The Ariel Helwani Show - Conor McGregor's next three fights, Khabib refutes Dana White, Ariel Helwani joins to talk Scott Coker's return | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

The Boys in the Back kick off the show by reacting to Scott Coker re-entering the MMA world (06:19), Khabib Nurmagomedov pushing back against Dana White's claims about his retirement (10:12), the arrest of wrestler Ludwig Kaiser (20:20), and trash talk between Ilia Topuria and Ryan Garcia regarding a hypothetical boxing match (24:22). Then, they discuss Conor McGregor's return and speculate on his next few fights (28:56) and preview a weekend that includes Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven, PFL Brussels, and Brandrisk 014 (51:33). Ariel Helwani joins the show to give further details about Coker's plans for his new promotion (1:18:52). The Boys debut video from their California training sessions with UFC fighters (01:35:59), then deliver a particularly convoluted P4P list (02:04:04). The show closes as always with voicemails (02:33:30) and Super Chats (02:45:36).

But boys in the back But boys, boys, boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another episode of the boys in the back In our cozy, beautiful New York studio No longer in sunny Los Angeles And man, does it feel good? I could use some of that sunshine

on this rainy day here in New York, obviously a lot of water coming down last night, you know, some flooding in the city around the area. I am one-third of the boys in the back, Mr. Connerberg. Shorten alongside me, as always. New York. Rick. Eric.

Jackman. There he is. Not much, man. Not much. Other than the flooding. We do have to say off top of the show, we are thinking of Frankie. He is actually struggling with aforementioned flooding. Unfortunately, his apartment, he lives, you know,

Down low on there. Water got the best of him. He was unable to make it into the studio today, so it's just us too. It feels a little bit lonely without him. It feels incomplete. One third of us is missing. We are not whole, but we will prevail. We will get through this and we will make it to Memorial Day weekend. We're in very good hands with Donnie back there. Welcome to the show. We got to sit with it at lunch. It felt like we were, you know, making a dream come true. He was like, oh, look at this. I get to sit with the guys at lunch. It was great. It was great. It's good times. Let's wait for the review. We have to ask him after. I know. I know. I feel like he's like, God, I hate these dudes already.

I haven't even been with them for 10 minutes. Either way, we have a very big show planned for you today. Back in Pound-for-Pound rankings. Walk with me here. Oh, we're going to do the whole explanation now. All right. Let's do it. Pound for Bound rankings in honor of Alexander Usik.

Yes, I'm aware of him. Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramins this weekend. Alexander Usik. Yep. Usik. Alexander Usik. Usik.

Yeah. Pound for pound X. All right. Nice and easy. It's just like that. That's how we got there. I didn't even know how we got there.

That's great. Pound for pound X, I think this is going to be another good one. Anytime we do like everyday life moments. Yeah. Evergreen kind of like general interest. I always enjoy them that much more. We will also debut our training video. We went over to California mixed martial arts

when we were over in Los Angeles with Casey. Casey had been asking us for a while to come train with him. We did so. Some of you have already seen the video. New York, Rick, may or may have not got slept while we were there. May or may not. I did some wrestling. I did some striking.

I'm still a little bit sore from it. I can't lie, but we will debut that later in the program. Hawani will join us to react to some news we're about to talk about right now. We'll preview PFL Brussels, brand risk 14. I know you've been chomping at the bit to talk about that one. wait um usik riko at the pyramids on to zone uh we'll get into all the happenings of this weekend but before that let's talk about some news and notes and even before that let's read your podcast reviews we're almost we're we're almost done with this people we are we are almost to 200 on

spotify five stars reviews so if you're listening right now on spotify just pop open that app throw us a five star we'll shut up once we get to 200 we want 200 on spotify 100 on apple we're at 300 Did you? 300, keep it going. No, 200 on Spotify, 100 on Apple. That's when we'll stop getting greedy. We're at like 88 on Apple,

and we're at like 190-something on Spotify. Well, right there. This last push. But either way, let's start the program as we have the last few weeks. We only got a couple this week. Read the podcast reviews. We'll rip those now.

If we just want to throw them up there. Marty, sending peace and love to the boys in the back from Finland. Two years ago, I went back to school for an engineering degree on top of my job, listening to the podcast whenever I have the time helps me cope. I might not catch every episode of the A-H show, but you can bet I make time for BITB every week. Huge shout out to Frankie for the Immaculate Drops and my boy G.C. for the great vibes.

New York Rick has some of the takes of all time, but he's alright too. Keep doing what you're doing without the sack. Wow, Marty. Oh, timer. Great one. Shout out to Marty. Shout out to Finland. Yeah. I feel like we're just collecting the different countries of the world, like in Infinity Stones as boys in the back listening. Hell yeah. Got some love from Belgium last week. Now we're getting Fenland.

I mean, the program's international here. Shout out to you, Marty. Best of luck in engineering school. Hopefully you can graduate soon, man. Christian says, can't see the glasses or the juxtaposition of the colors. Frank doesn't upload video to Spotify. Bisping, Usman, and Sehudo, Brendan Schaub, and more do, though.

I guess the production team of those other podcasts are just better. Fuck, I guess so, Christian. Yeah. I guess so, man. I think you're onto something. Frankie, unfortunately, can't. You can't defend himself here. He can't defend himself.

I actually forgot to bring this up when we were at the fights on Saturday night, Ronor-Rousey Gina Carrano. Some dude from like a balcony was like, Hey, JC! And I was just like, oh, yeah, what's up, man, how are you doing? And he's just like,

when are we getting video on Spotify? I was like, I'll talk to Frank. Maybe that was him. Yeah, maybe it was a shout-it to you, Christian. We appreciate that. Shout with all those other better production themes. This is from Sagano 36. Shoutout.

Uncrowned network has been killing it, but ultimately from the weekly lineup, I look forward to this show the most. This show is truly a good hang. And dare I say, for the hardcores. Special shout out to the Don Davis voicemail caller. You mean Don Davis? Yeah.

You mean former PFL president, Don Davis, who is a regular caller of the program. Shout out to you, Cigano 36, and shout out to Don Davis, legend of the game. Absolutely legend. Should it be the honorary Don Davis voicemail segment? Yeah, do we figure out a way to rebrand it? You remember on ESPN, they used that, like, the Subway Fresh Take Hotline?

Do we have the Don Davis, like, stale? Stale take hotline. Yeah, Don Davis something hotline. We need to figure out the name for that. All right. Workshop that. We'll get on that. Speaking of alternate promotions to the UFC,

Oh, I like this. Former president of Bellator and Strike Force founder, Scott Coker, has returned to the world of mixed martial arts. He posted this, keep it simple, keep it short. A little homage to one Michael Jordan here. Yep, for sure. I'm back to the MMA community from Scott Coker, re the return to MMA date, May 21st, 2016.

That is today. Like we mentioned earlier, we'll have Ariel on a 215 to react to this news. but Scott Coker. Pierce, he is launching a new MMA league that should start up in 2027. The promotion has secured $60 million in funding led by the investment firm, Creator Sports Capital. Some big luminaries in that list of investors,

people that are associated with the Yankees, different NFL teams, Tony Hawk. Are you kidding me? No, big name executives, big firepower behind it. Interesting to see kind of like how the concept develops and all that. but money behind it that can take you a little bit of away and connections and executives who have been at previous stops, even some former like Kevin Kay who was at Spike when Bellator was.

So yeah, there's some big names behind it. A lot of investors, a lot of big names, a lot of people who are smart to this game, and it's being led by someone in Scott Coker that has had success in mixed martial arts before. Belator's strike force obviously never reached the heights of the UFC, but Bellator was the first. facto number two for a long time.

Yeah. So it's very interesting to see. Scott Coker actually got a quote from him. I always knew I wanted to come back when the time was right with the right vision and a carefully curated team. That time is now. There's an incredible demand for a fresh new global brand in MMA. This new league is about returning to what matters, the integrity of competition, respect for the athletes, and sharing their remarkable journeys with the world. We're building something authentic, something that belongs to the athletes and to the fans who live and breathe this sport. So obviously many more details to come. What's the name of? it. We don't know. What's going to format

going to be? How often are they going to be able to do shows? There's a lot to still be decided. We'll get into this scenario, but two points that I read that quote one more time for me and then I'll stop you. Entire thing. Just the ending. Like the line about...

We are building something authentic, something that belongs to the athletes. Okay, that's one of them that I wanted to touch on. This feels like one championship's model, right? This felt like when they were doing like everybody's a warrior Like that feels like a direct crib from like the we are martial arts like you know McDojo bullshit so we are martial arts don't know about that what was the line before that there's an incredible demand for a fresh new global brand and that was the other one is there

I don't know if there is especially after we just saw a fresh new brand enter the world of yeah is the space getting almost too crowded there's two ways this can go and I'm curious to pick ariel's brain about it later so this will be the last we talk on this but there's two ways to look at it. Either the marketplace is robust right now and there's money out there and there's opportunity because there's so many players in the space, right? Competition leads to that.

Or it's already oversaturated. There's not enough demand to support anything other than the UFC and now you're entering a space that's already kind of like on its way out. I'm curious which one of those it'll be, but I'm not 100% sold on that concept. Maybe Scott Coker and others can sell me better. Yeah, obviously something that we're going to monitor and we will see what happens

over the coming years with this one slated to begin next year. I guess the one question that I'm left with is what does this mean for GFO? Man, I wish we could eat that music right now. Protect your neck. What does it mean for GFL?

Where does Kevin Lee fit into all of this? That's a question that many are asking, including myself. Some other news. Habib and Dana White got beef? Ish. Ish? Habib is.

is refuting statements made by Dana White, and I'm just going to be completely transparent with the audience. We're not sure which statements he's refuting because what he's referring to about Habib essentially getting incredibly wealthy from going on a Muslim world tour and essentially using his religion to bolster funds, and that's why he retired from the sport. He has said it a couple times, so we're just going to play both the clips. Here's the first one from Julian Edelman's podcast. This is back in 2024. Here's what Dana White had to say on Habib. The problem was in the Muslim world is he became this huge megastar in the Muslim world. So after he beat Connor McGregor, he went on like this tour of all the Muslim countries. So he's going into Turkey.

He's going into Saudi Arabia. He's going to Abu Dhabi. He's going over to Dubai. And they're raining on it. I mean, he didn't even make it back to his dressing room after the fight and Putin was on the phone. And Putin gave him and his father like $20 million worth of property. in Russia. Then he went into, you know, the Muslim territories

where these guys are just cars, money, gyms, whatever, whatever you want it. So once you get to that level, it's like what we're dealing with with Connor McGregor. Connor McGregor lives on a yacht in the middle of wherever the warmest place in the world is at that time. And, you know, it's just... And he's showing you.

Oh, man, I live vicariously on Instagram. Well, once you get to that level, man, it's just... You're not getting up and getting punch. in the face every day anymore. Okay. Two questions I have something from that. First, do you know why it's called games with names? Why is they called that?

Oh, I have no clue. Yeah, what an odd title. I'm sure it makes sense in some... I'm sure if he explained it, it would make sense. I think it's something to do with having famous people on the show. Number two, okay, fair enough. That would actually make sense. Number two, do you know why it always says the thing about like,

they're making so much money, why are they going to wake up and get punched in the face? but like, is that not a weird way to think about, like, your talent? Like, as an example, NFL running back signs massive deal. Is the giant, let's say it's just for the Giants, I'm just throwing out a random team. Is their first thought like, man, that guy just got paid. He's probably going to suck at football and not want to play football anymore. He's probably going to retire. Like, he just signed the contract.

He's probably going to want to retire. Isn't it just a weird, like, mentality to think about, like, The fact that they are not motivated by the money that you are paying them, that once they get a little bit of actual money outside the sport, that it's just over, that is just like, why would they ever come back? Pay them.

Yeah, the way that I think about it, especially like the running back is a decent example because it's such a short-lived career. And a brutal one, right? You're running into those fucking lines and you're just getting hammered. Yeah, I mean, everyone in the NFL, I mean, Calvin Johnson used to talk about how he had to take pain pills

just to be able to get out of bed in the morning. To me, have such a limited window for this career. Even like the longest of long careers, like a Jim Miller or like a Charles Olavera goes like 15, 16 years. And that is like, that's the limit of it. Yeah. If you live to be like 75, 75, 80, that's 60 years out of the game.

Like you have such a finite time to earn this money. I don't think a lot of these guys who start earning a ton of money is just like, I'm out. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe as you get to that McGregor level, he does have a point. When you start making... McGregor's coming back. I've never thought that that was like a good way to frame it, nor have I ever believed that.

Like, I never thought, I mean, we'll hear from Habib in a second. Let's go through this and then maybe I'll add some additional context on the back end. But let's go to the next Dana White. This is back in November of 2025, Dana White sort of saying something similar about Habib. I always said, wait until we get a Muslim world champion, you know, three billion Muslims or whatever. Right. But the problem was that then he went out on the Muslim tour. He hit Saudi, Abu Dhabi, you know, Qatar, all these places.

They rained on him, you know? Right. So he made so much money. Yeah. Not to fight me more. That's it. Yeah. So similar sentiment.

Similar sentiment just kind of in different ways, you know, not alluding to the Putin aspect and everything like that. But essentially reiterating that, like, Habib just made so much cheddar. It's just like, I don't blame him for want. not wanting to fight anymore, where Habib has never said that, and then he took to his Instagram story, I'm not exactly certain why he's reacting

to this right now. Maybe a clip popped up and he just thought it was new or something. Maybe you just saw it. Here's what Habib had to say in response. These are the kind of headlines I sometimes read online. Of course, I'm not someone who likes the comment on every piece of garbage on the internet, but when Dana says things like this, it spreads everywhere.

I'll say this. I swear by Allah, this is an absolute lie. Nobody ever gave me those millions and what they're writing that I left the sport because I made a lot of money is also not true. The whole world knows the real truth. I've already spoken about this more than once and there's no need to repeat it. So essentially, he'd be being like, bro, it wasn't because of the money. Also, I didn't get that money that you're talking about. Yeah, and Habib was in line with his next few UFC fights to make the most money he's ever made by a long shot. He went so far as to say, when he, this was, you know, post-pandemic, his father had died, his mother was sick of him fighting, and he went so far as to say, like, my mom does not want me to fight anymore, and I'm going to respect her wishes. That was, the, he has never wavered from that. There's never been one time that Habibah's ad said anything else, and the UFC has offered him fights, right? The GSP thing popped up, and that was like super hot and prominent for a long time. He has never wavered

on this. Habiba said, I don't want to fight anymore because my mom asked me, not to and I am not going to fight. He's pretty consistent. Then Dana White says like, you know, it's the money. To me, all I read from that is then you didn't offer him enough money. If you thought, if you're Dana White and you thought you could get him out of retirement with money, you didn't offer him enough. If you're Dana White and you offered him that amount of money and he still didn't come out, that means he wasn't going to fight no matter what the price tag was. I have a feeling Habib's more in that camp where I don't think there was a number that they could given to him that he would have come out.

But it's this idea that it's like he went off and made money elsewhere. One, great for him. Two, he should be making out in his career and not just like outside to the point that it's like, oh, he made so much money. He doesn't even want to fight anymore. And three, I don't think you offered enough then. If you really thought you could convince him, offer him more. Offer whatever they're offering him that you say that that's enough that he's like,

man, what do I need to fight for? Offer him that. Offer him all of that. And see if he's willing to come out. Yeah, it is just kind of an odd thing from Dana there. I feel like the whole thing on Habib was like his father passed away. And his mom said, don't fight. Don't fight anymore.

It feels to me like just a rewriting of history and like an excuse to be like, once these guys start making money. Like how many, you know, Ariel alludes to this all the time, the silk sheets thing. It's hard to get up and wake up at 5 a.m. And do your road work when you're sleeping on silk sheets or you have silk pajamas. Yes, it does, right? at a certain level, like once you get that money, it is harder to put in that labor.

But the reality is for a lot of these fighters, they only make that money when they're at the end of their career. They only make that money when it's the hardest possible road. They only make that money when they're 33, 34, 35 years old. Not everybody is John Jones. And so when you've scratched and clawed for that long and you're finally on the precipice of making that money, most guys aren't saying like, I'm checked out.

Most guys are saying, I'm trying to maximize this because I finally got here, and this is the most money I'm going to. it make. It's just, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what more to say than, like, I don't get it. I understand why Habib would be like, what the fuck? Like, I said why I retired. It has nothing to do with that. But it's also just, I've always thought bad optics for Dana. Like, I've always thought that this is not the tact you want to take. Connor McGregor, that guy makes so much money. Yeah, he deserves that much money and you should pay him that much money too. He should want to keep

fighting. And he is going to fight. You've clearly paid him. Yeah. Fascinating stuff. Habib has made his statement six months later. Two years later? Which clip did you see? Which clip did he react to. Someone who is not retiring. Who's back? A former champion?

Big onk. Oh yeah. The long-awaited return is over. Magumet, Anka-Lyev, Big Onk, contract signed. I miss Dunkin' On People. See you soon. Basketball emoji. Remind me why it's basketball-related?

Because it was like at the United... Did they fight at the United States? No, that was Dr. and he wanted to fight Pereira 2 at the United Center and there was like he talked about like the Bulls or something like I forget why this basketball element got introduced to it I have no I have no I should I see your eyes glaze over as you're thinking about the basketball part of it's like yeah I don't know

why is big on top did he even write this dude no of course not probably didn't write this let's be real could he be main event for Abu Dhabi though yes absolutely got announced for late July That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. I don't know who we'd be fighting, but maybe we get an Ankolaev main event, rightfully so. I mean, he's, I understand he lost Alex Pereira,

but he's still an incredible fighter at the very top of this division. I mean, the only names that make sense are like the Yuri, Khalil, like, who else would, you know? Like, those are the guys. He has to come back against a top guy like that, and then, you know, one of those guys ends up fighting in a title fight at some point. I mean, I don't expect Tom Zat to jump into this division. I think he'll probably try to get back the 185 belt if I had to guess,

but he could be another contender as well. Some news out of the world of professional wrestling Ludwig Kaiser, also by his real name known as Marcel Brother, who plays the character El Grande Americano for the Lucha Libre promotion, AAA. We've also seen him in the WWE as well. I think he does some stuff with Gunther. He has been arrested. battery charges. He was in the elevator at his apartment with his girlfriend and another man.

His name is Richard Reap. Things got uncontrollably intimate. And Reap asked them to please stop and said, please have some manners. And Ludwig Kaiser attacked him, punching him multiple times, shoving him down and threatening more violence. Kaiser was arrested after a police lineup where Richard Reap was able to identify him out of the lineup. So kind of a crazy story. It also took place at 6.30 p.m. There was no signs of intoxication. So he was just sober as a bird. What was the language uncontrollably intimate? What was the phrase? Things got, in quotes, uncontrollably intimate. Reet then asked them to stop saying, please have some manners.

About the sex. No. Donnie! Who needs Frank? Frank, you! But, I mean, for him, probably with the sex, I mean, if a headline ever came out about me being uncontrollably intimate, I feel like that's a little bit of a flex. There's a couple.

Passions there. Is it a flex that it was at 6.30 p.m. on a weekday night, and the guy was getting uncontrollably intimate? No signs of intoxication. So it wasn't like Kaiser had a few drinks. dead sober, uncontrollably intimate in the elevator with another man in there. Guys, like, please could you stop? Dead sober attacks him, punches him in the face, throws him to the ground.

He said, please just have some manners. I mean, dude, if you've ever been in front of, like, PDA, you're just kind of like, okay, but this couldn't have been PDA. To be phrased as uncontrollably intimate, this had, what do we actually think was happening? If someone is, like, standing there making out, you're sort of just like, and like, dude, if you're in the elevator with them, you're just like,

get me the fuck out of here. And if they're like fucking slammed up against the wall and like being described as uncontrollably intimate, I would be, I would kind of do the same. I'd be like, you know, can y'all chill, like just till I get to the 12th floor? And then imagine, you're just like, hey, you mind just calming down for a second?

It's just like, what did you just say? And you're just getting decked in the face. Like, that's fucking ridiculous. Dude. Oh, fuck. He's supposed to wrestle in 10 days. I mean, I saw an update. I forgive me for not citing the source. I don't remember who

had it, but something to the effect of like he's asking for leniency because he turned himself in to be able to travel to do this event and continue to make money. Odd situation. And he's been, you know, a topic of our show lately.

One, because Ariel keeps talking about the angle that he's running in AAA, and how amazing it is, and it's his favorite thing in pro wrestling right now, and then obviously we had Rick Flair on the show who absolutely buried him. This feels like something Rick Flair would do.

Except it was him. No, Rick Flair would not be sober at 6.30. I can assure you that. That's a fact. That's the only hole in this story. But yeah, man. Shout out to Ludwig Kaiser. Uncontrollably intimate.

Yeah, I hope Richard Reap's doing all right, but a wild story out of that one. Yeah, I guess that's true. I'm laughing. I hope that guy who got punched in the face or whatever is okay. The report did say it was like a couple scratches and reddening of the face that corroborated with his story. Yeah. Shout to him.

Yeah, Ludvi. Take it easy in the elevators. Wait until you get back to your apartment, brother. Speaking of back and forth, Elia Teporia and Ryan Garcia going back and forth on Twitter, we have the tweets here, I believe. I see a fight like Ryan Garcia being very comfortable for me. I would break him. Long before he gets the judge's decision, Elliot Taporia saying that to Alvaro Col Menero,

and then Ryan Garcia obviously sees this. And responds, you're a damn good striker for MMA. That's it. You wouldn't be sipping on tea after our fight. You would be eating through a straw after our fight. Stay in your lane. I'll gladly stay in mind.

You think that's the end of it, Elliot Toporia had to respond as well. Hit the caps lock on this one. You built your name on hype. I built mine by putting legends to sleep. I would give you a boxing lesson. We are not on the same level. Bring the guy you fight in September.

I would beat both of you in the same ring. Did he have one more? Nope, Ryan Garcia did. He said, I built my name sleeping guys that are way better boxers than you will ever be. You've seen many MMA fighters try, and you'll just be another UFC hype job cashing out by getting knocked out by a boxer.

Was there one more talking about steroids? Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I'm talking about it. I think I did see something. I believe we got it. Oh, Alia said the biggest win of your career came with steroids. So where's your confidence come from? Interesting. Yeah.

Yeah, so I mean, a back and forth of two major stars in the world of boxing and MMA, could you see this developing into an actual fight one day? Yes, only for the simple fact that. I believe that Ryan Garcia, sorry, I believe that Ilya continues to talk about boxing in a way that makes me think one day he will be boxing. Now, will it be in the prime of his UFC career? Probably not, right? Like, that just doesn't feel like a possibility. Unless for one reason or another, Ryan Garcia ended up with Zufa boxing.

And they just decided, fuck it. We're going to do a mega event because I do believe Ilya Teporia and Ryan Garcia would be. massive and would be something that might be worth kind of bending your rules a little bit for in the same way that Connor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather was and not for nothing I do feel like as a competitive fight I like Ilya's chances against Ryan Garcia a lot more than I liked Connor McGregor's chances against Floyd Mayweather and so I don't think it's impossible like I've always like when Kamar was calling out Canelo and all this shit and and all these guys were just always calling out Canello or looking for this big box.

fight. They never felt like, one, the guys actually wanted to do the boxing fight in the way that Connor McGregor actually wanted to do the boxing fight. And two, never felt interesting or compelling or competitive enough that I thought any of the promotions would actually do it. Ily it's a Poree versus Ryan Garcia ain't a bad scrap in a boxing ring. Like, I'd watch the hell out of that. Are you shitting me? Of course I would watch it. If he's able to do more things in MMA and then go over to boxing, get a massive payday, fight a massive star in Ryan Garcia. Like, this is something that people would tune into. And to your point, it's not 49 and O Floyd Mayweather.

Ryan Garcia is an incredibly high-level boxer, for sure. But, like, he has been beat before a couple times. Also, the weight classes line up, like his last fight was at 147 in boxing, obviously fighting 155. They could find an agreeable weight for it. I'm not pushing for it now because I want to see Iliath-Teporia continue this run in mixed martial arts, get everything you can. of it. But down the road, two massive stars. I don't, I don't hate it. Yeah, not for nothing.

Like, if Ilya is out of UFC contract, right? If this happens toward the tail end of his MMA career where it's like, I'm leaving the UFC, I'm going into something else, I think there are many outlets, like a Netflix, for example, that would say, yeah, we could definitely do this fight. So I don't think it's like impossible. I don't think this is out of the realm of possibility. I just doubt it happens anytime soon. I have to imagine Ilya is locked up for a little bit with his UFC deal. I'm not calling for it right now. Unless Ryan went to Zufa, then I don't know. It doesn't feel impossible there either.

I wonder how they'd feel about their UFC champion potentially getting beat and they probably wouldn't be too keen on it. But yeah, this feels more real than any of the bullshit since McGregor and Mayweather. You can just keep building this, man. Keep talking shit online. Speaking of McGregor, if you saw it on the thumbnail, Connor McGregor is returning. He'll be back for International Fight Week against Max Holloway, July 11th. Still has two fights on his contract, but there's been rumblings outside of the UFC as well. He's talked about BKFC. There's plenty of things that the biggest star in the sport can do.

So I sort of wanted to lay out like, all right, we've got the max. Now, where do we go from here? What if he wins? What if he loses? Does he have another fight in the UFC? I know the contract is there. When the fight got announced, he obviously immediately took to social media, started John and Max. I believe we have a few of those that we can go through. Him and Max just going back and forth

and then obviously other people getting involved as well. He says, I'm going to son you, child, again. This in response to Max Holloway, posting return of the Max. You're going to put some respect on my motherfucking name. By the way, these tweets were getting

insane likes on both of them. Yeah. The engagement is, there. This is a massive, massive fight. Max always says, nah, big dog, you're going to put some respect on my name. And then as it went along, yeah, all I see is easy dough everywhere. Then he talks about the Nate Diaz fight. I see why Nate Diaz 209 didn't take the fight, L.O.L. Anyway, here's to when I get my hands on you, you lanky streak of piss. Hashtag trilogy, and I'm going to need my money.

Yeah, these were from watching the Netflix card, right? Obviously, his fight was announced during the Netflix event. He's watching Nate. He's talking about seeing easy money everywhere. The mind starts to wander. Yeah, of course. Where can this go from here? Can it be Nate Diaz?

Would it be in the UFC? Could it be in a different promotion? Max Holloway actually talked about the ramifications of knowing this fight was going to happen and to be chill with it. Here's what Max had to say. Oh, hard it is to keep the... that fight on the wraps for how long we did we knew that fight for a minute bro i did it's coming through you know well we see though we see how it goes july 11th you think his mic skills is gonna do this be the same

of course his mics why wouldn't his mic skills mic skills be the same why wouldn't it be boys oh yeah i'm excited brother i get to eat during all like all of camps i get to eat what i want to eat boys imagine i miss waited 170 holy shit the fuck what I doing? What the hell am I doing, you know? Oh. Every fight is a hard fight, bro. Connor's still dangerous, though. You'd be dumb as hell if the thing he's not. Favorite part about the Max Always streams is that the face is always, the face is always right here.

So, yeah, this is a fight that he knew about happening, and, like, it's just, it's such big business. It's tough to keep under wraps. But he talks about it. Like, he's not taking Connor McGregor lightly. A lot of people are like, oh, you're just going to starch him out. He's obviously a massive favor. We saw him balloon up to like upwards of a minus 500.

Now it's coming back down to like minus 4, minus 350, areas like that. Do you think Connor McGregor can beat Max Holloway? Yes. Do you think he will beat Max Holloway? Okay. I think he can. As Max said, everybody's dangerous. Connor McGregor knows he's going to be in a striking fight with Max, right?

This is not going to be a wrestling match. This is not going to be the Charles Olivera fight for Max. So he also knows Connor McGregor's coming to strike. Although, I will say, the first fight, the one that Connor McGregor did win, he blew out his knee and he wrestled Max and just completely controlled and dominated him. I don't expect that Connor McGregor's return. He's looking to do the kind of Charles Oliver game plan to Max, but if history is any indicator, he is capable of that. That is exactly how he beat Max Holloway the first time. I don't expect it.

I expect them to strike. I expect Connor McGregor to want to get a knockout, put on a showcase in his long-awaited return. I expect Max Holloway to do what Max Holloway does, right? every Max Holloway win is exactly the same way, which is I'm putting a volume on you that you can't handle. The best volume striker in UFC history for now, as long as Josh Van doesn't continue doing what he's doing, but he's just a tornado of fists and kicks coming at you. I expect it to go that way. I just, it's too long a time off for Connor McGregor, so I expect Max to win that fight. Do you agree with that?

Yeah, the things that give me pause for Max, if I was going to make a devil's advocate, is, it's going to feel like Connor McGregor's almost coming down to 170. 100%. Whereas Max Holloway just alluded to in that video, I can eat what I want. I can do whatever I want. If Connor isn't liking what he's seeing on the feet, like there's a world where like it's like,

well, I'm just going to switch to the wrestling. We've seen some reports that like he is pushing to make it a three-round main event. Obviously we don't know the validity of those and like whether that's going to happen. I can't imagine they're going to do that making a three-round main event for their biggest event of the year. But there is a world where like, yeah, he uses that size. he essentially bullies Max with the wrestling. We just saw Charles Oliver have a ton of success with it. But at the end of the day, I agree with you.

I think the volume is going to be too much. And obviously, we just have no idea what Connor McGregor is going to look like. It would be a fool's game to try to assess. Like, he's coming off of a broken leg, and we haven't seen him fight in five years. Yep. Like, if he comes out and shocks the world, like, I don't think I'm going to sit there with my jaw unhinged and be like, I cannot believe it. this is the most unbelievable outcome.

It would more so just be like, wow, I cannot believe he actually was able to overcome that injury, take five years off, and then beat Max fucking Holloway. Are we dumb to think that he might not grapple Max Holloway? Are we dumb to think that, as Connor McGregor, all the things that you just laid out, right? Knee injury, long layoff, rape trial and civil conviction in the interim time since then.

Like, maybe he comes back and just thinks, I need to win this fight. I got two fights left. I need to win this fight. Now, I think Max Holloway is a better wrestler than he was in the first fight against Connor McGregor. That was brand new Max Holloway. Like, he just wasn't a fully form product.

He had some decent success trying to stop Charles Levera in the early rounds. And then it kind of just was overwhelming. I don't know if it's going to be just like shoot doubles on Max and he falls over. And I don't know if Connor McGregor can even wrestle anymore. Like, we just haven't even seen him fight. I know at the end of the day, he probably is still going to be able to strike. Every time we see a training video, it's always him heading a heavy bag or sparring with somebody. But yeah, maybe, are we dumb?

Maybe Connor McGregor comes in there with the mentality of like, I am going to wrestle this dude and just get a win no matter how I need to get it. Could happen. I just have no idea. I also just think. I just don't know what to expect. When I think of Connor, though, I think of ego. I think of somebody who is protecting the ego and his aura, his legacy, his way that he thinks about himself is coming in there and just starching people, right? That's how he perceives it, right?

Mr. Tasty shots are all the, you know, things that he always says. So it would be weird if he came in and it was just like D1 Connor McGregor. We just can't predict that. We have no idea what's going to happen until the fight actually takes place. I just don't know what's going to happen. Let's play both sides of it. Yeah. If Connor McGregor beats Max Holloway, if Connor McGregor loses to Max Holloway at International Fight Week,

where does he go from there? And let's play out the next three fights. Max Holloway already checked off the list. So what I'm picturing is the rest of the UFC contract that he's currently on and then the fight after that. Yes. My operating theory is that Connor McGregor is going to leave the UFC after these two fights. That's my operating theory for no reason other than the fact that there's so much more money out there for him. Regardless of outcome.

Regardless of outcome, I think Connor McGregor will fit. Not regardless of outcome, but unlikely to be changed. changed by the outcome. There is so much more money to be out there. A fight against Nate Diaz or a fight against Jake Paul outside the UFC would likely land on a platform like Netflix and would likely make him way more money that he's going to make in the UFC. Just point blank period.

There is no more pay-per-view. He is not going to be able to capitalize on that. They've obviously made some kind of deal, you know, negotiated terms that he's, that he's accepting and that are favorable. But he's going to make more money outside the UFC potentially. A fight against Jake Paul would make massive, massive, massive, massive amounts of money. And so my operating thought is that he will be done with the UFC after these two fights.

Is there a world where he wins these next two fights, they resound him for a crazy amount and they do more Connor McGregor fights? Possibly, he'd have to look pretty good in those two fights in order for the UFC to go, yeah, let's invest more in Connor McGregor. He'd have to look pretty good. So with that operating assumption in my mind, I think he loses to Max Holloway. and I think they give him an absolutely hellacious matchup for his second fight before becoming a free agent

because that is what the UFC usually does. At 170? And that fight would probably be Carlos Proches, right? We know that those two had some kind of link, right? That there was all this buzz online. When Carlos was on the show, he talked about Connor McGregor and Ariel said yes. Like that was an offer.

That was a thing. I think somebody like that is going to be how they try to send them out. Absolute killer. Now, granted, a striker, right? They could really bury them if they're like, let's just give them a wrestler who's going to just lay on them and do nothing. I just don't think that'd be a fun fight for the fans.

They give them a striker, a Michael Morales, a Carlos Proches, a guy that, like, you probably assume is going to go in there and have the better of a much older and less sharp Connor McGregor. And yeah, if the Carlos Prachis that showed up against J.D.M. steps in there with Cona McGregor, I just can't see a world where that's, like, favorable. And then you build a star. A guy like Carlos could really use the rub of a guy like Connor McGregor, and you'd have a guy who's launched into the stratosphere.

If he's not already like a champion, who knows what the timeline is for when that second fight happens. So I think that's the route it goes. Win or lose. When Connor McGregor came back after the Habib fight, he did the Seroni and then obviously COVID hit and everything got shut down. But then he did the two Porre fights and he did them after losing essentially like back to back. Yeah. Did one in January. He did one in July.

Do you think there's any chance that he realizes, let's say he goes in there and he's unsuccessful against Max Holloway, and he kind of realizes like, all right, this game, like I'm not trying to stay in the UFC. Like I'm this far away from a title shot. It's just not going to work out for me, yada, yada, yada, everything like that. And he's like, let's just get the last one out of the way so I can be a free agent.

And in 2027, I can get a massive mega fight outside of the promotion. Definitely think that's on the table. Again, and we talk about it. What if that's Carlos Bruchess's next fight? I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility at all. If you're Carlos Prachis, and we're just speaking fully in hypotheticals right now. Yes. Would you rather have a title shot against Islam Makhishev or a fight against Connor McGregor coming off and lost to Max Holloway?

Connor McGregor, 1,000%. Yeah, I think so. I mean, like, if you really were trying to build a star, in a guy either Michael Morales or Carlos Prachas, a savvy striker with the swagger that both of them have and the knockout capability against the guy like Connor McGregor. The fight I would have preferred to see instead of Max Holloway was Patty Pimbley. And so that could be fight number two too, right? You have a guy who's already a kind of like a household name. He's at least, you know, one of the bigger names that the UFC has. The issue I see is that there's a real high chance that Patty Pimbley just takes Connor McGregor down and subs them. It's not

going to be aesthetically pleasing as like Carlos Proches potentially standing in there, trading, banging and like knocking him out. But a guy like Patty Pimblick would launch into outer space with a win over Connor McGregor. There's a lot of options for that final fight. It's really going to come down to you, how do they want a best position a guy who could actually capitalize

on a win over Connor McGregor. Again, I don't think Connor's dead in the water in any of these fights, but I just don't like his chances. I think a lot of it comes down to how he looks. Even if he loses, what if he puts on a fucking great fight with Max Holloway? He loses, but like it's like 48, 47 on two judges' scorecards and a 49-46

and it was like, man, there were some flashes of Connor McGregor in there that like he can still hang. I don't mind a Patty Pembleau fight for him. That only helps that second fight. That only makes that second fight feel so much more significant. If he wins, does that change how you feel in terms of the opponent? Does that change what you think how do is? Yeah.

Yeah. If he beats Max Holloway, I think they're going to push him for it. I don't think they're going to be trying to get him out of the organization. And what would that mean in terms of the matchup? Would it be crazy if they were just like, let's just give him the title shot? It wouldn't be crazy if he agreed to resign. If they give him the title shot, that would mean that he signed for a long-term deal. So they'd have to negotiate the deal before giving him the title shot.

I can assure you this. There is 0.0.0.000. There's not another coming after those zeros. It's zero-zero-zero-zero infinity that they will give him a title shot heading into free agency if he hasn't resigned. He will never have a chance to hold that belt and then walk out the door and then fight Jake Paul or do something like that. Not happening 0% chance would never happen in a million years. Just impossible. If he signs, if he signs another three fights, five fights, whatever that is, I don't think it's impossible that they give him a title shot.

But it would feel kind of like a waste, right? Like it just feels like there's other things that could be more fun and easier to do with Connor McGregor. But yes, the rivalry with Habib and assuming that Islam is still the champion at 170, Islam versus Connor would be insanely big box office. Yeah, as big as it gets, it's like... Habib in the corner for a fucking Conn-R-M-Regger fight would be nuts. Yeah, it'd be nuts. On the dais.

Yeah, I don't foresee that happening. I think what is more likely is what you said. Now, let's say, regardless, whether it's Patty Pimlet or Carlos Prochis or whatever is for that final fight in this contract, and let's say he doesn't get re-signed. You mentioned Jake Paul. I think if they did Jake Paul, actually, you know what? The proven interest in this,

Nikisa was on the show yesterday talking to Ariel, and here's what he had to say about the potential future of Connor McGregor. If the day comes that Connor McGregor is a free agent, we will do everything in our power to work with him. And that's to work with him to do his own events. That's to work with him to fight Jake Paul in boxing in MMA. That's to try to make Connor McGregor and Nate Diaz

and ensure they get the vast majority of the revenue. Connor's biggest payday of his career, by far, is fighting Floyd Mayweather. The one time he wasn't within the framework and pay system of his current employer. I know he knows that, and I know he knows the power that he has as a brand, and I hope we're able to help him in that one day,

if and when he's a free agent. To your points and in Kesa's point, the payday for a Netflix fight would be monstrous. A Connor McGregor Netflix fight? You have two right there also that are already under the MVP banner.

You get Jake Paul because they keep saying no matter what, Jake Paul is getting in the hexagon. He's doing MVP MMA. They keep saying this. Are you thinking boxing? I think that's more likely for boxing.

Oh, God. I think if you're going to do MMA, you do the other one that you're going to sell. I think you're missing out on a massive payday by being like, Jake Paul is making his foray into MMA against Connor McGregor. Yeah, it always. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. I just think that...

Imagine like, imagine he loses these last two fights in the UFC. He becomes a free agent. And then it's just like, all right, bro, we're just going to go collect the scalp of, like, the most hated dude in combat sports. And it's going to be done by Connor McGregor, who is the biggest star to ever touch the sport. I think there's a world where he could beat him in boxing, though. Yeah, I think that's a case. But, like, you would rather see the guy who is such a massive superstar going against this hated dude in the space in Jake Paul in his own... world in M&M. Yeah, and Connor McGregor is really one of the only guys that could dictate those terms, right?

Every other Jake Paul opponent is not, like, you know, we've heard Nate Diaz and Mike Perry and all this stuff, like, Jake, fight me in a Tyron Woodley, fight me in MMA, none of them have the juice to be able to say, like, you have to do that. Jake is the payday for them. Jake is, he's the payday for them. You come fight me in boxing.

You don't dictate the terms. You don't have a choice. Connor is the payday here. Connor is the A side of that fight. With all due respect to Jake Paul and what he's been able to build in combat sports and MVP as a promotion, Connor McGregor is still the A side

in combat sports. Jake Poe's also a crazy fuck, man. You don't think he would be like, yeah, I want to fight Conner McGregor in a cage. Did we see D1, Jake Paul? We see fucking training the... Blass that double, bro. Blass that double. Either way.

You don't think fucking... Connor McGregor wants the uppercut dude into the third row. I think he wants to do it in either discipline, but I think you're right. I think... And it's a bigger fight. MMA... Hmm.

Is it a bigger fight? I know boxing has a wider birth, but it's just like, Connor McGregor is MMA. I know he did the Floyd Mayweather match, but it's just like, you would rather see him. I don't want to see him go to Jake's discipline.

I want to see Jake come to his. Is Jake Paul versus Connor McGregor a bigger fight than Islam versus Connor McGregor? In MMA? Globally. Yes. On Netflix? I don't know.

On Netflix? They're both so, yeah, on Netflix. Yes. I actually can say on, the backing of, of Netflix unequivably. Despite the

Habib tie to... It would be massive. It would be massive. Don't get me wrong. But I think Jake Paul versus Conn McGregor and MMA

on Netflix would do bigger numbers than Islam versus Connor on Paramount Plus. To your point though, the Habib ties, Connor McGregor would also be fighting for a title

and that would mean he was coming off and winning against Maxifel all the way. So it would be pretty fucking huge, so. Imagine you do it in Croke Park. You do it in fucking... I don't know if you get

Islam to agree to that. but I agree with you ultimately. I do think that's the bigger fight, and so that's why I fall on the side of believing that Connor McGregor's last UFC fights will be these two. Another one. Nate Diaz.

Has to be a Netflix headliner. Also massive. Yeah. Massive, massive, massive. Nate can lose until the cows come home. Connor versus Nate has the juice. I don't care what condition... I don't care what condition both of their careers are in.

Nate versus Connor is special. So, yeah. that's what I would do Final prediction next three fights Max Holloway we know right That's the one I mean God willing

We know that that's the one Carlos Proches Jake Paul I'm gonna go Max Holloway Pembleau Patti At 170

Yep Nate Diaz on Netflix None of these are bad options right Like both the ones we laid out I think are viable and amazing. Interestingly enough, though, that we both believe that this is the end of the UFC run for Connor McGregor, that he gets these two in,

and then he goes on to greener pastures. I mean, it makes sense. It makes sense with the way he talks about it. Like, he's talked about BKFC, everything like that. And he wants to do that, too. I forgot about that. Yeah. Also, like, we've seen him take to Twitter and be like,

bro, they are fucking, they have me by handcuffs. I'm begging for a fight, and they're not giving me one. I mean, yeah, we've heard about the Carlos Proch. as ties, and that he was willing and able if that was what it's going to be. I think he just wants to do the fights. And obviously, he has that confidence in himself that he's going to win.

Yeah. I don't think he wins that fight. I think it goes pretty badly and brutally, and that's how the UFC sends most of the guys out. Like, we get, you know, when we get a Dustin versus Max, it feels special. Or even, like, you know, you get Keisa retiring on his terms against an opponent that's, like, favorable.

But, like, when you have a guy like Connor McGregor, one, you want to damage him on the way out the door if you're vindictive. Speaking candidly, I would do this, right? If I was a promoter, if I was the one, that's what I would do to... What this guy's done for the promotion. Yes, but he's going to be

a star for somebody else in a second, and I don't want him to be a bigger star for somebody else. That's what I would do. You know he's not going to be a bigger star in the end. Like, he's turning 38. That Netflix fight would do some numbers. We'd do crazy numbers, bro, but it's not fucking double champ and MSG, fucking... want to take this time to apologize to nobody.

There is no doubt in my mind that they will send him outside, that they will do everything they can to diminish him on the way out the door. But the journey might be, the means, the ends will justify the means. The way he gets to that final fight, regardless of how bad it is, regardless how bad the matchup is, if he becomes a free agent and waiting for him on the other side of that tunnel is a fight against Jake Paul and a fight against Nate Diaz and maybe a BKFC fight or whatever he wants to do, it will have been worth it in my opinion.

Regardless of whatever happens with him, having him back in the sport makes things that much more interesting. And, you know, like you said, knock on what he's entering the Octagon on July 11th against Max Holloway. And then we'll see where we go from there, depending on the performance. But it's fascinating times here in the sport of mixed martial arts. So these next six, seven weeks,

things are going to get real interesting with this White House card and international fight. week. We played that in Akisa clip. And every time, even, you know, that was in response to Ariel asked them basically any interest in Connor McGregor, you know, it seems like there's two fights remaining on his deal. What do you think? And he responded that he's very interested in Connor McGregor. Every time Nikisa and MVP talk about Connor McGregor, there's a lot of reverence. There's a lot of, you know, they're not taking shots at Connor McGregor. I think everybody knows that this business aspect.

Okay, you say that. a reality. You say MVP, but Jake Paul is always a against He wants to fight him. Yeah, he's just like, they were like, oh, did you see Conner's fighting Max? And Jake was like, oh, the Kocads back. Good for him. The promotional arm of MVP

and Nikisa is the one that's treating it properly. The fighter arm of MVP is doing exactly what he needs to do. All right, let's go to this weekend. No UFC, but we do have the Gloria in Giza card on DeZone. We've got PFL Brussels.

And who could forget, we got Brand Risk 14, baby. That's going to be a great one going down in the UFC Apex. Let's start with this Gloria and Giza card. Alexander Uc, taking on Rico Verhoeven in a boxing match, world champion, heavyweight, Alexander Uc, world champion, heavyweight, kickboxing, Rico Verhoeven. We got the face off right there. I mean, this is incredible.

They've got me intrigued just based on the location, man. I might be more interested to see how... No, I was going to say I might be more interested to see how this looks in the White House because it's like, it's such an epic, incredible backdrop. But like, do we have the, do we have the pictures of these guys? The pictures are absolutely insane. Like, oh my Lord. If you are Alexander Usik or Rico Verhoeven, that's getting framed.

I'm getting this blown up and framed. Are you kidding me? This is like a movie poster. Yeah, this is some shit that people are like AI slop and you're like, no, no, actually, we're fucking there. This is legit. This is absolutely real. Rico Verhoeven, also, like, the edits that have come out of this, whether they're AI or not that like the ring has been posting.

Like they had one where Rico was, where he was Indiana Jones, like trying to get the WBC belt. Like it, smart. There's been so many good ones. Alexander Usick as like a pharaoh sitting on the throne. Like, it is incredible what they've been able to do. The King of the Nile belt, we showed this yesterday with Solomon.

But they like posted a picture that's like breaking down every angle of it. The winged solar disc, the crook and flail, Hecca. and Nekhaka, the Eye of the Horace, the Sacred Scarabs. I mean, this is making me want to go watch The Mummy right now, but WBC, Jordan, you ever seen the Mummy? The Mummy? Not familiar.

Who's in that? This is crazy. Brendan Fraser? Are you actually being serious? He's serious. I've seen it. You ever seen Bedazzled? Of course I've seen it dazzled.

Elizabeth Hurley? Shout out. Yo, the mummy I watched recently. It's leaving HBO soon. Recently for the first time? No. Did you guys see that new mummy that came out? I haven't seen that one yet.

No. We don't need it. This is on air a few weeks ago, put the mummy on to go to sleep, and I watched like five minutes, and I kind of chuckled. And she was like, why are you making fun of my movie? The Brendan Fraser one. The Brendan Fraser one. To go to sleep to?

That's horrible. Also, that's just a weird go-to-sleep movie. It's kind of like, there's like, it's not scary, but there's like some, like, it's kind of, yeah, there's kind of gross scenes. It just seemed a little. The bugs coming out. the sandstorms, everything. It seemed what?

It seemed what was that? Just like a little, you know. It was gimmicky. Oh my God. It's a late 90s, like, action movie. How dare you? With Brennan Frazier. And it spawned the Scorpion King.

Which we didn't need. With the Rock? Yeah, shout out. Oh, I needed it desperately, Andy. I love the Scorpion King. Do you like the Scorpion? Shout out to Dwayne. Shout out to my boy, Dwayne.

Scorpion, goaded. No, there we go. Shout to Giza. Shout to the mummy. Shout to the pyramids. Shout to the pyramids. King of the Nile belt. Do we need it?

No, but it's kind of cool. Also, like, how many of these can Alexander Usa get? He's got any belts yet. How many of the fake WBC belts can he get? He has several of these now at this point, because he never loses any of the fights. Not only are we getting the belt,

we're also getting a custom WBC pendant for this one. I believe there's like eight, there's like 500 diamonds in it. It's a glove with a crown on it. Ryan Garcia got one. Fondora got one. 18.9 carrots, 833 stones, 520 emeralds. Unless I'm crazy, isn't this what some of their fees go toward?

Like, don't the sanctioning fees that the fighters are paying go toward them making 833-carat diamond pendants that nobody gives a fuck about? I'm like, bro, I don't need this shit. Why do I need this? This is just one of my many belts. If anybody was to not get one, it would be Ussick, right? The like all-business guy who doesn't give a shit about any of them. this and they're like, here's your $15,000 pendants, sir. And he's just like, cool. He gives it to somebody off

to the side. Yeah, so he'll have the WBC belt. I believe the ring belt is also on the line. So we're just assuming you wins, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to come out. I'm going to take a bold stance here. Alexander Rousick, one of the greatest heavyweights, if not the greatest heavyweight of this generation going against a kickboxer in Rico Verhoeven. Yeah. World class. Incredible kickboxer. but you're taking away half of his skill set to specialize in something that Alexander Usoc is unbelievable in. Correct. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if there's anyone that I would favor over

Alexander Ucic. Yeah, not at this point in heavyweight boxing. Like Atama's too young. He's obviously... I'm still favoring Ushik. But that's the most interesting one. For sure, there's a chance. Because we don't know Atama's ceiling

and he has that nuclear concussive, you're dead power. But like, he's beaten Joshua. He's beaten Fury. Multiple times. Yeah. Everybody multiple times. Yeah, he's just like there's no one I would favor him over.

So like they had to do something to shake it up and they're giving him Riko Verhoeven. Shout out to Jason Statham for getting it done, you know? Legend. Legend of the ball game. The beekeeper, power player in the bald brand, in the bald brotherhood. I'll see it the next meeting, Jason. If he was in the mummy, I'd be watching. Billy Zane with a shaved head was in the mummy.

Bald Billy Zane was in the mummy. I'm Jason Statham. All right, fair enough. Yeah, bald BZ. Shout out to him. My biggest curiosity with this fight is not how it plays out. I do think Olexander Ousick is successful, whether that be by decision or by knockout. My biggest question is how it's going to look.

So we did get a video from the ring into zone of them building this. So, like, they're really out there. They're just, like, at the pyramids, and they started from scratch, straight on the sand. And, like, they're building platforms and everything to, like, build this thing up. into a venue. I saw that all the seats are sold out for this one. Like, look at this. This is unbelievable.

It looks like they're going on an archaeological dig, and instead they're building a boxing ring. What is the larger riser for? Look, man, I'm not a construction guy, you know? You think they're worried about bugs? Honestly, yeah. You mean like the Dana White Nats conversation from yesterday? Yeah, I think they're worried about something far more sinister than that.

You're talking like a plague, like locust? like in the mummy? You never know, from the mummy. So we see the platforms. We haven't seen the stadium yet. The Zone released some AI renderings of what it could potentially look like. Oh, so what they're building right there

is probably just the seating. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, which will obviously, you know, encapsulate the ring. Will there be a tarp over it? I don't know. This seems ridiculous. I don't think we're going to get like... Wait, this is that same thing?

No, obviously not. This is just AI renderings like I think the Zone just kind of threw in the prompt. Like there's no way we're getting like the half gladiator arena like out looking out onto the pyramid. I mean it'd be fucking incredible, but it didn't look like that. It would be fucking incredible. I mean, look at this. You got like the torches outside the Coliseum.

I don't think they're going to be able to build all that up. Sometimes they just kind of do a little bit of disservice by doing these like sick looking AI renderings and then it doesn't live up to that. You were at the Times Square card. I was put on by the ring. Here's what the AI rendering of the Times Square card looked like. smack middle of time square ring logos everywhere it actually looked exactly like this if you put seven foot walls up around and couldn't see any of the stuff that they were just showing this is a picture of what it actually looked like credit this is just about the best picture you can

get this is the best picture you can get it doesn't show to your point the walls surrounding it and everything like that it's tough to put on a fight in time square like let's let's get a little bit of credit, but like, the package on television, in my opinion, looked like shit. It was nothing special. Once they started fighting, it just looked like a normal fight. It did not feel very special. It was, there were moments of just like you're sitting there and you look up and you're like, holy shit. Like, that's bubble gum shrimp. That's, that's, you know, the screens in Times Square. Like, there was moments of that when the fights are not happening that you're like, yeah, we really are in Times Square. Like, this is pretty impressive. Yeah. But then when you're, you put your,

eyes back to the ring and you're looking around and it's just you're in a closed off part of the city, it didn't really have that feel. They obviously won't have to deal with the foot traffic there. So they don't have to worry about crowd control barriers, you know, that type of thing necessarily. If they do have like an open space of some sort where you're looking straight out to the pyramids and they're fighting with that as the backdrop in the way that I imagine the what UFC White House card is going to have the White House as the backdrop, that's going to be pretty special. Yeah. I mean, I think it just like, it all depends what it's going to look like when the fights actually start. There may just not be a way to incorporate where they are.

Because, like, think about the sphere for the UFC. Once the fights themselves actually started, it just kind of looked like a normal UFC broadcast. The screens were utilized well with the sphere, with some of the stuff that they were doing. But, yes, like, sometimes is a juice not worth to squeeze on some of these, yes. But, like, to even, I guess, to even get that face-off picture that we just showed, I guess, is worth it? Like, you're at least, you're at least trying something where people go, oh, fuck, like, they did that? That's pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, also, like, if this was at the O2 in London or in Saudi Arabia just at a normal arena, I don't know if I would have near the intrigue,

other than just Alexander Usoc is fighting. That's right. It would be just another Usoc fight. The fact that they're doing it right with the Gloria in Giza and you've got, you know, the posters in the gold and them in the, the outfits and everything like that. And, like, They're really buying into like, we're doing this at the pyramids, I think is helping with the branding. They have a couple of Egyptian fighters on the card as well. So, yeah, I think this is the proper fight to do at a location. Yeah, makes sense. Final prediction?

Usset cruises. Like, it's just not. I'm going to say UcSig knockout seven. Yeah, Riko Verhoeven is a very good fighter, a very tough fighter, a fantastic kickboxer. Definitely the best heavyweight kickboxer of our era. one of the best of all time. He's losing half his weapons, as you said. Like, this is Ussick's bread and butter,

and he's better than the top guys in this sport. Like, what chance does a guy who's not even in this sport have coming over? Could you imagine if RICO pulled off? I mean, it would be incredible for him. If it happens, the only reason it would have happened is Ussick slipped and has lost a step. That's the only reason that would happen. There's no version of Usoc in his prime that could lose to Riko Verhoven. The WBC belt is on the line.

If Rico Verhoeven wins, he is the WBC heavyweight champion of the world. And has huge fights waiting for him, right? Francis Inganu, just by knocking down Tyson Fury and fighting in a competitive fight, got another huge payday. Likely will at some point again probably box and have a big payday. If Rico can defeat the best of this generation, I mean, you know, all bets are off. He will have massive paydays ahead of him. Oh, it would be crazy to see. Hamza Shiraaz is also fighting on the card as well as Jack Caterall.

So a nice little card, and I believe if you've got a DeZone subscription, this one's free. You don't got to pay any extra for it. Nice. You got the DeZone Ultimate, you don't got to pay for it anyway. Just $49.99 a month here in the States. There you go. Shout out to them. I've looked into that a couple times.

I've made it to the website, seen the Ultimate Package, and then I'm just like, nah. You're right there? Can't justify that price tag. Y'all need to drop that thing down. You don't need to drop that thing down. Over the world of mixed martial arts, PFL going down in Brussels this weekend, Belgium. I don't know if they've ever been there before.

I don't know if any major MMA promotion has been to Belgium. I could be sleeping. I could absolutely be sleeping, but they got their very own Patrick Habi Rora taken on the legend. Benson Henderson in the main event. We were talking about it before the show. We've got to be honest with what this is.

This is a tailor-made matchup for Patrick Hobby Rora to build himself on a name. that once was in Benson Henderson. Habirora, five inches taller, four inches of reach, 17 years younger than Benson Henderson. 16 fights, pro and amateur, since the last time Benson Henderson fought in MMA.

No fucking way. 16? He is 8-0 in professional mixed martial arts, and he had eight amateur fights since March of 2023, the last time Benson fought. Jesus Christ This is going to be a

One, all of them In his home country He's an incredible prospect The fact that, yeah On its face alone Just the age and And the Miles You know comparison

It would have been an easy You know, pick to pick Habirara But the fact that He's been this busy In the time since Benson Last competed in MMA Like it just

It's a coffin now And to your point We were talking about it earlier since then. That was March 10, 2023. He lost Usbander Magamatoff in MMA. He then went against Neiman Gracie at a grappling match, lost that one. Anthony Pettison, karate combat, lost that one, beat Chris Avila in a boxing match, lost the Idris Virgo in a boxing match, lost Armand-Sarukin in a grappling match, lost Al Jermaine Sterling in a wrestling match. So over the last three years, the only victory he has had is against Chris Avila. Yeah, in a boxing match, right?

Yep, he's 42 years old. He's going against a 25-year-old who has got the rocket ship attached to him. Seven of his eight wins are by knockout. He's got that swagger. He's got the backing of his home country. Habirora feels like the next big star for PFL. Here's the good news for Benson-Henderson backers. I'd love it.

He's not to lose. He knows he's supposed to lose. He's not an idiot. He knows that he's in there to lose to Habi-Rara, and him and Hobby Robber to get propelled into outer space. So he can fight a little bit free. There's not a lot of pressure, right? He hasn't been doing a lot of winning lately.

He's creeping toward retirement as opposed to the other way, right? Not the up-and-comer in his career. There's nothing to lose here. You can go out there and fight as free as you possibly can, whereas on the other side, on Hobby Rohra side, there is some pressure, right? You're supposed to, you are supposed to steamroll Benson Henderson. You are supposed to absolutely murder this guy. That's the pressure on his side.

But that's where the confidence toward the Benson-Henderson supporters ends. He's outgunned. He's outsized. He's out-speed. There's no area where he has an advantage other than an experience. And that experience isn't a huge advantage when the physicality is so much in the favor of Hobby Rora and the recent success is so much in the favor of Hobby Rora.

Well, I also have another bit of good news if you are a Benson-Hen-Rer. Henderson backer, as you said, you'll get him at 10 to 1. He is plus 1,000. Hobby Rora is minus 2,000. Yesterday when the odds got released, he was a minus 700. He has ballooned up to a minus 2,000 now. And if you're unfamiliar with Patrick Habirora, I highly recommend watching this fight. I recommend watching his previous fights. Going on the dude's Instagram, he's doing fashion shows. He's going to F1, getting the star treatment. The dude dresses, he's got the look. He's got the fighting skills to match. Like going to music festivals and he's on the stage with big celebrities.

He has that potential to be a star. He has only eight fights into his professional career, and you can kind of feel the momentum building behind him. And to me, to go to Belgium, put him in the main event against the guy like Benson Henderson, feels like PFL feels the exact same way. This is the Paul Hughes, right, in Belfast. This is the, we know that, this is Cedric Dume Bay in France. This is, we know we have somebody here.

We want to put them in the best possible opportunity to succeed. Come support them as a local. crowd and then let's see how we can build upon this. This feels picture perfect as a game plan. It is a little bit funny coming on the heels of what everybody was complaining. Oh, the squash matches on the Netflix MMA card. Oh, my God. It's rigged.

It's fixed. How could you do this? Blah, blah, blah. And then we look at the second most long-tenured promotion, major promotion in MMA, and they're doing a minus 2,000 fight. Meanwhile, everybody a week ago was crying about it. Minus 2,000. There's a minus 700.

minus 780 in the co-main, minus 800 in the third one down, and then the main event. That sure feels like what we watched last week, but that's just me. That's just me. The co-main event, you've got two UFC vets. Taylor Lappalus versus Jake Hadley. Lappalus, man, 24 and 4 in his career,

went six and two in the UFC. Crazy. The performances are just not exciting enough. It just isn't exciting enough. Got to finish last time out, 11 and 1 in his last 12. Jake Hadley, of course, not on the same run as Taylor Lapleus is. They're also at Taylor Lapis's natural weight class in 135. Jake Hadley used to be a 125er.

I get why Lappalus is a big favorite. He may not be that exciting. He wins. He wins. He wins. Yeah, we got that for the comens. He's one of those guys that everybody was like, wait, he got cut? Because he just wins.

Like, he's a winning fighter. As you said, what was his record, 24 and 4? 24 and 4. Yeah, he's good, man. He's a 3-and-2 in the UFC, 11-1 in his last 12. So, yeah, like a decent co-main event is going to be happening in the afternoon over here in the States. Like, you're obviously going to get it for free to be able to watch it. I do want to talk about the featured bout of the evening.

My guy, Boris Atangana. Everyone talking about Patrick Habirora. This is your guy. Ongana, repping Belgium as well, has been fighting in the PFL. He's fighting Jared Night Train Good. also another UFC vet. Very similar to Habirora. 8 and O, just like Habirora.

All of his wins coming by finish. We have the clip here in one of his most recent fights. Knocked dude's mouthpiece clean out. Ooh, sent the mouthpiece flying. Got the hands. Look at the extension. Can we run that back? Can we re-wrack that?

I want to watch the extension on this hook. Look at where this hook's coming from. His arm was out. Look at this hook. Boom. The other angle is crazier. This next angle? Boom.

This one. His arm was, like, that was nasty shit. Nasty shit. Nothing short about that hook. He just took his head off. Him and Hobby Rora boys? He's training out of Belgium. I was going to say, he trains out of Brussels.

So this is a big moment for him. Similar to Hobby Rora, he's got that style. We've got a few pictures of it. Like, he's always got the fits on. Like, he says that, you know, he's got the grills in. He says he's the best dressed M.MA fighter in the world. He's like, wait. Looking at that, he's probably right.

Bro, he's got the drip, man. He's like, wait until my bank account matches my vision for my style. He's got the cowboy hat and the toothpick, the Joker, diamond chain there. Like, bro, he's kind of like Happy Rora, bro. Like, he's got that swagger to him. He's got the skills. He's been getting finishes. So another guy to be excited about fighting in his home country of Belgium.

Is Belgium the new, like, hotbed for MMA? Is Belgium, like, the new spot you need to be if you're... Prospect on the rise, 8-0? How old is he? How old is he? I think he's around Habi-Rour's age. 25-ish?

Yeah, I don't see an age on his topology. Oh, yeah, his tapology says no birthday. Yeah, I don't know. We like that, bro. We don't need to know, man. Cameroonian and Boren, it looks like,

damn. Shut up, oh, he had an extensive amateur career too. Yeah, man. He was 7-0 as an amateur. Yeah, bro. Him and Habi-Rour on that same kind of wave. Don't sleep on Boris. The Boris boys are up this weekend.

I didn't know about Boris. I didn't know about Boris. Telling you. You put them on. Telling you. Don't sleep on my guy Boris this weekend. You put them on. Shout out to Belgium.

Shout out to Belgium. All right. Yeah, GC's main event. Shout out to Boris Atangana. Let's go. That's going to be a good one this weekend. You know, we don't have UFC. There's no like real major event, but like we still got some fights to watch.

No, that's a major event. There is a major event. And it's going down at the UFC apex this weekend. And that is... Oh, it's a USC fight? No, no, no, no. But someone would say it's even better than a UFC. fight. Brand risk

14. Oh, boy. Johnny Mansell versus Bob Mennery. I wish we had the drop. Menry's fucking back. Johnny Manzel, Heisman Trophy winner, former NFL quarterback taking on Bob Menry,

actors, social media star. You got Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson to NBA vets. These are MMA fights, by the way. This is not boxing. You've got Ray J. versus Super Hot Fire. You got Tommy Toughknuckles versus Dom the Troll. Was his name actually Tommy Tough Knuckles?

Right down there in the corner, Tommy Tough Knuckles. It's going to be on YouTube, Kick, Twitch, X, TikTok, live on all platforms. I did hear it's like... I did hear it's like an 11 p.m. Eastern start. Hopefully that's the main event. That's a little late. I'm not going to lie, I'm probably just going to catch these things clipped off. obviously like Aiden Ross is backing this

so it uh it feels like this is going to be clips heavy um this feels this the construction of this shit feels like the early days of misfits it feels like the early days of it was like porn stars and influencers and all the like real not like people who didn't really like want to fight

seriously but like wanted to make a quick payday you get some notoriety and then kind of like capitalize and roll that fame into something else and then it felt like that was going away for a bit. Even misfits seem to be getting more legitimate. They're signing the Tony Ferguson's and Dylan Dennis's and Anthony Taylor's and guys like that and getting away from that.

And now we're bringing it back. Shout out to Brandreis. Shout out to Aidan Ross for bringing back like the goofy-ass fights where NBA players who have probably never trained to fight a day in their lives are going to scrap it out. Yeah, I mean this is... Who you got?

Lance Stevenson or Michael Beasley? All right, so I've been looking for odds all morning on it. It's sponsored by rain bet, so I think you can bet it there, but I don't, I can't seem to You don't know who's the favorite? I can't seem to get access. Lance Stevenson's from New York City, so he's about to beat Michael Beasley's ass. I'll tell you that.

All right on, hold on, I'm pulling up rain bet right now to see if I can get it. I saw a, I saw a slip where, like, Johnny Mansell was like a quite a big favorite. Oh, here we go. Brand Risk 14. Ah, access is forbidden in my location. Who's got that VPN, bro? Come on get that VPN. I can't even look at the odds, though. That's kind of shitty. Yeah, I saw Johnny Manzole was a big favorite.

Oh, you mean the former professional athlete versus the guy who does voices? The voice guy is not a favorite against the former professional athlete? Andy had some concern for Ray J, huh? I mean, it looks like he's not in good shape, guys. Ray J should probably not do this one. Have we seen weigh-ins for this yet? No, that'll be... Are they weighing in?

They have to, right? It's a sanction fight. Is it a sanction fight? It's at the apex. I assume the commission is involved. I don't know. Maybe I'm stupid. Does the apex matter?

Like, maybe? Was that a maybe I'm stupid? Can you not go... Can you not go fight in the apex right now? I mean, we did visit the warehouse in the desert. Can somebody look up whether these are... fights or not? I actually don't know. I can't imagine that they're professional. We do have some breaking

news here on the program. Wow, not bad, Jordan. I believe this was Jordan, or was this Jordan? He sent this with great urgency. Ketland Vieira has been removed from the UFC roster. She leaves after defeating Jacqueline Cavalcanty. It's tough.

This ranked phantom weight, by the way. Wow. Yeah, that is a little bit weird just because she's like a top contender and I don't know how many more opportunities there are for women at 135 outside the UFC. Like doesn't feel like we have a lot of options there. But maybe she's about to make some kind of like move into boxing or maybe MVP is going to do some more women's fights. Ronorazi Ketlandvira? No. Ivan Erslan also parts way despite winning his last fight. Tuko Tacos and Daniel Baez have also.

also been removed. So, tough to see. One last thing before we get over to Ariel, we just talked about the fights this weekend. The fights last weekend, no picks and no bets this weekend, but the Parlay pals hit, baby. We're getting hot. Don't let us get hot. 20 and 40. Up a unit. There it is. This obviously pick made by the lads in Los Angeles. Woo! It's taken quite a while, but the have made it back in the green. 20 wins, 40 defeats. Okay, I got to be honest.

Yeah, be honest. Looking back at this graphic, uh-huh. Ronda Rousey by submission minus 210 is possibly the dumbest thing that nobody, like universally across the entire globe, that should have been bet up the ass to like the point that the books lost money on it. Okay, I actually think, can we show that graphic one more time? Let me just, let me just throw this.

a parlay calculator right quick. Rhonda Rousey by submission, and like, we knew this going into it, I felt very confident about these. Aline Pereira, talk about, by the fucking hair on your ass. We barely got through that. Minus 500 and minus 210 on these,

that pays out minus one, minus, God. Almost even money for that? Oh my God, that was minus 130, and that was like stone cold, Lock of the century, yeah. Was that the third stimulus check? Okay. Ronda,

taking her down and landing some elbows, I thought was at least in play. Now, obviously, now in hindsight, that looks stupid as fuck. Of course she was going to submit her. She was going to arm bar her the whole time. But, like, I thought maybe that could be a world. Anyway.

We're up. 33% of the time, we win. 33% of the time, baby. One in every three. 33% of the time, we win every three. we win every time. Remember that one. All right, we teases the top of the show. Obviously, some big breaking news with Scott Coker returning to the world of mixed martial arts. We now bring in our boy, Ariel Halwani, to discuss that. Ariel, what's good, man?

Hello, jents. Hello, jents. A rare appearance on the program. It's been a minute, not trying to overtake what you guys are doing or ruin the vibes. But yes, this is a big day. This is a very interesting day. And I thought I'd share some of the things. things that I know about what's going on with Scott Coker's reentry into the world of MMA. I do want to say before I get into that, just three perhaps very quick things. I have been talking about this Habib, Dana White thing for quite some time. And I've said how I felt it was so disrespectful time and again where Dana White keeps saying that this guy walked away because he got too much money or he got too rich or he got too famous. Habib's reason for walking away might be the most

honorable reason that anyone has ever given us as far as a superstar athlete and why they wanted to stop doing the thing that they're so good at. His father passed away. His mother asks him to stop. He stops and he's never even flirted with the idea, even though the UFC has offered him for it's like GSP in the past. So I don't blame him for feeling that sort of way. Number two, very quickly, Ludwig Kaiser is the man. Free Ludwig Kaiser. If they stop him from competing on May 30th in the mask versus mask match in Mexico, are you kidding me? this is so unfortunate. Originally, when I saw it, I was like, oh, no, please not.

Domestic violence. It's like, the guy loves his girlfriend. He's having a good time. Like, leave him alone, all right? Wait, have some manners. Have you ever been uncontrollably intimate in your life? Absolutely not. I don't believe in PDA.

But look, the guy is living his best life. His girlfriend is living her best life. They're doing great things together on AAA television. Leave the men alone and let us have that match. Let us have that match on May 30th. It is too great for it to be taken away from us. And number three, Ryan Garcia, Vresilia-Corporea's big box office. I would love to see that.

But nevertheless, I digress. Scott Coker's been working on this for a while. He's been working on this since before the year started. I'm not trying to come on here and being like, oh, I knew about this. But I was sworn to secrecy off the record, can't touch it, don't look into it, all these things and more. He's getting his familiar band back together, so to speak. There's a lot of people who he worked with in the stretch. Forrest and Bellator Days that he is, that he's putting together to join him in this venture.

Some have already joined him. Some may have very recently worked for other organizations. And so this is a sort of, you know, band back together type of vibe, type of sentiment. He does have some pretty powerful players behind him. He's raised $60 million, as was noted in the press release that came out earlier today. He's got a lot of television or ex-television-exec type of people behind him. Perhaps most notably to MMA fans, Kevin Kay, who was for a very long time the president of Spike TV and who was the president of Spike TV when they signed the UFC way back when. Ultimate Fighter 2005, a lot of you know that story.

And so he's on this board as well and he's a part of the investment group. They don't have a name, a sort of like placeholder working title name, if you will. can actually even see it at the very bottom of the press release if you're a media member out there who got it and and the emails are all at strike m mma now obviously scott koker's original claim to fame was strike force he can't use the term strike force but strike m m i was at i asked if that was the official name i was told no but it's sort of like the the working title if you will that could obviously change they're not planning on putting on events in 2026 they're hoping to do so in 27, they don't have a TV deal just yet. Obviously, you need distribution, you need a rights deal,

you need all these things and more to be a successful entity, but they're hoping to secure that. My one piece of advice, if I can, unsolicited, no one asked me for this advice, but I'd like to offer it anyway. In the New York Times article about it and in the press release as well, there is a mention of the word, which I think is maybe the dirtiest word in mixed martial arts right now, a word that should probably be banned. The number one, most, hated term and mixed martial arts, at least for me, right now, starts with a tea and it ends with a tea, and that's tournament. And they are planning some sort of tournament around all of this as being sort of, I don't want to say the crown jewel, but the centerpiece. Please, Scott,

for the love of God, please remember what made you a beloved figure in this sport, and that was strike force, especially Syrica 2009 to 2011. And there was the odd Grand Prix, if you will, and I know it ended with the heavyweight grand prix, no tournament. And you know how I know no tournament? because Bellator tried it, PFL tried it. Very recently, it's not like you can say, like, oh, the IFL tried it in 2007. Please, no tournament. Put on fun fights. Be the fun place.

Take a page out of what we saw this past weekend, sponsors, glitz, glamour, etc. Do your own thing, have your own identity. But please, we don't want a tournament. We don't want a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. None of that nonsense. Put on fun fights and enjoy, you know, like make us enjoy MMA the way we used to enjoy MMA. To me, the biggest story is two-furt. number one, Scott Koker returning, and number two, all of a sudden, we were looking at a landscape

in which MMA was just the UFC with the PFL barely hanging on. And the PFL may have gotten a little bit too comfortable. I don't think that's a fair thing to say. They overhauled the entire regime very recently. Don Davis leaving, all that stuff, more, you know, John Martin. But for the longest time, they were what? The de facto number two. They are no longer that. And now all of a sudden, and we are staring at a landscape in 2027 where there may be four players in MMA. And I'm not talking about the octagons and the KSWs and the Kage Warriors. I'm talking about four players who are trying to establish themselves here in the United States. One is the UFC they're already established.

You don't have to worry about them. And then there's the PFL. We don't know where they're going to land come 2027. And then there's MVP, Nikisa telling us yesterday they are fully in the MMA business. They're open. And now there's the Scott Coker entry. And so to me, this is great news for fighters. This is great news for managers. This is great news for coaches. It's great news for the sport because we always say there needs to be competition. I'm not saying any of these people should try to compete with the UFC. That would be foolish. That would be dumb. I'm not even saying to poke the bear. Leave them alone. But other entries, other spots, other places for fighters to negotiate with, to sign with. Look at Pumi Nakuta. No one was talking about him a week ago. All of a sudden, he comes into the sport and now people are talking about him and interested in him. So I think this is a very, very interesting. interesting thing. Obviously, an announcement isn't all that you need. You need to put together a deal

a roster, all that stuff and more. But Coker's back, and I know a lot of people are into that. You said a lot there. Thank you. Thank you for some additional insights. You mentioned how good this will be for fighters, managers, and there's no doubt, right? As they have more options and ability to kind of like navigate their careers, they have more people that are willing to pay them. They have the ability to drive up the price when they're negotiating across the board. Is it good for this new upstart promotion. Like earlier in the show, we kind of asked, essentially, I asked the question, would it have been better to go in a slow time, right, when there's not as many players in the market? And now you have more opportunity to build your brand and actually be able to like kind

of, you know, carve out something without having to worry about that competition. Or alternatively, is it now the time because there's going to be more money in the market, because there's going to be so many other players at the table, there's going to be people going, well, they have MMA, I want to do MMA as well. Which way do you think that goes? To me, this is the slow time. To me, this is the slow time for the sport. And so to me, this is the perfect time to get into it. Because I mentioned four entries. Well, one is the established big dog. The other is hanging on to an ESPN deal and who knows what happens there. The third has only put on one event. Let's see what they actually do. And you're the fourth. And so to me, this is a slow time. This isn't 2008 where

there was strike force, elite X, LX, L, LF, UFC, and then the ones over. overseas as well. And so this is a perfect time. Also, with the way in which TV and rights and all this stuff is evolving, what is still the most premium thing? Why is Netflix getting into sports? It's because live sports is still king. Live sports is the one appointment viewing entity left in entertainment. You have to watch live. And with that comes great advertising, et cetera, etc, et cetera, et cetera. So I think that this makes a lot of sense. The question is, who are the suitors going to be? Obviously, it's not going to be CBS Paramount, and they're going to gobble up, you know, the Turner networks very shortly. Is it going to be Netflix? No, they seem to have

the relationship with MVP, so I would be surprised, but Netflix is open to business with everyone. NBC Peacock has never really been all that interested in combat sports, let's be honest. Fox is out there. They don't have a great streaming platform. They're kind of the only one out of the big four that doesn't, but they did have the UFC. they did have boxing. They flirted with combat in the past. There's Amazon, of course, but I think Amazon's relationship with combat

got off on the wrong foot with one championship. Apple, you know, they had the MLS and F1. I don't know how, and baseball, I don't know how bullish they are right now on live sports because I don't think it worked out. I think they might have bet on the wrong horses. So I'm really curious to see who that entity is going to be because make it very clear this isn't breaking news.

If you don't have a TV deal, you got nothing. You've literally got nothing. And so this is all well and good. And I'm very, very certain that they're well down that road of talking to people pitching things. I know this. But if you don't secure that big time TV deal, you've got absolutely nothing. But to be clear, this is, in my opinion, a great time because of the way in which things are evolving. Yeah.

And I also have to think that if somebody is in the market for MMA and maybe misses out on a PFL, right? We have to imagine in the race right now, PFL's got a significant head start. they've got a library, they've got a roster, they've got all those things. If you're somebody who's in the race and PFL goes to XYZ partner, then maybe when you still wanted to get into the MMA game, that might be a good opportunity for a brand like this to slide in as the brand new entity and be able to provide some of those content hours. I can add this if I can very quickly.

Sorry, I can add this. I reached out to a few people at the PFL and I was wondering what their take was on Saturday and this. Okay. And I think that this is the best thing to ever happen to the PFL. And I think that the PFL's sentiment, based on what has been said to me, is bring it on. This is going to up our game. And so now we're going to see what this new PFL regime is all about.

We're about to find out because you're 100% right. They have the leg up on MVP and on the Scott Coker entry because they have a roster. They have a schedule. They have, you know, they've got a whole infrastructure in place. And so I think that finally, you know, we always focus on someone lighting a fire under the UFC and that will come as well. but right now these two new guys are lighting a fire under the PFL because the PFL is looking back saying like, holy crap, if we take our eye off the prize here, we're going to get swallowed up and will be extinct in a year. So I find that component to be very, very interesting. Almost build on each other until you can maybe one day go against the UFC. We appreciate it. We know you got somewhere to be. Are you excited for tonight in the house? Yeah? Oh, yes. We will be in the building, the Mecca game two. Peace and love, peace and love. No shit talking. It's a long, long, long.

series. I do disagree with the sentiment that the winner of this series is going to get whooped by the winner of the Western Conference. They're banged up. They're beating each other up. Just get to the dance and crazy things can happen. Great show, guys. There was like nine things at the top of the show that I think we could do like a whole deep dive on, but alas, we'll save that for next week. Keep it up. Peace and love. Peace and love. Go Nix. Sounds good, brother. Enjoy tonight. Go Nix. Go Kavis. I'm Switzerland. I'm Switzerland. All right. Interesting times in the world of MMA. in the world of the NBA as well for

you and Ariel and also the Thunder and Spurs last night shout out. Yeah, it's a good Final Four in the NBA going on right now. Fascinating to hear that he reached out to the PFL and they're like, bring it on, let's get ready for war because yeah, like we so often

think about everybody chasing the UFC in reality, I know UT's like maybe one day, there is no day. You will never be the UFC. They are too firmly established. They are too good at what they do. They continue to make too much money. but there could be another PFL, no problem. That is not a gap that is insurmountable.

If MVP, like, not for nothing, MVP's already done a better number by many, many multitudes than PFL has ever done in their entire history, PFL or Bellator. And so, you know, there's new players in the game. It's a fascinating time. I don't know if I necessarily agree with Ariel that this is the best time for two reasons.

One, as he was laying out, those broadcast partners, every single one, he was kind of exing off. Every single one, he was like, they tried MMA, they didn't love it, I don't know if they have the capacity for it. You're not getting to Netflix. There's no way. I guess there's a way, but I would be very skeptical. There's no way you're going on Paramount.

ESPN just had a deal with PFL. Do they want to just do another thing with a promotion that's not necessarily? ESPN, it seems clear that they're getting out of the MMA game. They're firmly in the WWE game. They love what's going on there. And so I don't know how many. broadcast partners there really are out there that are going to, you know, be able to support a product like this. And then secondarily, yeah, he went back to, you know, Ariel was talking about

when there was strike force, lead XE, all this and that. Two years ago, there was nobody in the game. Two years ago, it was UFC, PFL. And then GFL was like, hey, we're going to go do something. And then they never did anything. That to me would have been a better time, right? Now you're battling MVP, who I think has a huge leg up. PFL, I think, has a leg up on MVP, just because, as I said, roster. archives, Bellator, all the stuff. Like, they have all that footage. They have all these live events already running that they can just come to a broadcast partner and be like, hey, we've got this infrastructure.

Just take it and broadcast it. MVP is closing that gap. One, they just put on the biggest event broadcast wise in MMA history, probably, right? We don't quite know because of the global reach that was there at various times. Two, they've got big name talent that they just, you know, worked with in terms of Francis Ngano, Ronda Rousey, Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, and on and on and on. And they're catching up. But way behind them is this new offering.

Nobody knows what it is. They don't have any broadcast partner. They don't have any dates. They don't have any fighters. They don't have anything. And so you're in a really, really dire position where you need to come out of the gates blazing hot. Otherwise, these other leagues are going to leave you in the dust.

So I don't know that I love transparently. Like, I'm not rooting for failure by any of them. I hope all five, ten million promotions in MMA are successful because as Ariel laid out, all the fighters get more options from it. I hope everybody's successful. But I do think they have their work cut out for them because of the fact that they're getting into it when some big players have already kind of just entered the game like MVP. We will see.

We'll see what happens. An interesting time in the landscape of mixed martial arts. I'm being told on my ear by on-air Jordan at another Ilya tweet. has hit the timeline. You tested positive. Okay, Ryan Garcia saying, aren't MMA finders notorious for all being on juice?

Shut your ass up. Now that you can't stop talking, we can really do this after my fight in September just to flatline you. Ilya responds, you tested positive and still talk about flatlining people.

That confidence is artificial. The world already saw what you needed to win. Juice in your ass. Someone needs to make the grass. juice in ass, and it's a picture of Ryan Garcia. With an Ilya bubble. Ilya's cold, man.

Ilya is just like, you know, think what you want about him. He could do this. He can't do this, whatever. Like, the thing you must grant Ilya to pour you is he really just does, he's not here for bullshit, right? He's just kind of like, I am going to fight whoever is the toughest fight. Isam Makachev, I will fight you. Ryan Garcia, I will box you.

He doesn't give a fuck. Islamma Gachev, I will submit you. Ryan Garcia, I will knock you out in a boxing match. It actually fucked me up. He's 17 and O, but on his Instagram, he already has 18 and O, and I've seen that so many times that I thought he was 18 and O. Did you say earlier 18 and O? I didn't even track.

Okay. He's 17 and O, but he just already has 18 and O written in the bio. After the White House, he'll be 18 and O, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, it is what it is. So, yeah, the rivalry. I'm interested in the brew. I'm interested in it, for sure. I'm interested.

This is the first, like, since Connor Floyd, the first, like, MMA boxing shit that, like, even got me a little bit compelled. And I have a belief in Iliate Taboria, like, eventually being able to pull that off. All right, I am on my road to one day, you know, fighting the likes of Ilya and Ryan Tussia. After last week when we were in Los Angeles,

me, Rick, Casey, we rolled on down to Casey's gym, he's been inviting us forever. Man, you guys got to come train. You guys got to come train. He was like, yeah, yeah, for sure. This time we had no excuse. He was like, Thursday, Friday, Friday, Saturday, you're not really doing anything. Or Friday, Saturday, you're not really doing anything. How would you come down to California mixed martial arts? Obviously, amazing staff there, amazing group of killers in there. Come train with us. We'll do wrestling one day, striking the next. You were gung-ho. You were like, I'm getting in there no matter what. I was like, you know what? I'm in. Let's do it. So we did that. The cameras were rolling. They caught every bit of it. I haven't even seen this full thing. So watch me get my ass beat for the next 20 minutes. Our trip to California Mixed Martial Arts and Joy.

All right, we're still in Los Angeles. California mixed martial arts. The man behind the camera will not be behind the camera for much longer. E. Casey Leiden has invited us to train at his gym. California Mixed Martial Arts. Luminaries walking around. Victor Henry, Taco Padilla. I've never trained before, so I guess we're going to give it a shot.

Wish me luck. Great to meet you, man. Thanks so much for having to get me. I'm excited to do, is this year your first time wrestling? First I'm doing anything. Ever? Ever. I like the haircut.

Yeah, dude, I like the haircut and the ball, man. You want to coach today? Good, yeah, yeah, what's up guys? I don't know a fuck. Okay, shuffle in. All right, shuffle in. All right, what is the side? We're two minutes in, I'm already getting a little tired here.

Front rolls. Oh, shit. I don't know if I can do this one. Excellent. Let's see it, Connor. Perfect, I'd say. Right side stays in front the entire time. I'm tucking that back leg.

Holy shit. Go straight, go straight, follow the line. Yeah, it's Case. I feel like a lot of it is trust in your body, right? It's gonna come out of that like a superhero. Whip! Hips come forward. Hips come forward.

Show me, Casey. I gotta get those. I gotta get those hips forward. Bro, I think the most, yeah, first of all, this is just the warmest. I think the most underrated part is how dizzy you get, man, you're spinning. Kip up, whoosh! Oh fuck, coolest move on earth or what? I like it.

Big push, big push. That was it. You gotta make cooler sounds, dude. I feel like the sound matches how cool I look. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Close, close. Oh, Casey just got it.

Damn. Casey, good shit, bro. All right, sexy sprawl. Sexy sprawl, front roll. Keep that arch. I'll take it. It's not the worst sexy sprung. Yeah, not bad.

Okay, now we're gonna do head springs. Okay, so front roll. Oh my god. Oh my god. Got it? One heel, chisel, let's go, Casey. Go. Right, ya!

Good enough, man. Don't worry about the head straight. Got it. Big step, good. I'll take it and then step up back to your right leg stance. There we go. Good. Boom.

Three rounds, guys. That one, tripped on that one, tripped on that one. Tripped on that. We gotta go three of them. No one. Three of them. Here we go. Just bombs!

Ah! Right, bye, bye, bye. Hey! Oh, man, you did that. Look that quick, man. You looked good. Kept hit my balls on that. My balls are too big.

Oh, that was just warm-ups. I said, uh, I said, thanks. He said, don't thank me. Talks me in 40 minutes. You know what? Showing up is the toughest part. So, you got the toughest part done. He's everything else is, you know?

He's fucking, yeah, he's almost 50 fucking years old. He's out here doing it, man. Like, well, he's out here doing it, man. really doing it. It's incredible, man. Just through wellness, I have a better respect for it. This is just drill pace. We're not going hard yet. Yet. I go drag. Look, my hips are in. I'm close. My elbows are tight. I'm not flared out like this. And I'm not letting him get away. I'm moving here. Okay? Yep, yes, yes, yes. Just like this. No, no, no, no. It's not a pass. It's a drag.

So you're going to get your hand in my armpit and pull it across. Yeah, there you go. All right. Now tuck it in. Keep your body on this side. Yeah, because you want to stuff this arm. All right. Hold that hip tight, bend your knees. Start driving. There you go.

Good, good, good, good, good, good. All right, done. As you take down. And then you dominate and kill your opponent. Exactly. That's tomorrow, though. Just that easy. Just that easy. Yeah, yeah.

It's okay. We'll get it. Okay. Start to understand the intricacies a little bit more. Like that? Yeah, that. That's right there? Yeah.

Now, lean into my hip and kind of keep driving me down. There it is, first takedown, baby. Oh, shit! There you go. There you go. You got to get it. A solid digdown difference from Casey Leiden there. Oh, he got my ass.

Oh, now he's really got me. And this is walking. Casey, when did you start? Basically after COVID. During COVID, I. COVID when I started getting serious about Grap me. Five years in the game, all post 40. Oh, God, he's got me locked up.

Oh, man, it makes me big so much more of how many times you've watched. And then you're like, bro, just fight the hands. It ain't that fucking easy. We haven't been doing shit. You've been tossing around for fucking 30 seconds, and like you can just feel like the impact zones on your body like fucking shoulder just landed pretty hard there on the mat like you can feel that like you can just like

grabs you and just like squeezed hard on you like it's uh it's a different game here we go you go you go you got you got me now Okay, go. Okay, then switch partners, find a new partner. That's how's it going? First time, first time. Let's go. Oh, man, nice trip. Yeah, it's great stuff, man, thanks so much.

Why is he still alive? So she could have killed me a couple times. You're gonna kill me a couple times. How was it? Yeah, man. Nothing I can do to break those. I like to think I have good cardio, bro. This will get you.

It's not getting up for me. There's not getting up for me. Yeah. I am fucking gasped out. One more, really. You got one. Go. Good shit, man.

Feel it in your arms Who You know, easy on me You put that squeeze on that fellow to fucking Like a banana about to get popped out of the peel Oh god I'm fucked Seeing stars bro

Don't let him know you're tired Nah, I ain't tired Okay, so you're tired Let's go warm up, go warm up Get up, get up, where are you out, man? Language. This is a resonance. Everybody, round applause for Cotter.

This is first day. Thanks so much for having me all. Really appreciate it. I'm trying to bring the level down to here. Oh, it's good. You elevated us. You made us all more confident in our rest, so it's good. It's good to have you here.

But good stuff, that body lock, again, it's really, really important. I don't need you to throw some crazy suplexes, but the fundamentals are still there in MMA. They all apply. You need to support your underhook. You need to put weight down on your overhook. All these little little things that you're going to get from this, you know? I don't need you to be a Greco-Roman wrestler. I need you to take one thing from Greco-Roman and add it into your MMA. That's it. Can I throw you? Sure.

Yeah, let's see it. That one knocked the wind out of me, bro. So you're supposed to get a little introduction to the world of catch wrestling. Okay. Why we start with a face lock? Go for it. A face lock. So you can just get them bent down here this way, right?

So you see how I turned the neck that way? So I'm going to go over here. Oh. We're going to go here right here. Now I'm not going to loosen up here. I'm just going to grab right here. You see how your forehead is underneath my chest? Oh yeah.

When it feels like your neck is going to snap off, just go ahead and get my... hip attack yeah from here I'm not just gonna lift oh okay because they're gonna dang gonna be nothing all right once I'm here I'm gonna keep your ear glued to my nip from here step in with that same side hand oh oh there you wow here I'm keeping the tension okay oh my god yeah now please do it to Casey yeah oh turn good that's good now keep everything elbow tight elbow tight now from here walk your hip forward and elevate oh

That means it's working. There you go. Snap them cross face, good. Where's that elbow go? Elbows tight. Go ahead and there you go. I see you can work man. It definitely fucking works.

Yeah, well, combining with your wrestling, bro. Yeah, it's amazing man. Thanks again. All this goes together, bro. All the more shards goes together. Yeah. Poop, poop to throw in, to punching the crap out of somebody on the floor. Yeah, you gotta have everything for it.

You gotta have everything for it. Uh, yeah. Wrestling in the books. Stay 2, striking. What could go wrong? That's good, bro. What's up, man? Good to have you back.

Today is going to be easy. Easy as far as, like, my job is not to just make you sweat. My job is to make sure you understand how to defend yourself and how to hurt somebody back, right? All right. So, yeah, today's going to be more of a brain game. It's going to be a lot of just me going, not like that, like this, like this, like this. Just little incremental adjustments. Okay.

Sounds great, man. Just grab a gear on. and then I'll get you guys back in a few minutes. I appreciate it as always, ma'am. These kids would beat my ass and I know it. So what we're gonna, we're gonna just start off simple. Again, our brand new fighter here. Case, don't kill them.

Okay? One, let's get these hands here. And when they're up, I don't want them just up. I want them in front of you, okay? So you can see it coming versus waiting for it to come at you, okay? Good. Ooh, now build some sturdiness in that body. Tuck the body a little more slower.

I told you. This is not a hit you in the face with a bat. Get that lead hand out a little bit more. See? Get it a little longer. Open that hand like it's a mitt and you're catching that. Go. Ah, be on, be ready.

There you go. So when my partner's throwing the jab, look at my other hand play. Because this here is, think of as your last layer of defense. I want to always be in a state of motion because then he has to line the shot up going like this. That's going to cause hesitation. It's going to cause him to slow down. And then as he starts to slow down trying to pick me off, I'm picking him off. Yup, start a little slower for him.

Now I'll pick up his timing first. Don't lean. Stay tough. And stop. Remember, you're not defending. You're attacking right now. Yeah, it's looking much better. I can teach you punches, but punches are literally the most useless thing. It's worried about what's coming back to you.

It's no point. This here is a must right now, okay? He's still beating you a little bit. I can see him still off balancing you some. I need to be in position where you can still strike. Oh, he's getting through. His shoulders, right? That's right.

That's the one. So I got like saying, that's like, it's like, if you think of like, think of all the what we talked about. Yeah. That's like, that's just these two things. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, how does this apply to kicks, knees? How does the same idea even apply to wrestling, uh, uh, uh, uh, jihitsu,

somebody that can judo throw you all the sorts because the same idea, let's say, if they shoot that double on me. So watch my, watch my friend. weren't we just learning and throw a hook with this? Yeah. Right? And if my elbow's a little high,

now he has to take down. So it's like, I need to learn how do I mix what I learn from Muay into my wrestling into my jiu-jitsu, right? It's fucking crazy. But that's why I'm the best in the world, you know?

Exactly, bro. I appreciate this so much, because it just gets you in that mentality of like, holy fuck, there is so much that goes into this. These guys are so fast, they're thinking so much. But also, I didn't throw a single punch,

in the hour. It was just all defense. Because to your point, man, what's the point of being able to throw a punch if you can't defend one? Literally, bro. If you have the best defense and you throw punches like this, you will knock somebody out. Yeah. I'm so goddamn open there.

Don't let them bully you. All right, you stay tucked. Tuck down. Yes. Pause, man, look at that. Tuck down, bro. Because you got to think you're tall. The more I go,

Yeah. Look at all that. I'm open enough. If I'm here, look at how much he still has to get around the guard. Go three or four punch, I'm like this. So if he goes to wrestle, I can go. Yep. Now I'm back in Muay Thai again.

I can elbow, right? I can pull down elbow, I can attack. If he throws shots and he changed levels on me, I go, he's running me all the way down already, okay? There we go, good defense. Defense. Good for them to Casey. That shit hurts. Ooh, yep, yep. Pause because our hands. Gens chival. Yeah. Even when I'm like this, I'm ready for that, that little ringing feeling. Yeah. Okay. Versus if Casey going, I go, now you're going to see whatever, you know,

they see on the other side of the tunnel. I've never seen the other side of the tunnel. Can I saw? You don't have to ax them, but you're going to see it going, like, Like, yeah, you can't help me. Yeah. Still, it's like me. It's that, hey, it's that. It's your brain trying to save you. Tell your brain to shut up.

Shut up, brain. We're working now. It's kill time. Yeah, guys, great day today. Next time I see you, we're gonna go more into our takedowns, more into our ground and pound and shit like that, okay? Go work today. Do, do, do, do, do, do.

Do, do. Camerman. Yeah. So much. Get some like, real light movement. Yeah. So you know everything now, so let's get some. I don't know shit, Casey.

Aces started throwing a couple of those, a little bit of volition behind them. I don't like my chances. There we go. I'm taking full punches. Give up, brother. I deserve this. Take care. Take care.

Good shit, man. Y'all got that fucking strength to you. Good shit, brother. Appreciate you taking it like. Yeah. could stomp my ass. Man, what a two days here in California Mix Martial Lord? Shout out to Coach Joe,

shout out to Coach Taco, shout out to Victor Henry, shout to all the students, shout to Casey for having us, man. Unbelievable experience, getting to see what it's really like to train. I'm day one, so I'm fucking ass, but man, five years into the game, you can see how good Casey's gotten. Gives you a whole new respect for all fighters. Doesn't matter if they're professional,

doesn't matter if they're in the UFC, anyone who gets in in this gym, you gotta have mad respect for it. It is a tough game and just how much thought it takes. Listen to Taco coaching, bro. Thanks again to California mixed martial arts. Can't take them enough. Thanks to Casey.

Let's go. The road to the belt starts now. What belt that is? A brown leather one from fucking Banana Republic. That might be the one, but the road to the bell. Starts now. In his first loss, what happened? All right, so as we were ideating this,

Casey said, you know, we'll do the wrestling, we'll do the striking. You want to get choked out? I was like, man, fuck, no, I don't want to get choked out. Mr. New York Rick said, I do. Kind of. I said, okay, sure. All right, so who we got back there?

This is Carlos Eduardo. I'm an amateur, MMA referee, and jiu-jitsu enthusiasts. Can I say something, though? I didn't realize what I was talking to. I listened to the aerial podcast all the time. Oh, my gosh. I didn't know you guys.

I heard the fucking voice of this in New York Creek. Choke New York is, God. I love how we do it. You guys, I always listen so I recognize the voice immediately. My girlfriend hates you guys. I guess to see you guys all the fucking time No one hate it. This is more than God's girlfriend. This is for her. Yes, Lisa this is for her. She's gonna be the fucking amazing. Classic her naked.

Here we go. Mr. New York Rick. Ready and... There you go. I'm like here's. I don't think I went fully out. I think I think you did kind of you are trying to get. The fingers started. Ready? Yeah. Here we go. I'm gonna hold it longer this time.

Ready? And he's out. He's out. Okay, there we go. Why am I like shivering so much? I felt myself snoring near the end there. You could hear yourself, you can't. Like I, like, as I was like going, it was like, Can you stand up? Yeah.

That's go. Not a lot of people get to choke out. You're a great. The fucking amazing. No one goes. You're the first. My fucking guy. Yes.

Yes. Man, shout out to California mixed martial art. Shout out to E. Casey Leiden for let us get to experience that. Shout out to Coach Joe DeShue. Shout out to Nat, the Adam Wade, who was ragged all in my ass. Shout out to Charlie. Nico. Nico could have killed me a couple times during that sparring.

Shout out to Taco Padilla. Obviously, an unbelievable coach there. Victor Henry, Carlos, choking you out. Shout out to everyone in California mixed martial arts. The goal, Esther Lynn. Shout to Esther Lynn for taking pictures while we were there. She got a good one at Casey. fully picking my ass up and dumping me on the mat.

It was an incredible experience over two days at California MMA. Everyone there was so welcoming and so nice to us, man. A lot of it is sort of like this. Before you, if you've never done it before, it's like, man, what is it going to be like? Are they going to like kind of leave me in the dust? Is it going to be a little bit too brutal? But like they respected the fact that like, I'm a beginner. Maybe this is all because the camera was there.

They were like, second he puts that camera away, we're knocking. But like they were very welcoming, very like, willing to have someone come in and learn. So shout out to everyone there. It was a fantastic time. I saw someone asking the chat how sore I was. Bro, the getting to the plane on Sunday morning after staying up late for the fights and everything, I was hobbling.

I was hobbling hard. I'm to the point now where I'm not sore anymore. Shoulder, getting slammed on the shoulder, like I still feel it in my shoulder. And wrestling on the mats, I tore my foot open bad. Yeah, you got some map burn, like, immediately. Oh, bad. And, like, it's deep. I'm having to put Vaseline on and band-aids every day before I leave the house.

It's still pretty raw, but overall, fairly unscathed coming out of it. I was playing magic the whole time, so I didn't even know you did have that shit. Bullshit. He wasn't doing that. He was behind the camera. Great cinematography from New York, Rick. A great time had by all. Unbelievable edit by Casey, as always.

Really, really fun experience. I think I can say pretty confidently that that won't be my last time training. Nice. Especially after the wrestling, I was like, because of how much of a cardio workout it was, like, you leave on a high. The striking, I was like, damn, if I got into a fist fight and the guy had any idea how to fight, they would fuck me up. I need to really work on that. But yeah, it was a great experience, a great experience, man. Thank you again to California mixed martial arts.

It was awesome. Yeah, it's easy to have such a better appreciation when you're in the room and you see somebody as good as, like, Taco or Victor Henry. how quickly Victor Henry could just snatch up a submission anytime you wanted on a civilian. He drags those, he drags the knuckles across the face and just like pulls you in and like he's got that neck, man. Oh yeah. When he's like snap your neck,

he could literally have snapped my neck. Complete like education in catch wrestling. And then you see like somebody like Taco who, when he's doing the drills that you're doing, the reflexes, the ability to like avoid shots, the ability to keep himself safe. It's no secret why he's like so good. and why he's been able to be so successful in the UFC.

Incredible experience. Casey's a beast, man. Casey's a fucking beast, man. Do not sleep on that guy. He's an animal. Did you see him doing the cartwheel into the flip? And then, like, his striking and stuff. Like, and he's like, he's like, a thing I've noticed with these MMA guys, like, they're, like, it's like they're hard.

It's like, all their weapons are, like, you know, pause. But it's like their weapons are, like, hardened. Like, the way he gripped me was just, like, damn. And then, like, when he, like, hits you with, like, a jab and splits your guard. you feel it when he's blocking a hook, like you feel it like, I had, it's faded now, but I had a gnarly bruise here for like four days afterward just from Casey blocking a hook coming over the top. So yeah, shout out to California mixed martial arts, and I meant every word when I was just like, it gives you that new respect. The, the, uh, just get up crowd.

I heard someone say it when we were at the MVP card, someone got taken down and they were like, oh, come on, like, just get up. It's just like, dude, you think they haven't thought of You think they have not thought to maybe just get up out of this situation. So, yeah. Shout out to Carlos and his girlfriend who will never see any of this, but we'll only hear our voices and hear me gurgling. That one's for his girlfriend. Credit to you for A, doing the choke, but also admitting that you weren't fully out

and being like, no, no, come on, send me fully out. Send me fully out. I wasn't fully out there. Let's do that one more time. Referee, Carlos. How about that? To Carlos, man. He set the fights.

I hope he enjoyed him. Yeah, I heard a nice... Yeah. From you, and he was like, oh, he was out. He was out. Yeah, shout to Nico. He might have a fight coming up this fall, man. He was a beast. Yeah. So, yeah, one last time. Thank you to California mixed martial arts. It was a fantastic time. Shout out. Shout out, shout out.

If you got a local gym near you, I highly recommend going and giving it at least a shot, because I imagine I will be back. All right, we've done the weekend preview. We've done the news in the notes. We've done the training video, everything like that. That brings us to our pound-for-pound rankings for this week. week. I already explained it earlier, but if you happen to miss it, Alexander Usik is taking on Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza this weekend. So in honor of Alexander Usik, Ussik, Ussik. I know it's Y, K, S-Y K, S-Y K, U-S-S-I, we're doing I-C-K, pound-p-pound-I-X. U-S-I-K. Pound-F-P-P-P-P-P-P-S. So this does not have to be romantically.

This is just things people do, and you're immediately just like, I don't know if I can be. You think differently of them. You think that's exactly it. Your perspective on them, your opinion on them changes because they did this thing. We have no Frank. I mean, we've been in incredible hands with Donnie. I honestly forgot Frank was even not here.

I mean, it's just like, shout out to Donnie. We appreciate your mysterious Donnie. Thanks, guys. We'll start working on the new drop thing. Oh, shit. Donnie's going to air now. You got a big deal on the air? Shout out.

Shout out. So it's just going to be us too doing it. I am actually very disappointed. I thought Franks, I was very much looking forward to Franks list. Same. He's a very judgmental guy. So I thought he would really have some good ones. I'll let you go first.

Okay, I'll go first. I went a bit off the beaten path, you know, because obviously we could do like... I'm very self-conscious right now. Okay. Because I love my life. Okay, the genesis of Ix, right, is much more in the dating scenario. Yes. And it's usually like something very specific, right?

Like a lot of times you'll see somebody say like, oh, that's an ick. and then everybody will be like, no, you fucking idiot because they don't agree with the very, like, specific ick.

Yeah. I don't have a lot of those. Like, I was trying to think of like, what things do that for me. I don't have, like,

these very specific ones. Mine are a little broader. Hopefully, hopefully this still applies. Hopefully, you know, you don't judge me too badly for this

and nobody else out there judges me too harshly. Number five, being rude to the staff. That is a fucking... Got it as an honorable mention. If I see, if I see that happening,

it's like instantaneously, I think differently of you. Like, I'm just like that person. Imagine how they treat people like just in private. This is in public. You're in public. Like, somebody just helped you out. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. This is that you getting served by another human game. Your food came. Like, just taking advantage of somebody who's in a position where you have the power rubs me the wrong way. It gives me the heby-jeebies. Just like you, it takes no effort, no energy to just be not even, you don't even have to be nice.

just not be horrible. Like start with a baseline of just like, I'm going to just be normal, cordial, whatever. I experience this a lot in New York. It doesn't bother me as much, but it still bothers me when customer service also treats you like shit. Yeah, I mean, that's a bad one.

But I do give them a bit... I expect that, though. I was going to say, I do give them a bit more reprieve because I'm like, I'd probably be pretty pissed too. I was working this job. And like, this was like my eighth straight shift.

And like I'd been here since 6 a.m. And I deal with customer service all day, every day. I give a bit more reprieve but it's a bit of an ache as well when like you go in and you're just like hey how's it going and they're just like what can I get for you and you're just like

just a black coffee and they're like uh this fucking 468 what 468 is your total you fucking idiot transparently quite frankly I'm so much more accepting of that

than if you're in the opposite being rude to staff like if I was at dinner and someone was just like, just like out of, out of line. I would get uncomfortable. Yeah. Yeah. Be a nick. I hate it.

I like that. I like that as fine. Number four. Too cool. When you were just too cool for school. A little too nonchalant. Nonchalant. And then there's a variation of this that's like you're too trendy.

You're trying too much to be like the cool kid. You're trying too much to like fit in with this thing. Okay. So like try hard a little bit. Try hard. Yeah. have hobbies, have a personality, be unique, don't be a fucking, like, lemming robot. Like, it's not, yeah, that bothers me.

Get excited about stuff. Get excited about stuff. Show your passions. Don't just be, like, too cool for school. Don't just be like this guy, this person. I keep saying guy, but it definitely applies to both men and women where it's like, you know, you're doing what everybody else is doing. The Lubu-Boo do by chocolate, macha-flavored burger at the place that you're going to have to stand for two hours in line. Zero.

All right, respect. Have a unique interest. Be yourself, have a personality. Don't be too cool for school and don't try to be too cool. Just nobody's fucking cool. We're all losers. We are all fucking losers. We all have this thing that if people knew that we did in private, they'd be like, you're a loser.

Let that freak flag fly. I'm a fucking loser. It's fine. I'm with you, man. Be yourself. Number three. These are actually like polar opposite and they are both icks, which means that you have to kind of find that sweet spot between two cool for school and the overshare.

The overshare, you know, like the tame version, the light version of this is like people who post way too much on social media too much, too many Instagram posts where they're like giving life advice and shit like this where it's just like, you know, I knew you in high school. Like you're just a fucking regular. You're not an influencer. You got three followers. Like, why are you telling me about like how to live my life?

Like just chill the fuck out. Post some pictures of your kids and like, I don't need to see this shit. The max variant, the fucking, I'm outraged by this person is the, just, my brother just died crying on camera recording it. The, we just had a miscarriage and you and your husband are sobbing on camera. These are like devastating things, of course. Pulling out the camera to cry on it, probably. be one of my, if not my biggest six, especially if it's like

a sequence of a girl that got dumped going from like, oh, it could be a guy to from beginning phase of like, I just got dumped to like now I'm healthy and happy again. And like the beginning is them like sitting in the shower and they're like, oh, it's like, brother, you had to set up the tripod. You had to turn the camera.

You had to hit record, sit down in front of it, and then start up this fucking sham. Another thing that like you say overshare, One that required me fucking crazy is when someone posts about like something like that. Like I just got, I just got dumped or we got a divorce or like you overshared to the world about this tragic thing that happened to you. And then like you'll see people ask about it. And they're like, please respect my privacy.

It's like why I literally just saw it recently with an influencer. Her and her fiance broke up. She did a whole thing about how they broke up. And then she did a Q&A and someone asked about it. And then the Instagram story was this long about like, please respect. my privacy and stop asking me about this. It's just like you put your life on display. You overshare

everything and then when someone's curious about it you're like fuck you. It's just like... Not my type of people, unfortunately. We're fading right now from an ick. Like crying on camera for clout is an ick for me. Now we're getting into things that just like actually enragement. That's the high end though.

I'm still icked out by like people who just like overshare, overshare, overshare. It's like some things can be for you. Some things can be for you, your family, friends. There's text messages. Not every single thing has to be for everybody. Just something to consider. Number two, this one's an ick. It can be enraging, but I'm thinking more of people who are just like baseline level complainers. People who just, anything that happens in life is a complaint. Negative energy. Negative energy. Look, don't get me wrong. I'm not fucking Mr. Sunshine and

rainbows, but I'm also like kind of trying to bring something to the table where it's like, I don't complain a lot. When there's a problem, I tend to be a problem solver, right? Something happens. I go, how do we fix this problem and move on? People who just get like paralyzed by just something has happened, I'm going to sit here and mope about it and complain about it and cry about it and whine about it. I just can't, I can't deal with that too well. I also think there's a difference between being like indifferent and like there's like the ray of sunshine and actually being like a negative drain on the room. When all you do is complain, it's a real like suck of energy. It's a put almond milk instead of old milk in your coffee.

I'm going to kill my stuff. It's like, all right, man, take it easy. It's all good. You're going to drink the next one. It'll be fine. It'll be okay. Okay, number one, this one was tough because it does kind of like disqualify everything. It kind of just like destroys the concept.

I think I know you're going. It's a meta. It's a meta. I know where you go on this. I thought about doing it too. Anybody who fucking says ick. Yeah, that's it. Anybody who fucking says it.

I thought about doing this too. If you say, I'm with you. I am a thousand percent with you. I'm a thousand percent with you. I didn't do it just for the sake of the list. Yeah. But yeah, like if someone actually says in a serious way that like they got the ick about someone, I'm just like, I now have the ick about you.

Yes, you ick, you ick me the mouth. Now I'm making myself. Now I have the ick about my own self. Yeah. It's just this endless thing. It's a loop of ick. It's meta. But yeah.

I'm with you. That's beautiful. Okay, okay. I feel better about my list now. I feel quite good about mine. I went more niche. We all could have done like the, like, oh, they're clipping their nails in public. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Of course everyone's going to be like, dude, what are you for now? Or like, you're, you know, yeah, ma, uh-huh. You're like smacking through your food. Sometimes we have to eat lunch with our headphones on because we're like in such a rush and, like, we're busy. That actually is nails on a chalkboard to me. Like when we're all eating lunch and it's going into my headphones and it's like, there's been times where like violently throw my headphones off. I'm like, I can't listen to that shit anymore.

I'm glad you did more like specific a niche because that is the true like heart of it. That is what a dick is supposed to be. What I want you to like keep in mind, this is like none of these are romantic. Okay. These are like you're in the beginning stages of getting to know someone. Got it. And this is where like you get the ick and you're like, oh man, like this person isn't really how I thought they were going to do. Got it.

Okay. Number five, I'm calling this one the creepy friend. You're starting to get to know one of your boys or something like that. you met him in college, you met him a work associate or something like that. And then like you're talking to like, you know, say it's at the office and you're talking to like a co-worker and she's a female and she's a woman and she's just like, oh yeah, like you were hanging out with Billy Bob. Like he sent me like 15 straight Instagram messages and it's like, what? And she like pulls it up and it's like he's responding to every story and it's like, when are we going to hang out? And like she's not responding to any of them.

And you're just like, oh, like, it's kind of creepy. Or like, it's just like, oh, yeah, we're, like, at a work happy hour. And then, like, he tried to kiss me, like, four times. And it's like, ah, Bob. Or, like, the worst. And it's happened. I have experienced this a couple times. You know, you're, like, acquaintances, you're kind of friends with someone.

And then you get to, like, then you're hanging out with, like, you know, women. And they're like, oh, you send me a dick pick. And you're like, oh, dude. Dude. I can't look at you the same way at that point. Like, the guy who is just, like, spamming. just being creepy. That's all it comes down to it. I just like, we all know it happens.

You know, there are many creepy men out there. But like, when you're getting to know someone and you find out about this, it gets me back. Yeah, you don't know him in that capacity. Yeah, it's like, damn, man. You've been doing that. Damn, dude. That's one, two, three, 17 straight DMs without a response. One of the being, let's get uncontrollably intimate.

Elevator, 630, uncontrollably intimate. Yeah, it's just something about it. I'm like, maybe like after like two, three max, you didn't think about giving up? You weren't like, maybe this is happening. Are you it? Or are you like, this is pathetic? Like, do you like... Both, same.

Well, yeah, I guess you could be both. I'm like not going to become boys with someone if I've learned that out about them. Shout out. Sorry to anyone that maybe, you know, is just putting a grind in out there. But yeah, there's an unsolicited dick pick is the worst. That's the worst thing you can do. I've gotten many. I've sent.

No. I've got money as well No, I'm also just kidding. Am I? Number four. Can't handle alcohol. Oh, interesting. You go out with them for like the first time your friend brings a friend around.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They get blackout. They get absolutely wasted. They make a befoon of themselves. They make a scene. They get kicked out of the bar. Or it's just like the guy at the Magic Castle. Just like, yeah, yeah. Immediately starts making a scene. It's just like, oh, what's up, man?

Like getting absolutely hammered. maybe throws up, like, just anything that makes other people uncomfortable because of how hammered they are. I just want to clarify some. I think, I understand this. I just want to ask a clarifying question, which is, this is not about tolerance, right? It's not about, like, people who can't handle liquor because they can't drink a lot. For sure. It's about knowing your limit and not making a fool of yourself.

And it's not even about not getting too drunk. It's about, like, once you do get drunk, you're obscene. Handle your shit. You're the guy that starts crying for no reason. And it's like, oh, Jesus, man. Like, are you good? You're the guy that pukes all over the floor in himself or in the Uber or something like that. Or like the guy that gets like uncontrollably angry and like just like just making friends uncomfortable.

Yeah. You're just like, I, God, man. Especially like when you don't really know him, you're like, that's tough. Okay. I'm certain though you have college friends who have crossed that threshold. Many. What's your like, does that last forever? Does there a, if you know them well enough, you shit on them the next morning.

But then it doesn't change to the point that you're like, Oh, I can't. No, but if I don't know the guy, it's instantaneous, you're out. Got it. I'm just like, damn, that guy's. Got it. Fair enough.

Number three, this is one that can just, it can tend to get fairly awkward. Someone who thinks they can do good impressions, but it's actually terrible, and they continue to bang the drum on it. So I'm talking like, they think they can do a British accent and like, like when I do it,

like, and it's just like, hello, mate, and it's like, was that British or was that Australian? Or if they're trying to do an imitation of someone and it's so bad you can't tell who it is, but they keep doing it and you're just kind of like, all right, man, like it's not that funny. Like you're making me uncomfortable at this point. Or just like any sort of horrible impression and they just won't stop doing it. Big it. Major ick for me.

Love it. Yeah, just Frank always does it as well. Oh yeah, man, fucking, you're getting annoyed? It's just like, Frank, dude. Shut the fuck up. If I did not know you better, I would hate your ass. Yeah. I know him and I still hate him.

Bad impression. Shut out. Number two, this is a very niche one. It happened to me one time. Corny bumper sticker guy. You're just getting to know him. It's just like, yo, bro, we can actually take my car. And then you pull up to his beat-up Honda Civic and he's got something like this on there.

Traffic lights, am I right? I'm like not talking about something ridiculous that's funny or like supporting a team. Yeah. Don't beep at me. I'm already crying. It's like, and it's so big, and it's just like, it's worn out on the back of like a Ford Focus. She's like, if you can read this, I'm not impressed.

Most people can read. It's like, oh, man, like, this is what you're, I'm ashamed of what I did for a Klondike bar. Like, why would you fucking put that on your car? Honk if you heart soup. Stop honking. I just spilled my broccoli cheddar bread bowl. Can I?

That's perfect. That's like a red Hyundai Sonata from like 2006. Toyota Corolla. Beat up bumper sticker. Okay. Is this a hot take? If you have a fucking bumper sticker, that's an ick. It's tough.

Don't put a bumper sticker on your car. Make it even worse. Back off bumper humper. My brakes are good. How's your insurance? Yeah, I'm a no bumper stickers guy, period. I'm with you. Forget funny.

I've never seen a good bumper sticker, so don't put one on. Like, why are you doing that? Why? And then like, you walk up to your boy. And like, it could be more than one. be the guy that has the entire back of their Subaru Outback, completely covered head to toe in the bumper. My wife put the

family, you know, the stick figure, she didn't do the stick figures, there's a different one. It was tough. It was a tough day for me. You have to get in a minivan and drive it. I have to get it to a minivan with the thing on it. I was like, aura, zero. Now, thankfully, I don't give a fuck about anybody judging it. But, yeah, morally, personally, I had a big issue with it.

I don't see them on the road and I'm like, I fuck that guy. It's like if I'm friends with someone and I've never been in a car, and then I'm just like, oof. What is it? Does that say honk if you heart soup? Why the fuck would you buy that? And why would you put it on your vehicle? I'm sorry to anyone that has bumper stickers.

Why do you have honk if you're like soup bumper sticker? Then the follow-up, stop honking. I just spilled my broccoli cheddar bread bowl is like the worst millennial humor I've ever heard. Do we have any bummer? bumper stickers in the back. Do we have any cars? Absolutely not. Yes, we have cars.

No, we do not have bumper stickers. Good, good, good. Someone is listening right now? You know, front right here. And they're like quietly crying as they dare it up. The only bumper stickers, as I said, my wife, you know, broke my heart by putting the the family one up. The only bumper stickers my cars have ever had was my parents putting the honor roll student

bumper stickers. They were proud of your boy. That was it. That's all we had. And then you get the parody ones that it's like. My kid's not an honor roll, but he's prettier than yours or something like that. What was the fucking one? We saw it in Cali, and I pointed it out and then we sent it.

Oh, it was my dog is smarter than your honor roll student or some shit like that. Fuck you. I immediately sent it to my boys and was like, fuck this person. Fuck you and fuck your dog, man. He's stupid ass bumper sticker. I can't stand it. Good times. Oh, yeah.

Shout out to the bumper sticker, guys. It'll make me think twice about you. Number one, this is. This is number one with a bullet. It's not even close. My wife just texted me, what stick figure family did I put on the car lies? Wow, she says bullshit. She's actually watching live for one.

That's nice she watches. Shout out to Holly. Shout out to Holly. She never watches live. Shout out to Holly for calling me out. I said it's not the stick figures. It's like the outlines of the family. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Where it's like... The dinosaur ones? The Star Wars ones. But like the kids, I can't look at it, quite frankly. So I don't know what the shapes are. Number one, with a box. Bullet. Love you, Holly. In public, among friends, baby voice, dog voice. It puts a shiver down my spine. This is a great one. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

When someone's like, oh, sorry, I'm like, I could punch you in the face right now. Please don't do that to me. Anything like that. The only time I'll accept it is if you are speaking directly to a baby or directly to a dog. So it is okay in that scenario. If a dog runs up to you and you're like being like all friendly with it and stuff, like I will accept. If a baby is sitting there in a stroller and you're talking to it, of course I will accept.

If you're doing it. Wait, so people do this outside of those two scenarios? Oh, Jesus Christ. Especially when it's a couple and it's like a boyfriend, girlfriend, and they like think you can't hear them and they're like doing it to each other. You're making the face right now? It's like, it, uh, it makes, it sends shit. rivers down my spine.

If I had ever seen that, that would have been on my list. I've never seen that in life. If I've ever seen, if I had ever seen that, it would be on my list. That is horrific. I won't even accept it if you're looking at a video of a dog or a baby. If you're speaking into your phone and you're like, Oh, little baby, so cute. It's just like, please stop doing that.

You're making me uncomfortable. Okay. A lot of these were like male to male, right? A lot of our interactions are going to be male perspective, things like that. A girl who does this, automatically disqualified, you will not pursue anything? Or is it like, that's a real red mark in the ledger and you'll have to overcome this with a significant... I would not be able to shake it. It would stick with you.

It doesn't matter how much I was, like, infatuated with her. It would always just creep back up in my mind and be like, why'd she do that baby talk thing? I'm a fucking 32-year-old bald man. Why did she speak to me as if I was an infant? Like he had it bald. Like as if that matter. It just makes me look that much older. Some guy at the Intuit Dome was like, are you 21?

I was like, damn, am I that old now that we're joking about it? Do I look like such an old sack of shit that you can now just be like, look at this guy. ID? Grandpa? Is that a version of the voice doing like the like, is there, okay, is there a subvariant of that voice? Which is like the, we're friendly, but we're not. actually friendly voice. The like, hey, what did you like, the, like, overly, like, carnival-barred kind of voice.

Doesn't bother me near his mind. Oh, I hate that one. I hate that one. Where it's like, hey, buddy, pal, you're not my fucking friend. Don't talk to me like that. Who the fuck are you? Buddy is pound for pound, like one of the worst things you can call someone. What's up, buddy?

It's like, what? Do we have a fucking issue? You good, mate? Like, Piz's coming to sort you out. As amazing as mate is. Like starting a sentence, like, mate, and then you go from there, calling someone buddy is the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Yeah. Buddy is a trigger word, I think.

I mean, it's crazy. It's the like familiarity thing, though. I hate that. I hate that. We're friends. Don't do that. Some honorable mentions that I have. Content in public.

I hate when I'm... Like record it, like a video? Oh, yeah. I hate when I'm doing it myself. I'm just like, and then I see other people doing it? I'm like, is that what I look like when I'm doing fight fees? Because if so, I look like such a... Doche.

Giving the ick all the time? Like TikTok dances? Oh, in public? Oh yeah. They set the tripod up and set it up against a wall and they start doing the dance. That's not even an ick. That's just like you're inconveniencing my life. Remove yourself.

Just you're just like, I can't help but like menacingly glare at them. I'm just like, fucking, why are you doing that? Are you streaming? And then they run up. I was going to, I haven't written down. Are you streaming right now? Are you guys streaming right now? The amount of times that we get that when we have a camera out with Casey.

and like, credits of the environment streamers have created, but we obviously always say yes, jokingly, and like, people just start going nuts. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

this is XX Grizzly. You don't know them? Yeah, we're streaming on kick right now. There's 28,000 people watching, and they're like, oh shit, shout out. Shout out to XX Grizzly. This one is one of my biggest.

I can't respect you as a person. Absolutely zero headphones, whether it's a FaceTime. You're scrolling reels in public. Yesterday I got on the train. Double JBL speakers. Blaring, some unknown rapper I had never heard of. Blaring.

That's a ruffle. Had him on full blast. I was like, bro. I feel like that doesn't even qualify for icks, though, because you would never, in a million years, even talk to this person again. They're out. Of course.

They're done. Well, you also can't talk to them right then and there? Because you just don't, well, yeah, A, they can't hear. you just have no idea what sort of state they are. You have to be a deranged individual to Blair the biggest JBL speaker known to man in a closed car. So like it's almost like they're picking a fight. They're almost like, I dare someone to tell me to turn this off. I have to confess.

I have to confess. You're that guy. No, definitely not that guy. The one you're describing. But sometimes I'll watch a video on volume, no headphones in. Okay, look, that's the junior version of it. I will do that from time to time, I have to admit. I can't in good conscience pretend I've never done it.

The double speaker is disgusting work. I deleted the recording I took of it. Hate to say it, body odor. It's a tough one to shake. Yeah. If you smell like a bag of shit and piss one day, I'm going to have a hard time shaking it. For sure.

I mean, that's a literal ick, right? Like, that's like, yeah, we're just like, whoa. Yeah. Is that Billy Bob again? Yo, belly bob is getting hammered right now. chewing and talking just like Dana I was doing it

in the pizza video Bowe's on a Muslim tour just like Clipping your nails in public that's an obby Never seen that in my life Oh I've seen it on the subway Several times

Oh Jesus It sends shivers out in your spine You're like Again I can't approach you Because you just have to be A deranged individual To clip your nails on

On a public transportation But fair play fair play this one's like kind of hard to describe slightly mispronouncing words intentionally so or just you think you know the pronunciation of things

just anytime it's just like a little bit off I knew someone that pronounced egg as egg and I was like why are you saying it like that have you met my dad does he say egg egg leg leg my dad's my dad can't really speak English

and he was born and bred in New York isn't Hawania Juan guy the next one yes but he has like Canadian ones that he's kind of like Tuesday he he has these ones that are just like Tuesday is like that's like that's almost like an accent that one I kind of get the one is is a we have an update on the on the situation the bumper sticker situation okay there is no family there is no family on it I am so opposed to these types of stickers and things I've actually never looked at it I've quickly glanced and been horrified it is not

not a bumper sticker. What we have, actually, let me just send it to Jordan. I'm going to send two pictures to Jordan. Okay. What we have is in fact

like a window decal, which I put in the same family, not allowed. Oh yeah. Not good. That's a bumper sticker. That's for sure. No doubt.

But it is not, it is not the family one, as I described. While you work on that, I think that's all my honorable mentions. Do we have any in the back? Yeah, you guys got any ex?

you think of come to mind? People spitting tobacco out and put into a bottle ick, instant ick. Yeah, the like chew, dip, tobacco thing. Yeah, no, it's not cute. Don't do it. In that vein, when I was

with you, when I was dating and the girl started smoking cigarettes right there, I was like, I don't think I'm going out with you ever again. Sounds like that girl was pretty fucking cool, and you miss a chance. Yeah, well, you know. I hate the smell, hate the taste. So you had no idea she smoked cigarettes. Jordan.

And then she, Jordan. And all of a sudden we're chatting, then she just rips one out. Like, yeah, this is the end of that. Wow. I just sent you two pictures, Jordan. Please make sure to crop the second one. Or blur the second one for obvious reasons. What's wrong with it?

Guys who try to come into the convenience store shirtless. Hmm. Let's see. No shirt, no shoes, no service, man. Let's see. She's marking you wreck. Let's see. Tuesday.

People who comfortably say, supposedly. So the mispronunciation, in the... That's a Miami thing too. I just love that Holly fucking in real time called me out. She never watches live so I can't believe that this is happening.

People who say Sean Strickton instead of Sean Strickland. Yikes. People who say big digs to the body rather than big digs to the body. I have a very specific one. I went out on a date

with this guy when I was in college. That was great. It was like the perfect date, everything was awesome. He started laughing. He started laughing. sounded like my aunt. Bad laugh.

Oh. Not just bad laugh. It was a laugh that you recognized. Very specifically like one of my aunts. And I was like, I can't. It's over. That's a great ick. That's a perfect ick.

Big it. That's like the lane that icks are in. That is. I am with you. I am with you on that one. Someone says when Ariel uses Zoomer talk, someone says G. G. It reminds me of the curly-haired burglar from home alone.

Jordan, you love that. All right, here we go. We've got flowers. We've got flowers. Yeah, I know. Listen, I know. Look. I didn't put them.

No comment. I didn't put them. No comment. I didn't put them. I have no comment. It wasn't me. It wasn't me. Does it make the Honda Odyssey look sicker?

No, obviously not. Just a check. I roll up in my Honda Odyssey with the flowers on the back. I mean, you know? Shout out to Holly. All right, that was a pound for pound. That was fun. That was fun to go through.

I wish we had gotten Franks. I hit him up for us, but he had no text back. You didn't text you back? Left me on red, actually. Just trying to show, you know, concern for him. Make sure he's okay. It's all good. It's all good.

All right. Do we have any voicemails on it? Oh, hoi, hoi. Yo, boys in the back. It's a jimmer. Jim? No question this week. Just a prediction.

It's, uh, right now it's 10 o'clock on Saturday, so the fights are going to go off this night, this evening. Okay. And, uh, everybody's thinking. that Dana's going to announce the fights as Rhonda's walking out to the cage. But I think, who does he hate on the card more than anybody else? Francis in Ghana. It's Francis, so I think he's going to announce the fight during the Francis fight, just to draw as many eyes away from Francis as he can, to be as petty as he can.

And I'm kind of here for it. So anyways, love you guys. It's been a while. Deuses. Nailed it, Jim. He nailed that prediction. Final update that I'll read from my wife She said they're Hawaiian flowers you dick

An homage to our favorite place Shut up Not an excuse Shut up We got a magnet for the fridge Yeah Thank you babe All right

Hey boys in the back This is Amanda living in Canberra And a long time lady listener First time I have a question for you guys So I had this crazy idea of you guys making each other custom t-shirts and giving them to each other on like a special

event like your birthday, for example. Okay. And my example of a t-shirt would be first for Ariel that it would be Timothy Shalomey on the shirt and then below him it would say James Jehuna. And for Connor, this came from the moment you guys had on the lads in Los Angeles last night that had me laughing hysterically, which is having him. him and Photoshopped onto Jar Jar Binks, and under it it said, Nisa Conard Brick.

Anyways, thanks for making me laugh. And guys let me know what you think. Thank you. Yeah. The second concept is better than the first, for sure. Yeah, I don't understand the Timony Salame, James Sehuna won. But yeah, yeah, the GCX, Jar Jar Jor Binks merch. Misa Connerbergs is elite.

Yeah, that's my best. That's my go-to pickup line. That one always works. It always works. Got it in the old trusty, dusty back pocket. Okay. If somebody showed up talking like Jar Jar Briggs, is that a Nick? Yeah.

Yeah. That's a Nick. But God, the guy's definitely going to get it. That's for sure. Someone tweeted at me randomly on like Sunday morning, just all caps. Misa Connor Birx. And I was like, what the fuck is this guy talking about? You didn't remember the?

Yeah, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. Fuck. Shout out. Great one. 24-stubs here with a message for all other voicemail callers. All right. You guys suck. Wow.

One take, in and out, make it quick. We don't need four minutes of you filibuster. Also, go-cats, screw the nick. Hey. Little love. Thank you, 24-4-stubs. Short, sweet, to the point. It's a good note.

It's a good note. Shout out. Chris wasabi. What's up, boys? The Persian apothecary here. I wanted to ask you guys if you were MMA-style fight announcers and had to create your own legendary catchphrase, like Bruce Buffers, it's time or Michael Buffers.

Let's get ready to rumble. What would yours be? Some examples for me, attention fight fans, the prescription for violence is ready. Counseling is complete. Side effects may include violence. What do you guys think? That's a bang.

As a pharmacist, that's a banger. That's a great one. Yeah, man, it's so tough. It's so tough to come up with one because I feel like you've got to come up with it and then you've got to commit to it and then you got to use it time and time and time and time again. Let's get ready to rumble and its time

are so firmly established in the culture. All the other ones, everybody's like, eh, that's like the shitty version. And they're legit. And they're so legendary that like, let's get ready to rumble, like can't be topped. But somehow Bruce was able to come up with one in its time

that is like comparable. Yeah. It's so good. Big Mo. God. love him. Yeah. Crushes it.

He is so good. Like, he is so good. Especially in arena last week. He was incredible. He's got the look, the stash, the voice. And, like, you can tell he practices, like, the cadence of when to hit things. Like, he's fantastic. But I think his was, are you ready to witness history?

And it's just, like, it's just so hard to come up with one. Yeah. It's a mouthful. So on the spot, I can't. I can't think of one. What's Joe Martinez is? Make some noise? Isn't it like fight fans?

are you ready Las Vegas Are you ready He does like a buildup To whatever city they're in Yeah Oh something If you are ready

Yeah Make some noise If you are ready Yeah yeah He's like I think he goes like Fighters are you ready Fans are you ready

Las Vegas are you ready Make some noise if you are ready Yeah I think it's that Yeah It's hard It's hard It is incredibly hard To come up with a catchphrase

Because like If it's not hitting It's just like I think the pharmacy one could be pretty good The pharmacy one goes hard Yeah, it's, it's tough That probably would have been mine It's tough

And that's just for the ultimate fighter This is Yay All time All right Guys, it's the island lion here Yo, what's good brother Who the hell is Kristen Degero

Dude is trying to take everything I'm working for here. I've been like trying to subtly drop some seeds, you know, dropping my voicemails to the boys in the back. And he catches you guys in person one time. And all of a sudden, he's going to get to be the first person, the first fighter to rep uncrowned. What? I would say, I would say I'll fight him for it.

But the man is five, six. He's too small. He's too little for me. I'm trying to remain calm here, but I mean, this guy's taking everything I'm working towards. Is there some kind of like uncrowned trivia competition that me and this guy can get into to decide who really gets to rep uncrowned? Or can he have, can he have, you know, uncrowned or can he have the aerial show? Give me the boys in the back.

Hey. Let me rep the boys in the back, and I will be happy. But, man, I'm all my work, I feel like I should just, like, stop fighting at this point. No, no, no. Talk to you guys later. Thank you. First and foremost, shout to Christian Degero, fought at 140 in his debut, catch weight. He may be right.

He may be 5'6, he might fight at 1.35. It felt like he was taught at 5'5.6. Got to finish. He is now 1-0 in his professional career. that was Liam Anon, the Iowan Lion, 7 and 2 in his amateur career, hasn't made his pro debut yet, has a fight at LFA 235, which we are going to be going hype for. Why not both? That's the real question. Let's assemble the team.

This dude is right. He's fighting at welterweight, the Iowan lion. I think we've got to get a patch. Or, yeah, boys in the back. Boys in the back patch? Boys in the bag patch on the shorts. I understand why he would feel disrespectful, though.

Oh, for sure. He's been a long timer. Let's, he fights on June 19th. Let's see what we can do about getting this man a patch. What color shorts? In your tapology picture of your rocking pink shorts,

we can make a custom colored boys in the back patch to get sewn onto your shorts. I'm not even kidding. We'll mail that to you. We'll mail that to you. Email me. Email Rick.

At gmail.com. I'll design the thing. We'll get it sent off to you. We will be watching LFA 235 shout-up. So, brothers. What's up, man? I'm going to be honest. Be honest.

Gina had no business in the cage with Ronda. Agreed. But most of us already knew that as soon as they announced this fight. Yep. Not trying to get the boys in trouble. Get us in trouble. But if the event could have been redone, who would you have liked to see in there? Hypothetical, realistic, no matter.

Maybe Kayla, Cyborg, Holly, even Dakota. Mahalo. Mahalo, brother. Thanks for the call. Very calm, very even-keeled. Best voice. Yeah, fantastic voice. Yeah, I, like, if they could have done Holly.

Holly, you're number one. Yeah. Kayla. Yeah, I mean, like, that's just, to me, that's just a fantasy matchup, though. Well, he said, hypothetical. Kayla versus Rhonda right now is my number one women's fight. More than Amanda. Yep.

Oh, I'd rather see Amanda Kayla. I'm down for that. Totally. That's number two. Number two is actually Kayla versus Cyborg. But I'm down for that. It's a great fight. Kayla versus Rhonda

has so much fucking heat. There's no heat. Look, there's really no heat between Kayla and Amanda anymore. There's a lot of like, I think I'm better than her. I think I'm better than her. That's what I want to know. That's not real heat though. Like they don't really dislike each other. Ronda Rousey

and Kayla Harrison actually that's real heat. I want to see it. I still think Kayla runs through her. Sure. I think Kayla's going to beat Amanda, too. I mean, nothing was, like, wildly proven to me on Saturday night. No, no, that wasn't like any, like... Wasn't like Ronda is back. Yeah, I didn't learn anything new about Ronda.

She's always been good at exactly that. At doing exactly that, and two opponents that's been out of the game for 17 years. I want some real animosity, and that's only with Kayla. Although, Cyborg versus Ronda would have a lot of animosity. Sick. I'm down for that. Of the foremost, like, fuck. Famous 135ers?

If we actually... Well, Cyborgs are 1. 45-er. If we really could, it'd be incredible. Unfortunately, we will never see the, we got Amanda versus Cyborg, and that was the only one we got for a long, long time. Thankfully, we will hopefully get Kayla versus Amanda, but the crossing over is just not going to happen, which is unfortunate. Hey, what's up, boys? It's Stephen here from Washington Heights. It's been a while. No question for me today, but rather I'd like to deliver a message if you guys would allow me.

Please. Last time you boys heard from me, I just moved back to New York City after being homeless and hitting my absolute rock bottom. I was on the brink of death, literally. Fast forward a few months, and I'm finally able to afford my first vacation. I'll just find out tomorrow with my love in my life. Thank goodness. My message for everyone listening is very, very simple.

Keep fighting, man. Never give up on yourself. I'll be tuning in Thursday from Dominican Republic. Shout out to all you boys, Andy, Jordan, Frank, G.C. New York's finest Rick. I love you, boys to death, man. Frank, can I please get a... He might fall in my mom.

Love you, boys. keep doing. Wow. Wow, man. Congratulations. That is fucking incredible. Amazing message as well. I am very hyped for you. Living in Washington Heights,

Little Dominican Republic, all the way to the actual Dominican Republic where you're going to be vacationing with the love of your life, too. You're up, bro. You're up, man. Dude is killing it now. Absolutely killing it, man.

Congratulations to you. That's fantastic to hear. Keep going. Always fucking keep going. Not just then, but also now, brother. Keep going, man. Man, see how good this life can really get for you. So congratulations, man. That's incredible.

What a way to end the voice. Love that. Love that. Thank you to everyone who called in. We really appreciate it. As always, do we have any super chats? Fucking Leroy sends in SEC 129. Rank these flip-off moments from best to worst. Nate Diaz against Seroni,

Diego Lopez against John Silva's team, Brian Battle in Paris, Josh Hokit Middlefinger, TKO, and lastly McGregor after UFC 1-94. McGregor 1. Yep. Nate Diaz against Seroni 2.

Yep. Diego Lopez was cold as fuck number 3. Oh man, I don't know. I kind of like the Hokka. The Hokit in the middle. They're all great. I'm going Lopez. I'm going battle last. Even though it was a good one, I'm still going last.

Such a good one. The promo was better. The promo was better than the middle finger, yeah. All those are legendary, though. Yeah, the fact that Josh Hokeet flicks him off and then ends up the fight is over yeah is fantastic great question actually flipped up like 10 times

it's just a fucking nut job I love a good finger just fuck you man uh Benjamin turk what happened to the shoutout counter TBT yeah oh shit

wow they're active with it I was gonna say I haven't seen it forever that thing just goes it's just AI generated now it just knows when we say shout out we got Jake shout out Jake he's in the back

just counting the shoutouts shout out of Jake brother we appreciate you man Jacob Jake Jake Jake Jacob

Jacob Jacob Shout out Ray J versus Hot fire is legit legit law Is legit at what Yeah legit

legit what Like yeah I'm looking forward to it I'm gonna watch it It's a shit show But like legit what Yeah Create like Mike

Shout out to create like Mike man He's been active The last couple days I got Ronda around 1 plus 105 I put 1K all day I was laughing All night

20 to 40 are the parley pals The Jay Ellis of Parley's, L.L. It's a compliment. Never quit. Okay, breaking this down, beautiful read. What a lot. The plus 105. This card is a hindsight. There were opportunities to get rich all up and down the board on this thing. Ronda by submission minus 210. Round one. God, I wonder what Ronda first 60 seconds was. I'm sure there was. And then he gives a shout out to J. Ellis. We're not going to. quite as bad as Jay Ellis. What's the record on J. Ellis? Remind me? Hurricane Jay Ellis, 17 and

112. Absolute legend of the game. We're not quite that bad. 33%. Has a win over... A legit fighter that he has a win over. Gerald Mirr Shark. People forget. Absolute legend. I think he fought Kobe Covington

at 100. Oh yeah. He's been beat by a lot of actual guys. Yeah. I mean, there's some streaks here where he is just losing every other weekend, and it's by like vicious knockout. Fucking Jay Ellis. Gerald Maynestrade obviously got the revenge on him in April of 2013. Kobe Covington, I mean, like, the amount of times this guy has been finished. He's been subbed 78 times and knocked out 29.

The brain definitely needs to be donated to science. Jay Ellis, man, just going to keep going forever. Hurricane Jay Ellis. You make fun of us, 20 and 40? in the green. Profitable. Make sure you put that third P in there. Profitable Parley Pows.

Profitable Parley Pows. Triple Pee in the house. Don't you forget it. Duncan 9661. Shout out to Big Dog Wendell and the trains. That's a real fan right there. Obviously, I did the show right before we went on Christmas break this year from my dad's train.

train cave. Oh, yes. Die-hard train fan. He will very much appreciate hearing someone called him big dog. We still give him a big dog every once in a while now. Any reason why he's saying that today? Because yesterday I said how like they call Ariel's kids call him Unk. Yeah. We called my dad Big Dog. So I think he was just, you know, so this is just a day late. He just walked. Okay. Yeah, always. Yeah, there was a time from like 12 to 14. It was just like, it's up, big dog. just like he'd get pissed at us and we'd be like big dog chill out that was his ick yeah we'd give him nothing like uh he'd get home from work 12 year old kid wendell how's your day

me and my brothers thought it was so funny yeah that's good shit windle all time name it's kind of funny yeah oh it's funny as fuck window all time name by the way oh it was a great name uh create like mike again appreciate you man love seeing you guys train it makes you have a whole new respect imagine how Dan Hangman felt after Barbosa. Yeah, dude. Yeah. Like, I can only imagine, like, the toughness of these dudes, the durability, the shape that they're in. It makes sense. Like, Taco broke down his training regiment to us, and he was like, yeah, pretty much trained eight times over the course of seven days. I'm up at. And, like, when he says train, it's not like, I did 45 minutes of weights. It's like, I got to the gym at 6 a.m. after running three miles to get there. And then I did

BJJ for three hours. And then I drove and I did Moy Thai for. another three hours. And then I came back for a night wrestling class. And like, that's what he means like, oh yeah, trained. So it makes sense when they get on the scale and they're absolutely chiseled. And on the back end of it was like, I love this to that degree. Like he is absolutely obsessed with the game of MMA. I know because I was like, so that's in camp. What's it like out of? He's like, there is no out of camp. I live for this shit. I was like, fuck it. You're badass. Taco's the man. Another one from create like Mike. My guy, man. You don't have to send in $5 every time, dude. I sent my best friend the Lion King. Remember who you are, Simba. When I was third wheeling,

they broke up three days later, 93 Dream Team. I know it's 92. I don't get the last part. I sent my best friend, the Simba, the Lion King, remember who you are Simba when I was third wheeling. Okay. They broke up three days later, 93 Dream Team. I know it's 92. I don't know. I get that he's like Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I think he's saying 93 dream team because he was probably born in 1993. I always referenced 93 babies.

You and him. Yeah, yeah, shout out to the 93 babies. Got to stick together out of him. Is Lion King 1992? Is that what the... No, no, no. I think he was just saying 93 dream team. I know it's 92.

Maybe some better, you know, punctuation. Oh, he knows that 92 is the dream. Okay, now I'm getting it. Punchway is hard. You only get so many characters. I get it. I feel you. I feel you.

How about that, though, third wheeling on a date and being like, yo, it's time to... Remember who you are, Samba? Yeah, yeah. Get her out of there. Another $4.99 from Gray Lake, Mike. I don't know if it's an ick or a pet peeve, but leaving a shopping cart in the middle of the aisle

and having no spatial awareness. Don't disagree with you. Also, leading the shopping cart in the parking lot, can't stand it. I hate it, but that one I have come to realize just like some people do not give a fuck. Lack of spatial awareness, especially in a city like New York City.

Like, leave the shopping cart. We're walking down the middle of the... the street and I start like doing that little slow walk and turning and like I'm clearly lost and I don't know where to go. But instead of like moving to the side, doing that right in the front of a hundred New Yorkers who are trying to get to the train, go fuck yourself. It's the best. Immediately get to the side.

Immediately. Do not for one second think that you can just like turn around in the middle of a New York City street in the grocery store. Just like, I'm looking at something. Where am I? What is this? Like get the fuck out of the way. immediately.

When you're walking down the subway steps and they're just completely clog up and you can't get past anyone and everyone's walking so damn slow. No. The carts, if you park them in the parking lot, I recommend going and watching cart narks on YouTube. All-time channel.

It's just a guy who comes up and shits on you for leaving your card in the parking lot. He throws a magnetic sticker on your car and it says, like, I don't put my... my cart's back and he just pisses people off. It's so good. Shout out to cart and arcs. If you know, you know. That's all the super chats. That's all the super chats. That's all the voicemails. We appreciate everyone who, super chat. We appreciate everyone who sent in the voicemails. We appreciate everyone who is watching. This ends a marathon. We are crossing the finish line right

now. We did full week of shows. Actually, a weekend to prepare for a full week of shows into a live show, into a watch party, into flying out to Vegas, into a full week of shows in Las Vegas. Los Angeles. Los Angeles. So fucking tired I am. Into a full week of shows in Los Angeles. Las Vegas. No, now he's trying to fuck you up.

Into flying back from Los Angeles to New York, now into a full week of shows. The month of May, we're already on the 21st. It has been an absolute blur. We appreciate you. Watching along with us, though, that's it for us. Crack tomorrow. Area Holwani show back on Tuesday. No show Monday because of Memorial Day.

A much deserved rest. We'll be back on Tuesday. Until then. Enjoy it again.