The Ariel Helwani Show - Dana White goes off, UFC White House updates, Cain Velasquez free | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

The Boys in the Back kick off the show with Petesy Carroll, discussing his exclusive article on Tom Aspinall's recent eye surgery and what the future holds for the UFC's heavyweight champion (03:00). Is Gable Steveson the savior the division needs in the meantime (21:22)?Next, they discuss Dana White's fiery press conference after Zuffa Boxing 3 (37:18), including the latest on the White House card (54:07).They recap Ian Mchado Garry's planned trip to Georgia (1:08:57), Cain Velasquez's prison release (1:14:34), Karate Combat's grappling match between Valter Walker and Zion Clark (1:18:32), as well as Winged C latest win (1:24:20).After coving other news and notes, including grappling ace Gordon Ryan explaining how to beat Khamzat Chimaev (1:32:38), Nate Diaz calling out Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier (1:42:01), and Zabit Magomedsharipov returning to competiton (1:54:38), the Boys answer your Super Chats (2:10:15).

But boys in the back. But boys, boys, boys, boys. What is good? We are back with another episode of the Boys in the Back again on this Monday, while Ariel continues to kill it at the Winter Olympic Games over in Milano Cortina, specifically Lavigno for Ariel. I am one-third of the boys in the back. Connor Birx, join alongside me as always.

on this presidential Monday. The president. Yeah. People say EP, executive producer. It's actually executive president. Mr. New York, Rick. How we doing, brother? Doing great.

Love you a little spice you put on Milano Cortina. Melano Cortina, la vino. Grazie. It's a beautiful day in New York City. It's an empty day here in the office. It sure is. I didn't get the memo. I did.

It's President's Day. I didn't get to memo Trains are running on weekend schedule I get here the doors are locked I thought it was the I thought it was the Jets meme Jamal Adams My key card didn't work

I was like what's going on here Can I get in the building There was no you know No receptionist to say hello to It was a drive day Frankie how are you doing man You know I'm doing great Celebrating President's Day with you lot

And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else How you're celebrating? Wait wait wait how are you celebrating How am I celebrating You said celebrating How are you celebrating? I had some baby carrots shrimp cocktail and a Yerba Mante.

They did bring in the shrimp cocktail. Shout out. Favorite president? Andrew Jackson. Yeah, you're a big AJ guy. It was by Andy. Yeah, you're a big AJ guy. I like old Tommy Jeff.

My favorite part is... Louisiana Purchase and whatnot. He's famously on the $20 bill, and that's exactly what Mr. Pizzi Carroll owes me. So Pizzi, if you're listening, which I know you are, because I'm looking right at you on the Multiview, pay me up. Wow, I was going to say, I guess you're bearing the lead here.

You're ruining the surprise. you're breaking the fourth wall. I don't know if any of those terms apply, but the ban is lifted, and we bring in the president of the Emerald Isle won Pizzie Carroll. Hey, you doing, lots. Thanks a much for having me back.

What's up, Pete? Who decided this? Did the president, did you not discuss this with President Jackson before coming on? You just made this decision yourself, G. You see a bit embarrassing here now. I never wanted the band in the first place. I was the one that on the show was just like,

we'll see Pizzi tomorrow. And Rick was like, no, no, there's been a ban. I don't text me like that was the first time he spoke about it on the show but then he texts me and funnily enough similar situation to me posting frank his winnings from the royal rumble he sent me a text message saying you're banned from the show i will explain it in an email and the email is 16,000 words so i haven't got to the end of it yet but so far i think i deserve it to be honest rick so i'm sorry well your contrition has has definitely softened my stance in addition to the fact that you put out the article of the weekend,

the thing that everybody's talking about. I thought it only be right and only be fair to welcome you back on the boys in the back. All right, Pizzi. So obviously, big news coming out of Camp Aspinall. You were there for when Tom went in for surgery. Give us the broad strokes. Obviously, you covered quite a bit of this on the crack,

but give us the broad strokes for our audience in terms of what you saw when you were there with Tom, the people you spoke to and your major takeaway. Yeah, obviously I've been speaking to his team since this happened. You know, I've been covering Tom since 2018, 2017 about, I think. So I've always been kind of keeping up with it. So I guess the big takeaway for me is it isn't really a question of when he's going to be back. It's more of a question of can everything get back to normal for him before he can even start

to get things back on track with his fighting career. Like there is no real time frame in terms of. of when this is going to be sorted out. Obviously, he had the surgery, although I was there, there is obviously a large recovery period after that, and there could be another surgery on top of that as well. So in terms of what's going on with Tom,

when is he going to be back in the octagon? I think I can safely speak for him when he wishes he could get back in there as soon as possible. We kind of have some testament to that within the piece where we spoke to his striking coach about an attempt that was made about six weeks six weeks ago to hit pads that went disastrously.

Like it's, you know, he spoke about not being able to find the pads. If he put it too far to the left or right, you know, a very depressing situation all around. And we spoke to other members of his team who said like, it's nearly a running joke about him missing handshakes that's happened so often at this stage. And I know of a smile on my face saying this,

but it's a really, really, sad situation. The whole thing is very depressing, to be honest with you. And I felt it's only been, the story is very interesting from a, from a journalistic point of view, because not only have you got this guy ahead of a coronation moment where like, you know, we have DC on camera that week saying what everybody really feels about Aspinall going into that fight week, like if, this can be the beginning of a huge rain for him. You know, and look, we've been talking about the talent in the division at the moment. I think most people thought, like, he gets a win against Cyril Gann.

He's going to be defending this belt an awful lot. Obviously, the fights gets stopped due to a double-eye gouged he suffered at the hands of Cyril Ghan. But there's also been this massive skepticism around Tom. People believe that he was looking for a way out. People believe that as soon as he's landed at this point where his earning potential is at the maximum. You know, you fight all your life to reach this situation that Tom is in.

this fight and now they somehow believe that he is playing this up. He doesn't want to fight again. He is just looking for an excuse not to fight again. I think that's an important part of the story. And I think that skepticism actually makes the situation more depressing. When you go and you see the reality of the situation, you see how everyday life's been affected. Since that, 108 days ago was when, that's a time frame from when this happened to when that double eye surgery went down. I've seen some questions online. in terms of a lot of people were like, well, I thought he was talking about a surgery in mid-January

and he might have another one then after that. That was this surgery. It's been pushed back. His eyes keep changing. There's a note in the article about him going through three different pairs of prescription glasses because his eyesight is constantly changing. It's a situation like no other. I think it is the most interesting story in the sport.

And I was very, very glad to get the access. I did, of course. They opened every door for me in the training room. Obviously, I went to the hospital with Tom in Manchester. And, yeah, I mean, I think I, my goal going into this was to tell a human interest story about the heavyweight champion of the world being rendered pretty much obsolete in the sport that he, that he's been doing since he's six years old. This is not just Tom's sport.

It's his life. It's his outlet. And it's all been taken away from him. And I think with the help, with a large help from Shaheen Al Shadi, it must be said, we got there in the end. It was a fantastic piece, super well written and obviously very insightful, due to the access that you had to Tom and his team. You can check that out right now and on crown.com. I want to talk about the skepticism. You touched on the skepticism and the people out there who are doubting it, whether it be the people who are saying, in the fight itself, he was looking for a way out,

or the people that have come out of the woodwork now to kind of point to what they feel. inaccuracies with what Tom has said and what's going on and the surgery itself and all this stuff. You made an interesting point that I kind of agree with in terms of it becoming more depressing. If I'm Tom Aspinall and I'm sitting there and my only mission is to get back so that I can be the champion of the world and entertain the fan base. And all I met with is people kind of like shitting down my neck for no apparent reason because they have these tinfoil hack conspiracy theories. I can't imagine it's a helpful motivator. I can't. imagine it's the type of thing that Tom's like, I can't wait to go back and prove all my

supporters right while he's looking at all these people just shitting on him. That's just my own aside. My question to you is, what's your take on this, on the skepticism that we've seen in the moment since, whether it be in regard to the specific details that you were able to, you know, reveal in the piece, as well as the other kind of like general sentiment toward Tom, since this has all happened. I think largely, like, it's been very well received. But of course, as I said, the skepticism is a part of this story. I didn't want to show you away from it.

I have that written into the story throughout it. It's kind of a refrain from the skeptics and whatnot. And I had no doubt that when this came out, that they would be there, that this would happen. The skepticism I'm seeing largely is about the surgery itself. I've seen multiple people have sent me like doctors, well, people who are claiming to be doctors speaking about this. And I guess like when you listen to these doctors speak about it, they're ophthalmologists, they're probably correct in terms of saying like if he had LASIC, this not, this would not make

sense. But he didn't have LASIC surgery. LASIC surgery is a cosmetic surgery. He had a medical procedure. Like the idea that, you know, a laser being used. And as you can see in the image there, that yellow font there kind of speaks to a laser being used. They're used to remove tumors. They used to remove a lot of things in modern day medicine.

The idea that the only surgery you can have involving a laser in your eye is LASC, eye correction is crazy to me. And I think that when I see these guys speaking, the jump off point is he's had LASC. And then they get into discrediting him when that's not the surgery that he had. On top of that, and I also want to talk about like being behind the scenes with him and his mental Like we've seen him go through struggles like this before. The Curtis Blades fight, it was supposed to be a coronation there. He gets this massive main event in London against the top heavyweight blows his knee out in the first 15 seconds of the fight,

has to build his way all the way back until he's able to get another fight the very next year, takes a year off. Then he gets the interim belt. Then he's supposed to fight John Jones, misses out on that as well. And then you mentioned this was supposed to be that final coronation, you know, that first heavyweight, undisputed title defense, and he loses that as well. To the naysayers, like, we've seen Tom Aspinall come back from devastating injury like this before. I don't doubt his ability to come back again. But getting to spend time with him, having to go through something like this again,

like seeing this behind the scenes of the surgery and him going through his day-to-day life, what is his mental state like? How did you feel like he was going through all of it? Well, I think, you know, you guys have spent some time around Tom. One thing he is is very generous to this time. He's a very affable guy. He is a lovely, lovely guy. and I think while I was there, he was, you know, being as nice as he can, like, very accommodating.

All of the, everybody was lovely to me while I was there. But there is times you're speaking to Tom when, you know, he'd be very brutally honest with you. He came on Ariel's show after a knee surgery and he spoke about how depressing it was. This is a lot worse. This isn't, you know, I think he said at one point to me, like, when my knee was bad, I could sit down and you wouldn't even think about it. Like right now he has a black spot. his eye that he can see all the time. And even when he's sitting down, like, if he's not moving, say, like, the striking

coach was talking about moving, when he's moving over here and here, he found difficulty. But even when this guy's just sitting down trying to chill, he's got this little spot in his eye. So it's far more than that as well, if I'm being honest, because this is, I spoke about this earlier. Like, the idea that this guy would suddenly not want to do this, this has been his entire life. Six years of age, he starts training. He was sparring with Tyson Fury.

He stepped up on two weeks now to fight Sergei Pavlige, an absolute destroyer. He's done everything he can. He rushed back after a year and avenged, sorry, he fought Marsen-Tobor first in England, and then he fought Curtis Blades in Manchester, a horrifically traumatic situation from a course of court when they first met in a London main event where his knee went out. It seems to me like the skepticism, the idea is that somehow this guy is a afraid or somehow this guy suddenly when everything seems to be going his way in terms of earning potential and all the stuff you you strive to be when you start fighting. So as you

said, this guy starts fighting at six years of age. His dream would have been to be the champion of the world. He finally gets there and says like, I'm not arst. I'm actually terrified of all these guys. What was I thinking? Like that's the suggestion these people are making. And I think that's, that is such a reach. It's an outrageous reach to think that a guy like this would be like that. And the best idea I've heard about where this had come from was from Ben Folks on the crack on Friday, where he was like, well, the thing is, most people are afraid. And they can sum this up by everyone I know, every person I've ever met in my life

would be afraid to do what Tom Aspinall does. He has that belt around his waist and he has to fight the most dangerous guy that's going to take that off from at any given opportunity. So the idea for them that this guy would be afraid is far more logical than this guy can't wait to get in there and get his hands on them. This guy is sitting at home praying for the day he'll be able to do this again. This is his therapy. This isn't just exercise.

This is his whole life. So I think that's probably the most logical take. I've heard from Ben folks. This guy's entire life is fighting. This is a horrific situation he's in. He did not have Lasic surgery. He's in a very serious situation. I really don't know what else could say about a GC.

I've probably gone off on a tangent, but you know I tend to do that. No, no, it's a fair point well made. appreciate you confirm me like not LASIC surgery even though you know the amateur detectives out there have kind of identified something without having well like it's cosmetic surgery right they're saying like this guy essentially got like you know it's the equivalent of getting like a boob job or something this guy like are he serious come on we're also saying like Tom Aspinall is going to the greatest of lengths to avoid fighting Cyril gone again a man that he's already stepped into the octagon against it falls apart under any minuscule amount of uh scrutiny Like the idea that Tom Aspenal is scared is just for dumb people, quite frankly. Like you have to be stupid. Scared or faking it or putting on some show to duck away or whining about his injuries or anything like that. It's all just you have to just be a hater who's ignorant to the facts in this case here.

Yeah, you're either willfully deciding that or you're dumb. Those are the two options. Anyway, we don't need to harp on that. I think our point's been clear on that. what I want to get into is a conversation about timelines. Is anything more clear to you after having spoken to them? Have you heard from Team Aspinall since on the results of the surgery and whether there's been any impact?

Like what do we think in terms of timeline for Tom Aspinall or is that still very uncertain? Yeah, it's very fluid at the moment. He went. He was back in the, the OI Hospital today getting his first checkup, but I don't think they're going to know for months if this has worked. And even at that, as I said, like this. This is particularly dealing with a straight forward site, these first batch of double surgeries he had.

And the hope is that when that kicks into gear, it will somehow help the peripheral vision and that will clean up. That's not guaranteed, though. So there is a chance that he will have to have a separate double eye surgery, particularly targeting his peripheral vision and the struggles he's having with that. This one was more for straight ahead. That's all I know about that. but I really don't think there's a time frame.

Like, as he put it to me in the article, I believe the quote is used, like he's not even thinking about fighting. Like, that's, like, he can't, he can't really go to the gym and hit the heavy bag with any kind of, anywhere near the kind of potency or accuracy or that he has before. Sure, he can hit it.

Like, he can, he can definitely hit the heavy bag. But, like, there's intricacies to this and subtleties and everything like that that just aren't really, aren't really playing out for him. It seems to me the feeling that I got is everyone on the team is like, we don't know if he's going to fight again. You know, we have to wait and see how this goes. That is the situation I kind of left in the article.

That is the feeling I got off every single person that I spoke to over there. So unfortunately, that that is the situation as I see it. We just don't know when he's going to be ready to return. And look, the eyes are a very complicated piece of the anatomy too. It's complex. As I say in the article too, there have been times when the other. eyes improve and then he'll come back and they have degraded again. This has been a complete rollercoaster. There has been no straight line of improvement like you'd see with a knee surgery. He's had the

knee situation. He's aware of that where it's like we're all going in the same direction here. It's nearly just a matter of time. We keep getting better. That has not been the case with the eyes and that makes it even hard to kind of determine when he will be ready to come back. Yeah, you mentioned the knee surgery. I mean, that was my first thought is that just like this is something that happens all the time. You do the surgery, you do the rehab, you do the physical therapy, and then you're ready to go. And you know that you can get back with the eyes. It's just this unknown situation where you're just not sure. So at this point, it's really not when he'll return.

It's if he'll return, which is incredibly unfortunate to be in. But obviously, the UFC is a business. The heavyweight division has to keep moving even if he's not able to fight. We got a tweet from the man who poked him in the eyes in Cyril gone. And he said, it seems that things may be moving with an hourglass emoji. We can't have control on everything, but we can't control how we prepare when it's time will be more than ready. So is there a chance that we get, of course there's a chance, but will we get an interim

title fight with Cyril Gahn featured in it? I think so. I think that is the way they will go with this. And I know, look, for all the skeptics on against Tom will say, the people are like, this is all bullshit. he's making this up he's terrified Cyril Gansman dealing with his fair amount of negative comment too

you know he's here I just went through his posts during you know we're putting this article together and I could see every time he posts something like it's just him in the gym and underneath it is you're a cheater all this kind of stuff

there's a lot of that going on and I'm sure those people people who feel that way might get rubbed up the wrong way from this but I do think that's what the UFC will do. If he's just fought for the title, as far as the UFC concerned, that was a no contest. Regardless of how anyone feels about it, they'll say he was in a competitive fight with Tom Aspinall. He should fight for the belt. I don't think they're going to overlook him. And I think honestly, if they're thinking about ideal candidates to fight him, it's probably Alex Pereira.

Yeah, and that would be the one that, you know, I think if you're looking around the current UFC roster and landscape, that would make the most sense, right? Because I don't think there's anybody at heavyweight that would get people like. excited. Now, I guess you could maybe run back like Volkov and gone, right? Like, that was a controversial. What about Waldo, G.C? I know it was controversial. I don't want to see it. I'm down for Salca Boy. But out of all of them, it's Alex Breyer moving up to heavyweight and making his debut against Zero Gone for an interim title. He put an Instagram post out. It was in Portuguese, one, two, three, Asia, which, you know, I threw it in the old translator, one, two, three, and go. So the

sync up here of Cyril Gan being like, you know, things are, moving. Is the three, like the third belt? Is that, is that where we're? I think that's what he's going on. I like that. I like that. Moving up to heavyweight, obviously, like a massive star.

And if he wins, then does he fight Tom Aspinol if Tom Aspinall returns? Does Cyril Gond get the auto rematch even in a loss for an interim title? It's hard to say because of the uncertainty around the timeline of Tom. That's what it all kind of hinges on. I think the best case scenario for the UFC in a division that needs saving, and that's what's on our thumbnail. Shout out to Ovin, who made a great one this week. It needs saving. And the person that I think could potentially do it is Gable Stephson. I really think, like, even if Alex Pereira and Cyril gone end up fighting, once you're Alex

with the heavyweight title, now you're still, potentially if he wins, now you're still out of options, right? If Cyril wins, it's like, who does he fight? It's only Tom. If Alex wins, it's like, who does he fight? It's really only Tom. Maybe John, if John could be convinced to fight Alex, But either way, I think that the most likely savior, the one that can really inject some life into this division and really get people energized, is the debut of Gable Stevenson. That would be the thing. Okay, he's got a fight this week in NFL, but he was asked about potentially coming to the UFC. Yeah, there's the poster for it right there against Hugo Lassama on February 19th at 7 p.m. You'll be able to watch that on YouTube. Exciting stuff. You know, just his fourth combat sport fight, you know, because he did a dirty boxing since September. So he's staying active, but he was asked about potentially signing with the UFC. Here's what he had to say. We've been in actually a lot of contact.

I would say after every single fight, you know, it's a call. And not with me, just with the people that I'm with. You know, they relate messages to me. But it's all good messages. It's all positive things, good energy. We talk on a great basis. So when the time is coming, it's just when I want the time to come. He also mentioned, like, if he gets an emphatic knockout this weekend,

which is what he's done in his first three fights, three coming by way of first round finish. If he does it again this weekend, then he's going to call to not only fight in the UFC, but on the White House card as well. Olympic gold medalists, it makes all the sense in the world. Exciting stuff here, like, that could happen just this week. So you have sort of, oh, it could potentially be Cyril Gond versus Alex Pereira. Oh, you could potentially have Gable Stephson making his debut for the heavyweight division.

So, like, it feels like the hot topic right now is to shit on heavyweight, but maybe potentially in the near future we could be seeing some. fix is done to it. But that's the thing. I think if you had a title, be it in interim or whatever, it at least gives the division of focus. I said this a lot

during the time when John Jones was out. If there's not a champion that's active on defending his title, the whole division feels aimless. You don't understand what any fight is for. So even if it is an interim situation, we saw Tom in that role before as well, where you're like, this could be an interim, that has been defended.

That has been defended before by Aspinall. I think it's very good. And to Rick's point, to have Steven just chasing up the rear there, like, just going through guys. Like, when I imagine an ideal situation, what the OSC could do with Gable, it would look something like Shemoyev when he came in. Like, just throw him warm bodies so we can see what this is like. Let him lap them up and let him be that looming meteor in the background hurtling towards Earth. Like, let him be that guy where you're like, holy shit, man, he is going through dudes. let whatever at the top of the division is happening.

And I think that injects a huge amount of energy, much needed energy too, into heavyweight immediately. It's one of those things that's almost like, certainly Tom Aspinall does not want to be in this situation, but it's one of those things that I think is the unintended benefit of this, which is that with Tom Aspinall out of the picture, there's other names that we can start talking about and thinking about, and it doesn't have to all be related to like who's going to fight the champ, right?

We assume that if Cyril Gahn is the champion or Cyril Ghan has not lost since, that when Tom Aspinall returns, they have unfinished business and they will fight. But what about a scenario where all of a sudden Gable Steven comes in or Alex Pereira becomes interim heavyweight champion or heavyweight? I don't know what their plan is for, you know, allowing Tom to hold the belt. I would hope that they allow him to hold onto that belt. But there's a lot of different permutations of this that become exciting options. And there's, you know, a pathway that I could see to some exciting fights at heavyweight, which we didn't see. have. Imagine by the White House card. Let's say Gable Steven goes out, gets the first round knockout again. He ends up actually fighting on the White House card. Let's say by June, just four months away. We have Gable Steeveson making his debut in the UFC. Say we get a Cyril gone Alex Pereira interim title fight book. And let's say we have good news about Tom Aspinall on the horizon. It will feel like there is new life injected into the heavyweight division. One other name I did want to throw out and I know there's been rumors. I don't know if it'll ever happen is Rico Verhoeven, signing him in Adjutant. getting him to that heavyweight roster,

a huge, huge star in kickboxing, making his UFC debut. Yeah, he would be a huge addition, but I remember on our preview to 2026, Ariel asked, will we see him in the UFC? I said, no, I think it was the only one that did. But the reason why I did was, I was thinking,

if this guy has a professional boxing bout before, he's not going to come to the UFC, we've kind of seen this with Francis and Gano, too. Like, the money that you're getting offered, in the world of boxing is just on a completely different stratosphere. When you're someone like Rico, obviously, like when you are a bona fide combat sports superstar already, he's going to just get an awful lot more money if he goes boxing.

And I do find it just from like a personal business point of view for these guys, if they're earning like upwards 10 million for a boxing match, which the Saudis definitely have, which they have no problem dealing out for a super fight with someone like Rico, someone of his caliber, I think they find it very, very difficult to go back. to be in the UFC. And look, they've had opportunities.

If this was a completely non-personal situation, and Gano was making noises about wanting to be back there. Like if we're just focused on revitalizing the heavyweight division, the lineal champion be a good start too. They have had lots of options. It's just about getting them over the line. And look, before, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions, actually, lads. I want to ask you for us.

Let them rip, man. Yeah. Are we all in agreement that Aspinall is in the Pantosia situation right now? Like I know obviously no one has claimed the title. He hasn't relinquished the title, but when he comes back, he's straight into that situation again. Are we all in agreement? No question. Is, are you asking me whether I want that or are you asking me whether I expect that?

Well, actually, both. I'd like both answers if possible, Rick. That's an interesting twist. Absolutely, yes, 1,000% that Tom Aspinall should be fighting for a belt next, whether it's defending his own, or if for some reason the timeline gets extended, he is no longer champion. He should be fighting.

He has to vacate. They take it away. He should be fighting next. I can't lie. The tone and tenor of Dana White's, you know, commentary every time Tom Aspinall's name comes up, doesn't give, isn't making me brim with confidence

that they're going to treat him in the way that I believe he should be treated. So I don't feel certain about that. I don't feel like that's a foregone conclusion or a guarantee, but I would like it to be. What do you reckon G. I say no matter what.

I think it's like Pantosia. He is the king that is crowned right now and once they return from injury, they'll get their fights. Now, the next one is. Wait, before you go on to that, you raised something interesting. You said Hamzaa Shamaev,

and I like that comparison. This is what I was just about asking. Go ahead, please. Here's where I think it went wrong. Oh, no. They didn't push Hamzaa fast enough. They had them beating up these guys and they built him into this into this monster,

but how long did it take for us to finally get... Oh, that wasn't just. Okay, okay, come on. That's not just on the U.S. There was a COVID. No, no, no, no. You're misunderstanding my point. My point isn't that

it took too long and Hamzat was in and out and couldn't get visas, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever you make. If you have him fighting for the title and fight number three, you don't have that issue. You don't have to worry about that. Crazy. And so my point is,

Gable Steve, debut, UFC debut at the White House. His next fight should be for the UFC title if he wins. You are fucking insane. Next fight. Here's the thing.

He's in warm body territory here, right? He is in, that is the most electric thing to watch right now. I'm sorry. All right? Let me, I'm sorry. Can I just finish the point?

Let me finish the point. Yes, yes, yes. I want to see this guy redlining against a guy that is not even in the UFC rank. I don't know if they have any heavyways center of the rankings anymore. But I want to see

full on Gable just running through a dude. That's what I want. If he's going to debut on the way else card, that is the first thing I want to see. I want that Shemoy of energy. Title straightway is insane. Can I? It's, it's cool. Go, go, go. I need to spoil something for you, Pizzi. They're all warm bodies.

They're all warm bodies, Pee, see? Wow. There ain't nobody left. With Tom Aspinall on the sideline, they're all warm bodies, brother. it's time. It's time to shove that man right into the title fight. I just want to be clear you guys don't have any confidence in pandemonium this weekend. No. Hugo Pandemonium. Oh, is that his nickname?

Fighting in the main event of NFL 3 this weekend. You talk about warm bodies. This is served up on a platter. He's beat people with winning records. He's beat people with winning records. That is very special in the heavyweight division. He's 11 and 3, bro. He's 11 and 3.

Oh, shit. Let's win a seven and three dude. He beat a seven and three dude the last one before. This is... This is the best opponent that Gable Steepson has face so far. Yeah, they all are. But that's expected, right? Who do you want to see him debut against?

Antidellia? Walter Walker. He's ranked. I don't even want to be ranked. I don't want to rank. Okay, we're going down. So, like, you want to see, like, a Mick Parkin? What's Don't Tell May is doing?

Oh, Jesus. What is Don't tell me was doing? Is he even still in the U.C.? I can't find them on the, unlike the ranking. I'm going to use topologies. online. You talk among yourselves. I'm there right here. Kennedy and Zuchul. He's ranked, though, no.

Or is he gone to Loi Heavyweight? One or the other? I don't know. No, no. He came from from lightweight. Dantel Maze. Fuck, man. I don't know what he's up to. Here he is. He's 49th right now. 11 and 9. Boys, we're giving him a top town. Hang on, Don'tel Maze is John's sparring partner as well. This is two in the family.

Can't do that. You in the family. Hamdi Abdelulab? Hamdi. He's been caught. He got cut. Fucking Christ. He got cut after winning. Carl Williams, didn't he just lose the BFL? This is an embarrassing effort, right?

Toy Chui Vasa. Name opponent. Marcus Buccecho? Guys, what are we talking about here? Thomas the Train Peterson? You're telling me right now that you think if he stepped in there with Rizvon, Sergei Spivok, Joltena on Maders in the rankings, but he's not there. Marcine Tibera, you don't think that that's the equivalent?

You don't think that he gets like that. I'm down with giving him a top 10. Just give him a top 10. You forget the Pico experiment. Remember everyone talking bollocks about him? Aaron Pico. Aaron Pico. Who is the guy that beat him, Aaron Pico?

Corrales, right? Henry Corrales? No, no, it's not Corrales. One was before Corrales. He got choked out. It was his debut. Who was the first one? Let's look.

You're talking about when he went to Bellator? Yes. Oh, I thought you were talking about the Lorone Murphy. Oh, oh, Zach Freeman. There we go. The Henry Corrales was the second time that it was like, ah, he's unstoppable. And then he lost again.

We'll see. We'll see what happens. We got to deal with pandemonium this weekend first. And then he gets on the mic and he calls for the White House debut. We did this exercise at some point in the last like couple weeks to month. And I've got him favored over everybody in this division. It's just he is the bluest chip prospect that we've ever had. Like he is, he is in, not because I think he's the best all around MMA fighter we've ever had.

It's the combination of the level of wrestling that he has is unbelievable. You combine that with the heavyweight power and speed that he has. And then you combine that with how shitty I think the crop of heavyweights is. It's, it's impossible to deny that he's going to be. I don't necessarily disagree with you. I don't necessarily agree with you in terms of your evaluation of his skill set, your evaluation of the division. Yeah. I just want to enjoy it a bit more than you do.

Oh, you want to treat it like a glass of wine. Or you want to pour the thing, smell it. Let it swirl around to my name. I'm a chugger. You are like mainline and heroin when it comes to Gable Stevens. You're just injecting. You're not wrong, B, T. We need to see that elevation to the next level.

Like, let's just give them a U.S. A bit fighter. Let's just give them a UFC fighter. We can even be back in top 15. You're like, give him Sergey Pavlovich off risk. Okay, but here's the problem with this. What is a slow build at heavyweight? All of these guys stink.

Just give them one fight. All of these guys fucking stick. I won three fights. Top right, one rank. You can't fight. I'm not going to get out of here. You asked me to be.

Right, here we go. Non-ranked. Who? Doesn't matter. One body five. He says Thomas to train Peterson. Okay. Thomas Peterson.

Yeah. Dan, some between 10 and 15. Uh, Walter Walker. Walter. Any of them. Yeah.

Dan top five. When does the all of them? America matchup happened, Hokit versus Steve. Here's where I think you're mistaken. You are thinking that there's a difference between the number one, two, and three and the number 14, 15.

They are the same. I can assure you. There is no levels. I think six and 15 are the same. I don't think one, two, and three. We're talking about like Volkov, Curtis Blades. All right, right, this is what you're doing? Come on.

We're doing unranked, six to 15, and then top five, toil. Boy. And no, we want to build up. Can we not just make it a bit of a, come on, man. Let's just get excited. Let's get it.

I'm typically the one who advocates for a build. I don't mind a slow build. You need, heavyweight needs to matter again. I'm with you there. Heavyweight cannot be this bad. And the other thing is- Make heavyweight great again? Make heavyweight great again.

Rick says Volkov and Taltsin to share are the same people. They are the same. Nah, this is mad. You are fucking, that's crazy. You are fucking great. And here's why it doesn't matter what order this comes in. Because if he does do that, let's say he does exactly. what I say, right? He fights at the White House,

top 10 guy, and then his next fight, let's say he's fighting a serial gun, and there's a title on line, and he wins that. He's going to be defending against all these guys that you wanted to see him against in the first place. It's the same crop. There's no difference. Once you're in this heavyweight division, you're one fight away from a title

shot, because there's nobody else in it. If you win. We're talking about this dude. I don't know if the UFC is going to do that. There's going to be a egg all over and Val Woodburn. As soon as... You are setting yourself up for even like A decision win, everyone's going to be like, fuck this guy. And it's, it nearly always happens in MMA.

It nearly always. Except what Gable speaks. You've been burned by this before, Rick. You're so shamelessly going after this guy. It's offensive to heavy weight, one of the greatest divisions of all time. The last time I felt this strongly was Hamzat. This strongly, the last guy was Hamzad, and he's proven to be. He's lying.

He's lying. He's lying. Who? The last time he felt this strongly was actually in heavyweight, Marcus Boutrecus. Chetcha. We all saw that. It was. It fucking was.

He did. He doing all the same shit. This guy is a one-off. Marcus Ritcha? Titia? You know, one or two away? One or two away, my goodness. All right.

We'll see what happens with heavy weight. Hopefully they make some signings. Hopefully, Gable comes over. Hopefully Rico comes over. Hopefully Alex Pereira moves up. We, and most of all, hopefully Tom Aspinall gets healthy and is able to fight again. John Jones comes back. You have the makings of a great division if they all just decided to come back.

John Jones versus. Gable, the master meets the protege? Imagine he was in the Rashad slot. Remember when Rashad and Jones turn around? And it's suddenly like Gable turns into the young John Jones and John Jones is then Rashad. I mean,

it's not going to happen, boy. This is all a pipe dream. This is all a pipe dream. We're getting Waldo Cortez Acosta versus Cyrilgan. Then Francis comes back. Then Rico fights Francis. Oh wow. Then Tom is like, oh my God, my eyes are okay. I can actually fight again. Pizzi's got himself amped up. We played the video what seems

like 20 minutes ago, but Gable Stevenson did say he's in contact with the UFC. Yeah. This feels like a foregone conclusion. For sure, man. He's knocking people out. He trains with John Jones. He has all the connections. He's a huge name. He's an Olympic old medalist. It makes all the sense in the world that if he wins this weekend and he calls for it, he will be welcomed into the UFC with open arms. I imagine that that's what's going to happen. Let's go to some news and notes.

Wait, Pizzi, can you stick around with us? Can you react to some? Oh, yeah. Can you hang? I guess like we brought you on to talk article. Are you too busy? Shit, the sketch. What do we think? Yeah, look, okay, I guess. I'm going to have to cancel a few things. Move by 7 o'clock. Yeah, it's no problem.

All right, all right, great, man. We got a lot of news and notes to go through, so just hang with us. ZO3 happened last night. Zuba boxing, you guys watch? No. I did not. I saw some highlights were on it.

One fight. Name one fight. Zero three. We all saw it. Name an opponent versus another person. One fight that was on the card. Only casuals wouldn't know who headlines Zio 3. Great point.

Be for real. No, Chuck Mendenal was there. sure. Didn't Marvin Hagler fight or something? Or is that just Max Kellerman was making the comparison the jab? The jab? Okay. Dana White talked in a press conference afterwards, though, and he was asked about the pushback.

He's received since he started this foray into boxing, just three cards in. Here's what he had to say. What has been the biggest pushback that you have gotten from the traditional boxing establishments? What's been the biggest pushback? There hasn't been any pushback.

This is like beating up babies. I feel like I came in and I'm beating up babies. I expected more. I expected some pushback. I expected some, I expected some, I don't know, them would be more game. This, this, this, they're all way out of their league. Like, absolutely positively out of their league. just an insane phrase to use there

and the double down was just absolutely gold it's like beating up babies that's how easy to do babies you know we don't know what it feels we know the feeling yeah yeah we all know the feeling he feels very confident three cards in he actually continued on and talked specifically about another promoter

had some harsh words to say take a listen I saw you know Eddie Hearn saying that the belt is cringy and all this stuff I don't I don't you know I don't think anybody looks at Eddie Hearn says oh this guy's a visionary or you know you know the guy's been

in boxing forever I look at him like most politicians you've done nothing in the sport except stay in the lane and you know play by all the rules and you know ride right along with what's but you're you ended up becoming part of the problem is what happened and I don't want to sit here and smash Eddie Hearn or anything else but Eddie Hearn works for his dad you know what I mean he works for dad and you know what I mean he works for dad and you know I don't think he's come in and ever had any type of vision. Whereas we do, and we're going to change the entire sport. And I understand the people who are the status quo in boxing don't like it.

But it doesn't mean they can't still do their thing. If your thing is as good as you think it is and you are as good as you think you are, then do your thing. Good luck to you. I'm going to do my thing and they're going to do theirs. I won't lie with these clips. It's nice to see this fire from Dana White, even if it is just about Zufa boxing,

you know, sort of like the secondary project to the UFC, but like going after Eddie Hearn being like, look, I'm not here to smash Eddie Hearn, but like he's a daddy's boy. He works for pops. Like he's a Nepo baby. What do you want me to say?

No one looks at him and calls him a visionary. He ain't doing jack shit. All these guys are out of their league. We're here to take over. It's nice to see this fire from, from Dana White. Absolutely. I fully agree with you.

It's good to see him passionate about something. Like obviously, you know, I'm taking the piss of the top. Like I don't. genuinely don't know any fights that are on the card. But, you know, this is very early days.

We don't know what this is going to become. It could become something huge. I do feel like there is a bit of a contradiction there with him talking about, like, essentially you're doing this with, like, your dad created this. This is,

like you've just walked through here. Eddie has, you know, revitalized matchrooms, boxing it, uh, completely. And the things he's doing are absolutely outrageous.

And I can't help but know is over Dana's right shoulder there. There's a big read. See it. Read season symbol. And, you know, they are paying for a lot of this, this zoo for boxing thing. Like, that was out in the open very early on. Obviously, people are going to pick up on that. But like, I enjoy the conflict.

Like, give it to me. It's going to make me tune in. I promise you, I did not watch a second of that boxing card. I watched every second of the press conference. So Dana still got that. Yeah. And as Connor said, it's nice to see him kind of reinvigorated. and it definitely seems like his energy toward that is on the boxing side, right?

And no longer on the UFC side, which is fine. It is what it is. It's a great point. Thanks, Frank. Can we get the babies one as well? Beating up babies. It's like beating up babies. Can we maybe get, how many babies do you think Dana White could handle?

Can we do that on the White House card? Dana White v. 100 babies. Okay, here's what I, this is exactly how I'm picturing the beating up babies happening. Mike gets tired. It's a lot of babies. It depends. How many babies do you think you take? What age are the babies?

They're babies. Are they on solid food? Six months. They're on solids? That's when you start switching about it. How do we know that they know to attack? No, they don't. Maybe they don't.

Oh, they don't. We're just putting them in the octagon. And Dana White's just picking them up and punting them out. Maybe we make them wear a suit that's just all nipples. So they're like trying to bite them. Trying to come forward. Okay, I like it. All right.

So this is how I speculate that this has. happens. Dana White's on like the group chat with like Craig Borsari and Hunter Campbell and somebody sends the nuclear bomb versus coughing baby meme and he chuckles to himself and then later he's like beating up babies. Like he just, it's stuck in his head. The double down was gold. The double down was gold.

It's like beating up baby. Can I just ask, are you getting the feeling that that's what's happening with Zulfoboxing? Like are you getting the feeling that he's beating up all of these promoters right now? Okay. I'm just. That's where I was going next. I don't.

And he even admits in that press conference that it's still early days, right? This is a minute number three. No doubt. I am getting worried. I am getting worried that with their power, his ability to promote and the backing of Saudi, that it might turn into it more quickly than promoters like Eddie Hearn or Oscar De La Jolla or anybody else expected. So while it is not, it does not feel to me like, you know, Zufa boxing, which we all three admitted, as more casual boxing fans than UFC or MMA fans did not watch.

But I do feel like there's going to be a turning point, and I think it's going to happen quicker than maybe most anticipated. Yeah, this is something that since the beginning, A, we need to see a play out. They're not going to give up after five or six cards. This is not something that they're taking lightly, and also the team behind Zufa boxing is a team of people that are not used to failing in their lives. They have come to achieve great success, and they anticipate doing that with Zupa boxing as well. So it's something that I want to see play out, but I'm with you, Pizzi.

I love the drama because you know Eddie Hearn is not going to stay quiet on these comments. He's not going to be like, oh, yeah, welcome to boxing, Dana. That's all good and well. I have nothing to say and retort. This could bring fiery back and forth between these promoters. Absolutely want that. That's what I live for. I love a bit of drama.

And anyone says that they don't is talking about her show. The fight game is built on drama. The build up to every fight pretty much is, you know, I don't like that guy and he doesn't like me. That's the whole thing. So to do this with promoters is great. I guess my question is, lads, like, when, like, these cards are essentially, have they not told us that, like, these Zufa boxing numbered ones, are essentially always going to feel the way they feel right now? And I know they have Apataya and guys like that, but is he not going to be in these, like, what is it? like, did he say three a year or something, big cards?

Because, like, boxing doesn't seem to be doing that bad. And I've just pulled up, like, the zone, for instance, Barry Os Garcia's this weekend, and Wood v. Warrington 2 is this weekend. Like, there is a lot of good fights. And if I'm being completely honest, and I know it's 30 days, and this could absolutely change. But the first three Zouva boxing cards aren't anywhere near that kind of

caliber of fight. No, but when... To that point, there are multiple decades down the line, whereas Zufa is in event number three. Are these fights going to start appearing on these Zufa numbered events? Like 1, 2, 3. Like, say we get to 26. I imagine, yes.

And I think a big indicator, and he mentions, we didn't show the clip, but in that press conference, he talks about Mauricio Suleiman and talks about how he's the best, like, calling card. He's the best business card that Zufa boxing has right now because he feels like he's making it easy for fighters to make a choice and go towards Zufa boxing. right we've seen chikora stevenson terence crawford and many others kind of talking about the the belts and having to maintain these fees to the sanctioning bodies and all this i think i don't think that they're going to get to a garcia barrios level like anytime soon but i think they're going to close the gap a lot faster right and that's going to be the thing if they can get to where matrum is by the time they were in year five in a year,

they've now got to a point where they can catch up a lot quicker. And I think that's going to be the goal for Zufa boxing is you just have to catch up. You don't have to overnight be the home for all of boxing. But if you can get to where it takes them five years and it only took you one, you're going to catch up relatively quick because they just haven't been around. Other than like Top Rank, they haven't been around long enough to say you can't catch up to us. And top rank is without a television deal right now. I think the environment is prime for Zufa boxing to kind of make those kind of strides.

And then you mentioned those bigger cards, you're now being able to put your logo, you're able to stamp on these huge fights, right? Let's say they're able to get Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury done later in this year. And there's a Zufa boxing logo on that fight poster or on that step and repeat or all over the branding of that fight. That's going to help in a major way as well. So I think it's going to happen pretty quick, man. Yeah, the most interesting point you said is the atmosphere feels prime for them to be able to capitalize. Yeah.

Unlike the atmosphere at the actual events. Ooh, I saw a clip last night where you could actually hear someone coughing in the audience. It looked like two guys just having a spar and a gym. Is that a baby? I'm going to fight a. Let's data beat the shit out of that baby. But, like, that's a big fucking thing. Like boxing for as long, since I'm a child,

my grandma used to wake me up in the middle of the night to watch a boxing, any box imagine, Prince's name, Chris Eubank, anything that was basically a big deal. He'd wake me and me, he brought her up, and he'd bring us downstairs. And you know, no one ever told us, this is a big fight.

You just looked at the fucking TV and you could see this swell of people. You could hear the roar in the crowd. You saw these massive entrances. You saw the different kits these guys are wearing that they represent different things. things and they're coming together to fight and one of them's going to be the best. That is a huge part of big fight nights.

That is a huge part of the fighting product. I just, with this current way it's done, I just, I can't see them rivaling. Even like, I've been to events in Belfast. I wouldn't be considered major events at all.

Donovan and Crocker 2, the rematch between us. It's a huge event for the region. There's a world title on the line. Not get me wrong. But it's not like all of you lads are like, oh shit. Is that happening today?

It wins our part. Like, the atmosphere in that place was absolutely incredible. And it wouldn't be thought of as like this massive, massive event. It's something basically match room due to stimulate that boxing town. They know that whole town will be breathing boxing for as long as they're there. That's a huge deal. That is a promoter extending himself to do something cool for not a lot of gain. Just the product.

This night deserves a big fight. I just don't think that environment lends itself to a situation where anyone's going to be like, This is appointment viewing. And look, I could be wrong. I think it's good because if you're a boxing fan, there's more boxing because they are now on the block, regardless of what way it's packaged. But that's just my reservation, Rick.

Talk about Wood Warrington 2 this weekend. It's going to be fucking crazy. You can turn that on. It's probably going to be on a 5pm your time and it's going to feel like pure adrenaline plugged into your veins. I just don't think that the product, the way it's known at the moment can match that. And maybe I'm wrong.

I know they're extending the apex and there won't be audible coughs on the broadcast. But, and look, I hope it is. I fucking hope it is. I would love that. I would love if this, this electrifying Sunday night fights, whatever they are, that would be great. I just, we're a long, long way off that. A hundred percent, but here's my pushback or here's my devil's advocate to that or kind of the counter to that. You talked about how it's going to be electric there, but you also talked about that's stimulating the local market and it might not do gangbusters, right?

It's not going to be huge business. Alternatively, Zufa boxing has. the advantage of we've got a venue, we're putting on our own fights, we don't have to spend money to make those fights happen, and then we're still putting out a product that satisfies our TV deal and continues to keep that train rolling. So if you're going out there and you're doing those boxing matches that are great for the local crowd and you sell the local tickets, but it's not doing huge business for you, where you better off just putting your fights in a warehouse and not spending the money and making potentially the same net return.

That's the brilliance of what they've kind of... That's a business idea. I'm saying from the business side. This is not the box. I'm not interested in how much money they're making. But how much money they're making is what determines the long term, right? How much money they're making or how much money they're saving is going to determine how they get to that next level, where they are putting on the biggest fights, right? As I said, they might have their name slapped on Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury later this year. That feels like a mega fight that the other promoters can't even come close to touching outside of maybe MVP when you do a Jake Paul fight on Netflix. That is the thing that allows you to then you capitalize on that. You make massive money in the deal.

You do the little shows where you're not making a ton of money, but you're also not spending money to come out of that warehouse. You build up talent like Jayapataya. Then you start to fill in that middle. Then once you've got all those, you know, you swirl away those nuts, you start to build out the roster. You're signing other fighters like a level of a Jayapataya or even maybe bigger, right? Somebody like Shakur Stevenson on the next time he's on a deal goes,

why the fuck am I interested in any of these belts anymore? Why don't I just do what Zufa's doing? Why don't I just go with Dana White? Let's fight for the one belt. Then I imagine the landscape changes. So I think this is more of a holding pattern. This is more of a like, we're doing this now, and then the future will be that. But there needs to be a draw for the audience to tune in.

Like last night, you're literally watching people feet shuffling. And also, like, to Pizzi's point, like, it stimulates that local area if every single fight card is taking place in a warehouse in the desert of the same. same city, week after week after week, people aren't going to be inclined to go so that that audience, that crowd is never going to be there for you because we talk all day about like all these people around Zupa boxing. They have the backing of Rietzis and they have all this money. They have all these successful people, you know, going after it. Ultimately, they need an audience, people that are going to be dedicated to watching this.

If no one's tuning in, how are you going to be generating revenue? Kind of. Kind of. But just to your point, Rick, like, the idea that they're in a holding partner now and it's going to be different from this. It's kind of not what we've seen from the UFC. If that's the business model, like since the pandemic, we're using the apex all the time. This is meant to be a stopgap. That's the different business, right? When the UFC was in its early days, they were doing the smaller show. We're going to Atlantic City. We're on the boardwalk. We're doing this. But we're hoping, right?

You're hoping there. Like, we don't know for sure that they're actually going to do that. Oh, boy. I can't imagine. Well, maybe, maybe not Atlantic City. They might be already onto stadiums and arenas by the time they're reaching the type of scale that I'm talking about. When you, when you say, Connor, need the viewership, kind of. They kind of need the viewership. They've already got a long-term deal with Paramount that's paying them a lot of money. They're not in the same position that Golden Boy, top rank, matchroom boxing are, where they rely on the rights fees from a lot of these television deals to support going to these

cities, to build up the local market to then sell tickets. They are broadcasting to us very transparently that they don't care about the ticket sales, that they're going to put these fights on in the warehouse, and they're going to already have the broadcast deal secured. They're not as, they're not as desperate for those financial gains that the other promoters are. And I think that gives them a big advantage in terms of what they're going to be able to build in the future. I'm, I predict success for them in a major way. And I think it's going to happen pretty quick. We'll see as it goes along. They're just on card number three. You know, we're going to have to wait years before we can make a

final judgment on Zufa boxing. Dana White's like beating up babies. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Frank, I love that. Quick on the draw. Beating up babies. That's the one we need. Beating up babies. He continued at the press conference, and he was asked about the White House card,

and he had some exciting news to share. Here's what he said. We have, like, two different options laid out, and the matchmaking process has already started. So, yeah, we got the White House card done last week. The card is done already to go? Yep. Nice.

How many title fights are you able to say? No. I'm not saying anything. Okay, he said that the card was done there. later clarified, no, I didn't say I was done. I mean, he did say it was done. He just meant that the card is built. They have two options that it looks like they're going to go with. Couldn't tell us anything more than that. He then was asked, is there going to be any special promotion? How are you guys going to announce these? Are we thinking IG live? Here's what he had to say. Just one of the

question about the White House, though, as far as announcing the card, do you feel like, you know, in the media world that we're in, it's enough to just put it out? Or do you feel like that, is there like some kind of special announcement that we should be expecting or is it just like hey tell people what the card is and the media will do you know their thing or do you know we don't know yet as we get close we've you know we've been kicking around a lot of ideas and uh i don't know me me and borsari actually fly to uh dc this week and sit down with the president and his team and start walking them through um not just the production but the fight card we have uh we have like three different options on all the different production stuff and see we

he likes and what he doesn't like, but let me tell you this. It is, this event is going to be so badass and so unique and so special and so expensive. All right, so we're four months away now. Just like less than four months now. And we're saying the card's been built, it's going to be badass, it's going to be expensive. Okay, here's the thing. The cards been built followed by we're going to the White House to run it by, Trump makes me think that it's not

like this is not the final card. I didn't say it was done. I didn't say it was done. Because replayed said the card was built. Cards done. Okay, Rick? That's what he said. Trump goes. He didn't say it was done. I don't like that. Beating up babies. He's going to, Trump is going to see the card and be like, where's Derek Lewis?

And Connor McGregor is not fighting Derek Lewis according to this. We're going to need to make a couple changes. We're going to need Connor versus Derek, at least in the headliner. Twice. And then I don't see myself versus a thousand babies. So I don't know.

I'm going to be fighting the babies, Mr. President. Oh, okay. You heard that. It's like beating up baby. You heard Bill Simmons's show that Baron is going to debut with this. Baron Trump. Like that's the world character. Is that the injection into heavyweight, Whitney, like 6-8?

Let's throw some pounds on him and get him up to 225. Come on, that range. Him versus Talas and DeGarro? Yeah, just job, drop. Yeah. Barron, throw that jab. out, Baron, come on. Man, live, breathe, and die by it. So we have no idea who's going to be on it still. We don't even know who's going to be on UFC 327 in April. That's neither here nor there.

We don't have any main event. No, but the whole fucking sport is, the whole promotion is being held up with this. There's no title fights booked. There's nothing. So are all that happening? A, a fantastic point. No title fights booked right now. We've only had one undisputed title fight in 26 and we still don't know when the next one is going to be none of the champions are booked. But you said the whole sport's just waiting on this That's a great point You don't even have the rundown in front of you And it's just like you're following

Because everybody's taking to social media We saw the Alex Pereira post earlier The 1, 2, 3, let's go He wants to be on the White House card Gable Steve's in, if he wins an emphatic fashion He wants to be on the White House card Sean O'Malley Posted a video about what his next fight could be

Here's what he had to say I'm ready to fight yawn I mean versus yawn the White House What the fuck else you're gonna do What the fuck else is there to do I hope you're not going to yawn I will. Sugar versus Peter

with a co-mane event. So I'm talking about shit, boy. So Sean O'Malley says Me versus Piotr Yan. Gable Steven, we talked about him wanting to sign with the UFC. Here's what he had to say about the potential of him

debuting on the White House card. I think there's a spot for me, especially being a U.S. Olympic champion. You know, there's got to be a place for a guy that can represent America. You know, I feel like I don't think there's one American champion right now besides Gaichi,

but he's kind of the interim. So, if the White House happens for me it happens for me you know if it doesn't I keep moving on and the next thing will come and the next big thing will arise for me but I would love to be on the White House card that would mean a lot but it's not there in the world if it

doesn't happen he talks about being an American champion it's not just the American champions that won on your 170 pound champion Islam Makashev he talked about being on the White House card as well here's what he had to say let's do it I tell them I will be ready soon

if White House of course I want to be in White House because maybe one and only will make the fighting in White House. I want to be in history. All right. So we're getting everyone in there and their brothers and sisters calling for the White House card. The sport is literally on hold. Everyone's like, why do you keep talking about the White House card? It's like, because every single athlete and promoter is talking about it as well. So we get the Dana White. It's built, you know, we're going to go past it by Trump, everything like that. We got a couple options to go. Then we also get a tweet from Alvaro Colmanero at Colmanero on X. And he reports the plan that the UFC is trying

to make involves Ilya Taboria versus Justin Gaci as the main event at the White House. He also mentions Islam defending against a natural welterweight, as Ali says with Ian Gary being the best position opting for an event yet to be determined. We'll get to that in just a second. But that first point, Ilya, Justin Gaci main event at the White House. Would that be? White House standard for you guys main event. I think it is. I think it is one of the best players in the world. I'd love to see him back there.

I think it's great. I know a lot of people, the first time I spoke about this, the idea of these two fighting at the way of us, a lot of people were annoyed because I was like, is this the look America once? You know, because of a feeling I know who's going to win that one.

No disrespect to Gagee. I just think it really is the fucking man at the moment. Love that fight, honestly. What do you think, Rick, as an American? I don't care about the The pageantism This is meant to be about America mate

This is the 250th fucking birthday of your nation And you don't care about America I mean Who's your favorite president? Pizzi come on Let's hear her man If president stay over here

Barry Robinson Sorry she's Irish But That's it.com I think You last week said This would be a disappointment I think people on

Twitter And Instagram and the wide majority of MMA fans would be disappointed with this. They're very positive people, though, usually on X, I found. They're also logical, logical, logical, you know, and pathetic critical thinkers is this fan base. I think people would be disappointed with this being the main event.

Really? I think it's good. I think it's good enough. I think the return of Ilya is going to feel big. And if you put it on the White House, I think people can finally kind of just like get behind it and they can let go of their expectations. I still maintain that like

I don't think John versus Alex is out of the running it's going to take some some maneuvering to get there but I still think John versus Alex is the most easy one to make but if you have Connor McGregor versus anybody I think that can take it to the next level I would

sitting here right now I think they will get one of Connor or John that's what I think yeah you still think there's a potential for Connor or John I do I do Connor needs to fight I keep saying it this is like a really feel like he needs to fight more than he has in a very long time just to stimulate some energy.

Look, it's like anything. Like, fighting is the catalyst for everything in his orbit. You know, you don't have to look too far to see, like, his businesses aren't doing so well. It's been a bad run of PR due to his civil case. A lot of different things going on there with Connor. I think he wants the PR week that goes with fighting, not only just for himself, but for all of the enterprises around him.

I think more than ever, I think he will give this an honest, God go. Like the other times he's been getting ready, I just didn't feel like his head was in it at all. And look, I don't necessarily think that it's, it's ever going to be what it was. I was around that guy and I thought he was the best voter in the world for a very short period of time,

but he was magic. Everything he touched turned to gold. We haven't seen that guy in a decade pretty much. And so go ahead. My reservations are not because I don't think Connor is motivated. I think Connor is motivated to do it. It's his body. No, it's not that. To the point? No,

it's not that. to your point, I think he needs it more than ever, and it would be a boon to the other things that he's doing. I think the problem is going to be the contract. I think the problem is going to be Connor McGregor's expectations of what he needs to be paid, and the UFC no longer being in the business of paying that price is going to be the friction point.

I don't think it's the motivation anymore. I think it's going to be the money. I think there's a world where they come to Connardrigger and, like, you know, the pawn stars, mean where it's like best we can do. That's what I think they're going to come to Connor McGregor with. This is the best we can do and I don't think it's going to be good enough. If we don't see Connor McGregor or John Jones on the White House card, I'm not sure if we ever see either of them again. John, I think is going to be easier and here's why. They gave him

a number that he turned down. They have leverage now. They can go, yeah, you turned down that money. That was your money to fight Tom Aspinall. Here's what that number is going to be. And if John truly needs it, now there's a. There's a cap on how much John Jones can make. It's not going to be more than $30 million. Guaranteed because he already turned that down to fight Tom Aspinall. So they're only going down in terms of his price tag. Connor McGregor is coming into this as,

I used to make a ton of money off pay-per-views. You got rid of paper views. What are you going to pay me to make it up to me? And I know John Jones made $30 million. I'm a bigger star than John Jones. You better double that. That's going to get dicey. That's going to get real dicey.

And so my concern is Connor McGregor's price tag being too high. and the UFC no longer being in the business of, we need one particular athlete. If the president signs off on whatever card they've constructed, if they then make John Jones versus Alex Pereira, I think that's a good enough card, and I think they'll just move on. Yeah.

The more, like you say that, and there's a great point you made about the contract. There is some which can go wrong with Connor. There just is. This is going to be a 38-year-old man this year in July. Yeah. And a guy that's not been, not been treating his body with the respect it needed.

Like, I mean, with a guy, his fighting style, which at the height of his power, was absolutely amazing. It was very reliant on athleticism, explosivity, timing, all these things that can get diminished with age. And as I said, it's not as if he's been rapping himself in cotton wool.

It's not as if, I can remember back in 2014, 2015, him being fascinated by the longevity protocol of LeBron James. Yeah. I don't know where that fascination went. Haven't seen it. I haven't seen anything even near it.

You think him and LeBron are living different lifestyles outside of the octagon and the... Just a little bit. Maybe, you know, just a little bit. All right, so if we're worried about the contract, and then Dana White has come out several times saying he can't trust John Jones to be on the White House card. Do we actually think either of them are going to be on it?

I think one or the other. If I... My bet is still hedged toward John versus Alex, and it was my prediction. If Connor did come back, Pizzi, what makes sense? To me, it would be... Previously, I said, do Ilya versus Armin, Justin versus Connor McGregor,

or something that was like a reward that Justin wouldn't be too upset holding that interim title? It seems like all the direction the reporting is going toward Ilya versus Justin. To me, the one that makes the most sense is Patty Pimble. Is there a better option that I'm not thinking of? I think it's probably the best fight that they can make from. Patty's in a better situation because he lost to get the McGregor fight too. Yeah.

And because obviously that would that would just put them straight into that Ilya situation. Like we should, it feels bad that like every time we talk about this, we have to preface the fact that like obviously and I think I can categorically speak for all of us. We wish it was Armin v. Alia, right? Like that goes without saying. But we know it's not going to be. That's why we're going to like talking about this Gaichi situation. But I think Patty v.

Connor, the bill you could do for that. Like, Patty, the original reason I start watching Patty Pimble is because he started talking shit about McGregor. In 2013, Severeom I did an interview with him. And he just immediately started talking shit about everyone on SBG, Artem Loboff, Connor McGregor, all this stuff. Now, I know they're on better terms now. There was that story going around recently where they were like, someone was saying Patty was scared of,

of Connor when he was in Liverpool and Connor went to his house. Connor showed up outside the house was the story. Yeah, but that was, that is true. He showed upside the house, but it wasn't the beat up Patty. It was to go drinking with Patty. I remember very well the time. I was still very close to out and drink with him.

No, Patty was asleep. Patty is knocked out probably in a few moments. I was not drinking with him, man. No, he was in a coma. Like, he was, he was out cold. He probably, like, had an enormous meal before all this, went to sleep. And he wakes up to these messages with people going, Conor Crackers is looking for his outside of your house.

Fucking crazy. But at the time, I can remember, I don't know if it was Connor directly who told me or someone who told me, he was looking to party with him. buddy. Like he was looking to like, you're the guy who knows this town. Bring me about the place. Quite a storied weekend on Irish WhatsApp. That I'll trip to Liverpool for Connor McGregor back in the day. We'll continue to wait with bated breath for that Instagram live notification for Dana White House. Do we do it? Trump is going to announce it. Oh, yeah. On the IG live, no, no, no, no. Guess what guys? Look who I'm with. A state of the union for the UFC. Do you think we

get White House fights first or UFC 327? White House. That'd be crazy. 327 is like six weeks away. White House. And we have no idea what it's going to be. We'll see. Let's go back to the second part of that report from Alvaro Colmanero saying that

Islamakachev looks like he's going to defend his belt against a natural welterweight, meaning that it likely won't be against Ilya and he says that Ian Gary is the front runner. An interesting note, you know, combine with that report, Ian Gary said this back in November on the potential of fighting Islam

Akashv. I promise you. I told you at that interview. I'm coming to Georgia. I told to all of you. I will come to Georgia because Georgia has phenomenal wrestling, phenomenal judo, phenomenal sambo. And when you are trying to prepare for someone like Islamakashv, I'm going to need that.

So Georgia, I'm hauling to you guys. I'm going to need your help. So every South Pole wrestler, every guy that thinks he's going to be like Islamakish, we need to find a place I will see you there and I will call for your help and then last night posts on his Instagram story

he's catching a flight to Tbilisi heading out to Georgia I guess to train the wrestling to potentially prepare for Islam Makashv do we know that he actually got on a flight to Georgia or could he have just taken a picture of a billboard of a flight to Georgia

or did he just Google let's see let's see British Airways flight to Georgia. Was it AI? Was it AI, Frankie? No, I don't know that for sure. No, I can't find anything. Can't find anything.

I think that's legit. I think he is, do we have any boots on the ground? Can we get a report from Marad Vosvili? Is Ian Gary officially in Tbilisi? She loves gloves. She loves the glove, yeah. Great Georgian journalist. You can affirm if Ian Gary is in the country of Georgia?

I mean, I hope he gets a fight. You know, I think. I think Islam will be quite happy with that fight too in terms of, like, obviously, Ian wants it. Ian's talked for a very long time, I'm going to be the guy to beat him. He's probably talked more respectfully about Islam than any person he's ever fought as well. There obviously is a previous fight between both people who come from similar necks of the woods that would be reheated. I actually saw Lesir, great podcast in France. They did the full Dagestan v. Ireland poster today with Usman, Paul.

Bobib, Connor, and Islam Vien, and of course... No, surely there's more than three. There has... There's been fucking 17 this year, Rick. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, that's the truth of it.

But, you know, look, it is something they can go back to the well with, which I have no doubt they will. It's, I think he deserves a shot. Shavcats out. Ian Gary is a guy that has been the Huckleberry many times for the UFC. I think he absolutely knows that people will know

he said that about Georgia, and that's where he's putting up. But honestly, I think it's a, it makes sense. I think it's a, it's a great fight. I'm very interested to see it. And to the point of Ali, was that Ali that quote was attributed to where they said a natural wealth weight. Yeah, Ali on Twitter basically said, it's not going to be somebody coming up like Ilya.

It is going to be a welterweight. Yeah. Like to that point, I would say Ian weighs less than every welterweight on fight night. There has, it's been reported before. He does not put himself. through a rigorous weight cut. And look, his fighting still lends himself for that. He's incredible movement.

He's incredible movement. He's very fast. He pretty much has the same output in round one as he does in round five most of the time. I think that probably suits Islam a bit as well because obviously he is long known as the 155 champion. A guy who is not going to get in there at, you know, close to 200 pounds will suit him a lot better. And I don't think Ian does realistically way more than Islam on fighting night should they fight, even though he's a lot taller man than Islam. You mean as in contrast to somebody like, I don't know,

Michael Morales, who's like 400 pounds for the time he steps into the cage? It's a big boy. You think Ali's playing it that deep that he's like, it's going to be a natural welterweight. So not only not Elliott de Poria, but not Michael Morales,

because he weighs too much. He's a natural. He's not a natural welter weight. I don't think he's digging that deep. I don't think he's digging that deep. I don't think to Pizzi's point, which I agree with, I think it's an easier fight. And, you know, two weeks ago.

You certainly could see at that point of view, right? You could see a point of view of a big look at this fight, Colin. I like this fight for a lot. I like it way better. And that's why two weeks ago I said, I would rather see Morales. I think Morales will be a stiffer test for Issa-Machachev for the same thing that you said, right? The size difference and his ability to strike at a range that most guys that, you know, in that division are not going to be able to is more interesting to me. But if you're going by the merits, Ian Gary has stepped up for the UFC every single time and done exactly.

what he's been asked and delivered each time and and fought more valiantly than I think people would have expected right in the fight against shopcott Rachmanab. I think he outperformed expectations in a major way. He completely blank Carlos Proches so I think he deserves which is not a thing in MMA.

I think he deserves the shot. I'm more interested in Morales but this by no means not a good fight. I'm very interested in this one. Also good news. I can confirm Ian Gary posted on Instagram that clip of him at the press conference back in November and he says Georgia, I have arrived.

So Ian Gereishvili has officially been born. No, he put the flag. I was going to propose, what if he takes a picture of Tbilisi, then he flies to Atlanta, Georgia and says, I've arrived in Georgia. But he put the flag. Bejohn. Bejohn, Jared. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go.

Georgia, I have arrived. And it's him at a Hawks Heath game. Shearing on Steven Johnson. A bit of good news out of the world of combat sports. Kane Velasquez has been released from prison after a 10-month stent after pleading no contest to a multitude of charges, including attempted murder following his arrest in 2022. But he has been freed. Here he is with his family afterward, just touching stuff to see him out of jail and back into his normal life. There it is. Mariachi band, touching stuff to see him be released and rightfully reunited with his family. It's great stuff. That's great.

Yeah. No, I mean, Kane Velasquez is, you know, it's, this is a tricky one. It's difficult to because obviously the, the violence involved in this, right?

Like circumstances combined with the violence is tough. People would have a completely different reaction if I drove down the motorway shooting out of a lat. Oh, that's all. For sure. For sure. Like,

the context is important. The context is important. Uh, but yes, I think we're, you know, many of us are, are on the side of Kane Velasquez should be walking free now.

and he's on parole. And so it's good to see him. We saw the reaction of like many of his contemporaries. Yeah, we saw Daniel Cormier getting in there, who's obviously been backing him through this entire trial. My dog back home, welcome home champ. Josh Thompson also posting a picture with Kane Blasquez, a older picture, but he says, welcome home brother, tagging Kane.

So great to see him. That we're sure, because Josh Thompson said some shit there during the week. No, no, Josh Thompson got Ruben carded. He got Ruben. He got Ruben. I have to say on the crack on Friday, I was dying when y'all were talking about Ruben Carter. And you were like, it's a great sandwich. It's a great sandwich.

Anytime I see it on the menu, it's the first thing that I go to order. Love myself for Ruben. But yeah, man. Okay. Is Ruben Carter our NBA Centelle? No, because Centel is smarter and more believable. Yeah. I mean, he does numbers every time he posts.

You know how it's embarrassing to get in touch? Okay, but here's... It's how embarrassing that is to get in touch with the Asthmael team being like, because this guy named after. sandwich, he said this. We have a big article coming out today. Can you just confirm that this hasn't happened, please? This feels like a very modern media contrivance. And I'll explain why. Ruben Carter puts out all these bullshit things all the time, right? And no, most of the time people don't fall for them. There's enough people to your point, right? When Centel puts out something,

everybody goes, ah, Centel. And it's more the cleverness of it that people react to. Ruben Carter just like reports fake shit all the time. That's just what, what's happening. And so the modern media contrivance of this is that Josh Thompson as somebody who has a platform and a media outlet in his own podcast falls for this and then puts it out and it's framed as Josh Thompson is saying as opposed to Ruben Carter saying because Josh Thompson doesn't go, I read that tweet from this idiot Ruben Carter who puts out all this fake news, these reports. He just vaguely kind of references something and then he's like, if this happens, it would be blah, blah, blah and blah, And now he has a platform in which he can do that.

And people are going, oh, no, Josh Thompson is saying it. He is, you know, he does this and he's reporting it. And now it becomes this, this mess of people just like then taking that and parceling that out and an aggregation of this and this and this and so it starts with bullshit tweet that then becomes legitimized by somebody who has a platform and a voice accidentally without realizing that they're doing this. Yeah, don't get almost like the LASC situation all over again. Oh, yeah.

Even predates the LASIC situation. We've just jumped over. That's what happened. Let's fucking react to that. So, you know. Don't ever get Rubin. I'm with you, Pete. Yeah, I only recognize two Rubens in this world.

It's the sandwich and American Idol champion. Stutter. Shut up. Absolutely legend of the game. Those are the only Rubens that I recognize. I know you guys watched Z-O-3 this weekend last night. Did you watch Karate Combat 59 on Friday? I caught the highlights.

Caught the highlights as well. Volta Walker with a big submission win over Zion Clark. Oh, sure. I did see this. Okay. Oh, you didn't know what we were talking about, Pt? The big grappling match of the weekend? Hmm.

Dude, all right. Even though obviously Zion Clark is going to lose this bout, the dude is an absolute freak. Like, just being able to, like, grapple with this guy, you can't say enough. I'm glad that, look, like, they kind of had a little levity with it, but also gave an opportunity for some real grappling. But as we see here, you know, obviously the choke is hard.

Yeah. Yeah. Walter Walker has a massive physical advantage. Like, this was always how I was going to go. Like, that's what it was. It was more of a, it was kind of just a show to watch. It was a meme that turned into a grappling match. And that's what it was.

But what did come out of it, other than that, Walter Walker got on the mic afterward and called someone out. Take a listen. Yeah. I'm a little bit upset. I'm very upset because I call my brother to come here with me and he don't come. You know, you see, Johnny Walker is not here. He don't come.

I want to smash him. I have some kind of relationship very weird now to my brother. I want to smash him. I only broke his foot. You know? I want to bring Johnny to hear and show for him who is the real Walker. What if his wife let him come? Everybody knows his wife his manager, his wife his boss.

You know, need ask permission for his wife. He's life that he comes. Let's fight for me. So Johnny Walker, a big, big boy, he could get up to heavyweight. We're going to see a Walker versus Walker at 265. Is that what's going to inject life into the heavyweight division? Before we get into Walker versus Walker, can we just acknowledge, like, Robin Black in the, you know, bubble gum pink suit?

President Awesome, sitting on the side of the pit. Doing this like mugging thing, like reacting to the, like reacting to the, this like Walter Walker just cut the promo the century like holding his head oh my god and I'm just like come on guys YouTube thumbnail yeah yeah doing the YouTube thumbnail and then Zion Clark right there next to him in a grappling match that they just did born out of a meme and then he calls out his own brother Johnny Walker did respond via Instagram he says I am ashamed he's choking an indefensible guy four times lighter than him and without legs very disrespectful take someone of your own size

you are shameful for the Walker legacy at Volta Walker this is why I did not come to the fight it wasn't a fight it was a I can't even give it a name can someone tell me what it was please he doesn't deserve to use my name he is not a Walker I am very sad

I stand up for my family family is what I fight for and he have no respect on my family my wife and my mom he want me crazy here I mean listen Portuguese is the first language here we're going into English He want me to left my pregnant wife at home

after he said bad shit about her online to come and support him to fight a disabled man. Ashamed. Very ashamed. Take my name out of yours. Okay. Break it down for it. My immediate feeling is, so one of the,

the Walker brother who's just competed, he'll Hulk Walker. He rings Johnny Walker and he says, here, listen man, you're not going to believe what they're paying. me for this. And he's like, what? And he's like, yeah, like, they're paying me 20 grand to come in here and have a grappling match. And Johnny's like, my miss has a baby on the way, man. I could deal with, I could deal with Aaron 20 grand for a grappling match. He's like, how about I just say,

I fucking hate you? And I want to beat the shit out of you in grappling. And the funny thing is, I'm really good at heel hooks. Our name is Walker. And I can say, I will make sure you're never walker ring again if you come and do this. I'll put you in a walker. Let's go. You're going to go. Way of it. Beating a babies. You'll be using a, a walker. What was that Dana? Beating up babies. Yeah. Parify it there again? Sorry?

That just, this is like beating up babies. And then the. Beating up babies. Beating up babies. This is one that in like 18 months, listeners are going to be like, yeah, I don't really know the genesis of that drop. What was that? Without the sex and beating up babies out of context are just unbelievable. Beating up babies without the sex. Beating up babies.

Thanks. That's fucking illegal. This is like beating up babies. Who disagrees? Who disagrees with my brother? Could not agree with you more, Pizzi. The funny thing is, though, Johnny Walker has always been like a pro wrestling character, right? From the, like the over-the-top celebrations, the way he carries himself.

And now it feels like him and. Walter have like come up with this program, this wrestling program that I think is like perfectly suited to both of them. I love it. You nailed it. You nailed it. Who leaves in with a walker in Walker? That was you, G.C. Oh, you got a terrible one. You got a much better. This is this is a brain trust. This is a meeting of the mind and we're doing this for karate combat. We'll take the residuals 20K each to them. Five K each to us. No worries. We'll, you know, we'll handle poster design all that. We got it. Don't one of them should have to change their last name whoever loses yeah yeah yeah yeah loser changes name loser changes name i like that oh he's just johnny santos now he changes

oh shit damn now he'll it'll be if volta loses it'll be walter walker off because he just trains in in rush he'll just add the o v onto the name uh another fight that went down on karate combat 59 uh wing c back in the pit getting a dub here up against uh jaden torrid gets the takedown, a couple hammer fists, and it was all over from there. Performance was okay. The best performance of the night was this right here. It goes up on the pit, backflip, lands the superhero stance. A little twirl into the break dancing.

I'm not upset, like, is Peyton Talbot about this guy getting famous after he stole his tattoo? Like, he's like, this guy's never. I'm just going to take his tattoo. No one's ever going to notice. and now Wing C is, you know, mainstream. You know, the headband is also a tattoo. The Crusaders Cross or whatever it is, also a tattoo. Like that's, yeah.

Are you seeing Pee-Tee that maybe Peyton's going to get those tattoos as well now? I mean, I think he's just been found out. I think everyone knows that Wing C was the originator. Yeah. Be excited about Peyton Tabb, yeah, he's a brilliant word. Oh, he's amazing to watch. He stole that man's tattoo. That's what I'm trying.

I think he admitted as much. I think he admitted as much so people do know. Did you see him dancing in the back? You said the performance of the night was the celebration. I think this was the performance of the night. So there it is. Dancing for Alex Pereira, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. You can see how into it, Alex is.

Alex is unsure. Keeps the AirPods in. All right, here we go. He gives his Shama shuffle. The Shama Shuffle is not bad, though. Do you think, do you think Wingsie leaves in Alex Pereira? It's just like, who the fuck was that? Or do you think he's just saying it in Portuguese to his friends?

And he's just like, who the fuck is this? Plinyo is over on the side. and he's like, who is this man dancing in front of me? Also, did the wings get smaller? Am I tripping? They have. They've definitely got smaller. The wings strung.

Is that for just mobility and being able to move about the arena easier? Got her, got her. He joined aerodynamic. When he joined Helwani, he had like full, like, full like all the way down, went, like gigantic wings. So, you know, nice to see him in the wind column Malcolm Schuller, getting it done over Jaden Lee by first round. Pee's a big wingsy guy. So I'm just glad he got to witness that. His actual name is winged Carol.

He's just, he's actually my cousin. That's what it's short for, winged Carol. So some tweets over the weekend of top flyweight contenders and the flyweight champion, Manel Cop and Josh Van derang going back and forth. Someone posted Josh Van Losing to Charles Johnson and Manel cop quote tweeted it. Just the thought of it gives me chills. They're literally protecting you from a murder that could happen alive. I think he's kind of saying

they're protecting you from me murdering you on live TV. Obviously Josh Van knocked out by Charles Johnson in the summer of 2024. And then there were some tweets reporting potential fights taking place and Manel Cop came out and said otherwise

Octagon pulse. Shout out. Maybe under the same vein as an R.C. Rubin Carter. They say Joshua Van versus Minel Cop is officially. You know you got to trust that when it's all capped official, in the works as UFC 326 co-main event

I love the officially in all caps followed by the siren too GC which usually means Oh fuck how did I not notice the siren off rip siren breaking There's there's nothing like

officially and then immediately following up with in the works All right so they've officially started working on this one Manil cop Josh fan UFC 326 cone main event which is less than three weeks away at this point

I mean, Elkoff, quote, tweets it and says fake news. I am not fighting my quote-unquote son, Josh Van. My team and I have been pushing for this fight since my last one. However, according to the UFC, they had already promised the title shot to Tatsuro Tire after he defeated Brandon Roy Val. Even, I think he means Brandon Moreno. Even knowing that, we kept pushing to make this fight happen on March 7th. UFC told us there was a strong possibility. I was already cutting weight by Monday.

I was down to 144 pounds in the end. The UFC decided not to move forward with the fight because of the short time. We keep moving forward. Patient as always. And believe me, patience is something I've mastered. Champions soon, inshallah. So, Mano Kopp, saying it's going to go to Tatsuro-Taira. Yeah, naturally, you think it has to be probably Taira, right?

And understandably, like, there's a lot of different options that it could have been. I would have been happy with Kopp. I would have been happy with Taira. Hell, I would have been happy with Khoraguchi. Like, there's really good options here. You keep the division moving, and then when Pantosia is ready to come back, you do it. Yeah, it'll be. interesting to see where that fight takes place as well.

Obviously, maybe it's on 327 in Miami or maybe it's, you know, on the May pay-per-view in a location that we do not know yet. And also, just for clarity, he was definitely talking about Brandon Moreno because that's Rota lost Roy Val back in 2024. Before you move on, I got word from Frank that Pizzi has a heart out and he must leave us. He has requested. He has a tough man to book, Pete. heading into town, bottle service, the whole lot right.

Hey, shout out. Sorry, in the car. You know what I mean? What can I do? My life has completely changed. 30 million for the kitchen scrap. I was saying 30 million for the next article, Pete. No, we're in negotiation.

Shihino Shaddy is sweating right now thinking about, thinking about this. I essentially broke. We actually have to write another one. I thought that would do me. You're done. No, no, no, we need follow-ups on each doctor's appointment after this. You have to go with him. You're going to know this.

insurance plan inside and now you're going to know everything. PTA essentially broke the news last week. Emerald Dial, though, brother. I'll see you soon. Yeah, I cannot wait. It's going to be fantastic. It's great because actually all, every member of the team is going to be in Ireland this year,

apart from Frank, which warms my fucking heart. Let's go. Hey, me, bastard. Listen, as I told you, Frank, the funny thing about it is, I am fucking loaded as well.

I would not miss it. I could send you a grand tomorrow and not even know. I'll be like, I don't even care. Am I the first one to go, Pizzi? Am I the first one that's going to be out there? Yeah, first one on this crew, yeah, absolutely. So it's going to be wild. We're going to climb some fucking mountains.

We're going to swim in some oceans. Or are you going to the ones that you sent me? No, I don't think. But we're going to go to some fucking lovely places. Okay, okay, okay. It's going to be fantastic. We'll figure, we'll sort everything out. What are we happening in the 2015 Nissan Central?

What is it? Shit, it's a Bentley. Shut up. All right, Petit. Thanks for joining. use is right you're posh I see it lab boys good luck thanks man

speaking of Ireland we did get a post from from Gio Edish on Instagram in reference to Ian Gary it looks like he took a selfie with him he says Ian Gary is in gory which I would assume is a city in Georgia

sharpening and strengthening his wrestling here if you want a serious matchup with Islam Makashiv the gory wrestling school is the right and optimal choice best of luck to our Irish brother. So Ian Gary's in Georgian. It looks like he's prepping for a fight against this Slamakishu. I mean as Titi

laid out, I echoed, he deserves it, right? Like Ian, Ian Gary has done everything the UFC's ass, right? Step up against killers. These guys that are the other ones that everybody's talking about deserve title shots, right? Like before Shavkat had the injury, people were like, Shavkat's the guy.

Carlos Pratchez, on the rise, supposed to be the next big thing. Ian Gary stops that. He has earned his place and the opportunity to fight Islam Makachev, but to Pizzi's other point, I don't know that this is going to be a very difficult night for Islam. We will, it remains to be seen. The other thing about Ian is, I and many others have thought, you know, this is, this is not going to be his fight and counted him out. And then he ends up, you know, bucking the trend and exceeding expectation. So maybe he can do it one more time. He's kind of been, you know,

a prognosticator of his own success. He's been able to like kind of foresee the path. And so now he's getting that title opportunity, despite, you know, he loses to Shavkat and it feels like, okay, maybe this is like where this kind of goes the other direction. But he was able to stay active, get big wins, and now he's right back in there. And I am getting word from on-air, Jordan, that if he did fly in Tbilisi, Gori is just a short 10-hour drive away. He took the scenic route to get up. Hour 10, hour 10. Oh, hour 10, hour 10. Oh, Gory, short hour 10 drive from Tepleesi, a little bit of dyslexia.

They're working on me. It's all good. You know, 10-hour drive would have been a little rough. Broke it a walk. Broke it a jog over there at that point. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see if that gets announced.

I don't know if you guys saw this, but Gordon Ryan cracked the code. He did? He knows the secret. He let everyone know how you can beat Habib and Hamzad. Here's what he had to say. And so the combination of heisting

when these weight is leaning back, and then when the weight goes to lean forward towards your hands, and he goes to drive forward towards you, going into grandbies and using a series of grandbies and heist to get up in a way is like is like the best combination. And then throwing submissions in there where like you can roll to leg locks off of those grandbies or like, you know, use it to go to triangles, things like that. But using a combination of hoisting, rolling, and submissions is like the way to beat people.

People either just go into ice or they just go into rolls. They don't really chain them together too well. All right. Thanks a friend for letting Gordon Ryan yell out. Get the horse in the Grand Beach Gordon Ryan breaks it down there It's just as easy as that That's it

The guys who are a combined 44 and O in their MMA careers That's as easy as that Hamzat Took to Instagram And responded He said big bullshit

That is not how you beat me And then Joaquin Bugley Who's been weighing in on everything lately He says Let's get you on the show Obviously this coming from the overdog podcast so Joaquin weighs in

let's get you on the show explaining why it's bullshit and Ahmzat responds to Joaquin and says you two same shit so yeah Hamzot takes the opportunity just not pulling the punches on

anyone there and shits on walking Buckley as well I do appreciate the insight from Gordon there like the idea of like a guy who is such a high level grappler to say like this is how you would do it if you can accomplish this is what you try to do right like he's essentially said whether

this will work or not work you don't know and especially it's it's different when gordon ryan says it versus executes it right i'm confident that gordon ryan can do the things he's talking about i'm not confident that anybody else who's not as good as gordon ryan in the ground is going to have as easy a time executing the kind of game plan that he's laid out but he is the highest of level grapplers as are Hamza Chamaev and Habib Naraga made off. So the idea that like he's like, okay, I've identified where everybody's kind of failed. They're doing one or the other of those things is an interesting insight. But as I said, the execution is the hard part. Somebody as good as Gordon Ryan, yeah, like you can probably put together a strategy and figure out how to do it.

These other opponents are not the level of grappler that Gordon Ryan is, you just can't be. You cannot be. This is the cream of the crop. To be a Habib, to be a Hamzat, to be a Gordon Ryan, that has to be your primary focus. And a lot of these guys are just not that level of grappling. Well, Sean Strickland thinks otherwise. Okay. He came out and said that he can be the one at middleweight to dethrone Hamzaa Chamaev. Take a listen. I think I'm probably the only one that could beat Chimayev. I honestly think Fluffy's a better wrestler than Shemayev. Like I think pace-wise, style-wise, I think over five rounds, Fluffy's probably a better, but then stand-up, I think Chimaev might take him to a stand-up decision.

So, I don't know, man. It's kind of weird what the UFC did with Chameh. You brought a guy in that fights once a year who's like Madonna, who probably gets like, you know, I mean, how much money is that dictator giving money on the cable? Like, the guy doesn't need to fight, dude. He's best friends with the forelord, you know? He doesn't need a fight. Dude gets gifted G-wagons.

So you have somebody who, like, he just, gonna sit on that belt and wait and wait until they force him to fight and then like whether he wanted to fight nassardine or something what the guy's name is he's like oh i don't want to fight you my brother like what are you talking about so how this sport works dude don't be a go fight that guy man when you uh take out the audio for when every time he says the f word you really realize how often he says the f word uh so yeah it's stuttering yeah yeah he's saying it that much um yeah he thinks uh fluffy hernandez better better wrestler especially you agree with five rounds. Oh, man, I don't know.

No, I don't. After watching Hamza Tchaimayev rack up 22 minutes of control time over DDP to win the belt, I'm not as sold. I actually think that Anthony Hernandez is probably going to cause some issues for Sean Strickland from this weekend in Houston. I agree. We'll do a preview of that on Thursday like we normally do. I don't agree that Anthony Hernandez is a better grappler than Hamza O'Satchamaya of. Although I do agree Anthony Hernandez is a hell of a grappler. And that's going to be, you know, a difficult problem to solve for Sean Strickland, but I can't deny, I really want to see Sean Strickland versus Hamza At Shamaev. And if he can pull it off against Anthony Hernandez, I think that's the most... Look, Naserdin Mavov is...

He's right there, but if you're doing based on interest, and what we've kind of been talking about for the last couple of weeks is like, Jalton Al-Meda, out. The UFC is prioritizing entertainment. Entertainment is going to be Sean Strickland prodding and poking at Hamzaa Shamaev all fight week to the point that

Hamza Tchamayev might explode on him and that's what you're hoping for right if you're the UFC you're hoping for a big moment I think Sean Strickland is more capable of delivering that as a foil to Hamza Tamaev is. Does Nasir D. Nimavov is. Does Nasir D. Nimavov deserve a title shot? Absolutely no doubt. But again that's not what this business is anymore. So would I be shocked if Sean Strickland was able to jump the queue? Probably not. Especially considering how infrequently Homsat fights, right? If you're only getting one HMzat fight a year, you should probably make it count,

and it should probably be Sean Strickland, but he has work to do to get past Fuffy Hernandez before we even think about any of this. Yeah, he's a fair-sized dog in that fight taking place in H-Town this weekend, so we'll see what happens. We'll see if he's eventually the one to hand Hamza Tchamaya is his first loss.

The man that Hamzat Shemayev took the belt from, Drinkies 2-plus C, this is what he had to say about him one day dethroning the champ. Fighting Hamza again is of course where what I'm after. Expecting any surprises, no. There's not going to be any surprises. I mean, that is the way he's going to fight and

if he tries anything different, it will be a terrible night. We all know that, but he did what he had to win that belt. We can't hate on him for that. No, he did what he needed to do. It's the rules of the game and he did it. So saying that it's not fair, it is fair. He did what he had to do. Not how I would win my belt or would like to, but that's what he did.

And now it's my goal. responsibility to go and fix that to stop him from doing that again. Yeah, so DDP essentially saying, if he does anything other than wrestle, I will take the belt back. If you're Hamzaa Chimai, I would imagine you'd be like, if we rematch, I'm going to wrestle again. If you're Shaquille O'Neal and you do anything other than dunk, I got a good shot. But if you dunk on me, like, it's not going to... It's probably not going to go well. Go well for me.

I respect DDP's gameness and wanting another crack at Hamza. that Chamaee have because as you can imagine, that type of performance is probably a bit demoralizing from the perspective of like, man, I really just can't do anything with this guy, right? Like he's just controlled me the entire time. But I do think there's a world where DDP has a different game plan and is able to, you know, do better and improve on the performance. I don't know about the prospect of Hamza that Chamey of not wrestling, though. That would be an insane thing.

Man, at this point, I just want to see DDP back. Yeah, it's a good point. And like, we have no even. Who would he come back against? Who do we want to see? What does the middleweight landscape look like? I mean, if Sean Strickland somehow beat Fluffy Hernandez and got the Hamzat Shemaya and then Imov?

Emov versus DDP. God, Imov would be getting hosed, huh? Yeah, oh, yeah, for sure. Even if he doesn't get that title shot. Yeah, I mean, that's the tough part, is matchmaking for DDP at this point at middleweight. You could do Fluffy versus DDP. If he wins? Yeah, yeah, kind of like a title eliminator to get.

Emovov gets the shot and then Fluffy versus DDP. I don't mind not. You feel bad for Fluffy too, though. It almost feels like, God. How many in a row has Fluffy won? Six? Yeah, some big number. He's starting to get up there. And obviously, a massive win over Sean Strick on this weekend.

If he's able to get it done, would be huge for him. Or do you come back lower down? Do you do like Kio versus DDP or something? Do you come back to like a seven range? I think you need to stay at the top of your DDP. Fluffy has won eight in a row. This would be nine. Crazy.

You're putting him in like Lorone Murphy. That's what I'm saying. Polisar, Belal territory, Leon Edwards territory of like, need to win 10 in a row. And like, he's exciting. He gets finishes and, like, fans like him. I know he's not a massive superstar,

but like, pro nine wins in a row. Like, you really got to start talking about getting that title shot. Nate Diaz last week was talking about slapping up, everyone coming back, BMF belt. He did go on Twitter and he clarified his words.

He did, he apologized. I didn't say I'd slap Max Holloway. I said that about Olvera, but I shouldn't have said that either. It was rude and I was effed up. If we were fighting in a cage match, I might attempt it, but that was rude. I shouldn't have said that. My bad bros.

All respect, though. I can hear Nate Diaz saying that. Like when he's like, he's like half laughing, being like, no, I didn't mean that. Like, I can picture and hear Nate Diaz talking about that. Yeah. And he's like half. All respect, though. Yeah.

All respect, though. It's all good. It's all good. I honestly, I wouldn't want to slap Charles Oliver either. He's posting some pictures of him looking absolutely jacked. It looks like he was doing a deadlift. Oh, boy. That's a beef boy right there.

Big boy, they're the only thing. How many plates is that on each side? One, two, three, four. That'd be like a 45 times four. That's like 180 plus a 35. We're talking about like 250. Who's to check? Five, four 30 plus the bar.

We're talking about 475 deadlift. What's going on with the bar on the right side there as well? What's going on with that? you talking about? I mean, we're talking about a straight metal bar, and it just seems to drop off. Just an optical illusion, man. Optical illusion?

Hmm. Optical illusion. I didn't notice that before, but I am noticing now that the bar... I don't know what's going on there. If you drew a straight line from either end of that bar through Charles Olivera's body, it looked like they'd be in two different...

No chance it matches up. No chance it matches up. Also, the amount of weight isn't written that clearly. I just don't know what's going on. Okay, but to get this jacked, you do have to lift that type of way. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. He looks like an action here. Oh, he's Jack.

There's no doubt about it. He's in great shape. I just, I don't know what's going on with the bar there. What about the canteen wire at the top that just, like, only covers one third of the fence? Can I see? Can I see it? Can I see it. It's like, can I see.

You know, like, barbed wire? Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, what is that? Yeah, it's just, uh, you know, it's, I don't know what's going on here. It's a hint of security. Because, like, it nailed it nailed it. Nailed his tattoos and stuff.

I don't know. The tattoos are easy to do. That wire, that'll get you. I don't know what's going. Are you suggesting it's AI? Is that what you're suggesting? Is the hairline cooked in this pit? I think it's different.

What's going on with that? Is the airline cooked? And you just say what you mean? Are you guys saying that this is an AI photo? I don't know. Who's to check? Is this AI? I don't know, bro.

Who's to check is right? Who's the check is right? Who me? Nate Diaz talked with TMZ about potential next matchups. Here's what he had to say. Beside that I'm doing a real fight. I would like to fight. I'd like to fight somebody.

Man, for the right, right. I'd like to, I'm ready to get back in real action. I want to fight either McGregor 3. I want to fight maybe does the boyier, except it's a close season, and then maybe Mike Perry. Which will happen in the future, though. You want, you want the White House card? Yeah, that'd be dope too.

But, you're on the White House card? America gang, baby, you already know what's probably. I love it. America gang. I love that. Who do you say, McGregor 3, Porre,ie. Who was the last one that he mentioned? Somebody else.

Yeah, I actually couldn't even hear him, but I do love how he was just like, McGregor trilogy, Dustin, because he's a pussy, White House card, yeah, America for sure. All right, peace, guys. But by the way, those are exactly the fights I'd want for NAPS. Oh, my God, yeah. Connor McGregor.

Oh, he said Mike Perry is the last one. Mike Perry is not bad. Those first two, I'm in. McGregor three or Dustin Porier. Yeah, for UFC, that's the list. The Stomporee responded on Twitter. It's that belt ass at Nate Diaz. Short and sweet for the diamond.

Do we feel like the diamond is really retired? No, never did. Never felt that way. He's too good. He is too good to be retired. That's the problem. It's like LeBron James. Like LeBron James is not going to retire because he's still freaking amazing.

Dustin is still really good. And so the idea that somebody would pay him a lot of money to fight in a big fight, like a Nate Diaz versus Dustin Porier, is still really. And so I would not expect him to stay retired. And if you could do a lot worse than Dustin versus Nate, that feels like it could headline a card, no problem. Hell yeah, we'll see on the return of both Nate Diaz and Dustin Porier. And that same interviewer, Islam talked about wanting to fight on the White House card. He talked about someone that gave him a great business idea.

Take a listen. I've seen a video, you and Anthony Joshua were talking about your probably most famous sentence, most famous quote, squad two or three years to Dagestan and everybody. He showed me, tell me, I want to make t-shirts. And I said, I'll tell him, okay, I will give you approval. You can make it home. And you have to also come to Dagestan to improve your wrestling. You know, this guy is huge, big, very good striking, one of the best boxer in the world.

If this big guy improved his wrestling, can you imagine how good it's going to be in the So at the PFL card he talked with Anthony Joshua. I mean, two, three years, Dagestan forget the shirts. That's gold. He gives him the sign off. No royalties? Like, I would have been like, no, let me either let me make them or you got to pay me on the back end. I would have looked him dead in the eye.

I would have been like, no, man, I'm not really trying to make those. Dude, I appreciate that. Thanks for coming by the locker and I'll see you later. And then as soon as he leaves, turn around and be like, we have to fucking start making two, three years, Dagestan. and forget t-shirts right now. Do you think when he said the line that he had any clue that this was going to be the most viral line? Absolutely not.

Absolutely not. I would think about buying a t-shirt that's a two, three years, Dagestan, I forget. It's an incredible line. It's so simple and so perfect. But he had to just be thinking like exactly that, like send this person there and he was being 100% genuine. And now it's become this, it has taken its own life to the point that Anthony Joshua, a global superstar just fought on Netflix for hundreds for millions of dollars maybe not

hundreds maybe double-digit millions is like yeah I got to make t-shirts with the slogan you said on it it's like you see it almost everywhere I see like AI edits of like Pixar movies like Dagestan and forget like that thing it's just like that huge it's also so good he really did mean it he was just like obviously he was talking to Kormier in an interview and he's like bro seriously send your kid in daga stand for two three years and just like forget about him dude yeah like an investment portfolio. Just buy the stocks and then forget about it. Just set it and forget it. But at the end, he says, AJ should come over to MMA. Yeah. Not happening. Can't see it happening. Definitely not happening. The amount of money that he makes in boxing and how good he is at boxing and where he's at in his career,

absolutely no chance that he's coming over to MMA. What? What if he spends two or three years in Dagestan? Let's see what happens. I think AJ responded to that and was like maybe two, three weeks. Maybe two, three days is what I'm actually feeling. Speaking of Anthony Joshua, he did get a tattoo. in honor of his two close friends who passed away in that tragic car accident back at the end of December. Sina Gami and Latif Lats Ayodeli Lats and Sina written on his arm now forever. So it was nice to see him make that tribute touching stuff obviously. Steele reeling and dealing with that still fresh. It's only been a month and a half since it happened.

And these were lifelong companions of his. Yeah, it's crazy to think about, but he does seem to be out and about and having fun, like, this moment he had with Assam. Like, good to see him just, like, out of that mind frame and thinking about it, but, you know, obviously still on his mind with the tribute. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mikey Musa Mechi, competing this weekend at UFC, BJJ. In an interview, he called out his next opponent. Oh, yeah. And it might surprise you who it is. Okay. I really want to fight Aramon. Not fight. Definitely not fight. Let's change their F word out of this one. Graple Armand. He's incredible, but he called out my friend Tom Hardy in a grappling match. And my friend Tom Hardy is an actor that's a purple belt. Like he was a purple belt,

now he's brown belt. Congrats Tom. But I just don't like that he did that. Like he could grapple actually a grappler. You know, I'm lighter than him. So I'll just go up and face him. Like that would be a really fun match for everyone. Can I face him? He's so much bigger and stronger. Can I beat him? We'll see. And when would you want that to happen? What's the timeline for that? Send me location. I mean, say less, man. Armist Surukian is always down for a grappling match. Every time I log onto Twitter, the dude's got another one booked. I do like that the genesis of this, as explained by Mikey Musamechi, is that he's defending

the honor of Tom Hardy. Like, that's an interesting way to get to an Armand-Sarukian grappling match. I'd watch the hell out of it if they did that for UFC, B, JJ. I wonder if they'd want Armin. It almost feels like they're more keen on like the Ugo grapple out. outside the UFC because like if they lose it's not but if he comes into the UFC orbit and is grappling Mikey let's say he loses there it could be potentially damaging to the idea of how dominant Armin could be or if he beats Mikey let's say this UFC guy comes in and beats Mikey in a grappling match that doesn't help for your UFC BJJ champion I wonder if they'd be into it. I imagine Armant's making more money than UFC BJJ money for some of these other grappling matches but I'm down I'm definitely down Mikey is a a fantastic grappler and I'd like to see what Armin could do against a top level guy like that but

let's get Armin booked in a UFC fight I don't need to him as TVJJ yeah he's got his Raff fight coming up is Raff Oh yeah we got the Raff wrestling The guy who offers a thousand bucks for stopping Tehrie? Yeah yep yep yep yep yep Don't forget Um

Armin ended his Armenian tour with Jake Paul with a light snack out in the snow Um That's that a little caviar Cheers Jake Paul living life man I thought Jake was gonna ask him what the mickey call out.

Thank you for calming. I always do this. Good luck. Yeah? Yeah. Okay, I got a bit of a little. For the animal, huh? Bro, I'm wasting the caviar, man.

No, it's for the animal. You ever had caviar? Yeah. I've never had caviar, bro. Oh, it's quite good. Yeah, it's good. It's good, yeah. I've heard good things about it.

Armin loves it. You and Armin fight these eating caviar. Yeah, we just try a bunch of different caviar. Actually, we just get the giant plates and the thing that he puts it on and just do the home, the things that he was in. I mean, that'd be fantastic. By the way, speaking of fight fees.

I was going to say, speaking of fight fees, go over to Action Bronson channel now to watch Fuck That's Delicious. The Fuck That's Delicious Fight Fees collab. You might see a familiar face on the thumbnail, eh? No, shout out to Action Bronson. It's pretty cool. Life changing stuff.

Bucket list type stuff, getting to go around New York eating with them. You're being humble. You are a central figure in an episode of Fuck That's Delicious for this new season, hanging out with Action Bronson. It was an incredible day. I look forward to the comments, to reading the comments.

Fuck no, man. Fuck on her. Exactly. That. Who is that bald fuck? Who is this corny-ass bald fuck? Eating up babies. Yeah, no.

You are being vouched for. You are being certified by a legend in Action Bronson. Who cares? Oh, well, I was. Did I tell you I was at the gym one time when a guy came up to me? And he was just like, dude, I saw you in an eating video with Action Bronson. I was like, oh shit. You're like, fuck yeah.

That was real. Yeah, Axon Bronson's the fucking man. Yeah, absolute man. Shout out to him. Congrats on the newest season of FTV. Highlight some incredible restaurants here in New York. A feel-good story in taking place in the UFC, Josiah Herald has signed back with the UFC after going through brain cancer treatments. Originally, he was supposed to fight Jack Delamadel, I believe back in 2023.

He now finds. himself back in the organization after our undergoing brain surgery and treatment. He is four and oh since his diagnosis. And I remember when this happened, he was prepping for the fight and was going through medicals and that's how they found the brain disease. So incredible to see him return after going through brain surgery is absolutely insane. I actually think that's how we got the JDM Basil Hafez fight back in the summer of 2023. So congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations to Josiah Harrell and returning man. I hope it's nothing but success for you because that's incredible to be able to overcome that.

What a story. What a story. Another return we might be seeing soon, not in the octagon, but a potential grappling match. The biggest what if, that's what they like to call them, the beat. Magel Medch Sharapov has a grappling match book that ACBJJ in 2026 will get the details on it as it goes along. I think, if I'm not mistaken, is ACBJJ just the BJJ sector of ACB, like UFC BJJ? It might be. I'm not 100% sure. It looks like the same.

The logo, so it would make sense. And then one other one. But that's interesting just from the perspective that I think, unless I'm mistaken, this is going to be the first competition we will seize a beat in since retiring from the UFC. Let me confirm that for you. It sure is. Last fought 2019 against Galvin Cater. Yeah, that's nuts because of how crazy, like, hyped everybody was around him and what a prospect he was,

seeming like one of those guys that it was almost inevitable to be champion and then walking away in his absolute prime, or even maybe prior to hitting his prime. And we haven't seen him. And there's always been like, would he ever come back? The whispers, the biggest what if? And now it's like, he's actually going to be in competition is significant in my.

mind. Yeah, for sure. And he used to fight in ACB at six fights in that organization. So I do think ACB and ACB, J, J, J, are tied. Also, just a clarification on Josiah Harrell. It was not cancer. It was just a rare brain disease that he got surgery to remove. So don't want to misinterpret what he had to go through. Another person we may see in the Octagon soon is currently playing in another sport. Jalen Brown was asked about, what is he going to do after? What plans and this and that? This is what he had to say. To be honest, I've toyed with this.

I've talked to some people, you know, maybe postpart of my career, I would love to partake in something like UFC or even boxing. I've talked to Dana White about some stuff. But we'll see as things go on. We'll see. Obviously a Boston Celtics player, Dana White, a diehard Boston Celtics fan. 6-6-23.

You think we can make the cut down to 205? he's playing at a near MVP level of basketball. I don't imagine he wants to slum it in the UFC. It'd be hard for me to imagine a 100 millionaire, the caliber of Jalen Brown, deciding like, yeah, let me just give this fighting shit a go. It typically is the high-level athlete who's washed out of the, you know, the stick and ball sports,

like a Greg Hardy who the NFL was done with at a certain point. as opposed to a guy who's firmly in his prime and has made, it might make a billion dollars in his career if he sticks with it and gets multiple contracts. It would be bizarre to see him in the UFC. But his coach, Mike Missoula, why am I? Yes. Joe Missoula. Joel Missoula.

I was like, I know that didn't sound right. Joe Missoula is a huge MMA fan, trains martial arts. So maybe he's gotten in his year. So you're saying the guy averaging 29, 7, and 5, who signed his super Max extension in 2023, five years, 285.4 million. Doesn't want to sign a 10 and 10?

No. You want to fight on contender series, Jalen? How's that sound? No. Look, we're just not looking to sign you. If I fought to a decision, we can't sign you.

That contract is insane. Okay, actually, he's not going to scratch a billion, but he's going to make a lot of money. God, you say not scratch. He might come close. My goodness. He might make half a billion.

Yeah. Well, if he signs, one more deal. He's already there because this deal is going to be more than this $250. But yeah, I don't think that's happening. No. No.

It's, the more people do talk about MMA and the UFC in particular in this, in this light and this circumstance, though, I do think it helps the sport get some notoriety. I do think this, like, type of thing helps when it's like, oh, you know, it can feel like we're in this bubble. It can feel like we're in this niche. So when it's like Joe Missoula or Jalen Brown are like, yeah, I love UFC. see, I love MMA or we hear Chris Staps and

you know, he's talking to Ariel all the time. It does like expand the horizons a little bit. Uh, for sure. Frank, I've got a bit of breaking news, my friend. Oh. This according to Mike Coppinger, uh, via inside the ring on X, Mike Tyson versus Floyd Mayweather exhibition

is tentatively set to take place on April 25th in the Congo. Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, exhibition. I forgot. I forgot when they had talked about this. When was that last year or was that earlier this year? No, it wasn't earlier. I think it's been several months since this was originally discussed. Man, I can't believe they're still doing that, huh? Tentatively set to take place. What could go wrong with a tentatively set to take place in the Congo? Breaking, siren, breaking in the works. Breaking. Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather officially in the works.

disease probably maybe. No, tentatively set to take place on April 25th in the Congo. Shout out to the Congo. Yeah, Mike Tyson, Floyd, Mayweather, we need it. When I see this fight, that's what I think. We need it. I think a lot of people will watch this.

We'll watch. I don't think anybody will be interested in that. Is that fair? I think people will watch it because of how ridiculous it is, the spectacle of it, but nobody will actually care about the outcome. The outcome does not matter at all. The only reason I'll come back out and say like, oh, Mike shouldn't be boxing. Probably.

No, because it's exhibition. Yeah, I guess so. The only reason I'm tuning is hopefully we get another Mike Tyson locker room ass shot. You just want to see Tyson's ass in the jockstrap. You just want to see Tyson booty cheeks? All right. Everything we have said on this program has led us to this moment. We got all the PES out of the way.

We got a major announcement from the UFC last week, and we haven't talked about it until now the ultimate fighting championship has officially released its very own fragrance line. There it is. One more time for me, Frankie. Oh, many people are going to be making those noise when they get a whiff of the takedown or the final round or the ultimate K.O. Okay. You can smell like a world champion. Are actually really nice, though.

No respect. The bottles are fucking sick. I kind of want to buy it just for the bottle. Where does the sprits come out? Do we know? do you like push the thumb down and it spritzes? No, I think that's probably a cover, right? You have to take it off and then sprits is underneath.

You got to think that the gold glove, the final round smells the best because it's $10 more expensive. You got to respect the ultimate K.O. They're selling it through Amazon? Is the UFC store? It does look like it. I actually think this is the UFC store on Amazon probably. Okay. I'm going for the combo bundle that comes with the Octagon, but you got to get the ultimate

K-O in that iconic UFC Red Glove. What is iconic glove that's never been worn before? What is the Octagon part? What is that combination? I have no idea. I have no idea. Let's see. It's only five bucks more. It probably is the box.

But then why was that one five bucks more? Because you get the box. The other one, you don't get the box? Yeah, I don't know. The bottles are smaller. See where it says, yeah, I don't know anymore, actually. UFC fragrance? Frank,

With the, no, no, obviously, don't you understand? And then being like, oh, actually. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that, man. Okay, so it looks like I'm on the, I'm on it now. It looks like there's an extra can of something there. Yeah, it looks like you get a UFC take down clone-feminent body spray set. Okay, so you get a body spray.

It doesn't, it doesn't look like it. Oh, yeah, yeah, it looks like the octagon is. No, no, no, no, body spray. I don't know what the fuck the octagon is. I'm going to be totally honest with you. Just a breakdown of each. Yeah, yeah. Tell me about the notes. Tell me about the sense.

Yep. The black and gold one, what is that one called? Can we get a name on that one? No, that's the take down. The black one is the takedown. That's going to be a marine amber perfume, mint, pepper, patchuli in the notes, tangerine, patite gran. It opens with an energizing rush that sets a,

confident tone. This men's cologne delivers crisp freshness that makes it a standout men's perfume. Okay, so where are you wearing this one? What's your game plan for this one? What's this? This might be an everyday wear. This might be an everyday wear. This is a driver.

Yeah, yeah, this is a driver. The pictures that go along with it are Max, Charles, Alex, and Marab. Let's see if there's different ones for each of them. All right, tell me about the... They're all the same one. Tell me about the other sense. Okay, so the ultimate KO.

That's the gold one? That's the iconic red, UFC glove. Opens with a spicy cardamomom fresh lavender, orange delivering a bold and energizing first impression. This men's cologne captures confidence and charisma, making it a standout men's perfume for any occasion. Dynamic, hearty notes of sage, orange blossom, and a caramel blend to create a warm core

that balances sweetness and herbal death. depth. This feels like a wintry cologne, something you're going to wear out. Is this a date, though? It says like first impression. Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that. Sea of wood, dried amber is what you're going to be getting. I bet it actually smells pretty good. Like everything there's... Oh, we're going to order all three, so we're going to... Yeah, absolutely. We're going to need to do a scent test for all these. And then lastly, the final round, this feels like a late night vibe. You're going to go to a... You're going to go to a cocktail bar after hours. Striking top... notes of saffron, lemon, and black pepper creating an energizing opening.

Okay, uh, did they say that on every one of them? Energizing opening that ignites confidence and intensity. Oh, yeah, delivers bold freshness and makes a standout men's perfume for any moment that demands deep impact. I love it. Deep hearty notes of vanilla leather, labdanum and creates a rich and textured center that feels refined. Yeah, this aromatic course sets it apart from men's fragrances and reinforces why it stands strong within men's perfumes. Love it. That sounds like the winner right there.

Get that one for the late night dates. I'm picturing, I'm picturing Connor Berks at the crib. Yes, sir. Hey, let me cook for you. Lady comes over. Lights are down. Lights are down. As soon as she is on. Which one are you wearing? You're wearing K.m. No, no, no, this is... You're doing the ultimate K-O. Which one are you doing? I saw you with it. Oh, shit, how did you get this picture, bro?

Santa left it under the Christmas tree for me. The ultimate K.O. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm wearing. For the dinner. All right. For the dinner, for the dinner, for sure. Door opens. Hey, welcome.

No, no, no. You forgot one part. Oh, ding-dong. Yeah. The Patty Pimblit video of him literally dowsing. Yes, yes, yes. Then the door open. Okay.

everything's going well, pull off the cover, UFC Ignite. Yes, yes. The barbecue chicken and side salad from UFC Ignite. You already nailed it. You cooked it.

You also missed the in-between of me pulling off the tray and it's UFC Ignite when we embrace, you know, a nice little, there I am with the UFC Ignite as well, let's go. What a Christmas you had, man.

It was a fucking great one. It was a dream Christmas for any fight. fan. Before I pull that off, we embraced the nice hug, hey, how you doing? And she said, is that UFC ultimate knockout you're wearing right now? Okay, but now does this transition to the meme where it's like you ask the girl about basketball and she starts naming fifth roster spot guys from the Kansas? And she says, did you see Zabit is back in a grappling match? And that's when you say, oh, fuck. How'd you know that? Oh, how did you know that? Oh, how did you?

How did you learn that? How did you learn that? How did you know that one? Yeah, I think we have to order all three of them and find out which one smells the best. And then we have to, oh, God, it looks so good. And then we have to put it up against Bruce Buffers. It's time, it's time. It's time. Yeah, I think they have to go up against each other. This sounds, this sounds fantastic, though. I'm in on all of it. I'm in on all of it. So yeah, shout out to the UFC. Continue making products like this. UFC Ignite, UFC fragrance. Were you around for the hot dog brander era? Or did you miss that?

No, no, no. I know about it. You can still get it on Amazon today. Okay. Yeah, definitely don't book any title fights. Definitely don't promote your organization in creative ways, cool video packages, face-to-face. You wouldn't consider the coming out with,

a line of fragrances, creative ways of promoting UOC? Definitely keep up with the fragrances. It's a great point. For sure. For sure. Keep doing that. No, we don't, we do not need quality promotion for this organization.

We definitely do not need that. Oh, boy. Shout out. All right, that is the news and notes from a weekend. Wow. Without many fights, but God, there was a lot to get to. Yeah. Do you watch the Daytona 500 yesterday?

Shout up to this Jeff Gordon shirt. I saw Michael Jordan on the podium. Oh, grabbing the kids out. Yeah, without the sex Without the sex I don't know what I don't know what Indy was up to it

Can we talk about this shirt All time shirt Shout out to the Rainbow Warrior Jeff Gordon Oh welcome this Yeah Tyler Redick

Getting it done Ricky has been on fire I'll show with the jobs If anyone was watching I had a Ricky Stenhouse Plus 4,000 Take it Was he second?

Oh Did it look like he was In He was in first In the last lap And for In the last lap He was in first

This is what you were telling me last week about how it's like the fucking swings are crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. A crazy sweat. Yeah, he was in the Sheppware of D-47. And like you got to throw like crazy like plus 1,000 plus 1,500. That's what all the drivers are.

At one point was like 18 laps to go. I had first, second and third. And I was like, oh, God, what could go wrong? Can anybody ever be like a, what would make somebody a favorite in a race like that? They do road courses and there's one guy who's like a road course specialist and like I saw him as a minus 110 last year. Okay. 901.

So that's basically the only way, right? Otherwise, it's pretty much an open field. An open field on shorter tracks will be like a plus 300. Okay. All right, and that's our NASCAR discussion for the year. That'll be it. Actually, we'll check back in at Talladega. Frank, you get any super chats?

We sure did. The robot Wren says top five conspiracy theories. Top five conspiracy theories. For a pound for pounder, you want us to name them right now. Moon landing. Just considerate. Did you see moon landing? JFK assassination.

What do you think he's still alive? Did you guys see Obama saying that aliens are real? I did. But then he clarified. Yeah, he clarified because they threatened him. I saw something. They showed in the video of JFK that no one's seen and they're like, you can't just go on TV and say aliens are real.

This would be you. I saw something on Kauci, where it's like someone tweeted out that it's like the odds of the U.S. revealing that aliens are real this year is like 18 or 19 percent. Yes, in the yes direction. Yeah, yeah. Aliens are definitely real, so that's not even a conspiracy theory. I mean you get in and all that, but, uh, uh, Kurt Cobain.

That one's going around a lot now. Shout to Soaked and Bleach. They've done some investigations into the, oh, yeah, conspiracy theories are fun. I have been going through Paramount's UFC fight archives since they uploaded everything.

What are your top five fights? Oh my Lord. I love the show. Oh, appreciate you. Uh, I am Ed Bridge. Uh, yeah, top five fights, man. A lot of top five lists off the,

off the dome here. I don't think my brain works this way anymore. Paramount search feature is kind of hit or miss so far for me. Sometimes the fights just don't pull up. Top five, five, all the time. Yuri Prohashka, Glover Tashira, UFC 275, that's an all-timer. Islamakashv, Alexander Volkanowski, UFC 284. That's an all-timer.

John versus Gustafson. John versus Gustafsson. There you go. That's another good one. All out, drag him out war. Chale versus... Oh, it's a war? John Joanna.

Just whatever. Oh, yeah. Joanna versus Zhang 1, not the one of UFC 275. I was going to say Chale versus Anderson, but did it have to... What did he say? Just fights or wars? No, I think he just said fights. I mean, that's a classic.

Roy McDonald, Robbie Loller. Oh, yeah. For sure. It's fun going back through like a guy's career and just watching as many fights as you can. I can't... I can't do it. it that way anymore. I love it.

There's so much, there's so much fighting. I can't do the like, what's the top five? Like, my brain just can't compute all the, all the data anymore. Yeah. One of my favorite of all the time that I've,

I've gone back and watched several times is Glover to share versus Gary Prohoff. It's a great one. It actually gets the respect it deserves on, on tapology's like fan ranking list of all time. Lawler McDonald's, uh, two is number one from UFC 189,

but, To share it, bro, Oshka, number two. This may be controversial. I don't think it is, though. I think Uri and Glover is actually a better fight. It was so good. Rory and Robbie had this section of it that was iconic, made even more iconic by the stair down between rounds.

But fight-wise, I'd argue, like, Lollercondit was actually probably better, and definitely Yerian and Glover. It was a great fight, don't get me wrong, but Uri and Glover is elite tier. Just go watch any URIE fight. Only eight of them in the UFC. They're all bangers. Even rising fights.

Yeah. Yri's a bad boy. Yuri has been to one decision in 38 professional players. What else? The Aaron Duck wants to know what Piedy's favorite song from Dark Side of the Moon is.

I'm going to assume it's money because he will not part with the $20 to do as moon. What are you going to do about that, Frank? Let's get to the bottom of this. He says he actually sent it. You keep saying this.

You won the Royal Rumble draft. We all paid you $20. Except for Pizzi. He doesn't have access to like a Venmo or a cash. You have to easily send it. Although we've been told he has PayPal. He made me download Revolut. I don't know how many European people are watching,

but that was a bitch. Do you have a plan for collecting? Well, there's interest being charged. Do you want me to get it when I go to Ireland? If it takes that long, absolutely. I would be happy to do it. I'd be happy to do it. Any other SuperJad?

Yes. What's more likely? John versus Alex? Or Alex versus Tom? I was hoping it was going to say Alex versus John versus Alex. I think so just because we don't know. It really is like it's not if. It's not when.

It's if with Tom at this point. By the way, like Tom versus Alex doesn't feel like it's on the horizon at all because even when Tom comes back, it's going to be likely gone. Assuming that gone is champion or, you know, interim champion or maybe there wasn't an interim title established. Like, gone is the name that's most linked to Tom, not Alex. Whereas Alex versus John could be made right now. They could be, they could wake up tomorrow and say, we're going to pay John Jones what he's worth. We're going to get Alex up to heavyweight.

That could happen as long as John's willing to do it. So, yeah, I'd go, I'd go John versus Alex. And lastly, La Mancha MMA was meant to be MMA Sintel. A macho MMA was meant to be MMA. I think I've seen this account doing some shit posting before, so. I mean, it is in the chat gassing himself up. It just didn't work out, I guess. Is Ruben Carter, not Centel, though?

Because he's not clever. He just does, like, fake. Yeah, but he's getting to the point now where, like, he's, you're getting Ruben, bro. Yeah, Ruben. You've been stuffed. bread and what, a Thousand Island dressing put on you? You've been Rubin, Ben.

You've officially been Rubin Carter. Unfortunately, because it's just simply. Josh Thompson, you've been Rubin. Yeah, the way Josh Thompson's video started out is just like, well, guys, it looks like Tom Aspinall has been cut from the promotion. It's like so nonchalantly, didn't double-checked shit. Like, he was just like, oh, Ruben Carter said it. No, he didn't say him by name, I don't think, which is even worse.

Yeah, that's the point, though. and why I think people ran with it. It was like, oh, Josh is saying this. He must have some intel. Shout out to, no, no shout out. Anti-shout to Ruben Carter. Oh, we've been giving him mad love. Is his name Ruben Carter, do we think?

Do we think it's a real person or is it an alias? I don't know. It's definitely an alias. It's an alias for sure. It's not really really. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Ruben Suttered Rubin sandwich.

Ruben Suttered Rubin Sandwich are the only two. I might have a Rubin for dinner tonight. Who knows? That is going to do it for us on. the program though. Not that busy but weekend in combat sports. I was about to be like,

we recap the busy weekend in combat sports. It wasn't that busy. We're here just enjoying ourselves on President's Day. We'll be back here tomorrow. On the nose tomorrow again. So get your questions in.

The post is already up. Arialhawani.substack.com and we'll answer them. We'll answer your questions while Ariel continues. His work at the Olympics in Révinio. Just a couple weeks and he'll be back.

You're done being stuck with us. But until then, show tomorrow on Crown. Doc on Wednesday? Let's do it. Another show on Thursday, crack on Friday. A big week, as always here on Crown. Thanks for watching. We'll see you tomorrow.