The Ariel Helwani Show - Daniel Cormier reunion! Israel Adesanya & Kayla Harrison breaking news, Joe Pyfer, Anthony Hernandez, Chuck Mindenhall, On The Nose

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show with On The Nose, answering questions related to Dana White’s announcement of Israel Adesanya vs. Joe Pyfer, Kayla Harrison being out of her UFC 324 bout against Amanda Nunes, Meta getting naming rights to the APEX, and more (04:23).Joe Pyfer is back to discuss the massive opportunity against Adesanya, being the betting favorite, how the fight got made, his respect for Adesanya, training his grappling with Nicky Rod, and more (1:06:12).Anthony "Fluffy" Hernandez returns to preview his UFC Houston main event against Sean Strickland, then talks about his post-MMA plans, expecting a bloody fight from Strickland, not being bothered by trash talk, feeling like he doesn’t get special treatment from the UFC, and more (1:35:25).Old friend Daniel Cormier finally reunites with Ariel to celebrate a few holidays, discuss UFC’s move to Paramount, Harrison being forced out of the Nunes fight, Gable Steveson’s potential to be UFC champion, Jon Jones coaching Steveson, coaching opposite Jones on their reality show, his continued rivalry with Jones, potentially wrestling Jones, and more (2:19:57).Uncrowned’s Chuck Mindenhall, die-hard Denver Broncos fan, joins the show to talk trash to Ariel about his Buffalo Bills before their teams meet in the NFL playoffs (3:10:24).Ariel wraps up the show with your Super Chats (3:45:59).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the on this Wednesday. Oh, that's not good. What is that? January 14, 2026. I usually mute it. So I'm still good with the year, but I wasn't good with the computer there. Go ahead, man. No, no.

I'm good. I'm good. Hello again, everyone. Oh, yeah, it's because my computer restarted. Frank came in. He started to get all technical. Hey, let me have a looksy there. Let me see what your TPS report is.

I'm trying to run a show here, all right? You don't have time for your dilly dally. You can't hear you over how loud your laptop. It is pretty loud. Why is it so loud? What is happening? We'll have to get to the bottom of that later. Let's keep introducing the show.

It's good to hear that Lenny Hart is doing well. The pipes are still working. And it's good to be back on this lovely, lovely Wednesday in January, as we inch closer to divisional round Saturday. We have to get excited about these things, my friend. There's no MMA to speak of this weekend. Actually, there is. There's the LFA debut on Vice on Friday.

We are excited about that. We had Ed Soros on Monday's program to talk about that. But my friends, we're not here to talk about Monday's show. We're not even here to talk about Tuesday's show. We're not really here to talk about Saturday or this weekend or 324, although there is a lot of news to discuss. here to talk about what should be a fantastic program today at 2 o'clock. Joe Pfeiffer, who you may have heard in the news as of last night.

More on him in a moment. He will join us at 2 o'clock. 2.30, Anthony Fluffy Hernandez, who returns to action in February against Sean Strickland, five-round main event in H-town, Houston, Texas, to be exact. Fuffy Hernandez, who was supposed to fight in Vancouver against RDR, got injured. Still very much one of the top middleweight contenders out there. so we'll talk to him. At 3 o'clock, my old friend and yours,

the great Daniel Cormier, who I have not spoken to for the first time and I do believe well over a decade, I did not speak to him for a full calendar year. The last time he was on the show, I think it was like around November of 24. And if I'm being honest, it felt like he mailed it in.

It felt like he was, you know, checking in from the golf course, felt like he wasn't all that interested in partaking in the bands. which was a little heartbreaking, considering the great moments that we share together over at the worldwide leader. And so I felt like we needed a bit of a break, but we are back for one day only.

Better than ever, perhaps? Remains to be seen. He's going to join us at 3 o'clock to talk about all the comings and goings in his life, the Paramount Plus era about to commence in 10 days' time, exactly 10 days' time. A lot to talk to him about, as always. And just, you know, kind of shoot the breeze. You know, just kind of check in on each other.

And then after that, the man in the hat, Mr. Chuck Minnhal, one of the most prolific writers in all of sports, not just MMA, not just combat sports, but all of sports, there I say. He will join us at 4 o'clock to perhaps talk about some news, but to also talk about Saturday's meeting between my bills and his Broncos. Pizzi will join us as well. Bit of a buffer. A bit of a buffer.

It's gotten a little heated. on the old text message thread. And I'm not talking about threads, which is owned by meta. I'm talking about like the text messages, like the I message. It's gotten a little heated. And, you know, if I'm to be unbiased, I would say it's kind of a 10-7 or at least 10-8, Halwani Round in the Trash Talk Department. But you'll see it play out in real form here on the program back end of the show.

So like I said, a fun day. A lot to get into. You know, it might be a quiet period for the UFC, but not a quiet period for us. Bangor after bangor after bangor. And of course, we have yet to do this this week. So it is time, my friends. No time to waste. It is time for everyone's favorite segment of the week.

It is time. And I am hoping. I am hoping that I get a hot tag here because a lot has happened since we said goodbye. Yesterday. Less than 24 hours ago. So I am hoping. Oh, and wouldn't you know. No, right here, first up, from a mysterious Frank.

Who, me? Perfect. Hey, how do you feel about the new meta-Apex? Thoughts on Izzy versus Pfeiffer, surprised by the booking? Wow, those were the two topics that I wanted to talk about at the beginning of On the Nose. And truth be told, truth be told, can I break the fourth wall, guys? You already have. Truth be told, I peruse the questions.

Not a single one about Izzy, not a single one about the meta-Ape. or as they're calling it, the metapex? Disappointed in you guys. So yes, I did have to ask Mysterious Frank for the fake hot tag so I could at least start this because I think you want me to start with this. Do you not? This is what we have to talk about. So let us first start with the news.

And you know, there's multiple ways that you could talk about this news, the Izzy Return News. And by the way, one of those multiple ways, the guys are there, right? Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. We're here. I'm just honestly disgusted by the lack of integrity around on the nose.

No, no, we had to do it. I know you did say this is what you guys want me to talk about. I feel like they would have asked, right? Well, I feel like I know what's. It's sort of like, you know what? It's sort of like when I hear John Sina tell me that he loved the way in which his career ended, it's like, no, John, you don't get to tell me what works. I get to tell you what works.

I know what's best for you. Yes. I know. So in this case, I know what's best for the people. and they want me to talk about the metapex and of course, and I think I might That's a great point I think I might trademark that

And the Izzy fight Now there's multiple angles with the Izzy fight I want to start with that one And one of the angles guys Is it is not me telling you In the control room about 10 days ago That this fight was happening Right?

You do have that proof Right? Like we have the security camera footage Like when I told you guys This nonchalantly Old Ariel rushes to his Twitter I even forgot I'm so out of the breaking news

That I forgot to tweet the news Isn't that crazy? You told us it's on record. We got it. You have the footage? Yeah. No, we don't have footage, but yeah, we know. This is not me just being like I knew.

I did tell you guys, right? You told us this exactly. That's why I've been pushing so hard for the Muckleshoot Casino to UFC Seattle trajectory because you did the thing. You did the thing that I do when I do like my predictions when I know, you know, yeah, perfect, perfect. Thank you for that. Thank you.

Okay, so there's multiple angles. A lot of people getting hung up over the announcement, okay? Like, who cares about the announcement? And I'll talk about it in a moment. But first, let's actually talk about the fight. Let's talk about the fight, guys. Israel Desaigne is coming back on March 28th. Jacqueline's birthday.

Shout out. Seattle, Washington, beautiful. I mean, who doesn't love Seattle? Former home of one Frank Lenz, right? Who me? Didn't she used to live there, Frank? I lived in Houston. Never been Seattle?

No, my brother lives in Seattle. You know what? Houston and Arizona Yes We're actually crashing with Frankie's brother if we go Oh perfect

Climate Pledge Arena Against Joe Pfe And you know A lot of takes There it is Five round main event And look When I heard about it

Some 14 or so days ago I was like oh Hmm Interesting Digested it for a couple Days told the guys We all digested it I've seen the takes

I will be honest And this show's like Hmm Okay, interesting. And then after like a day, I was like, I actually love this booking. I love this booking for multiple reasons. Number one, gets Izzy back on track. It's a fight against the guy who's respected, ranked, hits hard, climbing in his career,

has won multiple in a row. It's not like the deep, deep end. It's not a number one contender fight. It's not necessarily, you know, this guy is trying to win this fight to get to a title shot, although if Joe wins, he gets closer. it's a nice sort of comeback fight. Remember, by the time this fight happens, it will be well over a year since his last fight. His last fight was in early February of 25 in Saudi Arabia against Nasuddin Imovov, who is looking like he's going to be next. Now, he fought Kyovaccio since, but, you know, that was a big win for him. Still maintain, he got poked in the eye. He should have taken the time. And then seconds later, he gets knocked out, but them's the breaks. He has to live with that decision. Love the fight for Izzy. But of course, how could you not love it for Joe Piper? This is the fight he's been looking for, this is the opportunity he's been looking for, it's a massive leap. I still think Izzy is one of the top guys in the world, regardless of what people may say. People want to say

he's past his prime, washed. No, I don't think so. I still think he's one of the top five to be conservative, middle weights in the world. We don't often see these matchups in the UFC. I'm not going to call it, I'm going to call it a bounce back fight for Izzy and a big opportunity for Joe Pfeiffer. It's not that different than BSD versus Porier, but it is different because Zizi's a former champion and he's been out for so long, but it's that same type of thought process. Like, you look at the rankings, yeah, I know there's a discrepancy there.

What is Izzy? Izzy is, uh, I think he's six, six, and Piper is 15. That's a pretty, you know, I think Poria was two and BSD was 11. So, you know, nine, you don't see it often, but I think it's actually creative and imaginative. I like the booking very much. Pizzi, what do you say? Yeah, I love it.

Um, I think, they're both, it's interesting from both angles because Izzy's in a situation where he hasn't been winning against the top guys in the division and him of off is one of those guys. Pfefer isn't quite there. So it's a perfect, like, if people think this guy's falling off,

like how far is he gone? Well, Pfeer, on the other hand, he's failed a litmus test in the past against Hermanson. This is on a completely different level. Of course, he's won four fights since then. He has clear and present danger in terms of his power against Izzy. I think it's a really, really interesting fight, very worthy main event and just really, really like the book. And there's nothing to dislike about it as far as I'm concerned.

Rick? I don't like it for Izzy in the same way that I didn't like the Nasradien fight for Izzy. Okay. Why? Why? Why? They feel too risky. Let me be very clear. I don't like it because I want to see Israel Asana win. I want to see him in a fight where I do think, hey, he should be more favored and going over and getting back on track. These are risky. These are dangerous. And so coupled with my not loving it for him is my respect for him, which is like I feel like he's the last of a dying breed.

I feel like he is like a true martial artist, one of the few remaining and from a bygone era to a certain degree where he respects the game, understands how it all works. And it would have been very easy for somebody in Israel to Sanja's shoes with his status to take a different matchup or to sit around and not take the Naserdin fight or not take the. the Joe Piper fight, but he respects the game in a way that I think very few do. And so I respect him for that. But I don't love the matchup for him. Like the same way I didn't love Nasrudeen. And in saying that, I thought that Israel looked absolutely fantastic in that fight against Nasroutine until he didn't. Like I thought he had a real opportunity to win that fight in the same way that I, this is not like a man, it's a foregone conclusion that Piper's going to come in here and blow the doors off Izzy. I like you think Izzy is still one of the top

Guys, I still believe in his skill set. I think a striking battle with Joe Piper has a certain opportunity for him to win that fight, but it's still a risk. Because of the power that Piper carries, because of the age difference, because of the experience difference, Izzy has more miles on the tires, and this is not the typical, like, get back on track fight. And so I don't love the matchup for Izzy because it is a risk, but I respect the hell out of Izriada Sanya for being the type of guy who takes these fights. G. G.C. G. G. G.C. Early line right now. Joe Piper, minus 130. Is he plus 110? Yeah, I'm seeing that as well. I was just looking it up.

Wow. That one shocked me. It shocks me because of the names. It's Israel out of Sonia versus Joe Piper, but you have to remember where they're at in their careers. The Hermanson loss has now been a couple years since. He's won in four in his last five. He's been finished in his last two. To Rick's point, like Joe Piper hits hard. I would love to see Israel out of Sonia bounce back and get a win here, but I do have my concerns going into it.

Joe has won three in a row since the Hermantson fight, and that was like your classic, like, oh, did he get pushed too soon? Was he fraud-checked? Is he not who he thought he was? Because prior to that, he was on, like, a freaking tear. He also really just, like, gassed out horrifically. The three wins, by the way,

Mark Andre Barrio, Calvin Gaslam, and then your boy, Abu Magamadov. Yeah, he said I was having a hard time with that one picking a winner. Oh, my God. Even harder, I guess. Here's the thing, like, we're talking about this.

Like, we prefer Izzy to be in a gimmy. Like, he's not in a position to be in a gimmy now. Like, we know what happens here. He's lost a lot of fights. In this situation, you're going to be used to bleed a new contender into the division. That's the way it is. The opportunity for him presents itself, and he can capitalize on this, get a win over a guy who's extremely hot. Like, I think from my point of view is, I want to see competitive fights.

I never want to see layups. So that for me is why this is a brilliant fight. I think the line is is correct. I think it's a really, really competitive fight. And that's what we should want to see in main events rather than showcase bouts. Like I think when we were talking about Izzy after him, of off, correct me if I'm wrong, Rick, where we're kind of saying he'd fight Sharra Bullitt and stuff?

Was that what we're kind of talking about? I think this is a much better fight. And I want to be clear, I'm not saying like a showcase fight, but like one that carries less risk. As an example, Michael Venom Page, Sean Strickland. Those feel like slightly more favorable matchups for Israel, Osana and ones that he could very much call for, right? Very, like, nobody would begrudge Israel Asana for saying, I want those guys.

Instead, he gets a guy in Nasrudeen, who is a very clear now number one contender, very dangerous, and Joe Pfeiffer, who carries the type of power that very few in the division do, like, outside of the Alex Pereiras. And so it's not about, like, do I want to see EZ get a layup and just go over? It's about he welcomes risk in a way that I don't think a lot of other people do in his position and I hate it and love it at the same time. You know, it's funny that you say that, Ptsey, like the way you were phrasing that, because I saw some people be like, I wanted a bigger name for Izzy.

And I think that we're saying, like, this is a tough test for him, right? Very. This is a tough test. But ultimately, like, you look at that, you look at that middleweight division, pulling it up again. You know, the guys in between Gregory Rodriguez, Palacosta will get that. to him in a moment as well. Roman Dolite, Michael Page. I thought that would have been a fun one,

but I feel like they're boys. Canineer he fought, Whitaker, he fought. RDR is coming off the loss. And I think book, right? Doesn't RDR have a fight already? Yeah, I think they just announced him versus Baha'alio for UFC 326. Exactly.

Bhalio's above him, Izzy. Brendan Allen coming off the huge win. That could have been an interesting one. Fluffy Sean, there's really no one else in the top 15. If you actually look at it, there's really no one else. other than a Brendan Allen fight, there's no one else. And I think this is a really, really fun matchup. I think it's a fun matchup.

I think people have put Izzy in the crem de la creme, like the top, and this is not knocking Piper. I love the idea of Piper getting this chance to prove that he wasn't the guy that fought Jack Hermanson. And I love the idea of Izzy trying to get back on track. And shout out to Israel Desaña. And yes, I know he does this all the time. And yes, we cannot play it because he put some footage on it, some UFC footage. But shout out to him right away.

He's got a video. And you know what I loved about the hype video he put out? It wasn't just to hype himself up. There's actual Joe Piper Highland. Like he's serving as his own promoter in this case. There's a little screen grab from it. Ah shit, here we go again. It's a great hype video.

It's really good. It hipes up Joe. It hipes up Izzy. It makes you feel like if you're unsure. Like, oh shit. Like, yes. Let me see this. March 28th.

Seattle. Love this. Love everything about this. What do we get from the UFC? We get an IG live video. We get an IG live video, and now I'll harp on this part, we get an IG live video with a once again disconnected, disinterested Dana White

who can't even speak about Israel Al-Aisania like I'm speaking to you. I have nothing in front of me. I have a website and a UFC rankings page and a Slack. I got nothing in front of me. Watch this video here and see how he's reading about Israel-A-Disaranya

off to the side. You're the promoter of this man. If we ever see Eddie Hearn reading about AJ or Connor Ben, shoot me, strike me down from above. You can't tell me from the heart who is he is. You can't tell me from the heart who this guy is. You can't give me a little bit of emotion when talking about the last Stylebender, one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time. Take a look at this video, and I dare you to tell me that I'm wrong.

Now, Seattle, we're coming back. We're back on March 28th to the Climate Pledge Arena. The main event, former middleweight champion, Israel Otisanya, versus Joe Piper. Adasanya, former two-time middleweight champ. Reading. 16 of his 24 wins by knockout. You'll see when he looks at the camera. And Joe Piper is on a three-fight win streak.

And since winning the contender series, all but one of his wins have come by finish. Oh, camera now. You're looking at the camera now. Also on the card, we have former champ Alexa Grasso facing Macy Barrow. Garza is currently ranked number three in the flyweight division and is the first female ever Mexican UFC champion. Yeah, reading about that. Number five ranked Macy Barber is on a seven-fight win streak. Yeah, yeah.

She's second all-time in flyweight history for wins, knockout, and win streak only behind Valentina Shivshanko. Tickets are on sale. Okay. February 6th on Ticketmaster. Ladies and gentlemen, March 28th from Seattle, Washington and streaming. On Paramount Plus. I'll see you up in Seattle. Have a good day, everybody.

Alternate universe. Alternate universe. All right, guys. I know you've been waiting for some news, and I got some freaking news for all of you. A lot of people have been asking me. A lot of people have been coming up to me. When is the last style bender coming back?

You know about him. I don't need to tell you about him. I don't need to tell you about how he burst onto the scene and how he ran through the competition and knocking out Robert Whitaker going from the, you know, the freaking stand. up there to the freaking, you know, cage inside Melbourne. What do he say?

I went from the freaking nosebleeds to breaking people's noses. You remember that guy? That guy who freaking turned the UFC on its head, the guy who had an all-time great rivalry with Alex Perea, who gave us some of the greatest moments, the greatest celebrations, the greatest knockouts, the greatest promos in UFC history. We have not seen him since February of 2025.

One of the most beloved fighters in UFC history. I've not seen him since it's controversial. loss to Naserdin Imov. Oh my friends, I've got good news for you. And if you're from the Seattle-Washington era, I have fantastic news for you. And by the way, I haven't even looked up his resume. It looks all at the top of the dome.

I'm not even talking about his records and all this stuff from the dome. He's going up against body bags. He's going up against one of the heaviest hitters in the middleweight division, a guy who is just foaming at the mouth, ready to get his opportunity. He stumbled when we gave him a big opportunity a couple years ago against Jack Cormantin.

He's getting an even bigger one. Why? Because he's won three in a row. he's looking rejuvenized he's on a tear he asked for this fight he asked for this opportunity this is the fight that determines whether or not is he is still that guy and whether or not be Joe Piper is the guy

that I thought he was this is the fight that proves that it's Joe freaking Piper body bags himself against the last style bender Israel to Sanya tickets go on sale February 16th over at Ticketmaster.com March 28th Seattle Washington Climate Pledge Arena we are back

and we are bringing you an all-time great main event. Shut the camera off, walk out. That's all you have to do and that's all we're asking of you. But when you sit there, talking to us about this stuff as you're reading off to the side,

it comes across as you sitting with your wife telling her about how your colonoscopy went the day before. All right? Lexa Grasso. I'm sorry if I care. I'm sorry if I care about this sport.

I'm sorry if I care about these fighters. I'm sorry if I care about the little things like Izzy's promos. That stuff gets me excited. care about the posters, I care about the production, I care. I actually care. And maybe I'm, I'm less invested because I don't have the millions of dollars attached to it, but I would actually argue that I'm more invested because everything we do, live and breathe, is talking about this singular freaking promotion that doesn't seem to care. And this one promoter that used to care and used to be

the best and doesn't seem to care. And so I don't care about the fact that they said there's an announcement and 12 hours later they gave us this, because this is worthy of an announcement to the announcement. I don't know what you were expecting, but this was worthy of it. It's return of Izzy, one of the greatest fighters of all time. But golly, Lord help us if we have to sit here. And, you know, when Aday talks about like, oh, yeah, Dana White, you know, he's talking about these boxing matches with a little less flare. No, no, no, no, that's the same guy. That's the same freaking guy. It drives me nuts, guys. I know. I know there are people rolling their eyes, and I know there are people saying I'm making too big of a deal. This stuff drives me nuts because

we lived it. We lived through the glory days. Can we just get that back? I thought we were going to get it back for the new era. We're not getting you back. We're not getting you back. Also, remember, we got an announcement to make this announcement. I don't mind that. I don't mind that. I don't mind that. I actually don't mind that.

I feel like Izzy is worthy of the announcement to the announcement. I mind it from the perspective that if the announcement to the announcement results in that, that's my issue. Well, if you're going to say something's coming, do what you did. Get me excited. Put out the promo that Izzy put out. that is the thing. And you nailed everything about, you know, Dana White's apathy and Israel

assigned you doing better promotional work than the UFC. But, you know, some people weren't around for that error, right? Some people don't know what they're missing out on. To me, the tragedy of it all is in this like hyper profit, hyper opportunity focus error that we live in, the UFC is leaving money on the table. If you don't give a shit about your product and you don't promote the product properly, why should I? Like, I think there are a ton of fans out there

who are feeling disenfranchised or are feeling turned off by like when this is the announcement. Like the Dana White going live on the IG thing has become a joke. Like, there is no passion. There is no heart behind it. And if you started turning back the clock

and delivering something that people were to care about, it would be better for your bottom line. It is, it is leaving money on the table to continue to deliver the announcements and the promotion. for the UFC in this dreadful way. You know, it's funny, earlier in the day, and some people were saying to me that they thought it was related,

I don't believe, but earlier in the day, you may recall, John Martin, the CEO of PFL, put an announcement that on March 28th, does that date sound familiar? They are going to Pittsburgh. These are the two title fights, just so happened to be middle-weight fights as well. And some people were saying to me that they thought

that this was in response to that because it's happening, you know, on the same night. I don't think so. I don't think the UFC is operating based off of what PFL is doing, but it was kind of funny. And yes, they're number two and they have to work a little bit harder, but they put together a nice little video,

not too different, not as good, but not too different than what Izzy did, hype it up, pre-tape it, post it on socials, there you go. Give me that with some B-roll, with some highlights, with some footage over what we got there. What's going to be interesting about that date,

and it's unfortunate for the PFL, they're going head to head with an Izzy fight. That is March 28th. And, you know, I like the, yeah, I like the Johnny Eblen versus Bronner battle fight. I like Dalton Rosta against Impak Sanganei, but it doesn't hold a candle to the return of Izzy. No doubt about it. But what's going to be super interesting is this is the first time in a very, very, very long time. PFL and UFC are going head to head on the same night. And that PFL main card is

going to be on ESPN2. So on television, UFC will probably be on Paramount Plus. So a bit of a a bit of a Saturday night war, if you will, because obviously they were both on the same platform for so long that was never going to happen. ESPN was not going to counter-program one entity against the other, but maybe a sign of more to come. Now, the other two, Dubai and Madrid, aren't going to be on linear because they're during the day.

And, you know, those time slots are very important, especially this time of year, college basketball and all that stuff, and they're not going head to head with the UFC with those. but I think it's interesting that March 28th is going to have them going head to head. One will be on linear,

one will be on Paramount Plus. We'll see how the number shake out. We'll see if we even get Paramount Plus numbers. But in conclusion, I love the fight. I don't necessarily mind the announcement to the announcement.

I hate the fact that there was no passion behind the announcement and I love the fact that Izzy and I hope that more continue to do this. Like we talked about with Imov and that great promo, start announcing your own fights and start

promo in your own fights. You want to wait for the UFC great, but give us something. Give us something to get excited about. This stuff matters in my opinion. It really does. How do you have the fighter making an incredible video package, but the billion dollar company isn't? Yeah.

He need to talk me out with being excited about it. At one point, at one point, it sounds like you can hear someone like flipping a piece of paper. A million percent. No, no, no. I heard that too. I heard that too. Okay. A lot of people have been asking me about Kayla Harrison News, UFC 324.

We saw a tweet about an hour or so ago from a reputable journalist, Leo Walker Guilla-Harshan is out of the fight against Amanda Nunes on January 24th, UFC 324. The information was revealed firsthand by the website, the Eagle Tribune. And I was able to confirm now about the cancellation. The champion had a neck injury and needed to undergo surgery. So shout out to Leo and shout out to the Eagle Tribune. The prediction is that Harrison's return will happen in around six months.

It's not informed of whether there'll be a creation of an interim title for Amanda to fight for. I can't confirm that this news is true. Unfortunately, this fight is off and it's devastating news for multiple reasons. It was a massive, massive fight. It was a massive, massive opportunity for both women. You know how I feel about the fight. You know how I feel about it should have been in the main event, slot and all that stuff and more. Most importantly though, we're talking, we're talking neck

injuries here. And so, um, 1,000% my best, my wishes, you know how we feel about Kayla here, uh, to her, hopefully, you know, six months sounds like a very optimistic timeline. Don't know the severity. Don't know exactly what happened. Can't even confirm if there was surgery or not. I can't do that. But I can tell you, um, from what I'm hearing, it is in fact true. That fight is off. Now I am hearing that Norma Dumont's team is raising their hand and saying, hey, we'll fight her on 10 days notice. Not sure if A, Amanda wants that, B, the UFC wants that. But guys, this is a devastating blow to a card that the UFC originally wanted to have headline by Ilya Tuporia versus Patty Pimble. We've seen some other fighters, including Isam Khashav, say that they,

they rang him and asked if he was available in January. And it appears as though all their plans for this big debut while it's still a very good card on paper. Also, I told you about Rico Verhoeven's number being called to fight Derek Lewis. You know, best-like plans of mice and men. Now, I will remind you, the very first show that was planned for the ESPN era actually had to be canceled. It was a paper view in Anaheim and then they moved it, the debut that is, to the Brooklyn card and ended up being Suhudo versus T.J and all that stuff. So the ESPN debut kind of got off to a bit of a rough start as well, and I think it turned out just fine for everyone involved. They're not canceling this one, but a little bit, a little bit of a stumble out of the gate.

And this to me is a devastating blow because it was the, for me, the most interesting fight on the card. Pete, your reaction. Yeah, I think it's a massive casualty. Look at us last week talking about the stories that are going to reverberate through the year. Kayla Harrison was one of them. It's devastating for her. And this was a huge opportunity in terms of just women's MMA in general. like this the winner of this fight could have laid claim to goat status newness coming back

it's a tough blow for the card there's absolutely no doubt about it i do think the card is strong i do think there are fights there that can fill up a main card i'm looking at ummer and i'm gonna make made off different guys like this i could go up against davison vigorado but that fight the legacy of that fight cannot be replaced and it's devastating news for kela as we we all predicted her to have um to be female for the year for 2026 and to hear a new neck injury that's very worrying for someone who's competing in grappling so long and at such a high level.

Rick, what do you think? If you're Amanda Nunes, what are you doing? If I'm Amanda Nunes, I kind of am at the whim of the UFC, right? I kind of have to play ball with them to a certain degree. If I'm the UFC, I absolutely do not book Amanda Nunes in a new fight. You reserve that

for Kayla Harrison. There are not fights for those, for Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison do not have respective fights that I care about seeing them in other than each other. They are the only two, that is the only pairing that I want to see. I'm not interested in anybody else fighting Kayla Harrison. I'm not interested in anybody else fighting Amanda Nunes. Do not waste this opportunity and do some kind of silly booking. Can I offer, an interim title, Jesus Christ. Can I offer a counterpoint? Sure. Counterpoint, Amanda, you come back, you come out of retirement, you're this close to coming back.

you don't know the severity you don't know these things they can take longer you have her ready to go you're trying to keep the card you know as

as prominent as possible do the Norma Dumont fight Norma Dumont has won six fights in a row she's on a tear she deserves a look if she wants to do it of course if she doesn't want to do it

I don't begrudge her but if I'm the UFC at least I'm trying to keep her on the card are you not? No really you're robbing Peter to pay Paul the intrigue

around Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harrison is there Do not ruin it by ruining the mystery. Do not let us see Amanda Nunes again. Do not let us see a fight against Norma Dumont that nobody is calling for and nobody cares about other than Norman Dumont and her team. It does mean no good, promotionally, to have her fight Norma Dumont. Save the bullet, wait for when it's an opportunity to do Kayla Harrison. Understand the timeline, right?

Like if you're telling me Kayla Harrison is going to be out two years, yeah, that's a different kind of conversation. But if I'm Amanda Nunes, I didn't come back to fight Norma Dumas. I didn't come back for that belt. I came back to fight Kayla Harrison. That's the point. And I don't care to see Amanda Nunes fight anybody else. So if I'm the UFC, I do not risk the opportunity, nor do I care about making that fight. What do you do, C? You can't book Norman Dumont versus Amanda Nunez. It's a Rick's point. The only people that want to see that is Norman Dumont and her team. You keep Amanda Nunez on the sideline. I actually don't even know if she would ever fight again if Kayla Harrison is out for an extended period of time. Obviously, neck

injuries can be very serious. I know six months is optimistic, but we'll see when she actually is able to come back. But yeah, you just let the other players like Pizzi said and Umar Narmer Magamadov, excuse me, jump up to the main card and you leave Amanda Nunez off of it. If you need, if you're urgently needing to do an interim title, do Norma Dumont versus anybody else. That's fine by me. I'm not trying to make this an anti-Norma-Dumont thing. Norman Dumont versus whoever else top contender totally fine with me it cannot be Amanda Nunes

it makes no sense I don't think they should do the interim either I mean I hate interim anyway I hate the interim and I think it's very very clunky to have two interim titles on the same card especially in your debut and there's going to be a lot of attention I will say this

I'm actually interested in Norma Dumont versus Amanda Nunes because I want to see where Amanda's at and I think that's a proper test when you come back she was she was going for the very best. Let's say the very best is here. Let's say Norma is here. I don't mind that type of fight. And I will also say if you're trying to get a rel- now, we all know how this works. Paramount Plus isn't sitting there going like, all right, guys, we need big fights. Like, we know the UFC is running the show and we get that and the executives there all sort of lean towards them and let them

do their thing. But if I want to get this show, you know, off on the right foot, this relationship, off on the right foot, we're going to do a lot of promos. We're going to do a lot of stuff during the NFL playoffs. I think you want Amanda Duna is there. I think you want to save the goat is on this card. I don't think a lot of people care about the goat versus who. I think they hear goat. They're like, all right, let me check this out. It still gives it a lot of star power. Amanda Nunes coming back out of retirement, first fight in several years, gives it some umph, gives it some energy. I, I'm the UFC. I try to, the UFC's intentions are different than Amanda's intentions. Amanda has to think about her career and what motivates her and is the risk worth the

reward, all that stuff should you wait. If I'm the UFC, I try to, try to keep her on. And I would be surprised if they don't try to keep her on, to be honest. I agree that it helps the card, right? Amanda Nunes versus anybody is more interesting than not having a fight or somebody else fighting. But I think you weaken the strength of the Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes fight. I want the mystery around Amanda. I don't want to see her beforehand. What if normally you bought at all? You're risking it. Yeah. Exactly, G.C. You're risking the whole fight taking place. And that too. Is the best fight you can make in women's MRA. Can I, okay, can I ask about this?

May of 2015, the build for Connor McGregor versus Joseo was better than anything. Around 10 or so days out, Josealdo gets injured. And I think we all would have said, like, don't risk it, right? Don't risk it. You've got it right there. They booked Chad Mendez. The fight's even bigger. So it isn't this kind of the same thing?

I know it's not exactly. It's a rising star and he knocked out Chad Mendez, whereas like, Amanenunia is just beating Norman Dumas. I'm saying, I'm saying the build was. so big that I think most people back then were being like you're taking a massive risk by potentially ruining all the that promo all that stuff them walking in the street that had already aired all that stuff had already aired. G.C. is referring to like McGregor's in a completely different phase of. I know it's not I know it's not apples to apples obviously but I'm just saying like the thought process here is don't risk

that big fight and I get that but I feel like you need that star power and you need that story something to grab onto for this paramount debut. The bigger difference is not the promotion. The bigger difference is that I would have watched Connor McGregor fight of Binman, my grandmother, anybody on planet Earth at that time. He was as hot as a superstar as has ever existed. The fact that it was Josie Aldo was fantastic, but I would have watched Connor McGregor fight anybody.

The same cannot be said about either Kayla Harrison or Amanda Nunes. I only want to see them fight each other. I don't care about anything else. There is no intrigue, there's no interest in those other opportunities. I'd watch Josie Faldo fight anybody at that time. I'd watch Connor McGregor fight anybody at that time. the fact that their paths crossed was a gift to us from the MMA gods. I don't want to see Amanda or Kayla versus anybody else.

Unless we're talking Chris Cyborg, unless that name all of a sudden floats into the mix, that's the only name that I don't want to see Amanda back as a fighter? No. Not unless it's a- Really? Kayla Harrison. If Amanda came back out of retirement,

you'd be like, nah, not doing it for me? No. Against Norma Dumont? No, anyone. I could have got it.

This was a serious question that McGregor had to answer at that point, too. You know, You're getting hung up on the Mendez. I'm just saying, if I know the UFC like I know them, if I know the UFC like I know them, they try to plug in the hole. They very rarely say, all right, we're going to save you now for six months. You were that close to coming back. By the way, she might be counting her money.

Like you got this big payday, this big return. Like it's easy for us to be like, yes, sit and wait. But there's a lot more. I think that goes into it. And I think that the UFC historically in these cases says, all right, how do we fix this now? And we'll worry about the rest down the line. Are you willing to take this? Do you want to take this?

Do you want to stay on the card? If not, no big deal. We're not going to hold it against you. But, I mean, like, look at John Jones versus Dan Henderson. Like, they always try to fill in the gap. They always try to save the day. Historically, right? Even if the promotion has happened.

So I think historically, it would suggest that they are going to try to fix this. Does it actually, like, does that actually mean that Amanda's staying on the card? No, probably not. Probably not. But I think they'll try to at least keep her on the card. I'm all for, you know, that version of events that they try to, I think it's a mistake. I think you are hurting the bigger fight. I think you are hurting the one down the line.

And do they do interim with Dumas? I don't think you need to because I think Amanda Nunes is almost like insulting to Amanda. She was the undisputed champion. She gave up the belt. Now you're doing interim. I don't think you need to. Do you do five rounds? Kayla's like, it is the co-main.

She was prepping. There was no belt on the line. Sorry, there was a belt on the line Now there might not be enough She was prepping for five rounds But is Norma Dumont able to do five rounds But Norma Dumont, you want this fight You do what we tell you to do

I mean that's in 10 days Yeah, I mean she's asking for the fight She's the one raising her hand You can't ask for the fight and be like But can I have a three rounds? Oh, I didn't even I didn't see she was asking for it Yeah, yeah You have on Twitter?

No, but you know, sources say Okay, sources of me yeah yeah Any chance Valentina goes up to 135 On 10 days Are you cool with that one? No What? That?

No, it's a terrible idea. These are not interesting. What? She's lost by the slimmest of margins. And then you're like, get ready on 10 days. Notice for the person who's beat you twice? If she says, I'm in. Why would you say no?

Who cares? I can't be clear that the only fight I want to see for Amanda Nunes is Kayla Harrison. And the only fight I want to see for Kayla Harrison is Amanda Nunes. I don't, there's no other option. Cyborg is the only name that if you introduce it into the mix, I'm willing to hear. But that's not going to happen. No, yeah. And that's not even real.

So, no. I mean, like, I can't even remember the Irene Al-Donna fight, the last one she had. It's just a blur. When you say, everyone thought Al-Dan was going to give her a good go? When you say the last one she had, who are you talking about? Amanda Nunez. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

That's how. Is that like that? She left the sport and there wasn't anybody that I was like, man, I wish she was still around. Like, there are no challenges for her. The one that I want to see is Kayla Harrison, and I don't want to see anything else, except no substitutes. Can you believe the Paramount Plus,

Sarah is beginning with zero undisputed title fights on it. It's tough. It's tough. And you're getting an undisputed title fight a week later. We're getting two numbered events to start off Paramount Plus and there's one undisputed title. It wasn't designed to be that way. They had good intentions. I do think so.

But no, I was going to say about the second one was it wasn't even the one that most people were asking for, you know? Kayla versus Amanda was a fight. I was very, very, very, very much looking forward to. This card would have been, like, I'm still fine with this card. That was the one that made it for me. And so I'm disappointed. I'm upset.

To be honest, I hope Kayla's okay. Like most important, she's up there. Thousand percent. And she's been through so much. Her body has been through so much cutting weight. I hope this fight, and I know how much it meant to her, and I know how much it means to the UFC and Amanda. I hope this isn't a what if fight.

You know what I mean? because it was such a good fight on paper. Like it was so rich in storylines. I hope this doesn't turn out to be like, fudge. We should have seen that fight. That's fun. It doesn't hit. It doesn't hit.

Abby is your fault. This is your fault, Abby. I'll tell you one way that happens is if you put Amanda in there and then Norma Dumont beats her. That would definitely expedite the graveyard of that fight. These things happen. And you have a new star in Northman? Makes no sense. Is Amanda, like genuine, like, genuine.

in question. Is Amanda Nunes worth enough to that card and to the UFC's bottom line that you must put her in against Norma Dumont? I would say unequivocally no. I don't think that moves the needle in any significant way to make that happen. People were not even like buzzing over Kayla and Amanda

period. I just think the UFC historically tries to build a lot. This is your prediction. I'm asking what you think this is it worth the risk? If I was Dana White, I call her up and say, do you want to stay on the card? I can't. You can't get there. By the way, one side of your mouth, you're saying no one was even talking about the,

the caliphate, other side of your mouth, you'd be like, who cares about her? We're talking about promotion versus quality of fight. Those are two different things. The promotion, this is the co-main event. Is there any argument that people, like, the proof is in the pudding? It's the co-made event, and you were going to war that it should be the main event, and people were. Yes, 100%. Yes, because that's how much respect I have for the great amendment. I agree. The quality of the fight is not commensurate with the attention people were giving it. I agree with that. But that's why I don't sacrifice it.

Keep that fight intact. Do you guys think that they do not even inquire? No, I think they do, and I think it's a mistake. I think they're going to do what you suggested, and I think it's a massive mistake. Are you suggesting that Amanda Nunes versus Norma Dumont is a fight fit for the Metapex? Is that

what you're saying? No. That's definitely a fight night headliner co-main pay-per-view, 100%. Norma, again, this is not against Norma Dumont. This is nothing, like, it has nothing to do at Norma Dumont, and that's my point. The only two that matter are Kayla and Amanda. Norma Dumont should fight for a title whenever there's an opportunity, should get her opportunity.

Nothing against Norma Dumont. It should not be against Amanda Nunes. Well, fight the winner. When it inevitably happens. For those that don't understand what I'm talking about, we woke up this morning to this big breaking news from the aforementioned UFC President Dana White. they have sold the naming rights to the world famous apex, to our good friends over at Meta. Take a look.

What's up, everybody? Happy 2026. So as we go into the new year, the home of the contender series, the home of some fight nights, the home of Zufo Boxing, UFC, BJJ, will now be called the meta apex. We've done a five-year deal with meta.

So welcome to. the new meta apex. Okay. I had a couple of questions there. Number one, happy 2026. Do we think this was a pre-tape? Do you think this is an old video that they sat on because like it feels a little late to do the happy 2020s, especially since we saw you yesterday.

Sounds like that's the first thing you say to someone the first time you see and we just saw you. I have a feeling this was a later gram. That's my interesting. The new year as well. Yeah, I feel like they had planned to like start the year with this news and for whatever reason they didn't get it out there because the half. happy 28th. Feels felt like that was like a big like my first look at everyone, you know, this year.

Number one. Number two, thought it was interesting. He went, you know, he went down the line, home of the contender series, home of some fight nights, home of Zufa boxing, which I thought was interesting, and home of UFC BJJ. Didn't say home of the ultimate fighter, by the way, which I thought was interesting. That was number two. Number three, very interesting that they sold the rights. I mean, another revenue generator for them. And I've always said, as much as I don't like watching fights of significance at the apex. I've always said the apex is one of the smartest things that they've ever done, PI included.

I think the apex PI combo has been huge for them and has proven to be a stroke of genius on their part. The other thing is that I'm just curious about, like, just from like an AP style perspective, is it capital T-H-E meta-Apex or is it just meta-Apex? Or is it just meta apex? Is it the meta apex lowercase T? Or do you think the name is the meta apex? What do you guys think?

I'm looking at, I kind of like Metapex you were saying earlier. Metapex is a nice part. I like that. I feel like that's what the hardcores who watch Risen at 4 a.m. are going to call it. But like, you know. The press release says the multipurpose facility will now be known as meta apex. Ah.

No the. No the. As meta apex. Okay. Will they get branding on the side of the warehouse? I think so I hope so Meta branding

will be integrated throughout the facility Well wait Can you read I didn't get this I didn't get this Tell me Does it say how many years Does it say how much

It does not have Years and amount I believe it does not say Ultimate Fighter as you Astutely pointed out But the other properties You did mention And

Meta's going to be a key In the evolution So Shout out to the meta apex You know when they do The Basile Metapex is so much better. Let's just go to Metapex.

The Vaseline, do you think that'll be like, what do they call that? Like the check-in or something? Yeah, the checkpoint. The Threads checkpoint or something. Oh, shout out. Like that. You need to be in these planning meetings. You know what?

I appreciate that. Hopefully, everyone will be wearing meta glasses during it, including the referee. You have to be. If you fight at the Metapex, you have to wear the glasses. They should have, like, everyone's freaking out about this multi-cam view for UFC 324. there should be fights at the Metapex, you can wear the VR goggles and watch it that one. Is this kind of catching on Metapes?

I feel like it's a thing. Metapex needs to be a thing. It's the best thing about the whole announcement of them last. Having to stop after meta, the meta apex, like it just doesn't, it doesn't flow. It's Metapax. The Maypex? No, the Maypex. Because you need meta in there.

How many calls on the blower about this this morning, Pee? Zero. No one's calling? Not one for comparison. about easy pipe for how many on the floor? No one on the blow. Actually, no, I tell a lie. One person called me about that fine.

One person. That's significant. What about Kayla being out? None. Amanda Dumont? Zero. Slow news. Listen, Chuck Menonhall is going to be on the show later.

If there's one person that's going to go to bat for Norman Dumont. Yeah, that is true. That is true. Also, some other news, guys. I mentioned Alexa Grasso versus Macy Barber. so that's a fun one at 125 but what about this one

kind of out of nowhere the return of bohashina did you guys see this Paulo Costa against Azamat Mirzikanov who's on some kind of tear as of late

Paulo moving up to 205 now this has been reported by multiple outlets Paulo Costa at 205 making his light heavyweight debut in the heavily reported

Miami region, the Kaseas Center. We know that region very well. We were just there. What do you guys think? Paloat 205? Like it? Love it.

Hate it? I think he's going to get splattered. Oh. Wow. Damn. Thanks. Why? Why?

That's my barber. I thought Rick was going to hop on here and be like, I love it. Yeah. I do kind of love it. I feel the same way. Wait, wait. I want to know why he thinks he's going to get splattered.

It's a professional. I just think this guy is a tank. He's a little tank. And it's a, it's a heavy-handed gentleman and Costa is won two, but I just don't have the feels that it's going to go well for him. I like Morsakan off. Undefeated. Undefeated, you know, coming off that great knockout. Yeah.

It's a, it's a tough fight. I feel the same way about this fight that I do every Polo Costa fight, though, is like, I'm happy. I want to see Paulo Costa fight, but is he going to fight? Like, are we getting there? Is this going to really happen? That's your Barbie are talking about me. That's about, I mean, you give an easy. all this love and then you're like,

ah, fuck him, you know what I mean? Yeah, his track trick is not good in terms of staying in fights. You just said he was going to get splattered, Pizzi. Yeah. He's not my barber. I'm not saying he's going to get splattered. That I won't go as far as to say,

but like, if he fights, I'll be happy. I like to see Paolo Costa before. You like Costa at 205? Yeah, no problem with that. That weight cut never seemed like it was too easy for him, so I'm all this Paulo Costa. I'm okay with him going to. Mid-30s at this point?

I'm going to guess 34. I'm going to tell you. He's anywhere from 24. to 45. Nailed it. He'll be turning 35 that month, April of 26. I dig it. I mean, he is coming off a nice little win there against Koppilov. Yeah, he looked good. Interesting, he was supposed to fight Bruno Faheda and he withdrew on the March card, the March 7th card. And so now they're pushing him reportedly to April. I'm sorry, I don't know. I missed who reported this first. And I'd like to give them credit. Does anyone know who reported this first? Let me see. Because I don't think

this one was actually officially announced check big marcel that's he's always got uh oh it was first reported by la arte vienna so shout out to uh the artte um if in fact this does come to fruition 16 and no for mr merzicana up 13 knockouts and so that's ufc 327 april 11th in miami by the way all this barber talk uh got me thinking ptie i don't know if you know this uh other breaking news news. Did you get your beard trim? Pizza yesterday, for the first time in six years, almost six years to be exact, I went to the barber. It's long been discussed.

It's long been discussed on this program that I used to go every Tuesday to cut my hair, trim the beard, pandemic hits. I didn't go to the barber. And then I got used to it, doing it on my own time. My kids, as of late, I've been telling me like, Dad, you know, you're not cool. You've got to fix this. You got to clean that. Just go to the damn barber.

There used to be one barber. back where I was living around the block that I would go to her every week she would clean it up we would have a grand old time haven't seen her in 14 years looked her up on Instagram told me she was still working told me where went yesterday I was sitting there

in the chair PT heart was beating like I was about to get a colonoscopy second time I say that really yeah you really on my mind I was sweating Ptze I was sweating I was sweating I have one question she noticed and she said calm down calm down what I got you You've been with this woman before?

Well, I mean, you say that. I mean, you said that way. You've been to get your beard trimmed by this woman before? Client, you know. This was unbeknownst to me. I thought this was some randau. Oh, no, no, no, no. This is a past barber.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This changes every. Why, good or bad, good or bad. Oh. What do you mean? 14 years. You went to her. Listen, went to her, yes.

But that was 14 years ago. I don't know if, you know, you know, Stella lost her groove. Her name's not Stella, by the way, that was. Well, you think she's got. shaky hands now. Oh, welcome back. Yes. Yes.

I don't know. There was a time and I was like, you always did, you know, I've been to 40 barbers since because then we moved and we moved again. I was like, I can never find someone who did it quite as good as you. Then she also does this like little massage thing at the top at the end. I was like, oh, I forgot about all this. I forgot about the whole like kind of pampering that you get. Now I know why Frank goes every two weeks.

With the, with the, you don't get any of that. You don't get any of that. With the steam and the going with the, yeah, on the head. They're going to get any of that shit. All right. You say the pampering. Did you get the, like, they start hot towel. Yes, completely over the face.

Eucalyptus. Yep, yep. Smells great. Then they remove it. Did she hit you with like the straight razor? So she doesn't really do the straight. She doesn't believe in that, which I don't believe in it as well. But I mean, honestly, guys, is it?

It's a time-honored tradition in barboring. But honestly, guys, can you see a difference? Yeah, absolutely. It looks nice, especially on the side. The side I can tell it's nice and cleaned up. Trim some years off. More definition. All right.

So it's all. electric. She's got a great hand. She's got a great. All you boys, like every time you go, they're doing the full steam number to you, the whole lot?

Because I just thought that was an Instagram thing. Wait, Rick's shaking his head. Rick shaking his head. Oh, I was answering Pizzi's question. I don't get like a full steam towel. You're not going to the right spot.

How much is his favorite? I love my spot. Mine's like 30 bucks, but I'm only getting the beard. 30 bucks and they do with a steam. I'll pay them off and they don't steam me at all. I got mine yesterday. I was in the chair for 45 minutes.

It was lovely. I started. I started passing out. She asked me if I needed an espresso mid mid-shade. I started passing out. At one point I twitched, I thought she maybe shaved me up. I started passing out too. It was great.

It was great. I kind of didn't want it to end, but I was afraid because you're lying back there, eyes closed, and then there's the big reveal. And you're like, oh, please God, don't ruin this, please. And then it was, I was like, what is the concern that she just would hit like a, too short here? I look like freaking, you know, Azamad or something. I don't know.

Wow, I don't want to. For the professional. Oh, you're going to do the, you're going to do the no mustache beer. I would love to see how I would love that. I would love that. We got to clean up here, came home, and the kids were like, oh, huge difference. Huge difference. Wife couldn't be bothered.

Wife didn't have no idea. It couldn't be bothered. Kids were like, yeah, dad still got it. So I felt good. I felt good. Did this actually happen or is that a creation? Swear to God. Swear to God.

The standing ovation. They were waiting as you come in there. Yeah, no. My kids are very into 13 and 11 turning 12, very into haircuts at this age. They're very like every two weeks, we get a haircut. I'm like, yo, this stuff, you know, it doesn't grow on trees. So they're into the haircuts, they're into the clothes. They're into looks.

Like birthdays, they just want like cool jerseys or cool t-shirts. Like, that's all they want. They don't want toys. They're into that stuff. And so I was trying to- That was more questioning the he still got it part, not necessarily like the fact of that line. Yeah, yeah. See, that's the two of the guy.

Yeah, baby got it. That's too. That's the part. That's the part of eating that chocolate cake. You know that? Anyway. Congratulations. Yeah, no, thanks, guys. Shout out. You revived your relationship with your old barber. If you want to go check them out. Should I give them a plug?

Yeah, for sure you should. Go to fellow barber in the Seaport district. Alessia is the girl's name. French lady. Very, very nice. We actually spoke French the whole time, which was nice as well as getting it prepared for the Olympic Games. It was great. And even booked another appointment. How about that? I'm going to go. Wow, you got the follow. up. I got the follow-up. I got three follow-ups. Jesus. Because she's booked up until mid-March. It's the way to do it. Yeah.

Every two weeks or something? Did you tell her you were nervous? I was very nervous. Please don't screw it up or I'm coming for you. Yeah, what kind of pressure is that? Hey, can't wait for this. Don't fuck it off. No, she's incredible. I haven't seen you in 14 years. I told her. You still got it. You're the goat. All right? So thank you very much. Every time I go to a new barber and they do the straight edge, like on the neck, I can't help to like sit there and get nervous. Stranger, never met him. It kind of feels good. razor to my neck. Yeah.

You just never know. Do you think it's because they're going to take liberties and be like, I don't really like you, or mess up, and then you get cut? Oh, no, I'm talking hyper paranoia that they're just going to like take the, the razor to the jugular or something. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think of these things. But if you're in the New York area downtown, go check her out. She really is incredible.

Still got it from 2011. So I feel good, guys. I feel good about myself. We went really long on that first question, by the way. Oh, that was just one? Oh, the fuck is serious, Frank. Oh, that was just one.

All right. Can I squeeze in a couple more? We don't have our guests, right? Not yet. Not yet. Still to come. Joe Piper, still to come. Fluffy Hernandez, of course,

true to form, Daniel Corme, telling me he's going to be late. You know, I told you guys. I told you guys. But he'll show up. Trust me. He will be here. And Chuck Mennon-Hull as well.

Let me squeeze in a couple. What's up, Ariel? This is from Max H. Would you try to take Armand down for 15K? How do you think you fair. I think I would fail miserably and I think he would like reverse me and choke me out in two seconds. So, um, Bernetti. Hi, Ariel. Thoughts on UFC holding a UFC, excuse me, thoughts on USC holding an event outside for the White House. Do you think this opens the door for further

outdoor venues? That's a good question. Like, will they do this? I don't think so. By the way, something that's not talked about enough. June, like it does, it does rain. It does. It does rain. sometimes. What happens if it's just like a torrential downpour? I think you know. By the way, by the way, just for the record, you say it gets canceled? Is that what you're saying? I'm just saying. Or do they move it to the freaking MCI Center? A lot of things. My son's bar mitza was on June 14th last year. It rained the entire day. I remember. Beautiful day though. It was a beautiful day, but do you remember it rained, right? Yeah, it rained. What happens? We haven't even discussed that. I'm sure they're going to have like a little canopy thing, right? Just throw some tarp.

Yeah. No big deal. Pied Piper of Newark. And to answer the question, I don't think this will prompt Dana to do more of these. I think he doesn't like the uncertainty. Pied Piper of Newark. What's up, Barry? Hope all as well.

Do you have any idea yet if Chale and some of the other ESPN guys are moving to Paramount? Keep up the great work and shout out to GC. If you want to learn to scuba dive, sometimes you've got to get a little wet. What's that mean? That's a great point. Words to live by. Thanks, Dana. And then he said, hashtag scuba Connor, hashtag wet Connor.

What the fuck does that happen? What the fuck is happening? Why do I always get the weird? Connor definitely attracts the weirdest, the weirdest fun. Make sure you're not getting followed home tonight, GC. Most of the... That's your barber. ESPN people, as you say, were UFC people.

Very, very few of them were ESPN people. So now that the ESPN deal is done, yes, a lot of them will show up on Paramount pre-shows, post-shows. I did hear that there's some sort of like podcast-y type of thing in the works, YouTube streaming type of thing. Are they coming for us? Are they coming for us, guys? What do you think? Daily show?

Uh-huh. But yes, the vast majority of those names. I saw there was some New York Post article that was behind a paywall where it said, like, you know, ESPN's not keeping these guys around. Did anyone think that any of them were staying? Like, why would they stay at ESPN? There's no more UFC on ESPN. I could have imagined a world where one person or other was like,

this is a great opportunity. I could have relationships at ESPN, let me stay. But I wouldn't assume that the majority would. And it feels too easy to just travel with the UFC. It's also, like, misleading. Yeah. I had a couple of my friends be like, they're getting rid of ANIC? Yeah.

Yeah. Like, no, no. No, yeah, it was a little silly. No, Anick is a UFC employee. He is staying, have no fear. Josh Patrick, hey, Ariel, with Chuck starting on MK now, is that, what is that, Mortal Kombat? No, morning combat. What does this mean for his engagement with Uncrowned?

Was he not contracted with you? Will he still be writing and doing cameos? He's out of there. Chuck's gone. He's seeing someone else? Good thing he's going to be on later so you can confront him about it. It's a polyamorous relationship we have now with. No, no, it's typical.

He's already dead. Nah, typical Broncos fan. You know, not loyal. Oh, here we go. It starts. Knife in the back. Seeing other people behind your back. Doesn't give you the heads up.

That's crazy. Bad way. God forbid he gets a new girlfriend and the Broncos win this week. Yeah, I know, right? I'm ringing it sick. I'm one day if they fucking win. What, God forbid. Is he even showing up to the post shows anymore?

Is he showing up to the crack? Is he doing the crack? Is he doing the crack? Is he on the crack? I was going to ask, is he allowed at this point? Like, it sounds like. Tell us. as the EP of the crack.

This is going to be a fucking disaster. Like, this is, he's already getting heated up. No. You should have saw him in the message thread earlier on. He is just straight away already just throwing out the real. I could see, it was just me and him, Dexon. Chuck was just watching the messages for about two hours.

I was like, oh, hi, lads. I'm just saying, I didn't get a heads up. Did you get a heads up, PT? No. Rick? He doesn't have to clear things with me. I was not consulted or informed. Chuck actually gave me a ring.

Oh, weird. On the blower? He asked me for a referral. Oh. Oh, wow. Okay, well, I guess... Frank gave him a reference. Here's Ali Frazier. G.C., please blind rank these college football coaches of all time one to five. Yes.

Urban Smokehouse Meyer. Why smokehouse? I... Was he at a smokehouse when he was with the girl in Jacksonville? Ah. Something. Maybe he has something to do with that. Let's go three, right middle of the pack. Kirby Smart.

Is that Georgia? Yeah, two. Back to back. Signetti. That's the I-U guy. What's his first name? Steve? Kurt.

Four, but there's potential there. Mario Cristabal. Five, easy. Wow, no love. Miami's coach. What's the resume? Lane Kiffin. Fuck.

All I have left is one, but he's not one. I put him four. Who would you actually put? I would go Smart 1, Urban 2, Signetti 3, Lane 4, Christabal 5. People love the blind rank. I'm actually more interested in your actual ranking. I actually go ahead and enjoy the blind rank.

It's become a bit of a tradition. It is fun. I do enjoy it. Speaking of blind rank, here's one for New York Rick, unless he's tied up. No, I'm okay. Hit me. Here we go, New York, Rick. Please blind rank these New York-based movies.

Sure. One, two. He didn't tell me how many. Six. No, five. Five. Home Alone, two. Fuck.

That's a great one. Two. Raging Bull. Oh, fuck. This is... It's from Cosmo Kramer, by the way. Three. Big Daddy.

Five. American Psycho. Four. Coming to America. Oh, perfect. Nailed that. Done. One.

Easy. Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's such a fantastic New York movie. It is a classic. Good day, Ariel, and team from Ozzy Jack. What do you think of these five bold predictions?

Tom Aspinall doesn't fight in 2026. False. Alex Wokinovsky retires as champion in 26. False. Kayla Harrison retires as champion in 26. False. Well, you know, my previous bold prediction is that she wins and then fights at the White House

and now all of that's up in the air. JDM is winless in 26. False. Connor is knocked out at the White House card. I mean, it could happen. But the other ones I don't. I don't love. This is from Kenny.

P.T. I'm curious what your opinion is of my favorite Irish beer, Killkenny. And if he's been to the top of the Crow Patrick yet, cheers, guys. I haven't been to the top of Crow Patrick. I might be doing it this summer. It's Outboy Westport there in the Royal Atlantic Way. Kilkenny is beautiful, but I only ever drink it when I'm in Kilkenny. It's a stout, but it's a different color stout.

Really, really nice, though. Great shout. And a very, you know, this boy knows ball. like the show Kilkenny. Is it as good as Irish, what is it? Killian's Irish, right? Yeah, Killian's Irish.

Killian. You know what? It would be based on the Killian's model. Yeah. Oh, you've tried it. It's not a black stout. It's kind of a red, a golden color. An amber is what I heard of Killians.

You know why I always liked that beer? Because it felt like I was, I was drinking like a cream soda, you know? Drinking the, the McGillacuddy Rieks. You're looking at an Irish mountain. mountain rain. Yeah. Every time I take a mouth full of a good. Nice cold glass.

Here's one from Jamal 2020. Now that Chuck is working with Luke Thomas, will Luke come under the young kind of umbrella? I mean, golly. I'm just learning about all of this guys. Does Chuck know the controversy he's caused? Wait a second. Wait a second.

Here's inappropriately appropriate. Hey, Ariel, could you comment on how the contracts are set up for the team? As you know, Charles the Man in the Hat Minenol is going to be doing the Moral podcast. Is everyone an independent contractor? Can we see G. showing up on the F1 and D1 daily glazing next,

thanks IA. What is that? What is that? He's in negotiations with the must be? Yeah, I've actually just had a meeting with the F1B1 glazing show just yesterday. Oh my dear. We are all independent contractors, as you can see by this news, everyone can do

whatever they want. So we'll get to the bottom of this one later in the program. More questions shall be answered as well. We did get a little late because we were talking about all the news that transpired over the past 24 hours and a central figure in that big news cycle. It's the man that we will speak to first on today's program.

He will be meeting the last style banner in the center of the octagon on the 28th March in beautiful Seattle, Washington, the climate pledge arena. What a great venue that is. Home to your Seattle Cracken. He's your friend in mind, the great body bags Joe Pfeiffer,

and he's kind enough to join us to talk about this very exciting booking. There he is. What's up, Joe? How are you? on. I'm good brother. How are you? I'm back again. You are back. You are back with some very, very exciting news to talk about. And so first can I ask, congratulations on getting this big fight, when did this come across your desk, so to speak? When did you find out that this is the direction the UFC wanted to go in? So I would say probably about a month ago now. And, you know,

I kind of, I initially was off for Paul Acosta and I love that fight. It used to be one of my dream fights, but I mean, I think he pulls out of a lot of fights. I think he's a big guy, so I'm glad to see that he's going to 205. You know, I think that's a better fit for him. But yeah, I found out about a month ago, originally Paul Costa, then, you know, they moved a different direction. And then they came back with the, you know, the Izzy fight. And I was like, dude, absolutely. You know, it's a win-win. There's no, there's no losing, no matter of result. There's no losing in this, you know, this is life-changing moment for me. And, you know, he's arguably, in my opinion, And in my opinion, he's the best middleweight of all time.

But, you know, arguably, aside from that, the best middle weight of all time. So, you know, to have that fight, knowing that he doesn't have that many more left is, it's an honor, man. And I like Izzy, we've met each other a couple times. So, yeah, I found out about like a month ago, and, yeah, they announced it. Okay. So just a follow-up or two there, the cost of fight, when was that supposed to be for? I think, like, early March, late March, same deal, same eight. but there was never no

like serious conversation about it it was a name that was offered I said yes and it was offered again I said yes I said yes but I said no to the one day it was supposed to be like the first car January 24th and I was like nah I can't do that because I just had surgery but I was like I like the fight I'll do it later

I just can't do it because I had surgery in you know December so or not December whatever I don't even remember when it was what was the surgery on eight weeks ago So I had left elbow surgery. It's just like a clean-up, routine cleanup. I hit pretty hard, and it starts, like, chipping and calcifying bones on my nerve and my joint and my left elbow. So every once a couple of years, I have to go in and get it cleaned out.

So they took out seven bone chips. And, yeah, so it's just a cleanup process. But nonetheless, got to take the right time to heal and recover and whatnot. How does it feel now? Good, bro. I'm back to training. Okay. And I feel good.

No injuries. I'm ready to go. By the way, can I just say, I'm only seeing kind of like your head here. You look jacked right now. I don't know if it's because you're not wearing a shirt or something, but why do you look so big? It could be. I'm pretty big right now. How big are you right now?

Like 216, 217? Are you always 216 like this far out from a fight? Not that far. I guess it's like a little over too much. Are you always 216-ish? Yeah, it depends, man. Like, when I fought Kelvin, I wasn't that big because my body is super sensitive. So if I'm doing back-to-back weight cuts, it's pretty hard for me to keep the weight on.

But I've been lifting and eating clean, and I'm still, like, kind of chiseled. So I feel good. And, yeah, man, I usually hold weight pretty well. So it's just when I do the weight cuts, I try to, like, keep myself super lean. So I fluctuate anywhere between, like, 201, 218, 220, 215. But, yeah, I've been sitting pretty nicely at, like, 215, 216. When you heard Izzy was the guy, what was your reaction? Like, was he even on the radar?

Did he, did you think that this? with someone that they were interested in having you fight next. No, bro. You know, to be honest, like, there's many other guys that deserve this fight, probably over me. And, you know, I'm number 15. They teeter tottered with me being in the rankings after I beat a boost, even though he was number 14 when I fought him.

And, well, he got bumped down to 15 just as I fought him, so then I got 15. But, yeah, you know, they teeter tottered me in and out of the rankings. And then, you know, the Paul O'Coddoll. The Costa fight was like the top 15, obviously, and I was like, yeah, it's a good fight, but it really doesn't move the needle for me. Like me being Costa or fighting Costa, you know, if I beat him, it doesn't really move the needle for my name. It doesn't really like, you know, I just feel like it's kind of like a treading water to maintain my spot type of deal. Just because of the current rank that he was and the inactivity of his, you know, last five years has not been that great. And then how many fights have been canceled, the missing weight.

And I'm in a position where I don't want to lose a fight and I don't. don't want to deal with pullouts. And I'm glad I didn't have that fight because if you look at it, he had Bruder Ferreira and he pulled out like the next day. Now he's at 205. So, um, but yeah, Izzy was not on the radar. And when they said it, man, I was just grateful, you know, like I said, it could have been anybody, but it's me. It's a little Joey P. And my story is it can't be written better. All the adversity I've had, the journey that I've been on and, uh, you know, the ups, the downs, the sickness, the injuries. And, you know, I finally get my chance, you know, and it's fair game. He breathed air.

He has lungs. Having said that, I have a lot of respect for him. I like this dude. And, yeah, I'm just excited to go in there and compete, bro, against one of the best. Not sure if you know this or if you even care about this stuff, but you have opened as the favorite going into this fight by a slight margin. Your reaction to that? I don't care, bro.

Like, I think a lot of people, despite their feelings for me, because I'm not the easiest guy to like, which I'm super, super pride. about. I don't care if people really like me that much no more. One thing I want to be known for, bro, is that, you know, I got this opportunity and I'm absolutely bringing the heat and I'm going to go and try to be the first one to stop him in a really bad way, you know, just on a sport, you know, competitive, and I hope that we're both healthy afterwards, but I know I have those capabilities over anybody in this division to really hurt someone where they don't move. And I'm just excited to test my skills, man. So I don't really

care about the odds. I think that's people sleeping on him because he's only had, you know, he's on three-fighted Luson Street, but they're to the best guys in the world and the active guys in the world. So, yeah, man, I mean, you can't look too much into the odds, bro. This is one of the best guys in the world. He was one of the longest defending middleweight champions in the world, aside from Anderson Silva. And, you know, he's the style bender. He did amazing things while he was a champion, and he carried himself like a champion. So I don't look into the odds. But I think, people know they know what I'm going to bring to them and that's that's damage that's what I'm trying to do cause damage and do you have any insight as to whether or not this was one you know

is he's reached a point in his career where he could perhaps say like hey UFC I want this guy I want that guy he's reached that point I think you would agree do you know if he asked for you or if they came to him with you do you have any idea on how this came about no I well I mean yeah I got offered it from I don't know if it was Hunter or Mick I forget get which one, but my manager called me, and they were like, how does Piper feel about Izzy? And I was like, absolutely. Like, that's, that's no question. Like, why would I not take that? So I said yes immediately, and he hadn't said yes yet because they hadn't talked to him. And then when they talked to him, he said yes. And he said, I think something along the lines,

like, you know, he beats me. He knows he still got a good title run in him. And, you know, he's beating it up and comer. You know, I'm big, I'm powerful and, you know, a contender, or whatever you want to call me. But, and then at the same time, you know, he also said, you know, there's something along the lines of, like, passing a torch. Like, there isn't a better guy for him to pass the torch to if, you know, he doesn't have it anymore. So, like I said, me and is he like each other from what I know. I like him. We've met each other.

We've had some really good conversations in person. And, you know, I have nothing but respect for the guy. I'm excited for it, man. It's honestly a relief because it's, you know, unless shit changes and he starts going a little wild, you know, then I'll match that because I don't, I don't like that shit. but yeah man I'm just grateful bro like it's life changing you know this goes beyond just his name and all this like I get to compete

against one of the best middle weights of all time then with a win you know I think a win no matter how I win puts me in title contention for one more than the belt you know from 15 to 6 to you know one more to title and I think I think that this is you know

the UFC giving me an opportunity as well as given Izzy an opportunity to come back and said that he's still, you know, one of the best in the world. And I think I will treat him as one of the best in the world because now he has no pressure, right? Like, he has pressure of fighting a guy that's relatively a known name compared to him. But, you know, how much respect can I not give the guy for, you know, taking somebody like me who only has 120,000 followers really doesn't have a huge name, you know, I'm respected, but I'm not like a big drawl. So, you know, props to him for taking this and giving me the opportunity and being that guy that, you know, got him to be what he is now.

You mentioned meeting him in the past. Can you tell me about those chats? Was it just like friendly chatting? Did you train together? What was that like? No, so I've seen him, I'd seen him when I fought Gerald Mearschart and Miami and, you know, me and Sean Brady, like we had talked to him, and I was just like, oh, I know you can get it back when he fought Alex Pere the second time. And he remembered that. So then when I saw him in international fight, week this summer you know he was like yeah I remember what you told me blah blah blah blah and he just kept telling

me to do my thing just everything like everything's super cool and I told him I went to train together because I never thought I would get this fight to be honest and that didn't come to fruition I'm glad it didn't but yeah man it's it's just like a respectful encounter nothing crazy it's not like we're best

friends or anything like that but I have a you know I've been watching this guy before I was even in the US Yeah. So it's cool. I've been watching everybody that I fought in the UFC before I got in. But, you know, that doesn't bother me type deal. I'm going to do what I got to do.

And we're competitors. He knows what it is. I know what it is. And, you know, hopefully we get that respect leading up to it. But, you know, we also are going out to the fucking hurt each other. So I love this fight. I love this fight. I love it for you.

I think it makes a lot of sense for him. Like both of you guys a lot and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know if you noticed this, but I thought it was really cool. He put out like a hike. video once the news came out. And what I thought was super cool. Yes. Most guys will just make it about themselves

and I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you. He was showing your highlights. It looked like an official UFC promo, which I loved. And so I was wondering if you saw it and how you felt about it. Yeah, I liked it. I loved it. You know, I follow it easy, bro. I'm not going to unfollow him or anything like that.

I'm going to follow him. It is what it is. But, you know, I'm going to train my absolute ass off, bro. I'm going to train as hard as I can until my body gives out on me. and, you know, just sees the moment. Like, but yeah, it is cool. You know, that's respect.

It's, it's, he understands the threat that I am for what I am good at. And, you know, I obviously know that the reason he's taking the fight to is because he sees an area he can win. I mean, if I was him and I was as skilled as he was, I would see that area of success too if you go off my jack fight or if you go off of a couple other fights, which I've always said, bro, I haven't had my best performances yet. I think certain styles really bring out the best to me. And I think this is one that's really going to showcase, you know, know what I can do against the top tier guys and once again bro uh I know I'm not the underdog but you know I feel like I'm the underdog and in the MMA community sure a lot of people are like why the fucks this kid getting this opportunity blah blah blah but it is what it is

bro I'm gonna go out there and be a vicious motherfucker and I'm gonna try to hunt him down and uh but also not be a one-trick pony with the big shots you know I know I have to fight a certain type of way to beat a guy like this like he's too experienced he's too savvy for the way I fought Abus Maga Meadow, the way I fought Jack, the way I fought fucking who else did I fight? Kevin, where I was just fucking, you know,

seeking destroy a one shot. Like, I'm not going to be able to get away with that with a guy like this. So I'm very well aware, very well prepared, and I've always envisioned fighting him one day. Just never thought it would happen. And here we are. So I'm fucking hype, bro. I can't wait. Well, more to that point, it's wild.

I wrote it down. when Izzy beat Whitaker to become undisputed champion, he views that as a title defense because he was the interim champion, but he became undisputed champion. You were the Ring of Combat middleweight champion. You weren't even in the UFC yet. When you get your first shot on contender series, he's just about to fight Paulo Costa to make his second title defense,

or as he would put in his third. So imagine back then that Joe Piper being told at some point you guys are going to fight each other. And the reason I bring this up is, you know, sometimes we have seen in the past when there's that, kind of discrepancy in terms of experience, the youngster, if you will, gets in the cage and maybe has too much

admiration and respect for the other fighter and doesn't, like, go pedal to the medal. Is there any concern about that? Because clearly you do admire this guy and respect him that you'll be in awe of him or anything like that. None of that. No, no, no. Okay.

You're in there and you're trying to take my head off. Like, I love him, respect Izzy, but when that door, when we get in there, dog, you're trying to take something from me, and that's not going to happen, not for free. And I'm not afraid to sort of, swing big. When I swing, I'll be swinging to fucking kill them.

So, you know, the intention-wise, like, you know, I hope we're both okay afterwards. But, no, bro. You ain't got to worry about me being gunshot, dog. I'm going after this motherfucker. You know what I mean? Like, that's just, I like chaos. I like the fight. I like the bra. I like the bang. I'm not here to play pity-patti and fucking,

you know, fucking have two hands on the dude fucking pretending like we're best friends. Like, we're not best friends. I just have a healthy respect for him and everything that he's done. think it would be disrespectful for me to just be like, yeah, I'm going to fucking knock him out. Look,

do I believe I can knock him out? Yes, absolutely. I believe I could grapple them. I believe I can really show my full skills in this, but I'm not going to let, like the moment's not too big for me, brother. Like I said,

I said in the beginning, I like to eat pressure. I don't feel like the moments really wow me anymore. And yeah, I've had a couple good fights in the UFC where it's like being able to fight in front of the president, being on the main card like i've done those things like the only difference is is now on the last flight you know what i mean and um everything else is fake bro he's he's he's a man with a heart lungs

brees there so when he's standing across me he's 24 and 5 or whatever his record is bro but you're oh no against me that's how i see it so i won't be gun-shy whatsoever and i won't be afraid to go out there and try to take this from him okay um you you mentioned big fights second main event in the UFC and obviously the Jack Hermantso fight was much talked about. Do you view this as an opportunity to kind of write that wrong? There was so much hype around you going into, no, you don't view this

as yourself. Nah, bro, fuck, those are fake stats, you know what I mean? It is what is. I had a fight and I lost and I have a whole bunch of reasons, excuses, whatever you want to call them. I lost. I wasn't my best and Jack was and Jack won and, you know, I've gotten shit for that

and that is what it is. Like, I lost a fight. Fucking happens. But no, I don't, I don't care about writing any wrongs. There was no wrong. I lost. He won. And despite whatever was going on, I lost he won. And so I'm not looking at it like that.

This is a new opportunity. That's yesterday. And let's go. I'm fighting Israel out of Sanya, March 28th, Seattle. And that's my mindset. I don't give a fuck about writing no wrongs. There is no wrongs. My life is perfect.

I lost for a reason. And in my mind, it's all God's plan. So you couldn't have written a better story. I've been through so much, bro, with the injuries, and just the way that it took, how much it took from me in my life to actually make it to the UFC. So I'm just fortunate and blessed to be here, bro, and I'm going to make the most of this opportunity,

and I don't worry about dumb shit like that. Okay, okay. I saw you recently training with Nikki Rod, the BJJ great. How did that come about, and is this maybe a sign of perhaps what we're going to see in this fight? No, I train with Nikki Rod on the regular whenever he comes up. Me and him are pretty cool. He's a good dude, bro,

He's obviously the best grappler, one of the best grapplers in the world, and he's so kind to, like, help. And, like, we go out of it, bro. It's fun. You know, obviously, he's better than me. He's one of the best in the world. But, you know, he's never shy to help me or critique me or tell me to come down and train with him. And, you know, we go dirt biking sometimes when he comes up. So, like, he's a real friend and a cool dude.

So I'm always trying to learn, man. And any time I can pick a guy's brain like that, I'm going to do it. I have good jiu-jitsu. I am a black belt in jiu-jitsu. And I've been wrestling, bro. I'm telling you, a lot of parts of my games are still underrated, and that's just because I'm always hunting a knockout. But I think this fight will be a lot different

because I don't think that I can win doing what I've done against other people, which is trying to march people down and bomb them. There's a time and a place where I will be able to, but how I get there is going to be very important. Because, you know, Izzy is a savage, and he's good at what he does. And, yeah, we're going to be well prepared, bro. I know you said in the past that you'd like to fight on the White House card,

Do you think this rules you out? What's the date of the White House going? June 14th? So, what, we're March, April, May, June? Absolutely not. Why wouldn't I be able to get on that? Let's go. You know, if I don't have any injuries, bro, let's do it.

You know, that's the ones of the time. I mean, you get a big knockout over Izzy, that your stock would be, you know, sky high, right? But the question is, is who do I fight? You know what I mean? We're going to have to see who's available and who they could, like, give me. Because if beating a guy like Izzy, there's only like, yeah, I got to fight somebody in the top five at that point. or fight for the belt, which I don't think is going to happen

because I think Hamzaa and Imobov are going to fight and then I think Hamzat moves up or maybe doesn't even defend it. Wow. Yeah, I think Imobab's going to be champion before the end of the year. Wow.

Do you think they fight? I don't know. Do you think he beats him? You think they fight or do you think he, like, do you think he beats him or do you think that Humzaat moves up and he just gets like a vacant title fight? Well, I'm seeing the Hamzaat wants to fight,

you know, Alex Pereiro right? Whitehouse card. He's been tweeting at that. So that's my speculation for why he wants to move up. I don't think he wants to cut that late. But who knows, I could be completely wrong. And if he does stay,

I think he's going to be forced to fight Amelov to defend his title. You know, he just won the belt. So if I'm wrong, he hasn't defended a belt, right? He has not defended it. No, he beat DDP. So I can't imagine that if they do give him the opportunity against Alex Pere or not John Jones, against Alex Pereira,

then I would assume that they would force him to vacate the middleweight belt, and then I think Emov and whoever would fight. And, yeah, whoever wins that would be it. But I don't see anybody beating Emovob really. Like, I don't think DDP could beat them. Yeah, it's interesting, bro. So I don't really know. My whole point in saying all that is I don't know who I would fight on the White House card,

but I would love to be on the White House card. I'm one of the most American motherfuckers out there. and I'm campaigning to get fucking American made shorts you know for this fight I think that's a monumental thing for me I want to get USA flag type shorts I'm fucking I'm team USA up in this

bitch bro all right I love that I love I hope they start doing more of that stuff last one before I let you go so what are you thinking what are you feeling how do you see this playing out what do you think happens on the 28th of March I think I'm just going to be a very

physical guy to deal with as far as pressure but smart pressure and just causing damage i'm not going to go into too much detail but we have you know we're already looking at our game plan and you know drafting people that we can have come in and try to mimic him and um you know we're going to have to have more cut out for me man but i think i'm going to be very effective with anything that i do uh as far as a game plan because of the damage that i can cause and because of uh just the intensity of the the training that we do so I want to be ready and hopefully I don't get pneumonia again so this doesn't fuck my cardio for five rounds and as long as I'm healthy bro you will see the best version of myself and I think I will be able to get to finish on Izzy whether it be a submission whether it be a knockout I do I know that both of those are there like I'm at the very least bro he could fucking style on me all this shit but if he gets caught clean with the power that I have I always say this if you can if I can catch you clean I will put you away and if I hurt you I will put you away so

And the only reason I didn't fucking put away Kelvin is because I let him off the hook every time trying to look for the one hit or quitter. So yeah, but yeah, I'm a dangerous dude and I think I can submit them or K-O. I can't wait. I can't wait. What a fun fight. Sort of came out of nowhere. Sort of came out of nowhere, but I love it. Great city, great arena.

March 28, two and a half months away. Can I wait. Good luck to you, my man. Thanks for jumping on. Really appreciate it. Thank you. to you soon. Thank you so much, Joe. All right. Joe Piper joining us. He

returns to action on March 28th against Israel, Destinia. Hopefully we get a chance to talk to Izzy before that fight. It has been a minute as they say. We did talk to him in June at International Fight Week in Las Vegas, but he had nothing going that was post-Emovaal fight. A lot has happened in the middleweight division. We'll talk

to one of the top middleweights in the world, Fluffy Hernandez in a matter of seconds. He returns on February 21st. It's all coming together. First half of the year, some interesting fights. It's all coming together. and he returns on the 21st of February in Houston against Sean Strickland. That's four versus number three. I still believe in the rankings.

I still believe in the rankings, okay? I still believe in the rankings. I'm going to try to squeeze in a couple of questions here and there as we get to guess because we didn't get to a lot of them off the top. So I'll go back to the questions. A minute here, a minute there, a question here, a question there. True Love No More says, hello. This is your neighborhood bookie?

here. I've come to collect funds from the betting expert himself, GC. He took the over six months on Poetan and Cortez to be together and it was a huge swing and a miss. The over on true love has led you astray, not even close. Thanks for the easy cash, G.C. Yeah, you're welcome, man. What do you want to me to sit on here and say? Yeah, they're going to break up next week. Yeah, no. Actually, would have been a fortune teller if I had said that. Yeah, that would have been insane. But no, not the right type of energy you want to put out. Here's Steve Buscemi. Let's talk about it for one second because I need your take on your bills slash referee near debacle. Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. The half clearly ended before the Jags hiked the ball and the referee somehow

determined they spiked it in time when the whole world saw that wasn't the case. I was freaking out. I was freaking out. Great throw. They're running. Trevor Lawrence had to run like 30 yards just to make it in time, spike the ball. We're not even set. They're not even set. And somehow they say, yeah, yeah, second left when they've got a kicker who can make it 70 yards, no problem. They then miss the kick and end up losing the game by three. Were you losing your mind in this moment? Yes, I was losing. My kids were telling me to calm down. I was like, this is bullshit. This guy's going to make the kick. I can't believe this shit. I can't believe they're trying to rob us. I can't believe it. I can believe it. I can't believe it. And then of course, as they say in the business, what do they say in the

business, Frank? What are they say in the business? They say, ball don't lie. And what do he do? He shanked That kick goes in and the game goes to OT, whole different story. It's the equivalent to Adelae Byrd scoring 50 to 45 for the Italian gangster when the other two judges had at 50 to 45 Stata. You're right. But, thank God.

Unlike an MMA in boxing, the ball don't lie. Triple double says, you'd be hard pressed to find worse takes than Rick. And we get what he's doing. Every day before OTI and he decides to spew some nonsense and die on the weirdest hills because he knows people are going to call him out on OTN like me and he loves it.

Rick, we are catching on to what you are doing, bud, no rivalries anymore because there's too much money at stake. What the F does that even mean? G.C. had to go home and meditate after you wound him up like that. He needed a pallet cleanser, cheers. I have stated this before. I will state it again. These are not for simple minds like yours.

These takes are for people who can comprehend what I'm saying and capable of higher level thought, you sit this one out and you leave this to the rest of the rest. Not me though, right? No, no, no. This gentleman who... Oh, I think this is also aimed at us, area. No, no, I feel like you guys actually came around once I kind of made the point. No, we just had to move on. No, when you guys were like, well, you know, it could be this. And then obviously it was not going to be any of those that you said. Um, this is, this is not for the uninitiated. This is not for, for, okay, very quickly before you have to get the next guest in. Um, this is from Kenny, a low, Aloha and Ohana.

Aloha. Can Rick please blind rank these five female challenge champions? Larell? Wait. Female? Yeah, female challenge champions. Larell. Oh, Laurel.

Oh, sorry. Number one. Camilla. Three. Never heard of any of these people, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Evelyn. Two.

Kara Maria. Four. Ashley Mitchell. Again, I've nailed it. Nailed it? Wow. It's fucking perfect. Wow.

Wow. It's fucking perfect. here's Scott from Toronto this window thing is a work I mean there was Monday's screen outage movie camera actioned at IRL what are you talking about someone we actually confirmed

they covered they covered the Empire State you actually think we would put up a screen outage there was a citywide power Yes it was like 1970s down right now and that could affect the window too Anyway he says IRL would take

the wind out of my whistle blowing cells. December 9, 2024 was a new view. He says, DJ, December 4, 2034, old view. BITB, December 5th, interim view. The videos are on YouTube, just go look. I notice this when it happened but said nothing. Why keep selling us the window? It's clearly just a camera feed on a screen that has displayed three different views.

And then there was Monday when the city disappeared. Anyway, look, you guys. I can't believe that this is still a thing. Like, look, I could see the smoke from the building. It's so crazy It's a great for you, by the way People are crazy, man Yeah

Oh, here's Toronto, Mike D Ola El Narees, I have a few quick comments slash questions for you guys For Ariel, the man in the hatchack, Minnhal has taken Brian Campbell's spot On Luke Thomas's show Happy to see he won't be on his Friday show As his rightful spot is on the crack on this day

What are your thoughts on this acquisition of Chuck? I've had 30 minutes to digest it, still taken aback, luckily he's booked today So we can talk to him about it. This is for Frank Mysterio. Jamal Hill did a response to the journalism comment, and his reply was, whoopty-do.

It may be the best sound drop. Anyone has ever gifted you guys, you have to check it out. Can we get whoopty-do, Frank? I haven't watched it. He did another response video. Oh, man, that one was incredible, honestly. The response to the response to the response.

There's three responses? Shut. Get the fuck out of it. His channel can't be doing that bad. Frank heard the whoopty-do. And Eric was like, we got to make this a drop. We're still waiting on Frank to him. I can't tell you all I'm being serious.

I'm dead serious. Frank, we work on this? I'm going to his channel right now. Anyway, for that, Johnny Come Lately, New York, Rick, giving myself the Barry H. Last September, I asked you all about Gable, possibly being on the White House card. The whole group said no chance.

Fast forward to Rick saying he will not only be on the White House card, but we'll be chab and hanging up his sweaty, single it behind it. Ricky, where were you in 2025 when I asked about it? L.O.L. I don't remember that, by the way. Do you remember that? I don't but we've changed our position. Check that thing out.

By the way, I don't know if it's sweaty. I mean, you wore it like once for a promo shoot. I hope it's not sweaty. But we're all in. You know what? Kudos to you. Credit to you. Going out on a limb, having a take, having a stance. You get rewarded. Shout out. Good for you.

Give us the time code. All right, I want to see. Yeah, let me see the receipts. Yeah. All right, jents, let's move along still to come, the aforementioned Chuck Menel. Still to come, Daniel Cormier, but let's stay with the middleweights for now. Massive fight coming up on the 21st of February. So a little less than a month, or a little more than a month, I should say, before that,

Joe Piper, Israel-Dessonyev fight. This one taking place at the home of the Houston Rockets, the Toyota Center, UFC returning there. They've had many a card there, including Daniel Cormier versus Alexander Gustafson, UFC 192. It's the return of Sean Strickland against the red-hot Anthony Fluffy Hernandez. Yeah, for mention Anthony Hernandez. Kind enough to join us right here. Now, there he is. Hello, Anthony. How are you? How are you doing? I'm good. I'm doing it. I'm doing great. Welcome back. Very excited about this. First, can I ask, how are you doing? Obviously, we were very excited about the Vancouver fight. Unfortunately, you had to withdraw. I'm assuming all is good, but just wanted to ask

how you were doing up the top. Yeah, I'm healthy again, so that's all it matters. You know what I mean? Now it's go out there and do what I do best and get my freaking title belt. You were on some kind of role, and obviously that was feeling like a potential number one contender fight when you had to come to the conclusion that you couldn't fight, how difficult was it to make that call?

Man, it sucked, but it's like, I don't know, my life's never been perfect, so I just fucking roll with the punches, you know what I mean? So it is what it is, but I'm healthy and I'm going to show up and show what I can do. Can I ask what happened? I really don't like telling people shit because then motherfuckers just target shit, you know what I mean? Okay.

But I'm good again, so I'm not going to press on it, but you're just going to keep it to yourself and hopefully it doesn't get out. If it gets out, it gets out. But like, at the end of the day, I mean, I'm just fucking trying to make money and get the fuck out of this game. I get it. How long do you want to stay in the game with that mentality? I don't know.

As long as my body lets me, what I mean? If I can't fucking train, I can't do shit, then I'll hang them up. But for now, I'm fucking hungry as so. I got plans that I need to fucking have done. So I don't know, until the wheels fall off, basically. What kind of plans? Can you tell us about those? I'm trying to just go, MIA, man.

I'm trying to build my private ranch, have my house, have a private gym, and just fucking probably never hear from nobody again. You don't want to do media. You don't want to talk to any of us. You just want to be left alone and live your life. I mean, yeah. Okay. That sounds good to you. You like that.

That's what you're striving for. And there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I just, that's my shit. I mean, I'd rather be left alone, ride dirt bikes and fucking not be fucked with.

I get it. I actually just saw an interview from, like, September with Aaron Rogers, and he said, like, when I'm done, you know, the quarterback, he said, when I'm done, like, oh, you don't know who Aaron Rogers is? I've heard the name, but I don't know who he is. He's a very, very famous quarterback.

He's on the Steelers, but he's probably at the end of his career. He's a Hall of Famer, Super Bowl champion. He said, when I'm done, you will never see me. you will never hear from me. I'm going to disappear. None of you will ever hear anything. You can't ask me for any. I'm done.

I am disappearing. Sounds like you have that same kind of mindset. Pretty much, yeah. What's so appealing about that? It's just like motherfuckers always want something. So if I can get the fuck away from everyone and they don't need me, it's good by me. How close are you to getting that ranch that you talk about? I don't know.

Probably, I don't know. I got to fuck up a lot more people. Okay. I don't know. It's paid my land's paid off. I just got to fucking keep putting stuff out there. And then I'll slowly be out there. But I don't know.

Can I ask what motivates you more? Some people say, I want to be championed. I don't care about the money. Or is it like you need to bust up as many fools as possible to get to the wrench? That's the motivation. That's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I feel like you don't even get real money until you get a title.

So for me, it's like, all right, well, I need the belt then. And then we go from there, make history, and then later motherfuckers. Okay, okay, I like it. I like that mentality. Can I ask, did you even watch the Vancouver fight? No. Okay. When you found out that Brendan beat RDR, were you surprised?

No, he's tough motherfucker, you know what I mean? Brandon's tough. I fought him twice now, hurt, and he's a fucking tough son of a bitch. And I give him respect. Words do, you know what I mean? But, no, man, I really don't give a fuck about fights, to be honest. Like, I feel like if I'm watching them as shit, I'm just doing fanboy shit. I really don't give a fuck.

I'm trying to be the next biggest thing, and I've been saying that shit forever. So it's finally coming, and it's just like dope. Yeah. Do you view this fight as the fight that gets you into that position that you're talking about, this Sean Strickland fight? I think it all depends on performances and shit. You know what I mean? I don't know.

I mean, fuck, I've been on a fucking crazy streak, and I still haven't got a title shot. So I really don't know what to expect. Yeah. I'm just going to go out there and enjoy having fun like I always do. Have you been told or your management been told beat Sean Strickland you're getting a title shot? No, I don't think so. I don't really know.

I'd have to ask Dave, to be honest. I really don't ask too many questions, man. I just kind of do what I do, make my money and get the fuck out. That's really much like my thing, man. I don't know. I would imagine throughout this streak in your career, there have been times where your manager calls you up, Dave, and he's like, you're fighting so-and-so,

or they want you to fight so-and-so, and you may not even know who these people are, right, considering you don't really watch fights? Yeah, no, I don't really give a fuck who they are. I'll take my chance against any man. That's incredible. Do you even go on YouTube and check them out? Do you even do a quick search on who they are, what they've done?

I mean, like, yeah. I mean, my wife watches fights a lot. So, like, usually when I'm around with the friends and shit, I'll watch them half-assed. So, like, if I have a fight, I'll study them a little bit, and then the rest is up to my coaches and then just stay sharp. Wow. So your wife is, like, the brains. Your wife is the one who has the scouting report and the game plans. I mean, she's like the one who's always fucking looking at shit online and stuff.

So, yeah, I mean, me, I really don't give a fuck, man. It's like, I'm just really good at hurting people. And that's about it. And one day, I get a step away. And that's what I look forward to. Does she tell you stuff or you don't want to hear stuff? Like, did she say, oh, this person said this or this is online? Like, did she tell you that or you don't want to hear any of that?

I really don't give a fuck, man. Like, my whole thing with online is, like, I can't hit you in the mouth. So I really don't care. Okay. You know what I mean? Like, if you want to say some shit, in person and let's fucking get it. But like, I'm not going to fucking get mad

and worked up over some dumb shit or what someone said. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. And sometimes they suck. And I fucking hate people's opinions, but it is what it is. Sean Strickland is opinionated. And obviously, he's won a title. So I would imagine when you were told about him, you know, as an opponent, you were somewhat interested.

You knew who he was, at least? No, no, he is. I've seen him at the PI and shit. We bullshitted. And like, you know what I mean? I'm very aware who usually has the belts or who gets the belt. You know what I mean? You see it all over the internet.

So with him, I'm excited for sure. It's an ex-champ. And this is like my opportunity to go out there and show what the fuck I can do now. You know what I mean? And then put me in line for that. The matchup against Sean, does that like, do you look at it that way? Like, oh, I like this style matchup.

I think this would be a fun fight. Do you view the opportunities that way? Yeah, no, he's a tough son of a bitch. So, like, I'm not sleeping on him at all. I think this is going to be a fucking. very fun fight to watch. I think it's going to be bloody. And like, I don't, I'm just looking forward to this shit.

I think a lot of people are looking forward to it for multiple reasons. Sean hasn't fought in quite some time. You haven't fought in quite some time. You're on an incredible run. Feels to me like a potential number one contender fight. Is the hope that you're going to try to convince the brass, like with a great performance that there's now no one else to look at? Is that part of the thinking?

I mean, I don't really, like, I don't try to overthink shit, man. To be honest, I'm just go out there, do what I do best. And then hopefully they fucking throw my name in the hat because last time I heard, Mav and Mav and which are fucking Kazmat are boys and they don't want to fight each other. I don't give a fuck who's the one. If you're 185 and you want the smoke, let's get it. I don't give a fuck. You can be my cousin not fucking try to kill you.

I really don't care. There was some talk of this fight happening in Australia and before it got out there. Sean Strickland said, I don't want to go there. Did that reach you as well? Like, was it originally Australia as far as you were concerned? Yeah. No, yeah. That's what I was told to.

Thank God he said something because now we're both not getting fucked on taxes. I got to quit smoking, which sucks for Texas, but it is what it is. I'd rather quit smoking to get fucked on my money. Sure. Now, when you say smoking, you mean like weed, right? For sure. I don't smoke cigarettes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what, that's illegal in Texas? Yeah, it's hell of gay. You can't have like 150 milligrams in your system, whatever the fuck that means. Is that the same like in Nevada? Nah, it's like 150. Like I fucking take edibles all week and shit and get high as fuck all week. Fight week? Yeah.

Really? And that's okay. That doesn't make you lethargic or tired or anything like that or just chill? I don't know. I'm always tired, so it doesn't matter. Yeah. Do you take it on fight day? Nah, I fight sober.

That's the one time. Like from way ends to fight, I'm sober. But besides that, I'm usually high as fuck. Wow. You take edibles and then go train? Yeah, for sure. Oh, wow. You spar?

Yeah. What's that like? Normal. I don't know. Is it weird to do it sober? Does it feel different for you? No. No, I mean, like, I'm just calmer when I'm high.

You know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to try to take your fucking head off. So that's probably good for everyone else. Maybe I am a little bit slower and lethargic, but I really, I don't know. I've never felt great in a fight, so it doesn't really matter. What do you mean by that? Like banged up from training camp? No, I mean, just you never feel good in a fight.

Like, if you fought before, no, I'm not nervous. I'm not nervous. I can't fuck about that. Like, worst case, I die and then I don't have to work hard no more. You know, I really don't give a fuck. Really? I really don't give a fuck. No, I could die tomorrow and I'd be happy with what I've done. I know, but you have family kids, right?

You want to see, you want to see, you want to see, you want to see how, like, the story plays out? For sure, but it is what it is. I'm not worried about it. Okay, all right. I know, I get that. So what do you feel when you say, like, you don't feel great, what does that mean? Fuck, ask any fighter. they feel on fight day.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you're fucking depleted. You're hungry. I mean, UFC does everything to do the right way to get you healthy again, but like you don't feel normal. You know what I mean?

Yeah. That's why I said the word nervous. Not that you strike me as someone, but like, you know, people talk about butterflies, anxiety, throwing up, all that stuff. Does that happen to you? No. This is like the one time I could try to kill somebody and not get in trouble. So it's fucking, this is like, it's happiness to me, man.

It's freeing. You know what I mean? Worst case I die. Not worst case. I fucking win and get paid. Yeah. Do you ever have that sensation like in life

like someone cuts you off and you want to be like, I wish I could get in the cage with this person right now? I probably shouldn't talk about that stuff because I'm trying to be a better person. Sure, sure. I don't mean that you do it.

I'm not to say, but like just that like you get that feeling inside. Like, oh, it would be nice. I mean, for sure. Everyone has that thing. You know what I mean? Like if I got to make shit happen, you got to make shit happen.

But I'm smart enough not to be on camera. No, of course, of course. Yeah, yeah. Not applying that whatsoever. however. So I feel like based on what you're saying about Hamzad and Imov, this could be huge. This could be a, this could be a big one. This could be the one. I think so, but I think so. But I'm focused on fucking Sean right now. Yeah, yeah. The only thing that matter, because he's a tough son of a bitch, you know what I mean? Were you hoping for DDP originally? I was, because he's done so much great shit, you know what I mean? Yeah. He took out all those big names that were doing shit. So it's like, if I would have got him, that would have been like, it would have been a fun fight first of all. And I think the fans would have enjoyed it a lot more.

the fucking title fight. But that would have been able to show what I really can do everywhere because DDP doesn't just do one thing, he does it all, you know what I mean? So that would have been fun to me as a martial artist. You didn't like that title fight?

Fuck, no, that shit was gay. What about those shorts? I saw you rocking those cool shorts with the, I think it was like the American Eagle on the side, right here? Oh, yeah, that's not an eagle. It's a fighting rooster. Ah, damn.

still cool and are you gonna rock those in the fight those would be sick in the fight I wish but no I don't I don't know what you even got to do to get fucking to get like cool shorts and shit in the UFC like they almost didn't let me walk out to represent Mexico anymore because I had to show a

fucking proof of residency No way Really? I don't get special treatment man That's why I'm on a fucking eight fight Winstreet you know what I mean There's no special treatment here I have to go earn everything unfortunately

And that's how my life's always been So fuck it Man, but you're such a fun. I feel like you have like this real cut like following. Your submissions have been great. Your fights have been. Like there's never a boring fight that you're involved in. I feel like they need to get behind you.

Like that, they've done special shorts for some guys. Something like that would be. And I've seen other fighters who aren't even from countries have their flag on their shorts. Like they don't even live there and they just want to represent. They're asking you for a proof of what? Residency? Yeah. I had to like, yeah, I had to go jump through some hoops real quick and how to find my

fucking grandparents' birth certificates and show that I, for Mexico and that I can represent, but I don't know. That's wild. That is wild. So who will you be representing on this fight? Mexico still, of course. Why Mexico over U.S.? Man, it's part of my blood's from it. I mean, my dad's from there, my mom's, like, families from there.

It's like, that's my heritage. You know what I mean? Yes, I'm American. Yes, I've been here, but like everything we've had and shit, we've had to earn. My parents, like, on my dad's side, I'm technically first generation because he was smuggled in. And then I'm on mom's side. I'm second generation. So, like, I don't know, we've had to earn everything.

I remember being a little kid and going to these fucking camps and shit, like the, where they picked vegetables and shit. Like, they would watch my, Diaz would watch me and shit. So, like, I grew up super Mexican, man. So, like, to me, that's my pride. You know what I mean? Like, it's, I carry a lot of pride with that. Wow.

I love that. Can I ask about your dad's story? What do you mean when you was smuggled in? What is that? What happened there? So, like, you know, I mean, back in the day, it's, like, at home burst and shit. So basically, like, my grandpa had five boys. And then he smuggled four of them across the border, Texas.

And then they were said they were at home birth in Texas. And then, yeah, so my dad had two birthdays and shit growing up. Wow, wow, wow. That is unbelievable. Would you ever consider moving back there? Or I'm moving back because you were born here, but would you ever want to live there? Oh, for sure. I'd for sure want to go out there.

I've had talks with my mom to figure out how to get out. house out there and shit. I would love to go out there and train the PI and shit. Yeah, yeah. Which part would you, like, where's your family from? I've had to look at the birth certificate game, man. I'm not like, I don't pay too much, I guess, attention on the history and shit. Like right now, it's just go, you know what I mean?

I really have time to look back and ask questions. I got you. Right now it's just fucking foot on the gas and go, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. I know you like to do a lot of activities and stuff. Do you like to play other sports? I like playing sports for sure. watching, not really, but playing for sure.

I saw they put you on the spot there shooting a free throw at the Rockets game. Yeah, no, I suck at basketball. Oh, here it is. Why did you guys have to play it? I mean, you make this, right? No, I fucking hit the rim, though, unfortunately. No basketball skills, unfortunately. In front of everyone like that?

I'm only good at hurting people. Like, that's like the best, I don't know, that's all I'm really good at. So I just make the most of it, you know, me and try to be a good person. Was it just one shot? They give you a practice shot, nothing? They gave me practice shots. I made a couple of the practice shots and shit, but, like, I don't know. I just missed.

Yeah. You meet any of the players? They have a great team, the Rockets. I shook one of the dudes' hands. Okay. Like, kind of talked a little bit, but I don't really know who any of these guys are. So, like. Kevin Durant.

Surely you've heard of Kevin Durant. I heard of him that day, yeah. My girl told me about him. She's like a super big basketball fan. She likes all that shit. Oh, man. Your wife seems very cool. She knows all the sports, the fighting, the basketball.

Like, she seems like to all that stuff. She's watching TV a lot. She informs you. I don't know, I got time for TV. Yeah. You don't watch anything on TV? No, I don't have time for it. I didn't grow up watching TV, man.

I grew up working. Right, right, right. I don't know. I go crazy if I got to sit around. I can't just sit around. I got to do shit. What about your kids? Do they watch TV?

Yeah, they're fucking blessed. You know what I mean? Like, I've worked my ass off so they can have a good life. So they get to play on video games and chill. they don't have to work, which is great. Does it get you frustrated? You're like, man, when I was your age, I wasn't doing this. I was out in the field.

I was working my ass off. I mean, sometimes, but like, this is what I did it for you. I mean. Right. So you're proud to give them that life. For sure. For damn sure. Yeah.

By the way, what was Qatar like? You were out there, right? Yeah, that was cool. It was fucking different as hell. No weed, sober. Oh, God. No drinking. No alcohol there, right?

But it was cool. Anytime I can get away with my friends, team and like just get the fuck away i'm fucking happy to do it you know i mean martial arts and just enjoy life a little bit like i really didn't go anywhere until fighting um i've gone places to visit family and stuff but like it was like once in a blue moon so to me this is like this is what i kind did for is to get out and i mean to experience life was that your first time in the middle east yeah what was it like i mean it's a big culture change right oh for sure i fuck with like like how they have their women.

That's dope. The multiple. That's kind of cool. They can't do shit. That's not bad, right? I'm just kidding. No, it was definitely, like, crazy as fuck. Like, seeing the difference of, like, all the women are, like, just their eyes are showing, you know what I mean?

And then, like, it was just, it was crazy. It was a different fucking experience. No cussing. No, like, they had as, like, they sent a whole list of shit we couldn't do. Wow. Which was, like, as wild. Do you know what I mean? Wow.

And no alcohol. I mean, you have to be on, like, a side of a hotel and shit. but I don't like drinking anyway. It usually goes downhill when I start drinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I get that. But I saw you on a camel there. Was that your first time? Yeah, no, that was fucking, it was pretty cool.

I'd never fucking been on a camel. That shit hurts your fucking nuts. Yes. That fucking little hump they have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was fucking dope. I mean, it felt like a really cool experience. You know what I mean?

I got to be with my friends. I got to go see the Middle East. And it's like, when do you really get to do that type of shit? Sure. And were you brought out of that? as a guest fighter? No, I was helping my buddy Ryan Loder for his fight. Okay.

I was there with him and then Orobe had a fight, so I was helping him out. Okay, okay, okay. Because I was going to say, like, you know, UFC should bring you out as a guest fighter, show you that kind of love, you know? No, they've actually, they've been doing like a lot of, like, a lot more stuff for me, which is nope. And like, I think I'm to the point where I need to start doing that a little bit more, so my name gets out there and so I can start making more monies.

So I think, I'm thinking this next year is going to be very busy for me. I'm excited for it. So this is the year where you get out of your comfort zone and maybe do some of the stuff that you probably would rather not do, but feel like you have to do in order to get to where you want to be. For sure. I mean, I might as well enjoy this experience while I'm fucking in it. You know what I mean? So I think I've built enough name where people know who I am now. And I think it would be dope to go out and meet fans and people to actually support me.

You know what I mean? Oh, I think the fans love you. They always say, like, I always hear them say that you feel like a distant relative of the Diaz brothers. Like they like your style, your mentality. You take that as a compliment, right? Oh, for sure. I mean, they're fucking hardworking dudes. Yeah. Legend.

They're still in the game. They have a big name, so it's like respect. You know what I mean? They're from out here, so I'll take the credit where I can get it. You know what I mean? I saw some guy made a custom toy of you. Yeah, that shit was dope. Yeah. Is that like a one-of-one? Yeah. That is sick.

It's super cool. So he just came and gifted you this? Yeah. He's like, I want to send you something. He sent me that. And I was like, that's fucking really cool. You know what I mean? Wow. Your kids must have loved that. They thought it was super cool. They were like, what?

You're a toy now. Superhero. Yeah. So they like, I think they enjoy that type of stuff. You know what I mean? It's always cool to like have fans that like will send shit and like just show love. You know what I mean? Sure.

Have your kids gone to any of your fights yet? They've gone to a couple. They'll be going to this Texas one. Wow. All of them? Not all of them, but like the ones where I can take them where they have a little break in school. Sure. I'll try to them.

How many kids do you have now? Technically, four that I raise every day. Okay. What do you mean by technically? Like in your house, day to day? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, all four kids come. Yeah, yeah, they're all coming.

Oh, wow. Because one of them is relatively young, right? Seven. Okay. Does the seven-year-old understand what you do? Probably at this point, right? Yeah, no, she's like the one that's actually gone to the gym and trained, and, like, she likes the fighting shit.

But yeah, she definitely understands it. But I don't think she understands that, like, technically I'm famous. Okay. But she kind of like, she'll make little funny-ass remarks and shit every once in a while. But she likes to talk shit. She's definitely my kid. Is it possible that she's the one that falls in your footsteps? And how would you feel about that?

If she says, Daddy, one day, I want to be like you. I want to do what you do. If that's the case, then so be it. But I'd rather my kids go to school and have a good education and, like, make money the easy way because this shit is brutal if you get hurt you're fucked you don't plan right and you don't save right you're fucked you know i mean it's like that's all shit i didn't know growing up like i just thought it'd be like oh movie star big fucking money and like no it's not it all like that you got taxes and you got all kinds of bullshit did what happened in october kind

of crystallized that for you like this could all you're on a winning streak but it could all be taken away i mean it's i don't know i really like like i said i'm trying to I try to put too much thought into shit. I just kind of handle business, hurt people, and get money, and then I'll figure out the rest. You know what I mean? But as long as I keep winning, I can't be denied, so fuck it. Okay, last thing. This time next year, where are you at?

What are you feeling? Hopefully the belt around my waist, you know what I mean? And I'm fucking back in the country and out of Sacramento. That's the plan. Okay. Well, you're well on your way, man. And I know you had some training at this time, so I appreciate you taking some time out and talking to us.

always great to talk to you, excited about this fight, looking forward to it very much and wishing you the best. So welcome back, Anthony, and good luck on February 21st. I was absolute pleasure to talk to you, man. You have a great one. Thank you. Same to you. There he is.

Anthony Fluffy Hernandez, that toy is a one-of-one. He is a one-of-one. Very, very, very interesting guy and a guy that, like I said, I think the fans are really getting behind. I think the build-up to this fight will be very fun. Two guys who are kind of straight shooters, if you will, who aren't afraid to voice their opinion.

who aren't, you know, obviously different. Sean Strickland kind of lives online and is always weighing in on things. Anthony, not online, not really wanting to weigh in on things. Doesn't do it a ton of media. Sean Strickland is out there a lot more, but perhaps somewhat cut from the same cloth, if you get what I'm saying. So I think it's a big fight, and I think it's an important fight at 185 pounds. So a lot of activity in that weight class.

regarding some news. I am seeing here. Well, apparently there is a, is there a new, so I guess this is the new Paramount UFC Twitter account. It's called Paramount UFC Crew. And they have also reported that the co-made event of UFC 324, Amanda Nunes against Kayla Harrison,

has been, well, they wrote PPP, PPD. Why wouldn't you just write out postpone? PPD, does that sound for postpone? CBS Sports has learned. Wow. Okay, they have more information. Harrison underwent surgery on Tuesday to address herniated discs in her neck, according to the Eagle Tribune, which first reported the postponement. I also did confirm that she needed surgery. And so there you have it. This seems like some kind of official account. There's their graphic.

So a new member, should we follow them? Here we go. We're giving them the follow, guys. They only follow seven people. Let's see who they follow.

Well, it looks like they follow. UFC Españo. UFC Brazil. Paramount Plus Ultimate Fighter. UFC and CBS Sports. Feels official. Feels official. So there you have it.

What a bummer, guys. What a bummer. But the postponement phrasing. Yeah. It would imply. That would, that would, yeah. It would imply.

It would imply. How about the Eagle Tribune? Yeah, can I be honest? I'm not familiar with the Eagle Tribune. I'll tell you, it's a morning daily newspaper covering the Mamaric Valley and Essex County, Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Okay, so this is, okay, I'm sorry. If I'm being honest, I thought that the Eagle Tribune was like something to do with like,

MMA, I don't know, felt like an MMA name. But this is a real, this is a real like, okay, okay. Yeah, the Merrimack Valley. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I actually believe. This is where she's from. Or I think she has ties to there. Oh, okay.

From Ohio. No, this is Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Yeah, Kail Harrison used to train there with her long-time coach. How about Bill Burt is the journalist? He actually posted it yesterday at 559. On Twitter? Yeah, in the evening. He posted the article.

This has been out there for that long? Yeah, biggest women's MMA fight ever is postponed. Here's the tweet. Much anticipated U.C. 324 fight between Kail Harrison and then he's been called off. Harrison had surgery in New York to aid to repair. And he's discriminating that she will need at least six months of rehab. See, there you go.

There you go. There's the key line. She will need at least six months of rehab. and training to return. I mean, who knows what it is, but six months seems very optimistic, in my opinion. For a neck, I agree. Yeah, and that's why.

Like, if I'm a mann eunus and I was 10 days away from fighting, or maybe a little bit, you know, maybe she knew a couple days ago, 12, 13, 14, I don't know. What about Anthony Hernandez, though? Yeah, the man. I would not want to get into a fight with that guy. I mean, remember that sub? Yeah.

It really deserved more love in our sub of the year conversation, right? I called it out specifically and described it. I know, but I feel, no, I feel like I should have, like, I actually feel in retrospect, like there's a very strong case to be made for it being this sub of the year. It was fantastic. Yeah, it was my number two. It was the biggest, like, bully, like, I don't give a F about you. More I think about it, man.

So Costello Van Cienist was, like, incredible because it was at the buzzer and it was, but as far as, like, a sub that I enjoyed, I was like, wow. Ninja choke by John Selvon Bryce was pretty slick. Are you trying to say you enjoyed that one? I enjoyed that one. That inverted aesthetic triangle over an octagon. That was pretty much. But he is a.

No, he's a scary dude. You didn't give a fuck, man. That's the message I guess. Yes, he does not. Wow, wow, wow, wow. I think that'll be a fun fight week. Yeah, I think it will too. What are we looking at?

We're looking at January 31st is 325. And then what's, is there February? No, they don't have. have an event Super Bowl weekend, right? They're taking that one off. And then I think it's an apex card. Is it an apex card? And then Houston. Oh yeah, Mary Batista. Oh, they are doing one Super Bowl weekend. Okay, so then it's, so it's January 3rd, February 7th, and then nothing the following weekend. Interesting. You think it's because of the Winter Olympics? Yeah. Yeah. They don't want to go up against Utah. And then it's Strickland, and then it's Mexico City, and then it's BMF, and then it's a

another apex. Oh, they've already got to change meta apex, not the metapex. And then it's London and then it's climate. I'm trying to see when's the next break after that break in between. So 21st, 28, 4th, 11th, and there's nothing after the 11th, at least announced. I'm sure there's going to be a lot more. And then the next one would be UFC, UFC White House. All right. Still to come, the great Chuck Minnhal also, Daniel Cormey. Let's go back to question. Shall we? I'm having fun today, guys. You?

A lot of fun. Yeah. Real quick, you do know the difference between an eagle and a rooster, right? You were just messing about? The truth is, I remember seeing the photo, and I couldn't remember in the moment if it was... Because, I mean... You didn't see the photo in the moment. Not, man.

You were thinking to the Eagle Tribune. Or the Rooster Tribune. You know what? Eagle Tribune was on my mind. and he's a proud American so I thought maybe Eagle I wasn't sure

I hear you Is the rooster a symbol of Mexico No Or do you think it's because of the Did you ever see the He owns a few doesn't he? Yeah He showed us no

The rooster is a powerful cultural symbol In Mexico It represents courage Thanks for nothing for New beginnings and farm life Frank doesn't know anything Aren't you Mexican Frank? Wow

No What Colombian? Do you know that turkey almost ended up being the American bird? Oh, I thought you were talking about turkey all shake. Bees! Get to the questions. Do you ever see that Seinfeld where a guy names his rooster? He names his rooster after Jerry?

Little Jerry. Little Jetty of Seinfeld. That's a great one. The cockfighting? It affects his in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tombstoneer, hottest of hot takes, but I don't like the consideration. sense of narrative that Pantoja was the innocent victim of a freak injury. Basing your arm with

the elbow locked is something they teach day one in grappling. Even to kids, judo and juxtu lessons, that's something you never do. It's an uncharacteristic lapse in judgment in a high pressure moment for a champion who was close to divisional goat status, but make no mistake, it's an absolute own goal. Do you think the timing so soon after Tom Aspinall's genuine foul and freak blindness in the cage, altered the narrative? No. Absolutely not. That would be like saying, oh, this dude who broke his ankle or tore his ACL or tore his Achilles going up for a layup was an own goal. Like freak things happen when you do ordinary things or day one things, as you say. When I say ordinary, not to you and I mean to these fighters. Like that's obviously

a move that happens all the time, but a freak injury happened. I have long believed I don't like when there's moments like there was a Carlos Condit fight back in the day and you know there was a knee injury and people were like ah you know it was freak no no no that was caused over time that was deliberate

this is different this is not caused over time this is this is like what was that 22 seconds 23 seconds it was a freak thing I think this is becoming too semantical and focused on the injury itself the reality is there's still a demand

to see pantotos and Van fight because it felt inconclusive, right? As an example, yeah, Chris Widman, checking a kick is going to make Anderson Silva's leg break,

but do you feel like ultimately that was the conclusion that the natural order of the fight was supposed to arrive at? You're focused too much on the injury part, and yes, like Pantosia posted and that was a problem, but we want to see a resolution to the fight

that did not feel like resolution, regardless of whether regardless of whether Van caused the injury by lifting Pantosia and Pantosia posted his arm. Like, we still need to see that fight. You're focused too much on... Also, he claims this narrative, but, like, since the fight ended Pantosia has been like,

yep, congrats to Josh Van, I made a mistake. You know, shouldn't have happened? Back to work. I want to get my belt back. Yeah, made no excuses. In fact, I've asked him to come on. Like, he's not interested in talking right now. I think he just wants to get back to 100%.

Here's Sweeney Bathwater. Did Rixie Housemade with Sidney Sweeney? I have not yet. I plan to. Maybe Ariel did, considering he bought her bathwater. I never bought her bathwater. What? I'm pretty sure you bought the bathwater, didn't you?

Who was to check? I remember us talking about the bathwater and wondering if it was legit. You showed us the certificate. Such bullshit. That is such. Yeah, right. I don't even... That's so crazy.

What's this charge on the credit card? Bathwater. Dot net. I don't even think she would care, but I think she would think it's weird as hell. And I think it's weird as hell, too. but no I don't I don't recall buying it

and if I did I never got it I never got it Jackal I don't recall buying I'm so sorry He was in a PO box And if I did I never got it I'll tell you that much We can put in a request To find out where it is well

In innocent Guys here's a question from Hutt Ariel and crew Over under 1.5 ICE recruitment ads slash commercials during UFC 324 Paramount show also over under 1.5 more times you snap at Frank before he let

you know, you know, thanks, love the show. What's that mean? I actually don't know. What about the ice? Do you think we see more of that? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No doubt about it. I mean, I think that's by design. Like anything that's UFC or MMA related. I think they're like a sponsor of it. Here's Steven Segal, Sensei. I want to give a shout out to the BITB, my current favorite MMA show after watching the inaugural Backy's award show, I had to write and encourage you guys

to keep embracing the silliness. If Ariel's show is like a golf clubhouse where you smoke stogies and hang with your boys, the BITB is like an old school Western saloon where you chug moonshine, chewed tobacco, and spit it out on Frank's mom's ass. I see you skim the questions first. I'm like, oh, this is a good one.

I swear. Also, the inflection in your voice. It comes at you real quick. You chew tobacco and spit it on Frank's mom's ass. With minimal interviews, the show flows more like a podcast, and I appreciate that. Keep up the good work. Thank you for the very kind words. Very, very kind.

A dream comparison, man. Yeah, especially the spitting on Frank's mom's ass. We love that. Here's MJ, hello team, especially the woke front bench, who is the last line of defense for this beautiful sport created by and four nerd weirdo freedom fighters. Amen. Shout out to the WFP, or B. I thought you all should know that the ladies in the background of the Izzy Pereira Photo of the Year nominee are actually ADCC champions Brianna St. Marie and Adele Fornerino, not a Bachelorette party. Remember we thought it was a bachelor party with the...

I'm still not convinced. So the question is, was the day of wokeness too much for Mr. Eda Pizzi Carroll or did he not recognize Jiu-Jitsu icons because he didn't even know who Fion, Dave? is. Thanks for all the good work. B.T. Anything to say for yourself? Yeah. Pete?

No. Pizzi? He never logged off, so, you know. I actually got my Irish flag on today. What's up by the boys? G.C., please blind rank these hypothetical R.A.F. matchups with M.MA fighters. Five.

Booneickle versus Yoel Romero. One. John Jones, Daniel Cormier. Fuck. Two. Henry Sehudo Mighty Mouse. Wow, these are all great. Three.

Hamza Chimae of Bo Nicol. Yeah. Four. Colby Covington, Kamaro Usman. Five. That's a proper five. I'd go, obviously, John Jones, D.C. one. Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way, he says, but I think Bo's ego is way too big

in him pulling out shows why he and U.L were not the main event, two unreliable guys. I don't know about that. Bo's not unreliable. I don't get the Bo hate. I don't get thinking Bo his ego gets in the way. Everything I've seen from him is that he's actually quite humble. And he's down to fight anyone and he got put, like, yeah, it's weird. He played up the like, I'm a minus 1,000 favorite.

It should be minus 10,000, that type of stuff. Like he's doing a bit of a character. And, you know, even getting up and giving the birds. Yeah, I guess. No, but the Hamzat stuff. That's the perfect example. example. Think about every time we've talked to him about Hamzat. He's always said, I'm not there yet. Like, it's not like he's the guy who's just, you know, he's not mystic Mac. He's not trying to will these things into existence. He has a pretty good sense of where he's at. I don't really, Bo does not strike me as a guy with this, like, massive ego that is leading him down the wrong path. He strikes me much more as like somebody who's taking this the smart way and has good people around him. Yeah. Look, I get it. People said I'm not the feeling. I get it. That stuff. He's playing.

Yes, come on. As I said on Monday, I still feel like he made the right call. With you all you mean? Yeah, there's too much for him to lose right now. He's got all this momentum. He's trying to be on the, he doesn't want to get smoked by YoL Romero. In his sport, and I know it was once you all sport,

but it's more recently both sport. It's tough, seven pounds. It's tough. And to do the whole like, yeah, like this guy, you know, oh, I compete against a guy. You know, at heavy way you're competing against guys It's different when you're in those weight classes. I get it, I get it.

Listen, some people are always going to rub other people fans the wrong way, but this one I don't really get. I really don't. Blessed Express, Ariel, I've been listening to old episodes, and after O'Malley won the title, you justified him versus Cheeto and even said it makes sense. When the fight was actually announced, you even justified it even more,

while Marab, who was the clear contender and was not booked against Henry, yet, and Corey, who just beat Cheeto was without a fight, Chito had just had losses to coin a non-competitive fight and never won a title or fought for one while Corey. See, by the way, you guys do this all the time and even reading it, I don't remember, but I even remember talking about like Marab's place in this story and I can guarantee you your timeline events is wrong. Sorry, but it's wrong. I remember us talking about this, but you change things up all the time. Do we have to feel ashamed about a Chito title shot? Like, is that the...

No, I think he's trying to say like, oh, you know, yeah. I'm not a cheetah versus shono mali's fine. I don't have a problem with it now in hindsight. It wasn't the deserving contender, but that doesn't exist in MMA. Why am I ashamed of Cheeto fighting Sean O'Malley? There's a story there. Neil with a spiel. Mr. Halwani, please kindly elaborate on the following.

There is a massive problem with inactive champions in the UFC, and there seems to be no real coverage slash calling out on it. Especially when a champion comes out of the cage without a scratch, there should be more pushback against those who only fight one. once a year. There's a million and a one excuses, but the reality is if you are a fighter, if you are the champion, you need to fight. I mean, I feel like we talk about it. I feel like we talk about the fact that Islam typically fights once a year, Hamza 2. What do you want us to do? We want us to do. We're going to us to like boycott. Can't force it got a fight.

And there are reasons, you know, Ramadan, this and that, injuries. What do you want us to do? Fruitilof. I'm an MMA lover who based on being a real adult only has time for the UFC. Ed Soros, though, made me want to watch an LFA bout between two names. I wouldn't be able to summon from my memory under the threat of castration. Golly. And he didn't even do an amazing job, but as far as being a promoter goes, he sure made Dana White look like a feeble piece. Okay, this is a little bit much, bro. Chill out.

Irish I'd like to hear the end No Hey Ireland Crew Please rate these 2026 bold predictions From likely to least likely

To absolutely no chance All right How many do we have Five Or and we're blind ranking Oh I think he just No I think he's just right I think he's just right

Ilya I don't fight And Max Holloway Finishes 2026 Lightway champion Oh that one's not going to be very likely I mean like I feel like

The first part could happen but like, I mean, look, Max, there's a world, and I think Armand may have alluded to it. Like, there's a world where Patty beats Justin or Justin beats Patty and then Max wins and then for some reason they do Max fighting for the belt again. Like, I don't think that's crazy. I don't think it is crazy. I don't think it is likely.

I feel like it's extremely unlikely. Alex Pereira has failed at heavyweight. Goes 0 and 2 during 2026. More likely, in my opinion. I don't think it will happen. I don't think he goes 0 and 2. Give us all 5 and then we'll slot him in. Hey Frank, can you keep it down?

You're going to text month? Daniel Cormier competes in combat sports in 2026. Wow, what timing. Did I talk to him? Yeah, RIA. You think so? Yeah. Hamza Chimai of loses.

Unlikely. Okay. Islam Mahachev loses. There's a chance of that happening, yeah. I think the most likely is DC. Yeah. competing. Second most.

Oh, I get what you're saying. Okay. Yeah, you're saying, okay. Most likely DC, yep. Most likely DC. I get the exercise now. I get it. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Is second most, is second most Alex losing twice? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. And then third, I think Max is the least likely. I think Max being champion is the least. And then I think Islam.

losing and then I think Hamza losing and then I think Max champion. Yeah, I think that's correct. This is an interesting one or do we have do you not have time? Yeah, we got to do. We got a little bit. Matt Berkey asks, let's face it, it's time to give Frank his own weekly segment. I propose the weekly

frankings where Frank ranks his top five on a particular subject related to my news that week or the coming week. By the way, Frank ranks. Yeah, I was just about it there. Frank said it in the thing. That's the name. Yes, he participates in the boys in the back ranking segment,

but the audience knows Frank's list, top the charts, alternate names, Frank ranks, or Frankie's Rankies. What do you say, Frank? He's busy with you. He's busy at the moment. But we will take it into it advice. The more Frank can talk on the boys in the back, the better. Yeah.

There's a question here asking PT to blind rank Super Bowl halftime shows. Let's see how we think. Yeah, let's pretend we're PT. Potential or have happened? No, like old school one. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lady Gaga 2017. He's going to have that as a four.

Yeah. Wait, let me tell you, one, two, three, four, five, six. Oh, geez. Getting unwieldy. No. Let's, let's, let's, we'll save it for. Yeah, we're boarding. All right.

We'll do that when PeeT comes back after the, uh, the little Chuck Tetat, Tett. My friends, this is big. I told the boys in the back that I didn't think it was going to happen, and it was actually like it was falling apart at the seams. All of you were concerned about the, injuries and whatnot. I was concerned about this. It was falling apart. I predicted that this was going to happen. But in the end, it is happening. He is here. And it's crazy that we have to build it up like this. At one point in time, we were actually like, we were actually teammates. We were co-pil.

It wasn't like co-pilers. We were both flying the plane together. We carried a company known as ESPN on our back, on our shoulders. We carried them through the darkness of the pandemic. I don't have to go through the spiel all the time. We have gone. We have made history actually this past year. And I want to explain that history to him. So without further ado, let us say hello to one of the greatest fighters of all time the former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion. Your friend in mind, the voice of the UFC. Is he actually here?

There he is. Wow, there he is. You know it is. Wow. I can't believe this. It's crazy. The feeling that I get when I see you, it's so crazy the feeling that I get. It's crazy work.

This is doing here. It's so crazy. The work that I have. have to put it to book you on this show. It's just, it's really crazy. I'm not going to lie. I'm working, man. I'm busy. I'll be working and you don't be calling you. You really don't act. Like you just be calling me all the time asking me to do your show because you don't. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. You know what the history is, by the way? By the way, you know what? I want to save the history. I would be remiss. I would be remiss, D.C.

Because this is a big... Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. It is such a big deal. I can't believe that you're actually on the show today because there usually aren't. holidays. But you're actually on the show. The stars have a line for us. Today, DC, I do want to wish you a very happy Feast of Ass Day. It's actually Feasts of Ass. Now, the guys think that it's about, I think it's about the dog.

It's Feasts of Ass. What do you think of when you think of Feast? Peace of ass. It's actually... It's actually... Bro, what? I can't believe it. It's a big day.

I looked it up. Get off the screen. It's happy. I looked it up, by the way. The feast represents a Christian adaptation to the pagan feast. What? Servilis integrating with donkey. Basically what would happen?

A girl and a child on a donkey would be led through the town to church where the donkey would stand beside the altar during the sermon. So I feel like you were thinking. thinking of a dirty thing, but it's actually very... I didn't even see the donkey at first. But why the donkey got his ass towards the camera? Like, why is the donkey's ass? Like, what?

I was just, I was unclear. I was unclear. By the way, happy National Pastrami Day. You've had a pastrami sandwich, right? I have. They're pretty good. They are pretty good. They are pretty good.

They are pretty good. You can't start. You can't start. He can't start with Feast of As and think that anything is going to hit again. You know, I have a feast of ass. I've never had a pastrami sandwich with you. I have had a pastrami sandwich with my other, you know, brother, Mr. Rampage Jackson. That's back at the Katz's Delicestesson in Lower Manhattan.

Oh, my God. Yeah. He's the past day. I'm still thinking that there's no way. Nothing's ever going to get me again after that. I've noticed, though, you have slimmed down. I've noticed you slimmed down. I've noticed you've dropped a couple of LBs.

So I would imagine you partake in National Take the Stairs Day. You know, you're skipping the elevator. No, actually. I get made fun of every day because I just take the elevator everywhere. Really? Hey, at the apex, you've never been, I don't think. Wow, wow, that's crazy.

Listen, at the apex area, there's a side of stairs and there's an elevator. One flight, I take the elevator every time. I wait for the elevator while everybody else walks through stairs. And I'm like usually behind them, but I still would much rather take that elevator. By the way, I do want to correct you, it's now called the Metapex. It's the Metapex.

Yeah, yeah. No, no, actually, it's actually called the Metapex. The meta apex. I took it one step further because I'm such a great mind, marketing mind. Metapex sounds way cooler. No, no, it's called the meta apex. Get it right. Yeah, no.

You don't think that one of those shows that you do in front of six people, can you call it the Metapex at the top? No. No. Six people. We don't do shows in front of six people. We'll get out of it. I know that, you know, life's going great for you.

Organize your home day. Today is national organizer home day. So in case you needed a reminder to put everything in its proper place, that is today. I just had that done. Yep. My home is in, my home has been organized over the Christmas holidays. Everything's great. Bro, here, I'll show you.

Oh, please, please, please. What, you had a professional come? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Hold on. All right.

I'm going to walk into this. Let's walk into the garage. Oh, can't wait. I love this stuff Yeah Okay You're ready I'm ready

Hold up Oh no How do I How do I How do I How do I flip the camera Oh wow Wait can you

Why is it like that Why am I blurred Yeah why did you do that Are you hiding something? No Look look look Can you see Look

It's blurry It doesn't work How do I take this Blurrish it all It's in the settings How do I do this? Frank, how does he do it? How does he do it, Frank?

What settings? Frank's shy. There's a setting where it like blurs your background so that people in a meeting. You look great, by them. Virtual backgrounds. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Oh, yeah. Look! Wow. This is my garage. This is my garage. Look, see? Wow. Let me see, I can flip this.

Dude, this is, look, that's my garage. Look. See? It's all like in order. And then, okay, look. Wow. This is actually pretty impressive. Look. Look at that. Who did this for you?

Then look. This is the earth. Look, all my golf, this is my golf area. Yeah. Gold car. Oh, damn. Yeah. So you've already partaken in National Organize Your Home Day. Wait, did you have a professional come do this for you? I'm proud of that. I'm proud of that. No, it was Genesis. It was Cassandra's sister.

Oh, wow. Jenner's sister. Jen, Sandra Sister Jen did it. She did good. Well, one more for you. This is who, by the way, listen. Okay, tell me. This is, by the way, listen, who was high school classmates with one Nick Kahn.

Oh, wow. Damn. Yeah. The legend. The Bigwig. I saw you do an interview with him. By the way, I remember that picture. I remember that picture above your head.

Yes. You had that in the background for a short period. Oh, look at this guy. Who's happening here? What's... No, we can't kiss yet. Wow. A little Frederick.

right now. Who's this guy? Who's this guy? This is Pip, Pip. We can't be making out on TV like this. Wait a second. The dog's name is Pipple? Pip.

Pip. P-I-P. Why? Because she's small, dude. Look at how big... This is her full-size looking. Wow, look at that. Wow.

In the business, we say PIP is picture and picture. Pip, can I please finish doing what I'm doing? Yeah. By the way, one more, take a missionary to lunch day. Have you ever taken a missionary to lunch? Missionary. What, those people? What?

What? You know those days. Hell no. Missionaries. Yeah, these do. A priest? That's a priest, man. That's not a missionary.

That's a priest. That's what we got when we looked it up. I don't even know what a missionary is. That is a preacher, man. And why did you pick a black one? You're racist. No, no. I didn't pick the pictures

Man, it's good to see you And I tell you what the history is Tell me First time I met you was Strike Force, Open Workout in Chicago 2009 You were there for King Mo, we did the thing Remember, the wrestling thing?

Yeah, I remember. 2025 was the first calendar year Since 2009 that we didn't speak on air. Really? Crazy. Crazy, right? Right? First calendar year, I looked it up. Why? Can I be honest?

You were Shadow Band from the show. Why was I Shadow Band? What did I do? Because, you know, I made a big deal about the last time you came November of 2024. I'll never forget, it was a dark day. And you joined us from the golf course. It felt like you were just kind of squeezing us in. Like, you didn't really care. You know, there I was.

It's like we had a date. I brought you flowers. I brought you shot. I made a whole big deal. I wore my favorite dress. It was sexy. I was ready. And then you were just like, yeah, let's get this over with.

I'll be right there, guys. Don't wait up for me. I'll be right there. I'll be on the night. And I just felt like you were squeezing me in. And so I said, like, you know what? Maybe we need a break. I don't need to.

That's how he felt. Would you rather I make it up or would you rather I tell you the truth? You're so sensitive, dude. I just always forget, like, you're so sensitive. No, no. You're so sensitive. Like, I mean, come on, man. Shadowband.

You shadow ban me? All right. You want shadow ban me? No, it's over now. It's over. No, no. You should have told me this. before and I wouldn't have came to dance.

You watched Shadowband me. You almost didn't come. You almost did it come. By the way, congratulations on a great run at ESPN. Don't forget who brought you to the dance. You did. At any point,

I want to know, at any point, the show would chill. Good guy, bad guy, which you used to promo like nine times every broadcast, never got a single promo for our show. At any point in that show,

did it ever, like, cross your mind. Like, you know what this show's missing? Did it ever, like, man, how wadi in the middle of us here would be perfect. Did you ever cross your box? I got to be honest, Ariel.

I got to be honest, I got to be honest. I never thought that. When you say it, when you say it, it makes me feel selfish. Wow, that's great. You hung up? Okay, you're back. It kind of makes me feel selfish. I just shadow band you.

I'll shadow band you right through. No, it made me feel a little bit selfish, but I never thought that, bro. I never once thought. Dang, man. Ariel started this, and the jail and I just took it in. Yeah. Yeah, I never thought. Never crossed her.

Never. Like in the pre-me? or anything like man if only it's kind of weird though man it's like there's been a few right because that fox too right yeah yeah i never once thought damn i'm this my boy wow i'm sorry dog i'm sorry don't no no listen i appreciate you being honest how do you feel how do you feel about the new era how do you feel i'm excited man i'm so excited listen ESPN was so good in helping to elevate the UFC to the point that we are at a place where you're going to Paramount on such a massive deal. But I'm excited, man.

I'm excited about what's going to happen. I'm excited about how big this thing is going to continue to grow because every single step, dude, it just continues to grow and grow and grow. You're giving me the PR. This is like the answer that you give when they put you on like the radio tour. Like you're talking to your brother. No, it's a truth. I swear to God, like I'm telling you, bro, like I feel like.

Like, it's just going to keep growing. Because Ariel, think about this. When we were at Fox, when that first show started at Fox, you felt like it was never going to get bigger. Or at least I didn't. I didn't know. Yeah, yeah. It went to ESPN, and it just felt like it got bigger. And now it just feels like it's going to get bigger even more.

Like, it just keeps growing, man. Like, I don't know what the limit is to how big this thing can get. It's going to be huge. I don't know if you heard the breaking news. Did you hear the breaking news? I was in the middle of my practice right now. You're unaware. I think they said, I don't know if it was confirmed.

Is it confirmed? The new Paramount UFC Twitter account put it out. So I think that means it's confirmed. Okay, yeah, yeah. Kayla Harrison we're talking about. She's out. Yeah, I saw a text. And it was from my producer, Luis.

Okay. He goes, I don't know if this is true, but it looks like Kayla Harrison might be out. And I was like, well, I'm in the middle of practice. I got a couple things I got to do. And then we can do like a YouTube reaction video. Yeah, you're in that YouTube game now. That grind. In that game, baby.

The volume, the volume. Shout out. Shout out. No, but it is true. I've confirmed it. It was reported by reputable outlets. And it's a bummer. Neck surgery.

What? Yeah. It's a huge. That's bad. Right? Neck is bad. They're saying six months. And I'm like, I don't know, that feels optimistic.

I mean, my wrestling coach, Kevin Jackson had a neck surgery. and it took him a little bit longer, or much longer than six months to get back. I don't know. Like, what's the injury? Like, what's the severity of the injury? I don't know it. I mean, I'm just hearing this right now from you.

Can you settle this? We had an argument about it at the beginning of the show. So the boys in the back, who love you, they said that, you know, you got to keep Amanda on the sidelines and wait for Kayla to come back. And I understand that fight is so big. But my take on it was,

the Paramount Plus debut is a big deal. Obviously they wanted Ilya on there to start. It didn't work out. He has some issues. Islam has said, you know, they called him. It didn't work out. You want to have the biggest names possible. And you know the UFC as well as anyone.

UFC typically says, like, we'll worry about that later. Like, let's fill in the hole right now, right? Aldo gets injured. Let's put in Chadmendez. You're supposed to fight Rashad. Let's put in Pat Cummins. Like they usually don't say to you, hey, sit on the sidelines. Benjamin is coming out of retirement.

She's probably revved and ready to go. I heard, I was told Norma Dumont said, hey, I want in. I know she doesn't have the name, but what do you think? If you're, if you're Amanda, do you sit on the sidelines, or do you just take the fight? Is Kayla gone for six months? Because if Kayla's gone for only six months, you can't say, this is an interim title fight. Because, hey, Amanda Newton has Kayla Harrison is a massive fight. Kayla is vocal, too, right? I know you speak to her all the time. How would she feel about an interim title fight. The one thing that you don't necessarily need

what Amanda Nunes is her holding a belt. You can just put one on her. And then the visual is two champions fighting. If she fights and if she gets an interim title fight, now you put a belt on her. But Kayla Harrison just fought recently. Like, does an interim title make sense? Yes, you want to fight Amanda Nunes.

Problem is, And Chale always made this point. You don't get better by not doing something. So we don't know if Amanda Nunes is as good as she was when she left because you don't want to run the risk of her losing and then losing that Kayla Harrison fight. So I'm of the belief that if you can justify an interim title fight and you feel safe that Amanda will be okay and get it done,

and Kayla's only gone for six months, you fight her. No, no, you don't fight her. Right. He's only gone for six months. You don't fight her. But if it's going to be longer than six months, you fight her with the hope that she still wins, and now you've got two champions,

both of them holding belts. I love that fight. It's time. I love that fight, and I was the one campaigning for it to be the main event. I thought it should have been the main event. That's how much I love that fight. But I also love the idea of the return of Amanda Nunes,

and I like the idea of her being on the Paramount Plus debut. If I know the UFC, like I think I do, tell me if you disagree. They call her and at least say, do you want to stay on the card? and if so, we'll figure it out. It's up to you. What do you think?

I don't know if, I think that the fighter does play a part in it. I don't know that it's going to be her decision. I feel like she will get an option. But I don't know if it's ultimately going to be her decision because, dude, it's so much bigger. You can't make a bigger female fight than Amanda Nunes, Kela Harrison. And Amanda looked in phenomenal shape. Last time I saw her on some pictures, she looks great. you would guess that she would still be able to manage just about everyone in fighting.

You know, with Kayla Harrison being the champion and the one way you go, well, this is a big toss-up, you would think that the time of way hasn't played such a massive role that she's not fighting everyone in the sport. So it's relatively safe, I'd imagine. But, man, you cannot lose Kayla Harrison, Amanda Nunes. Because of all the questions, we don't know. Like, we know that Kayla Harrison can beat everyone. But can she beat Amanda Nunes? If Amanda goes out and fights and wins and doesn't look great,

then it kind of becomes more like, well, there's just someone else that Kayla Harris is going to get. How do you feel about Armin not being in the mix right now? I thought Armand Syrukin should get a title shot. After fighting Dan Hooker, after weighing in as the backup fighter when Ilya fought Charles and he seems like the best guy. Armand's good man. He does everything well. He can fight everyone. But again, I also think that Armand needs to be fighting Ilya. I don't know that Armand against all these other dudes, it makes much sense. I just, I don't know.

But hearing him say the other day, him pushing Dan Hooker, there's been some things that Ormond has done, where at least people can justify some of the, it seems like it's punishment, but the punishment. Armand fought that fan. Armand pushed Dan Hooker. He's crazy, man. He's a wild man. I love Amman too. I love him too. He believes, he told me in my studio on Monday that he believes that the UFC knows that he beats Patty and doesn't want to book him against Patty because he beats Patty. What do you think? I just don't think that fight makes as much sense as him versus Ilya. But what about for the interim belts for this debut?

I think they're the two best lightweights in the world outside of, well, Islam's gone. Yeah. I do believe that it's Ilya, it's Armin, Justin and Patty are all like in a little bit of a mix. But I think Armine, in terms of skills, we saw fight Islam, right? We saw the way he fought Islam. And I think Ilya has proven to be the man. And I'm great friends with Justin Gaci, right? And Justin even said it.

He goes, I love how scared that fight would make me because I know how good that guy is in terms of Ilya to Poria. Those are big words from a guy like Justin Gache who's never afraid of anything, right? I think, I think Armand is as good as they come. But just to think that anybody's going to just beat Patty is, is kind of. kind of crazy. He's good, man. Patty's good, especially after the way he beat Michael Chandler. I was very impressed. You represented your country at two Olympic Games, right? Mm-hmm.

Are you jealous that this is now going to be my third Olympic games, that I'm going to surpass you as far as... Well, do you understand that... But shut up, shut up, shut up. Do you want to... I'm just wondering, this is my third. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up. Do you understand that I was supposed to call Olympic wrestling back in 2016? And I didn't get to.

Suppose. I didn't get to. What happened? What happened? Well, I was working at Fox, and I kind of got blocked on that, man. I don't know why I accepted that as my reality. I know. That is crazy. I would have been an Olympian as a wrestler and a broadcaster.

Why can't we do it now? I can't find my way back in there. I can't find my way back in there. I want to do it. You would be perfect for that. I know. I don't understand why I'm not. Are you still going to do the NCAA tournament for ESPN?

I would love to, man. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I think my agent's talking to him right now. Hopefully we can work something out. The game's done changed. Like, we've got Rebecca Lowe. I know you're a big soccer fan.

We've got Rebecca Lowe. She works for NBC Premier League. She's doing World Cup for Fox as the studio. Really? Yes. The game changed. Everyone's working everywhere. People on...

I mean, I'd love to do the wrestling. I would love to do the wrestling. I would love to do the wrestling. I would love to do the wrestling at the Olympics and at ESPN for the NCAA tournament. I would love to keep. doing that. I think that honestly, you know, I'm not trying to

thump my chest or anything, but I think last year... You guys were amazing. The White Hendricks and all that, it was incredible. I think last year we added to that. Me and Jordan Burroughs, I think that... It was amazing. I think that the known

you know, me being as known as I am to combat sports, Jordan, being as known as he is to combat sports helped to elevate that moment between Wyatt and Gable and I don't know that if you change that much

it'll have the how big it felt because hey I said Big Papa walking to the cable and then I said it feels like a heavy way It felt like the moment felt big You know Ariel

Pull the curtain back We fought about that Ariel It just worked, but we fought about that. We fought. I mean, I don't work for ESPN right now, so I can say whatever I want, but hopefully I get hired back to do the show. Bro, we had this crazy meeting before the finals about what should go last. Should it be Gable and Wyatt Hendrickson or should it be Carter-Tirrachi wrestling for the fifth title? I swear to God.

No. What would you have said? Gable. Bro, I fought for that to be the last. I said, guys, I get it. You guys are all wrestling people and you love wrestling, but the general public does not know Carter-Sirachi and Parker Kekheisen. For as good as they are in wrestling,

make them first, make them open the card. And I literally walked them through how the UFC puts a very fun fight to start. Yep. And pay-per-view and how we made event, the biggest matchup that we can get. And it worked. It worked out perfect with Wyatt winning. But you still needed to do that fight last. And we did.

And it was perfect. I just said you can't. And then you remember the finals, they weren't that good. It was kind of boring through the middle. So you needed that moment. And it worked out. But yeah, bro, like we went back and forth for like an hour on who should be the main event and we pushed and pushed and Jordan Burroughs and I, Jordan and I pushed and pushed and

pushed and we said, you know what, you got to finish with the big boys and we did. True or false, end of 27, I'll be conservative, Gable Stephson, UFC heavyweight champion. You know, I believe he has a chance. I believe he has a real chance to be a world champion. I do believe that him doing dirty boxing where he essentially takes away his greatest skill. And the willingness to do that bodes well to him becoming a world champion. I believe that there are some other factors that may slow down. Like what? Well, his coach is John Jones.

I think that as long as he's, I think that as long as he lets the other coaches coach him, yes. But if he is like, if John is actually coaching him, I don't know that he'll... Is this a disaster, in your opinion? Like, this blue, blue-chip prospect taking cues from someone who was great, obviously, but made a whole bunch of mistakes outside the cage?

I don't even think that Gable's ever going to fall into that, the trap of making the mistakes. And honestly, after spending all the time with John in Thailand, he's different today than he was back then. He's not that same person that he was back when him and I were going through all of our stuff. I just know. You know what Khabib is?

You know what Khabib is and why he's such a great coach? Khabib is the most selfless person you've ever met. Dude, he can put his athletes above himself in front of him and everything that he does. And in order to be a great coach, you cannot have an ego. You have to become secondary to everyone that you coach. And John is still on the roster. He's an active fighter. And I don't know if he can be as giving and selfless to make Gable the true star of the show.

You got to make the other guy. You got to make your athlete the star to show. That's why, Ariel, you notice I'm coaching my academy guys? Yep. I don't corner them. I don't corner them. I try to stay out of the way because it's not my, it's not about me. It's about them.

It's their time. I am there to help them prepare. So when Tommy Gantt fights, when Jacoby Smith fights, when Imanao Rodriguez fights, when Torres Finney fights in Australia, it's their time. And you've got to be selfless as a coach. But you would be valuable to them in their corner in the locker room in between rounds, no? And you can do all that. You can do all that.

But your coach is also the people that are responsible for your career are the ones that are in their ear, right? It's not like they don't have people that are valuable. We have coaches, the coaches that made me helping those guys. If there's anyone I trust is those guys, but yeah, like, you've got to be selfless. I watch Kabib spent a lot of time away from his family

to be with those guys to make sure that they're ready. And I don't know, I just don't know that that's John. Okay, so this is the person. This is the perfect segue. Tell us the story here. How did this all come about? This Alf reality show thing, you and John Jones, shocking to see you guys in the year 2025, 6,

face-to-face around. I can't wait to see how this all plays out. How did this all come about? And by the way, I mean, look at that. I had to see if it was AI. Couldn't believe it. No, it's not AI. How did this all come about?

So, John did that show last year. Yes. And him and the guy, Alfredo, they sent me a video asking me to, to coach against him. And John knows how to get me. He challenges me. If he challenges me, I'll answer.

And so, yeah, he challenged me to a... How do he challenge you? He sent you a message? They sent me a message. Wow. A actual video message of John challenging me. And I was like, oh... What do you say?

Something to the effect of, while this message is to D.C., why don't you come out to Alphreality and challenge me? me and try to coach against me, maybe you could get one. Wow. Oh, really? Wow.

Wow. Oh, you know what you don't do you. You know me, right? I'm walking around my house all pissed off. And then they sent me to offer sheet financial and I'm like, well, okay. Dana was asked about this. He said he had no idea. Yeah, he's very busy guy.

You don't even have to run it by the boss. What a lot? You know, honestly, like, I don't know if it's a conversation that he might have just forgot. I don't know. Okay, okay, okay. You always run it by him. Okay, that's what I thought. I thought he was just messing when he said that.

Maybe he didn't know. But honestly, maybe he just doesn't remember. Because, dude, like, you go, you're, like taking time and this guy has so much going on. The fact that he still is as available to us as he is, is crazy. I do have to say early on, like, with all the stuff coming out, John seemed very hopeful about, like, reconciliation. But then, but then, I see this clip from him talking about you. I want to get your reaction to this clip, this sound from John Jones. Here we go. This season is against Daniel Cormiere. Oh, man, what a, what a stuffy. Just dickhead. Cornier really is. I think if you really get to

know Daniel Coromier, he's really not. He's an asshole. He's an asshole. He didn't really connect with any of the fighters here. He's just an asshole. I made, I try to make peace with him many times and he made it very clear that he wants to be animates for the rest of his life because how lucrative it is and he's just a he's just a i don't know so what do you say dickhead asshole not willing to make uh make peace didn't connect with the fighters it was like four shots and 30 seconds there did you uh have you worked with me yes i have for how long i've worked friends covered you How long, how long, am I all those things? No, that's why I thought it was very interesting to hear from him.

So then just trust John Jones. Maybe I have all those things to him. But here's the deal. Here's the deal. We were around each other every single day. And we were cordial. We had times where John and I actually laughed at stuff. Like, we laughed together at stuff.

But if I didn't have to be around him, I'm not going to voluntarily be around him? Why would I want that? Look, man, I don't, I don't harbor the emotion of the past that I did with him. I really don't. But we spoke negatively about each other's families.

We had a nasty nasty thing, like he cheated constantly. Like, I don't have to let him off the hook and be his friend. That would be, that would be me just going, you know, everything you did is good. It's not. It just wasn't good. So yeah, I can be cordial. I can work alongside

you. I can do my thing, but I don't have to be your friend. I'm a man. Like, and it is what it is. Like, no, I'm not, I'm not going to be friends with you. It is what it is. Did he try to say, like, let's be pals? Because I said yesterday, I actually don't want to live in a world where you're friends. I don't need to be. I always tell him that. I said, hey, man, Happy endings and fairy tales are for kids that need these things to go to bed at night. Little girls who believe in princesses and princes, you don't need to be friends with everybody. You don't have to be friends with everybody that you had a problem with. Like, it's fine.

Like, just do your thing, I'll do mine, and we'll be okay. Like, hey, y'all want to pay us to do this, this show? Okay, a boatload of money? I can do a show with him, and I want to beat him. but we don't need to be friends. We don't need to be getting drinks together and having dinners and doing all these crazy things. You don't need to have fairy tale endings to everything in life.

Life ain't fair, man. And if fair is me being your friend, then sorry, bro, you got a life ahead of you that just will not be fair. But am I going to run at John Jones and fight him every time I see him? No. No. If he says hi to me, I'll say hi to him.

But why do we need to be friends? And he's talking about I treat my friends all terribly and all this other stuff. Bro, if I say, hey, could you grab my water? That's a normal request from a friend because if they ask me to do the same thing, I'd do it for them. What are the chances you compete against them in something this year? This seems to be the hot button issue right now. People want to see you in the RAF promotion or in some sort of competition. What are the chances?

I don't know, man. I don't know if it'll happen. Listen, to make me and him do anything cost so much money. there's very few people that can actually make it happen. So I don't know if it happens. You know, the whole wrestling thing, like, you know, that's cool, man. It's all cool to make pipe dreams. But I don't know that he's willing to allow me to embarrass him on a wrestling man.

Have they tried? Have they tried to make it happen? Have they reached out to you yet? No, they have. Would you not want to work for them in any capacity, like, meaning compete because it's Izzy and Izzy's his guy? I just don't want to wrestle. Oh, you don't want? I would wrestle John Jones.

Right, right, right. Make a whole, but I don't want to wrestle. I don't want to wrestle a match. If I wanted to wrestle a match, I wouldn't have retired from wrestling. Sure. But if John Jones wants to wrestle, then yeah, I'll go wrestle John Jones. What if John Jones wants to fight? Hey, he don't even have to make a video to ask me to wrestle.

Yeah. What if John Jones wants to fight? I'm not fighting, man. You're done? No. I'm not fighting. Look at my face, dude. Look at all this great.

You look great. I like the beard. Hey, I'm not fighting. I'm not fighting. I would box him, but I'm not fighting. You would box, John? I would love to see it. Why not?

Really? Yeah. Box his face up. Wow. Wow. I'm old. A bro, I prefer to actually just not do any of that stuff, honestly. I'm old, man.

I'm a commentator. I'm chilling. Yeah. Rest some match probably. Rutherland match would be preferable. How does it go? How does it go? Rettling?

Yeah. 10-0. 10-0. Easy. Bro, I am an Olympian. Two-time. We're going to get in a wrestling stance and wrestle with shoes on? 10-0. All day. He's an underrated wrestler, no?

I'm hanging up, man. I got to go. No, no, no. You don't think it was... No, man, I got to go. I'm doing this shit. I'm sorry. Okay, I would love to see it. I would love to see it. What's the price of-zero, man? Are you kidding me? Yeah, but still, it would be great. It would be great fun to see you two back. It would be great for all. R-A-F.

Yeah. That much. Okay. Okay. Can I ask? Yeah. What do you think it costs? Me?

Yeah. What is... A lot. 10 million? 20 million? It would be a lot of money. He wanted... Ariel, I'm doing...

Hey, Ariel, let me tell you something. Yeah. Let me tell you something. Tell me, tell me. I am doing really good right now. The UFC is... They're amazing. They're like the best.

I swear to God. It's the best. Why are you trying to rub it in? I'm just telling you that they treat me very good. Like, I hear, like, a lot of people like this and this and this. Like, bro, like, I've made a life in the octagon, outside the octagon. I'm doing really good. So it's like, to get me to do anything physically would cost so much money that I, I mean,

to get me to do this reality show, if I showed you or I told you what I got paid, you'd be like, holy cow, get me to do that is like, just costs a lot because my career and my job, they've set a standard that's so high that to be. competitive, it's, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's difficult. Being around him every day, did it not like, uh, you know, it's a weird energy, right? But again, we're not like fighting. Like, before we were throwing stuff at each other, fighting, like, no, we're just arguing it. You know, like, we're arguing and talking trashed to each other. It's like, that's not that big a deal. Because there's no fight at the end, right?

So, yeah, it's not, it's not so, it's not so, it's not so bad. Well, you're actually, literally not so bad. When's it air, by the way? When's it? I have no idea. You don't I don't listen. Will your schedule change now with the new era? More fights, less fights. What's different? I think my schedule is going to be pretty similar to what it was. At least I would hope to.

I think we've gotten to a point now in my career where I know what I'm doing. I know when I'm doing it. They're very good with my schedule ahead of time. And they're very good at working with me through all of the other things that I have. Right? So during wrestling season, the UFC has like gotten to a point where I'm doing important things but knowing that I have all these important dates in my wrestling season they helped me to work around that right like I've never missed the state tournament I've never missed a conference tournament my kid has something my daughter had a gymnastics competition nationally I didn't have to go to Australia just all these things that have been worked out to where my life outside of fighting has been able to continue to continue to. to grow and just stay better.

Like, it's awesome, man. I've got, I'm serious, bro. Like, I, I, this is not me rubbing it in. This is not me doing, uh, too much. It's just a truth. Like, oh, I know. It's great. I'm in a place where I'm in a place like, it's just, I've gotten, I've got a company that

supports me and, and, you know, I know I'll, you're a company, man. Yeah, I am. I should be. You should. Hell of it. You're loyal. You care of me in a way that not many else, uh, uh, uh, that been able to. it again. I'll let you go in a moment. I promise this has been so nice. I mean,

wouldn't it be great if we, anyway, I saw, I saw, I saw a great thing. I understand why you don't want to really do the rest of it, because I saw Hamza, this was a while ago now, but I just wanted to get your take. What was this? What was going on here? Like, this isn't, this is AI, right? That he, like, helicoptered you like this? He's so strong. What is that? How could you let that happen? Hamzaa Chimaiyamai is so, Hamzaa Chimayev. He helicoptered you. bro i don't know how i got off the ground so fast it was crazy how did i get off the ground so fast

look at this look at this wow i was like multiple times hey bro but then he goes into the octagon with drake's duplett look me i'm old and retired man dracon's duplec C he was able to take him the bro he's strong did you see him throw john jones out crazy dude is strong man i'm not that is good what about my boy

What about my boy Dan Dan? Is he the next in line? Is he the next in line? He's 14 now, dude. Hey, Dan is 5-9, 170 pounds. Wow. Does he want... Is he big? Is he the next one? Is he your Brony James? Is he your Jalen Brunson? I would prefer him not to fight. I'd rather him do something else, man. Wrestling and play football. Has he said that he wants to fight? We fight so that our family and kids don't need to. Right. And I'm lucky enough to have had a career that puts you.

him in a position where he doesn't necessarily need to fight. You know what's crazy? I said we didn't talk in 2025. I can't believe you actually saw my boys. You remember when you saw them? When? At Fanatics Fest. Oh, yeah.

Oh. I was so... We're not supposed to be at that? I was supposed to be at that. I was so bad. I asked you, are you coming? And then I was like... Hey, bro.

No, stop, stop. Shut up, shut up, shut up. You thought that was real. I thought it was real. You remember that time when I thought it was Dana White that did that one thing? And I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That was, that was your, your picture was as bad as me believing. Helvani.

Helvani. What a time. Helvani, Dahlia. What a time to be alive. Those are some days, man. What a time to be a lot. Your bird. The bird is still okay?

It's gone, no. I don't have that bird no more. Thank goodness. Damn. Yeah, I want to have that birdie for. This has been great. Yeah, there's an awesome dude. That's funny.

Look at that. Ariel. Listen, I see you do a lot of media. I never see a smile like that. No, you're funny, man. You've always been. Bro, listen to this, though. I don't care.

Hey, bro, you'd be running around pissing everybody off. What are you talking? Everybody. What? Man, you should be pissing everybody off. Man, everybody won't kill you. Who? Hey, listen.

Hey, listen. Listen, Ariel. Everybody wanted to kill you, man. But listen, I met you in 2009, and you've always been good to me. And guess what, though, but I got to tell you this. I got some friends that want to get you and then push coming to show. If you ever get crossed up with Dana and you start getting beat up, I might kick you a couple times. Nah.

What are you talking about? I can kick you off. No. I thought you said you'd have my back. I know this guy. No, man. And when you're on the ground and get kicked, man. I got you into you, yeah.

I set this whole podcast career. Wow. I ain't going to. Hey, Doug, it's funny, man. You've been always good to me, man. But let me tell you, I'll get a couple shots in. You'll piss me all a few times. You wouldn't eat catfish one time.

That's true. One time you wouldn't eat catfish, and you deserve to get beat for that. Listen, sounds like a bitter Saints fan. I get it. This year hasn't been great. Hey, listen. Listen. I swear the other day, even though we haven't talked, I was hoping y'all was going to lose.

I was like this. I know. And y'all got it done. Hey, well, hey, hey, how's not again forest doing? No, you know, it's a bit of a tough one. People, by the way. I had relegation zone feel. I didn't relegation zone feel.

People don't know your level of ball knowledge. Like, you haven't actually. You know your shit. Like you support a Butler team. Butler means like they always choke. You support that squad, total bandwagon, and they will eventually choke the Man City. But your ball knowledge is pretty damn impressive. Hey, but let me, how's Notting and Forrest doing?

You know. Hey, let me say that, hey, that relegation zone, that relegation zone is hot. When you right above that zone, it's real hot. Nine points. We're nine points clear. We're nine points clear now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're good. Leeds is, you know, in the rear view, wolves and the, we're fine.

Hey, my boy, my boy, Nick Swinmer, hey, in the middle of that pandemic, hey, you want to buy into this English league team, Leeds United? Well, that relegation zone ain't feeling good right now. Did you, did you invest in them? Nick did. Oh, I thought he asked you. No, Swinmer did. Yeah, yeah. He went last year or two years ago when they went up.

Was it last year? They went down and they came back up. Yep. Two years ago in the playoffs, they lost. He went to England and asked me to go, I didn't. Last year he went and they went up. They won the playoff. And now they're back in that relegation zone.

It's not. No. It must burn down there. But hey, when you're a gunners fan, you don't worry about the relegators. How many trophies you guys got? How many Champions League you guys got? We're going to win the championships.

This year is the year we win the Champions League. This year. This is it? This is the year. This is the year we win the championship. Who's your favorite player? Kyle Saka. Oh.

Hey, Victor, Yocoresh. Hey, hey, listen. You see that? You see that? You see that? Let's see that. Oh. Whoa.

You like when he do that? You like when he was struggling, though. He was struggling. He was. Come on. Score some goals, Yonkerest. You like Declan Rice? I like,

boy, did you see when Declan Rice bent that ball into the net last year, too? People don't know your level of ball knowledge Man, man, Man City got some meno I know, they're cheating, bro. Like, they got to go back We need to get back into investigative Manchester City.

They're doing the same thing. How do you get caught? Is it doing the same? No punishment. It got no punishment. How did they get caught and they start doing the same thing again? I think it was 114 violations

and they got nothing. Dude, they're cheating again, too. They're doing the same thing. What about the rocket? That's why you got to watch Crooks, man. Because, and you know what they did to me too? Manchester City? I went on a tour, and they let me just do the tour

with all kind of normal people. Oh, that's why. That's when I jumped off. No VIP? Hey, when I went to Arsenal, though, hey, I'm on the pitch. Everybody else was like, why he get to go on the pitch? I'm like, man, shut up.

Yeah. They treat me that way at Arsenal. They treat me the right way with the gunners. What about Club City? What about the Rockets? We're good. We're actually good again. Thank God. Thank God. It was some tough years down the middle there, boy. You like Sangoon? Hey, the Turkish delight. Outprint. The Turkish delight. Alprin. You know you love him. And you know who I love the coach. I was worried about him.

Yeah. I was worried about him going down to Houston. He was going out. He was going out. I was worried, but he made it work. He made it work. He's making it work. No who I like. I like the coach from the Celtics, man. That's that dude. Azula. He loved fighting to. Coach Joe. Have you met him? Joe loves fighting. I met him, dude. Hey, he loves fighting.

Him and John Anick are friends. Yeah. He actually goes in trains with like John and him. Wow. That dude loves fighting. Joe Missoula. Yeah, he's just with Eric Nixick I saw over the weekend. Yeah, Joe Missoula.

He's a bit of like a, like a serial killer in his interviews. He loves fighting. He loves fighting. Mike Brown is a huge UFC fan. He heard his knee real bad. He heard his knee real bad. And when the teams start acting crazy, he was like, I hit fads this morning. and y'all can't get through practice?

I got a torn knee. Coach Missoula is the man, boy. He's the man. Did you see Coach Mike Brown at the MSG event, coach of the Knicks? I did not see him. I did not see him. I know Jaylen Brunson, though he's the man.

What do you mean you know him? You know him? Like, know him? No, no. Like, he can play. Okay, I thought you were boys. That'd be crazy. I also like when the Knicks lose, too.

I'm not going to lie, man. I find joy when your teams lose. For real. Nothing. You find no happiness of anything going on in my life. I do that. All this success is great. You're doing really good with all this, man.

You're killing it. You're killing it. You mean uncrow? Your kids are doing well. Your kids are doing real good. Amen. Yours too. Yeah, my kids are doing good.

Luna, Kiki, Dan. Yeah, everybody's going good, man. We're all going good. You know, the people at home might be thinking, like, why is the chat like evolving into this? It's because you don't pick up the phone. So I have to ask about your kids on the show. That's a lie. This would be a private, but like, this is my only chance to speak to you.

I have to go through three people now just to get to you. We got, it's time to get off the phone. It's crazy. here. Hey, it's really crazy how it's crazy, first off, it's crazy how long you just, like, do interviews for at this point, because before you'd be like 15, 20 minutes. I know, I know, but now it's crazy that you're actually

lying that I don't answer the phone. Well, wow, all right, I don't want to... This is why everybody want to beat you up. This is why everybody never made want to beat you up. You've been boxing, too, though, eh. You saw that, uh? You boxing? You saw? I want to see you versus Stephen A. No, come on.

Without that thing, whatever he was doing. That guy set him up. The guy who was holding mitts for him, set him up, because there's no way you're throwing from here. I love Stephen A dude, but why is he telling him to throw up a cuss later? No, no. Tell them about my jab. You were impressed with my jab.

You said it was pistol fast. You know, you know, sometimes you got to say things to make your friends feel good. I love you. I love you. You're the man, boy. Great to see you. Let's not do it like so long, right? Like, don't forget.

And if you see the brass at the event, like tell him like, I mean, you know what? I'm not doing that. I'm actually not doing that. I actually prefer y'all. I prefer y'all. I prefer y'all enemies. No, let's say, like, it was so nice. You know, it would be nice.

Hey, all I want is to just, I just want to keep my, I want to just stay where I'm at, where I'm good, and I like you staying where you at, because all you do is take money from other people. Wow. Stop. Because you actually kind of good at your job. Wow. Take my money. Uh-uh.

Bye. Stay where you at, man. Salam. You're the man, Ariel. Thank you, D.C. Much love, much love. Later, brother. Bye, bye, bye.

Love you. There he is. The great Daniel Cormier. What a guy. Wow. There's a lot of tears there. A lot of tears. A lot of memories.

And I'll take with me the memories. You know that song, Frankie? Absolutely. That was fun, right? I'm just glad you guys got to reunite on the Feast of the Ass, you know? Like, what could have been better? Can I tell you? I googled.

okay what is today's holiday that was the first one that came up and I was like god thank you check that search history of you thank you for this god how like how does it work out this way how does it work out this way I just love the the look that this donkey is giving back right now it's very sort of provocative it is for misguer you guys look at an animal and think provocative I mean the eyes they never lie look at them feast of the ass holy crap when I saw that I was like God wanted it to happened this way. Yahweh, he wanted it to happen this way. That was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed that as, uh, we went from Fluffy Hernandez to that. I mean, that is, we're like, we're blessed.

I miss him. I'm not going, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. That was the most fun that I've ever had in terms of like working with another, it was just, it was unbelievable. Like it was, the, the best part was like, you just turned it on and it was that. We didn't prepare anything, especially in the early, early, early days of DC and Hawaii. Early days of DC and Hawaii. DC and O'Wani was supposed to be a radio show once a month on ESPN radio where we previewed the pay-per-view. We did one episode in Las Vegas, in March of 2020.

I showed up wearing gloves, not even a mask, didn't know what the hell was going on. And then that ended. And then the world shuts down and we say, well, like, why don't we just keep this going on Mondays and we'll do it over Zoom at all kinds of different microphones? I once had like the gamer mic. I didn't know what I was doing. I was doing it on my phone. I was doing on my computer and it just evolved.

And honestly, once like people started to notice the big shots, it kind of got a little worse. But the early days were the best. Early days were the best. And there was a time where like we were getting like on a random Monday, 17, 18, 19K concurrent and I was like disappointed. You know, that's how show, that's how the show was doing. It was a great time. Yeah, I know.

But we're in a better place now, Frankie. A better place now. One day would love to keep it going in some way, shape, or form. But until then, we take with us the memories. All right, I've been talking about, actually, an unprecedented amount of questions on today's episode regarding our next and final guess. And he's not really a guest. I mean, he's part of the family.

He's part of the team. At least I think so. And so without further ado, let us say hello to the aforementioned times 10, man in the hat, the mayor of the nutmeg state, the one and only, Chuck Mindenhall, who's... I have a feeling I'm not going to have the fuzzy reception that D.C. did. I wasn't invited here for that. No, no, you certainly were not, but Chuck, I don't know if you know,

I don't know if your ears were ringing over there in CT, but you've been asked about a lot on today's program. Do you know that? Yeah. A lot of people concerned about the state of your career and the comings and goings, a lot of questions about, and honestly, I did not know. So I guess congratulations are in order. You're seeing someone else, are you?

Well, thank you very much, Ariel. It doesn't change anything. You know, we got the Friday, we do the crack. And on Monday, I've got another little gig, but that's all it is. Well, don't you tell the people what the gig is. Book in the week. I'm now filling in for Brian Campbell. You're not filling in.

You're replacing his ass. Well, okay. Well, you know, we soft launch. And I'm going to, and I'll be sitting with your boy, Luke Thomas. That's right. It's like one half of the MMA beat back together. Yeah. That's, yeah. I feel like we kind of already do the MMA beat. Or we've done some iteration of that on this show. So I don't know, it feels, it doesn't feel like the MMA beat. But I've only done one episode.

Sure, sure, sure, sure. Ptie, how do you feel about this? I mean, you know, Chuck is a main stay on the crack. Yeah, you know, how do you feel about this? I've been calling him. I've been crying. Yeah. He's like, stop calling me. This is getting weird. trying to drop my kids to school. I'm like, no, listen to me. You're not hearing me. You just, you know, you just ran off with this other guy and he's got a beard and he's

stronger than me. It's really upsetting, you know. But it didn't mean anything, Ptze. It's just a fling. Yes. But thankfully, he's still a crackhead with me on Friday's, which is, I feel the most important thing. I do too, but I will say, you know, we sit here and talk often about co-promotion and

whatnot. Of course, we hear it on Crown, believe in co-promotion. We don't believe in exclusivity. I mean, far be it for me. So if anyone was wondering how I would feel about something, I say, of course. In fact, you know, we've had other opportunities, you know, not myself, but like other people have been asked like, hey, could you do this, could you do that? I've always said yes. We've only had one person leave on Crown, by the way, since we launched.

And I was the one who said to have as many jobs as you want. It was the other side. Yeah, it was the other side that said, no, you've got to be exclusive. so yeah well i appreciate it and honestly you know where my heart lies i mean i really just i'm on crown that's what i am it's like it's just a monday slot so uh the rest of my time is all in crowned so that's kind of how can we also and can me say as well mendon hall is in the greatest vein of roiding for him

oh my god it is i mean the the guy look we know he's the greatest in the history of the sport but the stuff he's doing on on crown are absolutely unbelievable So all dynamic, it could be a feature, but here we have a column that he just put out yesterday. Unbelievable. Or today, sorry, was it? Which was it? I think it came up. It went up yesterday.

Yeah. Yeah. He's up. But all I did was, you know, I listened to Ariel's interview or not even interview. Like when Ariel was talking about this and it kind of hit home in a way that I think that has been resonating for a lot of people. And, you know, I just kind of use that as a premise. When you use Ariel stuff as a premise, it's easy. Well, I appreciate that's very kind of you.

It's about to get. Oh, shit. That's why the cameras there. That's why the cameras were focused on. What? What? What? That hurts the eyes.

Wow. Oh, wow. He's actually wanting to hear what I had to say. He just put it on me so he got a chain. This old thing, gifted to me by the Bills of Buffalo. Oh, man. See, look at that. What's it say?

Oh, man. See, I don't got anything like that. You see? And so, Chuck, let us talk about the real reason why you're here. Okay, all that stuff is all. nice and well. We did this last year and I got dunked on pretty hard.

No, no, no, no. Last year you sent as a video. Like you said to like you, like you, you and I both know last year. Yeah, you had no chance. You had no chance. You had no chance.

You know what the greatest part about last year was? You're like, hey man, make a video, make a video, send it in and talk about so we can have, we can talk about the game. Yeah. And so I'm like, Blaze, my son, you know, he's like 12 years old.

I'm like, hey, let me give me your jersey. And I put it on its Ponex jersey. And then you go on to say like, Hey man, isn't it kind of uncouth when you wear a guy much younger than your generation? I'm like, dude, I was just trying to represent for your video that you want. Well, first of all, I didn't tell you what to wear. I just wanted a video. I didn't ask you to wear anything. And by the way, I'm not going to not represent. I don't know who number 10 is. Number 10?

Isn't you number 10? Yeah. Yeah, at the time, I didn't know who he was. He's a greatest quarterback. He's a, you know John Elway wishes Josh Allen was a Bronco. He has said as much. Oh, God. That's the dumbest thing you ever did was bypassed. Like, that's, still to this day, it bothers me that he didn't take him. Yeah. I mean, he's a true life cowboy.

He's the pride of Wyoming. And he marches in two mile high on Saturday. And so let's just talk about it real quick because, okay, be honest with me now. Okay. This is what I like, there's two Bronco fans in my life, right? There's you and our good friend George Olofant who does a great job. George to the rescue on NBC. He loves your stuff.

And I like you guys a lot. Like all the Bronco, all the Denver people I've ever met in my life, I like, but, and you're always kind of like rooting for my, you know, like we're happy for you. I was happy when the Nuggets won.

But be honest, you were hoping the Jags beat us so that you don't have to play us, right? Like, we're the, we're the worst case scenario as a six seed. Agree or disagree? I mean,

that's a pretty hot interrogation light. You just put on me right there. You wanted my dreams to crash. You wanted me to be sad. I didn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, I'm not DC, man.

I'm not like, Grant something. Like I was basically, I was watching that game, and if I'm being, and I can, you confirm this with all the people in Denver that I was,

you know, texting with through this, I definitely wanted Jacksonville to win in the sense that Buffalo, to me, is the hardest way to get there. You have the best quarterback going. The guy finds ways to win.

And I've been watching him, too. I know what he does. And you get rid of the rest of the field that's kind of been the bane of his existence. And that's a daunting task, right, to have to stop him.

And last year, when the Broncos played them, they certainly didn't. So I was like, if they can avoid Buffalo, great. I was more rooting for the Chargers, though, to be honest, like if the Chargers were to win, the Broncos would have started with the Chargers, and I thought that that would be the way to go.

Some are calling the Broncos, by the way, like the most, like, fraudulent number one C. Oh, wow, Pizzi. I've never heard Chuck Swear once in my life. First time I've ever heard him cuss. Is he cuss on your program? He cuss all the time. Okay.

Especially before we go on, he shouts at the producers. There's, you know, he has a person there. You can't see him, but he has this guy that runs around and grabs him water and coffees and stuff. Yeah. Dickhead behavior, like John Jones would say. He's like, this latter is too frothy. And he'll just throw it at him, you know? But, um, yeah, it's, you know, it's interesting.

There was a preamble to this conversation today that we haven't really talked about. A message group. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just wondering how Chuck felt about it because me and you had a- Your segues are getting better, Pita. Go ahead. He's a real-life host.

We had a 90-minute conversation me and I will just text back and forth. How would you feel about a few samples of what was said? Oh, wow. You're going to read it. I'm fine with that. I mean, Chuck was in order to be found. It was a 10-8 round. Hey, man, I had a plumber over this morning.

By look at the phone, I'm under siege. It's like 20. How many messages was it? I think it was more. It was like 28. Okay, all right. What was said? What was said, P.

I'm not a shame. I read the sends a link clearly in the day with the odds of the betting odds. Yeah, because on Monday, go ahead, go ahead. Beetsy, Chuck was doing the woes me bit that they are dogs. I predict that would change. No one is crying for Denver. Yes, because you said, oh, we're the dog. You're doing the woes me thing. And then all of a sudden, you became the favorite. You're the favorites now. You know that, right? And you know why you're the favorite. Chuck, do you know why you're the favorite? Not because you're in the number one seed or an actual better team, but have you seen the latest

injury report, Mr. Chuck Minnell. Have you seen it? And also, dude, it's tough. You know, Sunday. Oh, okay, great. I'm so happy we have it. Look at this thing, Chuck. Look at this thing. I mean, this is, we lost two wide receivers, two on Sunday to a torn ACL. Tyrell Shavers and Gabe Davis. And you told me that we were relying on them to at this point of the year back in August. We would have laughed. Look at this. Look at this. Tomorrow Hamlin, probably out. Curtis Samuel might be back. Josh Allen. Foot knee and fin. finger? Terl Bernard

probably out. Epinessa, probably out. Ed Oliver might come back. That's huge. Kincaid banked up. Milano banked up. Greg Russo banged up.

Harrison out. Ty Johnson, probably out. Poir, probably out. Prater. Who knows your guy? Look at this. I don't even know

who the four guys are that are on your list. This is crazy. I've never seen anything like this. This is crazy. I am concerned about that Bronco list a little bit. I just want all those guys to be able to play.

Yeah. Yeah. But as long as Josh Allen is playing, all of this doesn't matter to me, man. I know what that guy does. I know what kind of competitor he is. You know what really sucks, man?

I've watched them this year and I, if it comes down to it, and the Broncos have played nothing but close games all year long, if it comes down to it fourth quarter, game is on the line. He's so much like, Josh Allen, so much like John Elway,

that it's just, I feel like if he gets the ball anywhere near the end, it's their game, right? Like, that's how it feels. It feels inevitable that they're going to win, if they get the ball last. You know, it's wild?

They put up a stat prior to, to that Jacksonville winning drive, he was 0 and 5 with the ball in his hands at the end of the game in the playoffs. As crazy as that sounds, because there was like the Chiefs game where they come back and... Yeah, that's right. But it's never...

A game of stupid. It's never been his fault in my opinion. It's always been a wacky thing happening here or there. Bass misses the field goal and all that stuff. Truthfully, though, like, jokes aside. Okay. You're worried, right? I mean, like, you know... You know it's our destiny, right? Like, you know.

Well, I do feel like... that factors in. Like there's like, see, okay, you got to understand that I parallel a lot of this with John Elway. Like, to me, this is, the bills are struggling to get over the hump. They're a franchise that hasn't really, you know, it has, what was the last time

93, 94, last time the Super Bowl appearance. It's just, it's been a long time. And there was this building thing with the John Elway era that was like, dude, he's going to break through eventually. And he got to Super Bowls, but he'd get blown out in those Super Bowls. He finally wins a couple down like at the very end. But I feel

like Josh Allen is already in that mode where it's like he's just not going to let his team lose. And yes, of course that scares me. You know, it's like I've been watching him do this all year long. And I'm in fact for the last three or four years, but it just, it feels like if he can, if he gets the chance, he'll win the game for you. So that that always is going to worry me. I've always said that his story, everyone keeps saying like the windows closing, the opportunities. John Elway won two at the very end of his career. I've always said that his story reminds me a lot of his.

and Peyton Manning to a degree, and when Peyton won the first, he had to go on the road. It's not just the injuries. It's going on the road three times. It's, you know, the litany of things that he's having to deal with.

It's by far the weakest team that we've had in this era. It's by far the weakest team. That's, but, I mean, but there's this other part of it that's like, you know, there's no Lamar, right? You've got to feel that a little bit. Like the guys who've been kind of the boogeyman,

especially Patrick Holmes, right? He's gone. So, I mean, it just seems like if he's, he is the best quarterback going in the tournament. So it's like, it feels like if he can, if he can will them to win, he will. So, I mean, I agree with that.

I think the Bronx, like last year when they played the Broncos, that team was way more stacked, probably a lot more healthy, but, um, so, I mean, but these are weird things because every time I kind of started to feel comfortable about it, like thinking like, oh, they play, they get six days rest, they're traveling all over, all the things that you can,

like the kind of intangible things. It never makes me feel good when I remember. what James Cook and Josh Allen did last year. It was like 42 minutes to 18 minutes of possession. It was crazy. You know, for the bills. It was ridiculous. Great touchdown to Ty Johnson in the back there. Hope's not going to factor, lads, I don't think.

No, he's going to factor in a big way. He's going to factor in a big way. But Pete, he just brought up the most important thing. Could you believe? Like, the NFL wants the Broncos to win. There's no doubt about it. You think? We play in the Sunday game.

We play in the Sunday game. These guys get the buy. Now we have to play the first game on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Bears are playing in the Saturday game. They play on Sunday. The Rams play on the Saturday game. Why are we playing Sunday and then having to come around to play the guy who, the guys who got the buy and we're playing the first game of the weekend?

What is that? Explain that to me, PT. Look, the fix is. The schedule, right. The schedule is bad for you guys. No doubt about it. Do you not think that the stories, like the narrative in terms of like the narrative, you know, people always joke about the script writers of the NFL.

Do you not think like, all of that is going in the bill's favor like josh allen as you guys just mentioned the best quarterback left like all of his old rivals aren't there lamar's not there my homes isn't there you know and then then what you brought up yesterday with levois stadium the super bowl taking place in levois stadium place where he hasn't played right like all of that stuff which you know isn't a factor but is a factor you know like when you're watching these things and you're watching america's game when they go back and tell the story of the year like that is surely in the Bill's favor. Am I missing something crazy on the Broncos and there, Chuck?

No, I don't think. But I was going to, I mean, I saw your reaction, Ariel, like when you're watching that, you posted a video of, and I fully understand this. Trust me. I fully get, like, reacting and just feeling it that emotionally because I've been there. And it's, but would you take it in the way? Like, so that you just said that this is maybe one of the weaker versions of a Josh Allen team. Yes. You have to go on the road and they're stacking it against you, right? Like, let's say that they get by Denver and now they're going to have the eight days right and then I know

I know how you feel about the Patriots let's say that it's the Patriots you go through the Patriots and then you go to the Super Bowl wouldn't that be the sweetest I mean it would have to be the sweetest run of your life right because this is like it's not only three games on the road beating the team you hate the most

in the Patriots but the winning the Super Bowl through that process without the best team you know what I mean that you've seen it would be unbelievable it would be the thing that I talk about until my last breath. I will never, if that happens, especially, and I've been actually worried about this for a year, I'm going to be in Italy, in the middle of the night, I won't be able to watch with my kids. And there was a period during that Jacksonville game where I was like, maybe this is for the best. Maybe this isn't the year. Like, maybe I won't be. And I'm like,

no, this is the freaking year because it has to be the year, because the, the odds are stacked against them, the injuries, all this stuff, they have to go on the road, the schedule stuff and all that. And it's like, you know as well as anyone, you're one injury away of having to rebuild. And that's what, honestly, that's why I have that reaction, if I could be honest. Like, that's why I have that reaction to this type of stuff. Because I know that a couple breaks here or there, you're now talking about 20 years getting back to this spot, right? Like, it's like, look at, look at like the Browns and the Saints and the Jets and the Giants. Look how far away they are from this.

I can't, 20 years. I don't have 20 years. Like, I don't want to go through this all over again. 2000 to 2017, we didn't make the playoffs. We were the last team to make the playoffs in the 21st century. I can't go through this. So I feel like we're so damn close. And I'll tell you what, if it doesn't work out,

I'll never forgive Brandon Bean for not loading up on wide receivers at the trade deadline. I'll never, ever, ever forgive them. I get it. You had to take it. Especially now. Oh, my God, especially now. And who could have predicted? But, like, we needed those extra weapons. But yeah, I feel, look, I feel pretty good.

And I would say, I want to get PT's take. Like, would you agree with the sentiment? Most fraudulent number one seat of all time? Look, they've been definitely under the radar. No doubt about that. What do you mean under the radar? I haven't been like, wow, what are the Broncos doing this week? Every week, you know what I mean?

Wow. They are getting stuff done. And here's the thing. James Cook, this is why I'm saying to you about, they're the second best Rooster Defense team in the league. and Cook has not been doing it for the last few weeks. That's why I agree with what Shook's saying in terms of, this is Josh Allen put the cape on game.

I think that is the way the bills win this game. I don't see Cook having one of those crazy games where he gets 150 yards across receiving and rushing yards. I think it's going to be about Alan again and him breaking loose. Like he did last week. Like, you know, we were all talking about how banging up he was already on the way into that game,

but he still found gaps. He had that 10-yard Russian touchdown where he just fell over. the line, the guy's incredible. I just don't think, I think it has to be a superhero moment. And I know Bill's fans are sick of Alan having to do that. Oh, just me. All the time. I'm not sick of it. I love everything about it. I love it too. I can't get enough of it.

I think it's all on him. I really don't think Cook has been playing with the momentum he has earlier in the season. And I think their defense is incredible. I really, really do it. That's why I'm asking why would they be considered that? I keep seeing this week, all of a sudden, like, oh, the most fraudulent number one seed. Yeah. You know, we're, we're does that come from? Because to be honest, when you look at it, man, they lost, they were one and two this season. They went 13 and one down the stretch all the way to the spot.

I just, I really don't even understand that. Their defense is much improved. They led the league in sacks. Their offense hums when it needs to, when it comes down to it, I just, that fraudulent claim is just completely nuts to me. Now, that doesn't mean that they're going to buzzsaw the Buffalo Bills or anything like that.

But to think that they're fraudulent, I feel like they're just lighting a fire under this team by talking like that. You know what I mean? Well, you don't want to say it. Pizzi doesn't want to say it. You know who does want to say it? Who? Chase Coburn.

Take a listen. I think the Denver Broncos are the biggest frauds of a number one seat and of a Super Bowl contender that we've seen in an extremely long time. This is not a team that can legitimately go on and win the Super Bowl this year. You cannot look at their resume and suggest that that is a team that is capable of going on a run and hoisting the Lombardi this year.

I understand they're 14 and 3, but they are 11 and 2 in one score games. I can't believe that this team has a buy when this season. Look at the wins, some of the wins barely that they've collected. They beat the Raiders by one score twice. The worst team in the NFL, the team with the number one overall pick. The New York Giants, they beat by one point. They were outplayed at home and needed a miraculous fourth quarter comeback to get the job done. They beat the Tennessee Titans by one score at home.

The Titans led in the second half of that football game, and it was Cam Ward's first game. They only beat the Chiefs by seven points. Christmas without Patrick Mahomes, mind you, or they've been one of the worst teams in the National Football League. The three win New York Jets. They only beat them by two points in London when they adjusted Fields as their quarterback with negative 10 net passing yards. And the Jets still almost won the game against his fraudulent Denver team.

And then the five when Washington commanders only lost by one point in overtime without their starting quarterback in Jaydon Daniels. Seven of their 14 wins this season are against pitiful competition by one score. Everyone likes to talk about New England and use their schedule as a way to them and say that they're not a legitimate team.

Their strength of victory this year is 37%. Denver is 37.8%. The only difference is that New England actually meets the bad teams by significant margins. They're third of the NFL and point differential for the plus 170 point differential.

Denver, they're seventh at plus 90. And only the fifth best point differential in the ASC. They're not the best team in the AFC. They're not the second best team in the AFC. They're the fifth or sixth best team in the

AFC to me. It's fourth and 20 and I'm punting that little dude, man. He's crazy. Ridiculous. You know, he's got a point

about a couple of those games, the Jets being one of them in the first Raiders game. But dude, come on. That's just, it's absurd.

I have to say that popped up on the feed. I was like, this kid's incredible. He's actually amazing. What did you put in to the Instagram? What did you put in to find that Broncos

frauds? That's what you put in. Popped up on the feed. I've seen a lot. I've seen a lot of people saying it though. It popped up. I mean, at least he backed it up. At least he like broke it down and said why he wasn't just

saying it like me. Yeah. He actually, and Jordan saw me. I haven't watched it long enough three point three million views on that clip on the kid's Instagram. So he's cooking right now. Shout out to him. Torpitude. Do you know that guy? I don't. But I'm actually kind of impressed. He sent him the script. He literally wrote it for him and said, will you do this into the camera, please.

All right, PT, your pick. Come on. Don't sit on the fence. Don't sit on the freaking fence. I'm not going to sit on the fence. I'm not going to sit on the fence. I will say. I will say. The first year I watched a full season of the NFL was 2021 because we started the ringer podcast in September 2021. And TST used to bring us into a room, a Zoom room beforehand, about five minutes. And we just kind of chat before we get the podcast rolling. And because it was September when we started, all you boys were talking about was NFL and all your teams and blah, blah, blah. And like one or two episodes in, I was like, I want to start watching this.

and I'm just going to drop into the conversation. So every now and again, surprise the lads. I'm going to watch this and get into it. Since then, I've got really, really into it. And I watch nearly every single game. But every year, since 2021, at the beginning of the season, I put a bet on the Buffalo Bills to win the Super Bowl and the Denver Broncos to win a Super Bowl.

So if one of you win or you get to live periscite through you, you guys win. So with that saying. Okay, that was a big preamble there. I mean, at the beginning of this year, yes. I put the bets down for the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos.

However. Yes, yes. However. However. I put a lot more money on the Buffalo bills. Okay. Thank you. My heart almost broke.

Look at that. I've got a little bit of a fever. Don't think I'll be on the crack on Friday. With that said, I still have bets down on both teams. But because of the financial interest, I'm going to have to go. Wow. He's going with the. Almighty Dollar.

Mercenary. Yeah. That is... I mean, it's not... Hey, I feel like that's going to be everybody going to pick the Buffalo Bills, right? I feel like... No, I don't do this. You're not...

They're going to do it. They're going to do it. This is everybody... No, I mean, we are David. No. Look what that kid just said. Look what he said. We're frauds and we're David.

He's using your weapon against you. I refuse with our injuries on the road. Short week. everything, we're David. We are, Buffalo is a perennial David, David, all right? We have been a David since the beginning of time. No, this is, by the way, there are jobs on the line here.

There are jobs on the line. And by the way, and how can you, and Chuck, you're such a good guy, you're such a classy fellow. I know where you're going with this already. How could you root for Sean Payton? How can you root for this guy? I didn't know. A bully.

An actual bully. The way he talks to the media, a media guy like yourself. A media guy like yourself supporting a coach. In case you missed it, in case you missed it, here's Sean Payne berating the media in attendance. Sean, having Greenlawback for this game, his ability to attack downhill and the run game, just how big is that in the timing of it for this one?

Do you want him to attack downhill? What do you know about attacking downhill in the run game? Wow. You don't know. That's a red-blooded America. That's right. Have him attacking downhill. It's good to have a healthy,

who's this guy? I thought you had free speech over there. Well, why's he so rude? That's a beat writer, right? He's had a problem with that beat writer from the Denver Post before. I don't know why. He's done this, dude, trust me. He's got an arrogant side to him, but after the, you know, after the Broncos went through

that, like, it was a long, an eternity, like an eight-year span of just really bad coaches. Like, we don't, nobody cares. Nobody talks about bounty gator any of the things that you're talking about. Nobody talks about that in Denver. It doesn't exist. Yeah. But, I mean, that was also Greg Williams, wasn't I think that Peyton was just kind of. I mean, for a guy who's been given a second lease on life to speak to media like that,

feels a little bit. I agree with you though. He seems very abrasive. I thought about that like if you're a beat, a beat writer, how hard that would be. Is he always like that? Something like that pretty much weekly. You know what I mean? By the way, why was he so triggered by attack downhill? He just hates that kid. His name

is Luca. Okay. But he's a kid working for the Denver Post and I don't know why, but legit kid? Like, when you say kid, like a 20 year old? A younger. And I mean, like, but he I don't know how old he is, but he's probably late 20s early 30s, you know.

Are you surprised he's not on the, like, short list of a coach in the year? Like, I thought he'd be way out there. He should be, he should be because they, you know, $90 million of Russell Wilson's, you know, salary after getting rid of him the dead money. They, you love to talk about this. You love to talk about this.

Still on the book. It's, it's the old proverb about adversity, Ariel. Like, you got to be able to overcome adversity. And that's what he's done, man. And I think that, uh, just a very poetic nod to all of us who believe, you know. Like Job. Well, I'll just say the winner of this game is going to represent the AFC.

You think so? Well, I hope so, because we're going to win and then we're going to beat the other losers playing in the other game. I thought there was a copy. But, I mean, who wants to root for the Patriots and who wants to root for the Texans? Do the Texans even have fans? I mean, like, what is that? No. And the Patriots, golly.

Frank's probably a Texan's fine because you lived the best. Frank, Texan? No. No. Are you going to go on Bill Simmons's show if it's the Patriots? and the bills. I mean, I feel like that would be the that's my Super Bowl. If this happens in the Broncos, it'll be the consolation. I don't know if he

wants the smoke, to be honest. He probably wouldn't. I texted him after we beat the Patriots at home that crazy comeback, and I don't usually do this. It was just a, it was a very friendly, casual, cordial, smiley face emoji. And he just sent me back the standings. So I don't know if he appreciated

it. What's the juiciest way to the Super Bowl for Broncos? Say, like, that's obviously for the Buffalo Bales, like if they got going against the pots, but like, is there a juicier? There's only two other options. There's only two options, but they beat the Texans earlier the sheriff, that kid, that little twerp you were playing,

didn't mention that game, but the Patriots, they've owned in the playoffs of the Denver Broncos. So I'm always happy to see the Patriots come to Denver. Yeah. Yeah, and everyone will have to go through mile high. By the way, guys, since we have you, let's finish out on the nose.

I don't know, does your contract with Morning Combat allow for this type of stuff? I better check in. Who's to check? Petey, I saved this one for you. Peezy, please blind rank and feel free to weigh in. Do you know what blind ranking is, PT, right?

Yeah, of course I do. Chuck, you know what blind ranking is? I figured it out. All right. Please blind rank these Super Bowl halftime shows from this century, okay? One being the best, six the worst. I feel like Chuck could be your phone a friend here. Lady Gaga, 2017.

Five. Wasn't a fan. Prince, 2000. and seven. One. Purple rain. Come on. So what do we go on?

You have to give us a number one. Oh, one. Wow. Okay. The weekend, 2021. Purple rain? It's incredible.

Go ahead. The weekend, 2021. Oh, where you got lost? Four. Yeah, that was a weird. Wow, I forgot about that. That was a weird one. That was a weird.

That was a weird. That was a weird. That was a weird. That's three. U2, 2002. Two, I guess. And then Janet Jackson, I was going to say,

that's got a. be in there, right? Oh, the boob? Yeah. Well, that would have been one. That would have been one. I thought it was tough for it. Buried the lead. Yeah, I thought it was. I love boobs just for the record. I love them, okay? You like the blue, as they say.

There was another one here from baked beans. Hey, Ariel and the crew, with the breaking news that Chuck Minnell has gone to Mortal Kombat and Pizzi's position is at threat from the pizza guy. What's the future for the crack? We're on shaky legs at the moment. Richie, of course, from Luchia, whatever you say it.

Yeah, yeah. In Soho, which is fantastic. He's better looking than me. He has better MMA takes than me. He has a better theme for his show than me. But I still have Chuck. So unless he gets Mendenhall, what are you going to do?

You know what I mean? I'm full. My dance card's full. I'm not taking any more gigs. Okay, okay, okay. So you're done. I'm done. You've had enough. All right. There's all, I mean, you wouldn't believe how many questions about you. It was crazy joke.

Seriously, on the nose today, really? Like eight questions right about that. Yeah. I didn't think anybody really cared. They do. They do care. What's the,

like, what's the greatest example for someone, like, I heard someone say this about Simmons recently when he had his, um, he had like some hot take about a movie and someone said,

like, Simmons is in his something era. Like, like, your, your, PT, would you agree?

Like, Chuck is in his like, Michael Jordan, in 1996. Like, back from baseball, you know, he was sort of in, the athletic was your baseball career. Now you're 96, Jordan, about to win three straight.

Like, that's the era. I feel, if I'm being honest, you and Ben. I feel like you and Ben are in that. No, I think that's accurate. Yeah, that's accurate. There's a different, there's a little. Yeah, there was a moment. There's a moment when the industry, uh,

kind of shifted off of what we do well. And, um, you know, honestly, if you all who uncrowned him, you guys don't come around. Like, who knows? where this goes, but it was actually kind of like a platform to do what you do well, you know, and to

still kind of get on here and talk to you guys and do this stuff. So I, that kind of like renaissance feeling or whatever you're like, whatever you're kind of alluding to, that's what it, that's what it feels like to me to. I know Ben has said the same thing. So it's been great, man. It's called, it's actually, they're calling the crack,

the MMI podcast, Kingmaker. That's what they're called. That's fine. Yeah. I can live with that. And so with that in mind, you should really be, rooting for the bills. I mean, for your friend Ariel, who's been through so much trauma. Are you talking to joke right now? Well, I was wondering. I mean, if they, if they beat Denver, then I'll root for the bills, you know. Oh, really? But I can't, I can't, I can't root for the bills against my team. I mean, it's just, you don't, you don't even, you can't even bring your best lines. You like the Broncos.

Like, I mean, I don't like the Broncos, but I don't, I actually dislike most of the Patriots fans in my life. Don't tell them. Yeah. I actually like Bron, like, I'm like, like, that's kind of true of me, too. You know, they're all kind of, they're, they're, they're, they know so many good Buffalo people though. That's what sucks. It's like, I know too. And now I'm like, I don't want to like crush our dream. But so many people in the town I'm in are Buffalo fans.

Tons of them go to home games from here, which is like, you know, 400 miles from where I'm at. They go to the home game side. I know guys with season tickets here. There's so many Buffalo fans and they're so loyal. And they're all kind of in that same boat of pending waiting for, um, do chance to understand what it. Yeah, what it feels.

No, I mean, just to feel like. What is it going to feel like when they break through and they win it? So it's impossible for me to like hate them. The only thing is though if they beat Denver again and they really beat them badly, I feel like that's going to start to go away because now it'll be twice, two years in a row and you'll be like now there's a rivalry or something building from Denver's side. There has to be right at that point. Sure, but I don't think it's going to be that.

I think it's going to be close. What are you going to do if you're going to be in a hotel in Italy? It's going to be an hour later than it is for this weekend? No. the Super Bowl. Oh, okay, that's what I thought you meant. Okay. I've been stressing over this, and that's why

mid- Jaguars game, when Tony Romo kept saying, and I wanted to strangle him, that Jacksonville had all the momentum, I was like, well, maybe this is for the best. Maybe this is for the best. And then I was like, no, it's not. You have a call to him that day? No, no, no. When I agreed to this, I told them, and thank God, my boss there at CVC is a gigantic Bills fan as well. Ryan Johnson, shout out to him.

I said, just please, the morning after the Super Bowl, that Monday morning, because it will essentially be Monday morning, we need to just be cognizant, all right? So let's not book any early morning shoots or anything, because it's 18 days straight. And they were like, yes, yes, yes, of course, of course. But I'm, I'm worried. Like, what if there's no internet? What if there's no, I don't know, how am I going to watch this thing? Anyway, there's a lot more to happen before we get there. I would have liked to be there as well. But, you know, Josh has never played at Levi Stadium. So it would have been nice to be there with him on this big moment. But we'll have to get through you guys first. In the end, I hope everyone

has a great time and I hope everyone plays their heart out and has fun. Doesn't look at that. I'm nervous. You're not a good liar. But you know what, Chuck? And you could speak to this in conclusion. Isn't it just fun to have another week? Like you can see the content, the podcast, the video, the press, all that stuff.

Like, it's such a gift in the dead of winter to have something like this to look forward to this weekend. My wife had a ski trip planned with like my daughter's friends. And I'm like, there's no chance in hell. I don't care if you don't talk to me for six months. There is no chance that I am going on this ski trip. I am sitting at home wearing my Bruce Smith jersey. And if anyone wants to stay back, they can stay back.

But this means way too much for me. I am sorry. You know what it's like, right? It's 100% that. It's your buying another week. You get to survive another week. You get it like think about it for another week. You get to like go do it again.

And if you win, you keep going. I think that that has like been the lure for me with the NFL playoffs since, I mean, going all the way back to when I was first. started watching it. It's a crazy thing, man. And it gets more magical, the more your team has been frustrated. You know what I mean? You start to really cherish it when they have the chance.

So I agree. We'll try to have fun with it, but I don't want to, I don't know, I want the Broncos to win, but I will, trust me, I'm going to feel bad about it afterwards. I appreciate that. Nice of you. Yeah. I'll send you something nice in a text of whatever. No, I appreciate that. No, I appreciate

that. I'll, I want to say sorry there's not one more a couple of days after the game. All right, I'll wait a couple of days. No, I'll be cordial and respectful. I want to wish you the best, but I'd be lying if I wish you the best. I do not wish you the guys the best. I hope it's a blowout. I hope it's an awful game.

I hope it's over in the first quarter. Everyone complains that it's boring. And yeah, we'll see. We'll talk about it throughout and on the other side. again, I want to say good luck, but I don't mean it. I know, I know. Bad luck.

You just say like, yeah. Bad luck. Talk soon. Yeah, talk soon. Yeah, talk soon. See you, Chuck. See you, Peezy. There they are, the boys. It's a big one. And I can't wait.

Mr. Frank, do we have any super chats before we head out? You do. Oh. Super chats. And starting us off is this gentleman named Lex Friedman says, Got recommended this stream. Awesome. Thank you for many years of great interviews, Ariel.

It sucks that Kayla is out of 324. She's amazing. I was looking forward to that fight. Much love, brother, keep up the great work, heart of Ongie. Is this the actual Lex Friedman? Yes. Wow. That's crazy.

He's a pretty big deal, no? He's a big deal, yeah. He's got a massive. He just popped in? Just popped in. Shout out to Lex. Recommended, you know? Yeah, who recommended it?

No, not like a person. Oh. Yeah, like he was a good. recommended the stream, but he's also been watching for you. Yeah, the algo. The Algo. The Algo. Shout to Lex. Should we do a co-lab? We never say no to colabs. Oh, yeah.

What else, Frank? But by the way, thank you. That does, he's very successful. That does mean a lot. And especially, you don't have to chime in there and give us a super chat. What was it? 20 bucks? Who's to check? Nothing to sneeze at. What else, Frankie? What else? Norma deserves the fight. These guys are casuals.

What's going on back there? What's all the chatter about? You know, we do have to work back here. Is Pizzi still here, by the way? I know he's gone. No, when you said by Chuck and... I know. Well, because it's a weird one. It's a weird one.

You didn't sign off fast enough. Yeah. What do you want to say, this is what Rick said was going to happen. What? What happened? Us being like, nah, man,

I don't want to see that fight. People being like, these guys fucking hate Norma. They hate Norma Dumas. Why do you guys hate Norma? I've seen another one that was that. Name any women's bans and white. Fill in the blank.

I don't want to see that fight. The level of compensation. Yeah, can't wait. Can't wait. No. title shot against anybody other than Amanda Nunes. Sounds good. Love it.

Yeah, wait. What else, Frankie? What else? Is it true that FIFA disapproves and may ban World Cup tickets acquired from third parties like Stubhub or Game Time? Is it true that FIFA disapproves and may ban World Cup tickets acquired from third parties? I've not heard this. Have you guys heard this? I'm not locked in like that on the

ticket. I just want to point out once again, as you can see, it seems like they're a little late with lighting up the Empire State, but that doesn't mean that the window is out of order, it will pop up. Why did you air quote? Yeah, you should just said window. Anyway, please continue.

What else, Frank? Ariel, are you a theme park guy at all? Did you have good perks for Disney when you were at ESPN? Did you ever go to Canada's Wonderland or La Ronde? It's La Ronde. So, you get great perks when you're an ESPN employee at the Disney parks. I took my kids in 2019, the summer of 2019. They were young, but it was a lot of fun.

I remember, I'll never forget, I was on the toy story ride, and the song that was playing was, people, let me tell you about my best friend, and you kind of like go around shooting, and I'll never forget, I kept refreshing my Twitter over and over again, and Woge reported that Brooklyn

and made a clean sweep and signed Kyrie Irving and Kevin Duran, and obviously we thought the Knicks were going to get him, I'll never get seen there being like this freaking sucks. But it was a great time. And I also, I'll never forget looking at like the prices and being like, how do families afford this? This is so expensive if you're just going in at full cost. But I do enjoy Disney.

I enjoy Universal Studios. As a kid, Universal was my favorite because I like the movie magic and all that stuff. Bintilleroon many times. And one of my favorites back in the day was in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Marine land is the place to go. See the friends you miss. A great big kiss. And then the whale kisses the kid.

Everyone loves Marine Land. You know that one? That was like our version of SeaWorld. Nobody here would be privy to that one. It was big. It was big. Do you recall, though, there was a time, me, you, Disneyland. Oh, wow.

This is a good one. Yes. Guardians of the Galise. mission breakout formerly Tower of Terror. There's a lot to dissect here in this picture, by the way. Rick Halwani. Number one, Rick wearing all pink is just like Not wearing all black is. Is it a polo or it's a short sleeve hoodie? Okay, it was a short sleeve hoodie. Yeah. No short sleeve hoodie given to us by

Andy Mayer who we all met in Miami. That's right. Pokeo G. I see the logo right now. His spot, Poki OG. Yes. He first made merch. He wanted to give it to like like DC, Ariel, myself, and that's what I'm wearing. So shout out to Andy Mayer. What about the dude holding up the doll that? Oh, the little doll. Yeah, what is that with that? I'm terrified, as you can see.

I mean, I am. You seem to be the only one. Everybody else seems pretty weird. What is up with that? Everyone else looks like they're having a great time. It is weird. It is weird that I'm so afraid. I don't know why I'm so afraid.

I will say for the picture. You guys swipe this off the screen? I think so. Yes. The thing to pay for it was actually shut down. I wanted to buy it. You remember that? Yes.

because I remember thinking like how one he had his eyes close. I will say to your credit, to your everlasting credit you had foreworn like the rides are not my favorite thing. Not my thing, yeah. But you I did it up and you went on the ride. I'll suck it up, but I'm not a big fan of like the crazy

like the Terrence Crawford friend. The slingshot? Yeah, you're not going on that one. I'm the friend. I'm passing out. Yeah. I'll do it if you want. I'm down, but not my favorite thing. I get it. What else, Frankie? What else? Funny enough, though, Mrs. Mysterious is watching the show.

And she said that she was actually singing along with you. She knows that song. She was like, it's one of those theme songs from childhood that just Liz buried in her memories. And she didn't know that she remembered until you started singing it. And she loved it. She knows Ball. She's a Western New Yorker. She knows what it's like.

And she probably appreciates this and appreciates the conversation that we just had with Chuck Minnell. Sarp writes, then, hello. Many artists in the biz speak openly about spreading and switching their, art to other sports and subjects in 26. Lack of promotional enthusiasm is reason. UFC not promoting gives us independent artists more food or less. Well, Sarp is the brilliant mind who made and designed art. Whoa, look at this.

Wow, this is a problem. Our trophy, so shout out to him. A very intellectual man, very smart man. So he would attack this subject from this perspective. And yeah, that's one way of looking at it. Fighters taking things into their own hands. But you would hope. I mean, look, the sister promotion for, you know, for the UFC or to the UFC under the TKO umbrellas,

and, you know, they're still putting out great promotional videos. I see them. I see the content. And so I just don't understand why we think that this is like, I'm just saying, why does I have to be live? Just do the video, slap on some music, some B-roll, and now you've, you know, you've got something. But they'll call me a hater for saying this. but it's actually coming from a place of love. And I seem to love it more than anyone.

Look, I'm the one who loves it the most because I'm not collecting a paycheck off of it. So I'm coming at it from a pure, genuine place of love. You understand? I do think history will be kind to you saying that they're mailing it in because I think a lot of fans. To Sarp's point, a lot of fans are like, what are we doing? To tease an announcement and then the announcement be that lackluster,

not from the fight perspective, but the delivery and the presentation, like nobody's winning in this scenario. The UFC is not winning. It is not working. That is a bad presentation. What else, Frank? What else?

The superb owl says, question for AH in the BITB. REF seems to be quickly picking up steam and potential matches being discussed a lot. Should or will TKO purchase REO? I don't think they will. I don't want them to. We need to have other companies

not under this umbrella. That wouldn't be good. I think that, For now, TKO likes it they're around because, like I said earlier, they can point to, hey, independent contractors, they can do whatever they want. God bless, God bless. Here they are. We don't force them to turn down opportunity, all that stuff. So I'll say no and no to both.

But I do agree they are onto something and hopefully can't continue. What else, Frankie? What else? It feels like D.C. is the MMA equivalent of Charles Barkley and how he's viewed by fans. Not a bad comp, but he's not. never, excuse me, but he was near goat status and started MMA at 30. He's not revered enough, in my opinion. I think he's beloved.

I've always said that I think that D.C. could be a Michael Strayhan-like character, someone who succeeds outside of the world of combat, the world of MMA. He's very well-spoken, he's very likable, he's lovable, you want to just hang out with him, you want to listen to him. So I get what he's trying to say with the Barclay thing, but Barclay is like a lot more opinionated. and often critical. DC's not really that guy.

He's more the analyst type. He's not on a desk or anything like that. I think you're just trying to say it because, like, round of rebound and all that, if I'm being honest. But nevertheless, nevertheless, I get the comparison. It has been made. But I've always sort of viewed him as bigger than that, actually, because I think he can actually transcend MMA.

What else, Frankie? What else? The guests this week are beyond incredible. You outdid yourself, Ariel, and crew. P.S., the boys in the back should be ashamed to disignor. Yeah. I'm into Dumont versus. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I want Dumont Nunes. Yes. We want Dumont Nunes.

I should have asked freaking Chuck about it. He would have been all over that. For sure. But I do appreciate the compliment. It's been a great week. And it's actually like a bit of a weight lifted off my shoulder because like I said, shoulders. I was like, oh, man. Got nothing, got nothing.

We're losing steam here. We're away. It all works out. It all works out. What else, Frankie? What else? My name is Joshua. Huge fan.

Could I recommend a UFC related YouTube vid? I love your opinion on it. Maybe next week. Sure. 100 bucks for this? Also, what is the video, Joshua? Is it a recommendation or is it a I'm paying you to watch this? See, what I like about Joshua.

No, he's asking permission first. He wants consent to send the video. Good, good man, Joshua. You're the man. You may send. Okay. Send the video. Please.

Send away. Wait. Consent is important. I hope. He said UFC related, so hopefully it's... But yes, please do send it, and we will check it out. And thank you for the love. What else, Frankie?

All the best. You know, I always have enjoyed your show, but it's right now helping me get through a broken ankle. As always, go bills. I want to send a shout out to Jason, our friend, who suffered a broken ankle and I think had surgery, so I hope it went well. I, too, once suffered that injury, and it's not very fun.

But you'll be just fine. We'll get back on your feet in no time. And yes, happy that we can provide some escapism for you, some entertainment. and I know you're a big bills fan. So again, when I talk about like having, that's the beauty. What I'm talking about is the bottom line at the end of the day, the beauty. And I know people view MMA in the same light that I talk about this.

It is that thing at the end of the week that you are looking forward to. It is that fuel that gets you through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, especially in the winter. That is the beauty of sports. That thing to look forward to at the end of the week. That thing to like daydream about. That thing to say like, oh man, three more days, four more days I get to sit down, not think about anything, not worry about anything, not look at my phone, not be bothered, and just lock in on what I love, what takes me away, what makes me feel part of a community,

what makes me feel alive, what makes me feel, you know, amped up, what makes me feel emotions that I don't feel in daily life. It's like, when I'm yelling, I am yelling from a place down here. I'm yelling from that 12-year-old spot. That is the beauty of sports. And I know that MMA is that for people. And so when I talk about the announcements, when I talk about, you know, the delivery, it's because I know it means that. that to people. And some might say, I don't care. And I get it. I get it if you say you don't care. But I like all of it. I like all of it. And I love, I mean, I love sports. My whole life is sports. I love listening and debating and talking about it and dreaming and crying about. I love everything

about it. Being a fan, being a part of something, it's the best. And so, yeah, feel blessed, feel excited and I know that's doing that is doing that for you Jason so I do hope you make a speedy recovery and get back on your feed in no time. What else, Frankie? What else? How could we? There's nothing else.

Oh, Jason, good luck to you. Yeah, much love Jason. I did want to answer just a couple more because I saw them and I want to get to them real, real quick and then we'll go. Speaking of which, from our boy obey, A.H, just want to say thanks. I never followed an American football team. I got enough stress support the Mighty Gooners, but hearing you constantly talk about the bills and Josh Allen got me to hop on board. At first, I was just here for the crack.

Weren't too invested, but it all changed when I watched the bills in that big toilet they called Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, ironically, versus Jacksonville. The Bills Mafia, full of Menches, especially the older couple sat next to us who traveled from Buffalo to London to see the game. They literally talked to me through every play, and the wife was so happy that I chose to support her beloved Buffalo Bills that she gave me her Bill's hat. My then-girlfriend, wife now, bought me my first Bill's jersey, J.A. on the back, and now I'm up to 4 a.m. at times watching them play.

It's our year. I can feel it. Let's go, Bills. P.S., please clear this up. I saw an old video where you spoke about watching the Premier League in college and your team was Arsenal. Is it fair to say we're both gooners to come home. Much love your boy obey. That is true, my friend. My two favorite players growing up, I didn't really support a club. I liked soccer, but I liked more international soccer. It was very hard to support the Premier League back then and international.

We didn't get it, at least not in Montreal. My two favorite players were Zinadine Zidan and Thierry. And they both played for France, so I liked France a lot. I liked England a lot. But I just, you know, Beckham's cool, Michael Owen's cool, Wayne Rooney's cool, Zidon's cool, Henri is cool, those times. types of guys. So I would say the first team that I watched, I think it was like an 0405 just out of college, was Arsenal when I could find, but it was very, very, very hard to find

it, at least for me on a consistent basis. And then we know about the other stuff, Lester Everton, joke, joke, joke, joke, and then of course here we are, you know, Forrest until we die. Here's GC's Lonely Doorman. I want to talk about this one real quick because it's come up a lot. Hello, Ariel and crew. While I found the discussion on Barry Weiss in reporting very interesting and productive from the gang, I got stuck on Ariel's statement that he's a one issue person and his follow-up thoughts. While you will understandably be biased towards one side of the issue and reporting, such as Barry Weiss's content, which you said you were a big fan of, this is completely in contradiction to what you said earlier about just wanting the facts down the middle. Isn't there a conflict here? I'm not saying one can't be biased in a direction, especially when family history, emotions, and religion influences thoughts and beliefs, and beliefs, beliefs. But if only, excuse me, but if one only consumes Barry Weiss's content, for example, and not the opposing views, doesn't this feed into the division and unbiasedness of major outlets when her popularity in covering topics with her own biases and leanings is what got her hired at CBS in the first place? So it's a very good and fair question. Let me just clarify a little bit,

because sometimes I try to go through these questions and then I say to myself afterwards, I didn't give it the TLC that it deserved. Number one, regarding Barry Weiss, my wife subscribes to the free press she'll send me some articles here and there I don't because I'm just not that into like political stuff but I do know and and did feel that over the past two years I felt her reporting on the Middle East in particular

was fair and accurate I did feel that way her getting hired by CBS and the stuff that she's doing now honestly I don't know a lot about but if it's if there's any sort of like squashing stories to adhere to one time you know that's not what I'm about. I don't care what you support where you don't support. Like, that is not what I'm about. And so I don't like that. Can I feel confident sitting here and saying like this is actually going on?

I'm not looking into it enough to know that, to feel that way. But I understand why it's a, you know, it's a very polarizing topic and a hot topic right now. And I understand why some people think like, oh, she's right wing, don't like that. And I'll be honest. Like, we've joked about the Megan Kelly stuff. I don't, I don't listen to her anymore, to be honest, because I feel like she's gone way off the deep end. Like, it's too much. It's just too much. I don't want a cheerleader. I want honesty.

Tell me what's good, what's bad. Tell me what's true, what's not, and that's that. And that's really how I feel. So I don't consume a lot of it because I feel frustrated. Even when I feel like you're telling me what I want to hear, I feel frustrated. Tell me the truth. Tell me the honest truth. That's what I want.

Tell me who's right, who's wrong. Tell me what happened, basically. And then maybe I'll figure out who's right and wrong. But like, don't give me a skewed version of the truth. That's number one. Number two, when I say that I'm a one-issue guy, people took issue with this. Let me be very clear about what that issue is. At the very top of the list, obviously there's things that we care about, okay?

Because, you know, you always have a sort of like ranking of sorts, right? There's always something that you feel most comfortable about. And you say, like, well, Ariel, you said you're a one-issue guy. And to a degree, when I'm talking about, like, issues that mean a lot to me, there is one that is constantly at the top of my list and that is very important to me. I'm not trying to say that should be your most important thing. I know it's not. Trust me. Over the past two years,

I have seen that it is not. Trust me, I know that. When I say that I'm a one-issue guy, it's not even necessarily what's happening in Israel because I can understand why people would come to me and say like,

yo man, you live in America, what the hell? The issue is, let me be very clear, the issue is the treatment of Jews in this country and around the world. That's my issue. And the treatment of Jews in this country and around the world

is abhorrent. It's abhorrent. And you can tell me whatever you want to say about the history of Jews, in this country and the history of Jews around the world and all the anti-Semitism that you want to spew, the treatment of Jews in this country is abhorrent.

And it's only the Jews that get treated this way, and everyone turns a blind eye. That's how I feel, because I see us supporting everyone and trying to be friends with everyone. I'm talking about the Jews in this country, and then what happened over the past two years with these protests, with these riots and all this stuff, and I felt like no one stuck up for us.

No one batted at eye. And so when push came to shove and why I said what I said in October, in November, I felt like we needed to be treated better. I felt like we needed to have someone looking out for us here in this country. And trust me, I come from a place. I'm experiencing it. My kids go to a Jewish school. They've had bomb scares. They've had to evacuate their school. Why? Because they go to a Jewish school. They've had to leave their school. They've had to go into like a safe space because they go to a Drew school. It's absurd. It's insane. So don't even try to

convince me otherwise. That's what's most important to me. Not saying that should be most important to you. and I understand why it's not. You're not being affected by it. But for me, it's most important. And I don't think you should have an issue with it being most important to me. It's the treatment of my people in this country and around the world.

You saw what happened in Sydney. You've seen what's happened around the world. Miss me with your anti-Semitism, your tropes, your bullshit. We did not ask for this. We did not ask for any of this. The Jewish people, we did not ask for any of this. We did not want any of this.

Your what aboutism is not welcome here. I'm not going to listen to it. I'm not even going to accept it. I'm not even going to have an open mind to it because I know that it is rooted in anti-Semitism and hatred. And I know this is going to piss you off. I know it's going to piss you up. And by the way, I've lost many followers. I've seen it all. I've experienced it all. I have to be the one who talks about it. And so if you ask my opinion, I'm going to tell you my opinion. And I'm the only one who feels like I should be able to do that and not worry about it because that's truly how I feel. And I hope that you would respect it. I'm not trying to say your matters are less important. I'm not trying to say that your matters shouldn't be. most important to you. I'm just telling you how I feel. And most people would say, don't talk about that. Don't bring it up. That's not the way I'm built. All right? Last thing, Keen. Hey, Ariel, have you ever been on Joe Rogan? Have you been offered? I've not been. I've not been offered. I think he does a tremendous job. He does great, great work. No issues there. He's had my uncle on many times. What can you say? his opinions and all that I don't agree with many of them

oftentimes like what he has built is nothing short of amazing and if you've ever seen that clip of him on the Tom Green show like sort of having this epiphany as to what podcasts are it's pretty remarkable

to go from that to what he is built so kudos and shout out all right guys I think that's it was a great day there's a second

there's a second casualty music very loud playing Second casualty to the Armand Sarukian. It was worth it. Yeah, it was totally worth. By the way, I mean, you know, having DC back, what an incredible moment. So glad for you guys to reunite, that great segment with Chuck. You guys, you know, going back and forth.

Yeah. My favorite moment was when you're referencing old Bill Simmons getting that number 16 limitless rank. Hoof. Oh, that's right. That's in my wheelhouse right there. People have been saying Simmons is on a heater right now. Simmons, that podcast has to be submitted.

What is it? Like a rewatchables? Pyramids? It was a solo rewatchables. Golly. In which he ranked his top movies of the 2000s and beyond. And he just, he went for it.

And he had Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey, also movie podcasters for the ringer reacting to it. It was, it was magic. It was true magic. Yeah, I've seen it. He's had some big guests. He had seen it in studio. He had Canopoulin Studio.

Studio looks sick too. Yeah, I mean, he's on Netflix now. He's killing it. He's the godfather. Shout out to him. Shout out to Paramount Plus, by the way. I was just reminded, the price goes up tomorrow. So if you're on the fence, man.

If you're a UFC fan, you're going to have to have it. The vast majority of the content is going to be on Paramount Plus. Plus you get Champions League and Europa League, NFL streaming, all those movies and stuff. So it goes up tomorrow. It's a great day to be alive. Boys in the back tomorrow. 415, SUP-I-T-B-I-T-B. Crack on Friday. We're back on Monday. Go, Bills. Back next week or tomorrow. Boys in the Back, same time and place. Until then, I say, pooh.