The Ariel Helwani Show - Cory Sandhagen, Dakota Ditcheva, Holly Holm, David Feldman, On The Nose, White House card ban, news & notes

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by reveling in scenes from the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals appearance, before answering your On The Nose questions, with topics including Action Bronson’s brilliance, whether Tom Aspinall vs. Francis Ngannou is a realistic fight, the strength of the UFC White House card, and more (00:57). Dakota Ditcheva is back on the show to talk about her fight against Denise Kielholtz, why there’s no PFL belt on the line, returning from injury, wanting to retire by the time she’s 32 years old, her criticism of Ronda Rousey’s comments about Khamzat Chimaev, and more (58:28). Holly Holm returns on the heels of her loss to Stephanie Han to discuss the scoring of the fight, frustrations with the referee for their first fight in Puerto Rico, whether she believes she’ll end up facing Katie Taylor, potential fights against Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey, and more (1:35:56). BKFC President David Feldman joins to talk about Darren Till’s impressive promotional debut, Mike Perry’s contract status, a timeline for the $25 million “World’s Baddest Man” tournament, whether Conor McGregor will compete for the promotion when his UFC deal ends, and more (2:08:51). Cory Sandhagen is back to break down his rematch against Mario Bautista, give his predictions for Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi and Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway, explain his social media voice, his friendship with the late Chuck Norris, and more (2:35:55). After answering more On The Nose questions (3:09:08), Ariel tackles Super Chats (3:22:46).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Wednesday, June 13,000. And 26, hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is a fantastic, beautiful spring day here in New York City. And I experienced a lot of first today, if I'm being 100% honest with all of you, as I was driving into New York City this morning and feeling the warmth, Feeling the vibes, as they say, noticing a hell of a lot more Nix jerseys than usual, which I love.

It occurred to me that for the first time in my life, I am driving into work on the morning of a New York Knicks NBA Finals game. And that's a pretty big deal for a kid who dreamed of moving to New York City, living in New York City solely because he loved the New York Knicks. That dream began probably around 1993. or so fell in love in 1990, started thinking, wow, you can actually go to games like after work. That's amazing. Look at those people in suits.

And so today, for the first time in my adult life, I get to drive to work to do a show of my own with people that I love so very much, getting to talk to athletes that I respect so very much on the morning of a pretty meaningful thing in my life. And so I took stock of that. I was very thankful, grateful, appreciative telling myself that kid back in. in 11th grade in 1999, he would have never, ever, ever believed that it would have turned out like this. I was here on a trip during game five of the NBA finals back then, and just so happy to go on a tour of Madison Square Garden to take a piece of tape.

Now I've worked at Madison Square Garden before. I've done events there. We talk about it all the time where a stones throw away. Hopefully on Monday we'll be going there. I am filled with emotion. I did the Stugat show on Fox Sports. It was great. It was actually therapeutic.

I started tearing up crying. my son came down the stairs today as I'm making breakfast. He could have chose his Ananobe jersey. He could have chose his Brunson jersey. He could have chose his Walt Fraser jersey. He did not choose those jerseys. He chose his Patrick Ewing jersey. And for him to be 12 years old in the sixth grade, the exact age, exact grade that I was in in 1994,

their first appearance in the finals in my lifetime, it just meant so much. It all means so very much. And I know there is probably 99% of you. out there that do not care about any of this. I get it. Give me two weeks. Give me two weeks and just know how much this means and how much happiness I will derive from this. And how nervous I have a stomachache. I have a legit stomachache. Once it rolls tonight, I think I'll feel better. I'm so excited, though. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so excited. I saw there's a great Jalen Brunson billboard outside of Madison Square Garden. There's a beautiful billboard. What does it say? It says

the train is not stopping. Come on now. It sure ain't stopping. And I can't get enough of all the content. I can't get enough last night. I sat. I was like that DC meme, that DC meme looking at my phone in bed and I was watching and looking and admiring everything. Like them, the little things. It's the little things. If you're a hardcore fan, you know this. At the press conference with the logo behind, you know this, right? You know how much this means. You always dream. of seeing your guy sitting there with the finals logo, with the ABC logo, the national media peppering him with questions. Jalen all business. Cat Rock in the Knicks hat. He's one of us. He's a Jersey boy. He's a longtime Knicks fan. Look at this guy. Lost his mother in 2020 who taught

him about how special MSG was. Look at this guy. Representing the DR. Representing New York, New Jersey as well. Look at the open practice. Not just the open. practice, my friends, not just the open practice, Kat and Jalen, but my guy, P.E., bottom left there. Come on, man. The captain himself? Just overseeing. Just there if you need him. If you need to pick his brain, injured in 1999, Achilles, if you need the big dog, if you need number 33, cow captain, pat, crack, gow. That man right there, favorite athlete of all time. It's just amazing. And then, of course, we all were waiting for Mitchell Robinson. Hand seems okay.

Hands seems okay. ESPN reporting this morning, he's good to go. Ah, you know yourself, he's good to go, Mitchell Robinson, longest tenured Nick. And today is, in fact, the day. Today is the day. Okay, I'm going to try to keep it together. I'm going to try to keep it together. We have a lot to discuss on today's program.

Fighting. We have fighting to discuss. Back into the show, we are going to be joined by Corey Sanhagan. I'm sure he's going to be watching Sugar Sean O'Malley versus Amin Zahabee next weekend. I want to get his thoughts on that? Want to get his thoughts on Mario Batista? Part Duh. How does he feel about this fight?

Is this the one that he wanted? Is it the one that he was looking for? We'll talk to Corey. We love talking to Corey. Prior to that, David Feldman's going to be joining us. Founder, owner, brains behind BKFC. They had a phenomenal show back on Saturday. Headline by two guys that had a war.

But the real headliner, of course, in my opinion, was Darren Till. Darren Till with his debut fight, going well, gets dropped in the first round, comes back, knocks out. Aaron Chalmers, great stuff. Is he going to do the Mike Perry fight? We shall find out. But perhaps most importantly, earlier this week, they celebrated their eight-year anniversary. So that's a pretty big deal for BKFC.

Some thought it would never actually get off the ground. I remember being at ESPN and having Artem Lobov on the program after the Paul Malinaji win, and I was told afterwards, you can't talk about this anymore. It's too brutal. They've come a long way. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by Holly Home. And I believe her first interview since Saturday. Obviously, she did some media, press conference, et cetera.

Since Saturday, what's going on? How is she feeling? The robbery. What about McFoly dropping in a Holly home reference there yesterday? That was a great chat. Really enjoyed that as well. And then prior to that, arguably the face of the PFL, Dakota Ditcheva, who is returning to action July 31st, right here in New York, Long Island, to be exact, UBS Arena.

She's going to join us to talk about that fight. And why the hell is she not fighting for their flyway title? I still don't understand it. for a pretty damn good guess if you ask me on this Wednesday, June 3rd, and so we have a lot to get to. We do have some breaking news off the very top. Of course, we're going to get to on the nose in a matter of seconds as well. But what about RAF breaking this morning,

Real American Freestyle Wrestling, which continues to be one of the top stories, in my opinion, in combat sports this year. They are off to Georgia. And it ain't Atlanta, Georgia. It's the country of Georgia. July 11th, same day, of course. Some kind of day this July 11th.

Two World Cup quarterfinals, Connor versus Max, R-A-F in Georgia, headliner? Of course, there's only one guy who can headline this event, and it is Marab de Wallyshevili against Henry Sehudo.

They were supposed to meet last month, didn't work out. Kyle Snyder against Sajulev, who is of Georgian descent as well, that is going to be gigantic. This is brilliant. First show out of the United States, perfect place

Armand's on there too I didn't actually see that Jonathan Armin Armin's literally on every single card He has three matches announced currently He was on May 31st

Or 30th He's on June 13th He's on July Wait that's July 18th So he And then they stuck one in between Golly that is crazy

Didn't he tell us he was going to do one in here? Yeah Yeah yeah He told us on Monday I knew but I forgot that he was put on that card. Yeah. So Georgia, wow, that's a great move. Love that. Love that they're doing that. Very, very smart. And I mean, the possibilities are endless. You could go all over the place. I mean, so many places in Europe, Asia, they would love it. Absolutely love it. Okay, that's a bit of news.

I'm going to weave in some other news and notes throughout on the nose and throughout the program as well. But time not for everyone's favorite segment of the week. It is time. I will be honest, I didn't have Sometimes I get to look at the questions beforehand, guys. This time I didn't get a chance to read the questions beforehand. I only read one question beforehand. And I laughed out loud when I read it. And so I believe this is one of the few times that someone has ever asked me to blind rank. They never asked me to blind rank.

They're always asking others. Wait. So did you see the things? I did see them. So then how are you going to blind rank? Well, you'll see why this is not that important. We're just ranking them then. Hi, Ariel, please blind rank these five tall glasses of milk.

I love it already. Paulo Costa, Carlos Elberg, Luke Rockhold, Islam Jolatov. That's a sneaky good one, and Chiwiwi-Wee's. I was actually hoping it was going to be like situational glasses of milk that you can have in your life. Sort of like top five beers. Sure. Baklava asks. Wait, is that the rank that you did then?

No, I'm just, what do you want me to do? Rank these? That's what he wanted, but... Come on, Sussie, rank them up, bro. I mean, fine. You want me to rank? Yeah. Who's the best looking? You're ranking the glasses of milk. Dulato may be the best, no?

Yeah, I'm going one. Yeah, he's pretty friendly. Oldberg, too? Yep. Man, Paulo's pretty damn. We're looking too. Are we really... Rock hole?

Someone's going to break this up and post this be like, look at these guys. Good, bro. What has happened to this show? It's June. It's falling off. It's June, bro. Rank them by what glasses of milk you

want, you know, almond, soy, whole. Okay, okay. Islam is whole milk. All right, you're right. Let's move on. Pause, bro. All right. My bad. Palo's almond.

No, we're good. Okay. Let's go. Baklava, G.C. confidently spewing out that Casablanca is the capital and then seconds later saying whoever said that is wildly incorrect. I did not say that. It's some hilarious shit. Drug test is bad now.

He was most definitely on the PRJ sauce during work hours. I swear I didn't say that. Whoever did. It's not Casa Blanca. It's a... Who's to check? Billy Joel at the Garden. That action interview was some of the most impressive shit I've ever seen.

Collectively, we have never seen a more publicly high human being, yet so well spoken. Although he did forget the most simple word that he cannot get his brain to grasp. All in all, it looked like he had just woken up from a six-hour comatose on a beach with a billion MGs of the edible, of THC edible in his system, one of one that man is. I've said it time again, I'll say it until I'm blue in the face. The coolest human being that I've ever met, that guy is the same guy. You see on camera there on the screen, same guy in person. The way he speaks, I was talking about it with my brother, like even little references

like the last Boy Scout. He references the last Boy Scout. He has this ability, and I think we all kind of find it with the way in which he talks and says things and the references. It's like, I feel like I haven't heard of the last Boy Scout in 25, 30 years. And it's like he speaks to your youth. He speaks to your nostalgic preferences. He speaks your language.

It's amazing. You find these little things. He has these references. He has an ability. Like the 7-730 thing. My brother- 7-730 is gold. My household has already taken that up.

I've watched Jeopardy and Wheel every night since other than save for last night. It's like you're hanging out with your boys and you get on a streak of naming random players from the 90s. So good. But he does it. across all cultural aspects, and he just weaves it into conversation. Ladenian Tomlinson, like when he says that. High ass. I was walking around in my apartment, I was like, yeah, I'll go to 7th Avenue and dunk on somebody

in Farragado, too. Italian leather, a single piece of Italian leather around my feet. No scene. He's the first. That's why when you asked me to tell my Sean Camp Cavs story, I referenced Philein's basement, which is a super deep cut. And he was like, oh, Filene's basement. I know action's going to understand this on the level.

Dude, that's 100% accurate. You nailed that. Just by saying that, he was not going to give you any crap. Yeah, he knew. He knew right from then. 100%. Shout out to that guy. What an absolute fucking...

Also, extremely high and yet still somehow spitting gold. I think it helps him. Shirtless. I can't wait for the shot of Celebrity Roe of him in the tux. It's going to be incredible. I just can't wait. I cannot wait. The funniest part is when he makes the most out.

landish reference and there's like there's no like real reaction from you you like continue the conversation and he has like a smirk to himself about it because he thinks the reference is that ridiculous. By the way, shout it to you noted Hawks fan. We started this journey with the Metumbo and here you are rocking the orange and blue. I support the Knicks. I don't call myself a Knicks fan. I actually got this for the action brought some fight feast. So yeah, I support man. It's it's fun. The city's on fire. There's an energy here. Anyone living here and rooting against them? Like you got to be a little I get at this Boston fan, this and that. It will be the most memorable summer of all of our lives if they pull this off. If they can parlay a Knicks finals win straight into the World Cup,

city's going to be absolutely losing. I just got chills. I just got chills. It will be the greatest. It will be the absolute greatest. Cameron, quick one, and might be one for Frank to answer. Are the, quote, dramatic changes in sexual preference, end quote, adverts on the Spotify feed, a me problem or a you problem? God bless.

That's definitely a problem for you. My apologies to you. I don't know about that one. Yeah, they're targeted ads based on your demographic, so I don't know what else to say to you. Okay. So it's a him problem. Yeah. Or she or her. Whatever you do. What's up, Ariel, from Danny Breezy. Danny from Charlotte here. Shout to Charlotte, Queen City. with Eddie laying down the gauntlet to Dana's or to Dana regarding Tom's release from the UFC, I know it's incredibly unlikely to happen, but let's just play it out for a second.

All right, let's play it out. What does a Tom Aspinall versus Francis Inganu fight do on an MVP Netflix card? And how much would Tom make compared to his UFC deal? 10x. Rico versus Despine on the prelims, Gina versus Holly, Parnas versus Hughes. It's a pipe dream, I know, but imagine.

It's a fucking great card, if I'm being honest. And you're right, it ain't going to happen. At least not in the immediate future. Tom versus Francis, like what does it do? Okay, do you guys think Tom versus Francis does more than 17 million? Yes. Yeah, I want to say yes. Is it happening now?

Like right now. Yeah, like in six months. Like Tom's next fight is versus. If Tom's next fight is against Francis, yeah. Yeah, I think so. And I do think, I don't know exactly how much Tom makes, but I would feel comfortable in saying it's at least 5x. 10x, 5x, easy.

10x probably, depending on how much he's making. He's making like, I don't think he's made. I don't want to count his money, but 5x 100%. And those other fights are tremendous. Rico versus Despond, Gino versus Holly. They say Gino? Gina, Gina versus Holly. Parnas versus Hughes.

But again, Hughes is a PFL fighter. Shout to Gino. Did I say Gino? Gino Smith? Got out to Gno Smith. Danny G. Who's to check? After years of listening, your constant fanatic monologues regarding your two favorite

sports teams caused me to become a Knicks fan around two years ago. During your break, the algorithm hid your content from my feed. I'm currently catching up, though I'm still working through a month-old backlog of episodes. However, I tuned into the recent episode today just to catch a reaction to the Knicks' playoff series. Have you ever considered launching a dedicated basketball show or at least a reoccurring series during the NBA playoffs? Is that something Yahoo would allow on the uncrowned network?

Also, any chance we could get a Luciana Andrage interview anytime soon? Well, to answer your first question, I did host a basketball show for showtime. It was called the Aira Hohuanian Basketball Show. It was a podcast. It was strictly a podcast. One interview, I've talked about Mike Brown being my first guest. I had Bob Costas on there, Jason Williams.

I was very, very proud of that. In large part, because A, I'm not a basketball guy per se, did some sidelines for ESPN. And I had no contacts in that world, to be honest. And so I think it was a 20 to 25 episode run. We did one with the EuroLeague president. I was really proud of it. The problem was Showtime Sports shut down shortly thereafter. Like it ended in June.

It was a 20 episode thing because it started in March. It took them a long time to finalize the deal. and then it was supposed to go to the end of the NBA season. And then by the fall, I think, showtime sports is no more. I have a deep, deep love and passion for basketball. It's my favorite sport to play, to coach, to watch. Like, I can watch Nuggets versus Kings, no problem. I've said this before.

I don't have much interest. I will watch a big football game, obviously, but like I'm not watching Jets versus Browns. I'm not watching Cardinals versus Steelers. I don't love football like that. I adore the Buffalo Bills, but I've always said I'm a Buffalo Bills fan. That's why I don't care about fantasy football and all these things. I love basketball.

So if the Knicks weren't playing in the finals, I would be hyped for the finals. Just go through my whole freaking history. I love the finals. I love the pomp and circumstance. That's why this means so much. Do we have the ability to do another show? Sure, we can do whatever the hell we want. Do I have the ability in me to do another show?

That's a different type of question. But I would love it. and I really did enjoy it, and I loved doing the sidelines as well. Luciana, Luciana retired from UFC, and she's kind of like trailed off into the night. But we could have her back, maybe as a translator.

I mean, there is an interview to be had, like, you know, why'd you leave? I guess it was just time. Did she go to law school? She did go to law school in the midst of it. I don't know if she's in law school now, or maybe like practicing law. But yeah, it's not a bad one.

Should have had when we were in L.A. Okay, Rick's friend, Jeff. Is this your actual friend? I'd have to hear the question first. Hey, guys, long time caller, first time listener. Just wanted to share my experience with getting tickets for UFC freedom. After being offered tickets and conditionally accepted, the offer was then refused once background checks were conducted.

Unfortunately, my year spent on Twitter, harassing women were in vain. Turns out they only want people with convictions on the property. hopefully one day I could get numbers like my boy definitely Rick's right Yeah doesn't sound I thought like that was Not even funny really

Yeah You know there was a Washington Post Story This is what happens When I don't read them before Washington Post story That said like I don't know

You guys saw this story right And the tweet and all that Should I pull it up UFC White House Freedom I know we like We're texting about it and stuff I don't know if I have

So the headline here is Pentagon recruiting troops to watch UFC White House fights memo shows And so the recruiting part I find very interesting The way it's being framed Like it's almost like hey guys We're doing a TV show And we need people to like fill up the seats

When you I They know that there's probably thousands upon thousands of troops Who would like to be there Just like there are thousands upon thousands of fans I felt the framing of the story Did anyone feel this way as well? 100%.

Felt like they were like, we need people. We're desperate. That it's a casting call when in actuality if they said, we have these available, you'd have a list of thousands of people.

It was a lottery. It was like a fantasy game. It was like, you know, throwing it out to Knicks fans, like a piece of meat and like who can get to it first. 100%. And so I thought the framing was interesting.

I understand, by the way, why people might not like this. I understand why people may feel some sort of way about it being on Sunday, June 14th, which happens to be Donald Trump's birthday. I understand. and all those things. I said yesterday, I did an interview for NBC News. I don't know how much of it is going to air.

And I've actually turned down a lot of interviews because I'm just not, this is not my Super Bowl. It may be other people's Super Bowls. It's not my Super Bowl. I've said it again and again and again, I can't wait for June 15th because we've been talking about this for a year and I can't wait to see it, but I'm just going to be happy when this is all over and done with. And what I said yesterday to NBC News about like what this means to me, I said ultimately, I am choosing, Rather than getting all worked up about this, I am choosing to celebrate the fact that a young man from Georgia and Spain is getting a chance to headline a car. And I think he's going to win that fight on the White House lawn. And I'm celebrating the fact that a young man named Justin Gaichi, who's a human highlight reel, who's had a somewhat improbable path to the very top of the UFC, is getting the headline, you know, in front of the White House in his home country.

And a man who was, you know, an alcoholic 10 years ago, who has one of the most improbable UFC crew. careers of all time, who is a kickboxing champion turned UFC champion, double champion, now potentially triple champion for the first time, is getting a chance to get this opportunity. And Cyril Gan and Sean O'Malley and a Montrealer, Amin Zahabi, and Hokit and Lewis and and Garcia and Lopez. Like that to me is what we're, I don't know, I guess I'm just going to choose to celebrate that. And there's going to be a lot of takes and a lot of this is that and this is this. And I just don't care.

I don't care. I'm sorry, like I don't care. Do I understand what this is? Do I disagree with any of the takes? No, not necessarily, no. Do I understand if you would call this a version of sport washing? Yes, absolutely. I've talked about how I find it a little bit much, to put it mildly,

every time he shows up to an event and they kisses rain. I don't like it, and I wish it was just like one, hey, the president's here, great, and we move on with our lives, not over and over and over again. And I understand if it makes people feel uncomfortable, unhappy. I understand. I am not arguing. I just can't get worked up about it. I can't. Anyone feel otherwise? I'm actually legit curious. Like, is anyone bothered, disgusted, upset, can't wait for it to be over because of how it makes them feel, anything like that?

It'd be hard for me to feel that way just because this aligns with expectations, right? This doesn't feel like too much of a departure from what the current UFC product is. the current relationship that Dana White and the UFC have with Donald Trump, the current relationship that the fan base has with the administration and the White House, like, it's too exactly what I'd expect for me to be like, I'm outraged by this. It kind of just falls in line with my expectations. To your point, whether I agree, disagree is kind of immaterial to the idea that like, this feels obvious. This feels like, of course, this is what they would do. So it's hard for me to get outraged when this is something that I could have seen coming a mile away.

To Rick's point, it is what the sport is. I mean, Trump has been making interests as at these pay-per-view cards for years now. When he won the election, they had a video package ready for him as if he was a retiring fighter. It's not that shogging to me. And I actually think there's a factor about it that is very cool for the sport to be in this spotlight. Like the America 250 is a massive national celebration, and for the UFC to be one part of it is a cool thing to see for the sport. Do you think there's a lot of people who don't like this?

Do you think that if, let's just say, Biden or Harris were president, but it was happening, they would feel differently about it? Yes. Because you'll have some people saying like, oh, this has no business being there, you know, it's cage fighting, it's a slap in the face, it's who's paying for it, all this stuff and more. And that may have something to do with their politics. It would be an over-reduction for me to say it this way,

but I generally feel like the same people who hate it would be the ones who love it, and then the ones who love it would be the people that hate it if you switch the parties. The same as I feel on most issues. The opposers would be in support if it's switched, and then the supporters would be in opposition if it's. switch. That's just the political nature right now. But to the point that we were talking about earlier,

I just like, if it was Kamala in office, I can say with almost 100% certainty, this event wouldn't be happening. It's just where the sport is at. 100%. But I'm just saying, are the ones who are upset about it because it's on Trump's birthday or because he's front and center or because they want nothing to do with them and they don't want to have their sport mix? And by the way, I understand all these things. It's a very emotional, tense, polarizing time. And I could totally understand if you want your sport as far away as possible from politics. You just want your sport to be over there. And I get that.

And then I get other people who are like, this is why I like this guy, even not much more, because he brought my sport to this, you know, to this unique setting. And then I think that there are some people who are like me or it's like, let's just get on with it. Because ultimately, on June 15th, we'll be sitting here and we'll break down, how it looked and all that stuff. But by June 16th or so, we're talking about what's next for Ilya. And we're talking about what's next for Alex. And we're talking about what's next for Sean and Aman and Josh Hokit and all these guys.

And then we'll just move on with our lives. It's a, I guess what I'm trying to say is like, to me it's a big deal, but it's not a big deal. It's just another freaking card at the end of the day. And that's how I view it. And I could totally see someone being like, this is the weakest shit ever. And you need to say, I just can't be bothered. I'm sorry. I can't be upset about it.

I'll tell you the one thing that makes me upset is not upset. Upset is a stretch. I can't be upset about anything right now. Next year about the plane of the five, I couldn't care less. Point is, when Dana White sits there and goes, this isn't political, that's disingenuous. He's lying. When Dana White sits there and goes like, oh, R&C, oh, I'm just, that's all nonsense. Disingenuous.

Just call it what it is. When he says, oh, it was just a coincidence that we walked out at that time and the music was playing and the camera, that's all nonsense. That is annoying, right? Yeah. It's proven nonsense. A thousand percent. And to your point, it's not something that like bothers me. I'm not staying up at night about it. I also do think another ridiculous part is doing it on Trump's birthday. Like the OG plans where July 4th was on the Saturday and that's when they were going to do it. And now it's been moved to this. And I know they're using like the, well, it's flag day. It's like, nah, did you're doing it because it's because it's Trump's birthday. 100%. It's like, it's a ridiculous thing. It's ridiculous. Look, if it was, if June 14th fell on a Saturday, as it did last year, then I would be like, okay, the fact that it's on a Sunday and that happens, like, okay, now it feels like you did it on purpose, because there's no events ever on Saturday, Sunday, like the last Sunday event. I remember Keisa and Kevin Lee fought on a Sunday on FS1, but there's probably been like five Sunday events in UFC history, if that. Yeah, that's weird. And ultimately, the way it's going to be presented, is this going to be a love letter to Trump or is it going to be a love letter to America? Those are two very different things, right? If it's a love letter to America as they claim it's going to be, then, okay, this is a celebration of the country. Fine. It's part of many celebrations that will happen between now and July 4th, and that have happened throughout the course of the year. At the finals tonight, they're going to have a patch there. Like, you know, this is a big deal. We remember the bicentennial and all that stuff. I mean, some of us, right? Is it bicentennial? What is that? 225? That was 1976 and none of us were living, but.

Yeah, but we remember it. I know the Bicentennial. I remember the other. Shout it to the Bicentennial. Yes, America 250 is a big deal, man. It's a big deal. Can I be honest with you? I actually thought it was going to be a bigger deal.

Like, do you remember when Trump announced this? Not the UFC. I thought USA 250 was going to be like a bigger deal throughout the year. Do you know what I mean? Like at the Super Bowl. I think the, the, the, the attention. Did they? I'll be honest, I didn't watch a second of the Super Bowl.

I think they had patches. I also think they had a little, like, commemorative thing as well when they did the national anthem and stuff. Okay. The attention, though, is so short. The window of time, like, it would be ineffective to, like, have this long protruded lead up to it when you really only got this small window to do it. I do also think, like, next month you're going to see it a lot with July 4th specifically. Like, they're doing a ball drop in Times Square for America 250. And, like, a massive...

Like, you mean on the day itself? Yeah, on July 4th. Sure. I think that whole, surrounding that whole week, it's going to be a very big deal. Yeah, that lead up toward July 4th. I mean, like, I'm seeing, like, so many brand advertisements that are like, oh, it's the summer of America 250. Like, Coca-Cola is doing a whole lot. Okay.

I guess I haven't seen a lot of that. I just, I don't know. I don't know what I expected, but I remember Trump doing that press conference and saying, like, you know, this is going to happen. June and July are going to feel patriotic. I'm fairly certain about that. let me ask you a philosophical question even if this event ended up being a commercial for President Trump

even if that's what this event ended up being what is the implication we'll all move on with our lives but it will be gross but this shouldn't it shouldn't be a celebration of him now I agree with you for sure going to be a package or two about

yeah he opened the door for us and Taj Mahal and all that and that is what it is but if this truly is what they told us it was going to be, then it can't be that. But if it were to be, yeah. Is this like required viewing? Can somebody who is opposed not just tune out? Is this like in the moment? At any point, do you have to, if you are outraged by this event, right? If you are outraged by the nature of this event, how it's come together, what it represents, the event itself, if it ends up being promotional, there's no obligation to participate in this. There is no, there's no, there's no

obligations to participate in anything. That's kind of my point, right? And let's be honest, a lot of media members that are going to sit there and kind of like hate watch it. But then don't watch. No, I mean, a lot of people that never watch MMA are also going to watch this and hate watch it for sure. 100%. There's just some hypocritical elements to it, right? They're like, let's just call it like Colin Kaepernick exercising his First Amendment right.

I know obviously very like left-right, people very upset about it, are saying keep politics out of sports, but now we're literally bringing politics directly into the sport. 100%. And it really is. Well, you know, the people who say keep politics out of sport will then be the same ones who love this sort of thing.

It depends on the politics that are entering the sport. To Rick's point, if you're going to love it, you're going to hate it, and other way around it'd be the same thing. It's dripping with hypocrisy. Also, Donald Trump famously, infamously last week said he didn't have time

to go to his own son's wedding, has time to go to a UFC fight. So now it's like... Well, it's where he lives. He doesn't have to get on the plane for that. Of course, it's all freaking ludicrous. All of it is ludicrous. The whole thing is, he did a video on his TikTok saying he hopes that they keep it there,

equating it to the Eiffel Tower being built. They're going to keep the claw there. Take a look at this. I mean, it's all lunacy. It's all lunacy. Watch this. I don't know that in Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower, 1889, it was built. It was supposed to be taken down immediately after the World's Fair.

And then they said, you know, we sort of like it. Let's leave it up a little bit longer. And then they said, let's leave it up longer and longer and longer. well they never took it down and you know we're building something in front of the White House that's quite attractive to a lot of people it's going to have the big UFC fight on June 14th

and I'm looking at it and maybe we'll never ever take it down I mean obviously he doesn't get to decide that because the next president can take it down but yeah that's absurd never ever that's it's absurd it's absurd all of it is absurd where we live in a bizarre world timeline it's all very crazy

my grandma Hit me up about it. Yeah, everyone, I'm sure. What did she say? She's into it? Ilya, who's she got? No, no, no, she's not into it. She's not into it.

What is she saying? Like, honestly, what is she saying? This is disgusting? She just asked me my thoughts on it. She was like, oh, what about the no-kings protest that's happening that day? I was like, I don't think it's going to have any. She thought it was going to be, like, counter-program. Oh, okay.

No, I think it's going to go off of the two. Make sure you got that Paramount Plus subscription. Was she excited about Zach Brown? Just a little bit of it. What about Shabuzi? Yeah, what about Shaboozy? Wait, he's in? No, but you always say he's in. No, Luke Holmes.

Yeah. I personally, I was saying, and when I walked in today, we had the card up, I'm looking forward to it. I mean, the press conference at the Lincoln Memorial, everything that's going to be going on. Seven fights? Those seven fights top to bottom are as good of a seven fight collection. I know everyone had their hopes up and everything, but tell me the last time we had seven in a row like that on pay-per-view that were all that good. No, it's been a while or never.

We're getting two, we're getting three. Now, 2010, 2011, 2012, yeah, we were getting those consistently. You know what I mean? Like, 100%. Something. The Spike TV days, we were getting a consistent top to bottom every fight. It was like John Fitch versus Paulo Tiago to kick off the cards back then. It was Chale versus Yuschen Ocami on the untelevised prelims.

Remember that? Yeah, that one wasn't that hot at that time. I'm saying, but hot from a marketing standpoint, no, but from a sporting standpoint, Point, Okami was ranked number one and on most people's list because he beat Anderson and all that. Point is, we don't get these types of cards. Look at the jersey card from a couple of weeks ago, like the numbered events. You're not getting, you're not getting Diego Lopez versus Steve Garcia as the seventh from the bottom. It's objectively a very, very, very strong card.

Every fight I can't wait for. Yeah. I want to see what it's going to look like. I want to see the spectacle. I want to see how it's all going to go down. I want to see the broadcast, everything like that. I want to see the press conference, the way-ins, all that. I am fascinated by it.

I am looking forward to next week. I'm curious. What does the chat say? A lot of those could headline their own event or fight night. Yes. Jesus is the way. Absolutely. Here's the thing. Every snowflake is unique and they are all beautiful. I mean, it feels like a nice thing. They're doing a Sean Strickland impression. Okay. Okay. Okay. You know what? Someone here says, oh my God, 300 was better. All right. You know what? Let's compare. Because you know what? Seven fights? I don't think. I don't actually think that's true. If you take the best seven fights from 300, do you think it's better? No. I'm going one through seven.

All right? I don't think. I don't even think that's true. Here's UFC 300. One second, one second. One through seven. Okay. And then here is UFC Freedom 250.

Okay. All right. Here we go. Ilya versus Justin Gehche. Let's do Max versus. Alex is in the other fight. So do. No, I'm going bar for bar.

No, don't do it in that order. That doesn't make any sense. No, I'm going. Justin. It's the headline of UFC 300. Justin versus Max Alex Pereira versus Jamal Hill. Alia Perez versus Jamal Hill.

It does make sense. Tell me, which one's better? It doesn't make any sense. Just answer my question. That's... You're ordering it by arbitrary selection. It doesn't make any sense. It's not arbitrary.

The strength of the... The strength of the second. No, it doesn't make any sense. What are you talking about? That's the whole point. There's a fight with Justin Geichi and a fight with Justin Gece. There's a fight with Alex Pereira and a fight with Alex Perreira. Compare those two things.

What was the headliner? What was the headliner for 300? Just answer me that question. Alex versus Jamal. And what's the headliner? For this card? Ilya versus Joe. Tell me which headliner do you like better as the headliner.

Which one? Ilya versus Justin. Thank you. That's all. Let's just keep going, please. Alex Pereh versus Cyril Gan? Could have just compared out? Jan Shao Nan versus Zhang Wei.

Yeah, man, obviously, come on. Okay. Yon Chonan versus. Sean O'Malley versus Amin Zahabi? Max Holloway versus Justin Gachie. No, but I'm not. I'm not. Okay, but the third one I'm giving to 300.

Okay. Also, I think the main event is close. Oh. The main is close and the third is a massive gap. It doesn't make any sense. We're out of your mind if you say the main event is close. You're saying Alex Perr versus Jamal Hill is as interesting as Ilya versus Justin. Yeah, it's close.

From a fight standpoint? Ain't that what journalism is? Stop it. Alex was a smaller favorite than... I have to give... I is the man. He's like dripping with the war of the guy. So was Alex.

I agree with you. Okay. This is like the... birth of the 2-1, 2-1, right? 2-1, yes, I agree. All right. The degrees of the 2-1-Met.

Hocott-Lewis? Armand-Charles. 300. I'll give you that. But this is before the Armand that we know today. No, but I'll give it you. Still taking Arm-in-Trolls. Hoofee Chandler,

nickel-brundage. A hoof-y-chamler. 3-2. 3-2. Nickel Dachis? You could have just... Yeah, Rick does make a solid point. Yeah, you know, I'm going...

I know, I know, but there's a lot of crossing. One... Just a lot of logic. Yeri Rackich. Oh, Yer Rackage. Yeah. Over Nicodakus? Yes.

Yeah. Come on, man. I agree. This is Alexander Rodgica. See, if you had just reordered it properly... Aljo Cater? On that side? 145-day view for Aljo. Lopez Garcia.

Lopez Garcia. So in the end, what is it? 4-3? Yeah. Oh, it's 4-3. One card was UFC 300, pay-per-view, the other one is essentially

free on Paramount Plus. But it is the White House. Like, it's their 2026 UFC 300. My point is, it's not often that you get there. It's a better Justin fight, and it's a better Alex fight. If you had just aligned it properly,

it's a better bow fight. You just have to... It's a better fight for each of those guys who carry over into the car. If you just shuffle it to proper... Writers... on UFC 300? What?

Was Diego Lopez on UFC 300? I don't think he's been on everything. Yeah, he was. Sadiek Yusuf. Oh, I mean, you just did this. Just do this. Okay, you couldn't be missing my point any further and it's pissing me off. No, you're making the wrong point.

What's up, Ariel? I'm currently doing a project for my sports literature class on the issue of UFC fighters being underpaid. You're obviously an extremely credited person to speak on this topic. So my question to you is, how would a fighter union work and be implemented into the UFC? Like, is this even a possibility? down the road. Please share anything you feel

is relevant to this issue. Appreciate it. Hawaii, go Nix. Humble and hungry. That's merging Nixen and Bills. So this has been bandied about the one thing that I've settled on is I think it probably has to be like a tiered system. Like,

you know, someone, sort of like the sponsorship, like someone who's there for one fight may not have the same rights or voice or seat at the table as someone who's there for 15 or 20 fights. But ultimately, I feel like it has to be something like where if you are fighting for this organization, you get a certain set of rights. And there's a certain set of rights that have been collectively bargain that are bestowed upon you once you

sign that first deal. For example, let's say they collectively bargain that the minimum pay for a debutante is 50K. You sign that deal, it's not even a question, it's 50K. There is no set standard. They could sign you and decide that they're going to give you 8K or 100K. There's no set standard. And so little things like that, I think, would go a long way, things that they can negotiate, sponsorship, cut of the pie, revenue sharing. But it's, I acknowledge that it's not as clean as an MLB player. And I obviously know that there are M&B players that are in for like 15 year careers and then others who have one year careers. And so that is similar. But it's one fight versus, you know, it's individual.

So you're fighting maybe twice a year as opposed to some who are fighting four to five times a year. But ultimately, what I think would be the best move to focus on. And by the way, I don't see this happening anytime soon. If it didn't happen when they sign that deal, I don't think it's happening anytime soon. It just, I mean, that was the perfect chance. They sign this deal, they celebrate the deal, and everyone's like, and then people ask Dana like, hey, what are you guys going to do to up the pay? Oh, we'll figure it out. We got, you know, Harvard students in the back. They'll figure it out. It was nonsense. This is not how a real sport is run,

but no one speaks up. No one's able to or has the, you know, the confidence, colonies, whatever it is, to speak up. And so it feels like the further and further removed we are from, you know, the confidence, honies, the early days, the harder and harder it's going to be to do this. Is it impossible? No. But you'll probably need, you'll probably need like a full card to be like, I'm not fighting. Right? That could be a tipping point. Could you imagine if everyone fighting on the White House card says, I'm not getting out of the locker room? What happens then? That's probably what would have to happen for them to at least say, okay, let's talk. That hasn't really materialized.

Craig Grocot, hey Ariel, looking ahead to the July 11th card and given everything that's been

revealed about Connor since his last fight, well, you have moral issues with potentially friendly interviews with

Connor leading up to or after the fight. Speaking personally with girls of my family, I know I would. Well, you know,

Connor was supposed to be in studio. Back in, when was that? October. And, you know, I was told pretty late

and after we promoted it, that certain things couldn't be discussed, and I said I couldn't do that. So I hope that answers that for you. Zerene Combi, hello, Ariel and Crew. I know you guys watch sports for a living, but if you can pick one time zone to live at, to watch sports, which would you pick? I think we would all agree.

It's either Pacific or Hawaii, right? Hawaii, auto. I'm Pacific, just because there are some morning events that I enjoy. And Hawaii gets it a little too early. Yeah, I'm waking up for that all day. Pacific is just the freaking best. It's so money. It's so good.

It's so money, man. I mean, Hawaii is almost like too good. You know, it's like, holy crap, what is this world? I have my whole day after the sports are done. No, it's unbelievable. But like the 10 a.m. kicks for Premier League is 5 a.m. Yeah, yeah. Perfect.

Get up early, watch, and your whole day is hanging about it. Nah, hell no. I'm in. West Coast 7 a.m.? No, no. I did that thing in San Diego. some of them have to wake up at 4.30 for the 7.30 kicks. Yeah, I'm a skip those.

They're insane. They go to a bar at 4.30 of these people in San Diego. That's like fun community. It's 100% fun. Look, for Premier League, I actually think East Coast is the best. Because there's nothing for us before 730 a.m. And it's usually done by 12. It's beautiful.

Our Premier League experience here on the East Coast is akin to the Pacific NFL experience. You know what I mean? And that to me is amazing. Like their Sunday night game starts at five. Tremendous. So good. I mean, even tonight, 8.30 tip. 5.30 out there.

I mean, UFC, we'd have cards starting at 6 p.m. Oh, my God. The main card at 6 p.m. is, that'd be a godsend. Lamantia MMA. Hey, Ariel, question on your sports fandom. Why the bills and the Knicks, both N. We are both the same age. Is it because the bills were good in the early 90s

and the Knicks somewhat in mid to late 90s? And second question. related. You seem to have had an affinity for New York. Where does that come from? Well, okay. I've definitely told this before, but in 1990, okay, 1991 Super Bowl, which was the 1990 season in Tampa, Super Bowl 25, Bill's Giants. I am eight turning nine that summer. I'm at my cousin's house. We're in the basement and we're watching the Super Bowl. I really know nothing about anything as far as sports. Like, I like sports, but I'm not a follower. I'm not a lover. I'm really, like, not into it. The bills are playing the Giants. Scott Norwood misses the field goal, wide right. And I like the

bills in that game. I like the jersey. I like the helmet, whatever. And then when he missed the field goal, I remember vividly being in the car, my dad driving us home and feeling sad for them, feeling that was an awful way to lose. And so I said, that's going to be my team. Now, again, And you could call me a bandwagoner back in 1991, but I'm an eight-year-old kid. I picked the team that lost. And I said, okay, I want to be a fan of those guys. And then when they played Washington the next year, like I was all in for that season. 91, 92, all in.

My brothers were Cowboys fans. And by then, by 93, 94, I'm, like, obsessed. Thurman Thomas is my favorite player. I have a Thurman jersey. I have a Bruce Smith jersey. Jim Kelly, obviously. Cornelius Bennett, Kenneth Davis, Keith McKellar, Daryl. Talley, incredible team.

Andre Reid, James Lompton, and Don Beebe, like Marve Levy, incredible team. And back then, the bills were on NBC because NBC had the AFC. I'm living in Montreal. Our NBC affiliate is Vermont. And the closest team, and they were, you know, better than the Patriots or any other Northeast team, were the bills. And so we would often get a lot of the bills games. This is before Sunday ticket.

This is before like every game was televised. And so I got to see them a lot. And I love that. I love that. So that's why I picked the bills. As far as the Knicks are concerned, I've told this story before. 90-91, same age. So this is when I'm really getting into sports.

We go into a shoe store. I want to buy Jordans. My brothers tell me, no, don't buy those shoes. Buy these shoes. And they're Patrick Ewing shoes. If you've ever seen them before, they're very bulky. They're like cinder blocks. crazy colors, and I listened to them.

They're my older brothers. And I remember getting Sports Illustrated, and I remember seeing him in it, wearing the shoes. And I was like, okay, that's my guy. This guy's cool. These are my shoes. This is my guy.

This is who they told me about. And they were kind of doing it because they were Bulls fans and they were kind of messing with me. I come to find out. And so that 91 season, they get swept by the Bulls in the first round,

three-nothing, back when it was a five-game first round. And I was kind of like, figuring out my fandom. 91, 92, though, fall in love. Love that team. Ewing, Oakley, Xavier McDaniels, one and only season on the Knicks.

They took the Bulls, who were the defending champion, seven games in the second round, and I just absolutely fell in love. I remember being in a hotel room in Boston, crying after they lost. I'm nine, about to turn 10. I've posted the picture before.

We went on a tour of the Boston Garden. I showed up wearing my Ewing jersey. I just, that's when I fell in love. was heartbreaking up 2-0 Eastern Conference final Bolswin

4 straight losing 6 94 we lose in game 7 at the NBA finals 95 finger roll absolutely awful

96 was not good 97 up 3-1 to the heat brawl happens we lose the three straight

suspensions what a disaster that was 98 was a bit of a down year as well 99 finals

8 seed 2000 was the last great team beat the heat at home in 7 in the second round

losing the Eastern Conference Final, but Ewing was pretty much done. He gets traded that offseason and then 2001 and then they don't win another series until 2013. I became obsessed with New York and my dream of living in New York came as a result of my love of the Knicks. As I've said, go to work, get to go to games, the garden, the magic, all that and more. And so you know what's funny? I get this a lot from people being like you have five favorite teams in every sport. Not true, but I think I've understood why people say that, especially I think it's Europeans. Because if you're someone from England, you just have one favorite team. It's just the football team. They don't have multiple,

they don't have an NFL, an NBA, an NHL, a major league baseball, right? They don't have that. You may have like a cricket, maybe a club, but it's more country when it comes to that. Rugby, not so much club, more country. And so I think they see that and they're like, wait, and you like these guys too? And you like, I've never wavered. on any of this. I've never jumped off the Bills bandwagon. I've never jumped off the NICS bandwagon. I do remember interviewing Daniel Cormier for E-60, January 31st, 2019, and I read that Chris Staps had been traded. And I did tweet, today's my last day of being a Nick fan, because it was fucking awful. It was disaster after disaster after disaster after disaster after disaster,

gut punch after gun punch, bad trade, after bad signing, after bad draft pick. And I'm I remember being in the hotel, waking up the next morning and be like, nah, I take that back. Of course, I'm a Knickfan for life. I can't quit them. So it didn't even last 12 hours. There are some losers that will still bring that up, but they didn't even play freaking game. And by the way, I wouldn't have blamed anyone for stopping to be a Nick fan at that point because they were so dysfunctional with Phil Jackson leading the charge. And that trade was awful for Dennis Smith Jr.

So I'm an emotional guy. It was an awful trade. It was an awful set of circumstances. He was supposed to be our savior and didn't turn out that way. So the point is, I'm a bill. Bill's fan. I'm a Knicks fan. I was an Expo fan. They left. I then became a Blue Jays fan because I liked baseball and I didn't want to be a fan of no one. I'm a Habs fan and I've adopted, you know, Nottingham Forest as you know, I went to Syracuse and that's it. But the three teams that I adored as a kid, Knicks, Bill's Expos. Those are my three favorite teams. I've never wavered. And, you know, I've not, you know, when you're living in Montreal, you got to pick a team. There's no Montreal basketball team. There's no Montreal football team. So I had to pick my teams. And I think they're all kind of geographically close to each other. I don't have like a West Coast team or anything like that. And that's who I've, I've ridded with.

Here's Matt Moe. Sup Ariel. I asked you about Candice Owens before. And your immediate response was, I think she's batshit crazy and I don't know why anyone would listen to her. Owens just hit six million YouTube subs and is more popular right now than ever before. She's even trended as the number one podcaster in the world ahead of JRE at times. My question is, do you think your view of Candace may have been misconstrued? by the media and headlines, and that she may actually have good intentions, no different than someone reading a headline about you or about Rogan and jumping to conclusions. Do you at all think it's possible that you and someone like Candice, who both attended journalism school, both are

people of faith, both understand the value of family, both have podcasts where you voice your truth, truths might actually share more things in common than you do differences. Well, if you break it down our paths in life and what we've chosen to do in life, yeah, sure, there are similarities there. But I just don't fundamentally agree with a lot of the things that I see that she says. Now, am I sitting there listening to her show? No, absolutely not. And the reason why I don't listen to her show is because she spews a lot of bullshit that I don't believe in. And so, yeah, am I surprised that she has six million YouTube subs? No, absolutely not. There's a lot of people that like things that I don't like. God bless you. She says,

says a lot of things that I find insane, offensive, factually incorrect, she spews a lot of venom, a lot of vitriol. And just to address the elephant to the room, yes, it's about my religion, my people that I feel very, very strongly about. So yes, I don't support her. I think she's someone who has found, like others. By the way, I've said on this show, I forgot her name, I've like erased it out of my brain. Megan Kelly. She too has. She too has. turn. There's a lot of people that have figured out the algorithm. You know who's the best example of this? Jake Shields. I saw Jake Shields in person. And I was like, yo man, what's up? What do we do to you? I don't really, I don't really, you know, come on, you know, something I got a little

crazy, you know. Okay. You understood that playing this character gets you a shit ton of views. God bless. You have to look at yourself in the mirror and be okay with that. And I'm sure they all are okay with that. I'm not. So I'm not going to consume that or be a fan of that or subscribe to that, watch that. I don't believe in that. I don't believe in your soul identity being, you know, someone that spews this venom. Does she do? Please, someone like, is there, are there any Candace Owens fans out there, like on the team? I'm not going to think less of you. I think one of the things I was talking about this with someone, I think one of the things that I love about our team is that I do think that we all have different beliefs and

support different things. But I don't think any of us subscribe to what some would refer to as identity politics. Meaning, I don't think any of us say, oh, you believe in this or you support that, and therefore, I don't like you. I think we all love each other and we all sit down and even make fun of each other. And I don't think any differently of anyone. Does that make sense? And I think that there are a lot of people that get very emotional about these things and pick friends.

and pick friends or cut off friends as a result of what they stand for, believe in, or their politics and things like that. And I think we've all come to a place, luckily, I think. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself. Maybe everyone hates me. I don't know. You think this. Where we all kind of respect each other in this regard.

And I like that. I appreciate that. Yeah, it's the classic, like, after election time, Thanksgiving is going to be real awkward type situation, right? where people, oh, we can't invite this person now and this and that. Like, I don't feel, to your point, I don't feel like that exists, you know, amongst this group. I cannot say, though, that I've ever consumed Candice's own content, so I can't weigh in on that. Yeah, never watched any of her stuff. I'm a fan of Candy O?

No. Are you Frankie? Oh, yeah. Would it know? I find it highly entertaining. Yeah, well, I really wouldn't know. I've never watched anything. It's like watching a train wreck.

Okay, okay. I don't watch anything in politics. Yeah, same. Nothing. Yeah, you know, I consumed a little bit for a period, but it's not my bag. You're all that. You're all going to have it. Call me illiterate. Call me dumb for not. Me and G.C. over here doing 82-0.com instead of politics.

Tell me what that is. Oh, it's a new viral game. You assemble a team of basketball players, a starting five, and you see if you can get it to be projected at 82 and O, but like you spin a wheel and it gives you a team and a decade, and you have to take a player from that decade, and then you redo it. Rick got 82 and O earlier, so. Holy crap.

Congratulations. Well done. Bro, well done. Do me a favor and just give me a count of five. Just go ahead, area one, two. Jamal 2020.

If the Knicks win called Dana and Aaron bury the hatchet, I mean, why would it be incumbent upon me to do that? But we do have big plans if the Knicks win,

right, guys? Damn right, we do. I've already been perusing the menu. What is the name of the place? I don't remember. Ariel's a makazi spot that's going across the point. Oh, yeah.

Luke, hey, all, this is a question more for Rick, El Pepe, and the boys. When you guys are invited to go on other shows slash podcast to do analysis, is there financial compensation for your time, or is it more of a give and take? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours sort of situation. I've just always been curious how it works among

MMA media who help each other out. I think I could answer that on behalf of everyone. No, no one's getting paid. Oh, you guys aren't. Oh, damn. I'm pay for play. This is not a free situation. For real?

You think someone would pay us to go on their show? Also, who is El Pepe? Again. I guess Pete C. I shout out to Pete. Yeah, PT. Some of us got deals. It's all good.

All right. What's your rate? No, no, we don't discuss money. I would never disrespect the people who pay me to come on. Okay. Talking about that. Yeah, none for me, but maybe there are some. No.

Maybe there are some. We all remember a few years ago what happened there in the podcast and the paying. One person who is in a person who is in the pay. One person who isn't. charging us to come on today's program, at least for now. We suspect that she'll get even more and more popular over time, and maybe that text will come. Yeah, she can only show up if you put X amount into the bank account or send a payment via Zell or Venmo. For now, though, that is not a thing, and we are very grateful for that. She's returning to action on the 31st of July at the

UBS Arena right here, not necessarily right here, like maybe an hour away. On Long Island, Great arena, beautiful spot, big fight for her, and a little over a year since her last fight, we're talking to PFL's own and, dare I say, the face of the PFL's own, Miss Dakota Ditchova, kind enough to join us on this Wednesday. Hello, Dakota, how are you? Hello, I'm good, thank you. I've never charged you, Ariel. We're friends, aren't we?

Even if you make it to like Ronda Rousey level type of fame. Yeah, even then, we're friends. Right from the beginning, you know, we look after the ones that were with us at the beginning. appreciate that and we will remember that inevitably when you do get to that status and do send that text. By the way, I'm just hydrating here with my van. Oh, there you are. Yeah. It's a wonderful, wonderful piece of business right here.

Oh, there it is. Norwegian Ose, Sedestal, Norway, natural mineral. This is your water, Dakota? Yeah, so this is, I am a co-owner, not just an ambassador of this one. So thinking about the future, getting involved in brands that relate to me. Like, I'm always seen with a bottle of water. And I'm not a big drinker as in, like, alcohol-wise, I don't drink really at all. So for me, like, this was the perfect thing to get involved in.

So, yeah. I actually think that your team was kind enough to send us a few bottles. And the team in the back, let's take a look. Oh, everyone back. Look at this. The whole team enjoying it back there. You see that? Look at that.

Everyone's in sync. What's going on here? What's that water doing to then? We love it. We love it. By the way, why Norwegian water? How did this come about? Yeah, I mean, I was approached by a few people that were, well, my manager brought it to me that were kind of working on it.

The water comes from Norway. It's actually really cool. I would love to show you, like, where it's located because when I was first shown, it was like in the middle of the mountains with just snow, like, surrounding the whole thing. So it was really cool. It was a really cool project that they came to me with. And then again, I just want to build for the future. My mom's been massive on like, you know, her big mistake she would say was that after fighting, she didn't have anything.

She didn't set anything up. So for me, she's always kind of drilled into me that, you know, you need to be thinking about the future and working with, you know, brands and, you know, building your own business. So that's kind of what I'm doing. One thing for us to drink it, but you need to get it to probably the most famous Norwegian out there. Mr. Holland, can we get it in his hands? Have you tried yet? I don't think we have tried yet. Well, I'll work on it.

I'll work on it. That's the natural. I thought that would be like the first thing that you would have done. I know. I mean, it's the first thing I thought of. But, I mean, Harlem, we all know he's very picky. He's very like on tea with everything, isn't he? So we'll have to see if we can introduce it to him.

I'm sure he'll love it if he tries. It's just that first little getting in there. Sure. And of course, commiserations. I know you guys fell well short. I mean, I have nothing to say. We barely survive, but you seemed rather confident. back when we last.

You know, I'm always confident about it. My manager is an Arsenal fan, so he's like living it up. He clipped the last interview I did with the year and posted it on his story. He sent it to me as well. He sent it to me as well, yes. So I'm sick of bringing football up because it always gets brought back to me. Well, did you send them a cheeky response when they lost last week? I mean, I feel like I didn't need to.

Everywhere I was looking, I think Arsenal of the most hated team in the Premier League, literally every video I saw was just like everyone celebrating that they hadn't won. So I feel like I didn't want to rub it in anymore. What about that depressing parade that they had the next day after losing like that? Wasn't that weird? I didn't even see it. I wasn't paying attention to that. Okay. All right.

Are you excited about the World Cup? I am actually, yeah. I'm really excited. Someone told me at the gym today that the England team are actually 20, 30 minutes away from where I am in Florida training at the moment. You're going to drive by? I might do. might look like a stalker. I'm going to try and get an invite

see if I can pull on any one of strings, but we'll say it. I still can't believe Foden didn't get selected. I'm shocked by that. Yeah, I mean, he's had a tough season. He's took a lot of stick, right? So, I don't know, he'll come back. I think he needs a confidence boost,

and that probably hasn't helped him. Well, they'll do all right, and we are rooting for them. I like Canada, of course. I support Canada, but three lions are near and dear to my heart. let's talk about you almost exactly a year to the day between fights, who would have thunk. You probably didn't think, right? When you injured your hand, you probably didn't think it would take this long.

Why did it take this long? Well, I was out. I come back, had one fight and then was gone again with another injury. So I was like, this time I am doing it right. Like, my recovery has been on point. I've been patient. And then I think at the time when I was ready to fight, there wasn't quite an opportunity at the date I wanted it.

So it was maybe like a, I could have been ready like a month. three months earlier, but this was the right time. So obviously the division has been staying busy. So for me as well, I had to fit in with them. I'm the one that's been out and not making it to the cage. So I couldn't, you know, demand too much on the comeback. I think this is great. And I love the fact that you're fighting close to here, you know,

Long Island, it's a great arena. But I do have an issue with this. I do have one big issue with this. Go on. You know what my issue is? You don't want me to fight Denise You want me to fight No no I don't

I don't care about that How are you not fighting for the belt How are you not fighting for the belt This doesn't make any sense I know everybody keeps asking me like Dakota's the champ what do you mean No one's got the belt And like I don't think people quite understood

That it was like A tournament belt that we were fighting for Like I won it in 2025 2024 Denise and Liz won it in 2025 And then like now no one's got it Yeah but she won like a tournament She's not the actual champion.

So just make a vacant title fight. Have you fight for it? You probably, let's just be honest, odds-wise, you win that fight, and then you fight her. What are they waiting for? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I mean, how do you decide whether I fight for it or Liz fights for it first? Because she won it the next year.

Who cares? They're making fights left and right here for the belt. What does it matter? You're active, you're there. Where's Liz anyway? Why aren't they booking you versus Liz then? Well, Liz is fighting. I think this month, is she?

So why didn't you fight Liz instead of Denise? Like if you're fighting around the same time? She was already booked by the time I'd come back, I think. So, yeah, she was already bucks. There's a good four fights on there. There's a good potential, like, few opponents. Ariana's fighting Jenna Bishop, I think. And then Liz is fighting the girl that's come from the UFC,

which I'm interested in going up against. But we'll see how that plays out. But, I mean, for me, obviously, I've pulled out on Denise. So I was like, I'll have that. or if you want me to fight with a belt, I'll have that, and it just kind of works out like this. So for me, like, again, I've been out injured, so I feel like everyone thinks on this, like,

prima donna picking who I want to fight and stuff. I just, like, roll with it. I just need to get back in the cage and fight because everyone's, like, forgetting about me. Do you feel that way? Do you truly feel that way? No, no. I mean, I feel like I've gone a little bit quiet.

Everyone's a little bit like, oh, she's been injured twice, like, is that the end type thing? But no, I'm in the gym all the time. I'm ready to go. And I know that as soon as I come back, everyone's going to be like, she's back. Are you a little self-conscious about the hand? Like, do you think about it a lot when you're hitting Mitz? Is it on your mind?

I did. I did. And that's why I wanted to make sure I came back at the right time because I didn't want to go back having that kind of doubt in my head. And I feel like I want to come back and stay back. I don't want to come back and be injured and go out for another year. So I did have a little bit of doubt. first, just naturally, but now, like, I can hit full power. I'm just as strong. Like, my bones

have healed well, so I'm, like, fully ready to come back now. When they offered you this, did you say, hey, can I fight for the belt? Did that ever come up? Um, I mean, I think it was discussed between my manager. I kind of leave all that to them. I've just been trying to, like, stay in the gym and get, get ready for the fight. But I've always said, like, felt or not, I just want to get in a fight. I've been out for, like, I've been out for It feels like I've been out for two years, honestly, because I only came back and had one fight. And I think about it now,

and I think I'm so glad I had three rounds out of that fight because I would have been gutted if I'd, like, not even had a fight in that one. And, you know, I just feel like I've been out for way too long. And I'm just happy to get in, like, if the belt comes, if I don't fight for the bell at the end of the year, honestly, I don't really, I... You don't care.

Does it change? Can I ask, does it change your pay? Because I know in the US, like, when you're a champion, you get paid more. doesn't change anything. So maybe that's why you don't care. Yeah, maybe. I don't know.

I mean, like, I would fight Liz for Nobel. I would fight anyone in the division for Nobel. Like, I just want to fight and beat these girls. Like, I want to stay undefeated. So for me, like, a bell is like, I don't know. I would fight them anyway. So, yeah, maybe it's that. I don't know.

What have you thought of the new PFL this year being the first year, no season, no tournament or anything like that? Do you like the product? Yeah, quite. I've enjoyed it. Yeah, I would love to do a tournament again myself. Oh. Like, I loved the tournament, honestly.

But the rankings, I feel like the fans are liking the rankings more, like, seeing who, like, fights each other, you know, actually, like, moving up and it making more sense for them. So I get that people like that. But I would definitely do a tournament again. Why do you like that? Why do you like the tournament? I fought four times in one year. Like, for me, I love to be busy.

I'm not one of these people that's like, oh, I'm in camp now for eight weeks. Like, I'm in the gym all year round, so you can give me a fight and I'll be ready to go. Like, my weight's always low. So for me, like, I want a fight. You know, I'm still young, probably. That's why I'm young in the sport. And, yeah, that's probably why I would do a tournament, whereas other people, it probably takes its toll on them a little bit. Speaking of the gym, Kayla back?

She is. Oh, how's she looking? She looks good. Okay. She looks just as same as she always has. She's getting back into it now, slowly, yeah. I mean, again, like, I have to be grateful with my hands when she's had, you know, a surgery like that and she's getting back into it now. That must be in her head a little bit.

So for her to see her coming back in the gym and getting around in and everything is nice to be around people going through similar things. This is why I have infinite respect for fighters. If something happened to me that forced me to have neck surgery, I'm not doing that thing anymore. You know what I mean? Like regular humans are like, okay, I'm done with that. You guys say, all right, like, how long do I need? What kind of rehab? put me back in there. That's absurd.

Yeah, and even I think that as a fighter, when Kayla's first came back in the gym, because she's been in the gym for a little bit now, she's not just come back. And I was just thinking to myself, like, oh my God, this girl's just had, like, neck surgery. And she's, like, back moving, working. And I was just like, even for myself,

it's like, wow, it makes you, like, sit back and think, we are pretty tall people, for sure. Now, how do you like broadcasting? I saw you do the show back in February. You did note that it was tough, perhaps tougher than you thought. There you are, broadcasting your view. And then you tweeted, this shit is not easy. What do you think?

Oh, my mom's going to tell me off for that tweet now. You've shared that. Oh, sorry. You're not allowed to cuss. No. Sorry, sorry, sorry. It didn't be exposed. Definitely not online as well.

Do you know, I found the second time harder than the first. I think it just depends on like the fight you've got in front of you. Now, I'm obviously. coming from a striking background. And even though I know the Jiu-Jitsu, I don't feel confident enough to be like speaking about it on the broadcast. So I get a little bit shy when the fight goes to the floor. But it really made me appreciate like how good Dan and Sean really are.

To keep the conversation going, it is not easy. It's really not easy. Is it hard for you to be critical if you need to be? Like deep down you may want to be critical, but then you don't want to be mean or, you know, like offend someone. Yeah, that's the tough part. Yeah, for sure, even that. Like, I wouldn't want to, like, be on there, like, oh, they should have done this.

They should have done that because I'm also, like, not in denial to the fact that when you're in there, it looks totally different to when you're out there. You know, that's why you have a corner team to help you because we see things different. So being on the mic and being like, oh, she should have done this or shouldn't. I was like, oh, I don't really want to say that. But yeah, I just need to practice a bit more, I think. But I really enjoyed it. Okay, so more to come?

Yeah, for sure, more to come. I think I want to do that, like, in the future. Okay. Yeah. When you retire? Yeah. Long ways away. Speaking of being critical.

What, wait, what was that? We haven't know. No. Is this it? Is this the final year? Oh, hell no. Headline. Dakota Ditchville, considering retirement.

That's going to be a head. No, okay. Have you thought about that, though? Like, how many, like some people say 31, I'm out. 35, I'm out. Yeah. I mean, I think about that all the time because I want to be a mom. I want to have a little bit of a normal life.

Sure. And I don't want to fight after I'm a mom. So I think that's another thing people don't understand, like, for someone like me, he's dying to be a mom. And I have to sacrifice, like, all that kind of stuff for the, I'm happy to sacrifice it because I love fighting, but at the same time, like, it's a big thing. So for me, I'm like, right, 32, I'm done. Like, if I haven't been world champion by 32, which definitely will be, I'm done.

That's in five years. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Champion of the world in five years, pound for palm, best female, I'm out. When you say champion of the world, of which organization, because it's a little bit different, right? For me, it doesn't matter. Just whoever the top girl is now, whoever you think the top girl is right now, if you say Chefchenko, as long as I beat her, I'm out. Okay, well, you know how people will construe that, right? Of course. I'm used to this game now.

Okay. So why do you say I don't want to fight after being a mom? Because we've seen this, and we've seen actually a lot of women be very successful post-pregnancy. Yeah, very. I mean, we have Jana Rina in our gym. She's had two children, and she's like still 135 UFC in the rankings near the top. Like, she's absolutely amazing. It's just, for me, I want to be like a full-time mom. Like, I want to just be, I want to be, I want to be, done by then. I want to see my parents be grandparents and want to spend time with my kids and put it all into them. This fighting is like, it takes a lot. It's not easy for sure. So what do you think you'll do? Do you just want to be like a mom that stays at home or do you have plans? I know you

talked about investments and things like that. Yeah. Do you have plans for post-fighting yet? Yeah. I mean, I want to be into business and stuff like that. I'll probably still have a gym and work out 100%, but I don't think I'll be like coaching full-time in it. I just kind of want to be present in like children's life. Hopefully I get to have that. But we'll see. You never know. I might come back on this show and be like, oh, I'm coming back after I've had a child. Yep, yep, yep, yep. You never know. But like, realistically, if I think about what I want now, that's what I would say. And so let's just say you beat Liz Karmuch and become PFL world champion in a year's time. Hopefully it doesn't take that long. But by this time next year,

year that happens. Are you done? No. Oh, because? I'm saying 32 because like I genuinely don't think I've even hit my prime yet. I'm going to give it to like you see like top champions. I feel like I would have to like hold it for a little bit as well. Sure. You know, become world champion and like actually cement that rather than just being like, oh, I've won it once and I'm done.

Look at Chefchenko. She's like got, she completed the rubies on a belt. like she is powerful pound solidified it you know so I want to still have done that but ideally by 32 and in other words because that person may not necessarily

be the number one flyweight in the world you have to conquer that in order to feel fulfilled yeah okay okay will I ever feel fulfilled is another thing oh okay wow this is getting deep why are you someone who's eternally searching

for that next thing like you're chasing the dragon But all those fighters are, like, we always, how many people have said, like, I'm retired now, I'm done, and then, like, in a year's time, they're back. Like, we can't let that go. You see it in tieboxing, like, a lot of fighters that were fighting at my mom's time are, like, coming back and having fights now. She's like, just let it go. Like, but we can't.

We have that in us where we're just never, ever satisfied. That's why we do this sport. We've got that, like, there's just something about it that we just, we love that draws us in and we can't let it go. Do you feel like the wins? like the thought of the wins are actually more exhilarating than the winds itself. For example, on the Sunday after a win, is that high not as great? And is that what keeps you searching for more?

Yeah, like, I won the 2024 tournament and I thought I was just going to like feel on top of the world. And I was just literally over it within like two days, which I was the same with any normal fight that wasn't for a bell. And I think that might possibly be why I, I'm not bothered about the belt because winning a fight is just winning a fight for me. Like, that makes me happy. So, like, the belt I witnessed not making my emotions anymore, like, I don't know, any better. So for me, I'm just like, want to get in a fight, win. And that, like, is it?

Yeah. You know, you talk about retiring and coming back, having a baby and then coming back. It does remind me of a fighter who fought in 2016, had a couple babies, and then came. came back very recently, Rhonda Rousey, who as we talk about criticism, all of a sudden, there's a tweet from Dakota. I was like, is this the actual Dakota account or is this a fake account? Here you are calling her out. That was you.

Okay, so can I ask you what compelled you to respond to her, so to speak, after she made these comments regarding Hamza Chimaev? I think, honestly, it just hit a little bit deeper because I was like really inspired by her and the athlete and person she was. And I think because she's a woman, it related to me a little bit more. I just think, like, this sport, like, we complain so much

about, like, going into personal things and people's personal lives and when we're selling fights, I just don't think there's a line that she'll be crossed with things like that. And then as a mother, for her, like, I'm watching just, I just don't think she should have made that comment, honestly.

And, like, even people, it's not even a Chimaier thing, like, whoever she would have said that to. I just don't think public, that should have been a comment she should have made. And I just feel like I wanted to say something because I didn't agree with it. You know, I'm not inspired by other people that come out with stupid comments.

So, I mean, I would have my opinion on it if I was asked. For somebody that I've been inspired to for a long time, it was a little bit disappointing to hear I come out with something like that. And what was the reaction? What kind of response did you get to your tweet? Do you know, I've had, like, quite a few messages,

honestly. Straight away, I had like, somebody I knew from like PFL that was one of the staff messaged me and said my daughter's just recently had surgery there's different levels to like a cleft palate but she'd had surgery to

correct something and they really like meant something to them that I'd come out and said something like that so I mean they're the type of things like one day I might have a daughter that suffers with that as someone that I'm inspired by has like come out publicly and mock someone for it yeah no you're 100% right ways of selling a fight. I just think she crossed the line a little bit there. I was so happy with

seeing her come back and like she's doing amazing things aside with the MVP shows and things like that. But that was just like a line that I didn't feel should be crossed for me. 100%. I know she felt some sort of way about his comments, but there was no need to make a comment about his appearance. Yeah. And I feel like, why stoop to their level? Does she want to be like another Sean or another Shimaier who like talks rubbish lights out? She doesn't need to be that. She's like, everyone's going to think, you know, this is Ronda Raleigh, look at what she's done, and now she's going to come back and re-remembered,

like, in my mind for coming out with something like that. I just feel like it ruined it a little bit. Can I ask, did you watch the fight? And if so, what did you think? I watched it the next day because I was in the UK. I was just, I wanted to see them fight. Like, I wanted to see Ronda come back, honestly. So I wanted it to be a little bit longer.

But at the same time, like, that's what she's best known for, you know? So I knew she was going to come out and do that. But yeah, the show looks amazing anyway, aside from that. I was just going to ask that. You know, it's been a while since we've had a new kid on the block, so to speak, in MMA. What did you think of the show? And do you think this is good for the sport to have a potential new promotion out there?

Yeah, for sure. It looked amazing. Honestly, it really did. I was good that I didn't end up going. Were you invited? I think at the beginning they said they were going to give me tickets. Yeah. but then I ended up going back to the UK, so I didn't attend anyway.

But yeah, I think I was excited to see Nate back, so it was nice to see like some old faces back. But at the same time, I want to see like a few more relevant, like, fighters on it that are fighting now, you know, would have been good to mix it up a little bit more. So, yeah, I think it's good for the sport. Yeah. We need more. We do need more. Now Scott Coker is in the sport. I saw that. Yeah, I didn't.

Honestly, I didn't really know who he was, but I was talking to my coach about it, the gym. You didn't know Scott Coker was Dakota? Wow. Bellator, strike force? Well, I wasn't in MMA at that time. Have you ever heard of Strike Force before? I don't think I have, no. Obviously, Bellator, but not.

You never heard a strike force before? Come on, Dakota. This is worse than we quizzed you with the Man City. What are you talking about? Sometimes it's better to lie. No, I appreciate you saying this. I appreciate it. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to say it and be like, yeah, I don't know what that is. and then you asked me another question, I'd be like, I don't... So tell me, what was your favorite fight? Do you know Gina Carrano versus Chris Seaborg? Have you heard of that one? Yeah, see, I didn't watch M&B at that point. I know about that fight, obviously.

But that's why I said Ronda was like the first female that really, like, caught my eye in this sport. Yeah, for sure. Okay, and you looked up to her. Yeah, a lot. So you didn't know who Gina was? No, not really. When I got into the sport, obviously, she's a name that everybody will talk about. So I got to know who she was.

But I wasn't around, like, knowing a lot about all that kind of stuff. I was in tieboxing at that time. Wow, that is wild. Sometimes I forget, I mean, there's YouTube. You can look things up. Who's guiding you over there at ATT? Tell you, you know what? Do you know what?

I just love to fight. I'm actually, like, I'll watch the fights on the weekend, but I am not one of these fighters that's like. Living and breathing. Yeah, I'm really not, which probably sounds really bad. Oh, I think that's pretty healthy, actually. Yeah, I'm in the gym, training, fighting, doing my thing, and then that's really it.

So I'm probably not clued up on a lot of things. So there might be times probably at ATT, which is such a big gym, fighters are coming and going, where you don't even realize that there's a legend right next to you. Maybe. I mean, has there been times where you saw someone and someone's like, oh, do you know who that is and not known?

No, no. I feel like the people that I traded on the mat and in the gym are like people that I'm, clued upon. So, I mean, yeah. Are you full time in Florida now, 100%? Yeah, I travel a lot, but yeah, I'm here full time, yeah. And how much do you miss home?

Miss home, miss family, like, so much. I'm constantly, like, flying back and annoying them. But it's okay. Cody arrives this week, so he's going to be here for the rest of my counts. I feel like they're so good with, like, you know, coming over, seeing me, keeping me company. Yeah, 27-year-old baby, they call me. And when's this movie coming out?

The Bulgarian movie. There's been a little bit of a delay on that. So I'm not sure on the date right now. But I think it's all filmed. It's all filmed. They're just waiting to get the final checks on it. And then they can release a date. But they won't give me any more information until it's like completely signed off.

And did you have a speaking role? Yeah. A Bulgarian speaking role, which I'm not even fluent. And I can read and write, but very basic and very basic and very. slow so it was like I had to learn all my lines like learn him in English and then learn him in Bulgaria and it was a lot but I did it I was really proud of myself how would you say I can't wait to fight on July 31st oh don't get me to speak Bulgarian I just I've never really I don't know if I've ever heard Bulgarian before just that line no no no it's on you can't say one line no do you know

how to say that in your mind maybe they're bright man you even know how to how to say that in your mind? Like, can you say it? Yeah, no, I know how to say it, but I just like, you just wrote a country speaking Bulgarian. Wow. Do you have any family member who only speaks Bulgarian? No, well, no. Yeah, my family in Bulgaria don't know English a lot. So when we go over there, it's like, we have to speak Bulgarian to them because their English is like so basic. But for us who have, like, not been to Bulgaria for a while, we forget a lot. So it's like when we go over, for the first few days, it's really broken, and then after that we get better at it. But my dad as well, he'll speak English because he's been in England all of his marriage.

So for him, it's like he doesn't really speak Bulgarian that much. And then we don't. So it's like we forget a lot, but we can speak it. We can keep a basic conversation. If you were to ask one of your family members in Bulgaria for a cup of tea, how would you ask them? They don't drink tea. For a cup of water. Can I please have a cup of coffee?

No. I don't even know what Bulgarian sounds like. I can't even... My dad's going to be laughing at me right now. Does it sound like Russian? Yeah, so my dad can speak Russian. Okay. The alphabet and the language is very similar.

Yeah. Wow. So a few of the Russians in the gym that I'm like, that I'll mess around with. They'll say a few like Russian words and it'll be similar to the Bulgarian word. So, yeah. Surely you could say like the ABC's in Bulgarian, right? So, yeah, I can. You Americans don't have, well, and...

First of all, first. Well, I'm actually both. I'm dual. I'm dual. It's okay. It's okay. You don't have a lowercase alphabet, do you? A separate one?

So you don't say abeca, da. What is that? What is that? Why is that lowercase? What do you mean? We have ABCD-E. Yeah, so that's like capital letters. We have a lowercase alphabet as well.

So you have to know the lowercase alphabet in order to be able to learn Bulgarian. So there's two alphabets? Yeah. So we have like capital letters and then our smaller letters are different. They wrote different and they're said different. Serious. Wow. Yeah. So if you were to like spell your name, so the D in Dakota would sound different than if like there was a D later on in your name.

Yeah. So if I was to write my name, it wouldn't be D-A-K-O-T-A. I would write it with D, a capital D, and then I would put A, K, R, T, A, Right, and what if there was another D in your name, like a lowercase D? What would that sound like, as opposed to the uppercase D? D. D.

And what would the capital D stand for, sound like? That's D. Oh, it's just called D? D is the capital D, and then D is the lowercase D. This is so confusing, but I'm actually. enjoying the lesson. This is great. It's like your lingo. So if I was to try and teach you with Bulgarian, you would need to know the lowercase alphabet because that's how you would learn Bulgarian. They use that as well for their letters, for their alphabet.

Oh, wow. Wow. Is that a common thing in Eastern Europe? Like, is that the same? Well, I only learned that recently. Yeah, in America, they don't have lowercase. So when I'm like trying to spell things, sometimes I'll spell things with lowercase letters, I never want to be like, what the hell are you saying? But it's the same for you in England, right? You don't have a lowercase alphabet. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. English and Bulgarian. Okay.

Because you said America. America don't have lowercase. But the UK doesn't have one either, right? Yeah. Yeah, we do. You do? Yeah. What are you talking about?

What's the lowercase alphabet? I've never heard this before. In the UK? Apho-Qa-e-e-e-ter-root. Like, they're all our letters, yeah. Wait. in the Queen's English? What are you talking about?

I've never heard of this. This is the most insane thing I've ever heard. In England, if you're in school... If we listen say our alphabet in lowercase letters, that's what it would sound like, whereas you guys don't even have a clue what lowercase letters sound like. You've lost me so...

That Abakha thing that you did? I thought that was Bulgarian. No, that's English. Oh, lowercase letters. But the Bulgarians used that as well. That is, you're blowing my mind. Frank, have you ever heard of such a thing? No.

Am I exposing myself here for being a... No, I think it's a little strange. Yeah, okay. This is wild. Yeah, I'm going to have to send you this afterwards so you can like understand much. I've honestly never heard of this. I thought you meant only in Bulgaria, it's unique to the country that they have in uppercase and lowercase. I didn't realize that in the UK as well.

Wow. They don't have that in Canada either. Yeah, some people in the UK won't spell with capital letters, they'll spell with lower And we all know what lowercase letters sound like, so we'll still spell a word out with lowercase letters. Whereas in America, you guys will only spell in capital letters. Yes. Well, there's no distinction. It's just the same.

Yeah, for us, it's not. It's different. Holy smokes. Wow. Well, we've learned something new here. You've blown my mind. I'm not even quite sure how we ended. I don't know how we ended up here.

I have no idea how we ended up here, but I'm happy that we did. Can I ask you, how's an Octa FC doing? It's doing really well. The dates have been pushed back quite a few times. Now the World Cup's going on. They wanted to kind of let the World Cup happen and then they're pushing it back to August now. But the first place we're going is actually Brazil.

I've never been to Brazil before, but that's where the first match will be played. Is indoor? No, I think it will be outdoor in Brazil, right? I don't know. But is the league, is it like 11 v. 11? No, it's six, I think. Okay.

I think the last time we said you were looking for a right back and I threw my name into the hat, but I never got any sort of message or anything. You didn't get a call? I'll tell the TV. I thought, yeah, I thought your manager or someone was going to hit me up. Yeah. No, I'll make sure our message is a chat. I'll be good on the right side.

People have told me. I'm a fire hydrant back there, you know, like a brick wall. You're not to wear a blue shirt. You know, we could discuss that. Nowadays, everyone's like changing their colors, right? There's always the alternate jersey. So I'm okay with that. Okay, let me ask you this and then I'll let you go.

You're hoping to win on July 31st? Are we hoping for at least two fights in 2026? Is that the... 100%. Yes, 100%. And then maybe we'll fight for the belt at the end of the year. We'll see. God bless.

That would be something. Hopefully. And then everyone will be like, panic over. Yes. And have you ever been to Long Island, New York? I haven't. No, I fought in New York. I fought in the small studio inside Madison Square Garden,

but I've not been to Long Island yet. Long Island. It's a very exotic place. They like their bagels over there and their coffee. Perfect. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it's the suburbs, basically. There's nothing very...

Okay, well, now I'm fighting an hour from you. Does that mean we're going to get Ariel down to watch? I don't know if I could promise that. Well, do you only go to the MVP shows? You know, listen, if I get paid to go... Are you only a Rhonda fan right now? No, actually, Rhonda and I have actually come a long way in our relationship. She wasn't a fan.

Now she... I don't know if she's a fan now, but she tolerates me. You know, it depends. As they say in the business, the cheddar makes it better. You know, we're all open for business. But I started this interview saying that I would never charge you, and you're like, That's a good point. That's a great point.

I know where we stand now. Thank you. That is a great point. But I didn't mean you. I meant the, you know, the broadcaster. But we'll figure it out. We'll talk offline about all that. Very excited.

Also, Usumana Ramaghamedov fighting in potentially his last PFL fight on this card. He has one fight left. I don't know if he's going to come back. But that's a big deal. It's a big storyline. You're there for a while. It's great to have you back. Welcome back.

Well done. And we look forward to seeing you in action on July 31st. Thank you, Dakota. All the best. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

Cheers. There she is. Thank you so much. The great Dakota Ditcheva of Bulgaria and the UK fame. Kind enough to join us. I had no idea. In fact, I guess in retrospect, someone might have been watching or listening to that, thinking that I was completely misunderstanding.

any, but then in the end I got what she was trying to say. Never heard of that. In the UK, they have different alphabets. Are there two alphabets in the UK? Hmm. Frank? Do you normally pose questions to Google like that? We have a bit of a problem.

Yeah, because she made all that up, right? No, the UK does not have to be sure. English spoken throughout the UK uses the standard 26-letter Latin alphabet, just like the United States, and the rest of the English-speaking world. Wait a second, wait a second. However, if you are looking at regional languages or other writing systems used across the UK, there are different alphabets.

There's the Welsh alphabet, the sky. What was going on here? Was that all just like... I think she might have a belief that is not... Was that cap or fact? I think she believes it's true, but highly suspicious of... Lower case.

Why she was so adamant about it. So I found something on Reddit here. Okay, okay. What is this? The question was, do the British have different names for the letters in the... lowercase alphabet. And then there was somebody talking about an American being taught by his English father. Somebody, and this is from a thread seven years ago, said, he's probably confusing

the names of the letters with the sounds as taught via synthetic phonics, where learning letter sounds as distinct from letter names. For example, mm, not M. So this sounds like what she was saying. Synthetic phonics as a system for learning lowercase letters. But it's technically not a secondary. It doesn't sound like it's a second alphabet. She was just trying to throw shade on us Americans. Yeah. I thought she started. Well, I can't give you the alphabet because you're American and you don't understand the alphabet.

That's literally what the thesis was. I don't know if I've ever actually heard Bulgarian before. Yeah, never actually. I was thinking of, you know, I might have. Roussef? Roussef, yes, Roussef Day. And C.J., his wife, he's Bulgarian. I think she's of Bulgarian descent and knows how to speak Bulgarian.

And so I think probably in his promos, he's probably spoken Bulgarian. But I think actually when he debuted in WWE, they were Russian. That was their character. And I think over time, sort of like Kofi Kingston. Do you remember when Kofi Kingston showed up in WW? And he had a Jamaican accent. And then over time, they were like, yeah, we can't keep doing this. So he just had an accent from like, I think, Rhode Island or something like that.

Anyway, in a matter of moments, hopefully we're going to be joined by Holly Holm. We were there, obviously, on Saturday in El Paso. It was a very entertaining, I thought, fight. It was a very good version of Holly, a very aggressive version of Holly. She's not here, right? I'm just, okay. A very aggressive version of Holly, a very, you know, a very skilled version of Holly. And in the end, I thought she won the fight.

As I said, I was sitting there watching. I was pretty close to her longtime agent Lenny Fresquez. And we were kind of going back and forth. And I was trying to watch with a sort of unbiased eye. And I thought she won by two or three rounds. And as we know, one judge had it a draw and the other judge had it two rounds up for Stephanie Hahn. We spoke to her afterwards. Obviously she was upset.

Her team was upset. They have every right to be upset. There was a lot at stake in this fight, not only a lightweight title, but also the distinction of being the only fighter to be inducted into the boxing hall of fame and then win a title. And also, as we talked about the last time we spoke, second oldest female, to win a major boxing title, and possibly, you know, the ticket to fight someone like Katie Taylor had she won. Although we did say on Monday's program that I don't think that the result affected that. Let's see how she feels a few days later.

Kind enough to be joined now by the preacher's daughter, Holly Home. There she is. Hello, Holly. How are you? Good to see you again. Good, good to see you, too. How you doing? I'm doing great. It's Wednesday.

I didn't ask your team to speak on Monday. I know you were upset afterwards, and so you've had a few days to allow it to digest. How are you feeling about what happened on Saturday? You know, life always goes on. You always have to just keep fighting and pushing forward, and life is really blessed, so I can't change the path.

You can only go forward, and so I'm definitely frustrated. And, you know, it's just, both fights having kind of controversy at the end it's just it's frustrating like

two fight camps putting all the work in and just you know not getting that result I wanted and I do feel in my heart I won but

on paper that's just not what it is I do think that there's still opportunities possibly you know not everything is just lying on the one

fight but um the fight itself is just you put so much work in and you want it you know it's just kind of disheartening I guess have you rewatched the fight not yet I haven't rewatched it is that because you're upset or do you not usually watch

so soon after a fight I just I'm not the best at watching fights I'll probably I you know I just haven't I've just been busy and just kind of got back got taken care of things there's so much stuff I always put on the back burner and get home and think, well, all right, I don't get into that stuff now. So not that I haven't had time, obviously. I could have sat down and watched. I just haven't yet, but I'm going to. Obviously, you're not scoring the fight while it's happening, but what did you think, like, when the fight was over, what were you feeling? Did you think, I got this by at least two, by three, so I've seen some people have it even wider than that. What were you thinking when the fight was over and before they announced the score cards?

You know, I felt like the first few rounds, like it kind of started, you know, a little closer, and then I just started to take over and take control of the fight, and I was felt in control for the most part. I mean, anything can happen, and I'm obviously, you know, there's some shots like I pull out and it almost looks worse than what it is, and it's not that it's a 10-round fight, it's not like she didn't land any shots. It's just I never felt, I never felt any, like, hard shots that, you know, really did a lot and I know that I was dictating the pace. I know I was the one kind of

with more action. I felt like I threw more punches. So I just felt like, and I know I was in our hometown, but you just, you still have trust that maybe these judges are going to be professional. I don't know. It's just there's a lot of things I felt during the fight, things that were frustrating, even from the first fight. And it's just, I keep my mouth shut because if you say anything too much, you know, the rest there, you don't want to be on their bad side and stuff like that, but the whole fight, I feel like the ref was just constantly like, watch your head, watch your head, watch your head, and telling me stuff. And, you know, Stephanie's over here kind of doing some rabbit punches. Not that they hurt. It's just, and it's a fight. I don't,

I don't really care, but don't just stop pointing the finger at me for things, you know. That was one time I thought, I'm going to pretend just to see what the ref does. I didn't even hit her. I just pretended, and sure enough, the ref was like, hey, you know, on my case. And it's just, there was one of the, and it just, and I'm not, and I'm not, saying it's the rough's fault. It's obviously the judges more, but it doesn't, like, I also feel like it just doesn't, when you have a ref that's constantly like telling one fighter more than the other. There's a clip, it was actually tagged on my Instagram, and it was for something else, but I was just watching it. They were just calling out the, they thought it was a robbery, they just put up

a clip of the fight. But I, I like circle, I throw a left, I dropped, and Stephanie throws, like a few punches that swing over my head and then I come up and I hit it with a hook straight drop again and then she swings over my head again and and like frustrated that she missed the punches so she like leans on me and then the rest splits us and breaks us up and then the rest looks over me and goes watch your head what is that you know so I think just stuff like that's like frustrating during a fight but you just can't you're in the middle of the fight it's like well just let us fight then you know I just wanted to there's just like frustrating things things sometimes, like even my first fight in, um, in Puerto Rico.

My referees, you know, rules meeting in the locker room was the most bizarre meeting I've ever had. He made me sit down, oh, he made me sit down face to face this close. Weird. And has me this whole, the whole rule meeting. He said any questions and I said, no, sir, I'm good to go. and then he um he's like well you know there's no elbows in this sport oh god yeah he's like well you come from m m i said i know but i boxed before i said trust me i'm

good and he's like yeah but it's it's in here it's in here and he's like getting in my face about it and i was like i'm not gonna throw any elbows like i'm like i'm it's boxing i get it like but i wanted you know and you have to be nice because he's about to rough your fight and you're thinking do we already have a fucking problem like it's already you know and i'm and i'm And that's not the reason of the first. It's just like, I don't know what it is, but it's like, I don't know if there's a, like, a thing that comes with me coming back from MMA or what, but it's just frustrating sometimes.

And it's like, you know, we're good. And then as soon as the headbut happened in the first fight, he looks right at me and he goes, I told you to watch your head. Oh. I'm like, you do realize the front of her head hit the side of my head. So if there is some, like, and, It's not like she wants the headbutt either. This is nothing against her as far as that.

Nobody wants that to happen. But if you're going to, you know, after that, it was like everybody was labeling at Holly Holmes' accidental headbutt. How is that? It's an accidental headbutt, sure. But how is it mine when the front of her head is the side of my head? But it's just like, there's just a lot of stuff that's like, man, I just like, and you want to say, but it's like it also just comes off so, like, I don't want to whine about it. I just want to win.

And it's a fight. I don't even care. There's so much more cut in blood in MMA and even other boxing fights. There's so many fights that have fought through big gashes like that. Stephanie's fight before us. She had a huge, the opponent she had before me in Florida. Huge gash above her eye for the same thing. It's a fight.

I don't know. So it's not that I'm not complaining about the headbutter and nothing like that. It's just kind of like what's frustrating is that like it's almost like this, just like the finger's always pointing this way about it. That interaction with the referee in Puerto Rico blows my mind. You're a boxing hall of famer. You're one of the greatest. I mean, like, what?

And he's telling you there's no elbows? That's absurd. Yeah. He's like, there's no, and he's like, and he's like, yeah, but it's, and he, like, I'm telling you, you can ask, Steve Garcia was actually in my corner for that fight, and he was like, what was that? I'm like, I have no idea. Like, but what do you can say? You're about to go in there, and you don't want the rest to be mad at you, so you just kind of got to, like,

listen to it and I'm telling you I was like I'm good I'm not going to be throwing anything like that and that's when he literally gets at my face and he's like yeah but it's it's in here it might just come out and I was like I'm not like I'm good trust me it was just it was wild

that's still nothing to do with no all the fight and none of that it's just that sometimes there's just things sometimes that just are frustrating like I'm frustrated with some things you know over the last two fights but honestly it's like I I know that I So I'll have opportunities going forward.

Life is good. I'm blessed. You know, just keep trucking. So I just said before you came on, I said this on Monday as well, I thought that that was the best version of you that we've seen in quite some time. Like I was going several fights into your last UFC run to try to find, when did Holly look this good, this aggressive? You just looked on points.

Like you turned the clock back. And so I say that. And then I also ask this question, because you feel somewhat bothered by all of the, and, dare I say, disgusted by the scorecards and the interaction in Puerto Rico? Is there any part of you that's like, I don't need this anymore? Like, this is not, if you're going to take, if you're going to rob me of moments and of history, what's the point of going through a whole training camp? Do you feel that at all?

I just, I think my thing is, is I really, where I'm at, like, mentally, emotionally, physically, I definitely, I felt in great shape. I could have gone more around, which then sometimes, I'm, it's like, well, okay, I should have done more. You know, like, I should have just gone all the way to, which, you know, I also don't want to keep just, like, oh, I have energy and go with, like, like, just, like, brawl for no reason either, you know, so, but I felt in great shape. And I know people talk about my age a lot, but I just did 10, three-minute rounds.

That's longer than a five-round M.M.A. fight, you know, it's, um, and I felt actually really fresh. I felt good. Um, I felt good and in shape physically. that doesn't bother me. Mentally, I felt good. I felt like I won the fight. Emotionally, each fight takes a lot out of you. And that's what's like, it's frustrating sometimes. It's like, man, you put yourself through so much leading up to a fight.

And then it can just be, like, taken from you like that. And especially after coming back, this is a rematch and having to go to her hometown and dig deep on my own. And, you know, it's like, I mean, the first fight was still a little controversial. I was still robbed of my last three rounds. but it doesn't like for me i was like well i wasn't like in my heart like oh i i do think the fight was a heck of a lot closer than what the judge's head down there that's for sure and that's after watching the fight but regardless i'm like well i should do them better i need to do this better this better

so i'm going to go to the you know drawing board i'm going to meet with my team and we're going to we're going to do these things better and i came back and i did him better and it still didn't matter because he just put it in the hands of others and you know then there's people like well don't leave it up to the judges well yeah every fighter wants a knockout i mean that's done of course. But I would think that they're professional enough to, you know, to see that. And, you know, always, obviously I want it to be clearer, better, get a knockout, things like that. But it's like, man, it's like perfection or nothing.

And every fight is just, it does, it takes a lot more emotionally. Like the anxiety and the pressure, because I still want it that bad. If I didn't really care as much, maybe it wouldn't really affect me as much. But that's what I'm more tired of is just like you put so much into it. You put your, you lay your heart out. And that part is what can be frustrating. The physical part, I can train. I'm like a little workhorse.

I can always put hard work in. I enjoy training. And mentally, I know I'm strong enough to base forward and go and things like that. but man, it's just sometimes it takes a pull on you, and that's what I kind of get a little tired of. It's not that I'm like, not necessarily more like, what's the point? Because the point is that I'm still chasing greatness

and chasing, you know, goals for myself. So I still see a purpose and a point of doing it. But, you know, it does, every fight takes a little bit out of you, and that just gets, like, a little bit tiring. I can understand that. I also wonder, do you agree with the sentiment that this was the best version that we've seen of you in quite some time, and if so, why?

Why do you think that was? I think that it's a better version of me that you all have seen in quite some time, but also it's still not my best, you know. I know I do stuff in training sometimes, and it's like, man, why didn't I just do this and that? And this and that, you know, I always want more. But then again, I mean, the other person also has their game plan, too.

Then you have to, like, let it play out. But I still have the hunger. I still have the desire. I still have the, physical ability. And so I do think that that is why I showed a little more of who I am, but I just know that I also can do better than I even more. Yeah, no.

But I thought it was a brilliant fight. And like I said, I scored it for you. And I thought that you most certainly did enough to win it. And even afterwards, I thought Stephanie, you know, tough questions, tough moment. But I thought she was very respectful towards you. Were you okay with everything in the aftermath? The personal respect, like the direct respect I have for Stephanie is that's different than anything else. You know, like that has nothing to do with how I feel with the rest.

That has nothing to do with all this other stuff. Like I can respect a fighter and not agree with how the decision went. You know, I don't think that there's any, there's no disrespect coming from my side to her or vice versa. And yeah, that does suck to be the person that everybody, like, oh, you, you know, I don't think that you had that. Like, there's, you know, and it is, she has to answer questions like that on her side, but I don't, there's no disrespect I have for her at all. Okay.

Two, two fighters chasing a goal, you know. I did want to ask you, because this was mentioned on the broadcast, and I don't want it to seem like I'm giving you a chance to make an excuse, but they did mention that you were in a car accident just days before the, first fight and got pretty seriously banged up. Can you tell us about what happened there and how that affected you in the fight in the first fight? Yeah. Well, the thing is, is I don't ever like to say anything like that because then people are going to act like I'm making an excuse. And for me, I chose, I'm like, I'll be fine. I'm still going to fight. So if that's where I stand,

then that means I'm ready to fight. So there we are. But yes, um, eight days before the fight in Puerto Rico, I got, and it was my fault. But I got T-Bone going like 55-60 right on my driver's side. And I like tore a part of my peck eight days before I fought. And I just felt there was going to be enough like adrenaline. And, you know, we did let them know because I wanted, obviously, it was the day before I left to Puerto Rico. And so I had to, kind of like see how it was going to feel through the week to really know how it'd be a fight day. And so I went down there and I, you know, it, it's washing my hair, that hurt. Couldn't like push up just to, you know, like when you step up to get out of bed or anything like that,

it hurt really bad. And like during open workouts, I was just gritting my teeth, you know, just shadowboxing. It hurt. I just knew it to have enough adrenaline in the fight. It wasn't actually like stopping me from being able to throw. punches, you know, but, um, and I don't think that it affected the fight, but the two parts about that is I think it made for, I do know it made for a really stressful fight week. Every day, like, man, how's this going to be?

How is this going to be? How's this going to be? Um, that's one thing. And then the other thing, I think that that was even more why I was even extra frustrated with the fight being called over a cut. I'm like, man, I just got just totaled my car and I made sure to still make this walk.

We're going to call this over a paper cut. It was a small cut to you. Like I said, that's not anything negative on Stephanie. It's just, I've seen way worse cuts like that. So the level of frustration of everything that I took to get myself still in the fight

and then like, it's like, oh, here's a little cut. We're going to call it. I was like, you know, so those are like internal frustrations I had. But I didn't want to say anything about it because I don't want people think I was making an excuse cut.

I didn't feel it in the fight. There's so much adrenaline dump and you're so focused, you know, in the fight that that was in it, but definitely, I mean, I did have a, I did tear something in here. And yeah, it was frustrated. And like I said, it made for a stressful fight week.

The first time I actually threw punches on, like real punches after getting the wreck was the morning of the fight when we did a little shakeout workout workout in the, in the hotel room, and I was like, well, I could hit that. I mean, it was sore after, you know. I get hurt to do it, but I was like, yeah, it's going to be fine. I can push through this.

Like, I can push through some pain. It was just pain. It's not that it didn't work. Does that make sense? I was like, okay, it's going to be painful, but like I can still throw punches, so I'll be fine. So I was like, we're in. Let's go. How does it feel now? Like, did it fully recover? Yeah, fully recovered. It definitely took some time. I gave it some time, and then I'd go back and train, and I'd be like, all right, and then, you know, I'd go hit myths and I'd want to hit hard, and it's like, when it's like, don't overdo it.

But then I'd want to throw some hooks or something, and then it'd be sore for a few days. I'm like, okay, maybe, maybe it's not quite ready,

you know, so then I would kind of take it easy a couple more days. And it did kind of take a little bit of time in the beginning, but it's good now. I don't have any problems with it. And I,

yeah, like that, it was, it's 100% now. So it did, it definitely, like, in the,

like, it was still kind of like a little tender for, you know, probably, I'd say like up to eight weeks, you know, something like that. Like, because I probably, it probably could have been less time, but I was wanting to get back in and train. And then I would probably, you know, whatever was torn in there, like the fibers were probably healing. And then I'd go probably disrupt that.

But it was fine. I mean, it took a little time, but it's fine. Do you think so, so earlier today an announcement came out that Matrum is going to have a press conference at Croke Park. in Dublin. It seems it's going to be the Katie Taylor fight. And since then, boxing scene has reported that our opponent is going to be Flora Peely. A, have they approached you about this? And B, do you think that the result on Saturday, if it's not you against Katie,

affected, you know, you getting this opportunity? I think that if they're already about to make an announcement, they've probably already been in negotiations so that the fight probably wouldn't really have mattered, but, I mean, everybody wants to be able to have that fight with Katie Taylor. She's only got one more, you know, I think at first or before when they don't know if it's her last fight, it's like, well, I would like to at some point. I think a lot of people want it now because it's like, oh, it's her last one. And for my want to fight her is probably, well, I know it is.

It's different than, like, the pure reason behind it is very different than, like, the pure reason behind it is very different than, others. What is it? I think, okay, everybody wants to chase greatness, everybody wants to fight, you know, the name or things like that. For me, it's just, like, man, to be able to, like, have a career that I've had and be able to, you know, she's the other, like, biggest name that, and accomplished.

And I wanted that. It's not the only time I've had that. I've had a lot of undefeated champions and people that have fought throughout my career. so it's more and it's not about like oh i need like it's nothing to really build a name or anything like that uh for me it's more of just like a personal like i was hopeful that at some point her and i would meet because we even talked there was like kind of a talk about it when she was first coming to be pro when i was still boxing we had actually you know had a little talk about are we going to fight. And so it's almost, I don't know if it was just, I feel like it was meant to be

to come full circle and actually be able to get in there. It's not really, you know, because that was even before, before the, you know, Taylor Serrano trilogy and all that, like her and I, we had already had our names thrown in to maybe match before I even went to MMA. And so sometimes I was, It's just like more of a man. I felt like that was supposed to be something that would happen. And so if it doesn't happen, what do you think is next for you? I don't know, but if I'm being really honest, I just, I want big fights. I don't, I just want, I'm not saying that all of them are big fights for a title, but I definitely,

um, I'm definitely like a couple, like, within the year and I'm done. Wow. That's where I'm at. So I definitely want them to be fights that people want to see. I want it to be, you know, something big like that. And that's where I'm at, whether it be MMA or Boston. That's probably one or two more, max, if it's within the air. Yeah.

Wow. Would you do the thing where you announced beforehand and say this is my retirement fight? Yeah, I think I could do that. I think I could do that. It would have to be, depending on the opponent and how I felt, you know, I don't want to be one of those, like, it's my retirement, but ha-ha, not really, you know. I mean, the only time I ever did that was when I went from boxing to M.MA, I was like, this was my last boxing fight. You know, I'm going to MMA full-time, which I wasn't retiring from fighting. I was just done boxing at the time, and that was true, and I went to boxing.

but I've never actually been like, you know what, I'm just done fighting for good. And, you know, not saying I couldn't say that, come back if I changed my mind, but I definitely am getting closer. I'm not, I still have, I'm not ready quite yet, but I would say in the year I'll be done. One thing that's been brought up, so in the aftermath of the fight, Gina Carrano wrote a very nice post about you. I don't know if you saw it, but it was, here it is. Have you seen this?

I haven't. Well, it was in reaction to your post-fight press conference and you being, you know, emotional. One of the things that she says that, you know, you're humble, honest, happy. I feel like people don't truly know all that she has accomplished in boxing in MMA because she doesn't show it off. She has a more quiet, straightforward disposition when it comes to showing up the fight. She lets the fight speak for themselves. And then she's fun and playful in her everyday life. as she turns into the female version of Tim Allen from Home Improvement.

Holly doesn't do drama and she tells it how it is. So to see her showing her heart here means a lot, she's being very vulnerable and beautifully honest on how she feels. A lot of people agree. We love you, Holly, as a friend and fan, it's always an honor to watch you fight. You're a legend. And so she was very kind in the aftermath and wrote very nice things about you.

It also did sort of spark, hey, you're MVP. She's MVP. Would Holly versus Gina make sense? Is that of any interest to you? You know, Gina always is so good with words. Her and I are, like, some of the interviews before the fight, a lot of people were asking me about the Gina Carano and everything, and I still were friends, and we are.

Not that I get to go have lunch with other things like that, but her and I just through social media, you know, a message here and there, things she's done or going through, I am done, and like a very high mutual respect. And she always has such good words. I never have enough, like, good words to say back, you know. But all of that is so, it's mutual. I have so much respect for her and who she is and what she's done.

She's done a lot for the sport. She stands on her ground as well, and she's an honest person and a straightforward person and stands for what she feels right at times, even receiving, you know, a lot of backlash and things like that. So, but I, as a person, actually, I really respect Gina. I really do. she's a great, a great individual. She's got a good heart and done a lot in this sport.

And people do ask about that fight. If I ever fought Gina Carano, it would be out of pure respect for two of us just loving this sport and wanting to put on a good fight. So there's that. But my, because a lot of people ask about it. so I would only if it was a, you know, mutual agreed, but also, like, it would be out of pure respect for her. I have a lot of love for Gina Crono. What, in your heart of hearts, what would you like to end on, MMA or boxing? Does it matter?

I want to end on an awesome performance. Okay. I don't care what that is, you know. I want to go out there and make a statement, which, I mean, I want to do that with every fight. but if we're talking about if that's like, oh, how would you want your last fight to go? I'd want it to go, awesome, you know. I know you were locked in, but as you were doing media

and I think it was after our interview, on that same day, Ronda Rousey was doing media with K. Adams, and she sort of replied to something that you said on the show. Did you happen to see this answer from Rhonda? Yeah. She said she'd clean my clock or something like that or whatever. Yes, I was going to play it for you

if you hadn't seen it, but now I'm not going to play it for you. So I do wonder what did you think when you saw that? Yeah. Well, I mean, okay, the thing is, I say, you know, the whole reason why it was a huge upset is because she was such a dominant champion. And you never see me totally like smearing her name or anything like that. And you won't. But, I mean, like, ban to like that is like, I mean, what I thought to, if you honestly. Yes, of course.

I was, who was I with? And I was like, yeah, I mean, that's what she says. But I was like, before our last fight, she also said she thinks she's going to move around, hop around, and then kick me in the face and knock me out, but they ain't going to go down like that. That's how it went down. That's what I was thinking in my head. It's like, well, you can say one thing in actions or another, you know, like there's just, it, like, she's always going to be more of that type of person. And, you know, the thing is, I've always still rematch her. That's the bottom line.

She doesn't want it. She's never wanted it. And that's all right. That's all right. But you say she doesn't want it, but then she said she would have, or she would clean your clock. And so that would suggest, no? Do you think she doesn't want to give you that opportunity? Do you think she holds any animosity towards you and doesn't want to gift you the fight?

Sure. Sure, and she does have a big name. That would be the big fight. She's like, you would need me in order to have a fight like that. That's probably what she's thinking in her pride. And that would be the biggest fight. You do need both of us for that. So there's no lie in that.

But I don't think that she really wants to, and I'm not even madder for it. I don't want someone to get in there and fight if they don't want to actually fight. Because I want someone who wants it. but that's just, I feel like it's just one of the things a lot of people ask about, you know, I think a lot of people think that like this didn't happen, you know, back in the day, because I don't even know why, but it's never been because I said no.

No. I 100% always said she wants to rematch, I'll give it to her. And I have respect for her. She was a dominant champion. And she is good at, she just came back and did her thing. She's good at what she does. She is. She's still a threat with that.

With any girl that's out there in the top ten, she's still a threat with what she's good at. She just has hold in the other thing. But she's that good at her skill set. There's nobody out there that can do what she does with, with her set-ups to her arm bars and things like that. She's good at it. It would be incredible to watch.

It's one of the great what-ifs. I'm wondering if you didn't fight Misha, And then, of course, Misha loses to Amanda, and then it becomes Amanda versus Rhonda. And you just waited for her. And so you waited that whole year until she came back in December. Do you think she would have come back to fight you? Or do you think? No, you don't think so.

Think so. But, okay, even if she... Oh. Oh. My thing fell. I'm not to just hold it. So the thing is, that was, what, over a year later that she fought Amanda? Yeah, it was December.

So December of the following year and a month. Yeah. Okay. So that's the thing. Okay. If I would not have fought, do I need to do this way? Sorry. Yeah, no, it's all good.

I'm a little computer illiterate. So if I would not have fought and I just waited for the rematch. Yep. You know, then there's people that are like, oh, we want, they're just sitting, just holding on to the belt because they like it. They don't want to take any risk. Like, we want an active champion. Like that, stuff like that would have happened.

You know, it's like, oh, she's just waiting for money. She doesn't really want to fight. She just wants to hold on. Like, that's what would have been said if I just waited over a year. I don't even know what the rules are. Can you even wait over a year? Are they going to vacate the boat, you know? So it's like, for a while I was like, well, I don't know.

How long are we waiting until it does she want to? Is she coming back? There was no answer. So it was like, well, then I want to keep fighting. And I'm a fighter. I didn't, like, I don't want to just, like, hold on to, you know, one win and just, like, never do anything again. I wanted, I mean, my goal was to go back and win and defend the belt. And, yeah, I talk about some, that was frustrating at the time, you know, go from a real big high to a real big low and things like that.

But it's like, I wanted to keep fighting. And I was a champion. I was supposed to. that's what you do. So it's like, I don't really think, it's like I was like, oh, I'm only going to sit here and wait. Oh, of course. She wanted to come back, you know?

Well, it's one of those stories that I don't know if we'll ever get like the resolution. I'll never know. No, we'll never know. But let's see how the dust settles here. And I appreciate you coming on talking about all of this. I know you're upset. I saw you afterwards walking outside. And then I think they called you back inside.

You just wanted to get out of that arena, I think. and I didn't blame me. Yeah, they asked for want to do media. I was getting ready to leave, and I was like, no, I'll go do media. Okay, all right. Everybody only wants to talk to media in a way. I'll go talk to them. I'm not, I'm not, I was definitely frustrated.

You know, you can't go back and change it. But I thought, no, I'll go, I'll go do media. Respect, much respect. And it was an honor to be in there getting a chance to watch that, you know, in person and interview you before and after. So thank you so very much, Holly. All the best. And we'll talk to you soon.

Thanks so much for doing this. Yeah, we'll do have and comes next. All right. Thanks. Good luck. There she is. Holly Home, a class act, pros, pro. You don't hear that often.

But she's right. You know, the mentality is everyone wants to talk to media after when. There are some who believe win or lose, you got to speak. So, well done. It was a very busy Saturday around the world of combat sports. And we talked about on Monday's program how BKFC had a very successful show over in the UK, Birmingham, to be exact. And to me, the highlight was the debut of Darren Till.

I think for the longest time, we didn't think Darren Till would ever fight in bare-knuckle FC. And though he did that, and it was a little dicey at the beginning, but he figured it out in the second round and knocked out Aaron Chomers. The founder, the owner of BKFC is David Feldman. He's kind enough to join us right here now to talk about that and a whole lot more. There he is. Great to talk to you again, David.

Thank you for joining us. And off the bat, happy anniversary. I know yesterday was the eight-year anniversary of BKFC. That's an incredible, incredible distinction. Absolutely, man. Thanks so much for having me, Ariel. It's been a roller coaster eight years, but we're still going, and we're still going in the right direction.

I bet there was a point maybe. Tell me if I'm wrong, where you thought you'd never see eight years? I mean, there's points every week that I don't think I'll see the next year. But at the end of the day is we're fighters. We have a fight promotion. The company itself is fighters, and we always figure it out. So how was that show? I heard over 7,000 fans there.

It seemed electric, Darren's debut. Just in general, it seems like you've really found something in the UK. There's a great fan base there, right? Yes, it's a tremendous fan base there. You know, I went to a show we did earlier in a year there for the first time that I've been there since we did Wembley Arena in 2022 with MVP. and Mike Perry. And I just was like, wow, man, this really caught on here. And I want to be a part of the, like, I want to press the gas pedal.

I want to make this thing really go in the UK. And I think that right now is the perfect time for it. I'm talking to a lot of the big guys over there. And they're all very, very excited about the sport of Barrennuckle right now. It's very big over there. There's multiple promotions over there. But we're leading to charge. And we're signing a lot of big names.

We have a lot of former boxing world champions that we're talking to right now. We're going to do a very, very big show in Manchester on September 26th, and that's going to be the start of some really great things in the UK. We didn't speak after the Darren News was announced, and so I'm wondering how hard was it to get that deal done? Because it feels like you guys were flirting for quite some time. Yeah, you know, I don't know if he really wanted to do it at first, but, you know, we talked to and we got there.

He has a good team with him that I was able to talk to, and Lee Eaton was one of the first. of the guys that put this together for us. He's also big with Queensberry boxing over there. So it was once I got with him, it was kind of easy to get the deal done because he understood how to get deals done, good guy, and Darren wanted to do it. And I think, you know, he was a little shaky on it, didn't know if he really wanted to do it. They get tapped in the first round, got dropped, got back up, and scored a very nice knockout. And it's kind of what we wanted to see. We wanted to see what happens if Darren Till faced a little adversity in BKFC. Because

nobody gets a soft landing. And you might think that, you know, like this guy's a soft landing. This guy was 2-0 in Barrenuckle with us, and he also had other barrencle fights. He was not a soft landing, and you can see it right there. He cracked Darren, dropped him, but Darren got up, got his composure, and scored a nice knockout. Yeah, it was unbelievable. It was scintillating stuff. What a great finish.

What a great fight. Very, very fun. What a knockout that was. I mean, just hurts to watch it. Do you have any sort of sense? I haven't talked to Darren since. you say that he was a little bit trepidacious, and I agree I got that sentiment as well.

How does he feel about bare knuckle after the fact? Unbelievably excited. Like really truly excited. I mean, we're talking all the time. It's, I mean, I didn't see this from him at all prior to the fight, but now it's just like, let's take this over. You know, let's see how we can do. Let's talk about our deal.

Like, let's get this thing going in the right direction. So he's happy. We're happy. And, you know, we think we have someone good. especially for the UK over there. Can I ask, how many fights did he sign for? He signed for three fights, and we'll see what happens. We're going to talk about extending that a little bit.

We have something big plan for him, tentatively, a couple different names for that September 26th show that we're going to do, and I just want to get him back in there. We got tremendous viewership, tremendous social media engagement, tremendous online engagement. It was really, really unbelievable. So I'm very excited about him, especially for the UK, like I said. That September 26th show, where is that? That's going to be in Manchester at the A.O. Okay. Wow, that's a great arena over there. I've been there. And so you talk about big things. Can you tell us what you're thinking of, what you got in the works?

I can. I mean, I'm working on it right now. I know one of these three names that I have is going to come to fruition and it's going to be a big show and i've got a very popular former two-time boxing world champion from up there too that we should sign next week for the show and just a lot of great guys on the undercard um you know i i wish this was next week because i could drop the announcements but like uh you should tell me you had good i asked i would have i didn't know it has some big names over there i definitely have some big names it's going to it's going to be a great show we're looking to do 18 000 there wow that show and uh and i don't think we're going to have a hard time selling it out.

You know, the frustrating thing for me as a fan, I think I speak for a lot of fans, is how do we get to a point where you're in business with Darren Till, and it appears as though you're not in business with Mike Perry, because that's the fight we've been talking about for like seven, eight years. And so where do we stand with Mike Perry? We'll see what happens. I mean, look, Mike, I think we both really helped each other. 100%.

We got into a great part point in his career. He became a multimillionaire with us, and that's great. And that's what we're here to do. You know, we're here to help change fighters' lives. He went on and obviously looked very, very good against Nate Diaz. And we'll see what's next. We're going to talk to the team. And, you know, we'll see what's next with that.

But it is a little mess up that, you know, Mike wanted that fight. And now Darren wants that fight. And let's see if we can make it happen. I'm very confident we can make that happen. I'm not so confident we can make it happen for September. But I'm very, very confident that we can make that fight happen. That was my next question. How would you describe the state of your relationship with Mike?

I mean, I think it's good. I don't know how he feels, but, you know, like I said, we had a very good relationship. We let him go and, you know, contractually, he still has two fights with us, and we let him go and do what he had to do. We knew he was going to get a lot of publicity with the Nate Diaz fight we do, was able to make some money, and it was a good opportunity for him. So we'll see. I mean, look, whatever happens on Mike Perry, I wish in the best. I feel like I had an impact on his life personally. We had a lot of talks, and I think I had an impact on his life personally.

I think that he was able to grow as a human being and obviously grow as a fighter, and he made a lot of money, so I'm happy for him. By the way, I thought that he had no fights left. You say you have two more with him, so then wouldn't it be easy to make the fight? It is, but it's a little difficult with, with the way that we had the outs in the contract. But we, you know, we'll figure it out. Like I said, hopefully we can get it done.

And if we can't, you know, we're going to move on. And there's a lot of guys that are very excited about bare knuckle fighting right now. It took us a long time to get to a point where we were accepted from everybody. And everybody thought that this was a great sport, especially like in the UK and internationally, it is completely blown up there to viewership over there. It's just tremendous. A lot of the different things that we're going to do, a lot of the places we're going. We're actually going to be announced in two new countries on Monday and Wednesday of next week that we're going to be doing shows in.

So, I mean, the expansion and just how big Barrenuple fighting in general is getting all over the world, it's really truly unbelievable for us. Can I ask that show on Saturday? That wasn't on DeZone. It was, I think, for us in America on the app, right? Why was that? We had the app. We also had different pay-per-view partners. It did very, very good internationally, and it did good domestically.

The reason why it wasn't on the zone, they had a fight already scheduled. Dimitri Bivel, and it was going up against Champions League, and they didn't think that it was going to perform, but the viewership said otherwise. So you feel vindicated by that? Yeah, I mean, it did great. I mean, I won't say vindicated. I don't think that they did anything wrong to us. I just, I said, I'm telling you this thing's going to perform the way it's going to perform,

and they didn't think it was going to, going up against Champions League. Got it did. Till's beloved, yeah, absolutely. Can I ask you how Connor Tierney is doing? Pretty gruesome, great. Jaw footage afterwards that we saw.

Yeah, he's doing great. He got a plate putting his jaw. He's on the men. He retired after the fight, and now he's talking about one to fight again. Tremendous heart, tremendous guy. I really like him. Great family, man.

I like everything about that. kid and the guy that he fought Rico Franco, he just looks sensational. I mean, he really looks sensational. He's got a great story. He had a colostomy bag. He was very, you know, very sick, and he was able to really almost cheat death in order to come back for this fight, get himself in the best shape of his life and look sensational. So that was a great victory for him. How was he able to fight with that? I saw the photo of, I mean, it's just, that's wild. He has it kind of plugged up and then patched. Golly.

But he's been medically cleared. But I mean, this was, he, I don't know if you have the old picture of him. You don't have the old picture of him. He don't have the old picture where he was sick, but he looked very, very sick. Okay. And then he got the surgery. He got better. And, you know, we're going to build with him.

We're going to build with a lot of these guys all over the world. I'm very, very excited. You know, we have rough times in building a business as everybody does. And we're in a great place right now. And I'm very excited about the future of BKFC more than I've ever been. Wow. I just think that the sport of Bareknuckle has a lot more, it's accepted a lot more, a lot more acceptance than it ever has in the history of obviously in Bearknuckle Fighting,

which is now eight years, and it's getting accepted everywhere, and it's going to be great. I feel like, you know, your read on the situation is right, because it's no longer like, oh, what is this, or this is the place where careers go to die, like guys like Till going over there and Perry, he did his thing. One guy that I got a chance to speak to a couple of months ago, who I will admit I was terrified by, but I'm captivated by as well as Zim Salmani. This dude, man, I mean, just talking to him via Zoom,

I was terrified of him. Could you tell me when we may see him again and what your plans are of him? Because he is something. We're going to see him again in August. We're working on a big card. We just need, we're waiting on one thing to happen next week. And if it happens, it's going to be an iconic card, and he'll be on that card at the end of August in the United States.

And then I have some big plans for him. I think that we can build him into a star. He obviously knows how to sell. He knows how to pitch. And he can fight. So he has really everything that we need. We're definitely going to build him into a star. And I think he already started, obviously, coming from the WWE, he knows how to sell a fight.

Yeah. I want to ask you about a couple of items regarding the company. One, is it true only boxing shorts now? no more Muay Thai or anything like that and if so why no that's not sure that's not true okay read that not accurate you wear whatever you want yeah i mean basically whatever you want we are we're not uniforming but we are just tightening it up a little bit uh don't uniform dave come on we we don't want the you know i said no we're not we're not uniforming i mean it's it's it's part of the reason why the fighters you know look i give them opportunities to sell sponsorships

and a lot of other companies don't but i mean want them to make extra money as long as It's not competing with the sponsors that are funding us to be able to fund the company. Okay, that's the tightening up that you're referring to? Yeah. Okay. The tournament, the $25 million tournament. Now, 2027, where do we stand with this? That's great.

It's great. I mean, we still have an 100% announcement within the next two weeks, signed a deal. Oh. Last week with the network, it's signed, sealed, and delivered. Oh. It's just going to be announced within the next 10 to 14 days. We're just working on with the network for the... Which network?

his own? For the timing. Or another network. Another network. Dave, this is like the sixth thing that you've told me you can't tell us today. This is crazy. This is one big team. I mean, I have an obligation to them.

Is it a big network? It's a big one. And you'll see it in two weeks. It's going to be very, very good. It's good for the company. Look, at times, I told you how that $25 million tournament started. You know, I just kind of threw it out there. And then I had to go back it up, and it wasn't as easy to back up

as I thought it was. It wasn't as easy to put together, but it's finally all the puzzle pieces are together and we're ready to make that announcement. Obviously, you're tied to Connor McGregor. He's back. You were telling us for a long time that he was going to come back.

My understanding is he has two fights left on his deal and he didn't have to sign an extension. Have you guys just talked casually about, hey, what would life look like after that second fight? Because even his manager, Auditarr said, we want to come back quickly. We don't want to wait around. And so by this time next year,

he could conceivably be free. I mean, he could be. He could be. Look, I want him to do what's best for him for his career and what he wants to do. I think what he would want to do is help, help, you know, skyrocket a company that he's involved in. So we had talked about that in the past, and he said, I'm definitely going to be doing this. I'm definitely fighting bare-knuckle. So I don't want to get in a way of what he's doing right now with the UFC for this fight coming up and getting the middle of their promotion. but I would not be surprised if after his second fight, his third fight, then would be with BKFC.

Okay. I would not be surprised at all. Wow. That would be wild. I do wonder, this is your first time working with him while he's preparing for a fight. Is he more like, don't bother me now? Has he been as involved? Do you still hear from him?

Yeah, I mean, he's not coming to the fights as much. Obviously, he's not posting as much. He's concentrated. but anytime I reach out to him, he gets back to me for any type of business decisions that we need to make that I want his advice on. And he also just reaches out to me to talk about other things. He's super focused.

He's living in his gym, literally living in his gym. He's super focused. But like I said, last time, but this time it really truly is now the best kind of McGregor that I have ever known. Will you be attending on July 11th? Yeah, I'll be there, yes for sure. When's the last time you went to a UFC? was it the time you went up to Dana White?

Yes. Wow. How long ago was that? That was, if my memory serves me, Atlantic City, was it 2012? 12 or 13 years ago, yeah. Golly, that is, okay. Are you going to walk him out, perhaps? No, I'm not going to walk him out.

That would be some kind of scene. Can I ask you about Frankie Edgar, last week competed in RAF, and he had this to say to MMA junkie that the experience with you guys left a bad taste in his mouth. He said, you know, they waved this big person in front of my face, then I get all in. a week away, they pull it out for me. I just felt like I got done dirty. That just pissed me off, honestly. Well, I mean, look, like I said before, we were looking out for the safety to fighters. Our team thought that that was the best decision to make, and he got paid, you know, a good chunk of his purse not to fight. So if that's doing him dirty, then we did him dirty.

Okay. Would you ever consider having him back, or do you think that that chip has sailed? I mean, I could consider having him back. I don't make a hard feelings against him, but, you know, medically, it would have to be aware where my team felt comfortable. And maybe they do now. Maybe they would. Maybe after competing in RAF and, you know, I don't know. I really don't know. But at the end of the day, to me, that's news is in the past. And there's not much to talk about there. One great story recently, Andre Arlovsky. When will we see him again defending that title? So Andre injured his hand. And then when he got the surgery, something that'll happen in the operation. He had to get redone.

I was hoping he was going to come back in September, but it looks more likely towards the end of the year. Okay. You know, we met a young man named Alex Terrible. He gave me this. Terrifying, man. You fought on your Blood for Blood Event. That was quite the scene over there.

Are you going to do more of that type of stuff? Yeah, I mean, we'll do more of it, but, you know, we don't want to turn it into a gimmick. We're definitely going to do it again, absolutely, whether it's once a year or twice a year, but it's not going to be like a monthly thing or anything like that. It was something,

like I'm not into that kind of music at all, but watching the event, I was like, wow, this is very much a well-put-together event, and it really worked. It just worked with their fans and our fans, and it was a great event.

Danny Wimmer is the guy who put together the music festivals. We had a great partnership there with him, and we're definitely going to do other things. But Alex is, you know, I think he got tested in that fight. he found out that he can't do this part-time. So next fight that he is going to do with us, he's going to make sure he's not on tour, obviously,

and then he can concentrate on fighting because he definitely fights better than he performed that night. Is he open to that? He wants it. That's why I wouldn't even have said that. I'm not trying to pull him into fighting. He wants it, he wants it for sure. Wow, wow.

Okay. Let me see if I got this right. Tomorrow, June 4th, BKFC fight night in Hollywood, Julian Lane versus Bryce Henry. June 19th in Nashville, June 26th in Hammond. July 3rd, this is a fun one at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Liberty Brawl, which is the day before, of course, July 4th, July 25th in Uruguay, and then you're over to Sturgis during that big...

Oh, actually, you missed one. We got July 18th in Italy. Okay, wow, which part? Yeah, in Naples. Do you go to every single one of these? I don't go to every single one, but I will go to that one. I will go to Uruguay. I'll go to the first ones and all of them, but I've been going to all them because I just want to make sure.

It's just weird, Ariel, and I'm not like patting myself in the back at all. But when I'm there, I give them the speech that I give them, I'm at ringside. I'm tapping on the canvas. I'm making, I just feel like my presence makes them fight harder because, you know, I'm encouraging them to fight. I'm encouraging them to get up from a knockdown and then go fight more, and I'm offering them bonuses. So I think that I kind of need to be at almost every event. There's some, obviously, I can't be. I just can't go to every event.

It's not physically possible. But we're very, very busy right now. And when we make these couple announcements in the next couple weeks, it's going to open a lot of eyes that, you know, listen, sometimes I do talk and before everything's completely done. And then I have to go figure it out while I figured it out. So we'll make the announcements coming up soon. Well done.

Yeah, I had a chance to witness one of those speeches back in Newark in October, and I felt it. It was a great, great experience. Really, really enjoyed that. Thank you. Thanks, Harry, all right. Well done on all the great success. Looking forward to those announcements, and perhaps we could talk about them when they're all out there and everyone can digest it. Yeah, man, we certainly will, man.

Love being here with you. You know, you've always given us a fair shake, and you've always given us an opportunity, and I can't tell you much. I appreciate that. Thank you, David. the best. Congrats. Thank you. Take care. Bye-bye. There he is. The founder and CEO of Bear Knuckle Fighting Championship, BKFC. Big show on Saturday. Lots of events coming up all over the world, really. And that July 3rd one is going to be a fun one. So what are you telling me? You're telling me BKFC can do an event in Philadelphia and the UFC can't do one in Washington the day before

July 4th? I mean, come on. July 4th is what? Is a Saturday? No, it's a Sunday. It's July 4th, Saturday or Sunday this year? Sunday. I believe it's a Saturday? It's a Saturday, right? It's a Saturday. Yeah, so they're doing a Friday show. Who's to check?

Is there going to be World Cup on? Like, what's the big... Yeah, there's World Cup on July 4th. That's the big sporting event, you think? Well, then there's Wemble and, you know, hot dog eating cock. Hot dog. Is chestnut in it? He's in.

He's back. He's back. No. Come on. Kubeashi has been gone for a decade. I know, but there was always rumors that he might come back. No, no, he's... Has he competed since the Netflix.

Joey only wasn't allowed because he switched to the vegan Franks, remember, and they didn't want to change their rules and do the vegan for him. It wasn't related to, like, disagreement. Joey switched to vegan? Yeah. He got a sponsorship.

He got a sponsorship and was doing vegan hot dogs. But it wasn't, like, an ethical thing. No, no, he wanted them to let him do his partner's hot dogs. Did he, did he become vegan? No, no, no. I think he was just getting paid. No, he's coming back to eat the beef francs now. Yeah, he's back to the beef.

Shout to Joe Chesna. So was there a controversy, people saying like, this is not fair? Yeah. Nathan's didn't want him to eat the non-Nathens dog. This is why he did the Kobayashi. Oh, wow. I didn't realize. I thought he had a contract dispute or something.

Yeah, last year was a very watered down product without him. Yeah, who won again? It was it Bertoletti? Billy Franks. It might have been Bertoletti. Yeah. You guys know the name of guys not. Jeffrey Esper?

I've talked about this. Low key. I'm sort of like tapped into that scene. Remember, I worked. You guys know the number. two and three guys in this world? Bertoletti was a bit of an upset. He wasn't expected to come up. Burtoletti is the deep dish king.

Yes. I spent the whole week with these guys. I think we have our dates wrong. So Chesna, it appears, did compete last year. One. Oh, Jesus. 24. Misinformation. Ferdaleigh.

204 was Bertoletti. Oh, so 24. Wait, so when did you do the Kobayashi thing? 2024 also? Yeah, 2024 he did. Holy shit. He came back last year? Yeah. That was a big deal. I remember that. It was like MJ coming back.

Oh, we didn't remember. Was he away for a little bit with the vegan dogs? I don't remember a lot of the vegan dogs. Yes. He didn't compete in 2024. What do you guys know about Tim Janice, Eater X? Oh, yeah. Am I or no?

Sure. He came. What do you know about Badlands Chugs? The guy who wins the lemonade? Yeah. Yo, I spent the whole week with these guys, including Kobayashi in his prime. In Vegas, Fremont Street. One dude ate, I remember, I don't forget, he ate like a 16 egg omelet and a raw.

and a raw, we went to the grocery. So I was a segment producer for Spike, and they did the, it was like some Las Vegas thing. We also did one in Savannah, Georgia, on St. Patrick's Day when they have that big parade. And this guy, we went to the grocery store, he eats a 16 egg omelet,

and he buys literally a piece of steak and just eats it, straight up, nothing. Open the packaging and ate the steak. That's absurd, right? Yeah, it's a little bit absurd, man. I would die. I would literally die. I would keel over.

Have you guys ever seen Kobayashi against the grizzly bear? I feel like I've seen that. Where was that? I was on Fox. It was like a national special. Oh, yes. But like 10 or so years ago? Oh, probably 20 at this point.

Yeah, when they were doing things like athletes against animals, right? It was man versus beast. Man versus beast. Yeah. Who won? Grizzly bear smoked his ass. It wasn't close. Dude, sucked down 75 dogs in like three minutes.

You ever see those videos where they put like a platter of all kinds of weird meats in front of like a massive dog and they like count him down and they just scarfs it in one shot. Nah, but I believe it. It's wild. The way the grizzly bear

went at the hot dogs, they actually rewatch that this weekend. Just for fun. Yeah, I mean, it's so ridiculous. It's so ridiculous to have announcers and everything. Michael Buffer is the intro

for Kobayashi and the grizzly bear. Grizzly bear's representing America because it's an Alaskan grizzly bear. It's great shit. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching. I love it. All right.

Well, in a matter of moments, I do believe we're going to be joined by Corey Sanhagen, who's returning to action on the 11th of July International Fight Week against Mario Batista, which is an important fight, but it's also a rematch. How many people remember that this fight actually first happened on the very first ESPN card? Way back in the day, January of 2019, UFC on ESPN Plus numero uno. No. Actually, it was January of 2019, and it was, I think, January 19th, if my memory serves me correct. Was it January 19th? I think it was 119, 2019. Am I right about that? Yes, I was right about that. Brooklyn, New York. I don't think On Air Jordan was working on the UFC stuff back then, right?

man look at this attendance was 12,000 solid gate 1.3 million a 1.3 million a 1.3 million dollar gate today would be a disaster right? Is it the first fight? Was it on the main card? First fight ever on ESPN or was it first fight? Was the, oh, yes, that's right. That's right. One, two, three, four. I think the prelims were on ESPN, if my memory serves me correct. That's right. That's right.

What a distinction. So we will talk to him about that. Then we'll answer a few more questions. And then we shall call it day. You know what's been the best part about today's show for about two hours and 30 minutes? I haven't thought about anything pertaining to tonight's game. Not that I'm trying to avoid it, but the nerves, the butterflies have dissipated. How are you doing?

John, you're the only other Knicks fan on the team. How are you holding up? I'm doing great. I'm excited. I'm seeing Danhausen threatened Stephen A. It makes me a little worried. That does make me worried. Yeah, we can't have a problem with it.

Stephen A, if you're listening, in which I know you are. Just whatever Danhaus wants, Danhaus gets. Yeah, come on, enough already. Like, like the mental sanity of an entire nation rests on this guy. Prediction? Do you have a prediction? Yeah, Nixon 4, baby. Stop.

The Nixon 4 is crazy. You don't really believe. believe that, right? Nixon 4 until it's Nixon 5. All right, fine. But in your heart of hearts, truly, level of confidence? As I said, you know, I'm a very level-headed fan, and I knew as the game got closer, I'd be like, ah, Nix has this in the bag.

Let's go Nixon 6, for real. You really believe it, though? In all my heart of hearts, I'm watching OKC Spurs, Game 7. I'm like, the Spurs, they don't really have that much height. I know they got one guy that's tall, but, I mean, Luke Cornet doesn't instill up here at me. All right, all right, all right. Okay, we have located Mr. Sanhagen. Without further ado, let us say hello to the aforementioned Corey Sannehagan, who's returning in a little over a month's time in Las Vegas. Yes, there he is. Hello, Corey. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing, Ariel? Your pick, your pick, finals pick. Do you care? For basketball? Yes. Don't care.

Damn, all right, sorry. I thought. I cared about the avalanche plan, but they kind of got taken out. What happened? Your boy McKinnon. It happens, I guess. It does happen. It's not going to talk shit about it. McKinney's That's my That guy Watching that guy play is crazy He's like

One of the most elegant hockey players I've ever seen And for the record I didn't want you To talk shit That's my boy too As a proud Canadian

I was gutted for him Not winning a gold medal And he had a couple Chances in that game So I was We love him We love him Even though he plays

For Colorado So I was not trying To get you To talk shit about him Mario Batista Part 2 Your level of excitement

interest happiness When this was the offer Yeah, I'm happy with it I think Mario is one of the better guys in the division Honestly I think that he caught a lot of flack for like Having a boring fight against Aldo or whatever But then he's just shown up in his last few and been kicking ass

So yeah, I think Mario I'm happy with the opponent I think that he's really tough and And he's on his way up too So it's not like this is like a Like a new guy who hasn't proven himself I feel like Mario's done a really good job of proving himself in the division, so I'm excited to fight against him. The reason I asked that is because obviously you beat him back in 2019,

and so I wondered if there was the same type of motivation as opposed to you fighting someone that you have never been before. No, it was so long ago now. Like, I think that was maybe the first ESPN card even. It was. It was kind of time. Yeah, it was a long time ago now. And, you know, Mario took it on short notice,

so you got to give him props for that, too, you know. and yeah I think it's going to be a much tougher fight obviously than this one he's like kind of been in the game for a little bit of time now so yeah Mario is going to come ready and that dude always shows up in fights

you could tell that he has like good grit and good heart to him and I don't really have a bad thing to say about him honestly I think Mario's a really good competitor obviously you made it clear who you wanted next but once that was not available anymore did you ask for him or did they offer you him who Mario?

Yeah like did they the UFC say, hey, we got this idea? Or did you say, all right, if it's not going to work out here, like, give me this guy. This is who I want. I'm pretty sure the UFC offered him. But I kind of knew that that was the only guy that wasn't booked at the time anyway. So I kind of assumed that that's what they were going to do even before they did that. How will you feel, where will you be next Sunday when O'Malley's fighting Amos-Habia?

Are you going to hate watch it? Are you going to be like, man, this is BS. I should be in there. I'm not going to hate watch it. The thing about me, man, is I kind of go in between trying to be like a good dude with like compassion in his heart and kind of like nice and loving and all of that stuff and just understand that we're all kind of just trying to make our own personal dreams come true and all of that. But then I have to kind of operate inside of like a super competitive world that like brings my mind and my brain away from that big time. So yeah, it can be a little bit difficult. but I really try to be like the version of me that I like being more,

which is like, hey, I hope that O'Malley and Zahavi. I hope that they do a great job in the fight. I hope it's a good fight, and I hope it does really good for both of their careers, and that can exist at the same time that I want my career to do well, too. So I don't know, it's kind of weird. It's like I always try to compare it to I'm trying to be like the Buddha and Michael Jordan in one lifetime, and it's really difficult. And, yeah, that's kind of like the fucking story in my life a little bit,

is trying to be those two people because you got to be kind of a killer and be competitive and all of that stuff. But then, you know, who wants to be, who wants to live like that? That sounds like a shitty-ass way to live. So, yeah, so that's how I feel about it. I hope that they do good. Okay. Today. That's how I feel today. Which version of you tends to show up more? Usually it's the nicer one. But every once in a while, I feel like I get drawn into being and kind of like doing what I see other people do so that I can have success like them as well too,

which might be the case, but also I know that I'm kind of a unique guy just in general, but definitely a unique guy in this sport. And so shying away from that uniqueness, I've never been happy with myself about doing that in the past, not that I've made any crazy stupid decisions or anything, but it just kind of turns me a little bit inside that I don't really dig that.

feeling so no I try to be that dude but like I said it's hard especially when fights get big and your ego gets involved and stuff it kind of gets difficult being that but that's okay so there have been times where you kind of get a little bit heated and you say stuff and then after the fact you're like man I wish I didn't go there I wish I didn't do that I mean yeah nothing crazy I mean you've never really said anything outlandish but I wonder if you like feel bad like you just don't even want that friction yeah I do feel bad I don't I don't really like feeling like I'm creating like suffering in someone's life. That's kind of a not great feeling. But also that's kind of what we're doing a little bit in the fight game.

So yeah, I try to not be soft about it while at the same time just kind of understanding that I don't really want to be that guy either. I think that you could be hard and tough and still like kind to people too. I do wonder if it's actually beneficial for you to lean that way because you you do have like a sort of like fun quirky side to you, the jokes, the videos and whatnot. And while everyone is being like, er aggressive, you stand out by being the complete opposite. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's more, I mean, that's why I make all of my video. I mean, the silly videos are one, but I mean, I do all of the breakdowns and stuff on YouTube and try to keep a lot of my like Instagram very positive is because I don't like like the sport is so much more and so much

more beautiful to me than a bunch of guys getting together on the weekend getting drunk and then like wanting to see like people get bloody like that's that's okay that's like a big part of it and I enjoy fights where people fight really stupid and it's super entertaining too you know but but to me the sport is just such a more beautiful thing and it's like a really it's it's like a super cool art to me and I don't really that that's the side of that I try to show people and I try to lean into big time is because that's what it is to me. And yeah there's like a gritty ugly side to it too but there's also like a lot of beauty going on and just a lot of really cool technical things that are going on that are outside the entertainment piece but make the fights the most important or the

they make the fights awesome and that's I think what people really really care. about. And so just curious, unrelated to any of this, like this video game that you were playing, you know the one I'm talking, this one, this has nothing to do with any of that, right? That's just that's just for fun. Yeah, that's just for fun. That's me trying to capture emails. Who's that? That guy kind of looks familiar. Yeah, yeah. See, so that's like one of those are just like, yeah, but that's like, I don't think that I'm going to like hurt Sean O'Malley's feelings by something stupid

like that, you know, but you know, so that, that's a real that game? Is it a real game? No, it's not. How do you make that? I think that you can't, I actually think that if you do comment on that, it will send you a link to the game, but the game is like something that like,

you know, it's like, well, I mean, that was oldest shit. Like, that's not hard to make. Oh, wow. But I do think it is a real game. Okay, wow. Who knew? Who knew? I had no idea.

But I do understand what you mean. I mean, even on your YouTube now, it seems like it's just a lot of breakdowns and stuff like that. It's less, you know, maybe less mocking or skits and things like that. Yeah, yeah. The skits, I'm a little bit, I just got too much stuff going on to do the skits. I'm just going to do normal blogs of my every day for this upcoming one. Just because the skits kind of take time and energy like mentally. so I'm not going to do that this time.

But yeah, I just try. I think that the sport's a really awesome sport, and I think that there's a lot of beauty in it, and that's just where I try to keep my lane. Do you wish that you would have fought like months ago after the Morab fight? If it was up to you, would you prefer to come back in like March or April?

Yeah, definitely. I think I was asking for February. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. But, you know, it kind of worked out for me. You know, I mean, this card is, I'm two fights before Connor McGregor and Max Holloway, so that's gigantic. And then also the amount of eyes that are going to be on this fight, I think, are going to be...

Yeah. I don't know. Do you think that there will be more eyes or less eyes on this one versus the White House? What do you think? You know what? That's a fascinating question. You'll probably be about the same, huh? Can I be honest?

I think more. I think more. On the McGregor one? Yeah. I think that that probably draws in more of a global crowd than the... Yeah. I think the people, yeah, they don't care. Like, someone in Ireland, like, yeah, cool.

Like, they're not necessarily staying up because it's at the White House. And McGregor trumps all in the comeback. And I think especially if that final week is like vintage McGregor with the press conference and all that, yeah, I think more. I think it's a great spot for you, actually. Yeah, definitely. I love it. I was pumped when they told me that that's what they were going to do. I was super grateful.

I was like, hell yeah, that's awesome because, you know, I don't know how many millions of views in normal UFC. fight gets but I get the opportunity to probably fight in like 3x 4. I don't know how many more people are going to be watching McGregor but shit I know if I wasn't fighting I'd be watching so so yeah I'm excited for that for sure I get a deal have a lot of eyes on me and I think the UFC did me and Mario for a reason you know like me and that dude are scrappers and and yeah it's going to just be an amazing fight and and yeah I can't really wait for it can you put your analyst head for us. How do you think that goes that main event, McGregor versus Holloway?

I think at 170, it's interesting because Connor is going to have a lot of pop, but Connor gets really tired. And I think that if Max can weather and get through kind of McGregor's, you know, like athleticism and just fast twitchness that he kind of has going on in

the earlier rounds or in the early, you know, minute of every round or so, I think that Max will have some good success. But if Connor comes back and he's in really good shape and he kind of sets a good pace that that he can maintain and keep, I think that Connor and Connor will probably win, especially at 170. True or false, you felt less bad about not fighting O'Malley at the White House after you saw the kits that they're going to have to wear, the uniforms.

Yeah, they kind of look like those popsicles a little bit. Yes, yes, yes, I remember the rockets. Probably a scheme. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you made a pick for that one? have you made a pick for that fight who are you leaning towards omali is Zahabi or really uh no Amali's a hobby uh I think O'Malley will

almost certainly win but Zahabi definitely I've watched a lot of Zahubi's fights just because they were kind of I was in my head I was like well Zahavi's not he's not matched up so maybe they'll do me and Zahabia so I watched a bunch of Zahubi and I think he's going to be a harder problem to solve

than what Sean gives credit for, but also, Sean's very, very good, you know, I think a lot better than all of the other guys that Zahby's fought,

and I think that Sean will win just because he's better than him. But Zahby's, he's going to be like a tricky problem to solve. And Sean, I think he struggles with that sometimes, with trying to, like,

find his perfect shot. Sometimes he can be a little bit too much of a perfectionist. And I think that that works against him, so he'll have to deal with that, but even with that, I think that he'll win. The submission win over Batista, correct me if I'm wrong, that was your last submission, right? Probably, yeah, I haven't submitted a lot of guys. Is that, like, is that something that you think about?

Like, you know, I want to kind of top this or I want to recreate it. Like, do you want to try to get another sub against the same guy to show that you're still that dude? Do you think of that sort of thing? I like jokingly was like yeah I want to unbar him again you know but but Mario's not a slouch man and to treat Mario like he he's just like some dude that I'm going to walk through is like bizarre so sure no I'm going to go out and I've gotten really good we've put a lot of pieces to the puzzle together I think in this last you know a couple months and a lot of things are tying together and I know everyone always says this it'd kind of be not good if this wasn't the case but I feel like

I'm better now than I've ever been. And so, but so is Mario. So it's going to be a tough fight. And, and yeah, but I, I'm excited because Mario is going to be kind of the perfect opponent

to have a really competitive, challenging fight against on one of the biggest fights. Like, there's absolutely no way that this is going to be a boring fight by any means. And so, so yeah, so I'm grateful that Mario is going to be that guy. But, you know,

I definitely plan on winning too. So, turned into a better fighter than you thought he was going to be when you were first game planning for him? I know that was a short notice fight, but like he's turned into one of the best bantam weights in the world, a great stretch, nine and one, all that stuff in his last 10. Has he turned into a better fighter than you thought? I didn't really know what to, I guess so because, you know, I kind of walked through him the first time, so he probably didn't get an opportunity to look that good. And then And then I remember watching him a little bit as he was coming up.

He had like a couple fighting in the nights. And he showed that he was a really scrappy dude. And so, yeah, I don't know. Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect of him because you don't really know what to expect of anyone until they start fighting, like really tough guys. And they've been around for a while and they can show that they can be consistent and that they're going to get better and all of this stuff.

But no, I'm happy that he's doing really good job in the sport. You know, I think that he, every time I bump into him, he's really nice. And I think that me and him are a little bit cut from the same cloth where we kind of like being a little bit quieter. He's really into the sport. I could tell that that dude trains a lot. And so, so yeah, I feel like I have, while we're not friends or anything, I feel like I have some rapport with the guy. Considering you love breaking down fights so much, would you like to be on TV? Would you like to have one of those jobs?

I don't want a job where I have to talk for a living. Okay. I want to do it kind of on my own time and I want to do it in my own way. I mean, maybe if I felt like I was going to be good, I don't like doing things I'm not very good at. And I definitely, it would take me like some time to get good at that, although I do understand that like my bar for good is usually a little bit higher than like the normal standard of good. So I wouldn't want to sign up to do something like that unless I actually felt pretty proficient at, in which you can only get through practice. so I'd probably have to feel like a dumbass for quite some time before I felt like I started actually being good at that. But if it was like in a unique, like I could like go in front of a board and be like, hey, this is like the stuff that's going on, this is this, this is that. I feel like I could do that.

But if it's just like sit and chatting, shooting the shit and talking about fights, that's like not my favorite thing to do. I like being like, hey, this is what you do when this happens, then this happens. that this is what this type of person feels like and you can do these certain things but you'll get in trouble with these certain things. I like conversations like that, but yeah, sitting and talking. That's why I don't do podcasts and stuff

is because I'm just, that sounds like if I could sign up for anything that I would hate the most, it would be to like talk all day for a living. So do you hate this? Is this like you being at the dentist? No, no, I enjoy. I enjoy like short blurbs that are all about me because they're easy answers. Okay, perfect, perfect, perfect.

But, yeah, if I had to, like, talk about a bunch of other stuff, yeah, I just like talking about myself. How's Tiger Beetle doing? It's doing great. Yeah, I'm here right now. Me and my business partner and coach Carrington Banks are doing a really good job running this place. And we have this cool poster here that Chuck Norris signed. Hell yeah. Wow. It's pretty sweet. Yeah, yeah, I got it for, my mom goes to like a lot of, what are they called, estate sales.

And she got this poster. And Chuck Norris will sometimes reach out after fights and very used to and then say like, hey, nice job. You know, like that was really fun to watch, blah, blah, blah. And so I got this poster and I asked him to sign it after Christmas. And then he did, which was really kind of them. And then obviously he ended up passing away. So this thing is like a pretty special thing. to me now because he was really generous in doing that. So that's pretty cool, but the gym is doing really well, just in general.

I feel like a lot of the members here are really happy, which is really fun to see, and I'm making friends with a lot of them, too, so that was really, that's like just cool. And yeah, it's going really good. I saw Taturo Tira was there for a good amount of time. What do you think of that

fight? Yeah, Tatsuro, God, what a dog, huh? Yeah, what a fight. Yeah. Even with how upset he was about them calling the fight, like after having, you know, kind of taking a decent amount of damage. But yeah, Tutsuro's young, man, and he's such a quick, good learner. And I think that he's still in those years where you can, like, jam a bunch of information

in their heads. Like, at that age, I think he's, like, 23, 24, 25. A fighter at that age, like, you can really teach them a lot of stuff, and they can really, you know, go pretty far pretty quickly. Yeah, I'm excited for his next one, and I was proud of him for how he fought. It was a really tough fight, and he had to fight through some shit. So, yeah, good for him. I wish that he spoke a little bit more English so that we could kind of be a little bit better buddies.

But every time he comes out, it's a little bit better. So maybe next time he comes out. Will he be doing that? Will he be continuing to come back? Yeah, he usually does. So he was at the gym before us to at high altitude. I think maybe he even did a little bit of training there as well. but when we opened our place, obviously a decent amount of the guys came over here too,

and then Coach Banks coaches a bunch of those guys too, and Banks was helping him a bunch for that one, or for his last one, too. And then I coached some of the pro classes as well. So I was helping him out a little bit as well. But yeah, from my understanding, he usually comes out for his fights. He's been doing that for a couple of years now coming to Colorado. Okay, last one, Gai Chi Tuporia. Yeah, it's a tough one for Gachi, you know, everyone's going to, I mean, Gachi's my boy, but also I've been watching that dude fight for a really long time and you can't ever count Gachi out. I heard him say one time on an interview that he's like eight and three when he's been the underdog or something or something like crazy statistic like that. So people, you know, they say whatever they say about his technique and how Gachi fights and all of that stuff. But fighting is kind of a different animal.

especially when you have someone that hits so hard in front of you and has the spirit that Gachi has. And Gachi is really technical in his own way too. I know that people kind of say whatever they want to say about that. But Gachi, there is like a method to his madness and you don't oops your way into winning a UFC world title. So, yeah, I'm excited for the fight. I think Ely is super dangerous. He's definitely, you know, number one in the sport. And yeah, I mean, Gaiji is.

has a really tough fight, but obviously, you know, you got two sides and love and war, and I got Gatchi winning. I love it. Thank you, Corey. Appreciate it very much. Good luck to you in the last month of training, and good luck on July 11. Can't wait for it. All right.

Cool. Thanks, Ariel. Have a good day, man. You're the man. Corey Sannhagen, one of our favorites. Always great to check in with him before and after his fights. Always gracious. Always just a different type of vibe, right?

Just a different type of speed. And we always appreciate that. I've been talking to him for a very long time. I think the first time I spoke to him was after that. Batista fight on ESPN back in 2019 in that studio in Bristol. So we have come a long way. We have come a long way. Okay.

News and notes time. Some other things. I want to tell you guys about the best thing outside of all the NICS content that I saw over the last 24 hours. A young boy acting as a, well, I don't want to say acting. Like he is working, I should say, as a cornerman at a local boxing gym. I do believe in the UK. Look at this young man right here.

This kid is unbelievable. Look how invested he is. And look at his mannerisms. He's like a 65-year-old boxing trainer in the body of what? A nine-year-old? Look at this. The ropes. He's opening the ropes.

He's Mick from Rocky. He's doing interviews. Look at this guy. Shaking hands. He's got the hands on the hips. The towel, everything about him. The towel around the neck with the hands like that. This kid is unbelievable.

He's got the mannerisms. Look at this. This kid's the best. I love this. The way he takes the stool. This young man has no aspirations of being a fighter. He just wants to be a coach. How often do you see it?

Look at him. He's cleaning up the... Look at the movements. That looks like a geriatric man, like watching his fighter go, the way he's bobbing and weaving. Oh, my God. I love this kid. I love this kid. Who is this guy?

He's look at him. Oh yeah, let's go, kid. Let's go. Let's go chat. That's cool. Yeah. He's out. Look at him coming down.

The best. Right there, yelling, hollering. Amazing. Those kids that he's, you know, he's coaching there are definitely older than him, right? Interview, too. Yeah, so good. Where is this kid from? I love this guy.

It looked like there was some Russian font. Okay, so maybe. On the back wall. Yeah, I don't know why. It seemed like it was somewhere in Europe, right? Yeah. He's the freaking man. Shout out to that guy. What's this countdown tweet about the White House?

What countdown tweet? What is that? I don't remember seeing that before the show. Who's to check? Who is to check? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, this came out in the time that we went live. U.S.C. Freedom. This is such an AI poster.

Like, this is just like... Is that supposed to be Trump? Check, can you do Uncle Sam with America Needs a Champion? And then this was the first thing that came up to that prompt. And they were like, boast that shit. And so are you bringing this up because it's going back to what we were saying, like, is this going to be a love letter to Trump? Is it going to be all about him?

Do you feel like that's going to be? This doesn't seem like Trump to me. It's Uncle Sam. It's like our mascot. Oh, that's not his face? No, no. That's a jack. I thought when you said, no, you were being facetious.

You're not know who Uncle Sam is. I know you're not from here. But I'm like, what does Uncle Sam look like? Does he always look the same? Yeah. He's not as ripped. He's an old guy. All right, so there you go.

So it's not going to be a love letter. Shout out. You know who's been killing it on social media these days? Sergei Pavlovich. He's up his game. Have you noticed that? He's up to his game as of late. He wrote to Josh Hokit.

Handle your business on June 16th, if you win, will settle this in China in August. Bro loves fighting in China. Why China of all places? That's where he's consistently been fighting lately. Hoket in China is a funny one. Right? That could go poorly.

I'd love to say it. also Sergei Pavlovich could also go poorly It said let's settle this What's to settle? Is there some kind of Hokit Pavlovich thing that needs to be settled? That's a good point I'm not sure that there's something to settle Is there a beef there?

Yeah I don't know I don't know We got a picture of Uncle Sam Yeah there he is Oh okay So it was just a jacked version of him Yeah it's it In fact it's exactly that

They just ran it through AI and said Use this photo of Uncle Sam Sam that everybody's seen before Make him jacked American flag On the background Use a font at the bottom America needs a champion. Do the UFC logo X White House.

Make no mistakes. America needs a champion. They should have put Justin on that instead of Uncle Sam if America needs a champion. That's the guy who are going to essentially getting out. It shows off that America's strong. We're number one. We're saying Justin Gates is not strong.

Is that your official position, Jordan? Damn. Okay, all right. Damn. No, I'm fine with it. Say two's face. I mean. Say two's face.

I respect all fighters. We were just speaking to Corey Sanhagan about Tatarra, the man he lost to was Joshua Van. Here's Muhammad Makayev saying that if he would fight and lose to Joshua Van, he would retire. And how confident I can be champion today. You know, I love my career. And today there's a champion name is like Joshua One, right? So my confidence and how much I love my career, I'm ready to retire if I don't beat this guy.

That's how confident I can be champion today. Imagine he would have gone in that fight against Adriano Marais. I think he's fighting on a wow card coming up. Or did that happen already? No, I think it's in early June. I saw something earlier today in which Sean Strickland said that he's been banned, quote, quote, ban from the White House card. Did you guys see this?

Yes, he did say that. Did he use the word banned? He used the word banned. Is there a difference to see banned than just not invited? Yes, there is a difference. I'm not sure that he is expressing that difference, but in my objective opinion, there is a difference.

And why do you guys think that is? I saw his reason. He said it's because he made jokes about Epstein, about Israel, about all that stuff. Do you think that that's the reason? He's not invited or banned? Is he banned or is he not invited? Well, Dana said, I saw him say that his main focus

for putting together this card was he wanted people that he could trust that would show up, that would do the thing. Now I know Hokit is somewhat of a departure from all that. And truth be told, I wonder if deep down after that press conference he regretted it. That being said, do you think it's just, you know, a byproduct of that? He just wants it to be as sort of down the middle as possible. No drama, no this or that.

Or is it because perhaps Sean has said in the past, like there was visual evidence of him saying he doesn't want to go, right? Didn't he say that? Yeah, he has said that. That he wasn't interested. He's expressed that, but I don't think that would keep him from going. Yeah, I mean, if he's actually not allowed to go, if he is, like, quote, unquote, you know, banned, barred from being able to go, I would imagine it's because, yeah, Dana White has acknowledged.

Like, he says crazy shit, and maybe he just doesn't want the fuss for such a massive event. Sure. If he's not fighting on the card, what is his role? Like, I don't, you know. He is the only male American champion. So then you should have put him on the card. Sure. I mean...

He did become champion recently. So I guess what... Oh, I mean, it's a month. Like, what is he going to do? No, I know, but I'm just saying, I guess it will be interesting. Are all the champions invited? That's what I'm saying? Like, he's not involved in.

If all the champions are going to be there, we'll find out very soon. And he's not, then it feels like it was a ban, right? If none of, if there's going to be no guest fighters there of any kind, then maybe there's just not enough space. I would be shocked if all the champions are there. I guess now that I'm thinking about, I don't even know how many actual fighters period are going to be there. Right, that's what I'm saying.

If there's no space for guest fighters, if there's no, I don't know, we don't know. Then we'll find out. If there's going to be lesser known or lesser successful fighters, you know how there's fighters sitting in the crowd at all the events. If there's none of that,

then I think he's making it into something bigger than it is. I just can't imagine the crowd cam and it's going to be UFC fighters. Well, as far as the, the champions go, it's like, Tom's not going to be there. Carlos Olberg's not going to be there. Islam Makachev's not going to be there. Ilya will be there because he's fighting.

Volk probably not there. Jan probably not there. Van, maybe? No, I don't think any of them are going to be there. But yeah, it doesn't feel like this is like Kayla? Yeah, maybe Kayla? I don't know. But Kenzie, I don't know. But also, I feel like Kayla's going to be there because she is patriotic

and she's an American champion. Yeah, so maybe that's Sean's case, right? I would have been there if not for this ban. But we're taking his words. Why do he change his stance? In terms of not wanting to go? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

But do you really think, like, honestly, of course, you know, he's going to be this, he's a walking contradiction. One day he says something the next day he changes the stance. So you don't even know what he believes, right? And so you could say, I saw it today. Just someone sent it to me today. he's he's on there with a um uh an israeli fighter he's on there with in the gym in the gym yeah and and where's this guy he says he sends this to me and he's like look you're like this is the audio

of course it's it's how up listen you guys i'm fucking joker i'm israeli straight here there's you good dudes i like you guys man this is one of the baddest motherfuckers i know if you think what I say, but Israel's bad. You should see what I say about whites, the Mexicans, the blacks, bro. I make, I'm not what I say way worse shit, bro. This is a gym environment. It's how we joke.

This guy's a fucking savage. I fucking support this man. He's a fucking jeez. And all of that, he's a fucking great train partner in all. So please, this guy's the fucking man. So that is, he's talking about Shimon Smotritsky. And so on the one hand, he'll be, like, he's not talking about Israel specifically there.

He's talking about an Israeli fighter. But I don't know, I don't know where he's stands on anything. And you can find a comment of him saying this about this, and then you can find the complete opposite comment. And so that's why I'm asking the question, is it because of that or is it because of another thing? Is it simply Dana being like, hey, no fighters are allowed? Or is it simply Dana saying, hey, this is just a little bit too much for us. I can't imagine that this administration feels like anything is just a little bit too much. Like, have you seen their Twitter account? I don't feel like to them, Sean Strickland is very controversial. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

And has he said anything about Trump? I'm legitimately just, like, I'm not even, like, critiquing his stance on it. I don't even, I don't even understand. I guess I don't, I'm just wondering if he's making a mountain out of a mohull. Like, essentially. Yeah, we don't know if Dana reached out to him. It was like, hey, man, you are not allowed to come to this one. Yeah.

Like, he says these things, but then I don't know if he might have, get a reaction. He might have requested tickets and they were just like, nah, man. Yeah, that's it. Can't do it, bro. Right. But, of course, he's making it out to be because I said X and one. why, which then only leads to more vitriol while he's also on this guy's page being like, oh, guys, I'm just kidding.

Peace and love, peace and love. Do you see the walking contradiction there? If no one, like, if you, you guys see that, right? Yes. It's a constant, say this, I'm only joking. Say this, I'm only joking. And there's like, at some point, it's like, you don't, like, we don't know where you stand on anything.

I think it's intentional. Yeah, it probably is. And guess what? It works. Well, it works from a promotional standpoint, but it also deflects from like you don't have to know the real Sean Strickland, right? There's no accountability, right? There's no accountability, but there's also. You could just say, I'm just kidding.

You can say that. But what do we actually know about Sean Strickland? Well, he's talked about his past. He's talked about his family. That seems to be the only time he actually gets genuine, right? Like most of the other times, it's just kind of theatric. So it feels like a defense mechanism. It feels like intentional.

I'm going to go back to a couple more questions. Chris from Northern Ireland brings up a good point, and it's one that I've actually thought about. Ariel, what do you think of UFC champions not coming out with their belts like pro wrestlers do? Honestly, I wish they would. I love that. Someone did it recently before a fight in MMA,

and I noted, oh, Vance Dinas. Do you remember that? His brother was holding up in the belt. Yeah, his brother was holding their vinyl. I thought that was cool as hell. I love that in boxing. and I don't know why. I don't know why they don't do it in the UFC.

So yes, I would be down to see that. I would love to see that, actually. Ant Man, I get that Scott Coker had success with Strikeforce 20 years ago, but after his interview with you, I seriously can't fathom what makes an investor think this will have any success. He proposed absolutely no new ideas, just replicated PFL's tournament model with additive superfights, and also kept saying he doesn't watch fights,

nor does he know any up-and-comers. My question is, is Scott Coker the best option, to bring competition to the market. And what would you and the boys do if you were in his shoes to create a successful company? I mean, go. It's very simple. Just put on the best fights possible. You want to start a league, put on the best fights possible. No tournament, no super fight, whatever the hell that means, put on the best fights possible. But ultimately, you are nothing if you don't have a good TV deal. Streamer, TV deal, distribution deal, you get what I'm trying to say, right? That's it. That's it. So they could have all the good ideas. But if they don't have that deal,

nothing. By the way, SBJ reporting yesterday that it seems like it's pretty much done between PFL and ESPN, which is what we kind of thought, right? We kind of thought that that was going to be. Yeah, John Martin had been pretty flagrant in terms of making it sound like they would not return. Yeah. Adam Hutchinson says, quick question, are we going to be getting any sort of live show or anything in Vegas during IFW? Even just a quick meetup and viewing of Pizzi, playing Edward 40 Hens. I feel like we could draw a big crowd for that. I feel like we could say we will be in Las Vegas.

We're going to be there for about a week. We're going to be doing shows out there like we did last year, which was a lot of fun. And our tentative plan is to do a live show, meaning a sort of, you know, in person with an audience show on the Friday before the event, July 10th. So yes, many exciting things coming. That's going to be fun. So stay tuned for more on that. A bunch of questions for P.T. Craeter says, does G.C. realize that he predicted the White House card years ago.

On an early episode of BITB, they were ranking pound-for-pound fantasy destinations, and one of GC's picks was the lawn of the White House. I can't believe this has been brought up before. I don't remember this at all. Wow. Wow. I need to go back and watch this. He says years ago, but BITB is only like a year and a half,

old. Yeah, a year in like eight months, but I guess we would have... It was very early in our run. Yeah, so maybe like before there were... Let's go back and look. Yeah, I need to go back and find that one. It is great that the number one doubter was the one who suggested it.

It is true, because you didn't believe. I did not believe. I believe now, though. Yes, no shit, I believe now. They're building the claw and the thing. Jordan Souser says, would you ever turn down an interview for moral reasons? who would be

I mean like do you mean like with Candice Owens or someone like that Candy O Kendi O Is that her nickname on the street? Show some respect please I don't know

I don't know I just would I don't know about moral reasons I'm just fucking with No no I know I know Of course I know that I don't know about moral reasons

But just like I don't think that this would be interesting or it's not a position I want to put myself in or I don't want to talk to this person I don't want you know I turn down a lot because honestly, by the time Wednesday night comes around, I don't really want to talk to anyone.

So I feel like I talk enough and you hear enough from me. But there are times where if it's a friend, if it's a show that I really like. But I also feel like I say the same things over and over again. Tell me about your relationship with Dana. How are things going? Crater says... Did you take that as you being the subject? Oh, yes.

as you interviewing someone. Oh, yes, yes. I did take it as me being the subject. Okay, me interviewing someone. No, I mean... You've talked about this before. Yes, I've talked about it before. I'm actually like super interested

in those types of interviews. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, if it's someone that I just don't like, like I feel like they're just going to come on and say absolute nonsense. That's not morality though. Yeah.

He's asking specifically morality, which to paraphrase you, you've said, you know, you'd actually hear the opposite side. You'd rather have that conversation. I would. I'd really relish that. Yeah. I was going back to the Larry King,

yes, or I verified an interview, so yeah. No. I don't know if moral is the right word, but no. Craters, can the young intern legend is for you, Joshi, that broke down AAA Mass versus Mass

beautifully. Please be a staple on the show. I'd love to see him sit in on Connor Rick's desk during the BITB show since those chairs are presumably empty. Forgot your name, bro, but you cooked hard in your day,

debut well done. Thank you. I have a mic now. So, oh, wait. What? Interjosh has his own mic now? Yeah, I can scoge into the camera here here. Wow, you've got, look how far you've come in three days.

Oh, I got to go all the way over here. Oh, come over here. I want to see this being workshop. Here, pop in here. Look at that. Get nice and cozy. You got double mic now. And you're wearing a lucha shirt, too.

You're really leaning into the gimmick. I am. I saw someone said in the comments, Josh the Mark Markowitz, I can lead into that gimmick a little bit. Oh, I like the Mark. I like the Markowitz. We even have breaking news. We even have breaking news.

Every great baby face always has a foil. And so given the rise, the meteoric rise of Josh, intern Josh, Josh the Mark, has led to the introduction of intern Jack. We now have a second intern here. Get over here, Jack. And so I feel like we're building up to the summer. feud of 2026, intern Jack. Yeah.

There he is. Jack and Josh, baby. Get a little lower it. There he is. Jack? Welcome to the program. Yeah, I'm super excited to be here. Josh and I have had a great first day.

He doesn't know any of them either. I love it. This is amazing. We're building up to a sort of test of strength between the two of you at all. So far, the coffee order has only been just black, but soon I'll incorporate the creamer in the show. There it is, Frankie.

That one ain't going to get old anytime soon. Well done, Intern Jack. Welcome. Intern Jack. How about this? On the ground, man. We've got a whole intern network here. It's phenomenal. I don't hate the idea of Josh being back there when we're in the chairs tomorrow. I don't hate that. If we could get them to move away from this area. I had already thrown it out there.

Wow, wow, wow. The interns taking over. I do love the, he was so fantastic. What's his name? That was good. That was good. Well, welcome, boys. We're very happy to have you guys. And by the way, which school do you guys go to? That would be Syracuse University. And Jack? Go orange, baby. Say it.

We're like the pipeline from the house to the real world. I feel like you had something to do with this. I feel like you influenced this in something. This one's for GC from James. Props for filming the first ever training session of the MMA arc. Are we going to get a second episode and what were you most surprised about? Oh, by the way. Nixon 6.

Don't know about a second episode anytime soon. My shoulder got a little messed up, but it's finally getting better. I definitely want to continue training, though, because it was shocking at just how easily everyone in that room could just manhandle me. So you caught the bug, as they say in the business. Yeah, yeah. I would actually like to improve. And like, if you look at Casey, I know he's been doing for five or six years. Like I was blown away at how skilled Casey was.

how quickly he could get me to the ground, put me in full amount, and just be like, yeah, I could just elbow your face in right now was humbling. And, yeah, I had a lot of fun doing it. So I would like to actually train and improve some. Here's Banyl Dravo. Hey, guys, not much of a question. Just something I felt the need to say is a long time listener. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing you poo-poo for your sports teams being an Arizona boy, where you've had zero success in any sports. outside of being the team to beat the Yankees in 2001.

Oh, by the way, outside of. I love that outside of. Give me one of those outside. Give me one. One. I'll take one. You've had your one, all right? So you piped down over there. Anyway, when the world was against us, that is true.

Everyone was against you. All that being said, I have to say, I'm happy for you, and rooting for the Knicks, for the first time my life, I pray for your city when the Knicks win. Oh, it's going to be tremendous. Kidding me? Shrimp cocktail says, Can you express the magnitude in MMA terms of what it would look like

if and when the Knicks win the finals? I don't think it's possible, right? I don't think there's anything that we've ever seen. Dare I say? It would be, I think that the celebration would be bigger than the Cubs winning the World Series. Do you guys agree? It would be massive.

Everyone keeps saying they're scared. I'm excited for that. They're not going to burn the city down. They're not going to burn the city down. It's all right. No, they're not going to do it. Let it rip. It'd be like Marab.

winning for Georgia on steroids. Okay, I'm happy you added that part because I was going to say, yeah, like times 100. Lines read lines. Ahoi Ariel. I've watched my first live NBA game this year. Nix at MSG solidifying myself as a fan for life. Do you look down on me as a one-year fan? I promise I'm not off the bandwagon in the very low chance they don't lift the trophy, go Nix.

Absolutely not, man. I don't like gatekeepers. I've said this before. Be a one-day fan. I don't care. I think that's dumb. I really do think it's dumb. inappropriately appropriate says

Can we ask the new Uncrown resident Josh some questions You know what I'll ask one anyways Josh tell us about your background And how did you end up with the uncrowned team

Don't lie It was Connor's shiny bald dome That attracted you wasn't it We actually had some discussions About thinning hair earlier today Wow We did have a discussion Yeah my hair is

Ain't that what journalism is Wow Wow wow Frank he's talking He's interrupted Frank hates the interns Yeah Keep going

Keep going Yeah My background, is that what he's asking? Yes, yes. My background, Syracuse University. I'm from Philadelphia, Bill Birds, the 215, but I am rooting for the Knicks, for Ariel. I'm excited for the city. Okay.

So I'm excited to be here. I've been working with the team remotely since about February. I reached out to Ariel and Eric, and it just worked out, and now I'm here in studio. Look at you. Now, I'm assuming next week, they'll ask Jackson some questions, but you were here. a couple of days earlier. So that's why they're focusing on you. And I actually believe that there's,

I saw another one for you here. You're getting a lot of questions. Josh is over big. Pecan pie up in this. Question for intern Josh. Let's go. Your passion for pro wrestling really came through when you were talking about the AAA match on Monday show.

You mentioned that you started watching wrestling during the PG era in 2010, a period that many fans consider one of the worst in wrestling history. What was it that initially got you hooked on wrestling during that? time. Give me a fucking break. Just ignore him, Josh. Just keep

going. I think that it was the PG era and the people that labeled that were the people that were older, but for me as a kid, I never saw a difference. I loved John Cena. I loved Ray Mysterio. I got into gymnastics and tumbling because of that. I wanted to

be that luchador, high-flying style. So it always captivated me, both the wrestling, but also the story storytelling and the theatrics that are involved with the whole thing and ever since the fandom's taken over. Love it. Here is one for Mr. G.C.

Logan says, hello, Ariel. Question for G.C. Any update on if your brother will be playing with the military band at the White House? There is an update. As of right now. And things change a lot with the band that he performs in. As of right now, he will be there. Okay.

Yeah. Saw him in the renderings. The people in the red. uniforms. That is him, the Marine Corps band. Where's their red uniform? So as of right now, and the update is of this past weekend, because he texts me about the no fatty's at the White House thing, but he seems to be in good physical condition, and he should be able to pass that. And yeah, he should be there. So hopefully we can get some inside intel from the grounds. Honorary member of the uncrowned team on the grounds.

Yeah, it'd be crazy. Unbelievable. Who would have thunk it, right? Thross over of our jobs being a UFC event at the White House is mind-boggling. Insane. Insane. All right. Let's go with some super chats. And, well, intern Josh got to do it yesterday. Let's see if intern Jack can do as well as, yeah, let's do it.

I know it wasn't rehearsed. Jack's freaking out. You're being thrown into the fire here, Jack. He's sweating profus. I didn't have him at first, but we're good now. You're good? You're good? You feel good about this?

Yes, very good. This is big. is bigger than being on the Super Bowl broadcast, but you're ready for this. I think you're going to knock it out of the park. Here we go. For sure, for sure. So Jay Watt says, good luck to your Knicks tonight with the World Cup starting soon. Any Football Podcast media recommendations to consume eight days out.

P.S. Canada roster revealed by TSN was emotional and well done. I agree. Frank, you cut him off there real quick or what? No, that was saying. Okay. I thought it was great. I hope Alfonso Davies gets to play. Seems like he's not going to play in the first game, June 12th against Bosnia,

but we'll smoke him anyway, no problem. There's a show, P.T. was here or he would know. It's called Stick to Football. Stick to Football. It's going to be on Netflix starting next week. It's a great podcast. I think that's going to be a good one. My favorite soccer podcast, though, without question, is Men and Blazers.

Love Raj. He's the man. I think his World Cup coverage is going to be second to none. So if I had to recommend one, Men and Blazers. Also, Cooligan's part of the Yahoo Sports. Network, give him a look as well. What else? What else, Jack? Shifts 2Ks says, do you think Kenny Atkinson thinks his team is still playing?

Analytically, of course. Yeah. Your boy Kenny, Rick, is getting all kinds of strays, but almost deserved, would you say? Kenny? Atkinson? Yeah, the analytically stuff. Doesn't deserve him? No, I say it is deserved.

Oh, yeah. The dude said the dumbest shit you could possibly say as an NBA head coach. All deserved Get him out You want it back Oh no No fuck no Wow

Are you out of your mind Harden back No I mean Harden we don't have a choice They did a handshake You know sneaky sneaky Deal to re-sign him No

Fuck no You cannot say As you are getting your ass Absolutely what Belt to ass by the Knicks That you won anything analytically You should have your hat in your hand Your eyes on the fucking floor

You shouldn't even be in the building let alone talking about we're winning analytically. Jesus Christ, man. That's the worst shit I've ever heard. Soft-ass garbage. Would you like to redo that trade? Would you like that one back? Hardin?

Yeah. DG's value was pretty low just because of the injuries. Like, he just... It sounds like there was an offer potentially for Drew Holiday, which I would have taken. I think Hardin actually helped the team quite a bit come playoff time is when it all fell apart. But he helped them quite a bit in the regular season.

really helped them right the ship. They became better after the trade. But yeah, I mean, if you're counting on James Hardin to win you playoff games, you're fucking dumb. What else, Jack? What else? D. King says, due to the White House card being on the White House lawn and also being an event that technically involves celebrating the U.S. president, can anyone technically broadcast it? How does all this work? No, it's exclusive to Paramount Plus.

I guess I understand what he's trying to say because if it's like a media thing, but no, this is a this is a Paramount Plus thing. It's still unclear they haven't broken up or even announced, I should say, if a portion's going to air on CBS, there's going to be a pre-show, one fight, two fights. But I feel confident saying you can watch the whole thing on Paramount Plus. The question is, are they going to use CBS to try to get people over to Paramount Plus for the main, co-main, etc. But no.

Sources tell me. David. At paramount.com emailed me and said, most likely not going to be. be on CBS. Wow. Okay, yeah. They won all the eyeballs. I thought a pre-show should have been on there, maybe one fight or two, but all right, interesting. I'm glad they listened to me. I mean, you know. By the way, Jordan, what's going on over there at CBS? All kinds of drama, right? You know, there's just some changing the guard. Sometimes the old, you need to introduce some news. So, you know, check out 60 minutes this Sunday. Okay, yeah. I think it's going to be must-ceteer. Very diplomatic,

nice. What else, Jack? What else? Stay with me on this one, hard pronounce. You. book. Me Catiliano. Says, hey, Ariel, love the show a long time. I'm a listener. My nephew just got married on Saturday. Can you please shout out Adrian and Alyssa? Wow, Adrian and Alyssa, Mazel to you.

Congratulations. Well done. I wish you a lifetime of happiness. I wish you a lifetime of great health, of course, success, a loving home. Many, many children. I hope you all have the greatest time together. I hope the honeymoon lasts for decades that you will forever, through good and bad, through

sickness and health, look at each other in the eyes and say, no, I still love you. Still the same old feelings. So the same old butterflies deep down inside. So much love, peace and love, peace and love. And I wish you guys nothing but the best. What else? What else, Jack? Chef Nerdman says thoughts

on Gina versus Catfight or Gina v. Misha. Oh, interesting. Misha Tate, I don't hate either. to be honest. I feel like the one is Gina versus Holly, since they're both affiliated with MVP, but I don't hate it.

And overall, I would like to see one more Gina Krono fight. I think that that would be really cool. And I'd like to see actually what she was training for and how good she looked and how that would translate into an actual fight because it seemed like she was in incredible shape and seemed like she was saying all the right things. So I would be definitely up for at least one more Gina fight. What else, Jack?

What else? Jake from Wendy's, City says Ariel, good luck to the Knickerbockers. Your final report card on the new broadcasters this season. NBC, Prime Video, Inside the NBA on ESPN. Okay. You know, I have said

before, very good question. I have felt like inside the NBA has lost a little bit of its fastball. Ernie Johnson, I think, is still phenomenal. But it feels like at times the others, adding Draymond Green into the mix.

Prime, I like, I like the prime analyst very much. I wish they would dress up a little bit more. I don't like the whole super casual look. I felt technically the prime broadcast at times was like there was a delay. It was out of sync. The colors were off, stuff like that. I love the NBA and NBC.

I think Tariko is great. I'm a fan of the halftime crew. I thought Mello, T-MAC and Vince were fine. I know they got some flak at the end there. But overall, I think the NBA is in a great place. I saw the ratings the highest since, I think, 98. And obviously it's on different platforms that they can combine it all together. But I think these finals are going to be the most viewed ones,

definitely since the Warriors Cavs series and maybe even before that. And ultimately, ultimately, ultimately, the best duo is Breen and Clyde. And I'm just so happy that Breen is going to be calling the games for ESPN. And I think Legler and RJ have, the three of them have turned into a great team last year. They were kind of trying to find their voice. And so I'm very happy that it's on ESPN slash ABC. They are the gold standard as of right now. I wish they didn't change their music.

Remember the old music, Rick? I thought that music was way better than what we have now You know what I can't wait for tonight That's nostalgia. It was good. It was good, but... They always do a great intro like about the NBA finals. Oh, I can't wait for that.

It's going to be sick. It's going to be very good. I can't wait. I can't wait. What else, Jack? What else? Mikey C. Garcia says, Saludos test in Mexico, Dakota.

Okay. How the fuck does he do that? By the way, nice Spanish. Nailed it. On the first try. Thank you. Syracuse. Spanish?

Spanish? Yes. Hell yeah. What else, Jack? What else? Morris 2896 says, is there issues between you and Turkey? I've asked this question before, and you gave a political answer, but can you talk about worker rights with Turkey events? Does he mean Turkey like the country or Turkey Al-Shake, Jack?

Any idea? Can you clarify that for us? You're really being thrown into the fire here. I'm honestly not sure. I don't think he means the country. maybe he does if they're talking about political stuff? Yeah, I don't know. That's a weird one.

How about you write us back and let us know what you think? Like to tell us, is it Turkey the country or Turkey the guy? And then I could weigh in, all right? That's my, not for you, for the guy who sent in the question. What else? What else, Jack? What else? Yeah, personal stash says, thanks for having Dakota on again.

She's such a good interview. Did she pay for that water at? She absolutely didn't. They sent us some, so full disclosure, but no payment. Peace and love, peace and love. It's great water, by the way. I enjoy it. You guys enjoy it back there?

Down to go. Gone. Great. Well, it's, I mean, it's been well received. What else, Jack? What else? Ariel, can you cut a 10 to 7 promo on my friend Jaden and tell him why the Knicks beat the Spurs? I don't want to do that.

I don't want to do that. We're humble and hungry. We just want to win. No beef here. They're a great franchise. Won five of six. And I feel quite confident that they're, going to win many more. They have a great young nucleus. I just feel in my heart of hearts that

we're a little deeper, that it is our time, that I'm not going to say our guys want it more, but, you know, these guys have been scratching and Klein, Kat, Jalen, Mikkel, Josh Hart, McKell, you know, obviously lost in 2021 against the Bucks. Clarkson's been in the league for a long time, you know, it's not a lot of youngsters on this team, so to speak, young-ish, but not, you know, first, second, third year players. We got to win one on the road, and then I'll feel really, really good about where we stand.

One on the road, but no beef with San Antonio, great fan base, great arena, great history. We need to get them back for 99. The Cup was a big win. And this is,

with all due respect to San Antonio, this is not about you, this is about us. This is about healing wounds and finally getting one. You're just in the way. And so let's get this done. And please, may we all die in peace.

What else, Jack? What else? Yes, Sammy says, Ariel, please stop apologizing for taking a short time on every show to talk about the New York Knicks. It's your show and you can talk about whatever you want. Wow, Sammy, thank you so much for that. You know, I do feel guilty. I don't want to, like, hijack the show. But I also feel like, you know, if you watch this show, you're invested in our lives and this is something that really, really, really, really, really means a lot to me.

and, you know, we try to keep it on, like I'm not having guests on to talk about just the Knicks and, you know, like, let's break it down, even though I'd love to. So I understand what you're here for, but I'd be lying to if I wasn't thinking about, you know, the fact that in four hours

this game is about to start and I'm going to be a ball of nerves. But I also, I'm not dreading it. It's amazing that it's June 3rd and we're alive. A year ago today, guys, I was sitting in this chair and one of you, I don't remember who it was, maybe Jordan, put in Slack that they had fired Tibbs.

A year ago today, June 3rd, they fired Tibbs. And so who would have thought a year later after, you know, Jason Kid can't come, Billy Donovan Won't come, this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy. It's Mike Brown, and we're playing in the finals against the spurs of all teams. So very, very, very grateful. Did you guys see that promo with Clyde? Did anyone see that? Getting fitted for the suit.

How good is that? They got the look. Who's better than Walt? So good, man. Incredible. name, incredible guy. Brought it down to Younger Walt today

and it just came down the eye right there, down the cheek. Very emotional stuff. What else, Jack? What else? This guy's got a confusing name, so I'm not even pronounce it. Okay. But intern Josh Summer, takeover starts now. It's the summer

of Josh and Jack. How do you feel about this, Jack? You just had to put over your counterpart there. No, I don't mind it at all. Josh has been absolutely killing it. No problem with it at all. I think you are as well. That's a pitting against each other here. No, I didn't write that.

I know, but you were like, how do you feel about having a gas up your cataport? Your arch rival, your nemesis. It's adorable. They reversed their response to this. Never said any of those things. Who is the most elite coming out of Syracuse these days? I'm going to, who's taller?

Oh, there will be some sort of, there's going to be a final exam. There's no doubt about that. But we're just getting warmed up here. This is all part of the... Frank already said all of this to them. The elaborate ploy. I want to see a notebook and a pencil around.

I have some thoughts. I have some thoughts, but we'll get there and do time. What else, Jack? What else? Yeah, Alexander Simon says Frank is about to be replaced by a guy who can actually read. How do you know? I'm Googling last night to see if I have dyslexia. Maybe, maybe this is what I need. The interns had to come in here and I'm like, maybe there's something actually wrong with me. How do you feel about your role being taken away here, Frank? So I never asked for that role. You just kind of assumed it? It just became a thing. Okay.

But I have never been more upset. Okay. So it's weird, right? Like, I didn't ask for it, but now that it's being taken away from me, I'm like... Is there any friction, guys? Yeah. Friction from Frank? They had nice office chairs earlier.

Swap them shits out for some... Those are flaky-ass. Shit chairs. Yeah, I definitely noticed a little bit of friction. He took away the good chairs, came back in with, you know, kind of the shittier chairs. You got to earn those. They're like, you earn the white chairs. I've been two and a half feet of Frank right now.

They're cramping his style. Earlier Frank saw my shirt. It says New York or nowhere. He goes, uh, Knicks are nowhere. I was like, no, man, New York or nowhere. He's just like, God damn it. I was like, man, you're never going to beat the Can't Read allegation. We still love you though, Frank.

You do a great job. I don't know what you do, the engineering and the producing and all that. If we could just get the podcast up in time, it would be appreciated. It's all the life of an A-2. Please also include the video on Spotify. That too. we're getting a text later tonight. Yeah, you are.

What are all the nice things you guys said last night? It just got flushed down the... No idea what you're talking about. What else, Jack? What else? Yeah, I think that's it. Oh, okay. All right, well, Frank does this thing. He always says, like, last one so that we don't have this awkward exchange there at the end.

But, you know, the first time, you know? I thought that was a glowing, glowing, glowing performance on your part. Yeah, well done. Thank you. You freaking nailed it. Out of the park. What a week for us and the interns. Unbelievable.

First, Josh on Monday, now Jack on Wednesday. The team is growing. The vibes are high. We're loving life here. The next time we'll speak, my friends. Will we be up to O? Will we be 1-1? Nixon 4.

Josh? Josh. Jordan? What do we do? If it's Nixon, you know what's the shame? If it is Nixon 4, which obviously I'll take, I won't be here the next day. That'll be on you guys.

I may have to call in. I may I know, do a special show I may, I may I may be Oh, it wouldn't, let's not talk about this

I was gonna say Let's cross a 4-0 bridge When we get to it We can figure that one out Yeah, we'll figure it out We'll figure it out Okay, peace in love, peace and love You can my music, Frankie

Taking the button away It started out It was adorable now It's just in one Chat Right now In the chat What do you got

Tell me Who's saying Why they saying refund? Why is everyone saying refund? I don't know This is why you don't read the chat Chat, tell me your prediction. Right now, let's hear it. Nixon, how many? Morris 2-896 says

Turkey, the boxing promoter. Thank you for clearing that up and thank you for your $2. You know, yeah, I don't think, I mean, we don't have a relationship. No beef on my end at all. I said that I thought the the Rico fight was the best. show that they put on I don't know how he feels about me you'd have to ask him obviously

we had that weird thing last year but no beef on my end has done some big fights peace in love peace and love I know you probably want something juicier okay uh Frank is a bully weird Nixon five Nixon six spurs and six person five nixon seven spurs and five spurs in seven Nixon six spurs and six nixon six however they want Nixon 4 Nixon 6 bricks what's up with the bricks Frank's in there talking about H-FAC when being frying frying anyone what do you ever amy man we ain't frying cat I'll tell you that much thank you very much Cory Sanhagen thank you very much Dakota Ditch of a Holly home David Feldman thanks to all of you thanks to all of them

back tomorrow say that business I'm out here federal fucking prison