The Ariel Helwani Show - Darren Till crashes Anthony Taylor's interview, WWE Netflix debut reaction with Kazeem Famuyide, Cain Velasquez, Kevin Lee, darts recap

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Kazeem Famuyide grades WWE's Netflix debut and discusses The Rock's return, Hulk Hogan getting booed out of the building, whether the show grabbed new fans, what's next for Roman Reigns and more (06:41).Kevin Lee discusses the latest with the GFL, chasing Islam Makhachev and Usman Nurmagomedov fights, wanting to rematch Tony Ferguson in 2025, his brother's success, "coward" fighters who are afraid to speak up for themselves and more (37:48).Cain Velasquez discusses his new GFL gig, Tom Aspinall's predictable patterns, his UFC career and short-lived WWE stint, lessons he's learned over the years, his upcoming sentencing and more in a wide-ranging interview (01:04:59).Darren Till crashes Anthony Taylor's interview in an explosive back-and-forth ahead of their Misfits Boxing main event on Jan. 18 (01:33:11).Finally, Ariel Helwani and Petesy Carroll react to darts phenom Luke Littler's dominant performance at the PDC World Darts Championship (02:01:30).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ariel Hawani Show! No! Ariel Hawani Show is back in your life. On this Tuesday, January 7th, 2020 7 2000 and 25 hello again everyone i sure hope you're doing well welcome back to the program second show of this great new year award show has come and gone what a time it was what a time it was 26 categories total yes initially i said 25 we forgot about one but you know no you know, no one really noticed. No one really noticed. I would say the MVP of the award show, the biggest pop by far, was for our very own Pete C. Carroll,

who at the very top of the show hit us with the curveball. We all thought that he dropped the ball. He was wearing the tuxedo. By now you've seen the clip. It was a great time had by all. And it was the moment of the show. And it seemed like the tuxedo. By now, you've seen the clip. It was a great time had by all. And it was the moment of the show. And it seemed like the chat enjoyed it. The commenters, who are generally a positive bunch, were extremely positive about what

Pizzi pulled on Monday. So if you missed the award show, it's up right now on the channel. You know where to find the stuff on the pod feed as well. One of my favorite shows of the year. It has come and gone, and now we can fully focus on the year ahead. And there's a lot going on, especially this month, in the world of combat sports. And we have a lot to discuss on this very busy Tuesday. We play two on Tuesdays.

As you know, we have a second award show coming up at 5 p.m. Eastern, Ariel and Ade, on the DAZN Boxing YouTube channel. We'll be handing out our boxing awards for 2024, so stay tuned for that. And that is partially why we have left some of the New Year's award show-y regalia, in large part because we have that show. And also, this is return week. You know, sometimes in other sports they have rivalry week, they've got championship week, whatever. This is our return week, and so we thought we'd keep it up.

We'd get in the mood, be festive. Why not? Everyone likes to be in a good mood. Now, on today's program, we shall discuss last night in the world of professional wrestling. It was a huge, huge night, a momentous occasion. Of course, WWE's debut, official debut on Netflix. You may have heard of it. Massive, massive deal. Seismic news in the world of pro wrestling. They have finally arrived.

Not just pro wrestling, to be honest. Sports, really. Sports programming, television, streaming. Pro wrestling they have finally arrived Not just pro wrestling to be honest sports Really sports programming Television all streaming It's a huge deal because we've all been Wondering when is Netflix Going to get into the world Of live sports they've been

Dipping their toe in the water you know they Do the hot dog thing in September they Do the Jake Paul Mike Tyson thing In November there was a golf thing several Months back this is the start of a real thing. Of course, NFL on Christmas, but this is episodic. And it's every Monday here in the United States and then everywhere else around the world. It's Monday, Tuesday, Friday, plus all the PLEs.

It's a massive, massive deal. And it is going to change The way people consume WWE The way people talk about it It's going to expose The business In a good way I say that To a whole bunch of new people

It's right there You go on Netflix At 8pm Last night And it's right there in your face You cannot miss it If you're an old fan You're like

Oh shit Let me watch this It's live Holy crap That's cool If you're a new fan You're maybe checking it out It's just gigantic It's seismic in my opinion And you're a new fan, you're maybe checking it out.

It's just gigantic. It's seismic, in my opinion. And we're going to be talking about that on the program. I asked the guys for a little bit of homework, if they can complete this assignment, and I'm very proud of them. They have all done so. Yes, well done to all of you. They all watched. We were chatting about it. They have some thoughts. We will get their thoughts back into the program.

Also, some news and notes to discuss. We didn't really get into the news and notes yesterday. We were focused, of course, on the awards. We'll talk about that around three o'clock. Stay tuned. Anthony Taylor is a former MMA fighter. At this point, I think it's fair to call him that. Former Bellator fighter who has now really found his groove in the world of influencer boxing. He's on quite the run, and he's the man who'll be facing Darren Till on the 18th of January in Manchester. He replaced Tommy Fury. He talks a big game. He usually fights guys who are way bigger than him,

and that's the case on the 18th of January. But he's been going back and forth with Darren for quite some time. He'll be fighting Darren in a little over a week. He'll join us on the program at 2.30 to preview that big time boxing bout, the headliner for Misfits 20. Prior to that, the great Cain Velasquez, former UFC heavyweight champion, just announced a deal with GFL. We'll talk to him about everything going on in his life. One of our favorites. And I look forward to catching up with him. It's been over three years since we last spoke to Cain. Before

everything that happened, we all know what I'm talking about. We spoke to him a couple months before that. So it's been quite some time. Looking forward to having Cain back on at 1.30. Kevin Lee, the Motown phenom himself, he'll join us. He was on the show just a couple weeks ago, but we really didn't talk. It was more about the GFL announcement with Anthony Pettis he has some things he Wants to discuss so we will get into That with one of Our longtime favorites however it Has been a while since we Spoke to Kevin Lee so I'm looking forward to catching Up with him however However my friends like I said the big Story on this Tuesday if you ask me

Is WWE's debut on Netflix Everyone was talking about it It seemed On social media Everyone was curious How it would come across Would they hit it out of the park What kind of bells and whistles

What kind of, you know Surprises All that stuff and more And so I wanted to get into it Off the bat here On this Frigid Tuesday Here in New York City And I wanted to invite

One of my favorite Media personalities There are very few people On the planet That I can go to their feed and get chatter about two of my favorite things on earth, pro wrestling and the New York Knicks. It's amazing. It's like the whole feed is pretty much curated just for my, you know, my interests. It's a beautiful thing. And so it's a great honor to welcome for the very first time to this program, a man who has a gazillion jobs, way more jobs than me. He's part of the 7pm in Brooklyn

Crew he's part of the ring of wrestling Crew he's got his own podcast He shows up everywhere he's a Man of many traits he is a renaissance Man dare I say and a former WWE Creative team member as well he is Known to most of you as just Kaz Kazim and let me get this right

Because I wrote it down because I want to always pronounce people's names correctly. Fa-mu-yi-de. Kazim, Fa-mu-yi-de, joining us off the bat to talk about the world of WWE. Hello, my friend. How are you? And welcome to the show for the first time. Ariel, thank you so much for having me here. Like you said, this has been a long time coming, but like I got to tell you, it really is an honor to be here. I've been a long time fan, been a long time homie. And of all days for us to have this first sort of conversation, uh, Netflix and WWE washed the nasty taste of my mouth at that Knicks magic game last night. So I'm so glad we could talk some, uh, wrestling before we get into Tony Knicks basketball, my friend.

Yes. You know, I was actually planning a like, oh yeah, you know, nice bounce back win for the Knicks over the you know, the depleted magic, all that stuff. Fucking hell, man. Yeah. I want to erase that from my memory. It was awful. I may sneak in one or two on the back end, but let's talk about some fun stuff, some positive stuff. For sure. And that

was the debut on Netflix. Okay, off the bat, I want to kind of take your temperature, and I saw your tweets, but just off the bat, you've had some time to digest it about 12 hours. If you were to give the debut a grade, what are you giving them? I'd give it a solid B, right? Because I would say, you know, the first debut on Netflix, I'm a guy who watches Raw, SmackDown, NXT, AEW every single week. I try to not miss any sort of wrestling. But obviously when you're bringing in

a new show to a new audience of people, I didn't look at yesterday's episode of Monday Night Raw as like the episode for the fans that watch every single week. This seemed like an episode that was made to bring in the casual eye, made to

bring in as many new faces and keep them around as possible. So I would say in that sense, they definitely accomplished what they got to accomplish. But, you know, it seemed like a closing of a chapter and the opening of a new one, you know, seemed like the Bloodline storyline sort of gave a nice fitting end to it. It seemed like the Rhea and Liv story had a nice fitting end to it. It seemed like the Rhea and Liv story had a nice fitting end to it. The Hulk Hogan story probably has a nice fitting end to it.

There was a whole lot of things that all sort of converged at once and there was a whole lot to talk about at the end of it. I was really entertained by it. I know there's going to be a lot of people who saw yesterday's show and felt like, man, this isn't the wrestling I try to watch every week. This feels like just more entertainment than the sport.

But I also understand the sort of mindset you've got to have when you're going into this partnership with Netflix. Because like you said at the top of the show, man, WWE is sort of like the first major sports company through the door. We've seen NFL dip their toes in it. We've seen Jake Paul and Mike Tyson dip their toes in it. But this is the first real sports entertainment entity that's going to be in there with both feet in every single week for 52 weeks a year. So the great thing about not being satisfied with last night's episode

is that there's another episode in six days, and then seven days after that,'s another episode in six days. Yes. And then seven days after that. And then seven days after that. And it'd be really interesting just to see how much WWE serves as like a guinea pig for the rest of the sports industry as far as entertainment's concerned. And there's your tweet right after everything that went down. And there was a lot to process. And so I'm curious because you say B, which is somewhat middle of the road, if I may say so, what would you have liked to have seen that we didn't see?

What would you have done differently? Like I said, former creative team members. So you know how this works. What would have made it a B plus or an A? I got to tell you, Ariel, there was a moment where I was really looking forward to the debut of a Penta. You know what I mean?

He's a legendary luchador that's wrestled in every single company, most recently in AEW. And being in Los Angeles and definitely in history with Lucha Underground, you would have loved to have seen him in that. Probably would have loved to see more women's matches as well. But if we had to lose those in a substitute for what I believe is one of the greatest moments in WWE history of the last decade, which was Hulk Hogan walking out, trying to shill that beer and getting booed out of the Intuit Dome to the high heavens.

I'm like, you know what? Penta could wait. Penta could wait. Because there wasn't much more of an appropriate moment of professional wrestling as a fan that I was more proud to be a fan than that moment. This was the WWE and pro wrestling jumping into the future with Netflix, with technology. And this was the WWE universe loudly saying, we are not trying to bring this guy with us to the future. We understand what he's done in the past. We'll always respect what Hulkamania has meant to the history of professional wrestling.

But nobody wants this guy to come and sell his crappy beer and do the old 80s, 90s shtick that he's been doing forever and ever, right? Like for many reasons, whether it's his questionable history with racism, whether it's his political affiliations, which I'll tell you what, I know a lot of these guys in WWE, if political affiliations stopped me from being fans of some of those dudes, I probably wouldn't be fans of a lot of professional wrestlers. I can assure you it didn't have much to do with that.

I just think the wrestling fan over the past 15 or 20 years have gotten to know who Terry Bollea is for the past several years and they let him know exactly what they think about him. And when it comes to that sort of stage,

it was a chef's kiss. It was like, thank you WWE Universe. Thank you fans for not disappointing me and letting me know that we are going to the future. We are going to take pro wrestling to new and bigger heights than it's ever been before. And for

everything that Hulk Hogan has accomplished, we are totally okay moving forward without you. We'll take the beer money we'll slap it on the ring apron and all that type of stuff but as far as seeing you i think the crowd let their let their voices be very heard last night okay so this is very interesting because i had a few people you know guys on the show who don't really watch wrestling i was like oh check it out and and they're asking the why is he being booed? And so I will just ask two other

things regarding Hulk Hogan. Number one, I was actually really surprised when they sent out the press release yesterday morning that Real American Beer is going to be on the apron. I don't care about ads on the apron. We're used to it in the world of MMA. We're used to it in boxing. They need to move with the times. Who gives a crap? There's ads there. It actually kind of almost looks more real in a weird way. i was surprised that of all the beer companies out there that was the one that was chosen i have a hard time like bud light is right in the middle of ufc tko can't get a bud light deal um like what the hell is real american beer so given his background and his history and all the baggage i was surprised with that and then they bring him out and then you talk about the

booing and it was it was quite loud and vociferous and quite interesting by the way that a month prior he walked out colby comington at a ufc event and no one really batted an eye and it just kind of shows the difference right now in this day and age between the ufc fans and the wwe fans who clearly did not want him there and didn't want to hear from him do you think more of that was because of the racist things he has said and has been caught saying repeatedly or because of the political leanings because we are in California, very much a blue state or a combo of both? Or is he just an old guy that we don't like? What do you pin it on at the end of the day? It's all of that. I wouldn't want to pin it on just one thing. If you're asking me specifically as a fan, like, yeah, I've been booing

Hulk Hogan for the better part of the last decade based on the things that he's said in actual documents that have been proven for him to just not really care for people who look much like me. On top of that, I don't think political leadings had that much

to do with it because just a few moments earlier, the Undertaker polls comes out in his motorcycle and nobody seemed to boo him. He came to rub the motorcycle. Rhea Ripley did the fist up. And we all know where the Undertaker leans. He had Donald Trump on his podcast. Nobody booed him. You know, I think it was that was probably trying to be put together for

WWE that he openly snitched on in the Vince McMahon documentary, whether it was, you know, the lawsuit with everything he said about black people and wanting to date his daughter that was inflammatory and supremely racist, whether it was his political leanings. I'm sure there's some people who are booing him because of that. But to say it was just one thing or. I'm sure there's some people who are booing him because of that, but to say it was just one thing or another thing, I just don't buy that. I think it's a combination of looking

at this dude who comes out and we are in the middle of showing all these people. If there was a if there was a if there was a mission statement on the whiteboard of the first episode of Monday Night Raw on Netflix, the mission statement would say, make wrestling cool.

Make wrestling cool to show to your friends, to your fans, for the lapsed fans, to the new fans, the celebrities that were in the crowd, Travis Scott coming out. Make wrestling as cool as possible. And when you walk this guy out in his you know still 80s music looking you know i mean pretty much i don't even think he would have made it to the ring if they asked him to walk all the way down there the only person i felt bad for in that situation was jimmy hart i was like damn jimmy you didn't deserve you didn't deserve this extra smoke that hulk hogan's getting but um the mission statement is make wrestling cool. And at the very bottom, when you look at Hulk Hogan, he does not make wrestling cool to me.

He probably did when I was a five-year-old. And even if I could erase all the terrible things that I've gotten to learn about him over the years, I would say this is the dude who made wrestling cool for me as a five-year-old. It's the reason why you start off the show with The Rock. It's the reason why you start the show with The Tribal Chief and Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes and all these incredible millennial celebrities like Macaulay Culkin and Topanga, like folks that are my age that I grew up with. That is our bread and butter. Our generation of fans is the reason why WWE even ends up on Netflix in the first place. Netflix is a millennial

network. It is something that we built. We created Netflix and chill, right? So there's really no reason why somebody who predates all of that would even get cheered anyway, you know? And just add into the fact all the extra stuff. I don't want to

make it seem like it was because he was very Trump-leaning or anything like that. Because there's tons of wrestlers who lean more left or right or whatever the case may be. It's more than that with Hulk Hogan. And hopefully, the great thing about WWE is they always listen to the fans. And there was not more of a clear sign and signal from your most important consumer, the people who pay those tickets to go watch those wrestling shows every week,

that we are good with Terry. We are good moving on from Terry. I personally don't wish him any harm or anything like that, but I just am good on seeing him on my wrestling TV. Proud and props to him for everything he's done in the past, but we're moving into the future. We're going next.

We're in the Netflix era. We don't need to see that no more. It's a fantastic point, and I'm curious if they're going to use him for the second Saturday Night's Main Event because he's been a big part of the promos for that one in San Antonio later on this month. So let's see. You mentioned The Rock. And so I want to ask you about that opening promo because it did sort of feel like Dwayne Johnson out there.

And I saw some people complaining. By the way, if you're wondering, I thought it was more B plus A. I enjoyed it. It felt like a big deal. It felt more like a PLE. It felt like a massive pay-per-view if you will where some storylines ended new champion crown some will continue it just felt bigger than your typical

raw and you started with the rock slash duane johnson that's a big deal but it didn't feel like the rock was out there it felt like duane was there as a tko board member as an investor saying yo what's up to the net Netflix crew and what's up to this guy and what's up to that guy? And I saw some people complaining that, hey, you know, we don't need this to be a boardroom, you know, address. I don't care. It's 52 weeks. Who gives a crap? We're getting thousands of hours. This is what makes, like, if, when the NBA debuts or, you know, reemerges on NBC and debuts on Amazon next amazon uh next year you know when benyama isn't going to shout out the president of nbc but that's the difference between wrestling fans

and and nba fans like we care about ratings and buy rates and businessy type stuff so i didn't care about that what was interesting to me was the nod to cody and just kind of in that moment quote-unquote breaking kayfabe when let's be honest, 10 minutes prior, there's, there's a promo that airs saying like, this is all scripted and work shoot and heal and all that stuff is being used. Did you, you know, did you get annoyed? Were you bothered by that? Or did you understand what that, you know, 20 or so minute promo slash segment was? I understood it completely. Right. Like I understand why somebody would not be a fan of it because you know as wrestling fans where you're already asking a lot as far as um you know suspension of

disbelief so when there's certain moments that sort of like takes you a little bit too inside baseball I can see where things tune out but uh somebody cuts you a five billion dollar check for uh you know for the tv show I'm assuming there's going to be a little bit of ring kissing and little daps and hugs as far as thanks for bringing us on the ride. And The Rock is as synonymous with pro wrestling as Michael Jordan is with basketball. He is the guy. And not only is he a long-tenured talent and somebody who's been synonymous with WWE, he's on the head of the board. I'm sure he's in those meetings that even get to the finish line to even make a Netflix

deal like this possible. He's one of the most powerful people in the entire entertainment business. So watching that first segment, you had to feel that this kind of felt like, all right, this is sort of like an anomaly to what we're going to expect for the next 52 weeks of the year when it comes to WWE television. This is Dwayne Johnson coming out. This isn't the final boss.

This is somebody coming in and tipping the cap. But the thing with Dwayne Johnson and The Rock is if we learned everything from his run last year is he can do whatever he wants, right? Like, it's a whole different ballgame. It's not like, you know, he could come out and it's like, oh, he had to cut a promo on the Tribal Chief, the Tribal Combat Match, and start building that road to WrestleMania because that's the plan. No, no, no. The Rock, more often than not, dictates the plan now.

And if I was watching that with those sort of eyes, it looked like a wrap-up of a story. It looked like they were wrapping up the Bloodline saga. It looked like they were wrapping up, you know, The Rock's sort of in-ring involvement. But at the same time, we've learned that, you know, there's nobody more intuitive to how the wrestling fan thinks than The Rock. So if there's something there where it felt like he was purposely throwing off a sense of being like, OK, I'm only here on business. I'm not wrestling at WrestleMania.

I got other plans. I could see that. I could also see where he knows that we're thinking, oh, if he's coming out and just shouting out the Netflix execs and thanking Cody Rhodes after he saw him beat the crap out of him and wipe his blood on his bus and hand him something after WrestleMania and they still

haven't really explained it and then they went on Instagram Live and are taking Taramana shots together in the back. It definitely kind of felt like a change in direction into where, you know, The Rock's duties were lying, at least for the next four months, at least as we get to WrestleMania. And we've been conditioned as wrestling fans to know that when it gets to January, that's when we really start talking about the Royal Rumble, and then we start talking about who's going to be the headliner at the biggest show of the year. So if I was looking at it, man, it did kind of give

the biggest clue that The Rock is probably giving himself an out just in case he's not involved in WrestleMania this year. It was very heavy on CM Punk. It was very heavy on Roman Reigns. It was very heavy on Cody Rhodes and the guys that you would want almost felt like he was doing everything he can to push everybody towards these new stars and the future of what's going on, and it may not necessarily involve him. Now, maybe wrong. He is The Rock. He is on the board. So if he feels like wrestling and he wants to be a part of WrestleMania, trust and believe, he will be.

But judging from what I saw on TV last night, it didn't seem like somebody who was getting ready to square up at Roman Reigns like he did last year when he asked, should I be at the side of the table or at the head of the table, and sort of teased that he was going to be physically involved on the first day of WWE television last year. This, obviously very different. Netflix's involvement changes the entire game as far as how many people are going to be watching this product. You're going from a cable audience that maybe 1.5 million people got on a pretty dated reference of TV watching

and Nielsen ratings to Netflix, which has, what, 280 million subscribers worldwide that you can watch live all the time worldwide at any point in the world. You know, like it is incredible to see that, you know, one of the most important landscapes, the most important pieces of real estate in all of media is that front page of Netflix. And you turn it on on Netflix and you see John Cena, you see The Rock, you see Rhea Ripley. It's bonkers to me. And that tweet that you pulled up, I'm still sort of racking my brain on just how much bigger wrestling got

just in one day. It's also wild that the most, I don't know, the most prestigious and the biggest streaming platform in the world right now is Netflix. It's the place that everyone wants to be uh their their first foray into the world of live sports is via wrestling and so for all of us who have had to hear from siblings cousins friends like co-workers you watch this shit you really watch this shit this shit's fake and and wrestling got there first and yes when you turn it on it's right there and when you go on today it's right there it is kind of wild and perhaps a little when you go on today, it's right there.

It is kind of wild and perhaps a little victory, a pat on the back of Barry Horowitz, if you will, for all of us. Based off of all that you saw yesterday and what you just said regarding The Rock and the end of perhaps the Bloodline story, if you will. I don't know if it's completely the end, but maybe just another end of a chapter, if you will, because there seems to be endless chapters when it comes to the story right now, I'm putting you on the spot and we won't hold you to it, but on January 7th, what is main event night one? And what is main event night two of WrestleMania? Man, I still think the biggest main event you could make for Vegas is Cody Rose, John Cena, and The Rock, Roman Reigns. But given yesterday's events, it definitely feels like one of those main events is going to end up being Roman Reigns and CM Punk, right? Like, it seems like the story that's being told with Punk, if you noticed, is him going

through the Shield. And if you watch that promo that they showed before his main event, it was the first time they openly acknowledged that CM Punk was the person who put the Shield together. If you go back and watch CM Punk's match with Jon Moxley in AEW, he beat him the same

exact way he beat Seth Rollins last night, with that go-to-sleep that bounced off the ring. And then he kind of like fell back on his shoulders and gave him another go to sleep to finish it off. It's the exact same way he beat Seth Rollins last night, you know. And given that, given Punk's, you know, promo at the end of the show, basically saying 46 is just a number and calling his shot. And at the biggest, most important spot in WWE, they don't do anything by accident, right? Like if you're, they're putting CM Punk victorious at the end of what is likely going to be their most important episode of Monday Night Raw to date. And he's been pretty much saying that Paul Heyman owes him a favor and he's been calling

his shot, pointing at an invisible WrestleMania sign. I think all sides point to at least one of those main events being CM Punk versus Roman Reigns. I do also think night one, there is a John Cena, Cody Rhodes match for the ages that needs to happen there as well. As far as I love a good baby face, baby face matchup,

you know, they're rare that they happen. You think of the Ultimate Warrior Hulk Hogan's. You think of the Rock and Stone Cold's and stuff like that. You think of the Rock and Hulk Hogan's. You think of the Rock and John Cena's. Now, this is sort of

like John Cena's Rock. Cody Rhodes is sort of taking the mantle that Cena took from the Rock in that same sort of main event. And I think that is, especially if this is John Cena's last hurrah, and there's an opportunity for him to break the record of the most world titles in history, breaking Ric Flair's record of 17 world championships, I don't think there's a bigger match you can make with Cody Rhodes involved,

the current world champion, than having John Cena's final WrestleMania match against him. All right, let's see. And perhaps that means you think Cena wins the Rumble, right? That would be my pick, man. I mean, he said a lot of words that made me think to throw the cents off, like miracles and lottery tickets and all that type of stuff. So he mentioned the Elimination Chamber,

he mentioned Money in the Bank, he mentioned the Royal Rumble. I would assume that the Royal Rumble, with John Cena winning it, could be the best course of action there. Especially if you want to keep them both good guys, both babyfaces, which I believe is the right way to go about it. Both babyfaces with a little bit of shade of gray, right? But, you know, Cody is, you know, by all intents and purposes, the man now. And there's no bigger

way to cement him as the man of this industry and this era than having him going up against the guy who was the guy before him, especially in his last run. So, that'd be my pick. I'd have John Cena win the Royal Rumble. I'd have him go up against Cody Rhodes.

And maybe he wins, maybe he doesn't. But I just don't know if there's a bigger spot for Cody Rhodes in there than going up against John Cena, especially if The Rock is not going to be involved. Two-part question on Travis Scott. Number one, do you think we see him actually wrestle? And number two, can you explain this one to me?

How does he get away with using Cactus Jack? And has anyone asked Mick Foley about this? Why are we just ignoring that Mick Foley used to be Cactus Jack? Hey, so apparently

he's all bored with this is what I've heard. I think Travis Scott and Mick Foley have worked out some things. So the Cactus Jack name sort of, you know,

keeps his reverence and Mick can still use it and all that stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if Travis Scott got in the ring, you know? Triple H compared him to Bad Bunny last night, and, you know, Bad Bunny very famously got into the ring and, you know, was probably one of the best celebrity involvements in WWE history as far as, you know, that backlash pay-per-view in Puerto Rico, which was absolutely insane.

But one of my biggest questions going into last night, outside of the glitz and glamour of Monday Night Raw being on Netflix, was what's going to be the difference of not having the constraints of cable television? And five seconds into Travis Scott coming out, coming out with that loud pack of that yeet pack in the crowd, which was obviously okayed by everybody to do it, made me go, oh, okay, that's a way that's different. I've never seen live marijuana smoke on WWE television,

but we're in a new era, and that was awesome to see. I loved his linking up with Jey Uso. That was great. I've been trolling wrestling fans for the past several weeks saying Jey Uso is bigger than Bill Goldberg ever was when you look at his reactions to crowd. I have believed that, but the energy that he brings to that crowd and his connection with a lot of the hip hop artists that come out. I know he had Lil Wayne at WrestleMania. I haven't Travis Scott on this one at Lil Uzi Vert at WrestleMania. I think in,

in Los Angeles as well. Yeah. It's really showed how far pro wrestling has come, man. Like, you know how many times me, probably yourself on many occasions, I've had to convince people that this is

something that is part of Americana and pop culture and is actually cool to watch, and now it's sort of the reverse where it doesn't shock me to see people that are as culturally relevant as Travis Scott have a main, big part

of WWE. I thought the hardcore title was fire. Um, you know, I didn't really get a good list at the new theme song with him on it, but, you know, I I've lived 20 years of my wrestling fandom with nothing but new metal and Metallica and the hard rock, uh, being the, uh, the background of my WWE watch. And it's, it's great to know that, you know, we're in an era where, you know, hip hop and, and, you know, pop music and dance music has sort of taken the forefront into the, the instrumental of, uh, what pro wrestling is, you know, the entrances, the music, the pageantry, that's what separates it from all the other sports. Right. And that's what other sports have been like desperately trying to implement into their own sort of things, right? The entrance music, the

synchronized, you know, crowd reactions, being able to have 17,000 people in the palm of your hands say a word or do a move or do anything like that. That is the thing that pro wrestling masters that so many other sports are sort of looking towards. So when I look at this Netflix era, man, and you said it in the beginning of the show, when you said, you know, sort of a victory lap for wrestling fans, you got to remember, man, pro wrestling has always sort of been at the forefront, the threshold of television watching experience.

There was one of the first people through the door when it came to pay-per-view. They were one of the first people through the door when it came to pay-per-view. There were one of the first people through the door when it came to closed-circuit television. There were one of the first people through the door when it came to cable television. And now, you know, even the WWE Network sort of was the preface for so many things that we see today as far as streaming networks are concerned.

And now, not only wrestling fans are watching how WWE is going to perform, but all the sports leagues, all of the major sports companies are going to see how well this does. Because if WWE does well on Netflix, it's going to be sky's the limit for everything as far as live sports content is concerned. It's the only thing that's really appointment television anymore. You can watch whatever show you like whenever you want to. You can stream whatever show you like whenever you want to on Hulu or Netflix or Disney Plus or whatever it is.

Live sports and live entertainment is still at a premium and pro wrestling is as unique as a live sports and entertainment vehicle as there is. It's really an exciting time to be a pro wrestling fan right now. Okay, we could do this for two hours.

Unfortunately, we're out of time, but I have to ask you one last question. I've enjoyed every second of this. In about 30 seconds or so, let's say this is the panic button, my Yahoo button here. Okay, how close to the panic button are we regarding the Knicks? Like is it here? Is it hovering? We went from nine in a row to now three in a row,

losing to the sad sack magic. We've got the Thunder coming back to town. We've got the Raptors, who are supposed to be shit on Wednesday, but I'm terrified of them. How close to it are we right now? I'm, just take a few inches off the panic button. Okay. Bring it, like, at the top of your head phone. All right.

Okay, right here? Right here. All right. Like, I, you know, the thunder, the thunder loss didn't hurt me as much. See that what they did to the Boston Celtics the very next day, the thunder and their amazing team. And even in that loss,

I felt like Knicks fans and, you know, weren't terribly, you know, hurt by it because they are an incredible team, but I've said it all year long, man, the Knicks have an incredible starting five,

incredible team, incredible top heavyheavy talent. They need to shore up that bench scoring. They need to have a punch off the bench to give those incredible starters, their eventual all-stars, a break. We're starting to see it. It's the beginning of January. We shouldn't be running Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Josh Hart into the ground for 40 minutes. You know, you got guys in there that should be able to spell you for a few minutes.

And I'm not totally panicking yet because I think the time that was needed to sort of mesh offensively was necessary. Now it's time to go out and get some help. The trade deadline's coming up in about a month. Go out and get some people that you can get off the bench to really spell that time. See where we're at with Mitchell Robinson, if he's going to be ready to go by February or not. And give those young guys a chance.

Give Tyler Kolek a chance. Call up TJ Warren from the G League. Get a Dottie Ace a minute. You know, it doesn't got to be 20 minutes, but give them something. You know, this is the time to do it. Don't wait until March, April, where people get lemon booty and the games really matter. Do it now.

Throw them out here in January. Get them those reps so when it becomes real crunch time, you can trust them to go off the bench and get you some production. I'm not panicked just yet. I feel better now. I feel better.

You're the freaking man. I'm a huge fan of everything you do, my man. Thank you so much. Great to have you on and would love to have you on in the future as well. Really appreciate it. Appreciate you, Ariel. Thank you so much.

And it truly is an honor. Thank you. Thank you. There he is. The great Kazim Famuyide, who's joining us from, I think, the set of one of his shows. He does a great job with Carmelo Anthony and the boys over there at 7 p.m. in Brooklyn. Also, the Ringer Wrestling Show with David Shoemaker. It's a great thing that he's built for himself, and he's a former WWE creative team member,

so he really knows what goes on behind the walls over there. Great insight from him. Really appreciate his time and insight. Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Now, we move on to our next guest. We had him on a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about the launch of the GFL, but wanted to have him back on to talk about a few other things as well,

including the GFL launch, which by the way, the draft is coming up at the end of this month, rapidly approaching, I believe the 24th, which if my math is correct, that's in 17 days. Let's talk to the Motown phenom, Kevin Lee, who's back on the program.

There he is. Kevin, it's good to have you on twice in the span of a few weeks. This warms my heart. Do you know why, Kevin? Do you know why this warms my heart? Tell me. You know, we've had an up and down relationship over the years, and it was down, and then it was up, and then I think it was up, up, up, up, up,

and then I thought it, like, crashed around a year ago, and so I wasn't sure what was going to happen when you came up, up. And then I thought it like crashed around a year ago. And so I was, I wasn't sure what, what, what was going to happen when you came on and it was great. And then I heard from you on Instagram. I was like, Oh, we're, are we back up? Yeah, we've been up. I mean, it ain't never been for me, maybe some other people that I'm affiliated with, uh, you know, maybe, maybe some managers that, uh, that I've got, uh, we can say that, but as, as far as for me, no. And you know, I'm maybe some managers that I, that I've got, uh, we could say that, but as, as far as for me, no.

And you know, I'm a pretty straight up guy. So if I got a problem with you, you, you definitely would know. No, you know, I texted you, right? I texted you. Yeah, but you had a new number. I don't say a number. And I was like, man, we worked so hard to get back. And you're right.

It's probably that first point is probably that first. It was a new number. No, no. Or that, or that. I're right. It's probably that first point. It's probably that first point. It was the new number. New number deal. Or that. I tried texting your old number a couple times. It went green. And I was like, oh, man, man, maybe Ariel ain't doing too good. But then I see now you got this new show.

And I'm like, oh, OK, Ariel's back. We back up. And what better way than when you actually got the show back? I know you've been doing a bunch of other stuff on the side. This feels like home now. This feels like old times. After that first interview, I wanted to reach out to you so that we can get a proper one. I love that.

The first one with me and Anthony, we didn't really get a proper one. That's fair. By the way, are you in a kitchen or something? Where are you right now? Yeah, I'm in a kitchen. This is a food truck that I do on the side. Wow. I'm starting to branch out, get my entrepreneurship going. I do got to give some credit to my brother for getting me started in the food industry. I like this. I like doing it. Shout out to Braze.

Yeah. That's it, right? Shout out to Braze. What do you make there? What do you sell? I do ribs, I do oxtails I'm down in Hollywood, Florida So, you know, a lot of people know me for, you know, the slow cooked meats That's kind of what I do I put it on, I go train

And then when I get back, it's just the way you like it And of course, your brother, you know, world renowned now When it comes to food, critics, stuff, videos and all that Is he a part of this as well? Are you working together? No, not necessarily, but he's given me the inspiration for it. I think I inspired him to get started

in MMA, and he's inspired me to get started in the food industry. At the end of the day, the food industry, having a restaurant, that's something that I can pass down to my son, and that's something that's really, really long lasting. You know, we, we kind of feed off each other in that way. He, he inspires me. I inspire him. We, we kind of do it that way. But as far as like directly being involved with it, not, not necessarily, no.

Where is Kevin Lee heading into 2025? Because it has over the last couple of years, like I remember you retiring, you want to come back to the UFC. You've talked openly about thinking that maybe someone was blocking you from going to the UFC again, the contender series. You threw that out, that idea out. And now here you are with GFL. Where do you feel like you're at in life professionally, personally, as you head into this new year?

I want to compete at my highest level. I don't feel like I've really hit my potential yet and my true potential yet. I've had a lot of great fights, a lot of big fights. And sure, being back in the UFC would have been great just to have that competition. I do still feel like the UFC has the best competition out there. But for me right now, it's all about competing to the best

of my ability. I've already shown like I'm super tough. I'll fight whoever. I'll go balls to the wall. But I haven't really shown like a true fight IQ yet. You know, some of my fights have just been throwing everything at the kitchen sink. But now I really want to show the next level and, and kind of evolve a little bit into my skills. I think I'm one of the most talented guys out there. Uh, and now it's, it's time for my mind and body to really connect and really show through in, in, in the fights there. There's nothing like fighting.

Yeah. I'm doing this on the side. I love cooking and stuff like that. Uh, but at the end of the day, my heart still is in MMA. Even when I retired, it wasn't a it wasn't a true retirement. You never saw me lay my gloves down in a cage. You never really, you know, saw me out speak it like that. I'm not nowhere close to being retired. And I'm hearing a lot of people say, OK, just the old person's league and stuff like that. I'm 32 years old. So this is the prime of my career. I'm not stupid. I know I got three years left of competing at the highest level. And now is the time. Now is go time. So I'm not taking no time off and I'm making sure that I'm doing everything right so that I can really compete to my highest level.

Okay, so let's talk about GFL because we had that episode. Darren Owen was on. You were on. Anthony was on as well. And I thought you all did a great job of explaining what it was. But you don't need me to tell you this. There are some people who are very skeptical.

And I'll be honest, I'm a little bit skeptical as well. Not because of who they necessarily signed, but I'm skeptical of the format. I just believe that the fight game should be The biggest, best, sexiest fights This guy hates this guy, let's see I don't need all the other stuff I don't need a season, I don't need playoffs

I don't need standings and all that I understand and we see some of the format here And the championship and all the stuff that they're doing And they're going to have this draft and all that I feel like sometimes we try to wedge Traditional sports into the fight game And it doesn't necessarily work. It didn't work with the IFL and the PFL is having their issues as well. And that's the closest thing that we have to that right now. And so why am I wrong? By the way, for the record, I'm thrilled that people are

getting an opportunity. I don't think it's healthy for the sport of MMA for there just to be one or even two spots for fighters to earn money. And I hope that everyone gets paid and then some, and they get back pay for all the years that they should have gotten paid more. But as far as the GFL and the format and everything, why am I wrong?

And clearly you're a believer in it. Why are you right? I like, you know, they're coming up with a lot of new ideas, right? And you do see this in other promotions. They want to, like, stand out from the UFC. One thing that I do like about them is that they're really trying to make this on par with a professional sport, which if we go beyond the UFC, this is MMA that we're talking about.

I do think there's more levels that MMA can hit. And I think that this is something that's putting us on the right path. For me, at least as an athlete, when I'm looking at it, I'm looking at the contracts. I'm looking at what's in black and white. Because a lot of these promoters, they'll promise a lot of stuff. They'll do the song and dance. They'll promise you the stars and the moons. But at the end of the day, the and white is what really what matters and when you look at gfl's contract it's very uh transparent and it's very put together and i feel like that's a part that even the ufc is missing you know they there's a lot of dreams that they sell you but for the mma to take that next step up i do think that we need to be transparent about where the money's going,

who's getting paid what, and what's happening. I think that's going to be a next step for the athletes, really. When you look at the longevity of the UFC or you look at the longevity of MMA, we're kind of at a tipping point. If I'm a 16-year-old guy who's an extreme athlete, I got some choices to make. Okay, do I go NFL where there's guaranteed contracts? Do I go UFC where, you know, there's a hope and a dream, but there's a lot of storylines even today in 2025 that you see you got to be a number one pound- pound fighter for 10 plus years be the youngest UFC champion ever and fight all guys from Brazil and Ireland and you know Australia Europe you got to fight everybody and then you maybe be able to fight yourself for 30 million and people are going to drag you through the mud and say that you're not worth this and you're you've been the ufc's top pop pop or pound fighter forever or do you go another route

and you go you know down to mexico you have 18 fights against a a bartender and a plumber and then you come back to the to the u.s you have about three or four good fights and then you fight ryan garcia and you make $30 million. And nobody bats an eye. People even say that you got paid, that you got gypped on it. I'm talking about Dana Haney versus Jon Jones. If I'm 16 years old and I'm looking at these stats and I'm looking at these numbers, at the end of the day, if you want to recruit very, very high-level athletes, the black and white's got to be there. These people ain't going to put their lives on the line

and go through the pain of becoming a top fighter. For what? I mean, something's got to be there, and I think transparency is definitely the next stage that we need in the sport of MMA. Okay, that's a great point. I love the comparison, by the way, to Haney and John Jones and the routes that you can take, and that's why sometimes I laugh when people say that boxing is

broken and maybe, maybe it's broken in the sense that, you know, some of the guys are making too much where it's not sustainable, but it's certainly, you know, no one's really complaining about their paydays right now in boxing, especially with the, you know, with, with the, the presence of, of Turkey, Al-Sheikhudi arabia getting so involved these days and so for you before all this gfl stuff happened correct me if i'm wrong you you did say you were interested in going the contender series route to get back into ufc which is unique because usually contender series has been for prospects why why did you feel that way at the time because i want to i really want to compete it, for me, money isn't necessarily the biggest issue. I said, I'll take that fight for $5,000 on, on contender series. And I'll fight

the best contender that they feel like they have out there. Um, they weren't interested in that. Why? I don't know. Honestly, I didn't have much, uh, conversation with, with the UFC besides Sean Shelby. And he said he wasn't really interested in doing something like that. When I talked to Ali, and Ali tells me anything about the UFC, he said he's not interested at all. Why that is, I couldn't tell you. I've been part of some of the biggest fights in UFC history. I've finished off their Fox deal, going into the ESPN deal, and I'm a pretty easy guy to work with. I feel like I'm professional. I do what I need to do, and I don't rub too many people the wrong way. So why necessarily they didn't want to do that, didn't want me to go on

Contender Series to show that I'm still one of the top 155 pounders out there. I don't know, but I'll make sure that this next time that there's no doubt, especially me at 155. I don't feel like there's many fighters out there that compete with me at 155. So this next run, this next how many lightweights that I got to knock out to prove my point is what I'm going to do. Do you enter this chapter and this new run with the GFL with a chip on your shoulder to prove the UFC that they were wrong, to prove people who are scoffing at the idea of fighters like you getting this opportunity? Do you feel that or is that not something that you can carry? No, I feel it.

I feel it. I don't really do well with people doubting me um and i do feel like i got a lot of doubters out there i got a lot of people that think i'm finished i got a lot of people that that you know look at me one way or another um and yeah but that's a big part of a part of the motivation is is um proving a lot of people wrong and proving myself right. I've always felt like I've got to get a world championship. One way or another, I've got to get a world championship.

That's been my dream since I was 16. It's going to come to fruition in either 2025 or 2026. Khabib's team, I hear they hold all of the lightweight championships in the world. And one of my goals is to get back and compete against one of those guys. I can't sit here and tell you like, oh, I would love to fight Islam tomorrow. I would. But is it going to happen? Probably not. But there's a couple other guys. Usmanmagomedov I would love to compete against him There's a lot of guys Who are at the top of the weight class right now

Who I really feel like I could compete Very well against and beat those guys And for some of the newer fans I have to give you the utmost props Before it was cool to talk about fighting Khabib Before he was a champion You were talking about it You were calling him out

You were saying that you would fight him and the entire region, everyone from Dagestan. You were saying that, and you never got that opportunity for various reasons. And so that's why actually, if I'm being a thousand percent honest with you, I was surprised when I heard that you signed with Ali just because he's so entrenched with that crew. Was that awkward for you? Was that weird? And are you still represented by him? Uh, I am still represented by him. Uh, at the end of the day, that's, you know, he's my brother. Um, you know, I, I've got nothing but love and respect for Molly. Uh, and it goes both ways. You know, we've known each other for many, many years. Uh, is he involved with, with these other guys and, and are, is he closer to them absolutely does he not want

me to fight them yeah absolutely but uh at a certain point i think that the the the noise will be loud enough to where it makes sense to him and and that'll be the fight that we gotta have uh either against uzman or or or against one of these other guys that's definitely the fights that that i want to have happen now there's a there's a road and there's many things that I've got to accomplish before then, but that's just another step and another motivation for me to get that done. Okay, and so at the moment, Usman is with PFL slash Bellator. It's all the same. What about them?

They've got something going on. Yeah, what about them? Did you talk to them before GFL came up? Was there any interest there on your part, on their part? Yeah, PFL was interested. But, you know, with them canceling shows and I just didn't see much of as big of a benefit as with GFL. You know, I think GFL is something new. I think GFL is something that can really be established. And when I sat down and talked with Darren Owens, I loved everything that he's trying to get accomplished with this. He's trying to really fix a lot of problems that we've been having at MMA. And one of my problems with some of the fans of the sport, which your show talks to the hardcores, right?

Your show is for the hardcore fans. And one of my problems with them, like we, for years, we say, this is a problem. This is a problem at MMA. And one of Dana's biggest things is, okay, you think it's easy? You go start your own. And you actually got a guy

who's putting his money where his mouth is. He's actually starting his own promotion to try and solve some of these issues. If it works, fucking fantastic. If it works, great. If it doesn't work, if doing a 50-50 split with the fighters and the promotion doesn't work, and that's what we see here, then it's going to give transparency into what this sport actually is. And if is actual sport if you can only pay guys 18 percent of of the back end and that's the only thing that that works in this sport well is is this not really a sport you know this is more a bunch of poor guys fighting for billionaires chunk change you know

that we're fighting for the tips uh 18 percent is what you pay your your waitress at applebee's and you know that's kind of i guess if that's what it is that's what it is but i'm at least willing to to put my life and put my reputation and put my career on the line to to see the sport actually grow and do a little bit better and better um what kind of map has has gfl given you as far as when you might fight first for them? You know, because that's the appeal as well. It's going to be multiple fights, and there's this format, and we have this draft coming up at the end of January. What kind of information have you received at this point? April 4th is the first event. I've heard a couple names tossed around.

The one that interests me the most is Tony Ferguson. Ooh. You know, I think Tony, uh, he's had his ups and downs in his career, but we, we, we've had a great fight, um, for the, for the UFC championship. And I think that's something that, that a lot of people can get behind and, and that's a fight that I really, really want. So, uh, April 4th is the first event. Uh, we're about four months out. I'm already... Let me show you how I'm working with. Oh, yes. It's a nice little show.

Four months out. I'm working every day. I'm working hard. We're going to put on a good fight. Is Ferguson with GFL? Is there talks of them signing him to fight you yeah okay he's in talks with him interesting i'll never by the way i'll never forget that fight week uh you'll remember it right the the the week in las vegas after the

shooting i mean what you guys did you really gave las vegas a little bit of an outlet after a horrific um horrific scene Just a few days prior I thought they were Going to cancel the event Uh One of the more emotional And And memorable events

And what a great fight That was That would be super interesting And so Um You know regarding that You know that Um

You know we talked about Like the The payment And And who's behind it And all that Do you have any idea I've been trying to ask around

Like who Who is behind GFL Who Where's the money coming from Because I'm'm understanding that they're paying quite well, and this is music to my ears, but we've also seen in the past, you've seen this as well, people come out with a lot of money, and that dries up very, very quickly. And so do you have any intel on that? You know, I heard Chael Sonnen say, you know, when you're a rich guy, you kind of want to be known.

But I don't think that's necessarily true. I think some rich people, they really don't want the spotlight. I think it's an investment for them. I think that they want to sign with with the Netflix or sign with Amazon Prime, get this thing major, major uh broadcasting deal um and it's an investment for them and you know to me it makes sense you know and like i said they want to help out the sport so i'm all for it as far as who who is the man behind the money i'm not the person i'm not the guy to ask that's you know i you know i kicked it with you straight i appreciate it i appreciate it i appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Do you have concerns? No, there, there, there's no concerns for me. Um, especially when we get people behind it, you know, when, when this was first, um, introduced to me and a lot of people were like, Oh, is it going to happen? Is it going to happen? I mean, it happens if we make it happen. You know, we're, we're, we're the ones who really control the industry. So if we want it to happen,

we can make it happen. And again, that's part of my problem with even some fighters. Like a lot of fighters are cowards. You know, they want to see things done differently, but they don't want to do, they don't want to put themselves out there and actually do the thing that's different. They'd rather, you know, skate the line or tote the line and not bump any heads. But if you're an entrepreneur, if this is what you do, sometimes that's got to happen. You know, you got to ruffle up some feathers. And I'm never afraid of none of that. I'm not afraid of anything. So I only fear God. Alhamdulillah.

Yo, to that point, I've heard from a lot of fighters and people close to them regarding this class action lawsuit Saying like i don't know if i should take the Money because this you know this might ruin my Relationship or this might piss them off it's like You know you know that they like they Settled on this amount like you are entitled To this like they're fully aware of

This uh and so i don't you Know i i can't call them the c word As you did your fellow fighter much Respect but I've been asked time and again if we ever will see some kind of association or union, and I don't think we're seeing it in my lifetime in large part because of this. Yeah, they're cowards. I mean, this is after it's all said and done, right?

I mean, the settlement is already done. You didn't have to do anything, bro. You just sat back and now you're scared just to, your name isn't even going to be put out there. So imagine when somebody actually does have to attach their name to it and say, okay, I'm standing up for what's right. They're fucking, they're cowards, bro. Like a lot of these guys are, you know, they're fake tough guys. You know, that ain't nothing to me. I'm not really, I'm not really afraid of whatever the consequences may be. They may be. You know, when I take a fight against a guy who's bigger, stronger, faster, younger, all of that stuff, it is what it is. I'm going to do my best and I'm going to put my best foot forward and put my faith in God and I'm going to work hard to make sure it's done. And once I get to this level of, you know, the spot in my career where I'm a veteran now, and not only that, but I'm a grown-ass man.

Like, I've got to stand up for the things that I believe in. I've got to stand up for what's right and to hell with the consequences. Respect on that stance as well. Something I've always wanted to ask you over the last couple of years, and I can understand why initially the question might, I don't know, come off the wrong way.

It's coming from a good place, but I was just wondering, for the longest time we knew who Kevin Lee was, you're in the UFC, you're in these big fights, and your brother was, you know, kind of an up-and-coming fighter, sort of like finding his footing. And then he explodes, and it happens to coincide

with you kind of being out of the UFC and whatnot. Was that hard for you to come to terms with? Was there any sort of weird feelings about that? That's normal. That's life. I feel like I may feel that way. Like this is just a part of life. You go up and down. It's a sibling. I don't know the state of your relationship but was that

was that hard to digest at any point as he's exploding during this period in your life no not not at all because and I've said it many times like I always thought that he would be bigger than me and I truly wanted that for him. So once it's happening, I know I feel like everything is happening the way if anything, it kind of validated a lot of my feelings on the inside. Like, oh, OK. All right. I ain't been crazy this whole time. Like the kid really is. He really is going to be bigger. And then not only that, I've got a baby brother, too, who's currently serving a sentence who's going to be out pretty soon. And I think he's going to be bigger than I think he's going to be massive. If he can keep his head on straight, I think he's really going to be massive. So I hear what you're saying.

OK, yeah, I'm battling these injuries. It's kind of put my career on hold for a couple years. But, no, if anything, it just validated everything that I already knew to be true. He's a special kid, and I'm nothing but overjoyed. I mean, he's got my nieces, and he's given them a really, really great life. So, yeah, i'm nothing but proud overjoyed those emotions are a lot bigger than whatever you know shit that i'm going through in my career this is mma like this is a very very dangerous sport when i when i'm toward both knees against uh olivera i i knew that it would take me a long long road to to get back. And I even bumped my head a couple of times on the way back.

But that doesn't that doesn't really bother me too much. I'm just going to keep it going and keep pushing. You know, the hardest part is getting over the injuries. The hardest part has been the injury for me and rebuilding my body and doing it in the correct way without tearing something else. And I feel like I'm finally at a place where I've done that. I've taken a couple months from the hard sparring and really pushing my body to the limit and really let myself heal. And April is going to be a great turnaround for me. By the way, when does your baby brother get out uh he could be out in march of this year um if not march then then he's scheduled to be out in october oh wow and and a fighter

yeah he's gonna be yeah he's gonna fight he's interested he want to fight and uh i'm telling you if you thought that i was anything this kid is is he's he's a different level. He's bigger than me and he's just tough. And he's been through, you know, the penitentiary now. So I think he's I think he's going to be massive. I think he's going to be huge. I think he's going to be, you know, bigger than me and Keith combined. Wow. And I tell him this and, you know, he's sitting in in prison and it doesn't look like it.

But I don't know. Sometimes I can see the future. What weight? That's to be determined. Honestly, I don't even know how much he weighs right now. I know he's been eating good and, you know, he's been doing a lot of pushups. So we'll see. We'll see when he gets out.

Maybe lightweight, maybe welterweight, somewhere in there, you know, dependent. We're going to see. I got to say, this has really warmed my heart. Great to catch up with you, Kevin. Really, really happy for you. Wish you nothing but the best. I hope that this succeeds. I'm looking forward to the next few months, seeing how it all kind of plays out.

And I wish you luck, the best of luck with Braised by Kevin Lee. That's amazing. I love that you're doing that. And you're welcome on the show anytime. That has always been my feeling. So thank you for reaching out and thank you for coming back on. It's really been great to catch up. Always, Ariel.

Appreciate you. And like you said, I really want to see this thing succeed. I want to see GFL do big things and actually push the industry forward and get some transparency. Enough of these backdoor deals and enough of these, you know, you don't know how much a guy is getting paid. I think that's going to be the thing to really push our sport to the next level. And we can start stealing athletes that are going over to the NBA, that are going over to boxing. At the end of the day, I love MMA. And I want to see you do it big thanks love it thank you kevin good luck to you thanks there he is the motown phenom the great kevin lee joining us uh really great to hear from him again and wish him nothing but the best in 2025 can't wait for our next chat but it has been oh it has been a little over three years since we last spoke to the great kane velasquez of course former ufc heavyweight champion at one time uh the face you can make a strong case, of the UFC.

Made history when he became the first Mexican-American to win a major MMA title, of course, that was back in Anaheim. Many moons ago when he defeated Brock Lesnar, one of the good guys in the game. And he's kind enough to join us right now to talk about the comings and goings in his life. Is he there? Kane, my old friend My man How are you? I'm doing well

I gave you the old fist bump Remember we used to do the fist bump? My guy The air fist bump, yes, I remember Those were the days So great to see you and thank you for doing this I really appreciate it It's been a while since we talked And I know a lot has been going on in your life I want to see you and thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it. Yeah, you

know, it's been a while since we talked and I know a lot has been going on in your life. I want to give you a hug and a kiss off the bat, my man. And you know how many people have your back in this community and in this sport, certainly on this show. And so, you know, I just want to give you some love and say how much we are pulling for you and thinking of you. Thank you for that, Ariel. I appreciate it to you and everyone else out there that's been showing support. So, yeah, thank you. I know you have a pending legal issue. So just off the bat, my understanding is you can't probably talk about any of this, right?

You have a big date coming up in January. That's accurate, correct? Yeah, January 24th, um a a sentencing um and we'll kind of see how you know we'll kind of see what what happens but um i've been doing the best that i can you know um with everything that i've been doing as far as work um you know and we'll just kind of see how that how works out. Okay. You doing good, though, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Yes, always, man. No, man, I am blessed just to be here, you know.

I'm loving life. I'm loving growth. I'm loving everyone around me growing. I love that I still get to do what I get to do. So just that I'm here, I'm always, I'm always grateful, um, for it all. So, so yes. Um, when, when we last spoke, by the way, you were, you were introducing me to the world of ayahuasca and all these fun things. Do you still, do you still partake and believe in that? Oh yes. Yes, very much so. Yeah, man. I've been, I've been working, um, with some fighters, some ex fighters, um, even some, um, some military guys,

you know, guys that, uh, veterans that need, um, number one, a lot of healing, you know, um, number one, a lot of healing. And then from then on, uh, integration on, on how to incorporate what you learn from the medicine going in and then just using it in your everyday 3D life. So very much so. I see the benefit in it. For me, it's a form of worship. It's a form of connecting to the, uh, to the divine, connecting with my true self, my higher self. Um, you know, we're here. Number one is to refine ourselves to constantly get better, right. To turn that, that lead into gold, um, be that, be that shining light. And, um, that's the number one reason why we're here. You know, we get caught up in doing things that, that don't serve us, but it's, it's all a part of our growth.

It's hard. It's all a part of our learning. Um, as long as you get to live from your heart, you're going towards the right steps. So, um, still working with him and I'm working with others as well. So yes. By the way, what is the appropriate amount of times to do that in a year? I'm sure you can't do it every day, right? Is it a monthly thing?

Is it a weekly thing? What's the appropriate, one time a year. Okay. Depending on the person, one time a year, maybe twice a year, depending on if you really need it. But it's about going in, discovering yourself a little more, discovering yourself in this type of way, or just learning from yourself in this type of way from plant medicine. And then going out to 3D, going out, living and incorporating what you learned into everyday life. And how do you get there without medicine, right? It's meditation. Um, it's, it's, um, gratitude, positive affirmations. Um, so the goal is to learn from it, to heal from it, but not to be on it all the time, not to use it all the time. The goal is for you to be whole eventually. And that's, yeah. Okay. Wow. I find this stuff fascinating. As you know, last time I was peppering you with

questions. You did pop up in the news, C over the past week um that you you've you've linked up with gfl uh you're a manager and we also found out that uh javier mendez your longtime coach the head man over at ak is going to be a head coach if you will can you explain this to me what is your involvement with gfl this upstart organization hoping to have their first event in april of this year yeah so i got the honor um you know to be the team manager for um team dubai and the great thing about that is number one is i get to work closely with my with my coach my mentor my my brother my uh javier mendez and he and he's coaching the Dubai team. So, you know, kind of the same things that we did as far as creating AKA, the team aspect of that,

you know, doing that for the GFL, you know. GFL's coming on to do the team aspect of MMA, something that hasn't been done before and the way that they're doing it. So I'm very excited just to be a part of that. I'm very excited to, you know, be with GFL and help that growth of this sport and just create something great for fans you know that's that's what it's about right creating um just great fights a great organization um for the fans but also for for the fighters as well and so you know we just had kevin leon who's going to be competing for them this has been a big story over the last month because there are people who are excited and there are people who are critical of the format

they they they feel like it may not work tell us tell us why we should be excited tell us why you think this is going to work why you should be excited um it's nfl the nba um you know but also like the team aspect number one you know so having weights teams um i think the great thing about the team aspect of things is when guys match up over and over again let's say they have you know when they have a regular season, they match up, you know? So, yes, they fought one time at that, you know, in that regular season.

The great things happen is when they learn from each other. The next fight, it's something different. Maybe the other guy, you know, gets the wet, so it's kind of like, you kind of do this, where you're just like, they're over and over again so the tension just keeps getting bigger and bigger um once guys fight against each other then you're

going to see that evolution because they don't just see each other one time you know a year or one time every other every other year it's, we're constantly going to compete with each other. Where are you going to see guys really evolve and learn from that particular fight? That's what always interested me. Um, when we go back to like wrestling or we'll go back to, um, to other like team sports that were team see each other over and over again. There's a sense of evolution. It's who can make the adjustments, get better,

and then show it when the time comes. So the team aspect, but also the competition where guys get to compete with each other over and over again. And yeah. guys get to compete with each other over and over again um and yeah um at any point do you think the the itch will re-emerge for you if you know if all goes well later on this month do you have any you're still a young guy you're only 42 and i think i felt like it ended uh and i say this by the way as a 42 year old so i'm saying this to myself as well uh do you uh do you think the itch is going to come back is the itch there because it felt like the the mma run if i'm being honest it felt like

it ended somewhat abruptly you know i just man for me that was just my road you know um i still get what i need you know for me um again for me my road wasn't to go in and do a specific like I was going in to learn about myself that's what it was you know I loved MMA I loved what I was learning I love I was learning about myself I was learning about the depths of myself every day in MMA, in the fights, and I learned what I needed to learn. Okay. What did you learn? What did you learn? That I can do anything, that I last forever, that I will never give up. I will continue to learn forever. That learning is never going to leave me.

It's always going to be present in the part of me. I will always continue to love learning of myself. That's what I learned. That I will never break because once, once, once you break and once you break down, there's a rebuild.

So I understand all that. I get it. Um, for me now it's learning in different ways and also helping in teaching. That's, that's my passion now. You know, um, I've learned of myself in the sport of MMA. different ways and also helping and teaching that's that's my passion now you know um i've learned of myself in the in the sport of mma i learned what i'm capable of this you know with

this as well number one um and now it's helping those you know it's helping the collective if you if you what you want to say so when you say that like you you got what you wanted out of it you learned about yourself was there a moment where you're like okay i'm good do you remember that moment where you're like okay there's there's nothing to squeeze out of this i've learned what i needed to learn i've gained the knowledge i needed to gain and now i'm done yeah there was a point where I was kind of bored. I was bored of it, you know? There was a point when I was bored of it.

And I would say it was during the Nganou training camp. Mm-hmm. I was just bored of it. Like, it wasn't fulfilling to me anymore at that moment. Um, so I, I went into prayer and I, and I asked God to, uh, to have this, have this not be my, my, my road. And then that's it to, to give me something else to be really passionate about. To show me what else is out there because I feel like I'm done

with this. I'm bored with this. I want something else. I want something else to teach me. Something else to learn from. Shortly thereafter, the WWE opportunity popped up. Do you have regrets going down that path? No, it was something, again, it was something that for me,

it was living a childhood dream. It was something that was very fun, a great experience. And again, you know, it's all a learning experience, right? No, that wasn't. It was something that I wanted to do. I did. Um, and again, like the road of learning never stops. That's why we're here. You know, we're here to learn and teach each other and from each other. Um, so now it's, for me, it's helping those others, you know, helping the people coming up, um, learning

from the, from the guys that are training now, the guys that are there in the position that I was a couple of years ago. Um, so I find that a lot with plant medicine. I find that I see that how it helps people. I see how I'm very good, um, in teaching it. I'm, I'm very good. Um, you know, in ceremony. So, um, again, like I am just grateful to be here. I'm grateful that I get to look for my heart. I'm grateful that, um, I'm still learning and I'm still teaching. So, yeah. Do you wish that the WWE run would have lasted longer

or did you get what you needed out of it? Did you learn whatever you needed to learn? Were you fulfilled and are content with the length of time that you were there? No, yeah. It was, again, for me more so the working with the Lucha guys, that was really something that hit home for me. It was that. The WWE as well, but something about the Lucha, the style of Lucha that they do. That for me was something that I had to do for, for, for me, for my, for my childhood,

you know, kind of thing. Um, so again, I'm glad I did it like, Hey, this, you know, this again, again, as far as athletes go, we just, we go out there, we show what, you know, we'll show what we're made of. We show who we are. And that's what I did. And again, man, it just keeps on going to, uh, to learning and, and, and just loving what you're doing in the present moment. Do you watch a lot of MMA these days?

I do. Um, obviously everything's on YouTube or, you know, um, Instagram, you know? So yes, you know, um, Instagram, you know? So yes, you know, to see the new guys, see, um, what the evolution of sport is, you know, of, of this sport. Um, and it was, and it was like, when I was in it, you know, um, I saw the evolution kind of grow, how these guys are going to get so good. And's happening right that's just evolution in general um so so i i do um you speak of that evolution i i i have often said i don't know if you've heard this but uh there's a guy named tom aspinall who's the interim heavyweight champion and i have said that he reminds me of if in a fictitious world you and

frank meir had a child he reminds me of like the byproduct of you guys like he just the way his body moves his skill set and and that's like the ultimate compliment you're two of the greatest of all time do you see what i'm seeing here do you see any similarities between you and tom and and could i just ask what do you think of tom and how he's been doing as of late um what he's been doing great obviously you know champion of the world amazing you know he's been some tough guys to get there um he's yeah i see what you're saying as far as like the body type the the the movement the speed um you know the the striking the the strength that he has so it's great man i just um

i'm just i'm yeah just just great stuff and um you know for me it's obviously it's the uh it's the matchups you know like the matchups was what makes everything interesting so um i think it's i think it's great what he's doing you think he beats Jon Jones? do you think he beats Jon? no I don't think he does why not? so me just watching him I kind of see his pattern a little bit and it's striking the way he comes in and strikes um i think john i think john sees it too okay i think i think with that just because again john's a

he studies man he does his homework you know he's a master at this um he analyzes things he studies you over and over again um I think just for that reason he's gonna know what to do so I don't think

he beats John no and this is fascinating to me are you saying that he has a pattern that if you study him enough he kind of telegraphs things well you you usually said that but um well i mean i was wondering if you like what is the pattern everybody has a everybody has a pattern right okay that's a fight pattern yeah um and then some, so some people disguise it better than others. The simple fact is the way Tom, the way that he comes in and fights, he does have a pattern that's somewhat easier to find when he comes in and strikes. And I think you know what we're talking about.

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, a lot of things? Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, you know, a lot of things come with that. It's, um, disguising your pattern. It's, you know,

throwing fakes here and there before. Um, but when he comes to attacks, he comes in and attacks. It's a hundred percent full go, you know, he comes in, um,

glides in, lunges in and does his attack. Again, not that it's not effective. It is. You know, he's done great things with it. I mean, look where he's at now. I'm not saying anything away from him. No, he is.

But I think the type of guy that Jon Jones is, I think he studies him and he beats him because of that. Wow. Amazing insight. Can I ask your day-to-day, your week-to-week, how are you spending your days these days and how much of that time is devoted to coaching guys? Coaching guys? I coach guys six days a week,

sometimes seven days a week. But I mainly go in and I usually do one part of the day. I usually go in at nighttime and train guys one-on-one. I have guys on the weekends that I train as well. I mainly do on the stand-up. Obviously, I can coach the wrestling, a little bit of jiuiu jitsu as well, you know, whatever guys kind of want to learn, but I feel like I'm best, I can best benefit myself and others is by helping them with the striking game. Um, and the wrestling that they, if they need it. So I do it six days a week. Um, so that, that's my like work time. Um, again,

I do the plant medicine, you know, where I have people come in, I'll get them on a ceremony if they need it, you know, um, kind of do a little integration beforehand and after. Um, and a lot of alone time for me going out in nature. That's one thing that we don't really get in this life. Well, I guess in this timeframe of life right now, we're always with somebody. We're always have a phone in our ear, but it's rare that we're just quiet inside, you know, and then quiet outside. So find a place where, you know, it's quiet. Like that's where you really get to learn about yourself. You know, you really get to be comfortable with yourself. You get to understand the, the, uh, even more the, uh, the, the depths of yourself in, in a place where you don't have a lot of stimulation, you know, like you can always be stimulated.

That's addictions. That's addictions in all these different sorts. To get rid of those addictions, be okay with yourself, with nothing. That's the true growth, the true power there. So that's, I mean, that's kind of what I'm doing area was that, you know, it's, um, it's trying to refine myself to the best that I can. I love that. By the way, are there people who come to you and don't know that you're a former champion that are just coming to you for this type of insight and guidance?

Or is it all people within the world that know who you are? I think people, yeah, I mean, I think some people know me from like the fighting and, you know, in the past. And once we get to talk about like plant medicine, then, you know, they kind of understand that I've been working with this for a while. And again, like we're always here to learn. I'm always here to learn and, and, and, and teach and learn from each other and teach, uh, each other as well. Um, but I think, and like, I found a new passion and that's, that's for,

that's for growth. You know, that's, that's That's for the true growth. MMA as well is that. It's growth of yourself. It's a lot of healing of yourself. It's a lot of learning of yourself. It's learning what you're capable of. But I truly feel like once you get to a point that once you're truly healed, you don't need to fight anymore.

There's no fighting that had to be done you're healed you're good there's no more fighting um what if you can't answer this i understand but we talked about this on the show were you aware of all the love that you were getting when you were you know when you were behind bars were you aware and and if so how like we talked about on the show i wonder if if he has any connection, is any idea of the support that you were getting? And if so, if you were aware, how did that make you feel? So I guess I could just feel the energy of what was going on. And, um, I just knew there was a lot of energy being brought my way, a lot of people that were thinking of me. The only people that were able to tell me was people close to me

that were telling me when they come in and see me, they would just say, everyone is supporting you. That's all they would say. But I would, I would feel that depending on knowing like what happened and where I was at, I could just feel the energy. And, um, you know, I would just tap into that, man. Um, you know, again, we have a lot of time to, uh, a lot of alone time in jail so um i would you know respond in in meditation and just say thank you for for all of this thank you for all the love and i'm saying it now here um thank you for all the support all the love um i appreciate it forever and i thank you forever wow uh hopefully

this all works out in a positive way. Would love to talk about it with you more when it's all said and done, and you can, but fully respect that you cannot at this point. I love that you're involved with the GFL. I love that you seemingly are. When I talk to you, what's so interesting, Cain, is that, like, you know, sometimes I think you would agree when you were, you know, a very active and popular and champion fighter, I don't think you love doing these interviews very much.

I don't think it was a favorite part of the job for you. And you didn't give us a ton, not because you were a mean guy. I think you were just kind of reserved it to yourself. You were the antithesis of DC in a way, right? In that regard. But now you radiate such love and happiness and positivity. I find you to be such a fascinating person to speak to. So the evolution of your character is a really great thing to witness as well. Thank you, Ariel. I appreciate that, man. Again, yeah, there was a lot of learning for myself that I had to do when I was fighting. And for me, that was perfect is to, um, you know, just to, just

to open up this, that's, uh, that's what it was. Um, I didn't want a lot of people to really get close to me, you know, um, kind of kept everyone far away. Um, but that was my road. And again, I appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you for the, uh, for the kind words, um, talking to you. Likewise, same thing here thank you thank you for the uh for the kind words um talking to you likewise same thing here you know for the love so thank you very much brother we

have your back cane uh we're thinking of you we're pulling for you uh we hope it all goes well and can't wait to see what you and javier and everyone does with the gfl and hopefully we'll get a chance to speak later on this year as well about all of that as it progresses so much love my friend and all the best to you much love continued success brother thank you thank you thank you kane there he is the great kane velasquez el campeon himself the original uh how great was that i mean what's better than that um man i can't imagine what he has been through over the past few years uh thinking him, he's got a big date coming up In just a couple of weeks The 24th I do believe

He'll get his sentencing Plead no contest recently And remember when that happened It happened just a few months after his last appearance on the show He was last on the show in October of 2021 Happened in I think February of The incident, which you can read about and just, you know, a very tough situation that he has seemingly dealt with, with the most amount of grace possible. And so let's see how it plays out for him. We are wishing him the best, has always been a great ambassador of the sport,

a lovely gentleman, and someone that I've really enjoyed speaking to over the years and covering so that that one really warmed my heart and and i'm really wishing him the best um we move along now and uh say hello to uh a wonderful character in his own right he has a massive opportunity coming up on january 18th in manchester was supposed to be darren till against against Tommy Fury. Fury pulls out for the weirdest of reasons, apparently because he thinks that Darren was serious that he was going to kick him or at least attempt to kick him. And in walks in pretty boy himself, Anthony Taylor, who has made quite a name for himself in the world of influencer boxing. He has kind of, he has found a new path. He was an MMA fighter, saw an opening, God bless him,

and he has enjoyed tremendous success, and now he'll be headlining this Misfits card coming up in 13 days in Manchester, excuse me, 11 days in Manchester against Darren Till. A lot of attention. It's going to be airing on DAZN from the Co-op Live in beautiful Manchester, and he is kind enough to join us right here.

And now on the program. Let us say hello to Anthony Taylor. Hello, Anthony. How are you? Man, what's going on? Sorry if I look rough. I literally, as you see, I'm sweaty as a motherfucker.

I got my sparring gear on because I literally just got done sparring 12 rounds. So I'm ready to go, Ariel. How are you feeling, big dog? I appreciate you jumping on after sparring um and i and i appreciate the fact that you are ready to go and so could i ask you this is a massive opportunity but first things first your your take on tommy fury pulling out of this fight it was cited as oh you know he didn't want to get kicked. He was not afraid, but was bothered by the threat of being kicked. Do you believe this, or do you think there's something else at play here?

I think there's something else at play. You talk about his dad, you know. I mean, when you look at Tommy, he's not a reliable guy. And I told people, Tommy and Tyson are totally two completely different guys. You know, Tyson's more like that good, charming toilet paper, and Tommy's that cheap Costco toilet paper. You can't compare the both, you know. But when you talk about Tommy, what can you expect?

There's always something when you're talking about the theories and Tommy and whoever's involved with him in this camp. Okay, you're such a good speaker and I want you to get your shine, but the connection isn't great right now, Anthony. It's very pixelated. Is it the Wi-Fi? Let me get out of here.

Hold on. Let me do this. All right, all right, all right. Let me do this stuff. Hold on. Okay, so let's reconnect with him. We don't have to... Well, do your thing, guys, behind the scenes, and when he's better, let me know, okay?

Absolutely. Okay, thank you, guys. Thank you. I want to give Anthony Taylor his chance to really, you know, make an impact here, and that was just a little pixelated. I understand he's in the gym, so much love and respect.

Misfits 20, by the way, goes down on January 18th on DAZN. Main card starts at 2 p.m. Eastern. Our good friend, Wade Plemons, on the card, not fighting much to GC's chagrin, HSTikitaki. He's now fighting Masai Warrior. And I dropped my bottle

I was so upset about that piece of news I know losing the Tiki Taki fighter It's bad What can you tell us by the way of Masai Warrior Yeah huge one for sure Big one Look at that shirt Jesus

You can't just pop up like that Wow Holy shit That's a beauty right there That's when things Were right in this country Wow Coming off the big win

Over Wolves Six in a row First six game winning streak Since 1967 NBD Wow Look at that What is that?

I have to say I mentioned it yesterday On the award show No it's great The sleeve I think it's great i mean it fits perfectly sleeves are a little i don't have big enough guns here for these it's nice i think it's great i kind of i feel like i need to size up one you know no i think you look

great i think you look great okay more on that shirt in a moment let's go back to anthony taylor and uh see if the connection is a little bit better oh yeah look at you in the car yo yo yo you look better yeah i had to go in the car you know i'm saying look ariel i am ready for this massive cut a promo cut a promo let us know cut a promo look i've been manifesting this moment since day one hey ariel remember i promised you back when i was fighting in hawaii i said i was gonna make it to wwe watch i'm gonna make it to wwe i promised you that and i'm gonna make, too, by the end of this year. Really? That soon? Oh, yeah. But by the way, you're killing it in the Influencer game. Why do

you need WWE? Hey, look, hey, nothing like Wrestle. Look, if I can make myself an action figure in Walmart and Target, look, I'm definitely taking that road. Triple H, Stephanie, look, if y'all watching this, look, give me a shot at WWE. I'm willing to commit, put in on the work.

Hell, I'm still going to fight and do what I have to do because there ain't nobody who can entertain the crowd and the fans like the pretty boy can do. Okay, I love it. Could I ask you, how did this opportunity come about for you? This is a massive deal. Dare I say the biggest fight of your life, MMA, boxing, influencer boxing. Darren Till's a big deal. It's a main event. It's on DAZN.

It's in 11 days in a massive arena. How did this come about? Look, you know, I messaged Darren Till like five, six months ago, Ariel. If you ask Darren Till himself, you're like, yeah, this Malteser messaged me, wanted to fight. I was calling out Darren Till before Jake Paul, before KSI, before anybody, because I wanted to challenge myself. When you got Jake Paul fighting retired MMA fighters or guys who are not relevant, I was like, hey, let me fight Darren Till, who is still young, still relevant, still game to fight. I want

to test myself. And look, the opportunity came when Tommy pulled out. I knew Tommy wasn't going to fight. It's just his mindset. He hasn't fought in like over a year. So the mindset of trying to take on an opponent like Darren Till who's game, that's a massive step for Tommy on his comeback fight. So I knew I'm going to get this opportunity to take advantage. And I'm going to finish

Darren Till with inside three rounds. So what do you make of Darren at this point in his career? I've seen you guys go back and forth quite a bit. There seems to be no love lost. Some are saying, oh, he doesn't have any more. Here are some of the tweets. You're saying you're equivalent of a dejji he's probably has the skill same set as dejji dejji this is ksi's brother yeah i think they're both similar skill set no come on back to my boy this is a former ufc title contender he fought tyron woodley dejji is just a dude who plays fifa on youtube, and Deji has better boxing skills than Darren Till. For real? I mean, look,

technique-wise, Deji's better technique-wise, but when we talk about experience-wise, yeah, but Deji has better technique than Darren Till. We saw what happened to Mike Perry, this tough, bare-knuckle brawler from BKFC got his ass beat up

by Jake Paul. And we all know how game Mike Perry is when it comes to striking. Ain't no difference when it comes to Darren Till. He going to get his ass whooped, too. And after I whooped his ass, look, the fight next to talk about, Ariel, is Anthony Taylor versus Jake Paul. Okay, fair enough. So, you know, we tweet out the stuff as it's going on, clips and who's on the show, we're live. Darren hit up one of my producers when he saw that you were coming on and asked if he could jump on too.

Are you okay with this? This is your time, so I don't want to steal your thunder. Come on, he's been quiet when it comes to talking crap. Bring him on. Okay, so in a minute we'll bring him on. We'll have to set him up with the Zoom. So after this question, we should be be good you're okay with that i don't want you to think that your thunder is being stolen but i think this could be quite interesting yeah i mean look man ain't nobody hey ariel you see how great i can be you see the promos i can cut there ain't nobody who can do things bigger than i can when it comes to promo i'm the most electrifying man in the sports entertainment currently now okay Okay, well, they're actually telling

me he's here and ready to go. So let's bring in Darren Till. Is he really there? Is Darren really there? The pride of Liverpool? And there he is. There he is, Darren Till. Hello, Darren. Hey, why have you got this boom on the show? Hey, I can't even hear you. You sound like a Malteser,

bud. Like, what's going on, man? I'm gonna break your jaw when I see you. Watch. I promise you I'm going to finish you inside three rounds, Darren. I'm going to torture you. And after I torture you, I'm going to torture Jake Paul. What's going on? Darren.

Why? Why do I have all that energy? Look, it used to be exciting because we're a scouser. That's Liverpool, our scousers. You're really quiet. I don't know if you're a scouser. That's Liverpool. They're scousers. You're really quiet. I don't know if they're scared or bitch-made. What's your name?

Why are you so quiet, Darren? What's your name? Why are you about to get into a real fight? Because you know he's about to fight a real fighter who's coming with fire? If Tommy Fury couldn't knock me out, what makes you think you're going to knock me out?

Why do you think Tommy Fury really pulled out the fight? Look, man, because... Because Tommy Fury said that I was knocking all of the pro boxers who he sparred out and he pulled out. It wasn't because of no head kick. It was because he knew I was knocking everyone out.

So, like, I don't know what you're planning to do, but it ain't going to be knocking me out. Like, you're just going to get beat and just... I'm going to finish you, Darren. I'm definitely going to finish you, Darren. I promise I'm going to finish you.

Okay. Okay. Ain't nothing you can do for me to stop beating on you. I'm going to make. Okay. Okay. Ain't nothing you can do for me to stop beating on you. I'm going to make your face beat up my face. Darren, can I ask, just before you jumped on, I don't know if you heard it. He said that Deji, who is the younger brother of KSI, amateur boxer at best, he said that he's a better boxer than you.

Did you hear that? Regardless, that is what he said. Your's a better boxer than you did you hear that regardless that is what he said your response to that statement okay we're gonna fight next week like it's nothing to say hey see ariel i tell you they give you different energies but look when it comes to social media it's all raw raw raw but when it comes to fights, it's a different energy. Well, hang on. How does that mean to social media? Because when I've seen Tommy and his family, I was

different. So what are you on about? I need a more exciting Darren Till. Someone who's a scouser. I want that scouser from the UFC. Do you want me to be totally honest? I actually like you, but I'm not excited for this fight with you because you're shit.

I'm just going to beat you. You're just shit. I'm sorry to be disrespectful, but you're really, really shit. You fall over your feet, your wing punches. Like,

I don't actually think you realize what you're getting into it, mate. So I'm just not even going to talk. I'm just going to beat you. I respect you.

And then I'm just going to move on because you're really shit. I promise you, you're you. I respect you. And then I'm just going to move on because you're really shit. I promise you, you're shit. I love it, Darren. And everybody says that. And everybody, the last two opponents got knocked the fuck out. Who says it?

Who says it? Hey, you saw what Dan Silver did. Anderson Silver, boy. Who says it? Who says it? You saw what Anderson Silver, boy, did. Knocked him. Flew about with the right hand.

Anderson Silver's child is about nine years of age. You fought him. You fought a Tommy at 84 kilos. Tommy, shit. You haven't fought anyone in boxing or MMA. I, on the other hand, have fought only elite fighters. So, like, just shoot him. Hey, even though you fought elite fighters, you lost them all.

I can imagine it. They're a kill. They die. They die. Those 55 record of boxing, but he's five losses from the championship. I can imagine it. Darren Till, those 55 record of boxing, but he's five losses from the championship. No, hang on, wait there. I'm 22, I'm

five, and let's just not forget the last person I fought was the champion. Now, I fucking battered him on the feet. He's battered everyone on the feet. No one remembers you when you lost. No one cares about that, Darren. We don't care that you lost to the best. They remember when I beat Stephen Thompson, Calvin Gaslam, all these guys.

But they also remember you getting knocked out by Movedal. Yeah, I did. But you could never make it to that level, ever. Hey, hey. You know why I don't need to make it to that level? You know why? Because I'm fighting you. Yeah, the reason I'm not excited for this fight is because I'm sorry.

Like, because I like you. You're shit. Like, I'm not, I haven't even been training because you're shit. Like, you're proper shit like me. I'm sorry. You're shit. I love that you're not training. I love it.

I'm not keeping no energy. What I'm doing is, right, I've talked the fight with you. You can just accept a little 50K, what you were given. Yeah, be happy. You're going to run as soon as I jab you on the nose. And then you're going to, like, plan to do whatever. And I'm probably just going to wear you down and knock you out. And it's all good.

And after I beat you, I'm coming for Jake Paul, Dex. It's inevitable. You're not getting the Jake Paul. Anthony, you're not even a name. No one knows who you are. You're not getting the Jake Paul fight. Anthony, you're not even a name. No one knows who you are. You're not getting the Jake Paul fight. If I'm not even a name, why am I main eventing with Derek Hill? It don't make sense.

Because we had 20 names, and I picked one out. Mam said to me, pick one of them. I said, pick me, Anthony, if you can make the weight. Because you know I was the best of the best, sir. You know I was the best out pick one of them. I said, pick me, Anthony, if you can make the right. Because you know I was the best of the best, sir. You know I was the best of all of them. Ariel, Ariel, Ariel, do me a favor. Ariel, this bum's been

back in the show. He's out five minutes. Now get him off, because he's a bum. Can I ask you, Darren, can I ask you, motivation is a big part of the fight game, right? You have to wake up, you have to, you know, go to the gym, you have to do that. If, in fact, what you are saying is accurate, that you aren't motivated, that you think that he is beneath you,

what has been the driving force? This is a big deal, right? I mean, this is the fight, regardless of the opponent, that could lead to a massive fight later on this year. You want to make a new run in boxing. So if you're not motivated, isn't that a problem?

Can't that be a tricky predicament? I'm sorry. I like him. He's just shit. He's just shit. He's just shit. He falls over his feet. He doesn't know what he's doing in there. Do you believe him when he says this, Anthony?

I leveled up. I leveled up, Ariel. I'm not the same fighter. Ariel, he doesn't believe me because he's one of them dumb Americans who just spouts shit. You know the way he said all this? We all know British boxers can't fight. Your fist is going to hit my face. British boxers can't fight.

You have no chin. You have no chin, Darren. I'm sorry. Okay, I have no chin. British boxers are known for not having no chin. If you look at all great British boxers in the history of Britain, they all came to America and trained. Sorry. Eubanks Jr., Lennox Lewis, Tyson

Fury, all the great boxers, you know, AmeriCon, they all came to America to learn American boxing. Tyson Fury came to America, did he? Yeah. I mean, he does train. Well, he trains with Sugar Hill. He trains with Sugar Hill, who's an American

trainer, right? So he started his career with Sugar Hill. He changed with Sugar Hill, who's an American trainer, right? So he started his career with Sugar Hill. Thank you. It doesn't matter. All great British boxers... It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. They know they can't handle this thing.

Let's just not forget. Let's not forget. Europeans and English are running the boxing game right now. Americans aren't even running the game. Come on, bro. Stop. Come on, y'all. Come on, bro.

Y'all keeping every belt hostage from everybody else. Usyk whooped all your asses. It doesn't matter. I'm going to be the best American great boxer. Come on, bro. Darren. I can't speak to crazy.

Can I ask, is this fight at 195, Darren? It's not whatever I want it to be. 93 kg was the agreed weight. That's what I'm making. Hey, hey, hey. Let him think that, Ariel. Let him think that. His fat ass is going to come in whatever way he's going to come in at.

Are you calling the shots? You're going to come in. Your fat ass is going to come over weight. Are you calling the shots? Are you calling the shots? Listen, listen. I don't need to call the shots because I know what it is. Should we get Mams on?

Should we get Mams on? Because Mams messaged me today about, yeah, are you calling need to call Because I know what it is Should we get moms on? Should we get moms on? Because moms messaged me today Are you calling the shots then? Wait, okay, let's put up that tweet Can we put up that tweet? This is yesterday, nine hours ago Anthony Taylor tweeting to Darren Till You better make weight, you fat F word

And then Darren says Me and Tommy were fighting in 93 Which is 205 pounds That is the agreed weight And that is the weight I'm making You accepted the fight, so deal with the weight so make sure you're eating to make 93 you small fat bald-headed midget as he put it and so i got a full set of hair and i look great area that's 205 anthony that's a massive jump up for you you once fought at 145 if you want to come in at that way

let his fat ass come out that way we all all know his prime was 170 at Walter weight. He's nowhere in shape. Like I said, he hasn't even trained. I don't want to hear excuse of saying, oh, I didn't train for this fight. Oh, my nutrition. Oh, my too bad blown out knees. I don't like, I don't want to hear excuses. When I start you

then everybody's going to call me the next big great thing and crossover boxing. There ain't going to be no The next big great thing In crossover boxing There ain't going to be no more Jake Paul or KSI It's going to be Anthony Taylor Well again, Ariel, you can't talk to stupid Because that makes no sense Because he just said after he beats me

He's going to be the great guy But he's saying I'm shit So either I'm shit or I'm great Darren, there's nothing crazy Darren, can I ask you Ariel, Ariel Get this bum off the show right now Darren There's nothing crazy. Paul. Darren, can I ask you? Ariel. Is he trying? Ariel.

Yes. Ariel. Yes. Get this boom off the show right now. Get him off. Darren, there's nothing crazy. I told Ariel what I was going to do for the next couple of years, and I did it. And I did it.

I did it. Ariel. Yes. Ariel. Yes. Get this boom off. Darren. Get him off.

I told Ariel that I was going to be one of the top dogs in this crossover. No, you never told Ariel. Am I right or wrong, Ariel? You're begging Ariel every day on Twitter to come on the show. Now you've got it. I'm telling you to get off. Because you're over here speaking nonsense. So I have to speak up for myself.

You can't sit here speaking nonsense. Darren, I don't see the same energy. I don't sense the same energy. I sense beta energy, not alpha energy, buddy. Go bag it to get on the show. Wait, wait. Nah, get out of here, you fucking guy. Darren, Darren,

what's going to happen next week? Is this a taste of things to come next week? What's going to happen in Manchester? No, I'm not getting into it with this weirdo. He's weird. I'll just wait until I beat him and then we'll sort it down. We just you know we'll be a happier man he's getting his 50k it's 50k and it's all good all right well we look forward to it thank you for stopping by darren good lad get him off the show bye darren bye darren my time there he is darren till stopping by uh i look

forward to uh fight week in manchester anth, what do you make of this situation? What do you make of this? I just think it's hilarious because he really thinks he's going to come and beat me at the weight that he's coming at. I told Dario, I make things happen, and I'm going to make it happen. And I'm going to finish this dude inside three rounds. It doesn't matter what he has planned. If you want to kick, I'm going to kick back. If you want to elbow, I'm going to elbow punch. If you want to elbow, I'm an elbow punch, whatever you want to do. I'll do it 10 times worse.

Look, Ariel, I told you this earlier. Like I said, I said, Hey, Ariel, in a couple of years, I'm going to be one of the biggest names in the scene. And I am now because I put in the hard work. I can't be denied. I can't be denied the hard work I put in. I train hard to make this shit look easy. And that's the model I follow. Do you think he's looking past you or do you think he's just saying this? Absolutely. He's looking past me. He calls me a short midget. He calls like everybody, like for Christ's sakes, I'm five, six Ariel. I'm everybody'6", Ariel. Everybody I've fought has tolerated me from Bellator to now. I mean, it doesn't faze me because I know how to fight those tall guys. I know how to trash talk those tall guys. It doesn't bother me not one bit. The only thing that I'm ready to do is get that W on my record and my hand raised when it comes to that fight look i'm the people's champ ariel everybody's counting on me to beat this bum and i'm going to beat this bum and there's no if or or anything i'm going to beat this dude that's a promise all right the the weight stuff are you

trying to get it to below 93 kg which is around 205 he's bullshit he know what weight we fight now i i'm not look i'm not gonna get in we fight now. I'm not going to get in trouble and disclose that. I'm going to let them handle that because he knows what weight he needs to come out with his fat ass. We ain't playing this UFC shit because you play that UFC shit, I'm taking your fucking purse, kid. Is it going to be less than 93?

Absolutely. That's the contract I signed. That's the contract I signed. It's the contract I signed. But I'm not going to say what weight we're fighting at, but it's the contract. It definitely is under 93, and it's the contract that I signed. Yeah, because I was worried. Have you ever fought that big?

F no. I mean, I walk around. I probably walk around around 195. Yeah, that's walk around, yeah. That's walk around. But, you know, me, I'm in top shape, you know? I'm in top shape right now. Like, I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to go. And do you, is, you know, your understanding that he picked you? He said he had a list of 20 guys. They picked you. Is that how this came about? It wasn't that. No, that's a bullshit lie because we all know the zone the zone are not is not going to put them up against anybody just for him like first for

a main event spot on the zone come on man everybody know that i deserve the main event and i was the right person to fight darren till if tommy pulled out and the fans can all agree that i deserve the main event spot more than anybody. I mean, if you're putting KSI, then of course, KSI is a bigger name to me. Kudos. If KSI decided to fight Darynt Hill, then of course he would be the main event. But other than that, there's no name in Misfits Boxing who deserves a main event, who promotes like I do, who do punditry like i do

who commentate like i do i am one of the biggest name or the biggest and baddest name on misfits i am i am the face of misfits ariel all right and and so the plan is beat darren and then jake paul beat darren and fight jake paul look there's no love There's no love-hate between me and Jake Paul We're buddies and stuff But I just think it's time for Jake Paul To fight a real challenger like myself Yeah, I'm a little older, but I'm active I'm winning

We have sparring history Everybody in the community will back it up If this fight was to happen I'm definitely having It's definitely probably going to be a co-promotion who knows but this will be on the zone and the world will say oh i can back i can get behind this fight this guy is active he's young and he's a current champion on misfits well i have to say i remember when we sat down august of 2021 with tommy fury and you were

biting off a lot in that fight given the the size difference. And you were saying a lot of these things and I'd be lying if I was like, yeah, I see it all kind of playing out the way you're saying it, but here you are, man, you're about to headline against a world-renowned MMA star in a massive stadium on a massive platform. You're doing it, Anthony. So much respect, anthony so much respect my man much respect thank you thank you and i'm just blessed because i thank god for opportunity and my coaches like antonio mckee who was there chris lighting lopez and most important i thank ma'am's taylor ksi for even giving me the opportunity to fight on their platform they didn't have to take this chance to get Anthony Taylor on Mr. Platform, but they did. And as much as I do have that love-hate relationship with KSI, yeah, F you as a fighter, but as a human being, I appreciate what he has done to allow me

to use his platform to help build my brand. Same goes for Mams Taylor. Same goes for Nikisa and Jake. They allowed allowed me because at the end of the day ariel they could have picked anybody out of a billion people in the world to spar with but they chose me to to fight tommy fear they chose me to fight on mvp they chose me to fight on misfits you know i'm i'm just happy to be here at the end of the day and it's not even about money ariel it's about the fans because without the fans i want to be this personality that i am now could i ask though when did you realize hey you know the mma thing is just not going down the path that i wanted to and i have to make a switch

and to jump over to this you know this side of the fence the influencer side when when did you have that realization that you need to do that well when, when I left Bellator, well, MMA, I was riding a 5-5-1 streak. And, you know, my coach, I mean, not my coach, my manager, Murat, who is a talk about Hunter, and I don't know how to pronounce the name. Is it Hunter Campbell? That's right. Am I saying it right? Yeah. Yeah, Hunter Campbell? That's right. Am I saying that right? Yeah.

Yeah, Hunter Campbell. They were interested in me. They were just trying to figure out, all right, what weight class does he want to fight at? Also, they were going to meet our cool. We like his style. We like his energy. Just get him about two more fights. Get him two more wins.

We'll consider bringing him in. And this was during a pandemic. So, yes, I had a shot at the UFC. more wins we'll consider her consider bringing him in and this was during a pandemic so yes i had a shot at the ufc i was scheduled to fight on cage warrior and another show back to back um but jake paul called me and my coach antonio mckee was like look man i know that you you want to go to the ufc but i think this is a bigger opportunity for you. This sport is new. I think you should take your chance to see where this goes. So I did, and it played out. I rode the dice and I won. You know, a lot of people, they're upset. A lot of people are jealous where

I'm at because I put myself in this position. I'm like, hey, you could have did it too, but I did it first. Well done, man. I wish you the best. And you're saying three rounds? Within three rounds. Absolutely, Ariel. Look, I'm telling you, I'm going to be the number one crossover boxer in the world.

And after I beat Jake Paul, I'm coming after Ben Whitaker. Oh, damn. All right. Ben Whitaker, WWE, Jake Paul. Lofty, lofty goals for 2025. Good luck to you. And they're all attainable goals, though, Ariel. I'm not like, oh, my gosh. These are all attainable goals.

Good luck. I hope it all works out for you. Looking forward to it. Thanks for coming on. That was a lot of fun. There it is. January 18th, Co-op Live, Manchester DAZN. Not on pay-per-view, just on the regular DAZN subscription.

You can get the big fight. Looking forward to it in about 11 days, Anthony. Thanks for doing this. Thank you, brother. I appreciate you guys. Have a blessed one. Thank you, fans, for the support and everything you guys do. Have a good one.

Happy New Year's. Yes, there he is. The great Anthony Pretty Boy Taylor, January 18th against Darren Till. So there you have it. Darren Till popping up. I do refute his statement that we beg him to come on. I mean, that is ludicrous. But good to have him on and good to have that back and forth.

I was going to say sold a couple pay-per-views for Misfits, but it's not on pay-per-views for Misfits, but it's not on pay-per-view this one. So if you have a regular DAZN subscription, you'll be able to get it January

18th. Speaking of DAZN, two hours time, first ever, first annual Ariel and Ade DAZN Boxing Award Show. It was like the middle, I was like

literally in the middle of the... The finger hit the button. Which finger? My thumb. Oh, got it, got it. Yes, tell me.

January 18th. Is that a thing? January 18th. 18th. Okay. None of us were hearing the eight in there. We're like, does he keep saying January 18th? Wow.

Wow. So we thought we'd correct you. Wow. Wow. You literally interrupted me to correct me. January 18th. 18th. I'll actually say I heard 18th every time. I mean, that's when the fight is.

That's when the whole card is. Massive card. I'm backing Frank here. January 18th. I'm saying it fast. Actually, now that you say it, I don't hear the 8th. This is fucking crazy. I just knew because I had it circled on the calendar. January 18th. I say Tuesday. I say things differently, okay? I have an accent.

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry if my accent isn't... Frank's not very... Inclusive. Yeah. Plem Tiki Taki, Hill Taylor, Differently okay I have an accent sorry Sorry sorry sorry if my accent isn't Very inclusive Yeah Hill Taylor Islam Arman The January 18th fights You know there's been some talk There's been some talk of a watch party

For the fight since it's going to be on the big double header Day of January the 18th But there's been some talk I don't know Correct talks. No, no, because since it's a European fight, we thought our, you know, our, our expert European correspondent would lead the charge on that watch party. No, you're shaking your head.

Did you not get the word or are you saying you're not interested after some careful. It's just, we're all going to the pub to watch it because it's a huge fight. Okay. All my mates are already booked a table and everything, so I wouldn watch it because it's a huge fight. All my mates have already booked a table and everything, so I won't be able to.

Honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have that be the watch party. No, it's just there's no Wi-Fi in the pub. That's a good pub. GC, you'd love it, mate. You may as well fuck your phone. Is it the Hartstown pub?

No, Hartstown is a great Wi-Fi. You may as well fuck your phone. Is it the Hartstown pub? No, Hartstown is great. You want to see what they're doing the place. Uh, they put new red leather over the old couches. Didn't get new couches, but just repurpose the old ones. I mean,

first time it's been over 25 years selling cocktails and all now. Wow. Uh, the notions. Pagronies? I don't know if they have Negronis to be fair What is it called? Negroni

That just sounded a little Sussy He says things differently Sorry for having an accent Sorry It's just a gimmick now Everybody just Can we just talk about how PT has leveled up

in the last 24 hours? I mean, showing up with a Knicks hat, a polo hoodie. I mean, not just your regular, like a polo Ralph Lauren. You got the horsepower

right now, right now, PT? Can I just say something? That. No shit. As soon as I saw PT, I was like,

that hoodie looks a little baggy. What's he got underneath? I'm now, I'm constantly thinking about how he's going to trick us that's that's all my mind can do that was masterful wasn't i mean i'm actually just i'm basking in my own glory here for the last uh since the show ended the setup was it actually began on the 26th of december um do you remember when there was a miscommunication we'll say about something to me and i start putting the group, I'm so forgetful.

I can't believe this, guys. I just have such an empty head. I forget everything. That's the problem with me. Yeah, I remember that. I was like, man, you're really down on yourself. I was already setting this up. I had already decided to do this before Christmas.

So I'll be honest with you, right? The two easiest marks are ariel and gc and i'm not trying to abuse them because of this the reason i'm saying this is because ariel is one of my great friends love him to death if anything is going catastrophically wrong in your life ariel's are going to ring in in crisis situations he's completely calm honestly like he is that guy you call and he's like, listen, this is what we're going to do. Everything's going to be okay. When it comes to slights, they stick with him forever. He never forgets. And I knew that this thing would piss him off to a degree where he couldn't possibly not say it to me if I showed up on this show without a tux.

GC on the other hand, it's because he's so thoughtful. The whole show looks incredible. He thinks about everything. And I knew the idea of me showing up being like, oh, I forgot this basic concept would just piss him off so much because look at the place. It's absolutely beautiful looking. The problem

was New York Rick. And on the day, I had my suit and everything. And I was like, how do I, how am I going to turn Rick against me? Because there's a good chance that when I come on the call and I have the shittiest tracksuit on

that I can possibly find, New York Rick is going to side with me out of sympathy. That's why we had the phone call three hours before the show. I rang him and I said, is there anything I'm forgetting, Rick? I didn't mention the tux

because if I hadn't mentioned the tux, he would have played it off. He would be like, absolutely not. Cause he doesn't want to cause anyone any stress. He's a sweetheart. He'd be just like, don't worry about it. It's going to be fine. So I didn't even mention it. So when I came on the show and Rick is being completely silent, I put him in the shit and I say, Rick, it's your fault that I'm not wearing the tux, forcing him to say something. Therefore, all three of the on-camera talents have turned against me. The one wild card was Frank because Frank and me are kindred spirits. I thought he might chip in for me, but he was having so much fun

denigrating me in that situation that he just jumped in. If you watch when Rick simply says, Rick doesn't add anything to the party. He just says, everything's already been said. I'm smiling like a Cheshire cat. I have you all in the palm of my hand. You are all standing above the trap door. This is some unusual suspects. Yes, unusual suspects.

This is tactical. This is thought out. This is thorough. Hey, even down to the tracksuit. A little mental, to be honest. On Air Jordan, Mysterious Frank, and Andy know about this. We were doing sound checks. Remember the new microphone episode?

I wore the full tracksuit on there. I wasn't thinking about it then, but I just remember their reaction when they saw this thing. They were like, that is the most disgusting tracksuit I've ever seen. I that is the most disgusting word we used i've i've gone back and re-watched it and to see your your face and the smile like you're you're you're clearly trying to contain the smile because you're loving it and we're just killing you and think that we have you you know by the scruff of your neck and you're just wait you're taking it all in the trap door the way you you you know, by the scruff of your neck, and you're just waiting. You're taking it all in.

You're at the trap door. The way you took your time was beautiful. In fact, we could talk about it. For those that missed it, it's the moment of the year. It's our version of Robbie Lawler versus Carlos Condit, circa UFC 195. Fight of the year on the second day of the year. This is it.

Take a look. It's tremendous. You just got a jumper on. Actually, on a random Tuesday, you're dressed up more than you are today. It's an Irish tuck. This is my usual attire. You couldn't even have given us the tracksuit with the chicken fillet. Something.

I've got a lot of wear over the Christmas. I've got to lie to you. But listen, I have a confession to make. I'm actually more than yours, boys. Of course. Wow! Oh my God! Incredible! confession to make I'm actually more than yours boys of course you really have to break the fourth wall now you really have to build with wall what you texted pizza before the show I literally wrote to him, Tux, and he wrote, oh shit, and I'm sitting there eating with you guys.

Oh my god. Wow. That is fucking incredible. Holy shit. Yo, I've even got a little cocktail going here. Wow. And you got the freaking, what a reveal. Oh my god. Wow. I was actually wondering about the neck. I was like, the neck isn't going all the way up.

Do we just have a short neck here? What's going on? You're padded by the tuxedo, though. I'm actually pissing and sweating here. I've been sitting in here for half an hour wearing four layers. It's gotten pretty wild. I feel like I'm going to my debutant ball here. This is fun.

Oh, my God. Look at that. Shout out to our friend Jason. Man, P.T. Carroll with the work of the year. And then minutes prior, the fact that P.T. Carroll is still in his St. Stephen's Day tracksuit is appalling. That was the sentiment right then. I had so many messages of people who were watching it live going, how did you not wear a tuxedo? And then obviously a couple of minutes later, like, oh, but here, Ariel, I wanted to ask you, do you remember the text?

I hoped, hoped right when you sent me this text toks question mark and i said oh shit i hoped you were around the lads and i hoped you went i'm a little bit disappointed with pizza you know we'll bring him onto the team i was literally sitting with that i was like look at this guy might as well have been word for word confirmed Confirmed. That's exactly what he said. It was one of those like, I'm not upset, I'm

just disappointed type things. Can we talk about the dance though? My favorite is the dance. What's going on? This dance move right here.

I thought I was pissed. No. Let's see it. Let's see it. Where's the dance? I can't help it. I don't have the Negroni.

This part. Oh, yes. He said Charles Johnson. We're all going to be on air today. This is a two-man operation. All right, all right. I was just saying. Jordan and Andy.

Give him a bit of grace. All right, all right. I wasn't sure if it stalled. I was like, we know it's Charles. Have a little patience. Look at that. Look at that. Ariel's just bitching about the Ducks.

He's dancing with the Negroni. This is akin to just an end zone touchdown. You are just loving life. Gosh, I don't know what's better, the PT dance or the PT quarterback, that one? Oh, yeah, yeah. What's better? What's better, column A or column B? What's better?

They're both great. The football's still for column B? They're both great. The football's still for me, but they're both great. The smile in the football one is insane. They're both great. Is pizza the picture of the year? The holding technique on the football is also just crazy.

This is incredible. Oh, fuck me. It couldn't have possibly gone that well. I can't believe how well it went. Because we're fucking so pissed off. Ariel. With the level of planning you did, you had to know that something was going to happen. I mean, it was brilliant.

It was brilliant. I had to get you all angry, but I didn't expect it to be the vitriol that came at me. That's what I'm so happy about. It came out of the gate like that. The dance clip is just so good because Ariel is just like, we knew it was Charles Johnson. Play it's Charles Johnson. Pizzi's just dancing with the Necroni.

Is that the same time or did you guys loop that to make me seem like an asshole? No, we didn't. That's exactly what you were doing. Pizzi could not be bothered at all he's like play the charles johnson pt wasn't full screen though so it was four box but you're talking i just zoomed in on pz so good oh he's just a chill guy he's just a chill all right uh you know when i walked in this morning I saw GC working away over there In the lounge

And I asked him if he watched Raw And I knew he watched it of course Because we were tweeting Excuse me, we were texting about it And he said he had a lot of thoughts So I've been dying, two plus hours here I've been dying for the thoughts I'm dying for everyone's thoughts

You tuned in, you're not regular viewers Can I be honest with you guys? I don't sit there and watch Raw and smackdown i consume pro wrestling these days usually you know via twitter the odd instagram the odd youtube clip the odd podcast i am not sitting there at 759 saying like let's go two plus hours if i'm being a thousand percent honest my kids were like you're watching this over the nicks really um but it was a big deal and i, you're watching this over the Knicks? Really? But it was a big deal And I don't regret it, especially since the Knicks shat the bed

But I was curious what the others thought Who, you know, if I'm not watching on a You know, hour by hour basis They are certainly not And so GC, let's start with you Your thoughts on what you witnessed last night on Netflix Yeah, so not only did I watch it I watched all three hours of it

And I had a friend come over who enjoys WWE. I was like, you know what? I'm going to watch the Raw on Netflix tonight. Do you want to join me? And she was like, yeah, absolutely. And as it was starting, I was like, how long does this usually go? She was like, three hours.

I was like, oh, shit. All right, all right. I am strapped in for this entire thing. It felt big, though. It felt like a WrestleMania. It felt like you were watching something special. It felt like you were a part of something. I tuned in as the timer was counting down. And then right off rip, you're getting Triple H and a big promo package. And then you're getting The Rock and all these big names that people recognize. recognize uh just like the promotion and the production around it really is quite impressive and and it felt like wrestling was taking a step by by being on netflix just how global it was uh i enjoyed it will i be tuning in next week probably not uh but i mean they did run a promo the the they're coming to madison square garden maybe maybe me and rick can be in attendance maybe maybe we can all take a class field trip

over to MSG for a ride. Why just you and Rick? That's why I said class field trip. I'm sorry. Frank Bale's on everything. You thought Sting at AEW was the guy from the police. No, you guys convinced me. The fact that it wasn't hard was a little...

I'm not a wrestling fan. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Your grade. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're great. You're great. I mean, like, I guess what am I grading it against? Like, I enjoyed it. You had a good time.

I had a good time watching it. B plus. Maybe not enough to say I'm in every single week, but you enjoyed it. It felt big. I thought it felt, as I said to Kaz, it felt to me like a pay-per-view In that there wasn't a lot of filler, right? There were a few really interesting things that they did That was different from the past There wasn't a lot of filler So you watch your typical Monday Night Raw

There's a lot of promos There's in-ring interviews There's guys on the microphone in the back There's vignettes and things like that There wasn't a lot of that It was billed as, I think off the top of my head Five big matches You know, a title changed hands

That doesn't usually happen on your regular Monday Night Raw. Massive, massive feuds played out, Solo versus Roman, Punk versus Rollins, Liv Morgan against Rhea Ripley, etc. Jey Uso against Drew McIntyre. Celebrities are there. You're not getting Travis Scott on your random Monday Night Raw. And so they did that. I thought the one thing they could have done more of, you're sitting there. Do you really know the history of Solo and Roman? Do you know the history of the bloodline and the OTC and all that stuff? I thought they should have really leaned more into the fact

that there's a lot of people probably watching for the first time and don't understand why, A, starting Monday Night Raw with this match is a big deal, and why, B, this match is just a big deal, period. And so I thought you needed like a four-minute retrospective package before every one of the matches, because every one of those matches had long, long, long, long, you know, history lessons attached to them that maybe viewers like you guys didn't know about. I knew about it, but they weren't necessarily playing to me, right? They weren't necessarily catering to the fans like me. And so I thought that that was, that was interesting. I also thought

a thing that they never did was, you know, having all the wrestlers in attendance, very much a UFC type of thing where it's like, oh, look, there's Cody Rhodes in attendance oh look there's EO Sky in attendance oh look there's whomever in attendance um that never happens that happens when you're watching UFC 304 and it's Murab sitting there and it's Aljo sitting there and it's Islam sitting there and Armin sitting there you see that all the time and so they tried I think to do that to a give some of the other people there wasn't enough time to get them on there the rub um and just showcase them um and so that was different I don't think that's something that we're going to see often something There wasn't enough time to get them on air, the rub, and just showcase them. And so that was different. I don't think that's something that we're going to see often.

Something that we are going to see often moving forward very clearly are the ads on the mat. That's new. The black canvas is new as well. I see some fans upset about the ads on the mat. I think that's silly. It looks like boxing. It looks like a PBC ring, to be honest. It looks like MMA.

Who cares? It's real estate. They're making money off it. It doesn like boxing. It looks like a PBC ring, to be honest. It looks like MMA. Who cares? It's real estate. They're making money off of it. It doesn't really bother me. And so there were some nice new bells and whistles. None of them offended me very much. The rock promo at the beginning was a little bit, you know, it just was, you know, it was what it was. It was the signal of a new era. It was fine. Who knows where they go with all this. Generally, I thought it was an entertaining show that felt like a big deal. It felt like a massive deal. Pizzi himself stayed up till when? 11 is

like 4am to watch this damn thing. Any regrets, Pizzi? Well, I just think they're really going to have to look at the officiating these tribal warfare matchups. Tribal combat. I mean, there's 16 lads in there beating the shit out of each other there's no referee someone's gonna get hurt you know i mean that that that was how i felt about it but i think you did give me permission

to go to bed about 20 to 4 i think you were like i think you just couldn't believe that i was still awake i was shocked myself true that um and i did exit as soon as i noted the shock in the group i was like as far as i'm concerned that is permission for me to leave um highlights was all the talky parts for me um hulk hogan um what what was that all about oh yeah i was gonna say was that a highlight for you i thought it was an advertisement i thought he went i thought he went heel again i was like oh he must have Done something mad here And then he started talking

And he's like I'm just so happy That I can be out here In front of you maniacs And he's like My favorite Tag team partner Is Real American Beer Company

And my second favorite Is WWE and Netflix And then he left I was like Alright so that was just Like an advert I didn't text text you that. I had no idea.

Well, you know, Kaz kind of nailed it. It's like all of this is supposed to be a step forward, you know, sign of the times, new era, dawn, all that. And here's this guy from the 80s who a lot of wrestling fans don't like anymore, who has upset and offended a lot of people. He probably doesn't deserve the airtime. Now they cut the deal. They cut the deal, obviously, with the beer, which Which honestly have you guys ever heard of Real American Beer? I think it's his right? It is his but have you heard of it?

No of course not I'm just shocked that they have enough funds to be on the mat There's Fortnite on there There's Riyadh Season Could it potentially be like He's in good graces with the company They're not giving away that real estate. Like Poirier's hot sauce or something.

They probably have to pay him an appearance fee at this point. So they waive the appearance fee. You get the advertising in kind and then you just do it. It was really cool to see he did the Colby Covington walkout song. Yeah. By the way, isn't that fascinating? It's kind of suggesting that they offered him up as a sacrificial lamb. Did I misinterpret what he was saying?

My interpretation was that it was just a swing and a miss. They didn't expect people to react that way. I mean, look, he was just at the UFC event, and I know it was different. It was just a walkout. But I don't think anyone in Tampa really batted an eye. And worth noting, he is a Tampa guy, and Florida is a little different than California from a political standpoint. But as Kaz mentioned as well, Taker was there and no one really reacted negatively to him when he showed up.

And he's, you know, a big Trump guy too. So I think it's a lot of the, you know, the racist comments that have been attributed to him and just the stuff that he's been a part of over the last 10, 15 years. Wrestling fans, they tend to forget, but I was honestly shocked at how loud the boos were. I thought there'd be like a smattering of boos, but yeah, the man who was once billed from Venice Beach, California,

doesn't seem to be loved in that part of the country anymore. It's also part of that culture, right? Once the first round of boos hits and then they see everybody doing it, it's like, all right, we're just going to destroy this guy. If I'm in a crowd and everyone starts booing, I'm probably just going to start booing too. It's a bit of a shame because I think for the most part, the matches were all entertaining. Like I said, it felt big. That promo, the cold open

That they aired before the show Was great it was written by Mark Kriegel Who's an incredible Obviously incredible talent And so everything else felt like it hit You know the rock thing with Cody At the beginning was a little bit off They broke kayfabe but who cares

We know what's what if you're watching And so that seems to have been like the lone dark cloud what did you think rick did you enjoy it yeah i mean i guess the best compliment i could pay it is it feels like every time i tune into wwe and when i tune into wwe is the bigger events the pay-per-view the ple's when you basically i kind of rely on you when you're like hey there's like a big thing coming up. I typically give it a shot, right? I'll tune in and go like, okay. And I'll watch the rumble.

I'll watch WrestleMania. To me, it felt like that. It felt like you could tell by the level of star talent, right? You don't get the rock on every single Monday night raw. You don't get the undertaker on every single Monday night raw. You don't get that level of star power and those level of matches on every single Monday night raw. And so it felt big. It felt like one of their PLEs.

And so that was the best compliment I could pay it. Man, how about that Travis Scott, huh? That's huge for the man. That's a big deal. Travis Scott is a super duper duper star. They've always been really good with that idea of having the official music for an event. They've always been smart with that. Partnering with an artist and having official music related to it.

It's good. It's just more. It's just more of, yeah, getting into the culture in a way that you can't with just the product itself. If he wrestles at WrestleMania, that's going to be a big one. Is he a huge wrestling guy?

Yeah, he's a gigantic man. He has an alter ego named Cactus Jack. He walks out with the hardcore belt. Oh, I've seen that McDonald's had a meal called the Cactus Jack meal. Cactus Jack is like his thing, though. Beyond wrestling. That is his thing. He has a drink called Cacti.

That's just like his nickname. Yeah, I know. I understand that. I actually had no idea until this morning. I was just like, what do you mean Cactus Jack? That's Travis Scott. No, it's. McFoley. McFoley. McFoley.

He's got a van. I did get a pretty big kick out of when The Rock was leaving and they were showing it. And he's just like ripping Terra Mana straight from the bottom. And then he gets in his truck and drives off. And McAfee's like, shout out Terra Mana. I was just like, I don't know about that one. Yeah. It's Netflix, baby. It was very like agm at

the start was and i thought the rock was great like if you put someone else in that situation where he has to go around and shake a load of billionaires hands i don't think they would have done it as well as him so fair play to him for pulling that off um i i i was really into like the first hour or so like that first match was mental. I know who those boys are because of the Sami Zayn thing you sent me down before, Aaron. And I thought the commentators, I don't think I've watched it since then.

I can't remember the last one I watched. But they did a good job of explaining the relevance of the necklace thing he was wearing and stuff. I knew what was the gist of it before they threw down in tribal warfare or whatever it was yes yes tribal warfare that's it uh shout out to our guy paul hayman and uh shout out to uh macaulay culkin in attendance and you know what i i heard yeah i was expecting a big pop at the helwani household for old uh macaulay oh that's my guy

i saw on on social that kieran was also there. Why didn't he get some love? The better, Culkin. Well, the more relevant at the moment, let's call it what it is. But, I mean, he's winning awards everywhere. He's in great movies and TV shows. But, yeah. Oh, man. Home alone.

They were gearing towards the millennials or whatever my age demographic is. J-Max. I was thinking, though, can I say like, obviously UFC have a massive deal. You know, their broadcast deal is up at the end of the year. And,

you know, as I said, I've watched WrestleMania and stuff like that. I thought the opening part was so impressive. The arena looked amazing. Is that the end to it though, man?

Yeah. Wow. What a place, with all those lights and everything. Yeah. And that's where UFC 311 is going to be. Yeah. And then they had the sheets over the ring before Triple H was revealed.

Like I thought all that looked really cool. I was thinking, imagine what it would look like if Netflix went in with the UFC. Would they do something big and boisterous like this? That would be pretty cool. This is one of the stories to watch Netflix are getting into sports Live sports Episodic sports

And the UFC Has figured out Just like the WWE did Almost every week They're not 52 weeks WWE is And that's brilliant UFC is about 43

But you know They could easily up that number Easily Not you know And plus when you consider Contender series There's definitely 52 events That can fill the calendar

Does Netflix get You know Get involved in MMA And with all due respect to the GFLs of the world And the PFLs of the world If Netflix is getting into MMA They're getting involved with UFC No ifs, ands, or buts

And so this is going to be one of the stories. They're right there. Ari Emanuel's right there. Mark Shapiro's right there. They are the heads of TKO. We know about the relationship with Dana White and Nick Khan and these executives. It's all right there. And I don't think

I still maintain ESPN is still involved, but I would not be shocked if it's an ESPN Netflix play, ESPN Amazon play. And right now I feel like the place to be is Netflix. Everyone, once that door is open, it was the big question. Would they get into sports? Now the answer is yes. And this is the place that everyone wants to be. Everyone around the world at the exact same time can watch. You can promote it on the same platform it's ready to go immediately after to replay i mean it's just next level stuff it's next level stuff um i was

expecting at one point throughout the night just to hear i'm bulletproof nothing to lose fire away fire away I was expecting Yeah I was expecting Stephen Bunting To come out A darts semifinalist Yeah I was just He's just such a big deal

I was expecting him To come out He's got the physicality Yeah You know what I mean It did not happen But Petey We do have to put

The darts to bed I mean you are A darts expert Luke Littler Getting it done 17 years of age Making history Just I mean look at the aura That is aura right there I mean look at that young man Uh, Luke Littler getting it done 17 years of age, making history just app.

I mean, look at the aura that is aura right there. I mean, look at that young man, just an absolute stud. Uh, he beats the legend MVG. It was never close. Your thoughts on what he pulled off. Well, I've never, like, I mean, I've never seen anything like him. Um, not since Phil, the power of Taylor, Phil, the power of Taylor, obviously a lot older, longer in the tooth when he was going about business the way he was.

I think it's 16 world titles he has. That's Littler's first. I think he's going to beat it. He's like a bulldozer out there. MVG is just a god of darts, and Littler smoked him. What was I texting you before, Aaron? I was like, I just hope it's competitive. Because we knew if Littler shows up the way he has been, he would just go through him

and you know, three, three sets in, you have to win, um, seven sets. Is it to win, to win the game? Three set, three sets in three up Littler. And you start feeling sorry for this legend MVG who used to, to be be to be the bully up there you know he used to be making you feel bad about phil the power taylor towards the back end of his career littler 17 doing that to him the sky is the limit it's and look the the energy injected into it over here like he he's made it he's made it a much bigger thing he is a big story in the uk and ireland this 17 year old kid taking over the sport and uh the amount of interest that was in it particularly on the days

he was competing was unbelievable so i honestly think he's going to be like this is going to sound ridiculous to us this is going to sound i think he's going to be like the tiger woods of i don't think so i don't think that's ridiculous. I, in fact, said that. I wrote that on Twitter, that he can have the same impact on darts that Woods had on golf. Golf, obviously, a lot more established, especially here in this country. But a 17-year-old, like there are 17-year-old kids or teenagers who want to be like Luke Littler, who's, who's, you know, excuse me, um, who's a role model, you know, in a, in a sport, let's be honest, that has typically in the past been dominated by older white men,

kind of, you know, not really impressive. Not, you know, there've been characters and whatnot, but not very. Oh, easy now, easy now. I'm just saying, I'm just saying to have a young kid and, and, and see how the the country and uh the continent and to a degree this country as well you know be captivated by his uh his exploits it's it's very very impressive now i i do want to ask you a lot of people got mad at me on thursday evening When I said that essentially Bunting Who is a lovable baby face

Of all baby faces he bottled it And I thought that he was too nicey nicey There was too much you know Fist bumping he was just too nice He didn't try to bully He didn't try to bully the young man And I thought that he You know was a little soft and people got so mad

I mean the vitriol that I felt PT Is there something to that? I mean, uh, was I, was I that off? I mean, look how lovable he is. He's lovable. I get it. I get it. That's the thing.

That's the problem. You see, that's what you, you misjudged the fanfare surrounding bunting. He's like, I believe they're referring to him as he was, as he was playing as the TikTok darts player, because he's got a whole generation of fans on tiktok apparently or social media that'll fall in love with him he is a a great story because he was a great he was a solid darts player for years and he was just about to pack it in he was like oh i'm you know i'm just not the juices are worth the squeeze anymore and then i think that just the like the last 12 months he's won three majors i believe it is He's won a world championship.

So he's just like, I'm trying to think of an MMA equivalent, like a person who everyone loves. It'd be like Volkanovski losing against Islam and someone going like, geez, you could have tried, mate. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? It wouldn't be that kind of extent. It's because of who he is. You're some kind of pissed, by the way, because we did talk about this and you did make about this and you did make oh no i agree you made me feel like i was correct in my assessment in fact i think you went out of your way to say that's tremendous analysis so i was like all right

stamp of approval did you not and then i went on twitter and i thought you were gonna come help me out i thought you were gonna have my bag and you left me out there to dry you dropped or oh my god yeah no what it is like you know i stink of speaking to my friend here like i mean i don't i don't expect him to go and put everything i'm saying on social media but like you know that's just you i guess but um i didn't screenshot our conversation you just gave me the confidence to run with this assessment after i i i tried it out with you You said I was spot on and then you It was a very, very in-depth

it was a voicemail. Yes. So it was like listen to the darts going, you know this lad's making solid points here. Like he is making very solid points. I mean at one stage he celebrated a 170 that Littler hit just before like I mean the next leg it was over and he's doing the back of the net thing

kicking it in. I was like, come on, mate. You know what I mean? What is this? You're meant to be tungsten warriors. You're up the hockey there. The world is watching. Come on, mate.

Let's have it. Step up. He didn't give it to us. I agree with you there, but I was going bunting mental, as they say. I was hoping bunting would give him a better game. There is some type of mentor situation there between Littler and Bunting as well. Like I think he mentored when he was a kid. I don't believe in fraternization among competitors. All right, you're there.

Yeah. It's the ultimate proven ground. There's a trophy to be won. There's a big check to be won as well. Nevertheless, he did get included into the Premier League. That was a big announcement yesterday. So congratulations to him and congratulations to the PDC, to the Hearn family. I understand the deal is up with Sky.

They are set to probably make a lot of money with the state of things. And we did confirm that they're coming to New York City end of June. Might have to bring you out, PT, for that, for the pilgrimage. To Madison Square Garden. The darts at MSG. Could you imagine such a thing? You know, I think they need to get as many European people in there as possible to show the Yanks how to do it. Because the darts, from a fan point of view, is the most electrifying thing in the world.

Honestly, God. I went there with my mates for a few drinks over to Christmas, and there's like eight of us. It was after we recorded the European previews and things like that, so it was on a Sunday. And I went out, and there's this poor dude in the local pub playing a guitar, but they put the darts on in front of eight lads, and then we're all betting on how many 180s there'll be in it,

so every time a triple 20 went in, this lad's playing Neil Young neil young songs or whatever every time one goes in we're like yeah he was he heard about three songs in and packed it in i felt really bad but i mean christmas time is darts time what you want me to say of course it's it's a wonderful time uh it's a wonderful time of the year and how about littler when we met him what what a down to where it do i forgot you were here that day. Yeah. Oh, what a mess of a day that was when they had

the wrong address and I was pissed and I think Deontay Wilder no-showed us. I forgot you were there that day. Yeah, of course. Talking about Tan Haag

at the time, United, what was going to happen. Yes. I remember that day. It was an awful day. That was a great day. It was a great day.

It was good memories. What was so good about it? The dead rabbit. And that's why we decided not to move me to New york the impact i had on the studio that day i mean within within 10 minutes of my arrival i fucking destroyed everything oh everything went uh honor jordan's already looking at darts tickets you can you can uh crash with me uh i thought you were going to say something else about honor jordan we did have a discussion before the show and i very boldly stated that today we would have a hard out now for me uh yeah

i mean yes he put that up there uh wow okay uh it's an immovable deadline at which time someone must leave somewhere or something must conclude and yes i have mentioned uh the term hard out because as you know we like to play two on ts, and we do have our big award show coming up in about 90 minutes time. But, you know, we went a little long with that. It's actually 86 minutes. It's not a hard out. We actually have a hard start for that one, which is why we try to create a hard out for this one. Sure. I was

really confident. I was really confident. And instead, you bled over just lollygagging about darts. Confidence to the bank. I was really confident. I actually thought, you started the darts Confidence to the bank I was really confident You started the darts at like 321 I was like wow he's going to nail this I should have gotten your ear I should have been like 60

You did not Littler the hard out Let it be known I never had any faith at all While we're here you know Since we're just meandering about To this hard out John Cena minus 190 Royal Rumble. Should I just take it to the bank? That speech last night got me fired up.

Definitely. I think you should. I don't love it, if I'm being honest. What? Who's going to win? Not John Cena. The Hulkster. If I'm being honest,

Road Cena does very little for me right now. And I hope... Does very little for you? Or does very little, period? Oh, no. It'll be a big story. Okay, all right. I just don't think John Cena should be...

I'm going to get my biggest pair of jorts and take that to the bank. You don't want John Cena in the title thing. You just want him doing other stuff. Yeah. Hey, I have to say, Cena's style holds up, man. Who's a perfect John Cena opponent?

Who's the one? It's the Hulkster. The Undertaker. Here's my problem. PC's making jokes. I'm just going to ignore them. This is a serious conversation. Here's my problem.'s making jokes I'm just going to ignore them This is a serious conversation Yeah me too Here's my problem We know he's

We know he's not going to win He's leaving town He's leaving the territory He's leaving the business Right Right so you give him One more Royal Rumble win No but the

Royal Rumble win Leads to the title fight Against Cody And we know he's not Going to win that match I know and then he loses that one Then I don't care The greatest part He's putting Cody over there.

The greatest part of the speech last night. Oh, so I was going to say, him winning Royal Rumble spoils WrestleMania, essentially. It's not just, I'd rather that opportunity go to someone who needs the rub. John Cena doesn't need that rub. So then you have your feelings. I care about the business model. Yeah, I don't. You have to match make right now then.

Who is the opponent for Cody and who is the opponent for Cena? I need opponents. It can't just be. Can I just say something? John Cena going up against Gunther, who's the other World Heavyweight Champion, he needs that rub a little bit more. So being involved in a feud,

the irresistible force that is Gunther going up against Cena, one last hurrah, makes a lot more sense. And I know there's a backstory with Rhodes and whatnot. It just doesn't do the same. It doesn't do the same. It feels like a wasted opportunity to give someone do the same. It, it, it, it feels like a wasted opportunity to give someone else the rub on the spot right now.

I don't, I don't know. I don't know. You're putting me on the spot. Like even, even, even a John, a John Cena,

you know what? I'll tell you what, John Cena versus Drew McIntyre. Cause Drew McIntyre right now is all about how like the, the business has screwed him. Right. And so him taking offense to John, just waltzing in there and getting all these opportunities one last hurrah hey bud you're yesterday's news i've been here busting my ass missing out on birthdays missing out on

graduations on holidays and you think you just come back and take your spot like like like like like it was it was in 2006 no that's not going to happen and so i could see something there you know what i mean okay so you're a You know what I mean Drew the salty guy Trying to take out the other guy And in doing so John puts over Drew Here's something that I need you to confirm for me But I have heard this And I'm not as tapped in as you

John Cena always comes back and always loses He's always putting everybody over So isn't that more of the same Couldn't you put him in there with somebody he could win against Tell me if this makes sense. What about CM Punk versus John Cena? There's a story there. Couldn't he win against CM Punk too though?

I like that. That's the whole pipe bomb story. So let's do that. I'm in. Punk versus Cena. What about Sheamus? Sheamus is not really in that picture right now. Punk versus Cena. You're asking me questions. I'm trying to get out of it. The best part of the Cena speech was when he was like,

a 17th? How about Darryl Tell today? Ariel, Ariel, Ariel. Don't get mad at me. They're asking me questions. I could sit here all day. He's a bum. The best part about the Cena speech was when he was like, a 17th world championship?

I just can't see it. I got a big pop up. I was like, 17th world championship i just can't see it big johnny uh by the way could we just mention how about ufc seattle uh officially the ufc confirming that on february the 22nd it will be headlined by henry cejudo versus sonia dong co-headliner and i mean i think that's an apropos title Rob Font vs. Dominic Cruz Yo Not bad right You don't like it What interest do I

I'm not judging The quality of the competitors That's not the fight I want for Dominic Cruz I don't know I'm just happy to see Dominic in the mix again He's got to fight too man Okay would you have preferred Cruz and Cejudo at the top

10,000 times Yes that would flip the two Infinitely more Immeasurably more We got the full card Yeah we got the full card let's see it Edson Barbosa Steve Garcia is The sneakiest banger of all time

That might be That is my most anticipated fight on this card. I cannot wait to see that. I just want to shout out our incredible encoder, Ben Hefner, who dropped the message and said he also had no faith in this hard out. That's why he booked post-captioning until 4 p.m. Because he knows. He's going global. We all know.

Oh, great. We've got 20 more minutes. I really like Brandon Allen versus Anthony Hernandez. Fantastic. Andy is saying we Allen versus Anthony Hernandez. Fantastic. Andy is saying we absolutely have to get off air. Okay, Brendan Allen versus Anthony Hernandez. Michael Kesa versus the always dangerous TBD. TBD.

What else we got? Curtis Wade's on there. John Silva-Melsick is an incredible fight as well. There's some bangers on here. Caitlin Vieira. Jordan, what about them Jets, Jordan? Sorry. Against Macy Chasson.

Going to have to cook up a couple Seattle dogs and brew up some Seattle's best coffee. It's going to be a good weekend. Well, we can talk

much more about that. That's February 22nd. We can talk about it perhaps on tomorrow's program. OTN is the place where you can ask all kinds of

questions right now on our Substack page, ariahawani.substack.com is where you can place your questions right now. It's up. The post where you can place your questions right now. It's up. The post is up.

And we appreciate everyone who always sends in the questions. On tomorrow's program, we'll be joined in studio by the one and only Dave Feldman of BKFC. Moses Itauma is also going to be joining us, the prospect of the year, in my opinion. That might have been a spoiler for my pick coming up in about an hour and 20 minutes. And many others to come. For now, though, it sounds like we're just jumping into the song here, Frank. It's just like mid-song. It just never stopped.

Wow. I've literally had to loop it because I kept thinking. Wow. Shout out to Celsius. Yeah. Let me open a nice one right here. I've been staring at this thing. Oh, a nice little sparkling watermelon. Nice little couple bubbles in there.

Get it at your local bodega, your local Wegmans, your local Whole Foods, your local Trader Joe's. Why don't you? Get a good, ah, to the mic for us. Ah! Thank you very much to everyone who joined us today it's been a lovely day hey give us a thumbs up if you're watching this on youtube right now hit the bell press the subscribe

the drive to 25 is still alive and if you're listening to us on all pod platforms hit that follow. Might have to call upon our old friend, The Myth, for a little Bill's Broncos preview coming up on Sunday. Squeaky bum time when it comes to my sports scenes. I'm a little bit nervous, but you don't care about that. You don't care about any of that.

You just want the goods. And I think today we delivered them. Thank you to Kaz. Thank you to Cain Velasquez,vin lee darren till and anthony taylor award show boxing award show coming up at five back on wednesday same time of business and peace i'm out of here