for him. All right, John. Listen, here's the thing. John, I don't know if he likes me or not. He was a feature in our Gable Steven doc, him and Casey are boys, Greg Jackson. We love Brandon Gibson, all those guys. I've always, what does John hate me for? I thought it was because of the D.C. friendship, you know, where's D.C. been these days?

I keep it a buck. That's the thing about me. I keep it a buck. Down the middle. I keep it real. I say what I say when it's good, bad, and different. But I'd like to think you believe that I always keep a real. all the nonsense behind the scenes. So the door is always open. I'd love to have a chat. We've had many

great chats, many, many great chats. And there's always room for more. That's what I'll say. Toronto, Mike D. Chow Ariel, a quick shout about Dana needing an English translator for English questions, just a stall tactic it is, because he hears the Zufa boxing and slap fight questions just fine. He isn't fooling anyone with his hearing issues. My question is about venues. Oh, it's nothing to do with it. I fear the cards at the White House. And even the boxing match at the pyramid sounds cool, but I don't think it's even a hot take to think people are going to come away from these events disappointed.

It's going to be due to the lack of atmosphere. They are both outdoors with limited capacity, especially the White House is going to be 1500 suits. Do you share my concern? Well, Rick and I were at the Times Square card, and it was an absolute disaster as far as atmosphere was concerned. Like, it just felt like we were in some sort of, like, weird cavernous vortex. It was strange.

Yeah, it didn't really, like, embody Times Square. or in any specific way. Correct. So yeah, you're right. I think it's guarantee that's either British or Irish who sent that message because he said,

just a Stalin tactic. Like a little bit of footy. Tackle enthusiast, hi, Ariel, can you talk a bit more about the reported removal of the sunset clause in UFC contracts? Yeah, I mean,

they don't want it there so they can keep you until you finish all your fights on the contract. Yes, the UFC is at fault for not taking care of its fight but should we also hold managers accountable for allowing fighters to sign contracts

without some of the causes? Yes, I've often said the reason why there isn't a association is because of the managers. There's only like six, seven managers in this business and they control all the fighters. All the fighters are assigned to them. So if they got together,

it'd be a lot easier than 400 fighters getting together, right? But they don't, there are some that do. Don't get me wrong. There are others who have notable fighters and big stables who don't. And so it's not going to happen anytime soon. There were a couple times where the managers got together in the last 10 to 15 years. Somewhere in the 10 to 15 year range, managers got together and guess what happened?

One manager went back and told the UFC. I wonder which one that was. That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? Was that the aspirin invited?

No, no, no. This is pre-Tom. This is pre-Tom. I remember it. It was around the time that the whole, like, what were they calling themselves, the PFA or something, Jeff Boris? Get up Dion. Yeah. No, no, no, not that one.

Anyway, yeah, and it got back to the UFC and never really, never really went anywhere. Joe Mers says, Ariel, I just finished the Anderson mini-series and I'm feeling very nostalgic all of a sudden. I know you say 2016 is the best year on UFC history. It was, and it's hard to argue with Conor Ronda, but can I put forward, 2011? No, Usada. introduction of five round non-title main events WEC full absorption Silver Prime GSP at Rogers

Jones Rise to Champ JDS-Kain rivalry begins Edgar Maynor 2-3 Strike Force fighters begin to move over at UFC 139 tough 14 maybe even worth mentioning some cracking talent and fights on there

definitely a Brit whilst 2016 would have been undoubtedly bigger and more lucrative for you which year did you prefer covering when you was still a whippersnapper or when you was more informed on how the sausage was made. Cheers, Joe. What a great question.

2011 is a favorite of mine. In fact, when we do those look back episodes at classic interviews, a lot of them come from 2011. 2010, 2011 was a tremendous time covering the sport for myself. Tremendous. I really, really enjoyed that time. 2016, though, from a business standpoint, was gigantic. It was just five pay-per-views had over a million. buys. You know what saying that is? Five.

Those events were crazy to cover as well. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It was so much fun. Rhonda's, you know, last fight, UFC 200, Conner's Rise, the MSG show, I mean, everything. Best fight of the year was on the second day. Some bad news we got this morning. Paul Hughes is out of the PFL Belfast card, PTC.

This is bad news. And they're sticking with the card. What can you tell us about this? yeah i mean very very tough injury that paul is after um is after getting on he's devastated he's he's nearly inconsolable uh i i heard from him earlier on today and it's very significant surgery he has to have as well he's disclosed that it's a knee injury i don't want to say anything more about that but it is a quite a significant surgery he's going to have to have and obviously a belfast car with paul and He is the guy who's driving interest.

He is one of the big stars on this island in terms of combat sports. He is one of the most talked about fighters on the island, without a doubt, ever since those fights produced Manda Maga Madoff. I think PFL are right to stick with it. They've just signed Reese McKee, who's a great name from Balamina, just a short John from Belfast. Darry Kelly's now the main event, an undefeated fighter fighting out with Duny Gall. And he's been waiting for an opportunity to really show us what he's all about.

And JJ Wilson will give him that opportunity. he's from the north of the country too so I'm sure he's going to sell a lot of tickets Keron Clark is on the card he's been a brilliant ticket seller for Bellator I'm sure that will extend to this event too Kaelin versus Alan Philpott

is an all Irish affair both have big fan bases so look it was a tough card already because it was on the Thursday and because the main event was going to happen beyond midnight you take Paul out of that and things become a lot harder there's no doubt about that but I think they've made the right

decision to stick with it. I don't think you're going to see the same numbers we saw for Paul's debut in Belfast for PFL. But yeah, I still think it's a strong card. There's enough for Irish talent to still compel a lot of people to go. The date was always going to be tough. And obviously, this makes it tougher. But obviously, my main concern is with Paul. And I wish him a speedy recovery. He is one of the bright lights of combat sports on this island. Someone we're all very excited about, as I'm sure you know. So devastating news for everybody. I will say one of my favorite people that I've ever met and his family is wonderful as well and you can see the video it's up on his social media you can see just how heartbroken he was

like his voice was cracky hard to hard to listen to because he's had to battle injuries and stuff like that he's had bad luck but it's all been great lately for him he's he's really come into his own it's it's been a great marriage with the pfell so um i know how much those belfast cards mean to him and, you know, just how much he loves to fly the flag and fight for his people. So I do feel awful. It's nice that they're keeping the card and having someone like Reese McKee join the stable is a, you know, is a nice little bonus there. So wish him the best and hopefully he'll be back in no time. What's happening?

Ariel, before you do that one, let me just jump in here. I've got an appointment at the spa downstairs, so I'm going to get out of here. Okay. But before I do, I see an early super chat here. I saw an early super chat here from Debo. So when is the muckle shoot BITB meet and greet?

Listen here, Debo, this is what we're going to do. So we're going to have a live episode of BITB tomorrow. Same time as usual, 1 p.m. Eastern 10 a.m. Pacific. After that is concluded, at the end of BITB. So let's call it around

1 o'clock local time, Pacific. We're going to be at the sportsbook at Muckleshoot Casino Resort. Hanging. And so come through, hang with us. A little March Madness. We will be here. A little March Madness.

No, we're going to be watching. Let's actually call it 1245 local time because that's when the kickoff is of Ireland national team. Oh, of course. That's what we'll be watching as well as some March Madness. Thank you, that's. But yeah, of course, P2D we support. Also, Rick, the lighting is just horrific. Yeah.

It's killing me. No, no. I mean, it looks like you're a vampire emerging from the darkness. Honestly, this is what it looks like. It looks like your skin could melt. I just got a bang on the door from housekeeping. You did? Yeah, to get a little.

No, that's... No, no, they're taking us to the spot appointment. That's our ride. Must be nice, boys. Must be nice. Enjoy, boys. We'll talk to you later. There they are.

The muckle shoot boys. PT, don't leave me just yet. We still have a few more questions to answer. I'm supposed to stay in a spa. Fucking shit to go to you. I kind of, I sort of need your moral support here as we gear up for 2 o'clock,

the big reunion with Colby. Covington. Yeah, can I ask right? It was interested. Sure. I said to start that REF has sorted out and all. Yeah. So there's been no communication zero. No idea. Zero. No this is going to go. The last text that was sent was me to him in, I think, 2021 being like, so I guess like we just, we don't talk anymore. Is that it? All right. That's it. I'm so excited for this initial. This is going to be something. I'm still wondering if he's going to show up, but I guess we'll find out in 10 minutes. For now, though. Dave says, please, P.T. Blindrank these Canadian people.

He didn't ask GCs, so I'm not changing it. The weekend. Boy, got lost to the Super Bowl at halftime show. Come on. Tate McCray. Four. Seth Rogan? Two.

Chris Jericho? Three. I feel like you're just sort of mailing this in, if I'm being honest. He definitely is. Rachel McAdams? Oh, I thought they're going to give me Hellwani for no more. I don't know, yeah, I don't know any of those people, apart from Jericho, honestly. Mikey Z says, hey, Ariel, on March 1st, 2026, there was a shooting in Austin, Texas that was

poured it to be a act of terrorism linked to the war in Iran. One of the victims, he did that, by the way, he put it in quotations. One of the victims was a young MMA fighter named Trap Jorge Peterson. He was a local Minnesota amateur who was set to make his pro debut later this month. If you look on his IG, he had quite the personality, and I can only imagine the conversation you would have had with a character like him. Just wanted to give him a shout out on your platform and let you know about him. RIP trap Jorge.

Awful to hear that. And thank you for calling attention to Jorge and may he rest in peace. That is awful. Irish lad. Hey, Ariel and crew. Okay, P.C. It's you and me here. Are you taking the over-under on these?

UFC fighters to sign with Eddie Hearn this year, 2.5. That's you, that's, you're taking over, huh? I don't think he knows how it works. Yeah. Is it going to be more than two and a half? No, it's more than two and a half. So three. He has one.

Yeah. So will there be two more? Yeah. Frank, why are you insulting the guy? I mean, look at him. You look at him. What is that supposed to say? It looks like a deer headlight.

Wow. Or like a Rick in front of a window in Seattle. Okay. You have some, you just, you just worry about getting us to sound, yeah? You booked it up out here. Just worry about, I need to hear the show, okay? Thank you. UFC stars to fight out their contract this year and try the free market, one and a half.

Well, I mean, like, what he says, that happens loads of times. Stars, stars, like, you know. They don't make that easy. They don't make it very fucking easy. Top 15 pound for pound. Top 15 pound for pound. I'll go with the under. Yeah, under, absolutely.

They're locked down for life. Aetless boxers to sign Missoufa boxing in the remainder of the year, two and a half. I'll say over. There's reports of Edgar Berlanga. There's been some talk of Shakur Stevenson that they would qualify, Connor Ben. I know there's...

Let's talk of Baum as well? Excuse me? Was it Baum Rodriguez what they're talking about? Oh, bam, yes. What did you think I said? I don't know. I didn't know what you said. I don't know what you said.

Yes, they have... They actually offered him a contract, but then Matcham matched it. So, UFC champions to publicly air grievances about Fighter Pay this year one and a half. I'll definitely take it over.

Yeah. And finally, what are the chances of getting a credentialed uncrown reporter at the UFC press conferences asking the hard questions? I think GC is the man for the role.

I'm pretty sure Drake Riggs is at UFC Seattle, by the way. He'll do it. He's done it already. Yeah, so just wait a couple days. All right, all right. Sorry, there's a couple long ones here

and we're a little bit press for time. Oh, this is a great one. Mark Antoine. Hello from Quebec, Canada. Pizzi, please blind rank these five Beatles albums. Is this for me or is this like... I swear it. Go to ArielHawaheathe.com, Mark Antoine.

Actually, I'm a subscriber. I actually am a subscriber. Rubber Soul. A little rubber soul, too. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It's actually really hard. They have a lot of good albums. Three. Revolver. Shit. Frank is, by the way, Frank is dying to weighing in here.

He's like, it's killing it. I didn't ask him his opinion on these. I have a favorite. Abby Rhodes. Oh, it's a great album as well. This is horrible. I fucked this up so much. Five. White album.

One. Yeah, one. Happiness is a warm going. Come on. Oh, this is right up. Bang, bang, shoot, shoot. For me, Abby Road and Revolver, this is what Mark Antonio said.

Fair enough. Keep on switching as the number one. Also, Frank, wait for it. If you like weird stuff, give a listen to the Quebec duo called an engine de Poitrine. There it is. Keep on the great work, lads. Is this the same guy that asked you about it last week? I don't know if it's the same guy, but it's the same group.

You know, I know that, obviously. Well, I mean. Okay, this is a great question here. I'm going to pose this question to Frank, actually. Okay. Pain says, would you rather go fishing with Pizzi, go to a pub in London with G.C. or go to a soccer match with New York, Rick.

Go fishing with Pizzi. You'd have to teach me how to fish. For the vibes? For the vibes, yeah. Few Fadi Boobodies would be fine, Frank. Jesus. I've actually gotten this question a bunch recently, so great time. Jamal 2020 says, I'm offended.

On Monday, I paid for a super chat, and you guys didn't even read it. Ariel said, yeah, put the balls in while G. G.C. was making a rap bus. I said you guys need to make that into a draw. Do you agree? Frank, a lot of people have been accusing you lately of not reading all the super chats. What's going on? I'm not the decider of what gets read and what color may surprised.

Wait a second. Wait a second. Who is the decider? It's a communal effort. Wow. So there have been some that you have said, no, not today? Me? Personally, no.

But other people. Yeah. All right. Well, there you have it, guys. Stevie B. Hi, Ariel. Is there any chance of getting Chris Eubank's senior back on the show at any point? your interviews with him

were among some of my favorites you've done. Me too. I don't have a direct line to him, but I would love if he's out there, senior. I'll give him a show. I'll give my show. Oh, okay, please. I would love to have him on. Bonus points if you ever managed to get Mama Woodley on. I almost got her

on many moons ago, and then there was a late cancellation. So yeah, we love the parents here. Here's YFG94. Hey, fellas. I've been a diehard YouTube viewer of the show watched every minute of it since 2022, mainly due to the fact that I could listen slash watch while I'm working on my

graveyard shift job. Next week, I'll be starting a new job, not on the graves anymore, where I won't have that pleasure anymore. So thank you for all the nights y'all kept me entertained. I'll do my best to watch every minute of the show. G.C. is a fan of Mexican food. You need to try Kesa Bidia. So with that, which is more likely to happen first?

UFC versus PFL card or fighters banding together and finally creating a union to eventually get paid what they deserve. I mean, golly. Come on me. Is there like a option C, none of the above? Forced to pick one, what you think? I'd say fighters probably bonding together, but I think both are pretty much impossible. Yeah, I agree.

John Jr. says, why do we not publish the full on-the-nose segments on YouTube? I mean, it's right there. And on the live tab, it's like it's right there. We just, we break out, you know, some of the more pertinent newsy parts. And then if you want to watch the whole thing, just go to the live thing. You know, go to the live tab, full show. It's right there. And we have, you know, we have those little, not chapters.

What do you go? I always call them chapters. They're bookmarks. No, bookmarks? What is it called? What is it called when you put in the things? Time stamps? Time stamps.

There it is. Hey, Ariel, great to see so much love for Chanel in the last few shows. Been following her since her amateur fights and met her working on the MMA doc, the Good Fight Club, following her previous MMA team. She features heavily if you want to learn more about her from a few years. ago. Has Pizzi seen this doc? I have not seen the documentary. And I've actually never interviewed Chanel.

I've covered her for a very long time. I thought that interview was brilliant. I didn't know that I've ever a nickname, either. That was incredible. What a story. Yeah. She's just, I got the same feeling out that you did, Ariel, just like what a positive ray of light she is in this sport. And we need a bit of that.

And she is definitely supplying that in handfuls for us. Oh, my God. the enthusiasm the she's so sweet like how excited she is about her career so vicious

yeah yeah you know what I mean like she is such a killer with striking and I think she just looks so gifted you know like her striking is

phenomenal and so young 24 she I think she's a future champ for sure I've been saying it for a long time when she got that PFL contract I was surprised

she didn't ask John Martin about that you know like I always felt and I made sense when she said to you like, I was a straw weight, that's why I wanted to move. But I felt as though you had Dakota and then you have someone very like Dakota. It serves the same market. They just don't have the weight class.

They don't have straw weight. But she's fucking, she went through all the European Floydways anyway, you know? Yeah, it's true. Yeah. Well, basically you're telling me my interview was shit. All right. That's not what I said. That's the exact opposite of that.

All right. I did want to say, as we're talking about things that are like warming our souls, my favorite thing in combat sports right now, can I tell you what my favorite thing in combat sports is? right now. It is the relationship between Alexander Usik and Anthony Joshua. Have you seen these clips of Anthony Joshua over in Ukraine with Usik? With the war hero?

Everything. I mean, at the gym on the treadmill, I think we have some of them we could play him. Like, this is Usik who beat him twice, who after the second time he beat him, you know, he's, A.J. seemingly has a bit of a breakdown, throws the belts out of the ring, just crying and all this stuff.

and to see them together after this dark time in AJ's life, it feels Ussix being a big bro. Usook's looking out for him. He's bringing him to a place that it seems like, you know, AJ has suffered through the worst, tragedy, two of his best friends. And he's showing him what his country has gone through. And it seems like AJ is coming there with an open heart, an open soul. And there's just something so beautiful about this partnership, about this friendship.

It's like for AJ to go through that hell and now to go to a place that has been through hell led by the most famous guy right now, the most famous sportsman to hail from that country who's such a proud Ukrainian and he's showing him and they're meeting soldiers and stuff like that. And it feels like Ussack's really putting his arm around him

and saying like, it's going to be okay, I'm here for you, we're going to get through this and I'm going to prepare you for a potential Tyson-Fury fight. Like there's just something beautiful, just like different circumstances, but like Marab and Ilya back in January. Do you remember when it felt like Marab was there for Ilya during his dark period? This is what it is, but at times 100, you know, because he had just been through this death.

There's just something amazing. Every time I see those clips, I'm like, Ossick just seems like a beautiful soul. And AJ, I think the world of, and it's just lovely to see. You can see a lot of truss between them, too, Avil, like, you know, around each other. Like, they seem to have a really great relationship. And these are like two kings of the world. You know what I mean?

Like, these guys, heavy ways. champions of the world, both of them. It's incredible. And I think in a way, like, both of them have to sow some kind of humility for this to happen as well. So I think it's a great testament to both their characters. I love it. I have the utmost respect for Usig for AJ. I can't imagine what he's going through. It's great to see him out there hitting the heavy bag and doing all that stuff. Seems happy. It seems in a good place. Yeah. All right. We're going to get to more questions, perhaps back into the show. But like I said, it is a super stacked episode of the program. Thank you so much, Pizzi.

everyone. We got through how many? How many did we get through there? 24. 24 is not bad. Kobe Bryant's number, not bad. Last week we got to like 40, but I think we went a little bit longer. So I'll try to get to some on the back end, I promise. Still to come, Oscar Delahoya is going to be joining us at 4 o'clock. Muhammad Mikhail, Saladin Parnas, Dalton Rasta, is going to be joining us. He's fighting this Saturday, March 28th.

But our first guest of the day is here, and they tell me he's here. here and I still, I need to see it to believe it. It has been six long years since I spoke to this man. And he is in fact here, my old friend, Colby Covington, on the program. I'm not sure if hell has frozen over, I'm not sure what happened, or perhaps Chad Bronstein is the true dream maker in all of this, because you're competing for him at RAF 7, and it has been a hell of a long time since we last spoke. I'm delighted to see you, Colby.

Welcome back to the show. It's great to see you. How are you? Thanks, Ari. I appreciate it, man. It's good to talk to you again, you know, long overdue. And I'm doing great. How are you doing?

How's the family? Everyone's doing great. I appreciate that. Could I ask, where have you been, man? Where have you been? What happened to us, Kobe? We had a great thing. What happened?

Yeah, I've been all over the place, you know? Nothing happened. You know, we're all good, you know, nothing but love and respect from my end. You know that. But, you know, I've been a busy man. You've been a busy man. So, you know, our schedules haven't met, but they've met here now, thanks to the great powers of Chad Bronstien and all he's done for RAF and real American beer.

So I'm excited to chat with you again today. All right. A lot to discuss. Absolutely. And so welcome back to the show. I'm excited to have you. I'm excited to talk about it all. I will ask you first and foremost about RIF and your match this weekend against Dylan Dennis.

You've been out there doing a lot of promotion. There it is. It's going down March 28th, Fox Nation, 8 p.m. Eastern, Tampa, Florida. And I've seen you out there doing, you know, the media rounds. I don't see a lot from Dylan. And so I'm just wondering, given his history, is there any part of you that is worried about him not showing up on Saturday? Yeah, definitely.

There's a big part of me that's worried that he's not going to show up. And I've talked to Chad Bronson's about it. And I've said, hey, if he doesn't show up, do you have any contingencies in place? Do you have anything set in case of a backup plan? So he's assured me, you know, Chad said that he's going to be there for sure. So, you know, I respect Dylan for wanting to step into my arena. You know, you know, I'm willing to step into his arena next if he wants to.

Obviously, he's not allowed, you know, to ever go to a UFC event. So this fight could never happen in the UFC. It could only happen in the RAF Mats. So I'm thankful for that, you know. You know, luckily I'd have to fight 27 Dagestanians to get kicked out of the UFC, you know. I just, but so he's got the strength of a lot of men right now. It's going to be a tough fight on Saturday night. And when you say that you're willing to go in his world, do you mean the world of Jiu-Jitsu?

Yeah, yeah, the world of Jiu-Jitsu. If he wants to do a Jiu-Sattsu match after this, I'm willing to go wherever he wants to go. I appreciate him. Hopefully, you know, coming to lace up the wrestling shoes this weekend in Tampa, Florida at the Yingling Center for RF7. But if he's willing to come out and do this, then, yeah, I'll give him his wish to do it in grappling.

I did see we posted a thing about this match on Uncrowned on our Instagram, and he did write a comment saying that he's going to expose you on Friday at the pre-match press conference. What is he talking about? Do you have any idea? No, I have no idea. You know, there's nothing to expose. You know, what you see is what you get with Kobe Covington. You know, I'm a man of integrity.

I'm a man of America. You know, I'm a man of principles and values. So whatever he wants to come out of me with, I'll hit him back 10 times 10. So, you know, I have nothing to hide. There's no skeletons in my closet. you know, I'm a good law-abiding citizen and, you know, I just love my country and I love to fight and I love the wrestle.

So that's what I'm going to do on Saturday night for RIF. Okay, so it's really interesting that you say that, Colby, because obviously I've seen all your interviews lately and we'll get to the UFC stuff in a moment, but the sentiment that I am getting from the fans, including right now on the chat, is, is this the real Colby? And they seem to like this version of Colby

as opposed to whatever version, if we want to call it that, that we've seen from you over the past six years. Is this the real Colby? Is this Colby that I'm talking to right now? now different than the Colby of the last six years? It seems like your tone is a little bit different. You've said some different stuff that we haven't expected from you.

Are we now seeing a new and improved or different side of you? No, it's still the same Colby, Ariel. You know, I mean, obviously as we get older, we grow and we mature. And I've definitely matured through the years. And, you know, I understand now that, you know, that sometimes you've got to bite your tongue on some things and not just go full out and, you know, speak with your emotions. You know, you need to speak with logic, with truth, with facts.

So, you know, I'm just being myself. You know, in the past, I was just unapologetic and I wasn't afraid to take the road less traveled. So even if it was going to lose me some friends or get me upset with the bosses that be, but, you know, I'm just me. You know, I'm not being any different than I've ever been. Maybe I'm just a little bit mature and age now. Do you have regrets? Given that, and I appreciate and respect that, do you have any regrets about things you did or said over the last six, seven years?

No, absolutely not, because if I had regrets, you know, I wouldn't be who I am today. I feel like every decision I've made in my life, every interaction that's happened in my life has defined my character. It's created who I am today. So, you know, I'm just trying to be the best person I am today. I don't want to look in my past and dwell on something and be like, hey, you know, you did this wrong, but maybe I wouldn't be here talking to you today if these things wouldn't happen. So, you know, I believe that everything happens for a reason. I have faith and, you know, I don't regret anything. As you, as I think you know, there was once a time that I worked at ESPN,

and I was a big championer of your cause, so to speak. They would tell me, I can't have Kobe Covington on my show live, and I would say, absolutely not. They would tell me you couldn't wear the MAGA hat. I would say absolutely not. He has to wear whatever he wants to wear. We did a video of you meeting the troops, Fleet Week. I really, I believed in what you were trying to do,

and I understood where you were coming from. I know we haven't talked in a while, but I think you know that I come from a sincere place when I say this. If I can push back on one thing, I don't think, I think that the Leon Edwards thing was the one time where you went over the line. If we could pick one time. Do you have regret for saying what you said about Leon's father? No, I don't have regrets. You know, you see even President Trump, you know, bad people, you know, when they do bad things, you know, we're not going to put pity and we're not going to feel sorry for bad people.

You know, he wasn't a good person. And he definitely affected a lot of people's lives, Ario. But I'm not going to talk about him. That's something in the past. But, you know, it's not like he was a saint. He wasn't a good person. And, you know, I don't feel bad for what I said. You know, obviously I got caught in the heat of the moment.

You know, I'm trying to sell paper views. You know, UFC was putting a lot of pressure to me at that time. Hey, we need you to sell paper views. We need you to be an entertainer. We need you to do this. We need you do that. So I felt like I had to step up and I had to do something to make a big boom that was going to sell a lot of paper views.

So, you know, maybe, you know, I don't regret that, though, for sure. It's not like he was a good person, but it is what it is. You know, that's life, you know. The thing is, is there's only one perfect person, and that's the man above. So, you know, I'm not perfect. You know, we've all said things in our past that we probably wish we could take back, but I don't wish I could take it back. I just wish that, you know, I could learn from it.

And I did learn from it, Ariel, and I feel like I'm a better person now because of it. And, you know, something like that is never going to happen again. There's just no reason to go there. Okay, fair enough. And so considering all of that, you say that, you know, you were trying to sell pay-per-views, be the company guy, be the guy for the UFC. And I've seen your interviews as of late submission radio, M.A. Junkie this week. And correct me if I'm wrong with this assessment, you seem quite frustrated. You seem quite upset with not getting fights, not getting on the White House card.

You mentioned to submission radio that you think Hunter Campbell doesn't like you, and he's kind of put you on eye. after you took a fight against Joaquin Buckley on short notice in December of 2024. Can you tell the audience how you feel about your relationship with the UFC and your spot in the UFC right now considering all of this? Yeah, definitely. I mean, my relationship with the UFC is always going to be good in my book because they've changed my life, Ariel, that made me, you know, a self-made multimillionaire. You know, I'm, you know, I came from nothing. I came from a blue-collar family that had absolutely nothing in Oregon. Now I can, you know, take care of my parents' houses, take care of their cars and do things. things that never would have been possible without the UFC. So, you know, I'm always going to be grateful for the UFC. You know, what I spoke out the other day was just a little frustration.

You know, I thought that, you know, I would have been rewarded with the White House fight. I said, hey, Hunter, I'll fight anybody on God's Green Earth. You want to put me against John Jones a heavyweight? Let's do it. It sells. You know, we're a former roommate, so let's do it. But, you know, he had other plans. He didn't have any plans for me on the White House. He said the fight card was booked, and there was no availability. There was only a few slots. open and they were all books. So, you know, I just, I was a little frustrated. I spoke out of emotions and I'm mad at myself because of that. But, you know, I love the UFC. The relationship's always going to be good. I have a meeting with them in a couple weeks. Maybe you can bridge the

gap. You want to go to the meeting with me, Ariel? I think that could help. I think I could help bridge the gap. Yes. Yeah. I think if you sat down next to me, you might, you represent me, you know, and we just talk to Hunter. We have a good talk in Miami when they come to the Miami show in a couple weeks, I think we can get this all resolved. I would love that. I would love nothing more. I think that would be tremendous theater. I'm not sure how much it would help you in the end, so I don't want to screw you. But I will say your tone is very different than just a couple of days ago. I don't know when that interview was shot, but you seemed enraged. You seemed very mad. And I understood where you were coming from. You were the first guy to bring that bill to the White House. You've been talking

about Donald Trump. You seem to be a shoe-in for this card. And so your omission seemed very noticeable. Yeah, honestly, I think a lot of the emotions and like that frustration was coming from people outside of me. You know, it wasn't really me. Like, I didn't really care. I was like, you know what? Like I wanted it. I cared. Obviously, I cared.

I wanted to be on that White House card. It means everything to fight, you know, in front of all the politicians in D.C. in front of, you know, the greatest living president we've ever had, Donald Trump. But I was like, you know what? Like, I've been to the White House. I delivered the belt to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I went in the Oval Office. I toured the White House.

I was there on election night. You know, President Trump invited me to the White House on election night countless times twice. And I enjoyed those experiences. So, like, it's different for me. Like, I don't need to go to the White House again. I know I can get those invites to go anyways, but I don't need to go fight there. I could fight anywhere in the world. But it was my friends.

And honestly, it was my parents. My parents were coming to me. They were so mad. They were like, Toby, oh, my gosh. They were, like, screaming, like, cussing. Like, f, the UFC. I can't believe they did this to you. You were so loyal to them.

You took a fight on your last fight with Buckley, and you didn't even train. You were on the campaign show for six months. You were all in about America, Trump, and then they don't give you this honor. Like, the least they could do is give you this fight. Like, you did them a favor on short notice last time. Like, and, you know, that's what got to me, Ariel.

It's just like I didn't speak with, for my heart. You know, I let other people's emotions affect how I was talking. And I regret that. If there's any regrets, maybe I regret that. I spoke from other people's emotions, but you know, you're right. There's a new tone now. And, you know, I look at my life today and I'm like, dude, I'm sitting in an RA right now. You know, I have a beautiful life.

You know, I got a great match in R.A.F. this weekend, you know, at Tampa, Florida, Yingling Center. I got great friends, you know, great support. You know, what is there to complain about? That is fair. That's 100% fair. I will ask, though, Bo Nichol was on the show, and he said you were offered a match against him, a fight against them at the White House. Is this inaccurate based on what you experienced were you ever offered a fight against Bo Nicol? Here's the tweet.

He said it to me as well. What happened? Yeah, that's 100% fake news, Ariel. We could call Hunter Campbell right now. I'll put him on the phone right now. He never offered me Bo for the White House. I said I'd fight any man. I fight Bo.

We can go any weight class. I asked him, if I fight Bo, is this going to be on the White House? No, no, we only got limited spots. This is exact words from Hunter. I said, okay, well, if you only have limited. his spots and I can't fight bow on the White House, I'm fighting at my normal weight class area. I'm going to fight at 170 because I only walk around at 185, 190. Why would I fight at middleweight against some nobody who's never even been in a main event in his life,

who's a little privileged fucking asshole who just acts like the world owes him everything when he hasn't earned anything? So no, the fight was never offered for the White House. They talked about, oh, maybe we could do the fight afterwards later in there. I'm like, no, I'm not entertaining this fight unless we're at 170 because that's my weight class i've been 170 my whole career never miss way ultimate professional ultimate company man so i told hunter if i'm fighting on a on if i get an actual camp unlike the last one because they called me on a week a half's notice if i get a full training camp eight to 12 weeks i'm fighting at 170 that's my natural weight i walk around 185 190 so the fight was never presented for the white house to 85 i would have fought him i would have

fight the Hulk, you know, on short notice at the White House. It didn't matter. I just wanted that opportunity, but the opportunity was never presented with Bo at the White House. Okay. And so as of right now, you're not interested in that fight. If it's at 185 or anything like that, you're, you're not looking at that. I mean, it's an easy fight. He's not a fighter. He's a competitor, Ariel. He doesn't know how to fight. He gets hit in the body and he quits. He's not a real fighter. He's a competitor. He's a wrestler. He's not a fighter. So I would love that fight. But at my weight class. I'm a 170, especially because, Ariel, if we're going to do it, let's put some stakes on the line. Your boy loves to play high stakes everything. So if we're going to put,

if we're going to put a fight up with me and both, let's put some stakes, let's do it for something that actually matters. I'm actually ranked. I'm ranked at Welterway. So if he wants to come down to Walterway, we can make a prestigious fight. We can get it going. No problem. I'll punch that little stupid ginger bull cut out of the way and end his hype for good. Okay, this is the old Colby coming back. I like this. Now we're revving it up, little bit. By the way, what do you say to people who say you should not be ranked anymore? You know, I tell them, you know, like, you're not even the best hot dog flipper in your family. How are you going to talk about one of the greatest fighters of all time?

But, you know, because of the inactivity, because of the last time you want to fight, is there a case to be made? Do you think it's unfair? Like, for example, Shuff Cut, I believe, was removed from the rankings. And, you know, he's been a little bit more active. I know he hasn't fought since December of 20. but he won that fight against Ian Gary. What do you say to that? I think what I say to that, Ariel, is like, I don't need a number next to my name to get me across the fans. You know, I already identify with mainstream,

with hardcore fans, with everybody out there. Like, people follow me that don't even follow UFC. They just follow me because I love America and I support President Trump. So I don't need a number next to my name to be relevant, Ariel. All these other guys, they need the numbers. So I don't really care. They could take the number from me.

That's not going to change anything. It's not going to change my history. It's not going to change my legacy, what I've done for the sport, and what I'll continue to do for R.EF in the future. So honestly, I don't really care about the number. It makes no difference to me. My belt's just as shiny at home when I see it every night when I come home after a hard day of training. So, you know, my name speaks for itself.

That's bigger than any ranking. When you meet with the UFC brass in Miami in a few weeks, if they ask you, like, what do you want, Kobe? What will make you happy? What will you say to them? What is it that you want? just high level entertaining fights, you know, something that moves the needle, something that is worth something that gets me, that makes me want to get up early in the morning, you know,

a high level fight, you know, someone that's got a big name, you know, someone that is going to bring eyes and attention around the fight, you know, I don't want to fight nobody's that have done nothing in this career, never been in the main event. Ariel, we've been main event and, you know, like you said, for six, seven, eight years straight, you know, we've been, you know, the top guy at Walterway selling this division. for, you know, eight years plus. So I just want meaningful fights that add to my legacy, you know, because if it doesn't add to my legacy, then what's the point?

Am I just going to fight for money now? It's not about money to me. I got in this sport like every wrestler does because you do it for the glory. You don't do it for the money. So, you know, unless it's a high-level, entertaining, big-name fight, then, you know, I'm just going to put my all into R-A-F. This is my focus. You know, I'm still young and in my prime, 38 years young, took good care of my body.

You know, I know I still have four or five hard competitive years in me. So if UFC can't use me, then, you know, I'm glad that RIF and Chad Bronsonstein can because, you know, I'm going to give them my best. And, you know, I'm going to make sure I sell this company to the moon. We have seen some, you know, unrest among some top stars. If it comes to the point where they're not offering you anything that you like or not keeping you active, will you ask for your release? Oh, man, that's a tough question. You put me on the spot. Um, well, ask for my release.

Um, I mean, I think if they're just cool with who I wrestle and R.F and just let me do my thing, then, then no, I won't ask for my release because I'll be happy with everything I've been able to do and the life I've been able to create through the UFC. You know, I still want to have a good relationship with the UFC. I still love the UFC and everything they've done for me and I want to help be apart. I know they probably don't want my help in any way, shape, or form, which is cool. You know, it doesn't hurt my feelings, but. Why do you feel that way? Like, why do you feel they don't like you in Hunter in particular?

I've always known it because, honestly, they've never promoted me. They never went, like, out of their way. And then also, whenever they ever have those, like, little fan expos or, like, meet and greets for the fighters where they pay them, like, 10, 20 grand, I've never been invited to one in, like, six, seven years, you know? So I know what it is. I know where my place stands, but I know I'm also good for business. And I sell tickets.

I put asses and seats and sell paper views. So, you know, I know the star that I, am and the revenue that I generate for this company. So when you see some of these other, like John Jones, right, your old friend asking for its release and whatnot, is there any part of you that is like, oh, I should do that too, or you're not willing to go down that path right now? You, you want to be in the UFC. You just want to have a good working relationship and be offered fights because you did say you haven't been offered a fight and contractually you're supposed to be offered three a year. Yeah, I just, yeah, I want to be treated fairly and I want to be treated like, like I am.

Are we not all all independent contractors? I just, I just. feel like they've been treating me, Ariel, like an employee. You know, I want to wrestle against everybody R.A.F. has to offer. You know, I want to wrestle against Arupian. You know, that's a guy who used to beat up on all the time at ATT. You know, he was a little understudy to me, who he used to come

trained just because he wanted to get beat up by me in the gym. So that's someone who I kind of want to expose to the world and beat his ass on the RIF mats. But, you know, the UFC's blocking that right now. They said no active UFC fighters are allowed to go against each other. So I just feel like that's a little unfair. You know, I want to be

treated like an independent contractor. If I want to go paint this person's house, let me go paint this person's house too. Don't restrict me and tell me whose house I can't paint. So I just want to earn, make money, do good business, Ariel, and be a good person because that's how we'll be judged at the end of this. I've heard that too. And that's a bummer, obviously, because I saw the tweet from Hamzaa saying he wanted to wrestle you in RAF.

And so does that mean no chance? Like, that can't even be explored? I think it can be explored. We're trying to find ways. want to go up against Comshot, you know, I wanted to fight him, obviously, a couple years ago, but now he's at a different weight class and, you know, the time's past. So I would love to wrestle against Comshot and R.F. I think it would be a highly entertaining match. The press conference would be fired, and, you know, I think we could give the fans a real treat for freestyle wrestling.

So I think it could be explored. I'm going to figure out some ways. I'm going to talk to Hunter, obviously, in Miami in a couple weeks. And, you know, if they can't bring meaningful fights to me, then they need to let me have meaningful wrestling matches in R.A.F. one that potentially could be explored and would be massive for RAF is you versus George St. Pierre. How real are these talks? I've heard you mention his name, mention interest and whatnot, but George has kind of stayed out of competition. He's kind of said like he's done and he doesn't really want to do this sort of thing. Is there any sort of activity, any sort of momentum into making this? Yeah, there was definitely a little traction, a little momentum. You know, after I said that,

you know, he was in, ironically, in the rest of the rest of the time, room with his wrestling coach putting up pictures like on social media that he was back wrestle with his coach so i think he's you know he's he's feeling how his body feels you know and he's seeing you know what how his body recovers and how how he performs in training and i think he's entertaining it you know i think it's a high level matchup he's the greatest of all time in the welterweight division ufc's number one all time on the takedown list for for ufc i'm number two so you know it makes a lot of sense number one versus number two all time on the Walterway takedown list. I think it could be an entertaining, explosive show for the fans. And

everybody wants to see GSP, myself included, you know, everybody, we want to see GSP. We feel like we've been robbed of, you know, some GSP matches and just his, you know, entertaining aura that he brings every time he comes to the arena. So it's definitely real. I know that, you know, Chad Bronsonstein's had some talks with GSP. So I'm hoping I can lure him out after Tampa or maybe sometime this summer, but it's definitely a possibility, but it's all up in Georgia's quarter obviously. You said that you're happy competing for RAF for flying, you know, their flag and all that stuff. But do you make as much competing for RAF as you do in the UFC? No, definitely nowhere near that level. But, you know, it's still significant money that's life-changing money for me that,

that, you know, it does great things for me. So, you know, I'm very thankful that this league came around because Ario, if they had this league when I was in high school and college, I would have never went to the UFC. I would have just went right into real American freestyle, but there was no league like this. So it was like you either become a professional athlete with the UFC or you go get a basic job. So I took, you know, the other route to go down to the UFC route and, you know, put my life and my body on the line for the potential of, you know, earning a good financial future. So, no, it doesn't compare. But, you know, it's growing and, you know, they got a good venture capital firm behind them. They got Fox News Nation, which is huge. Shout out to Fox Nation. We appreciate.

you guys putting us on your platforms. You know, being on the Fox network is huge for the development of the league and the growth of the league. And I think one day you will see the same pay days as RIF as UFC. Could I ask how many fights do you have left with the UFC? Honestly, I know I have a couple. I'm not sure the exact number. I think it's like, I don't know, three or four maybe. Okay.

Are you motivated to fight out your deal and see what's out there for Kobe Covington? It's an interesting time right now. Netflix's getting into the game, potentially PFL doing their thing. What do you think? Yeah, definitely. I want to stay active. You know, I'm healthy now. My full focus, again, is on training.

You know, last year, you know, it was all about the election and trying to take back America and doing everything I could to amplify my message and my voice to the MAGA movement. But now it's back on, you know, being selfish in my training, you know, and day-to-day discipline and, you know, putting in the hard work. So I would like to fight it out and see what the market has the offer for me. You said recently, I want to read you a... quote that's been passed around, you know, everywhere. And I wanted to maybe ask you to clarify if needed. I love Trump. He's a great guy. In the future, you won't see me actively involved in politics. I think it's a dirty game. Loyalty is never rewarded. And people took that as you were perhaps mad at Trump or the White House or his staff and you feel like you're not going to do the,

you know, the MAGA stuff and put it out there and fly that flag. Is that what you were referring to? Perhaps because you were upset you weren't on the card? No, no, it has nothing to do with that. I'm not upset with Trump in any way, shape, or form. I'm not upset with anybody at the White House. I love everybody there. I have a lot of friends, you know, in the administration. You know, I'm going to go visit them.

Ariap has R.E.F.A. coming to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, here in April 18th, and I'll go up to D.C. and, you know, I'll do a little tour of the White House, the West Wing. So it has nothing to do with Trump. It should, I love Trump. You know, I love everything he stands for. I love him as a person. I love his family. His family is great people.

I was talking to Baron Trump, his youngest son, last night. You know, might try and get him out to an R.F. in the future. But, you know, I love Trump. I love what he stands for. But I'm just saying, like, as a whole, the political landscape is just, you see, none of them vote together. They all say they're Republican, but then when a bill comes to pass, they all disagree, and they're all just lobbyists being sold and bought for by, you know,

lobbies and rich people. So I don't know. I just, I don't want to sell my soul. I'm not the person that's going to sell my soul. You know, I have, you know, integrity for myself. I have, you know, a lot of pride and values that I stand by. And I'm not going to bend those values just for some money. So when I said that, I really was just like, I don't want to be involved.

Like my dreams a couple years ago, I want to be a senator. I want to be a governor. I want to be, you know, a future politician. But now I'm just like, no, I just want to be a businessman. I want to steal real American beer. Shout out to real American beer and the amazing beer they have. And I want to be the best business. Smith for Real American Freestyle.

Are you going to attend the event on June 14th? I just might be attending. Yeah, someone asked me to be their corner. So I might be there in attendance and someone's corner. Was it Kyle Dawkes? I don't know. It could have been. Yeah, he's a great kid.

And, you know, shout out to Kyle Dawkins. I never wanted to take that opportunity from him. So that's not like, that's why I wasn't going to be like, why would I take, you know, this great opportunity off his table when, you know, he's worked hard, he's paid his dues in this sport, he deserves it. So, you know, I'm happy for him, and, you know, I'm supporting him all the way against Bozo Nichols. So there could be a chance that you're in his corner making that walk on the 14th of June? There could be, there could be.

I'm not going to play a spoiler here today, though. Okay, okay. Well, I saw him extend the invitation. He even told me on on the show that he would like to have you there. So that's why I said him. Oh. Oh, okay. I didn't know he told you that.

You told you that? Yeah, man, what? You don't listen to the show anymore? You used to check us out. You know, I love the show, man. Love what you've done for MMA journalism, giving a spotlight to all the fighters. We always appreciate the platform you're given.

But no, I haven't really been paying attention to really any media interviews. Trying to stay away from like the drama, you know, and just focus on peace. Interpiece is everything to me. Does this mean we're back? Are we back, Colby? That's what the people want to know. Back, bro.

The stepbriders are back. We're back. We're back. I can't believe it. We're actually back. And a lot of people never thought they'd see this day. That's true. A lot of people said it was doom.

There was no way to repair it. But lo and behold, here we are. Perhaps this gives hope to everyone out there with all the war in this world that you can come together, that you could find common ground. Yes, I love that. That's great. Common ground, man. We don't have to agree on every single thing together. But, you know, we can agree to disagree on some things.

But I'm not going to berate you for having a different opinion on you. I respect your opinion. you're entitled to your own opinion, you're a man, you're a father, and you're a great Samaritan in this country. Thank you. Yes, I actually,

since we last spoke, I became an American citizen. I want you to know. No way. Yes. Wow, congratulations. So I can now vote and I could do everything that you do.

So a lot has happened in the last seven years. I'm not going to keep you too long, but I do want to ask you, tell the people, there's a lot going on Saturday in the world of combat sports. UFC, Seattle, PFL, Pittsburgh. There's a big boxing match in Vegas,

PBC. Why should people tune in to RIF 7, Saturday, and there's a ton of big fights. Armat Trucke and Georgia Pus as well. White Hendrickson is on there. Look at this lineup right here. Kyle Snyder, Kennedy Blades. If you're a fan of freestyle wrestling,

you know a lot of these names. If you're a fan of just MMA, you know a lot of those names up top as well. Look at those guys. Why should people watch on Saturday, Colby? People should watch RF7 on Saturday because, you know, it's high action. It's non-stop, high-action pace.

and, you know, Chad Bronstine, you know, the great CEO for American Freestyle, he's the greatest matchmaker of all time. He's a visionary. He puts on these high-level matchups that the fans want to see. He listens to the fans, unlike these other promotions. You know, these other promotions don't care about the fans. Chad cares about the fans. He wants to deliver the exciting, biggest and best matchups in the game,

and that's what this weekend's going to be. It's going to be high intensity. You got the rematch with Georgia and Armin. I mean, we saw fist of cuffs last time. They were throwing down. I mean, me and Dylan, if he shows up, You know, it's going to be a big high-level match, you know. The press conference is going to be so entertaining, man.

We have so much to talk about, so many skeletons on view of people's closets. And, you know, but most force and foremost, it's a family-friendly show that you can bring your kids to, you know, and there's not going to be blood, war guts. And, you know, we just, we care about, you know, sending a message to the people that freestyle wrestling is here and it's growing. And, you know, thanks to Fox News Nation for putting us on this platform. And thanks to you, Ariel, for having us on the show. By the way, when you're talking about those other promotions, not giving the people what they want, which ones were you referring to? I wasn't referring to any of particular.

In general. Just in general, you know? I got you. I got you. Well, this was great. Thank you so much for coming on. Good luck this weekend. Looking forward to that.

Looking forward to the Armand Match as well. Welcome back, Kobe. Appreciate you very much. And good luck this Saturday. Thanks, I appreciate you having me on. Shout out to everybody at Mirro, America. Freestyle Real American Beer. I'll talk to you soon. Ariel. Have a great day. Looking forward to it.

There he is. Colby Covington. Back in our good graces here. Look at this, guys. We're showing everyone that we can come together, that we can mend fences, that we can be pals. In the last month, Frankie, how about this? Ronda Rousey, Gina Carrano, Colby Covington. Who's next? You know yourself, man. Who's next

on the list, Frank? James Tehuno? No, not him. There's a world tour of peace happening. Who says that I'm Peace and love Yes Thank you Ringo

Who says that I'm a shitster Who says that I'm an instigator This is beautiful Isn't that lovely Frank I think so I may have said that at some point Yeah I want to apologize

Because clearly I was wrong Yeah like when you said earlier That you were happy That the guys weren't here And that you felt lighter Because they weren't like holding you back I thought that was wrong It was just like a weight was lifted

Yeah But I thought that was wrong Well That's because you're the fair And balanced one Thank you for No spin zone over here, Frankie. Still to come, Oscar De La Jolla at 1 o'clock.

Then we've got Muhammad Mikhail and Saladin Parnas back. Parnas first, Makayev second. They will be competing on that May 16th MVP card. Looking forward to chatting with both of them. But I'm also looking forward to chatting to our next guest. First time that we have him on the program, he's got a massive fight this coming Saturday. Another big event this Saturday. This one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PFL making its Pittsburgh debut.

And as we said earlier, Costel of Anstina successfully defending his middleweight title on Friday of this past week in Madrid. And then you move along to this Saturday. And there's an unofficial middleweight tournament. We spoke to John Martin, the CEO of PFL about this yesterday. Main event is Johnny Eblin versus Brian Battle, who recently signed with PFL. And then the co-main is impicassanay against our guest at this time, Dalton Rosta, who's kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about that massive matchup. He's right there. Hello, Dalton, and I keep screwing this up.

Is it Rasta or Rosta? I think it's actually Rasta, and I messed it up. Did I not? It's Rasta, yeah. My bad, my bad. Well, great to have you here and appreciate the time very much. Great to have you on for the very first time. Do you view this same sort of way?

Like, I feel, I know Eblen's the former champ, and I know there's a history there with Costello, but I kind of feel like whoever looks the best out of the four of you is getting that next title shot. Have you been told differently? I mean, I haven't been told anything, but from the very beginning, I figured, you know, whoever was going to have the best, you know, performance was probably going to get the next title shot. I'm coming off tournament finals performance.

I lost the Fabian Edwards, obviously. He had the next title shot against Costello. Johnny, obviously, the former champion in Bellator came over to PFL. He lost his title to Costello in the last 10 seconds. So there's reasons for both of us to really have our next shot. We have arguments for both of us. But I think at the end of the day, whoever puts on the best performance is going to seal their shot for the title next. I agree with that.

And what a big spot for you as well. You've got ties to the Pittsburgh region, right? You weren't born in Pittsburgh, but you lived there for a long time, correct? Yeah. So I was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, but I grew up in. Newcastle, Pennsylvania, which is about like 35 minutes from the venue that we're fighting at. Wow. Actually not in downtown Pittsburgh.

We're in Moon Township over near the airport. And yeah, we're about like 20 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. But I grew up in the area. You know, I have a lot of people turning out for this fight. And from my knowledge, the show is almost sold out. Wow. It's not a huge arena. I think it seats close to 5,000.

But it's almost sold out. There's like 100 tickets left. So probably going to end up being a sellout. And it's the first big event in Pittsburgh since, what, eight, nine years ago when the UFC was here. And it's PFL's debut here. So, you know, I'm honored to be on the card and honored to help pack the place out. So I'm excited. I think it's going to be a great night of fights.

And then obviously the crowd's going to be going crazy. And hopefully they get behind me the way that I think they're going to. And I go out there and put on a good performance. Do you feel any extra added? pressure because you're probably going to have a lot of family friends. You're the Pittsburgh guy, right? At the top of the bill, you're the guy flying that Pittsburgh flag. Does it feel any different going into this one? No, honestly, I feel like it takes away a little bit of pressure. Oh, how so? I'm at home. You know, I kind of, whenever I was an amateur, I fought all my amateur fights in this area,

you know, Pittsburgh, Eastern Ohio, so Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio. And I had a lot of people turn up to my fights back then. A lot of the promoters in the area loved getting me on the card because I used to sell out the shows. So I'm used to having that type of support here. And, you know, the crowd kind of going crazy whenever I come out. So I've been looking forward to something like this since I started fighting with Bellator. I signed with Bellator back in 2019 for my pro debut. And I was with Bellator all the way until PFL acquired Bellator. So I've been looking forward to this opportunity and people have been asking me, you know, when's PFL or Bellator going to come to Pittsburgh and I'm like probably never honestly and it ended up working

out and we're here so I'm looking forward to it. I understand you had a nine to five job. You're working in Pittsburgh and that's when you got the call that Belator was interested in signing you, right? Is that accurate? And what were you doing at the time? Did you have any sort of aspirations to continue? I know you wrestled and boxed when you were younger. Did you have aspirations of having an MMA career. Oh, yeah, for sure. So when I was a little kid, someone actually sent me a picture of our yearbook whenever we were in like second or third grade.

And like I was a big WVE fan and stuff growing up and I know you are. Hell yeah. As well. So in the year book, the one year, it said that I wanted to be a WWE wrestler. Then the next year it was like I wanted to be a professional football player in NFL. Then the next year it was like I wanted to be in the UFC or a professional MMA fighter. So it was always like those three things like I can never make up on mind which one I like the most. And when I was a kid, obviously I thought pro wrestling, WWE was real.

You know, so that's kind of why I feel like that was in the mix of things. But I was always a big fan of all three growing up. And, you know, and ended up turning out that this is the route that I went. And to speak on what you're saying about like the nine to five job that I have had before this, I went to Youngstown State. I graduated from there at least. I was playing football. And I graduated from there with a degree in finance and accounting.

And I just started the job at Northwestern Mutual in the UPMC building in downtown Pittsburgh. And I was there for probably not even a month, but throughout college after I got done playing football because I still had two years left. That's whenever I got back into Jiu-Jitsu and boxing and started training at MMA and had my first amateur fight in 2017. I think March of 2017 and I was an amateur until you know March of 2019 so in two years whenever I made my pro debut you know I had like a total like 16 fights I had seven or 15 fights seven boxing matches in that in that time period and while I was like going to college

I was doing that and then whenever I was working Northwestern Mutual it was kind of like yeah it was what I got a degree in but it was kind of me just working just to get buy so I could train and eventually become, you know, professional MMA fighter. Okay. And, yeah, so I was like kind of doing it with the intention of only doing it until I got my pro contract. And I was working just enough to where I could still train two times per day. 4.0, right, at Youngstown State?

Not at Youngstown State in high school, I had a 4.0. A Youngstown State, I had a 3.78, 3.78 somewhere in there. In finance. Not too bad. Yeah, yeah, not bad at all. Yeah, well done. So you say that's around 2017. Correct me if I'm wrong, around 2016. Is it true you just have like three bucks in your bank account as you're struggling and trying to make your way through life and achieve these dreams?

Like this is the reality that you were living in? Yeah, man, it was like that a lot. So I had a job on the weekend as a bouncer. So I would work Thursday, Friday, Saturday night. And sometimes I would work like Sunday, like during the day as a bouncer down in Pittsburgh. So I'd be like these four day weekends working. And then I was doing like labor work and electric work during the week part time with a company in Newcastle. And I was commuting the school.

So it was about 30 minutes from Youngstown State. So I was able to do the work during the week in between classes and in between training sessions. And then on the weekend, most of those like nights whenever I'm bouncing, they're at night. like 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. So that's how it was like generating my money to pay for the rest of school, my outstanding balance. And then on top of that, like pay for my meals, pay for my gas, pay for my rent, all that. And it was always like, like I said, my training always came first. So after training, it was like my grades. And then after grades, it was work. So I wanted to work just enough to where I could still make like honor rule and make the deans list in school.

but only study enough to where I still make the Dean's list, but then still able to train two to three times per day. And in order to do that, I had to work a lot less. I worked just enough to get by. And a lot of the time when I was waiting on my paycheck, you know, I'd have a couple dollars in my bank account. And I would go to the gas tank or to the, yeah,

you guys call it petroleum or whatever up there. But I would go to the gas station. and I would have three, four, sometimes less, sometimes a dollar in my bank account. And I would fill up my tank anyways knowing that I had to get to and from school for the rest of the week, had to get to and from training the rest of the week, and knowing that I would have a negative balance in my bank account. So I would use my debit card. I'd fill it all the way up, $60 in gas,

and then I'd have a negative $57 balance, and then I'd be getting overdraft fees like three days later, and they would pile up. So then I used my paycheck to pay off those overdraft fees and just get my balance for the week back into the positive. And it was rinse and repeat over and over and over again. This was the last two years of college for me. And then honestly, a little bit after college whenever I was working at Northwestern Mutual, because I had to drive 45 minutes from Newcastle to Pittsburgh to go to work.

And then I still had to drive to lower Burrell or train at the Matt factory and the Manaka to train at Armazani Jiujitsu Academy. me and then Youngstown to box because I was kind of all over the place up here. Before I went to ATT, I was doing everything separately and I had to drive a lot. So that was the life I lived, even after my first fight with Bellator, because I got paid like $10,000 in my first fight with Bellator. And then I only fought twice that year. So it was in the same situation for the first year at Bellator as well. So, you know, a lot of people, you know, they see everything that goes on during fight night

and they see all the glory and they see all the nice stuff on Instagram. whenever you make it this far, and I'm not even anywhere as far as I want to be. You know what I mean? And they don't like see all the things that went into it and led up to that point. And that's exactly why I'm asking these questions, because this is the first time that we get a chance to speak, and I want people to understand what you've been through and how far you've come. And I'm sure some of those emotions are probably coming out this week as you're making this

big homecoming. I hope you don't mind if I can ask about your father, who I know was such a big part of your life, who tragically passed away in 2016. Can you tell us about your relationship with your dad and what ultimately happened to him? Yeah, so, like, my dad was the most important person in my life period, you know? Now, I'm not really close with the rest of my family. Like, I don't really speak to my mom. She's going to be coming to this fight, but we don't speak much.

We didn't speak for, like, almost 10 years. And I'm not close with my siblings or anything either. So once my dad passed, I kind of, like, you know, lost contact with. with all my family. But my entire life, ever since I was a kid, my dad was always trying to push me, you know, to be better. And he, he kind of wanted me to be, you know, a professional athlete just as bad as like I wanted to be.

And, you know, maybe he was living vicariously through me a little bit. But, you know, in high school, whenever I started wrestling again, I wanted to be a state champion. So just doing the wrestling practices, you know, at Laurel High School wasn't enough. We were too far behind. lot of wrestlers in Pennsylvania, which if you know anything about wrestling in the United States, you know, Pennsylvania, at least in high school, you know, is like the Dagestan

of wrestling here. And in order to catch up to all these kids when they've been doing it for their entire lives, and I took a break for five, six years, we had to do a lot of extra wrestling. So we'd go to these wrestling clubs. He would work 16-hour days just getting by. We didn't really, we weren't very fortunate. And he would work these 16-hour days, get off work. pick me up from high school where I just got done wrestling and then take me to a different club or sometimes he would drive me an hour and hour and a half, two hours to do boys or Ken and Mac down below Pittsburgh to wrestle with guys like Tom Slay or Cody Weirchalk, which is names you might not know, but at the time they were ranked in the top like three and top five in the nation.

Cody Weirchalk was ranked number one, three-time state champion PA. And these are the guys that he wanted me to wrestle with and was going out of his way. whenever he really didn't have the time nor the money to do so to make sure that I'm getting the best partners and the best training that I possibly can to succeed because he knew how invested that I was into it and how bad that I wanted it. So he kind of wanted it as bad as I did. And he was kind of like that with everything, not just wrestling, you know. And he'd always like find ways where like when I said we didn't have money, we didn't have money. He was living paycheck to paycheck. A lot of the time he'd be in situations where he'd be in the negative and his balance too,

bank and bank account as well. And he was still trying to find out. the ways to scrape up money to send me to wrestling camps and stuff in the in the summer so uh his like guidance and everything was like really important to me and then you know obviously 10 years ago uh we lost him he got in a motorcycle accident he was on his way home from work and uh someone pulled out of a bar and like teaboned him and he kind of like flew like 50 60 feet off the bike and then like his whole lower extremities were all broken, shattered, like his tibia, fibia, all that, his hips. So he was in, he got life-flighted to Pittsburgh Presbyterian.

And they said he had to go through like 15 surgeries or so. And he was on surgery seven or eight. And things like kind of like took a turn for the worst. They said he was fine. They said the surgery went great whenever they called us after. And then like an hour later they called my grandma and said, that he took a turn for the worst and they were putting him on life support. And then from that point forward for the next four days, it just got worse and worse and worse.

And I was going to the hospital every day to see him. And just to watch his body deteriorate over time, it was like it was hard to see, you know, especially with someone that you love that dearly and someone that you're that close with. And for me, the most important person in my life. So like I said, that was 10 years ago, but I still think about it to this day. You know, I'm close to home. So this week, I rented a car. going to be going up to his grave, his cemetery a few times this week during the fight week.

And then also, I'm always wearing, you know, his dog tag. He didn't leave much behind. So I always wear this on fight night. I wear it to the cage or wear it up to the point where they make me take everything off for the cage. And then at that point, I put it around my friend Shane's neck. And he wears it while I'm in the cage. And then whenever I get done fighting, you know, I throw it back on. That's where I feel like I, this is like I said, the only thing is,

that he left behind. And this time I feel like he's still close to me whenever I'm fighting. I appreciate you sharing all of that. And obviously, I'm very sorry that you had to go through that and sorry to your whole family. Considering what you said at the beginning of that answer regarding the relationship with the family and, you know, being able to visit your dad and whatnot, there's a lot going on here. And so I'm, I'm kind of thinking back to you saying like there's less pressure. How are you dealing with all this? I'm sure there's old stomping grounds that are coming. Like, you're the center of this show, the PFL's first show in Pittsburgh, first major event in about a decade or so in the region. And there's a lot of family stuff attached to it, a lot of emotion, a lot of tragedy, a lot of, I'm sure, a roller coaster of emotions that you're dealing with.

How are you processing all of this? Or are you the kind of competitor who just is able to compartmentalize everything and not think about it all, not let it affect you? No, I'm kind of like with my dad, you know, passing. now I kind of use it as fuel a little bit for training and for my career because like I told you when I gave you that little rant about all the shit that he did for me like investing his time and money into me. I don't want to let all that go to waste. So when I'm having a bad day at training or like I feel like I'm dogging it a little bit or I feel like I'm getting a little weak minded, you know, his voice kind of creeps into the back of my head. And, you know, I kind of get reminded of why I'm doing what I'm doing. You know, I'm doing it for myself, but I'm also doing it for him.

And because I know he wanted it just as bad as I did. So I feel like with him investing all that time and money and everything into me, whenever he didn't even have it, you know, it'd be disrespectful to him to not give it my all all the time. So I'm looking at this opportunity for this fight coming up to, you know, put a show on it in front of my home crowd and show everybody what I'm capable of. And I think people saw a glimpse of that last year in the tournament. But ultimately in the finals, you know, I slipped up. I made a mistake and it cost me the entire fight,

especially in a fight that I was winning. You know, it was a competitive fight, but I was winning the fight. And so now I don't view it as added pressure. I view it as an opportunity to do something close to home in front of all my fans and even family that I'm not too close with that are coming to watch. And they haven't been able to see me in person up until this point.

They've just been watching me on TV. That fight that you're referring to, the Fabian Edwards fight, that's the last time we saw you back in August. It was the finals. There was a lot at stake, not just the victory, but obviously monetarily as well. We haven't seen you since. How did you process that in the immediate afterwards?

Aftermath, excuse me, how did you deal with that loss? I was broken, bro. Because leading up to that fight, that whole entire year, man, I did everything right. From sleep to recovery, to training, to my diet, I locked in everywhere. and I don't think I could have done anything more. You know, I was after every single wrestling practice, after jih Titi practice, whatever, at ATT, we have a strip, turf strip on the side, and I'm there doing sprints after practice. I'm the only one doing extra condition and everybody else is enjoying their day or getting ready to leave, you know.

I'm putting in the extra work. I put, every fighter works hard, you know what I mean? But I'm doing extra things that I know nobody else in the gym is doing, and I know probably nobody else in the world is doing. And I'm putting in the extra hours. I'm hiring a strength condition to coach something I usually didn't do. Like I said, I hired a nutritionist to tune in my diet even more. I was getting as much sleep as I possibly could doing a hyperbaric chamber, cryotherapy, red light therapy, massages every week, all this different shit that I could do

to give myself the best possible chance to succeed as possible. And it still didn't work out. I was winning the fight, but I was still fighting sloppy. You know what I mean? I wasn't fighting the way that I know I'm capable of. And I wasn't fighting the way that I was training. And then ultimately it all came to a head in the third round and I got caught, you know. And it just sucks knowing how hard I worked and knowing everything that I put into it and everything that I sacrificed, you know.

And it just slipped out of my hands, slipped out of my hands in like a moment. So it sucks, man. It's just I put everything into the sport. And I still to this day, I haven't even taken a sip of alcohol. I haven't done any drugs, no weed, none of the party stuff that you see people doing in college and high school. All my friends were doing it. But I didn't want to do it because I wanted to give myself the best possible chance to succeed. And even if it made a 1% difference, I wanted to do it.

You know what I mean? So I've given up a lot in high school and college. I didn't take any off. Obviously in college, I didn't have the money to do so anyway. But all my friends are going on spring break, you know, enjoying their their vacations and stuff, enjoying college, partying on the weekends. I wasn't doing any of that. I was working.

You know, I mean, all with the intent of doing what I'm doing right now. And like I said, I just did everything I possibly could up in my entire life. And then last year in those camps leading up until that point. And it just didn't go my way. When a fighter loses for the first time, V. a knockout like that. Sometimes they change the next time we see them. A little gun shy, it's on their mind, there's a crisis of confidence. Do you think this will change you as a fighter? No. That fight, like I said, I just got caught. It was a bad habit. To be honest with you,

hindsight's 2020, but if I can go back, I would go out there in the third round and fight the same way that I fought in the first two rounds. In between rounds, one of my coaches told me, you know, We might have three more rounds of this. You're fighting at a really high pace. I believe in you. I know you're in good shape, but let's take the first half of the round off, you know, and then win the second half of the round. And then we win this round and we're coasting the rest of the fight.

Now he has to come out, you know, and push the pace. And if he makes a mistake, now you catch him. So hindsight is 2020. I probably would go out there, you know, and push the pace again that round and try to get to finish that round. but I didn't do it. So, you know, things played out the way they did. But I remember looking across the cage in between rounds,

and he was sitting down facing me at first, hunched over, struggling to breathe. And then I remember seeing him stand up, turn the other way towards his coaches, towards the cage, and then still, like I said, big breaths, big breaths. And then I remember the ref after the 10-second bell to get ready for the next round.

The ref said, all right, you guys got to get out of. here to his corner because they were still there. He was still sitting on the stool. His coach is still in the cage and they weren't listening. So my coach is already out of the cage. My stool is already gone. I'm standing up walking back and forth. He's still sitting on the stool.

The ref actually had to start walking over towards them for them to get the hint, for them to get the hell out of the cage. So I should have taken that as a cue, you know, to push the pace. Like this guy's ready to get out of here. He's dead. But instead, you know, I took the defensive route. decided to save some energy. You know, he grew in confidence.

He starts just throwing a teep, you know, he's no longer stressed out. He's kind of walking me down. And now I'm giving him a chance to rest. And then ultimately what that led to is me exposing a bad habit where I'm like reaching for that backhand against a south paw. And everybody saw what happened. Yeah. And obviously you get a big opportunity here to write that wrong and be right back in the

title picture. I wanted to ask you, who is Pegasus? Who's this Pegasus character that is always with you? Tell us about him. Oh, is he there? There he is. Oh, wow. Pegasus. Come here. What a guy. Wow. That's him. He comes with you everywhere. Yeah, he's the star of the show. Everybody here at the PFL loves him. Look at this guy. Yes, sir. That's him.

Wow. How old is he? He is three and a half. And he travels with you to every fight? Yeah, yeah. He traveled with me. The first, well, the first time he ever did it was last year, whenever I fought Saudi Bucci in Orlando. Yeah. And then I just started bringing them to every fight after that. And then obviously the finals were in South Florida where I live.

Yeah. So that was a big deal. But I brought him to Chicago with me and posted a picture with him in Chicago and it kind of popped off on Instagram. Everybody loved him, not just the PFL, but like everybody was loving it, you know. And why do you want him there? Why is this important to you? He's my best friend, man. It sounds kind of, you know, stupid.

Especially everybody's like, oh, this guy's such a tough guy. He's a professional. I'm a May fighter. You know what I mean? And then they see me with this dog and they think the opposite, you know? But to me, you know, I love dogs more than I love people. I could trust a dog more than I can trust a person. And that might sound bad to some people.

But to me, this guy's my best friend. So I love it. I bring everyone with me. I love it. I love the suits as well. You're always rocking. some really nice suits. Shout out to you.

Yeah, that's David Allen. Okay, look at this guy right here. I mean, this is high-class stuff. Well done. I saw the face-off earlier today. What type of vibe did we get from Impa? He seems focused. I'm going to be honest, he seems, you can see here,

what's not shown is they kind of cut this a little bit. This face-off was a lot longer than they even put in this video. So they kept telling us the face. forward and neither of us were budging we actually at first when they told us to face forward we went to face forward and we still had our eyes locked on each other and then we kind of like turned back towards each other and then we just kind of just stood there and uh yeah i just i think he's ready to come fight honestly that's that's the vibe i got so i'm i'm looking forward to it because i am too it was a great face off the one with ebblin and battle was great as well

i love that they're doing this i'd be remiss dalton if i don't ask you this because people love your social media you do good stuff and the dog and the suits and whatnot. You know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of male fans that are probably a little jealous of you because of your sparring partner. They're, they're a big fan

of your sparring partner. You've got the toughest sparring partners in the game right there. And I think that's Dakota Ditcheva, the superstar for the PFL. I think you guys are, are friends, right? Maybe more than friends?

Yeah, we're pretty good friends. Yeah, well done. How did this happen? How did this blossom? Um, I don't know, we're just, we're good friends, I guess. I was hoping they would show you on camera when I asked that, because I feel like you, you don't want to answer this question.

And if you don't, that's okay. But, you know, we see you guys on social media, nothing to be ashamed of. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what question you're asking in particular. I mean. How did it blossom? Were you just training together and said, hey, you know, I like this person, or, you know, how does that happen?

More visual evidence. Ah, get off my social media. It's all my social media right now. It's great social media. You do good stuff. People like this. Yeah, she's a cool girl. She's a really good friend.

Will she be at the fight? Yes, she'll be here. You've got a whole freaking army coming to support you. The dog, the family, the training partners, the sparring partners. Yeah, and then obviously I have some teammates on the card as well. You know, I got Johnny Eppelin, you know, Natanz Schulte. Dakota Bush. And then actually one of my friends that I used to train with back here, he trains in Colorado now, Josh Brend, he was in the UFC, signed with the PFL now. He's fighting here as well.

So, yeah, man, it's going to be a good night, man. I'm looking forward to it. By the way, what happens? There's a scenario there where it's you and Eblen kind of vying for the same thing. Have you guys talked about that? Is that something? No, I mean, he, you know, I think we're both deserving of the title shot. And that's what I was touching on a little bit earlier. You know what I mean? He held the title for so long he's a great fighter he's one of the best in the world but um at the end of the day we we both want the same thing so my job is to go out there and make sure that i'm the one that gets the shot not him so whenever i step out of that cage on saturday night i want john martin mike kogan whoever else

whoever's calling the shots i want them before that main event even happens to think like okay this is the guy this this is the guy that's getting the next type of shot regardless of what happens in that that uh main event well you have set the table quite nicely. Looking forward to this very much. Very happy that you're getting this opportunity. Great to have you on the show. Thanks for telling us a bit about your backstory as well. And obviously, good luck to you on Saturday. Dalton Rasta going up against Ipacosangene, main event, Johnny Ebblin against Brian Battle, two massive fights in the middleweight division. A lot of middleweights in action on Saturday, whether it's the UFC or PFL, both shows going toe to toe. So hopefully

you've got two screens if you're at home. All the best to you, my man. Thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate the time very much and good luck Saturday. I appreciate man. Thank you for having me. There he is. Dalton Rasta, kind enough to join us. Massive opportunity for him. A bit of a local guy, if you will. And a great backstory. And again, just like Chanel Dyer, love to learn more about some of the new faces, someone that you can easily root for here. Seems like a great guy. Seems like he has, you know, the right things in order, his head on straight, very committed. Much respect to him. Really enjoyed chatting with him.

All right. We'll talk to another debutante on the show. kinds of characters on today's program. A guy in Colby Covington, who we haven't talked to in six years, a guy in Muhammad Mikhail who once said he would never talk to me again, obviously Oscar Delahoya, the Golden Boy, and two debutante. So we just spoke to one. Now we get to speak to another, and a lot of people were very excited yesterday when we found out that he was added to the most valuable promotions' MMA debut on Netflix,

May 16th, Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California. He is the pride of France. He is the multiple time KSW champion. He is someone who a lot of people think is one of the brightest young stars in this game and he'll be making his American debut on the 16th of May against Kenneth Cross. He is Saladin Parnaz, and he's kind enough to join us right here and now. Saladine, how it? Hello.

It's very well. I know to speak French. I know, your English isn't great. Your English isn't great. My English is null. If you can't French, it's top. No, but my audience,

he doesn't speak English. So we have Tarek here who's going to help translate for you. Tariq, are you there? Oh, no, Tarek, you may not need to do anything here because I can just translate for the two of us, but I'm going to use your services, okay?

Okay. Thank you so much, Tarek. Thank you for being here. And great to meet you. Enchanté, Saladin. It's great to meet you. Can I ask you, first thing first. How did this opportunity come about?

A lot of people were very excited to hear that you had signed on this card. How did this opportunity for you to be on the MVP card come about for you? How did this opportunity for you, how this opportunity is for you, Salardine, to combat with KSW and my manager H that, so I've got an opportunity for my contract with KSW because I'm always contract with KSW

where I can combat or where I can combat or can combat the MVP? Terak, are you there? Yeah. Oh, yeah, can you translate? Yeah. It was opportunity by KSW. The MVP, they contacted the boss of KSW Martin, Levandowski,

and with my manager, H. So I cannot refuse this type of opportunities to fight in such organization like MVP with these all names. A lot of people have been wondering when you would come over to the United States. What was your reaction when you got this call to be on such a big card on such a big platform? There are plenty of people who have attended your debut to the United. It's what your reflection when you've got to combat your state? A job of a plus where I should shock the United, simply.

I have the ability to combat, my my job is to combat, so I was very content, and to me show my talent to the public US, and for me it's a bit of important, and I think we're going to be of these opportunities.

Okay, I was very happy to have this opportunity. I'm coming to US to chalk the people like I do it in Europe. I want to present my skills there and show people who is Saladiparnas in the United States. After this fight,

Will you go back to KSW or are you a free agent? Is that after this combat, you will come back to KSW or you are a combatant Libre? No, I don't know, frankly. That's my manager H that I seem, but I think he knows how to get, so I'm, I'm listening. I'm, I'm, I'm listening, I'm, I'm, I'm listening, what, I'm going, I'm going to

do you, okay. Okay. To be honest with you, I don't know. This is my manager, H. He takes care about my career. I listen to him. He's more older than me. And I trust him.

So I don't know what we will do later. What would you like to do? Are you ready to explore what else is out there? Or would you like to go back to KSW? Or are you hoping that MVP does more shows on Netflix? Okay. And you, is you want to to come to

or do you think to rest to MVP if they will have several events? No,

no, the moment that there a call to make a call to my job.

The most important for me is to do make some good combat and to give a good

combat to public. For me, it doesn't matter which organization if I will get a

good opportunity, good fights, good opponents, so I go there where I feel that I can show my skills to the world in MMA. With the Caswbvre, what is good is that, as I can install my name, they can me can be able to do some of the combats. I can do some of the combat in box English, so if I can enchant me, it would be the top for No more.

Okay. What was good with KSW, I get the opportunities to fight in boxing, to make boxing fights, to move to other organizations like now with MVP. So if I will get outside of KSW something like that where I can fight in boxing and in MMA, so I will do it. Can you tell us whether or not you've ever had an offer opportunity from the UFC, because a lot of people who have been following your career for a while have been waiting for that to come

seemed like it was inevitable and it hasn't come. Has this ever happened? Have you ever talked to the UFC or received an offer from them to sign in the past? Okay. Is this you received before the propositions to combat the UFC? A lot of people, they demand if you've received these opportunities to combat there.

Yeah, if I received these opportunities, we've seen in a plan. There's a long time, already. But I decided to rest to Kaze Blu-V because I was free, to do what I want, and I've been done in boxing, English, to do

do with combat in M-MA, it's a, it's a, being a fighter, is to combat where you want, to dream, to, to rave grand. Yes, I get many propositions from UFC, I think,

more than two times before I resigned to KSW, but I felt good in KSW, I was very respected as a double champ and I was a free fighter, so I can fight in boxing, in MMA. So I had very good position in KSW, and for that I decided to resign to KSW. Yes, 145, 155, you've even gone for the 170 pound belt. Is this part of your dream? Would you like to one day fight in the UFC or you don't care?

You just want to have the freedom, you want to get paid. There are some fighters who care and there are some fighters who don't. Where do you fall in that discussion? Okay. And you, is that you dream a day to combat at the UFC or you're a combatant where you will be more paid, you will go to or you will respect and more pay? No, I've not heard.

Is your dream is to go to the UFC or... or just you go to and you're respected I'm not I don't I'm not

talking? It's a bag, no, it's a double Hello? You said what?

Is that your is to go to go to the UFC or you're going to be

or you will be more pay and more respected? No, for the my breath

is that the me paid so for a for the for a man,

I'm in I'm a man, I'm a new payed. I'm, I'm not, I'm a I think, Saladin, I think that you block the headphone for the volume.

I think he's blocking the phone, right? You can't hear him, right? Tarek. Salah, do you me? No, can't. Okay. We don't know. I think that you block the microphone, Salah.

Yeah. I heard him. Okay, all right. Yeah, yeah. No, my dream is to stay there where I am, more respected, more paid, it doesn't matter a UFC or other way. This opportunity that you're receiving with MVP, is this the biggest contract that you've received so far in your fight career?

Is the contract with MVP is the most salary that you've received in your career? No, no, no, no, no, for the time. I've not yet determined really what I'm going to touch. We'll see with my manager, but I think that the KSW will have been a better opportunity. Okay. No, it was not the biggest money I got in my career. It was in KSW. Maybe for the future I will get a better contract with MVP.

And Saladin, we want to see your face. We don't see your face. We'll not your face. Salah, recule a little. Recul. We see you just fine, great. We see your barb here. So we see your beard. It's hard for me, Tarek,

because I know how to speak. I want to speak in French. Pratiké my French, it's difficult for me. But I want to do proper with the translator, if you understand. Saladin, have you seen this card? Have you seen the card that they put out yesterday, the names that are on this card?

And if so, what do you think of their first card for MVP, the names that are put on this card? Salah, is what you've seen the fight card of MVP, and do you think what of the name that they've been on the card? No, I think that the card, there are some good combat. There are Ed Gano, there are Ronda Rousse, there's a lot of jazz,

there's the 61 kilo. I don't know how he's called, but there's a nice card. There are good ones. There are only combatants that are explosive and that are good combat. So I think it's a good combat for the public. Yeah, I think it's a very nice card.

We have names like Engano, like Ronda Rose, like Nate Diaz, the 61 Kilo, but he forgot his name. I don't know about which fighter he talked. But the card is very nice. very nice, I'm very excited to be there. My debut in US, so for me it's a very nice opportunity.

Yes, and speaking of your debut, I believe you walk out to California Love, right, by Tupac, and now here you are, your debut is in California, in Inglewood. This is crazy, right? It's almost like you manifested this, like you brought it all together. Yeah.

It's crazy. In your sense of entry for the combat, it's California love of the Tupac. And now you're to combat at California it's a

it's a hot when you make the sound at your entry. It's a time when I hear this

sound, I listen because it does me a good vibe and it and it

change in a time as a combatant when I do this project that

it gives this more in a determination in plus and

for me it's the good and the destiny has that

it's No more to say. Yeah, that was my dream to fight in United States and to walk out to the cage with this music. California love makes me more determined. I changed as a fighter. So only when I hear this song, I am in mode beast. Okay. And again, sorry for being annoying, but I think the speaker is being blocked again.

So I want the people to be able to hear you. Can you tell him that I think it's being blocked on his phone because it was sounding a little bit weird there? Yeah, Salah. I think that you block again the microphone. Here, on the... You can't? Yeah, I can't.

I think that you block the microphone at the cot. You don't put your hand at the microphone. No, no, even not, it's like that. Okay, it's like that. Okay, it's a problem. Okay, it's a problem. Did you know about Kenneth Cross? Were you familiar with him when you were offered him?

And if not, do you know about him now? If so, what do you know about him? Is that you have made a little research on your adversary, Cross? Is you know it before or just now you've discovered? No, but our trainer, we've made some research on the combatant. It's a combatant who is explosive. And you've got a great physique, so we'll have to be attention. these coups that are really explosive, I think it's a realtor,

so we have to look at a little bit, we've been looking a little, we've analyzed a little his attitude, and I think that there's a lot of place to do it on the same. Okay, and you'd you know before? No, I didn't know him. Okay. No, before they proposed me, I didn't know him. But I see that he's a very explosive fighter.

I think that he's a very explosive fighter. His background is wrestling. I know that he's a big 70-kilow. So I think that it will be a good match-up for me. And as you mentioned earlier, you've won at 145 KSW title, 155, and you went for 170. Is this still a dream of yours to be a three-division world champion? Okay.

We know that you're a champion of 66 kilos or 70 kilos, and you've made an experience in 77. Is it still your dream of being triple champion? It's a dream for me. There's a new step. So, I'm a little bit of this dream. I guess, in fact, for the category where I perform, 70 kilos, so for the

for the time, I'm going to still like and why not if I arrive to perform a core, if I rest in a case blue, or if I

don't know if I'm not 1040 kilos, and if I arrive at gravier and if I'm going to try to other

suture. Okay. That was a dream for me to be a triple champ. I tested this I didn't get the win, but it

was a very good experience for me. Now I am more concentrates on 70 kilo on lightweight divisions so for now I will focus only on this division but we don't know maybe in the future maybe in KSW or in another organization I will test one more time Walterweight. As you mentioned you you competed in boxing last year MVP obviously a boxing promotion as well have you talked to them about boxing on one of their cards in the future Okay

You have You have Fetan du Bocke In the year You've gained your combat And you know The MVP

They found These Gala Of Box Is that You're talking With them With them An potential

Of a potential combat In English In English He said He said He made He did

They did They did They're I'm I've been I've been I've been I'm

You know I've been I've been Also, so they've been For Papa, if I can do a con-exam-garet with the MDP Promotion and I defiance

I think a combat to make a combat or any other combatant, I'd be I'd be sure because because I'm in France where I've confronted

in Wovey Shopping in Europe, I'm in top of Sondon, so if I can do a combat to box English, I'd do it, I'd would do direct. My debut in

in boxing, I'm very big fan of boxing. as people now and my first fight it was with the double European champ I am in

top 100 in the Mondial ranking so if I will get the opportunity from the MVP boxing to fight there I will be very happy for that even with Jack Paul I can make a fight

I love that you have many different talents Saladin Tell me about super, is it protige, prodige, prodigé, this is your clothing line. Super prodigie. Prodige, this is your clothing line, right? Is it your mark of the vatement? Yeah, it's my mark, it's my mark of leatherment. Ah, look that.

Yeah, I'm a little in that, a little. This is your... He very like clothing. Okay, yes, I know you like fashion, you like clothing. I've even seen that you were featured in a rap song. Which one? By Gims. Gims, which was a huge hit. Here you are. Featured in it.

And there was also a rap song that was written about you, right? Called Saladin P by K-O-F-S. Yeah. This is written about you this song? Yes. What is it about? Salah. We know that you're a fan of the rap also,

You have made an appearance in a clip of M. James, there's a song with your name, Saladim Parnas, for Roth and Kofs. What's the subject of this song? The just thing is determined to do you have to reflety. Like, I'm determined to do, to reflain, just as well, simply. Yeah, there are a lot of the Gid. It's a lot, it's a lot of everywhere, even in the States of the United. As there's a sportsiche that is in the domain,

we have a lot of music where it's about the sports chef. And it's pretty flattering for us, for us, for a movie that is very for us. Yeah, the song of Kof and Rof, it was about a guy who was very motivated and determined to get his dreams, his goals. So he chose me as a guy, as an example.

And the other song with MetaBjims, he's very famous ever in the United States. So now a lot of rappers they make featuring with the MMA fighters, so he chose me to for his clip. I love it. Well done. Last question for you, Saladin. If there's any American fan or fight fan out there that has never seen you fight,

what can they expect? What type of fight are you? What type of action do you bring? What can they expect on May 16th? Okay, if there are some of the fans American that you know not even, how can you present as a combatant? It's what your style? I'm a combatant who is very explosive, that is good to look at the many of the combat, we never.

So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, I'm very explosive fighter, I think that I am very complete complete MMA fighters. So I think that they will

happy what I will bring them I will bring them something new that they never see.

I agree and I'm looking forward to it. Merci so Ladeen. Felicitation for the contract.

I hope we can see the Vres Saladin Parnas the

16 May at Netflix on Kenneth Cross Inglewood, California that

would be magnificent Good courage to you. Enchanté. Excitant. It's very exciting. And I hope we'll talk there at Intuit Dome in two months.

Thank you. Thank you, Marcy. Thank you, Saladin. Thank you, Tariq. Appreciate you guys very much and good luck to you. Thank you, Ariel. Nice to meet you. Yes, nice to meet you as well. There he is. Saladin Parnaz, multiple time KSW champion.

By the way, in case you're wondering, the only man to ever win two to win titles in two different weight classes. In KSW, you may have heard of them, Mateus Gamrott, Roberto Saldic, Mahmad Khalidav, and Saladin Parnas, 28 years young, 22 and 2. We had 22 and 8 up there.

It's actually 22 and 2. Very impressive record, and this is a man who PT told us about yesterday Dare to be Great. Moved up from 145 to 55 to 70, has done some amazing things over in KSW and has turned down UFC contracts to stay there. He liked the freedom, did a little boxing this,

that it's worked out for him. he's now in he's now in the United States fighting on the MVP card fighting on Netflix on May 16 so that's a massive massive opportunity for him in six minutes time we're going to be talking to another person but a massive

opportunity offered to him and he took it for that same card Muhammad Makayev who of course is going up against Adrian O'Marias the former one championship flyway champion after that we're going to be joined by the one and only Oscar Delahoya to talk about all the big things going on with Golden Boy

and of course their new deal with DeZone. Very exciting stuff on the program so far. Gable Stephson officially announced for RAF, our reunion with Kobe Covington, meeting Dalton and Saladin for the first time. Do you think Dalton didn't like my question about sparring partners and stuff? I think he was just a little embarrassed.

Why? I don't think he was right to be embarrassed, but he was definitely embarrassed. He was blushing. Yeah. What's the biggie? That's all very exciting stuff, right? To be young.

Shout to Pegasus. Came up to the camera. Yeah. Decided there wasn't anything else going on. It went and laid back down. Yeah. Hey, shout out to Ilya, making all kinds of waves. I believe he has, he signed a deal with Richard Millet, the very famous watch designer.

If only G.C. was here to tell us how big of a deal this is, because I think he loves Richard Millet. They posted a video of him doing stuff. Oh, we don't have the video? Oh, okay, no problem. Well, there was a video. Take my word for it. And it's a big freaking deal.

Everyone's doing big things. What was it, Volk with Hubelow? Frank, tell us about Richard Millet. What do you know about Richard Millet? I'm so glad you asked. Yeah. Because I don't know anything. Dan, do you know anything about Richard Millet?

Yeah, I know all about him. Okay. He's a very famous watch guy. I think there's like a certain, there's a certain, like, you know how Christian Lebutin has like the red bottom? You know about this, right, Dan?

The red bottoms of the shoes? Of course. Yeah, so Richel, I think, has like an orange. Is it orange? I don't know. It's fine. It's really fine. Who is to check?

Who is to check? But it's a big deal. And so shout out to him. Shout out to Movstar Evloev. I saw that he posted a picture that he broke his nose four weeks before his fighting against Laurel Murphy. Is that real?

How could that be? What's under his eyes? What's going on over here? That's insane. That is actually insane. Makes the win even that much more impressive. You can actually purchase Lorone Murphy's shorts.

The ones that he wore in that fight, he has listed them on eBay. Right here and now, what do you think these are going for, Frank? What do you think the fight worn shorts will go for? Probably roughly $600. You think so?

Maybe. Not more? No. In this economy? Oh, it's already at 457 pounds. What's 457 pounds? 457 pounds in the USD. That's 610.

Oh, look at that. Wait, did you guess that or did you know that? It was on the screen right in front of me. 457 pounds? You know how to do that? Generally, yeah, like I know to add a little bit. All right. Well done.

You know, Bart Simpson once said, eat my shorts. he's saying buy my shorts. That's right. You remember that? I said earlier that I was feeling all like warm and fuzzy about Alexander Usick and Anthony Joshua coming together. The same could be said with Alex Perea and Israel Adesania. Adesania is fighting this weekend against Joe Pfeiffer and a huge fight at 185 in Seattle,

Washington. The boys are going to be there. It's going to be great. And I saw a lovely post from Alex Perea to his old friend, Izzy. Saturday is fight night once. again. Much respect to Israel Desaignei writes, we've shared the octagon and moments that became part of my journey. That loss taught me a lot. It pushed me to evolve, not only as a fighter, but as a man, I grew, matured, and used it as fuel to reach a higher level in the sport and in life.

Regardless of rivalry, I know what it means to step in there, the years of work, the pressure, the sacrifice. That's why I wish you a great fight. Go in focus and show you're the best. We keep evolving. See you at the top. Shama. A little Michael Chandler there. Lovely stuff. It's amazing when you see these rivals become friends. Same with Izzy and Whitaker, AJ and Usik.

Tremendous. Love that stuff. Yeah. Love that stuff. By the way, Islam Khachav is definitely not injured. I saw more footage of him training. So he's, I mean, like, he's definitely not injured. If he's got an injured hand, I know those are elbows right there, but like, come on.

I did see his manager out there saying, you know, we were called. He was sleeping. We called back. Nothing, you know, I don't know if he's, none of it is consistent. None of it makes sense. He did tell us that there was a big fight. Remember when he came out and told us it was a big fight? What do you think he was referring to?

Of course he was referring to that. But whatever. He's going to fight Ian Gary. That's got to be the fight. If it's not the fight, I don't know what we're doing. Ian Gary is out there. He's putting out great content waiting for the fight. Look at this.

This is me talking right here. He's listening to us on an old school telephone. What's happening? He's listening to me talk about how he has to be next, how he should be next. I guess maybe he's not listening to me via the telephone, but he's waiting for someone to call him on the telephone. That is a sick phone, by the way. That's an old school like Wolf of Wall Street type of phone.

phone. You know, like those old cell phones in a car? Oh, yeah. Love that phone. He's listening to us somewhere talk about it, and I'm not trying to belabor the point here, but he should be next, and what the hell is taking so long? Listen to the slurp on that one. Yeah.

It's pretty tasty, huh? It is great. It's actually tremendous. Very hydrantanama. Did you try? Because I noticed there were a few missing. Oh, did I try? I've consumed. Yeah, I noticed there were like four or five. We're just partying it up. up here. Water party.

Oh, wow. Everyone's drinking him. You cans of water. Cans of water. Shout out to Charles O'Overeh, by the way. He had a parade in his hometown after winning the BMF title, the first ever BMF parade. Look at this scene. This is amazing. Look at this. This is bigger than the New York Knicks NBA Cup parade that they got back in December. Wow. Police escort and all.

Yeah, there it is. Man, that BMF title looks good at the parade. It's probably never felt more important and more loved. So, congratulations to him. We do have the Ilya-Chal-Mille video, the aforementioned. Can we play it or is there music attached to it? No sound. No sound.

Oh, no sound. I thought you meant no music. I'm a professional athlete, a dreamer, and a normal person. At least, this is how I consider myself. Ilya Teporia for a re-child Millet

When I was 8 years My parents Had to live Me and my brothers To come to Europe To find a better future For us

Okay No music at all This is a great stop The difficult moments gave me the maturity That I felt that I have Today Oh yeah

Every time that I dubbed In something The only thing To keep it away is to work hard to give the answers to your doubts. The thing that I want to achieve in this life in reality is happiness. No one said it will be easy.

Love that. That's big time stuff. That's massive stuff. Good for him. Well done. Ily are getting a Richel-Mille sponsorship ahead of a White House fight June 14th. That is big-time stuff. In a matter of moments, we're going to be joined by Muhammad Makayev. Last time we talked to him was maybe a few months ago, five, six months ago, something like that.

But it has certainly been a minute. And we know now that he's going to be a part of this MVP card on the 16th of May. He has been very busy as of late, taking part in a bunch of different side quests, if you will. But his last MMA fight was back in November of this past year, November 7th. To be exact, won the inaugural Brave CF Flyway Champion. He'll have you have a great head kick knockout of won Gerald Burns. Massive, massive win for him. You know, getting a nice stoppage like that.

And this is a massive opportunity for him as well. He's now 16 and 0 with one no contest. So one of the great runs in the sport right now, and he's still just 25 years young. Would you believe it? He turns 26 in July. Let's talk to him. Let's go all the way to Dagestan, I do believe,

where he resides. Mohamed Makhai, is kind of, to join us. Hello Muhammad. How are you, my friend? I'm good. How are you? Hi. I'm doing great. Welcome to the show. Welcome back. It's great to have you. And congratulations on the big, the big opportunity. So can I ask, how did this come about for you? When did you find out, who reached out? How did they reach out? Tell us the whole story. My manager, Tim Simpson, message me about this fight. It was Matthews Nikhalo. First, I accepted, and then I don't know what happened to him and then they said Adriano Marais and I said to let's go whoever you know

it doesn't matter at this point in my career I'm ready to fight everybody because in my mind I'm the best in the world right now in this division which fight did you like better Mattaeus Nicolao former UFC fighter or Adriana martin's former one championship champion I think name wise I think Adrian Morales I like more because he beat a deematea. Mr. Johnson, his biggest name, and like by the comments I read, I think most people looking forward to this fight on this card. There was a great reaction when this was announced. I think there was a very good reaction to a few of the fights, but your fight in Saladin

Parnas, I think, were the two that the hardcore fan base was really excited about. Would you agree? Did you feel that as well? I agree. I agree. Because I think right now, only two-fist test is Adraana Morales. now like people think outside of you see and I like that because I'm I don't want to fight like I rather fight one good guy instead of five fight five five fights against

people don't know what do you think of the entire card once you saw the entire card that they're putting together for May 16th what did you think it's a great card this is I'm I'm big fun of Nadeas and and like he's headlining the the event Rondo Rosie and I'm a big fan of them too, so it'd be nice sharing the cards with them. But when did you get this opportunity? When did they reach out to you? It was, it was Eid.

It was last weekend. Okay, so not that long ago. No, the matchyos Nikola was a bit longer. Yeah. And I thought, and then nothing happened. And then Adriano Morales was just weekend. And I thought, I thought I'm not going to be on the card. And then Adrona Morales came up and I said this.

And this is at 125, right? It is 125. I know he fought at 135 in 1. And he's a hard weight cut for him. Yeah, you like that. I love it. And what a great opportunity this is for you. If this didn't come about, if this wasn't presented to you,

when do you think you would have fought and who would you have fought for like i said we last saw you for brave in november but was there anything else in the works for you not really not really much i've been i've been i've been told like we're trying to make fight between you and mighty mouse i won't say what organization it is and like he's he's retired i didn't believe it will come up but i don't think they couldn't i don't want to mention who tried to make that but i was i was looking forward to that as well. Yeah, I remember when that came out, I think it might have been for hype or something like that,

but anyway, then he made a video. No, maybe I'm wrong, but he made a video saying, this is not happening, I'm not competing, I'm done. Muhammad, hit me up if you want more information. Did you see this? I spoke to my tea after that. Okay. I spoke to him about this and he's not coming back from retirement,

but I told him, listen, people want to make the fight and they couldn't because he's retired. It's hard to bring somebody back. But he is a good guy. Mighty Mouse is a good guy, man. I take advice for him many times. Since I've been caught from UFC, he messaged me and we stay in touch all the time. Obviously, your name always comes up regarding the flyweight division, people wanting to see you back, people wondering when you'll come back.

We've talked about this in the past, and so I'm just wondering, how are you dealing with this now? Have you forgotten about that now? Is that still your ultimate goal? What is your approach as far as your future, if there is any future with the UFC? I think once I get a great finish, like some great finish on a guy like Marlon Marais, I think they will call me. But right now, I'm not that desperate when I was caught. I was 23 years old and I'm thinking, wow, I want to get back, I want to get back.

And now I'm just doing my beats, earning money, and feeling, feeling good about it. I spoke to Hunter, and I think whatever happened, it happened in my, my, my, my, my best thing happened to my career. I invested a lot of money. I earned good stuff. And I matured. And I think, I think I see who is around with me and for what. And I think it's one of the best things happened to my career.

I didn't realize that at the start, but now I see everything from, for me. outside, you know. Okay, so there was a time, and correct me if I'm wrong, there was a time where it felt like it was like such a big deal for you was consuming you. Now you're just sort of going with the flow, you're enjoying the freedom, you're taking opportunities, it's not your main focus anymore.

Is that accurate? That's accurate, you know. I'm the best flyweight outside of you see, not signed to any promotion, just won't fight. In and out, compete whatever I want. They call me, Armand Sarulikan was 11 at night. You want to replace Armand Sarikan.

It doesn't matter what weight location. Like people say, I'm ready to fight anyone, anywhere. But anyway, I actually did it. And 11 p.m. it was. And then I drove to airport straight away and then a flight to Brazil. Wow. Compete against Armand. And if I've stuck to any other organization,

maybe I'm not able to do that. But I'm a free agent and I do whatever I want and I earn good money. And if it turns out that you never fight again in the UFC, will you be at peace with that? Will you be okay with that? It's a hard question, really. It's a hard question. And, you know, Dream versus money, I think Dream becomes first in my list. And if I were losing in there, I wouldn't be able to say I'm the best in the world.

I was 7 and O'N. I think I have unfinished business there. Is it hard for you to watch those UFC fights now, knowing that you think you could be the champion there? Especially when my opponent's beating everybody there. Yeah. It's interesting because right now I have four guys in top 15 who are already beat. And watching my sons doing really well, I'm really proud. What do you think of Joshua Van?

Like, how do you stack up against Joshua Van? He's a good fighter. he got knocked up by Charles Johnson who I beat. So right now, in my opinion, the best guy in that division is Kyoja Hariguchi. The rest, I don't see anyone challenging me right now. Yeah, we just found out he's fighting Manil Kapp in June again. So what do you think happens in that fight? It's a good matchup.

The fought in 2017. I did a lot of breakdowns when I fought Manil. And I think it's not going to be easier for Kioji this time. And especially the cage will be small. It's apex, right? So I think it could be closer than people think. But I'll take Kioji on this fight. Going back to the Armin match, what was that like for you?

Obviously, he's a much bigger guy than you are. This is a guy who fights at 155. In the UFC, he's big. You fight at 125. and I don't think anyone thought less of you for not winning the match, but just to see the size difference was really interesting and to see you guys in there was really interesting.

What did you think of the experience? You know what it is, I just came. In my opinion, in my mind, even I fight a month 10 times, in my mind I just believe I can win. But, you know, realistically, there's a way difference. That's the reason we have weight classes.

And I asked him, I asked him, can we do like six minutes much to eight minutes? But if you say no, then it's a rule set. I cannot blame you. I accepted how it is. But against Sharra Bullitt, he competed six minutes. So I told him, listen, we have 23 KG difference here. Give me a little bit time advantage. And he didn't give me.

He didn't give me. He gave me 10, full 10 minutes, you know. I kept bullying the flyweight. But listen, you can't take away the victor of him. I respect. It doesn't matter how the match went. He won. He's the winner.

And I cannot say nothing less than he got the belt in. So like I said, I think like six or eight minutes will be better for me because because the little bit size difference. Yeah, no, 100%. So you're enjoying doing these other things. you were, I think, announced to compete on an R-A-F card, but it didn't come to fruition. What happened there?

I didn't get my visa on the time. I was in London, and then I didn't get on the time my visa. That's why, but I'll love to compete there. I will compete there. Okay. And what about this rumor or this proposed match against Mikey Musamechi in UFC, BJJ? It was true.

It was true. but I don't know how to say this. I'll be straightforward. Listen, I ask my manager, team, can you call and ask if this will help me get back to UFC? If it will be, I will accept and I will go for it. And it doesn't matter. It's Mikey Mosomichi or like, I don't know, Gorilla. It doesn't matter if it helps me get back to UFC.

I will sign and go. and I'm afraid I'm not afraid of competing of anyone and I think like Armand it's another proof but they told me a team told me it's a different thing UFC BGA and

UFC so I said listen I'll do my thing was best for my career and if if it's written from me I will get back there okay so so that's why it ultimately didn't happen No, yeah, it didn't happen, yeah, but if it's, for example, after this fight, if I have something in between dates, I can call and ask and compete because at that time I thought I might have a MMA fight and I rather do the MMM fight instead of doing this BGJJ, but if it's something in between, I'm up to compete against anyone already. When I was 17, 18, I used to compete every weekend. I got, I got some beat.

I've got like I did kickboxing like matches and I did boxing I lose I win I lose I don't care I just well I just love to compete it seems like you're enjoying life you're enjoying your career right now the opportunities out there I saw you weigh in on fighter pay recently is is it fair to say and I'm not trying to say it's better but that you can make a more lucrative career for yourself doing these side quests these one-off fights and things like that as opposed to being tied down with one organization Is that what you're learning here? What do you mean, Ired?

Well, you know, if you're tied down, it's hard to grow. You have a contract. Maybe you come in at a certain number. And, you know, unless you become a super-duper star, you're not going to make the big bucks. But here, you're a hot commodity. People are signing you. Like, for example, this MVP card, does this purse compare it to what you were making in the UFC? Is it greater?

Is it less? What can you tell us about it? Um, I don't know. I don't want to upset anyone. Okay, I understand. I just keep it like how out it is. And I think, I think, you know, in UFC, I had career. Like, I know there's top 15, top five, there's championship level.

Once you become champion, you earn as much as money. And there's a career. Right now, I'm just competing everywhere, but I don't see this like a rankings career for me. I just compete, you know, but rankings, like there's a Joshua one champion. and there's me competing everywhere but in my mind I know I'm the best but I can't say I'm the best because because people think if you have UFC champion are the best that set you know no I understand that 100% I was just curious about you know whether or not you felt like you were getting paid here but it sounds like

you're happy I do I do yeah I do get paid and today I'm in that position I'm a 25 years old and I can't finish my career today if I want to to. I invested everything. I just get monthly wages and that's it, you know. But my mind now just compete. I don't have to work. I just put everything in my camp and just enjoy the process. I saw you recently with Archer Better Biev. What was that like? Did you actually get to train with them? No, we was flying from Turkey to Dagestan on the same flight. Very humble guy. Wasn't even like business class. Nothing. Just sit in normal role. with people talking like most humble fights I've ever seen.

Okay, amazing. I love that. One of the all-time best, the guy who actually lives in Montreal, I believe, a good portion of the time. So we enjoy him as Canadians as well. What did you think of that hype show? I saw you between John Silva and Bryce Mitchell and all that stuff. Did you enjoy that? That was a crazy time, that show. I made peace between them, too, you know.

You're the peacemaker. Usually I'm a trouble in the hotels, but now I change, brother. I like this. This is showing growth, maturity. Yeah, like, I rather spend my time right in the cage right now. It doesn't worth, you know, like I realize it doesn't worth all this. I rather put everything inside the cage. That's what people see. You know, we talked about a lot of places and opportunities and whatnot. I'm surprised PFL has never come calling, or have.

they come calling. You seem to be a, and I know they don't have a flyweight division, but even like 135 or starting a division or just having you, now they don't do, you know, tournament, so it doesn't really matter. Have there ever been serious talks with the PFL? No, I spoke to, I spoke to my Kogan. I spoke to him like one week ago, a couple of days ago. Oh, wow. They tried to make some fights, even like before Kioja Harrigoch took San to UFC. That's the fight they try to make. And then Kiorgio signed to UFC. So I'm in touch with them, but like I said, I don't want to get in stocking long-term deals with anyone right now because I'm still young.

If I be 30 years old and knowing that I'm not going to be back in UFC, I sign with other promotions. That's not disrespect to all the promotions. I just want to stay free. I understand that. I think if Joshua Van wins on April 11th, I think, I think he will tie your record of starting 7 and 0 in the flyweight division, right? So are you hoping that he loses?

Are you rooting against them? Are you hoping Tyra does it? Yeah. I hope nobody loses. I have no person in my life who I wish lose even who I don't like. It does nothing to do with career growth and we're all fighters. I respect every single guy in this sport because we're all here to feed the families. And I want him to be.

my record, you know, that's... I don't care, everybody has their own life, everybody have the own opportunity, situations, and you cannot just look at the person and thinking, oh, he's got better stuff than me. He's got his life, I got my life, and I said.

I did see you with Kyotji Heraguchi and Alex Pantoja at ATT. What was it like training there, and will you be doing more of that? No, right, no, because I'm fighting Adriano Morales. It should be another

another man added to this photo, Adriano Morales, that's top three guys in that team in our weight category. But after I become champion, I will be back there. Did you see him there when you were there? Actually, if Adriano Morales passed there. Oh, you have? How long ago? Yeah, I did. Just before I fought Charles Johnson.

Okay, what was that like? It was good. It was good. No much things we just rolled with the jiu-jitsu And he was as I remember he was one of the top guys I made the Does that give you confidence going into this fight? Yeah Okay

Yeah So what kind of fight are you are you Are you of the mindset that you need a finish Like you got in your last fight A knockout, a submission Do you want to do something spectacular Or is a win enough for you? I want to go out, dominate

put performance. Like every time I plan something to finish, it never happens, you know. So I just want to go out and enjoy it. So it will come out smoothly. What are they telling you, you know, we're all very curious about how the show is going to look, what the fighters are going to look like,

sponsors, shorts, this and that. What if anything are you hearing about what you'll be able to do on this card? Not much. I haven't even read contract much. Team, team deals with that, everything. I'm allowed to wear my own logos, my own shorts and stuff. So it's good thing. I'd like to hear that you're back with Tim as well.

Yes, I never even left Tim. It's just I was out of UFC and with Brave. I was dealing myself with the Brave organization. So I was directly with the brave different relationships. So like Tim, Tim did not. nothing but good in my career. I remember many, many years ago, you were still an amateur, maybe IMAF, or I-W-M-A-F. Maybe that's the right way.

You know what I'm talking about. And he told me, I got this guy who is going to be the next big thing. He is going to be a future champion. He is going to be a stud. And he was talking about you. And he has proven to be correct. You're still undefeated. All these years later, you've gone on an incredible run.

I know the story hasn't worked out the way you thought it was going to. played out the way you thought it was going to but it feels like you're in a good place here and you're getting this massive opportunity it's not so bad yeah it's great it's great it was Andrew Wood is a strength condition coach in Thailand Tiger Muatai

Andrew Wood he's now in Bangtow and I was 2018 training with him and he introduced me to team actually and then we stay in touch like this and then and then it was from we work with team from my

professional debut. By the way, are you 15 and 0 or 16 and 0? Is topology not recognizing one of your fights? What's going on here? Brother, there was some late replacement guy. I don't care. I show I made weight. What can I do if somebody doing something? I don't care. Even if I'm 10 and oh, there's guys with higher records, but we've patted more record. I have legit guys on my record. And the topology found some guy who is, I don't know whoever, and they're just doing so much stuff about America.

I don't care enough. No, it doesn't matter. And you're going to add another lituric guy to your record very soon. Adrienne Marais, obviously on the resume, we'll see how the fight plays out. Very happy that this has turned out this way for you, Muhammad, and I'm wishing you the best of luck.

Good luck on May 16th. Good luck in training. There it is. Into a Dome. Saturday, May 16th, a massive, massive deal. MVP's first MMA fight and some very recognizable names. And you know when they first announced the main event, I think people were unsure as to what the card would look at like.

My take on it is, it checks off all the boxes. You've got, you know, fighters at the hardcore fans know and respect. You've got the legends of the game. You've got, you know, older fighters as well. Look at this lineup right here. It's pretty star-studded and you're a part of it as well. So congratulations. And looking forward to seeing you out there, Muhammad.

I hope to see you there. in just a couple months time. Thank you so much, Alea. I want to shout out to all my team, K.HK. M.A., the Sheikh Khalid, the Prince of Bahrain and my sponsor, lead energy for supporting through my career for those months of what happens.

And I'm going there, May 16th, Los Angeles and putting the best performance of the date. Thank you so much. Salamalakam, my brother. Thank you so much. All the best. Well, al-a-a-a-a- thank you. Thank you.

There he is. Muhammad Mikhaili of joining us. Massive opportunity for him on Mase 16th, looking forward to that very much as we continue to talk to some of the big stars. Hopefully we'll get Rhonda and Gina on the program as well. I would love that. So let us see, let us see. I did want to play something before we get to our final guest.

We don't have them. Great. Oscar Delahoea going to be joining us. A lot to talk to him about yesterday we told you about the Ali Act, the Revival Act, passing through the house. I wanted to play you a clip from Representative Morgan. McGarvey, who spoke about the act, who spoke about why he's supporting the act, and why he feels like it's so important for boxers. Here it is. ...theiriz in support of the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act. You know, the term goat gets thrown around a lot these days. In fact, my middle school son came home recently asking

us to buy him a pair of goat sweatpants. There's a movie that just came out produced by Steph Curry called Goat. But in Louisville, Kentucky, we know that there is only one. We know that there is only one greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali. His three world titles, his gold medals, his footwork, his showmanship and charisma. They made him an icon inside the ring. And his work outside the ring, which is arguably more impressive, cemented that legacy. The goat. Ali often said he was, quote, the onlyest boxer in history who people asked questions like a senator. So it was only fitting that Congress named the bill in his honor when they set out to reform the boxing industry, and we do so again today as we consider further reforms. The first Ali acts in 96 and 2000 secured

significant reforms for boxers, guaranteeing transparency, protecting fighter safety, trying to erect a firewall between promoters and managers. But American boxing remains fractured and favors the interests of sanctioners and promoters over the fighters themselves. I think that's why a boxing landscape that produced eight heavyweight gold medalists and the 10 Olympics between 1952 and 1988 has not produced a single one since. Today's bill is a step in the right direction, and I will vote yes, but like ranking members Scott and Omar, I believe there is more work to do on this bill before it gets to the president's desk.

Boxing lifted cash as clay from Smoketown and gave Muhammad Ali to the world. That's a legacy worth fighting for. Thank you to my colleagues and to my dear friend Lonnie Ali who continues to fight for boxers and for her late husband's legacy. Mr. Speaker, I yield back. Over on uncrown.com, John Nash, one of our contributors, wrote this yesterday. The U.S. House of Representatives voted on the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act on Tuesday. And as expected, it passed by an overwhelming majority. From here it goes to the Senate, and if its supporters are correct, it will not be long before it reaches President Donald Trump's desk.

The bill's backers frame it as a much-needed modernization of boxing regulation, one that will give boxers more choices and better protections. That framing, though, he says and writes, deserves scrutiny. And so this is an article that's entitled the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act offers the worst of, boxing and MMA. And obviously we know that TCO, the parent company of

the UFC, WGB, and Zufa Boxing very much behind this. And they sort of frame all of this as, you know, doing what's right for boxers.

But there are a lot of people out there who say, like, we know what you want to do. You're trying to create that UFC model, that UBO model that the UFC

employs where you can have your own belts and rankings and not have to play ball, if you will, with the, you know,

the WBCs the IBFs and the WBOs and the WBAs of the world. In addition to that, not making your, you know, your revenue public with the fighters and not being able to share, perhaps adequately with the fighters. There's, there's a lot there. There's a lot going on. And there's a lot that people, you know, have been paying attention to. And maybe some haven't, but it does seem as though it is inevitable that this is going to pass. And so this is one of the many interesting angles and storylines happening in the world of boxing. We did speak to Oscar Delahoya about this back in

October at his home. It was a wonderful chat and a lot has happened since then. It's great to talk to him again. It's great to welcome him back to the program. Here he is the one and only the inimitable, the golden boy here on a clapback Wednesday perhaps? Or is that just maybe? We'll see how this goes.

I don't know. I'm saving it for tomorrow brother. Oh, and it's going to be a good one. Oh my gosh. It's become must see TV, if you will, Oscar. So everyone enjoys those very much. People are going to get ripped. Okay. What's the topic this time? Can you tell us at least who's the target? Brother, I wish I can tell you, but you got to see it for yourself tomorrow.

Okay, fair enough. It's going to be epic. First things first, congratulations on the new deal with DeZone. Could I ask, I remember we spoke a little bit about your deal coming to an end back in October when we were at your house. And again, thank you so much for welcoming us there. It was tremendous. Can I ask, how did the process play out? Did it take a little longer than you expected? Was this as expected? Tell us about it. Well, yeah, I mean, it did take longer than expected, but we got something done, which is truly remarkable because a lot was riding on the line. You know, fighters were calling, hey, is your deal done? Do we have dates? And so finally, after months and months and months of negotiating, we finally have a deal.

You know, and whether it's one-year deal or a 10-year deal, We're actually ecstatic that we got a deal for my fighter. So I'm happy to promote these young champions and hopefully one day create the next superstar. Since you mentioned it, could I ask, is it a one-year deal, two-year deal, 10-year deal, three-year deal? What could you tell us?

It's between the one year and the 10-year. Okay. You don't want to say specifically? I got a month okay fair enough how does it compare to your previous deal oh it's it's

better yeah it's equally or better okay than the previous deal yeah we look we we've had we've had a great relationship since what

eight years ago when I started with Canello on the zone and it's been a great run you know we've been able to promote some of the young champions and creates new world champions along the line.

So it's been great for both sides. You mentioned that it took a little bit longer than you expected. Do you have any theory as to why it took a little bit longer? You know, my theory is that, look, we want to continue building champions. We want to continue to sign the best talents out there. you know, I'm sure that, you know, the competition has gone a little tougher in terms of, you know, signing these fighters and having competitors, you know, trying to sign these top prospects. But look, it was, it was smooth sailing, I have to say. It's just that there were so many little details that we wanted in the contract,

obviously to protect the zone and to protect us, but most importantly, to make sure that we build new champions, that we sign new champions, and the zone is all for it. They're on board. We're partners, and we're going to continue doing what we do at Golden Boy, and that is giving the best fights. Could I ask, are there a number of events, attach to the deal per year that you guys are going to put on,

like guaranteed X amount of events? Yeah, we'll be doing championship shows. We'll be doing contender shows, which are shows that we highlight our top, top, you know, prospects and talents. We'll be showcasing Kit Austin. We'll be showcasing the lights of the, you know, the fighters that we've been, you know, cultivating along the way over these years. So it's going to be, it's going to be a better relationship because we finally,

we finally have a contract with a partner that knows exactly what we need to produce these champions. You know, the production level is going to be amped up. And that's a big thing for fighter these days, because as you know, For instance, you know, fighters now, if you sign across the street with Zufa, they're being taken away. They're literally their rights to showcase their heritage, where they're from. They can't wear their colors. They can't come out with music. They can't do this and that.

So I think part of this whole deal is based off of making sure the fighter has an identity. And the zone got it right off the bat, you know. And so they're going to be able to have better production. They're going to be able to wear whatever colors they want to wear, come out to their music. And it's a big production value. Fighters really care about that stuff. Of course. And I'm obviously going to ask you about them in a moment.

But I did want to mention this. I don't know if you even knew this. So yesterday was March 24th, 2026. That's when the deal was announced. Did you know, Oscar, 25 years ago yesterday, so March 24th, 2001, that was the date of your big win over Arturo Gotti, 25 years after the layoff, the thing with Bob Aram? Crazy, right? So a bit of symbolism there. It is, a bit symbolism. But look, things happen for a reason. They always do.

And good things always happen to good people. I've always said that, right? I mean, look, we've been working on this deal forever. And, you know, we, there's times, Ariel, that I think to myself, my gosh, are we ever going to get a TV deal? Are we ever going to get a partner? Are we, do I even want to stay in boxing? All these headaches and this and that. But you know what? At the end of the day, things happen to good people and the right thing always happens.

I love the sport. I love boxing. I will continue to promote for as long as I can and making sure that I cultivate. these young champions to be whoever they want to be. Was there a part of you that thought at any point in this process, hey, if we don't come to a deal here, I might be done? No. I'm a fighter.

I'm a fighter. I will always look for a partner. Okay. Our production value, our content is so valuable. I mean, what we have at Golden Boy, who wouldn't want to showcase it on their platform and, you know, Lucky enough, we were able to seal the deal with the zone and continue our relationship and move on and continue giving the fans the fights they want to see. How do you feel about sharing the space, if you will, with Top Rank, their new deal? I'm actually excited. I've worked with Bob Aaron for many years and we've done many fights together.

I'm really excited because now, look, there's no excuse whatsoever from any promoter that's under the zone. You include matchroom, you include top rank, you include, I believe, Queensberry, who's under the zone. So it's going to be exciting to see what type of matchups we can make and what kind of hybrid events we could put together. You know, imagine, imagine, you know, imagine our fighters fighting top-ranked fighters and, you know, on the same cards and just cross-promoting. It's going to be great for the sport. It's going to be great for the fans. I'm really excited about that. There was a rumor floating around that DeZone was upset that the Ortiz Boots fight couldn't be made and your future hinged on that fight being made.

Is that all true? It might be. It might not be. I really don't know. I was just focusing on what's right for my company. You know, and what's the right thing that we've done for Virgil's career? That's it. You know, the judge ruled against Virgo Ortiz and Rick Marigian and, you know, their shenan

and, you know, it is what it is. We're going to move on and do what we do. Look, at Golden Boy, we try to promote our talent. We try to create champions. We literally make dreams come true. literally these young champions want to become heroes they want to become the next oscar the next chavez the next maldric taylor whoever or george forman so that's our job to help them you know achieve their dreams um with their hard work inside the ring um and and we just

continue doing what we do i i you know anything hinging on our contract or the zone or the virgil fight and boots i wasn't really focused on that. I was focused on making sure that we do the right thing and we protect ourselves. What could you tell us about the state of the relationship with Virgil? Do you think that you will be able to figure out a way to work with him in the past, or has the relationship been severed forever? Ariel, look, I'm a grown-ass man, and I will forgive. Obviously, I'll never forget, but I forgive.

I think it's up to Virgil at this point. Look, he's what, 29, 30 years old? He's a man. It's like, if you want to talk, if you want to patch things up, then give me a call. Or if you want me to call you, it doesn't matter. If you want to work this out, then let's work it out. Like grown men, you know, I still feel that he received the wrong advice and now he's paying for it. Which is sad because me as a fighter, I would hate to be sidelined.

but when you do the wrong thing, this is what you get. Are you hurt, Oscar? You've been here before on both sides of the fence, that this was someone you were working with and that the relationship has devolved into this. Do you get hurt by this? Do you get bothered by it? I'm not any heard if you're telling me that.

That's not what I heard. Fair enough. Look, Ariel, I've had the best advice from the best promoter in the world, and that's Bob Aaron. And the one thing he told me when I got into this business 20 something years ago said

Oscar, never ever fall in love with your fighters because they will break your heart. And I learned that a long time ago. So to me, it still feels personal to a certain point because I was a fighter myself. But being

on the other side of business and dealing with these fighters as a promoter, you have to put a wall in between feelings. It's, you know, this is a business and I've been I've been screwed over so many times by managers, by fighters who are who are ungrateful. Fighters are just ungrateful when they make it to the top and they forget who got them there. They forget who helped them. They forget, you know, they forget about everything, but the dollars. And that's all that matters to them. So that's, then keep it as a business. So as of right now, as we're speaking here today,

you guys haven't talked or repaired the relationship, so his return very much up in the air? His return is up in the air. You know, they ruled against him and his career sidelined. It's sad for him, but this is what he gets for listening to wrong advice. And we spoke to Todd DeBef last week.

He was in studio, and he sort of insinuated when asked about a Zeyez versus Boe, Sennis fights, Zander's Eyes versus Boots, do you think that everyone has moved on from Virgil now because of all this and it may be that fight instead? I'll tell you one thing, which is pretty interesting. All these like shenanigans that took place made Virgil that much bigger. You know, people are talking about Virgil, you know, on a mainstream level, all because of what's taking place here with me and Rick Marigi. who is the worst freaking manager in the business.

This fight with Boots and Virgil, yes, it's not going to happen, unfortunately, in the near future, but Zias and Boots can go and, you know, fight, and hopefully it's a great fight, and then, you know, we'll see what happens from there. But I think Virgil is out of the picture now with Boots. Okay. When we spoke in October, Zufa boxing had not yet launched.

They've now put on, I do believe, four events. What is your assessment of the product right now? I feel that when, look, Zufa will be a promoter, a boxing promoter, when they cultivate a fighter from scratch, when they produce a world champion from zero, okay? not putting on Jayobatai and fighting for a fake belt, the Zoufa belt, not a fighter like Connor Ben, who they have to pay $15 million to put them on their platform. No, when you cultivate and produce a world champion from zero,

that's when I will consider you, maybe consider you a boxing promoter. But until then, it's, they fought Jai O, Jayalbotie in front of 500 people in the basement at the apex at Zoufa, Jayobitai deserves a lot more than that. Come on, guys. How did you feel about how that whole situation with the IBF played out where, you know, it seemed like it was going to be involved and then they stripped him and now he's upset

and seeking legal action, it seems. What do you make of this? More lies. More lies from Dana White. More lies from TKO. It's all lies. when Max Callerman was reporting inside the ring after the fight and he asked Jay Obatai about the Zouf about,

Jayobatai doesn't care. He wants to unify all the bouts. And it's pretty sad because you think about the ring ratings, what happened to them? This guy he fought was ranked number 15 from the IBF, And he was ranked number 10 by the Ring Magazine. I mean, come on, guys. Who's making up the rankings now?

I really do think that the Ring rankings, you know, are out the window. I mean, I don't think there's any integrity there whatsoever. You know, the Ring Belt was, the Ring Magazine was everything for, you know, 100, 100 years, let's say. And now it's, it can just be in the trash can. I mean, might as well. It means nothing. And that's exactly what the Zufa belt. The Zufa belt, I mean, this pen is worth more than the Zufa belt.

You know, this here is worth more than the Zufa belt. It means nothing. It's just the name. Do you regret selling the ring? Do I regret it? The way things are going, I actually do. And I never regret anything. you know when I had the ring magazine

I kept its integrity I kept the panel of writers from all over the world who were deciding who's number one who's number two making sure its integrity is in place and I could have sustained it forever if I wanted to but you know Turkey came along and you know I thought I was selling it to a person

who really cared for the sport and was going to hold its integrity, but I guess I was wrong. Yeah, because, you know, I saw on your Instagram just a couple of days ago where you were talking about the Ali Act, and I'm going to ask you about it in a moment, but you did say, why isn't the media covering this? Are you all bought and paid for what's going on here? And let's be honest, a lot of the boxing media now works for the ring. And so when I saw that and when I just heard your comments, I did wonder, in retrospect now, do you wish you had not sold it? Well, look, I never regret anything. in life because, you know, everything happens for a reason, like I said before, but I think

there's, I have so much passion and love for boxing that I actually do regret this one. How is your relationship with Turkey these days? I speak to Dr. Rekhan a lot because of business, but I haven't spoken to Turkey in a while. Why is that? He's a busy man, I'm pretty sure. He does his, you know, his business. all over the world. He's involved in everything. So I'm sure, I'm sure that, you know, I'm sure, I'm sure I'll be speaking to him very soon as we do have a Ryan fight coming up. Who would that be against?

Not sure yet. Okay. Not sure yet. I think, I'm hoping it's Devin Haney. Yeah, that would be the big one. I think that, yeah, I think that'll be the biggest fight out there for both guys. It's an opportunity for Devin Haney to obviously get revenge and vindicate himself. But for Ryan, it'll just put a, you know, it'll just put a stamp on his legacy once again. What he did the first time around will obviously justify, you know, that he was ready and a better fighter the second time around. Again, when we spoke in October, things weren't great, but then he had the fight in February,

and it seemed like things were great, that fight week and whatnot. How are things between you and Ryan these days? We're actually cool. Okay. You're actually cool. I have, look, like I said, I mean, I don't take anything personal with fighters, and I don't fall in love with fighters, because they'll break your heart. But, you know, when there's business to be done, hey, I'm right there, making sure that I want to

get the best, the biggest purse for my fighters. I want to make sure that my fighter is taking care of and we're taking care of. So that's all that matters to me. I'm building Golden Boy as a brand. That's my love. Have there been talks with Team Haney about making this fight yet? No, there hasn't been any talks whatsoever. So we're hoping by July we have a fight in place here in Las Vegas at the team Oval, most likely, or maybe. even the Allegiance Stadium. But, you know, those talks will start very soon. And when you say by July, do you mean the fight would happen in July or it would get

finalized in July? Yeah, it could happen in July. Okay, amazing. Could happen in July. Okay. What about this Ali Act? It passed through the House. It seems inevitable that it's going to pass as you're watching all this transpire now.

What are you thinking? Well, it doesn't seem inevitable. I mean, it still has to pass through the Senate. Okay. You know, I've had various conversations with members from the Senate, and they invited me in a few weeks to Washington and speak. And so I'm going to be there. And this is what's mind-boggling to me is that nobody's reporting on it. You know, nobody's talking about it.

You know, I'm expecting the boxing community to be in Washington. And I'm not sure exactly what day it is, but it's in a few weeks and I'll be there. But it feels like I'm fighting this fight alone. It's pretty odd. But look, that's what TKO is. That's what Zufa is. That's what Dana is. They're always sneaky.

And, you know, they had a hearing of what was it yesterday or a couple of days ago where they passed it. It was all sneaking. It was all under the radar. Nobody knew about it. So hopefully with me showing up, with me being prepared. talking to the Senate, hopefully convincing him, and hopefully it gets derailed. I do have to say, I feel like we've talked about a lot on the show. And right now on our website, on crown.com, which is part of Yahoo, the top story is the

Muhammad Ali, American Boxing Revival Act offers the worst of boxing in MMA. We have a massive story up there, Oscar, on this. So when you say no one's talking about it, I hope you're not talking about us because we have been. I take that back. And you're probably the only one who hasn't been bought. So I really like that. That is true. I think that is true, by the way.

I think we're the last. That's why I say we're the last of a dying breed. You and I both were the last of a dying breed, Oscar. Look, we have platforms where we have to educate and be responsible and make sure that the fans know, the fighters know. We're doing the right thing for the sport. So it's an uphill battle, but, hey, like I said, I'm a fighter. I'm a fighter first.

Yes. And the fight, the proverbial fight, if you will, between you and Dana White continues to rage on. He did say some things about you recently. Can I play you a clip and get your response? Would that be possible? Yeah, give me more ammunition for my clapback. Here we go.

Here we go. These guys like Eddie and, I mean, Oscar, Oscar's on a sinking ship and will not shut the fuck up. This guy is fascinating. He's going to have to throw the panties and fucking stockings back on and get on only fans to start paying his rent. My boy's running out of money. his ship is sinking very fast and he's talking shit all the way down. Is that what you wanted? Is that what you wanted, everybody?

There you go. That about wraps it up with Dana. Cannies and fish nets back on, jump on only fans and pay that $23 million and fucking rent you, oh, buddy. Talking shit and fucking... All right, so what do you think of that, Oscar? What do you have to say in response? He's a joke. That's all I can say.

he's a Neanderthal joke. That's all he is. And the things he's, he never, he talks so much, he says crap shit. He doesn't say shit. He just talks. It's crazy. I mean, if you really pay attention, he doesn't say nothing. It's amazing.

And so, I mean, look, it's funny how he talks about, oh, you're building a bean, you know, whatever, by the banks and this and that. if you knew business, you would understand, and I'm not going to explain it. I'm not going to explain to Dana, well, you know, there's a loan involved and this and then downtown L.A. I mean, if anybody knows, you know, all the buildings in downtown are like empty. It's pretty crazy what's happening in downtown. So this was just simply a business move, just like any other businessman would do. But I'm not going to explain it because Dana's full of shit. And the panty holes, I mean, come on.

20, 30 years ago, just please stop with, that's all you have. I mean, please, come on, Uncle Fester. That's all you have is pantyholes. He probably fucking watches that picture and fucking, you know, probably loves it. He probably loves it. That's why he talks about it so much. He loves them. Oh, my dear.

It's crazy. But look, on a serious note, what TKO and Dana and Zufa, what they're doing, look, they're pigs with lipstick. That's all they are. They're really trying to convince the world that they're doing the right thing for the fighter. No, they're not. It's not the right thing to do. They are not doing the right thing. The revival, Muhammad Ali Act, no.

They're just covering up. all they're doing. And poor fighters, when they sign, they're screwed. They really are. Why do you think they're screwed? Obertai was tricked into fighting and in front of 500 people thinking he was going to unify and they tricked them. I mean, come, that's not right.

Dana keeps saying, judge me in a year. See what we do in a year. They signed this guy sports deal. Obviously, the Paramount Plus deal. It seems like they've got some big deals and they're about to sign some big names. I think Edgar Berlanga is hinting Richardson Hitchens as well. What do you think it will look like in a year? Well, that again, Uncle Turkey is funding the whole league.

And like I said, when they produce a champion from scratch, from zero, then I will give them some credit because it takes a lot of knowledge, it takes a lot of work to build a fighter from scratch. It's so easy to get funding from Turkey and put them on your platform. That's easy. I can do that in a heartbeat. But to take fighters from when they're amateurs turning pro

and producing world champions, that's when I'll come, you know, that's when I'll kind of give you the stamp of approval and say, okay, now you're a boxing promoter. You mentioned Eddie earlier, and I wondered if you think it's interesting that it seems like, you know, Zufa is in a business relationship with Turkey and Turkey had a relationship with Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn. It seems like that's continuing in some way, shape, or form, but yet it was the re-ad season crew that funded the signing of Connor Ben to take him away from Eddie, and that meant so much to him, he was so hurt. It felt to me like a bit of a fracture of the relationship. Am I reading it wrong, or do you read it the same way?

Who knows? I mean, one day you see Eddie, you know, talking about Turkey. The other day they're holding hands and the relationship is great. And who knows what's going on behind closed doors? You know, one thing about me and the business is that you stay in your own lane, you focus on the job at hand and you do the best job possible. You know, boxing right now is full of funny money, you know, because of turrets. working, right? And people are scrambling and people are trying to get a hold of that money.

Look, when you're doing the right thing and you stay in your lane and you focus on your own business, everything else is irrelevant. Everything else is just like I said, funny money. So whatever relationship Eddie has with Turkey and, you know, and Dana and Eddie are fighting and that who knows if it's true or not. Who knows if it's real? All I have to focus us on is my business and continue growing Golden Boy and producing World Champions. That's all I'm focused on. And I'll let you go in a moment, Oscar, but that clip of Dana talking about you, that was before the deal with DeZone was announced and this news of the foreclosure in downtown LA was out there. And so it seemed like he was sort of dancing on your grave. What could you tell us about the state of Golden Boy right now as far

as a business? Are you happy? Is it healthy? Are there issues? What can you say about the state right now? always been healthy, we've always been happy, we've always been, look, the fact that your TV deal ends, okay, it doesn't mean you're not negotiating to extend, you know, and it took several months to renew with the zone, but we always knew we would have a deal with the zone because this is the home of boxing. And so when Dana, you know, he looks for that little crack in the door just to open it and fucking talk shit that's who Dana is

he can't help himself but it's always lies and lies and lies with Dana White and TKO that's all it is so like I said I'm doing my job doing my business we're healthy as ever we're doing big fights

May 2nd with Benavides and Sourdu Ryan Garcia in July we're doing kid Austin we have the great the next great heavyweight champion. We have all these young fighters who are coming up. Business as usual, and, you know,

we're the best at doing it. So as long as I continue staying focused and writing clapback, I'm a happy chapter. And I have a question about the Benavides fight, but one last thing on all of this, Eddie keeps saying that he thinks that there's going to be a revolt among the UFC fighters because they're paying top dollar for the likes of Connor Ben and others.

We're hearing, you know, some big numbers attached to Berlangen and whatnot. and now, you know, the Tom Aspinall situation, John Jones, I don't know if you saw, do you think that that's going to come and maybe bite them in the behind? Oh, it has been for a long time now. I've been preaching this for a while. Look, UFC fighters are getting screwed. They really are. When you have corporate America making or their corporation making 80% of the revenue, in boxing, it's the other way around. So of course UFC fighters are going to be pissed off. You know, these fighters, man, they fight their ass off.

I respect them a million percent. How they train, what they have to go through. Yeah, it's like a fighter, like a boxer. But even more so because you're on the ground. You have to grapple. You know, you don't have support training expenses. You're coming out of pocket. It's terrible for these UFC fighters.

So, yeah, there's more noise. now today because of social media, but this has been going on forever. You mentioned the Benavides fight, massive fight against Zerto on May 2nd. That's a PBC show. Will it also air on DeZone as well, or is it just on Prime Video? Yes, it will air on the zone. Okay. Yeah, we made a deal with the zone, and they will air it on their platform.

And look, more platforms, the better. More people can watch. More people can pay for it. I think, look, this is what boxing is all about. You know, people coming together, promoters coming together, and making the best fights happen. So the fact that the zone has top-ranked, Queensberry, Matrum,

and now Golden Boy under their wing, they're going to soar and fly as high as they can now. But when is your next show? My next show is going to be, I believe, I had one scheduled for April 18th, I believe the date was. Couldn't finalize that. So May 2nd will be my next show here in Las Vegas with Sudo Benavides. Okay.

Winner fights Jai? Then we're off to the races. Then we're off to the races after that with the zone. Okay. Oh, it's going to be crazy. Yeah, we're going to be busy. Winner of that fight fights Jaya? I don't know.

I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, is Zouf are going to allow Jaya to fight? I don't know. Okay. We will find out. Oscar, it's always great to talk to you. Always enjoy picking your brain.

The clapbacks are great. So we are getting one tomorrow, right? We're going to get one. We are getting one, and it will be epic. Okay. All right. We look forward to that. Congratulations on the deal with DeZone.

Thank you. Very happy for you guys. And like I said, always appreciate you coming on. Keep up the great work. Hey, and thank you for not being bought off, brother. Thank you. I will never be. Thank you, Oscar.

the best year. There he is. The great Oscar Delahoya. The one and only golden boy. What a guy. What a character in the game. And that's why I love the boxing game. There are so many great characters, so much going on, such a fascinating time in the sport. I did want to ask one question to Frank

from on the nose before we transition over to the super chats. It's just me and you, Frankie, riding shotgun here. Like Thelman and Louise. That's right. Two of America's Most Wanted. Okay, Frankie, you ready for this? This is a going from El Peruano. The coverage across all combat sports keeps getting better and better.

He has a lighter question for us. Two celebrities, president, vice president. You could pick them. Who would they be? He says Adam Sandler, Denzel Washington. Who are you picking? Oh, man. That's great. I would go with, damn, this is a good one. I want Hunter S. Thompson in the cabinet somehow. Do they have to be alive? Well, that's, you know, kind of weird. Why is that weird? I mean, he's not alive. Okay, well.

I think of like Fight Club, but they're like living or dead. Okay, okay. Hunter is Thompson. Hunter is Thompson. And then we'll do, uh, um, oh man. I'm drawing a blink. Wow. Angie, can you help him out? You do both.

What? This is your answer? I thought you were going to nail this one. Yeah, no, man. This is difficult. Benito? What, what are we doing? No?

She's just doubling to get on columns. Okay, everyone. Matt, uh, Dan, can you help me out? so many mad over here. Dan, can you help me out? Golly. Are Rick and G.C. there? Or are they out having mitis?

What's going on? Wawt, won't. They're busy. Okay. Oh, here's... Okay, Rick is here. He said, this is Frank at his best. So I've been elected.

Is there any... I'm literally drowning here. I'm asking for something. Yeah, I gave you one name. Why don't you give me the other one? You gave me Hunter. Hops. He's not even alive.

Adam Sanders a great show There we go Which one though? President or vice president Jabidoo Jabidoo Yeah, baby do Yeah, but do

Okay That's a good one I like that one Dano I like that one Matthew McConaughey So we're going With a

A McConaughey Thompson ticket There we go And what would Matthew McConae be like Can you get any Peace

Be a lot cooler If you did French Rescher French Rescher Who is she the Secretary of War? What is she? When did she be president?

Yeah, hell yeah. Well. Fabulous outfits. No, but I thought we already filled it up with McCona Hay. Listen, listen. Okay. I'd have Jordan Camzan as the press secretary. Wow.

Jordan Camzad of all the celebrities you could pick. That's a good one on air, Jordan. He's a stretch. Yeah, shout out to him. Oh, yeah, here you are. Where's your list here? Cindy Crawford. I think she'd be phenomenal.

Is she still with us? Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Do you think Dwayne would be good? No, no, I don't think Dway would be good. Why? Why would Dwayne not be good? You know what? John Sina. John Sina from earlier this week? Is a great shout.

All right, all right. I've redeemed myself. That's a great child. And then I'll be vice president. John Sina, President, Mysterious Frank. You know what? Who better than the Olympic gold medalist, the golden boy, Oscar Delahoya, to lead us through these tough times? I think I could think of a few. Stop. Here's James the Tuna.

Oh, Rick says Stephen, Smith, not a bad shout. 28, Skip Bayliss, vice president. He says, I just wanted to bring up a point after listening to Monday show where you all talked about Dana lying to us regarding the John Jones on the White House card. On your very show, it's dated the 18th of November 2025.

You talked about Dana on the Andrew Schultz podcast saying that John wouldn't fight on the card as he couldn't risk pulling him out. That is true. He did say that. I've never said he didn't say that. I'm by no means a fan of this 2026 Dana, but I believe he has been saying the same thing since May. I've said the same thing.

So it's calm a lie. When did I say Dana White is a liar, by the way? Like, this is the thing about fans when they come at you with stuff. Like, they think that they're getting you, and then they just twist things. I've never said he was a liar. What I said was they negotiated. Okay? They negotiated.

And for whatever reason, he's not telling us that they negotiated. John Jones has confirmed it. I've confirmed it. Other people have confirmed it. And so what do you want me to say? Yes, he was telling you that he's not going to be on the card. and at the same time they were negotiating. So what do you want to call that?

Call that whatever the hell you want. I'm giving you the facts here. Are you trying to tell me that he's never said one thing and the other thing happened? Is that what you're trying to tell me? Because that's not the truth. We know that. So all I'm telling you is they did reach out,

they did negotiate. Also, by the way, people changed their stance. Back in November was not back in March or February. So some people say there'll never be women in the UFC and then women show up in the UFC. Some people say, we'll never do business with this guy, and then they do business with this guy or a gal. And so things change. So to come back to something that was said in November, does us no good in February or March.

They negotiated. I don't know what else I could say. Now, was there a breakdown in communication? Did Hunter Thompson, Hunter Campbell go out there and say, let me score a deal with John. They don't bring it back to him, and then we'll convince him? Maybe. All I'm telling you is, yes, Dana White told us for people. In fairness, he did say that repeatedly, this guy will never be on the card. But they were also negotiating. So my question, my rhetorical question, if you will, I'm throwing it out there. Maybe not even rhetorical. Maybe it's an actual question. You know what? It's an actual question. Why were you negotiating when the public face of the company kept saying he was not going to be on the card? He had no interest in booking him on the card. Why did you negotiate? Did you talk about a $15 million, $25 million, $30 million? Did you talk about it? Because John Jones seems to think so. His team seems to think so. So what happened?

What went wrong? Is there a fracture in the relationship? Is one side of the company doing business while the other side of the company doesn't know? What's going on? What's happening? Clearly, this has exposed some lack of communication if it's not someone fibbing. I don't know. But we've told you the truth every single step of the way.

We will continue to tell you the truth. Now, do we have any super chats, Frankie? Do we have any super chats? Yeah, we do. Let's do it. Miles Bell 46.93 says, Get Seattle Terriaki. The best is Rannier, Terriaki.

Okay. Any affiliation with RDR? You know, Connor made that joke earlier. You guys are two peas in a pod. Hell yeah. I love it. Oh, what else, Frankie? What else?

Sammy says, saw you on the Cruise Control podcast. How does it feel being a guest? Shout out to my boy, Randy Cruz. Shout out to Sammy as well. Hopefully the birthday is treating you well, the birthday week. I've been a guest time and again. I like it. I enjoy it.

I don't want to overexpose myself, Frankie. That's the thing. You know, you get a lot of me four or five hours on a Monday, three, four hours on a Tuesday, four or five hours on a Wednesday. So I try to be selective. And I feel like there's a lot of me out there. Randy's a friend. Happy to do it.

Had a good time. Had some hot takes. Fun. Speaking of which, there's a TMZ article that just hits saying that they were sightings of you standing in line to get lunch with the, quote, people of Yahoo Studios, would you like to have a comment? Yes, earlier today they had, I think it was Indian food at the sort of like common area that we have here, which is phenomenal.

And, you know, Frank was there and I said to Frank, hey, you know, can you grab, can you grab me a tiki masala? Oh, no, I can't, you know, I only got two hands. and, you know, it's just a little bit too messy. Cut the line. And I said, I'm not that guy. There's a big line. So I'm a man of the people.

I will wait my turn. And it was nice. It was a nice little offering. You know, at our previous home, I don't remember us having these types of wrinkles in terms of, like, free lunch. I hear there's free lunch often on Thursdays. Every Thursday. Unfortunately, I'm...

So we're just going to lie to the audience. What's happening, Dan? Dan, uh... You graciously went to the back of the line? Dan, uh, I'm not sure if I hear you correctly here. Yeah, it started garbling up. Dan and I saw you from the back of the line.

Yes. And we were like, this is interesting that Ariel is just standing next to Frank, who was third in line for food. As we were like 25 people back. Now there's a lot of flipping going. Third in line, really, Andy? We're going to go with third in line, huh? Wow. Third in line, huh?

Okay. Listen, I'll remember this. I'll remember this. Dan, I'll remember. I thought you were one of our own. Apparently not. Here's the knife. and Andy, I'll remember this as well.

If you allow me to finish, so there I am speaking to Frank about, hey, I'm a man of the people, a man of the people, man of the people. And as we were talking about all this, and he's like, no, no, like, you pretty much, you know, you're the straw, you're the, you know. I'm like, ah, by the time we finished that,

I was already there. And the guy who serves the food is like, what would you like? You want the birriani, you want the tiki masala, you want the chicken masala. So I was like, should I just,

And he's like, no, Hwani, of course we got. So what am I supposed to do? So Frank's the villain. Well, he was taking so long fighting with me over this. I made it to the front. And then what am I supposed to do? It's a happy accident. In the end, moral of the story, good to be among the people, good to eat with the crew.

It's always important, I think, for, you know, in the business, we refer to, like, host as talent. It's always important for talent to be with the crew, be with the people. I think that's very important. So, you know, it was fun to do it. I look forward to doing it again in the fall. And, you know, we just sort of take it from there. Perfect. What else, Frankie?

What else? Did N19852 says, I'm calling out Andy. She was asked about other cuisines in South America. Peru wasn't mentioned. Yeah. She either never tried it or was super bono. Yeah, no, she's both that and a liar. Has the best cuisine in South America, bar none.

Period. Your thoughts. Eat too, Andy. So my husband is half Peruvian. So these are false allegations. I have tried Peruvian food. Not big a seafood eater. Okay.

So that's why I usually don't. What? Is that a staple? Lots of seafood in Peru. Lots of Ceviche. Okay. Which I hear is good. But I'm not a fan.

Sorry, guys. Different strokes, different folks. What else, Frankie? What else? Jake from Windy City says, I've been binging on old pride events on fight pass. What a unique time it was, especially their ring? What's your stance on MMA and a ring?

versus a cage? That's a Jake. Always great questions. Thoughtful questions. I enjoy them. I thought Pride's production was beautiful. The lights, the white ring, looked amazing.

I do think that MMA has evolved to a point where it is better in a cage, if only because of the wrestling and whatnot, but it's just a different approach. I wouldn't hate it. I don't hate it. I like it as far as Risen is concerned. It makes them look different.

So I understand why the vast majority of promotions keep it uniform, but I do think it makes rise in. And there are others as well stick out. And I enjoyed it very much. I mean, pride was incredible. And there is a case to be made that there's less clinching, there's less usage of the structure, a.k.a. the cage. And that could lead to some sort of stalling and whatnot when you're fighting in a ring.

So, you know, there's a case to be made that could lead to more exciting and better fights. but I don't hate it. Love Pride. Love Rising. Dream. Singoku. They use it a lot over in Asia. Won championships sometimes. So it's great. And the production was great. The look of it was great. The all-white ring was tremendous. What else, Frankie? What else? I am Angelo Media. Says Ariel's yesterday, Super Chat.

I hired you up, but you are wrong. Boxing model is not good for the fans. The UFC has much room for improvement, but they are a net positive. for the fans. We get most of the fights we want and need. Yeah, you do? You get most of the fights these days? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah. Will you wait his reply? Yeah? Do me a favor,

bud. When you do reply, and I love you, Angela, I love you. Much respect. Make it $25 next time you reply, okay? I want to get your take on that, and if you want to break it up into two parts, that's cool as well. Are you really getting the fights that you want these days? And how many more times do I have to say this? I'm not advocating for no boxing model. When have I advocated for the boxing model? The

closest thing that I've advocated for is for the fighters to have options and get paid. If you want to call that the boxing model, why'd you call that the NBA model as well? Because they've got, you know, 32 options. Why'd you call that the NFL model? They've got 30 options. Why'd you call that the NHL model, the MLBO? That's what I'm advocating for. I'm advocating for, just to be 100% clear, collective bargaining, free market, free agency,

being able to get paid as much as possible in your short window of time. That's what I'm advocating for. That ain't no boxing model. You think I'm sitting here advocating for sanctioning bodies and fees and all this nonsense? No way. I'm not advocating for that. But I would like to see independent rankings. I would like to see, you know, belts that are not tied to promoters so that promoters can decide who's going to fight for the belt and whatnot.

Are you starting to understand now that some of you are probably paying more attention to boxing because of Zufa boxing? Are you starting to understand the differences? I'm not advocating for a boxing model. I'm advocating for the fighters to get paid. what they are owed. And I think that more often than not, the vast majority of the time that does not happen. Call it whatever you want.

But it ain't no boxing model that I'm advocating for. What else, Frankie? What else? He did send $5. To say, the Irishman, Connor McGregor, is threatening? Is Dana White, not Ian Gary? This dude is like striking out

left and right with his takes. I don't think he's calling out Dana White. He's happy. He just scored a deal. why would he be calling out Dana White? Is Dana even Irish? I guess sort of Saudi? He's not calling it.

I think he's just, as PT said, he's quoting a movie. What else, Frankie? What else? Drip drop 7443. Hey, Ariel, my girlfriend and Mrs. Hawaii share a birthday. So happy early birthday to her. We are celebrated by going to New York City.

How do you plan on celebrating? That's wild that he knows that. Yes, it's my wife's birthday. Oh, because I said it. Of course, I said it. My bad. My bad. Friday we're going up for dinner,

whole family. I'm a big fan. I don't like leaving the kids behind. And maybe it's because my birthday's in July and they're at camp and I don't get to celebrate with them. I don't know, but they come. And we're going out for dinner Friday. I got her a massage on Monday.

I got her another massage on Friday. She asked me to cancel that one because she says she has too much work. Bought her a bunch of gifts. Going out for dinner also on Friday. We have this barminton on Saturday, her actual birthday. And then I thought it would be nice

if we can, like, sit back, relax, watch Dalton Rasta against Ipacassanay, maybe a little, you know, UFC Seattle. Who knows? I don't know if we'll have time, but Fox Nation, you know, R-AF-7, it would be nice. Nice little Saturday, right, Frank?

Damn straight. What time did you want me to be there? I don't know if you got the reference. I don't think you did. Old school reference. Yeah, I've seen that movie once, not as big of an impact as, like, Sam Nodi Professor.

Wow, wow, wow, well, Hercules, Hercules. Okay, what else, Frankie? What she brows, 176, says, Hi, Ariel, two things. Since you're already a Bill's fan, can we get you to become a Sabres fan too? The other thing is that today I just started BJAJ training.

Well, congratulations to you. That's incredible and good luck on your journey. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Sabres because all Sabres fans are Bill's fans, vast majority. But in the end, it's Le Habiton until I die. The Montreal Canadiens,

that's my hometown team and so I have to support them. But I do have a soft spot for the Sabres and I do love to see them successful. They're having a tremendous year and it's great to see those people. I love the people of Western New York, the 716.

I will always adore them and obviously we share a kinship due to our shared love of the Buffalo Bills. And so perhaps the Sabres can get Western New York off the Schneide and then bills make it happen in 2026 later on,

well I guess technically technically 27, but the 26th season later on this year, new stadium. We're going to take a road trip there, by the way. All this muckle shoot this, Iowa, that. When are we taking a road trip to Buffalo? God's country. Who the fuck is we?

Honestly, my wife would love it. Oh, yeah, that would be great. Colton 63, boys, other than Izzy Pfe, favorite fight this week? Armand Surukin against Georgiopoulos. How about that? I'm excited about Sebastian Fondora against Keith Thurman.

I'm excited about Rasta. I'm excited about Eblen. Michael Keyes' retirement fight is obviously a big deal against Nico Price. Macy Barber against Alexa Grasso is a solid fight at 125. He said other than Izzy, because Izzy is obviously the biggest one, right? No doubt about that. Oh, Mansoor Abdul-Malik. Love that guy against Yusri Belguri.

Terence McKinney on there. It's a solid card. Chase Hooper against Lance Gibson, the part of Canada. You know what? My answer, final answer, the return of our old friend, King Casey O'Neill. It's been two years since she last fought. We love King Casey. What about that?

I said it was a good answer. Yeah, I love King Casey. So good luck to her this Saturday. And I have, she's still here. She's still here. What else, Frankie? What else? Smoking Ace 408 maybe Can you even hear me right now?

What does FIP mean? What? Oh, the fat Irish pig. Oh, we're. Okay, moving on. What else for you? H. Garcia 6934. Hey, Ariel, wanted to ask for interviews

with more BKFC fighters other than Mike. Could we get Taylor Dagner? Her story is very heartfelt. Thanks again. Okay. Appreciate it. We will look into it. only so much time. There's only so much time. What else, Frankie? What else?

Jay Watt, 2387. Tony Con, Gina, Rousie, Covington, wouldn't be surprised. We get Dana Ali and Joey B on the same show at this point. I forgot about Tony Con. They all come back, Frank. They can't resist. They can't resist. They all come back. And there have been many others. That's why I always think it's funny. People are so many bees. Yeah, and how do those beefs end up? They usually end up in a positive place. And doesn't that actually say more about me than what you're trying to paint? The now. narrative that you're trying to paint. No, because I am a man who doesn't believe in grudges,

who believes that you only die once, Yodo, working on trademarking it, by the way. And, you know, it's not good to have a grudge because a grudge is like a cancer in your soul and it rots in there. And so, hey, you take a shot of this day? We can shake hands, we could be pals, we can move on, we can live

productive lives. While we're all playing in the same sandbox, right? We're waiting in the same line for lunch. Yeah. Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? Jamaka, Media. This week, someone asked about Jason Statham, and you asked yourself if you have a link. You actually do, the guy from Jason Stateness. Oh, Saul.

Knows him well. We love Saul. I didn't know that. All right. I don't want to ask him for a favor. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. What else?

What else? Alexander Hurst 1171. Y'all see AI Strickland versus Hamza? AI promos are... I don't click on AI promos. No, thank you. I'm not trying to contribute to all that, so I like the real deal of Holyfield, all right? none of this

slop and what else Frankie what else Sobeck dot McCall people talk about some fighters like they are

PPV only fighters for example proosca I always thought Izzy is one of them too but now he's fighting at the random

card in Seattle has he fallen that bad no what does it matter there is no pay per view anymore so who cares fight night

numbered who gives a crap it's all the same he's getting paid you're thinking of it the old way this is the new way what else Frankie

what else Duncan 9666 with Phil Hamuth set to attend UFC Fight Night 271 Will New York Rick and G.C. Try to get a photo with him for the BITV studio. Helmuth? Helmuth. You know this man?

No, is it, did I mispronounce him? No, I don't know, I'm just trying to... American professional poker player. Okay. Are they big fans of his? I think huge. Huge, yeah, I remember... 17 time.

Yeah. Over dinner once, Connor was like, oh, I just love Helmuth. oh, who's that? That clearly wasn't paying attention. The confrontationalist since $10 to say, it has been too long since Lou DeBella. Please rebook.

I'm in. Don't tempt me with a good time. I love Lou. What else, Ricky? What else? Ryan Mosafari. How many are there? I tried to tell you.

Yo, Ariel, what's up, my brother? Just sitting some love. I don't always get to watch live. Oh, thank you. But I always watch, and I appreciate you. My G. Hard about you. Much love.

That feels good on a Wednesday. What else, Frankie? What else? This was a broke-ass super chat. Ezra, Ezra says, Ariel, I'm too broke for the super heat. But if we could read that this is the best chat group on the planet and the best people, friendly and inclusive, cool inside jokes too, I couldn't pass it off. Wait a second. Wait a second.

He paid nothing for that? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That's amazing. Who's that? Ezra, Ezra, Ezra. Shout out to Ezra. Triple E, as we like to call him around here.

That was very kind of him. Thank you. Thank you. That means more than any super chat. Anything else? See Hopkins 73. Hey, Ariel, when is the next live show? I live in the South, so hoping it would be close to home, but would love to see the crew and person.

I would love to do it. I'm not done yet. I'm sorry. I would love to do it. I would love to do it, but there's just, there's a lot, there's a lot going on. There's a lot of logistics for building the empire, last of a dying breed, number one on bias. I mean, there's a lot. New on crown.com, check it out.

400K subscribers. There's a lot. You know, it's funny. I saw some people say, like, oh, 400K, how come you don't have a million? By the way, go check MAA Fightings YouTube channel. By the way, go check out ESPNMMAs. This is my third YouTube channel, all right? This is my third.

All right? So let me know when you build multiple multi-million sub-channels, all right? What's you don't know? Yeah, that's right, bud. That was perfect. What else, Frankie? What else? And lastly, Jim's card sales.

I fought on my 18th birthday. Jim's card sales. Is it? Or is it Jim's card sales? No, you know what? You're right. It's car. Didn't he, you know what?

Yeah, yeah. I fought on my 18th birthday in 2011 for Sport Fight owned by Matt Linlinlin. Here in my home state of Oregon, they used a ring, and I thought it was okay. Hell yeah. They did back in the day. That was a great promotion over in Oregon. Anyway, they did use a ring. It was great.

It's a staple of the old MMA scene, and part of the reason why I think people love the Japanese scene as, Well, it has been a phenomenal week. I do want to remind you that tomorrow, the boys in the back, get out of here. More? We'd be remiss if we didn't read this. Okay. Ezra underscore Ezra underscore. Ezra says $10.

Ah! He got his paycheck. Shout out to him. The boys in the back are live from the muck tomorrow. That's going to be a very fun time. Can't wait for that. P.C. Live crack on Friday. I'm back.

Monday, Tuesday next week. edition of the crack on Wednesday. Then it's spring break, but we'll have some stuff for you, all right? So don't, don't you fear as the calendar rolls into April. Golly, time is flying. For now, though, it's time to say goodbye.

I think we got to everything here. Nice little tight four-hour show. We actually have to film something in like 15 seconds. Who the fuck is we? Well, we're the famous fighter. that will air at a later day.

What about Kobe Covington, huh? Showing the world that we could come together as one. Time to say good-hood-bye. It's been a great day. What a way to end the day? Oscar Deloio. I've been to his house, by the way, Frank. You know he has a ring in his house.

What? What's so funny? It's just the flex. I've been to his house. It was a beautiful house. Golly. They had so many water bottles. That's the thing you your takeaway from it. I was just like, wow. The amount of water bottles here.

Ozarka. No, I think it was smart. That's how big time it was. Wow. Yeah. That's how big time it was. But not as good as Nama, right? No, not as good as Nama is number one.

Thank you for that. I do want to let you know that there's a brand new episode of the Uncrowned Wrestling Show up right now. And oh, by the way, very important to know, Uncrown Wrestling has its own feed now. BITB have their own feed. Crack has its own feed.

Inside boxing own feed. I have my own feed. All the shows will be in my feed as well. But now if you just want those, like, follow, sub, comment, share. We appreciate you. So very, very much. Thank you very much to all our guests today. Tremendous stuff.

Thanks to you. Thanks to them. Back out Thursday. Be so bad here.