The Ariel Helwani Show - Darren Till, Jiří Procházka, Cub Swanson, Patricio Pitbull, full weekend recap; is Colby Covington finished?

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

Ariel Helwani and The Boys In The Back break down the weekend in combat sports, headlined by Joaquin Buckley's one-sided win over Colby Covington at UFC Tampa (09:11).Darren Till discusses Tommy Fury's bizarre withdrawal from their Misfits boxing match, Fury's "shameful" behavior, why he's devastated by the situation, potential replacement opponents and more (01:04:10).Jiří Prochazka previews his UFC 311 fight against Jamahal Hill and discusses a potential middleweight move, Hill's recent run-in with Alex Pereira, fans shaving their heads to mimic his unique hairstyle, his new shoe brand, fighting his ego and more (01:31:17).Patricio Pitbull discusses the latest with Bellator fighters' ongoing frustrations with the PFL, makes a plea to Donn Davis to formally request his release, targets several UFC standouts and more (02:02:19).Cub Swanson discusses his spectacular UFC Tampa win over Billy Quarantillo, whether he's planning to retire, his legacy in MMA and much more (02:33:01).       

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ariel Hawani Show! The Ariel Hawani Show is back in your life on this Monday, December 16, 2000. And 24. Keep it right here. Keep it right here. Look at this setup. Look at this setup. I mean, every time you think.

I mean, look at this. Every time you think our resident set designer, Mr. GC, has reached the mountaintop. As far as set design is concerned. He just goes ahead and outdoes himself. Knocks it out of the park. You even got Papa Noel over there trying to either climb out of the window or climb down. Climb out of the window. He's just trying to escape.

I mean, this is some kind of scene here. We love the festivities. We've got... Is that Frosty over here? Or some variation of Frosty? That is a snowman. Why are you speaking on behalf of GC? Are you his...

He's efforting. Yeah, it's Frosty. I mean, what's going on? That looks like Frosty. Yeah, it sounds... Frank's trying to take away from you and say that it's not Frosty. He's saying he's a snowman.

If I wasn't here, Frank would say that he decorated the whole set. I mean... Unbelievable. I did. No, this is great. This is some kind of setup here. It's very festive.

It's our final full week of shows of the year, and what a year it has been. I mean, we started this year in a whole different studio and a whole different set, working with a whole different company. What a two-month-ish stretch it has been, and we have a huge week coming up for all of you with a ton of great stuff to come. A full week of shows. I just want to let you all know, a full week of shows. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, A8 show. Thursday, Boys in the Back.

Friday, The Crack with Pizzi. And then, of course, we have the big Fury Usyk card on Saturday. Oh, by the way, on Tuesday, we have Ariel and Ade. Ade will be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That will be great. And then on Saturday, we'll have a watch party for Usyk Fury. Did I say Fury Usyk? Unfair to the big Ukrainian. Should be Usyk Fury 2 and a post show as well. So a full

slate of shows coming your way. The next two weeks after, we'll have some holiday programming, if you will. More to come as far as those are concerned. We're not going totally dark. I mean, not going totally dark. I'm just saying the regular schedule takes a bit of a break, and then we return in earnest for the highly anticipated 2024 Helwani Knows Awards show on the 6th of January, which is a massive day in combat sports because that's also the same night as the Raw debut on Netflix. So that's the come.

We're in the spirit. Hope you are as well. Whether you celebrate or not, hope you're in a good mood. Hope you're in a good place. We are sending you the best. And we hope that everyone is in a somewhat jolly mood, in the best of health, around friends and family. And if you are not, better days are ahead.

And if you don't have anyone to hang out with, don't worry. Uncrowned's got you covered for the next several days. So a lot to get to, and it's been a very busy weekend in the world of combat sports. So much happening in the world of MMA. Of course, the last UFC event of the year Has come and gone And so much is That needs to be discussed as far as that is concerned

We also had A ton of boxing And a massive WWE event on Saturday On Long Island Today's program I do want to let you know Is presented by our good friends over at NordVPN Shout over at NordVPN. Shout out to NordVPN.

I'll tell you more about NordVPN in a moment, but I do want to let you know that nordvpn.com slash uncrowned is the place to be for all your great stuff. Try it risk-free right now with a 30-day money back guarantee nordvpn.com slash uncrowned you know how much i love nordvpn you know how much i believe in these guys you know how happy i am that they are a part of what we are doing and so go check them out nordvpn.com slash uncrowned again nordvpn.com slash uncrowned Again, NordVPN.com slash uncrowned Try it risk-free right now With a 30-day money-back guarantee All right, what are we talking about?

What are we talking about on today's program? Well, we are talking to four incredible guests We have a lot to get to As far as this weekend is concerned I'll give you the lineup And then we'll get into things. Back into the show, we're going to talk to Cub Swanson. He had an amazing win over Billy Q, Billy Quarantillo. I actually think it should be Billy Quarantillo because it's a French name.

But we've seen this from time to time with the French names. Melvin Gillard should actually be Melvin Guillard. Anyway, Cub Swanson, a legend of the game. He's done so many great things. What a resume this young man has. And I know he's in his forties now, but when you actually break it down, he's in the fight wing of the UFC Hall of Fame for the win over or the fight against Duhu Choi. Made his professional MMA debut 20 years ago, over 20 years ago, July of 2004. Made his WC debut in 2007, his UFC debut in 2011. Career wins over the likes of Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stevens, Ross Pearson, Dennis

Seaver, Tetsuya Kawajiri, Darren Elkins. Tied Max Holloway for most wins in UFC slash WEC featherweight history with 20. How about that? Earned his 11th fight night bonus. That brings him ahead of Max for most fight night bonuses in UFC featherweight history. If you include WEC bonuses, he's at 15. So an absolute legend, had a great win and said afterwards, I might be done, I might not be done. We'll talk to Cub Swanson about that all. You may have seen some tweets from Patricio Pitbull. You may have seen some stuff from him about being unhappy with the current state of Bellator. We'll talk to the man who really has been the face of Bellator over the past decade. I mean, he's held titles. He's been there. He hasn't left, but it sounds like he wants to leave now and he wants to leave, um, and,

and go to the UFC. And I think the UFC would be interested if I do say so myself, we'll talk to Patricia about the state of Bellator and where they're at. I did reach out to Don Davis, the, the, the founder of the PFL about the state of Bellator about the state of PFL. And his response was a little, let me get it right here. It left a little bit to be desired. PFL will have most events and biggest fights ever in our history in 2025. That's all I can share for now. So let's see. But if you see the branding, if you see the press release, if you see everything that's being put out there for their next big show, the next big Bellator

show, they did have to cancel their last three. And that's the one in January, January 25th in Dubai. There's very little, if any, Bellator branding or mention. So let's see. At 2.30, Yuri Prokhaska is going to join us. He's returning to action, UFC 311, on the 18th of January. So, you know, he has that big fight against Jamal Hill. They've been going back and forth. Always love talking to Yuri. He'll join us at 2.30 and 2 o'clock. Darren Till, the pride of Liverpool, who was supposed to fight,

won Tommy Fury on the 18th of January. He's going to join us. Sounds like they are close to finding an opponent. Let's see. We'll be joined by Darren Till at two o'clock. I didn't have the full ad read. Truth be told, let me break down the fourth wall here. So let's go back to our good friends at NordVPN really quickly. Happy that today's program is presented by NordVPN. Why use NordVPN? It's the fastest VPN in the world. No buffering or lagging

while streaming and stops your ISP from throttling your bandwidth. By the way, this music sounds like the music that they use for Saturday night's main event. Did you pick this on purpose, Frank? Absolutely. Love it. NordVPN protects your private information

like bank details, passwords, and online identity, including while you're traveling and using public Wi-Fi. Plus, one NordVPN protects your private information like bank details, passwords, and online identity, including while you're traveling and using public Wi-Fi. Plus, one NordVPN account can be used on up to 10 devices. It's premium cybersecurity for the price of a cup of coffee per month. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash uncrowned. Again, that's nordvpn.com slash uncrowned. Trust me, I use them every single day. They are the best.

Our link will also give you four extra months on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. Thank you very much to them. That's two ad reads in the span of nine minutes, and that's P.T. Carroll just jamming to the beat. It's a great tune, right? It's a great track.

It's a great track. It's a great track. It's a great track, Pizzi. You know yourself, Pizzi, flying high after the big Manchester United win over at Etihad. I mean, sure, you can't beat Forrest at home.

That's fourth place Forrest, by the way. That's Champions League Forrest. Who can't beat Forrest? Who can't beat Forrest? They're flying right now. They're flying. Super sub Anthony Al uh with the big

winner in the what 93rd 94th minute what a weekend for me pt i must say and and i was gonna say what are we gonna talk about me when we should be talking about you we had uh nick's game next game you had uh daniel ricardo's shop lunch i believe you were at yeah the big win for the buffalo bills yep yep um and then right it was a bit under the weather on saturday and i was in the scratcher with my dog for the day and i said you know what you know what we'll probably be talking about next week on the show is this usic fury rematch i'm gonna stick on this countdown oh yeah that's on netflix stick on this this countdown and they're they're lining up these guys to sit in the chair lennox lewis was the

second person do you know the first person was, Ariel? I'm unaware. No, please tell me, please tell me. It was you. It was Ariel Hawane. And then about 27 minutes and 30 seconds into the documentary, there's this amazing sequence. And whoever produced this.

Tom Day. It's absolutely. That's Tom Day, the We Go Again crew. They are fantastic. Well, there's this amazing comic book sequence of your chat with uh turkey al chic absolutely amazing i sent it to you i sent it to you as i was in my room uh watching it reggie interrupted with a few backs unfortunately but that that is pretty sick isn't it did you get to see it yeah oh i mean did i get to see it i've

probably watched it 48 times my kids enjoyed it yeah it's it's a great sequence of everything that happened leading up to that impromptu show that we had with fury usic and turkey back in february when they announced the cut and then the uh the rescheduled date on may 18th and it's a part of the yeah and that's where that was born that's that's right uh good job frank that that whole sequence was uh tremendous as well. And it's a part of the documentary that they posted on Netflix or that they have put on net. I don't know what you call it, but it's streaming on Netflix right now.

But it's only streaming in the UK and Ireland. So I've heard about this, but I can't see it here in the US. So you sent it to me and I was like, holy smokes, this is incredible. And then I asked the guys over at We Go again who do again a phenomenal job and they did this amazing like reenactment of that whole crazy day it's brilliant perhaps tomorrow on the program we'll get the uh the the the permission to to air that because it really was a lot of fun but i wasn't honestly i wasn't even talking about that to be honest i wasn't even talking i was talking about the big forest comeback winning against villa and then of course the bills win on sund Sunday evening over the Lions, and then to cap it off

with a nice, yeah, look at me, I mean, I was just flying high, I was just flying high, and then to cap it off with a nice Knicks win on Sunday evening. So yeah, the time, you know, we didn't win on Wednesday against the Hawks in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, but we are flying high. So feeling good going into this Monday, and like I said, a ton to get into as far as combat sports is concerned. I would say for our little world, the big story, Joaquin Buckley winning his sixth in a row, beating Colby Covington,

and doing so, in my opinion, quite dominantly and impressively. Obviously, the fight was stopped in the third round. Doctor stoppage due to that cut right over there. You can hear the doctor saying, and this fight took place in Tampa, what a shot that is. The doctor saying like, oh no, no, no, no. He's going to lose an eyelid. And there's the cut right there. A gnarly cut. Colby Covington saying on his YouTube channel afterwards, I was just getting rolling. It was 1-1. I had him right where I wanted him. I don't know if I agree with that assessment. But now you could say you were robbed, you know, the Florida judges. Now it doesn't fit the narrative, like Florida obviously is where he lives and, you know, he loves Florida, all that stuff. If it was like a New York or California, it would have been perfect for him. He'd have been like, ah, those snowflake judges, they took it away from me. But nevertheless, he'll still use it as an excuse.

And I don't think this means, by the way, that Colby Covington is done. I don't think this means that Colby Covington isn't a player anymore. I don't think it means that he isn't a draw. There is still an appeal there. But the story is, in my opinion, Joaquin Buckley, who has really turned it around, especially since moving to 170,

and he looked fantastic. Now, I would say that he maybe needs to be a little less angry. I don't understand, after the biggest win of your career, why you show up to the Post Fight press conference and answer one question and leave. Soak that in. Call your shot. Talk about why you're the man.

Talk about your plans for 2025. It seemed like, I don't know, it seemed like a misuse of your time and platform. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, he showed up to the Post Fight press conference on Saturday and literally just answered one question and left. And you would have thought maybe he was robbed, he was wrong, something like that.

No, he just got the biggest win of his career over the biggest name that he's ever fought, and he just walked away. Maybe there's magic to that. Maybe he was trying to channel his inner dc um after he beat john jones i don't know but i thought he could have said a little bit more and ultimately i thought he could have been a little happier here's what he had to say did you kind of see that going that way before you yeah yeah my first main event was a big success. I feel like the whole card, you know what I mean, was very successful, you know what I mean, getting a lot of knockouts.

I feel like, you know, my fight, you know, shouldn't be in stop, but, you know, it is what it is. You got to protect the fighters. But I feel like 2025, man, is definitely my year, and we definitely taking over, you know. With this being said, you know, this is on a six-fight winning streak. You know, I got, you know, eight knockouts, you know, within the UFC. I feel winning streak you know i got you know eight knockouts you know within the ufc i feel like i didn't done enough to really kind of put myself in the position to kind of you know yet again fight for that title and even though i know that shot caught

is next you know uh blessed to that fight but if anything happens where shaq or ballard doesn't you know step up into the octagon i want to you know face them so at the end of the day man we're gonna keep this nice and short, bro. I'm definitely looking to take that throne, man. 2025, bro. We out, baby. Thank you. And then he just left

and slammed the mic. I don't know. Effective? Unaffective? You tell me. But not to take anything away, 4-0 in 2024, you can make a case.

He had a solid 2023 as well. I think he was 2-0 in 2023, but you can make a case. Breakout solid 2023 as well I think he was 2 and 0 in 2023 but you can make a case breakout fighter of the year most improved fighter of the year he's on that short list that's a big time win over a multiple time title contender I mentioned Cub Swanson's win over Billy Q Manel Kapp with the win over Bruno Silva. We'll get into that as well. Dustin Jacoby with a tremendous knockout of Vitor Petrino. And then there were some other, you know, notables. Michael Johnson with the great knockout win over Atman Azaitar. Yoel Alvarez with an amazing knockout of Drakkar Close.

Sean Woodson with a great knockout of Fernando Padilla. Davey Grant with a nice win over Ramon Tavares. So all in all, a solid way to end things for the UFC in this amazing year for them. 2024 has now come and gone. But let's talk to the boys in the back and Pizzi about what transpired. Was the story on Saturday, Pizzi,

was the story how good Joaquin looked or perhaps how not so good colby looked and then obviously the doctor's decision what do you think i didn't think the doctor's decision was terrible at all um i know dana said afterwards had it been vegas uh they would have kept it going but that's a a pretty gnarly quote and honestly i thought colby was a passenger for the whole fight uh i don't know where he's reading this kind of competitive fight he saw this one-on-one fight i did not see it that way i think joaquin buckley despite his press conference did a much better job on the mic post fight right like we called out mcgregor the last time he won a fight and it was

just like felt completely redundant this time we had a bit of a crowd participation going on uh Leon Edwards I think Usman and I can't remember who else it was but one name that wasn't there was Ian Gary and I know he was meant to fight him that night and I feel like that's the fight to make um I still think that's a really good fight they're in and around the same spot in the rankings if ian isn't going to fight leon edwards in london which i would love him to do i think why not set up in and joaquin again it kind of makes sense given that joaquin has won this fight in came up short against shavka i think that's a great fight with title ramifications if they want to make it yeah i don't think ian is fighting leon uh i would be very. I don't hate that as well. Someone in the super chat is saying, this is Mugen11120.

Ariel Buckley walked off because Dana didn't give him props every single time he was asked about the fight and just kept glazing Colby how he survived. I wonder, I mean, if he was upset. But it was a bonus related as well. Like he didn't get a bonus. I wondered if that was something to do with it.

You know? How could you be so mad at the guy? I mean, he stayed on the card. I know they were looking for other people to headline the card. He looked great. I don't know. I don't think, despite the fact that they are both,

you know, Trump guys, I don't think Dana loves Colby. We forget. Remember when Colby was trying to get a title shot and he like looked all over Vegas for Dana and went up to him at the poker room and showed his license plate on a thing. Like, I don't think Dana forgets that stuff. I don't think he's best friends with Colby. It's kind of a lazy thing to say, oh, these guys are buddy-buddy. I don't feel that way. And so if he is upset about that, if you feel slighted about that, then more power to him.

I don't even want this to take away from the performance. The performance was great. I was just surprised that he didn't use that as an opportunity to big up himself and have the final say this year because he was literally the last guy to win a fight in the UFC. Rick, what did you think about the performance from Joaquin Buckley? Was that the story, or was it the lack thereof performance from Colby Covington? I think it's a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.

I think a lot of people out there following Colby's last fight had an expectation that this could happen. I don't think anybody was sure, right? Because according to Colby, his foot, his leg was severely injured in the first round. And so he said, I didn't look my best against Leon. There were some other litany of other things that he kind of cited. But, you know, this is one of the downsides of your gimmick is nobody knows what to believe. So even if you're being truthful about being hampered, nobody knows if that's shtick or if that's real anyway. So that's one of the downsides of the existence of Colby Covington is this kind of character. But if you put stock into that, you would accept, okay,

maybe Colby Covington is not going to be the best version of himself, but even any version is going to be better than the one that showed up against Leon Edwards. But truth be told, it looked kind of the same. I just thought he was in there with a more dangerous fighter. I would personally have Buckley ahead of Edwards right now in terms of where I think their championship aspirations can lie. I think Buckley is one of the like true dark horses of division, really well-rounded, showed it against Colby Covington. So I walked away equal parts, extremely impressed with him. And also kind of, I expected this version of Colby Covington. I really didn't think he had much for Joaquin Buckley, but I don't know how much he really has left in the tank anyway.

Yeah, took the fight on relatively short notice. Isn't very active these days. You know, I don't know whether to call it the gimmick, the shtick. Here's the thing about the shtick, the gimmick. It worked well a few years ago when wearing the MAGA hat and being pro-Trump was almost like a heat magnet, if you will. It's not a heat magnet and certainly not in the world of the UFC and certainly not in Florida. And so this is Colby in a nutshell, in my opinion. Colby deserves a ton of credit. Colby was a mid-tier welterweight who no one really

you know had any sort of strong feelings about and once he realized that he needed to start speaking he needed to start riling people up he needed to start playing the heel he started to climb the ranks the infamous story is he was about to get cut and then all of a sudden he cuts this promo and all of a sudden people are starting to react and he realizes that he needs to up his mic game, if you will, and everything changes for him. But the consistent theme throughout has been he can't get his own heat. He can't get his own heat. He has to take someone else's heat and put it on his head. Use that to attract the heat. So whether it's, you know, being the Trump guy,

or whether it's, you know, the Kurt Angle song, or, you know, trying to walk out with, you know, the Trump, it's like everything is taking someone else's rub, if you will, and trying to put it on himself. And that that at some point is going to wear thin it has to be about you by your substance if everyone continues to think that you're playing a character and everyone continues to feel and think that you are just getting heat because of your association like i i thought i thought the angle song was supremely lame the angle song is you suck. So he wants people to then say it about him.

And, oh, look, people are saying I suck. No, they're saying it because they've been programmed to say it because they've been listening to that song for 20 years. It's not because they are really feeling that you suck or feeling some sort of way about you. And so even on Saturday, he didn't train with Chael for this fight. He has no real association with Chael other than their buddies Chael bigs him up, Oregon, okay fine Hulk Hogan, no it's getting other people's

Heat, good or bad To react to you The walkout was lame-o Now I will say this People were giving him crap for the shirt being ripped already And then he did the Hogan thing Hogan's shirt was always ripped It's just an easier way to get it done so that should not be like hey fave don't don't it was always ripped

no no no no so people are trying to like expose this like it's some you know black eye on kobe no it's just another example of him using someone else's heat and putting it on himself in order to get the pop um and that that shtick in its own right, or that mentality in its own right, wears thin. I still think he's a draw. I still think he's a player. I still think Ian versus Colby does big numbers and others as well. Maybe not a title contender or anyone who's going to be, you know, you know, anyone who's going to be really challenging for that top spot anytime soon. But the way this fight ended was perfect. The way this fight ended was perfect for him because now he could say he was robbed at the

moment. He was turning it around and the doctor stole from him. Now, to back that up just a little bit, Dana White said at the post-fight press conference that if this fight was in Nevada, it would not have been stopped. And I tend to agree with him. Now, Florida isn't exactly, I don't know, some random state, Minneapolis or Montana or some random state that doesn't usually host big fights. And all of a sudden the big spotlight is on them. But I did reach out to our good friend, Dr. Brian Suterer, who's been on the show before, who has, you know, obviously brilliant takes when it comes to sports injuries and is a big fight fan as well and I asked him what he thought of the

stoppage and this is what he said to me and he said that I could share it on the program he told me I think she made the call a bit too quick like she hardly even wiped his eye to get a better look you could get 10 docs in there and not get a consensus on it which really stinks I like it when we see an initial check and a warning of sorts Like, hey, this cut is really bad If you can't protect it or it gets worse, we're stopping it Always tough to see the immediate and quick stoppage in a sport where guys are stepping in there Accepting horrific health outcomes as a possibility Then I asked him another question

He said, I don't think you can say she necessarily made the wrong call since there isn't a great objective way to judge it, but the nuance of the situation should matter. Is the fighter already struggling to protect themselves early or late in the fight? History of cuts? Have you been keeping a close eye on it so the fighter knows what's up, etc.? Also, the requirements to be a ringside doc in different states has variation. You don't actually have to be a sports medicine doc in most cases, and a lot of them are neurologists or internists, even which is just insane to think about. Unless I'm mistaken, I thought I did hear them say they're monitoring that cut between rounds.

I'm pretty sure I did hear them say that. Okay. The doctor? Yes. The doctor and the ref, I believe, had a conversation about that. But by the way, this speaks to a much larger issue in MMA, which is the inconsistency across commissions, right? In one state, they may be more lenient. In another state, it may be this. And it's just the downside of this thing across MMA where all the different commissions have their own people.

There is no uniformity. Some places, the cuts stopped. Some places you get Irene Aldana with her head falling off and like it takes till that. Like it's just, it's an MMA thing more so I think than like that specific commission thing, you know? Yeah. And to that point, by the way, he said,

Irene Aldana is the textbook example. How the heck that continues in one fight, but Colby's doesn't is just nuts. And it can absolutely change a career trajectory. So, um, I think for Buckley, he obviously actually Buckley maybe seemed like a little bit annoyed that, that it ended. I think he was feeling good and maybe wanted the knockout or the big stoppage. And, uh, and for Colby, it's, it's the perfect out. Now, the question is, where does Buckley go from here? If you're just trying to figure out the division, Shavkat Rachmanov is obviously going to be fighting for the belt next

against the champion Bilal Muhammad. And by the way, I wanted to mention this at the top when I was going through. Sorry to take a left turn here. As I was going through the lineup, you may have noticed that there is no Bilal Muhammad on today's program after everything that happened last week on the show. And so not only is he not on today's show, he completely ignored my public invitation. And not only is he not on today's show, he completely ignored my public

invitation. And not only did he do that, yes, thank you, Frank, he ignored all the quote unquote receipts that I brought to the table. And so the next time you hear him on either his show or some other shows, whether he's sitting down with SS Jake, or if it's a round table with the spirit of Joseph Goebbels or something like that that Jake is bringing to the table, just remember who's who in this situation. Now that you've seen all the receipts, now you've seen everything that he has said has been refuted, remember who is who. And when he sits there and says that I won't have him on because of his heritage, remember how dangerous of an accusation that is. You could sit here and say that I suck as a journalist or I don't want

to talk to the guy or all that, but when you accuse me of not having you on because of your heritage, just remember who's who in the situation. Remember who has made the invitations, who has extended the invites, who has tried both publicly and privately to have him on the program, and now who has ignored said invitation so that he can sit on these shows and say, Ariel doesn't have me on continuously, time and again, says it almost every couple months, doesn't have me on because of his heritage. And also remember, as you maybe sit there and roll your eyes and say that I'm making too big of a deal about this or that I'm whining about this, remember my family history as well. My mom comes from Beirut and my dad comes from Egypt and they had to leave those countries in order to find safety in Canada. And remember that my grandparents were kidnapped by the PLO

and put in jail for nine days simply because they were Jewish. So this is the reason why I react this way to these accusations. I don't care what you believe in, who you are, what your religion is, and when you sit there and accuse me of not having you on because of your religion or because of your heritage, I will react this way and I will take it to heart.

So just remember that the next time he does it because I can assure you he will do it and I can assure you the useful idiots out there will eat it all up, lap it up,

and then blame me for it. So please just remember this, clip it off, and post it the next time he does it. He has an open invitation. If it's not today, it's tomorrow. If it's not tomorrow, it's the next day, it's the next week to come on this show and prove to me that he is not the issue. Prove to you that he is not the issue, that I'm the issue. That's not the case. The case is I have never had an issue dating back to 2016. I will not have an issue. I would even have Muhammad

Muqayyab who said he wouldn't come on the show simply because I posted factual stuff about things that were disgusting things that were happening in his country. I don't care. How many more times can I say this to all of you? Journalism, journalism is not speaking in an echo chamber. It's not just speaking to like-minded people. I believe that that's what we do here to some degree. And so I'm happy to have people from different walks of life, different beliefs, people who may not even like me or believe in what I believe in.

I don't care. We're talking sports here. I don't want to have him on to debate the Middle East. If we want to go there, great, but that's not the reason. He's a very relevant fighter who is doing great things, who's the champion of the world, who's just had an incredible year. God bless, amazing, well done. If you want to come on, great. If you don't want to come on,

great. That's your prerogative. I'm not going to beg anyone. But I bring this up if only because he continues to say I don't have a mom because of his heritage. And that is a 1000% lie. And I take that to heart because of my family history. So please recognize that. Left turn complete. We come back to the present. Welterweight division, which he is the champion of. I believe he's going to fight Shofcutt maybe five, six months from now. And then I believe we'll get Leon in London, as he said. The question is, who does Leon fight? I don't think he fights Ian Gary.

I wonder, I don't think JDM is going to be ready for Perth. No, no, not Perth, Sydney. There's the rankings right there. And so I don't think we're getting Kamaru Usman, Leon. I don't think there's any desire to see that. I think a very good option would be JDM versus Leon as the main event of London. I think that makes a ton of sense. You've got Sean Brady there. I wouldn't hate the idea of Sean Brady versus Leon as well. I wouldn't hate the idea of Sean Brady versus Joaquin Buckley. I think we don't see Ian for a little bit. And I wouldn't hate the idea of Ian versus Sean Brady as well. And if not, you've got Buckley right there at number nine, who I suspect will jump up by tomorrow when they put out. These are the UFC rankings, by the way. At Uncrowned, we only do the pound-for-pound rankings. Anyone have any issues with that?

I feel like it's pretty, I mean, where Leon fits. Leon versus Ian was the one, though. Not happening. I know like it's pretty... I mean, where Leon fits... Leon versus Ian was the one, though. Not happening. I know, but that's the one. That's my only issue. I like Leon JDM. I'm down for that. I think that's a great fight. I think the crowd was excited about Joaquin versus Kamara, though. Okay.

So, yeah, he did say that. I'm down with that. So, is it maybe Leon, JDM, Joaquin, Usman? What happens to Brady? Is it Brady-Ian? I mean, I feel like Joaquin and Gary should fight

just because they were scheduled to, but I guess Ian's coming off of a loss now. That doesn't matter. Once Joaquin jumps into that top six, that seven down is going to be calling for a title shot with a win. Welter Waite is very crowded on who's be calling for a title shot with a win. Welter Waite is very crowded on who's going to get a title shot after Shelfcutt.

Where's Leon? What is Leon doing? Leon's fighting in London. Against? I think it's going to be JDM or Brady. Oh, I like those. I'm down for those. That's what I just said.

Yeah, those are good. I'll take either one. And then Buckley Usman, and then Ian fights the one that Leon doesn't fight. I'm down with it. Let's do it. That's like a three-fight tournament. The question is, which is the number one contender fight?

If Shafkat is, you know what I mean? That's what I'm saying. It's so deep. Whoever, all those guys, after they win their next fight, will be demanding a title shot it's crowded man if yeah if leon wins he's gonna say i'm next if that was yeah i mean brady has jdm beats leon he'll be like time for a title shot right every single one to connor's point

every single one's gonna say i think they're think they're one went away from the title i mean buckley the name that you forgot pt was below like buckley win away from a title. I mean, Buckley, the name that you forgot, Pete, was Bilal. Buckley was calling for a title. He listed the three people. He said Leon, Kamaru, and Bilal. They all feel like they deserve a title shot. Truth be told, they're not far. Any one win, you get there.

It would be hard not to give someone a title shot if they beat Leon in London. Hard not to, you're saying? Yeah like whoever wins that fight i think that that's the hardest environment you can go into out of any of these you know like you're fighting him he's a hero there and we obviously saw belal do this in manchester already but leon's gonna have his backup he's gonna want to get straight back into that title conversation. He's told us that the situation there basically

had a huge impact on his performance, so he's going to want to come out and show everybody what he's all about. Whoever beats him at that fight, I think, would deserve a title shot at that stage. I think it's up for grabs. Best performance wins. If somebody comes out there and lights it up and just goes, I'm the guy, I think it's up for grabs. Best performance wins. If somebody comes out there and lights it up

and just goes, I'm the guy, I think they can get it. Remember that Fox show way back in the day where there were those two fights and Dana said, the one who looks the best will get the title shot and I think it ended up, was it Bader against Machete? You remember this? Fox 4, UFC on Fox 4?

No one has any recollection of this? I have no recollection of this. Oh my god, it was UFC on Fox 4? It's all on theection. No recollection of this. Oh my God. It was UFC on Fox. It's all on the same channel for us. You know what I mean? Like I've never really, it's hard to distinguish.

You know what I mean? Oh, this is a big deal. Now, are you going to tell me on the end of this, basically that it did not go to the person who had the best performance?

Is that. It did, but it. Oh, it did. Wow. So this is back when they actually did keep their word. Yes, but the problem

was it was like, it wasn't the best fight. It wasn't the best outcome. wasn't both of them were bad it was shogun beating brandon vera and leota machida versus ryan bader and he said whoever gets the best whoever has the best performance of the four will get a title shot and it was shogun but then i think it was like no one wanted to see him in the tusha i mean it's uh it's amazing i will tell you this i will tell you this. I will tell you this. Forget about all that. That was literally 12 years ago. I just got a text right now from Sean Brady.

Oh. Oh. I'm listening to the show. Me versus Leon is the fight to make. Okay. Off the strength of that. There it is, Sean. That's the one to me.

Off the strength of that alone. It's all you. It's all you. Ireland's own. For real. Sean Brady reps the troicolor. There it is. So Ian won't do it. Sean will. For real. Sean Brady reps the tricolor. There it is. So Ian won't do it.

Sean will. Love it. And then if Sean beats Leon, hard to deny. He's got the history with Bilal. I mean, Leon's ranked number one right now. It's a great style matchup. Yeah. It's a really good style matchup based on what Bilal did.

Like Brady is such an incredible grappler. When he gets top position, you're not moving. Like he is like soil creep on top of you. Like it's, it's just, I think he's incredible. And after what Bilal did to Leon, I'm sure he's thinking I can employ a similar game plan here and have a lot of success. Yeah.

I like that too. It's a great style because also on the other side, Leon's the striker. You have to imagine Leon's the better striker. And we saw what Bilal did to Sean Brady. So like there's I think there's pass to victory for both guys there. Love that matchup. Do you think the angle of a rematch helps Sean Brady or hurts him because

he already lost the ball? I think it helps. I think it helps. I think there's a story there. Yeah. It's also been, by the time they would have fought, two and a half years. Yeah. There's a redemption arc there that i think is uh a possible one the one loss on the record back i like it yeah by the way and now i'm remembering

it all none of the guys got the title shot that was the thing that was the thing you didn't even remember i remember i remember it was a thing and i remember it was just like a thing you sell the fight and no one got it so what you're saying is saying is Carlos Prates is going to be the one who ends up getting the title shot after Shavkow versus Bilal. Perfect. Love it. What did you guys think of that press conference? Did you think it was... Yeah, I don't know.

I guess I don't have too many thoughts. Why was he so mad? I think it's fine. I don't even know if he was mad. I feel like he was just like, I'm out of here. I'm done. What was he going to say that would have improved anything? That I don't know. Biggest win.

I'm with you, Ariel. I think he could have done more with that, especially as somebody who considers themselves good on the mic and tries to utilize those opportunities. I think there was plenty of opportunity for him to really set some agendas out there. But if he felt like he did it in the cage i guess he doesn't need to follow up on it but i i he probably could have stood to do more i think i'm more in your camp but i also don't i don't hate it i'm not trying to make this out to be a big thing

but you know after the fights you look at the clips i was like okay let's see what he says i'm like oh wow this was a minute Uh, and then he just walked off just different by the way, maybe, maybe the brilliance is he walked off and now we're talking about it. Now we're talking about that.

I was going to say, would we be talking about it if he. Right. So maybe that's a brilliant, but, uh, Buckley's made some changes.

I understand, um, not with the same management, not with the same coaches. Like he's made some changes as of late and, and seem to have worked out for him.

So I'm, I'm curious to see what this all translates into. He looks great at 170 too. Whatever he's done since the move to Welterweight, that's all working for him. He's been killing it. By the way, remember, I don't think they wanted him to go to 170.

I think they wanted him to stay at 85. Now they've got a contender on their hands. Best movie made in his career. Yeah. Did you guys enjoy the Hogan walkout? It was fun. It was a botch in my opinion. Who guys enjoy the Hogan walkout? It was fun. It was a botch, in my opinion.

It was a botch. Who said it was the best walkout? One of the best walkouts ever. That's delusion. I think it was Double B. Oh, yeah?

Oh, no. This is one of the all-time great walkouts. I was like, what? Hogan can hardly walk. They did nothing. It was cool seeing

Hogan and Chael. I like seeing Chael out there. I like seeing Chael out there just rocking the glasses and just being Coach Chael. But no one reacted to it. Hogan felt clunky. Hogan, they have this interaction when he gets in as well where it's like he's kind of –

Hogan's gone back into the second row or wherever he's supposed to be sitting. And Colby's about to get in and they're trying to talk to to each other, but it just felt they didn't really know each other. You made a great point earlier, Ariel, when you were talking about the gimmick of Colby. We saw Oban Elliott on X say, that should have been me, right? If he was the one walking out with Hulk, I think there's a way to do that. I think there's an exciting way you can do that. But it's not, A, not knowing each other. And now Hulk and Colby have nothing to talk about and nothing to do.

And they feel like strangers, as PT's pointing out. Two, Hulk's just walking out. Like, there's no energy to it. He's not doing this thing. Colby's half-assed doing them. The shirt rip was kind of undramatic. Colby just doesn't have the charisma. Colby's thing and the heat.

You said the heat only worked really well when he was the outsider. When it was like he was the one with the MAGA hat when everybody was against that. And he was drawing the heat. Now it has shifted and he has become more the mainstream of UFC fandom and UFC culture. In addition to that, he was also winning at that time. He was also a respectable high level fighter at that time. Now he's completely fallen off a cliff and the gimmick no longer works when you're a guy who's getting completely blanked by Leon Edwards and Joaquin Buckley in the two of the bigger fights of your career. He just does not have it anymore. And so that gimmick fails on multiple fronts now.

And he just never had the charisma to start. It worked better when he could just steal the heat from everybody and he didn't need to do anything. Now that he has to do something, now that he has to have that energy and sell that walkout in a way that I guarantee you Oban Elliott or somebody equivalent would have, he just doesn't have it.

He never had it. He kind of isn't that guy. And so it fell short for me. It just like, what was the point of Hogan even being there? The chail thing, again, nice little gesture,

but like it didn't have anything for me. No, it was like he was cosplaying. It's like, okay, I need people to react to me. he is cosplaying and has been for the last decade. That is the thing.

That is Colby's story. He's been cosplaying. I've never, I've never had a problem with it. Again, Colby's not the biggest fan of mine i freaking was arguing with the espn bosses to let him wear the maga hat to let him be live like the shit that we had to deal with just to have him on the show and then like to hear the stuff that he says about me now is is comedy of the of the highest degree. I don't care.

Again, I don't care what you wear. I don't care about any of that stuff. But now every good gimmick needs to evolve. The personality needs to change. It can't be the same thing. What worked five years ago doesn't work now. Everyone, even the best, even Stone Cold Steve Austin, the rock, look how many times he changed over the years.

Corporate rock, Brahma Bull, Nation of Domination Rock. Like, you want to be a pro wrestler? You have to learn from pro wrestling. And he's kept it the same. Kept it the same. And to Rick's point, man, like, he's got to be winning. If he's going to come out here and be like, I'm the best in the division, I'm the face of the UFC,

all these other guys are bums, and he's won one round since March of 2022, and now he's 0-2 and completely out of the title picture like the gimmick just doesn't work at this point let's talk about the the flyweight division Manel Kapp with uh an amazing win once again he he continues to show us signs of brilliance right he continues to show us that he's an incredible fighter and that he could be a major player in this division uh he's a bit of a he's a bit of a loose cannon at times but he's an entertaining loose cannon and he wins in the third round of his fight against bruno silva and look great in doing so and then afterwards it reminded me a

little bit of nate diaz back in uh orlando in 2015 final ufc event of the year That one was on Fox. He gets on the microphone and he cuts a mean promo on Conor McGregor and we know what happened in 2016. Wasn't exactly the same, but it did kind of remind me of it as he was just spraying everyone. Here's Manel on the microphone afterwards. I know we are in SPN. I will not say bad words, but F*** Carafrance F*** Moreno F*** Adesanya And I'm the next I'm the next against Pantoja

There are levels to do this s*** And I'm the one who can destroy Pantoja So Dana, put me, fight against Pantoja. Because I'm the new, the new pay-per-view star in flat weight. No one can be like me. No one dress like me. No one is beautiful than me. I'm terrific.

I'm the best. And Dana, I deserve two bonus. The finish and performance. And that's it. I'm done. Spoiler, he got neither bonus sorry about that uh i thought it was interesting stuff my favorite is uh i'm on espn i'm not gonna square and then it's just like f this guy f that guy did you guys see the izzy clip of him watching it yeah amazing he's like sitting there eating something he did the 50 cent Amazing I think that's entertaining

And obviously has a history with Kaikar friends After digesting it a little bit On Saturday evening What I tweeted was After this is all played out now Here's my final vote If in fact Figi is serious about moving down to 125 I like Pantoja vs Figi in Brazil

I love that fight Now this I can't stress this enough If he can't make the weight serious about moving down to 125. I like Pantoja versus Figue in Brazil. I love that fight. Now, this, you know, I can't stress this enough. If he can't make the weight, if he thinks he's too big, if he thinks it's unhealthy, then we have to adjust. Then I said Manel versus Kaikara France, number one contender fight. Re-sign Mohamed Mokhaev, who won this past Friday in very impressive and one-sided fashion. He was like a minus 10,000, so we all expected that His opponent took the fight on short notice He has to fight a Moreno or a Roy Val

Upon re-entering the UFC To earn it, and then If it's a Roy Val, which I Like a lot, maybe you do Moreno versus Tetsuo or Tyra, and I know Tyra is coming Off a loss, but it doesn't always work out that Way where winners have to fight winners and losers have to fight Losers, that's kind of how I see it. Now, I know there's a couple

of big ifs there. A, Muhammad getting re-signed, maybe a bit of a long shot. Maybe he has to do a little bit more, has to humble himself, kiss the ring, whatever they need from him. And then B, the Figueiredo part I know is somewhat of a long shot. What do you guys think about this? Who has a better idea? Anyone? I'm with you. I think it should be Manel versus Kaikara France. I don't think the win that he just got is enough to stamp a title shot.

It was over the 12th ranked dude. He's currently nine, and he doesn't have any other ranked wins beyond that. There's the history with Kaikara France. You have this opportunity in bringing Figu back down one more time at 125, and you get this amazing rematch between Pantoja and Figueiredo. And then, yeah, I didn't even think about it that deeply. I don't mind like a Moreno, Tatsuro, Tyra either. So if they don't do Figueiredo, let's just pretend none of these ifs are a thing.

No Mahaev, no Figueiredo. Then what do you do? Cop. Kai Karafranspy. Oh. Wait, so EJ says Manel and PT says Kaikara-Franc. There you see the rankings right here. Kaikara-Franc is four.

Cop. He's just going to sell it better. Like, look at what he just did on the mic. Like, he is the guy that's going to make it matter. Now, the unfortunate thing for him is he has lost Alexandre Pantoja. But who does everyone? Who doesn't at this point?

On tough, Kai lost to him. I mean, they still fought and he still lost. Cop is going to sell the fight, but I'll be honest, I care more about his beef with KKF and Israel Hassan than I care about his beef with him. I think you've got to make that fight

first. But then what do you do with Pantoja? Here's my thing with Pantoja. He has a real opportunity here. And the UFC has a real opportunity here. If you keep this man active, you will encroach upon the Demetrius Johnson thing. You will start to hit this because he has no equal.

He is unparalleled in this division. That is the only way you're going to make him a viable draw for you, is if you rack up enough wins, and I said this last week, you need to follow the Amanda Nunes and the Demetrius Johnson mold with him. Now, they never became your top star, but they became big enough that you could at least put them out there and fans started to identify with them. You need to rack up title defenses for him because there is no other way. People are, for one reason or another,

do not respect the flyweight division, do not respect him as a champion, even though he's done everything you could possibly do. You need to keep him active and you need to keep the title defenses going. And so if you're just sitting him on the sidelines waiting for this like perfect contender that he then beats in two rounds anyway, you're wasting a lot of time that you could be putting hay in the barn on that. And they need to follow that game plan. They need to give him active opponents. He'll be both of them in the next year. Who cares? Give him KKF, give him Kopp. He'll walk through them and then we'll see what happens from there. But you need to keep him active. Otherwise, he's never going to be viable as a champion. He's never going to be a draw. The problem is, and I could see them not doing this for this reason,

if you do KKF versus Manel, you're killing off one of the contenders. Yeah, don't. Don't. But then you're also getting a proper fight for Pantoja. But what happens if that proper fight for Pantoja goes the same way all these other ones for Pantoja go? And do they even care?

Then the next guy, oh, he lost twice in a row and now he gets a title shot. That's the biggest argument right now Like, Ersig got a title shot. You know what I mean? That's the biggest argument right now is that Ersig got a title shot. If neither of these guys fight again, and you're not resigning Muhammad, and Figge's not moving down. I'm putting Kopp in there. Who do you think they, I think they go with KKF. Well, that's the one that Pantoja said to you when you asked him.

But that was before Manel's win. That was before the win. I personally think that there's more to more to cop that could sell that fight oh he'll sell the shit out of it but neither neither option's great let's let's just call it what it is he has done such a thorough job dismantling everybody in this division there are no good options i think the only way to handle this is give him as many title fights as you possibly can. I feel like you, like, I know we're speaking if the ifs don't happen. I feel like you just, you pay Figgy whatever to come back.

Yeah, that's the one. I feel like that's the one. You guys like that? For sure. He did have trouble making weight. Oh, he's a big dude. Yeah, I know, but you pay him a lot of money and tell him one last cut to 125. You can get the title back if you want to. How's Henry Cejudo looking?

Send him back down to flyweight. i don't care at this point yeah they actually need to they need to just get get asker asker off back from ac get everyone in the division all these guys these are real contenders though they were genuine contenders lose the asker asker off i feel yes yes yes yes yes yes exactly come no, but like, these are guys who just were allowed walk out the door and that's not how you, you keep the strength in a division. Makayev, Askarov, get them back in here. Um, you know, and it would also make for a far more dynamic division and a proper step ups for like the likes of Kap and, and these different guys before they get to that title fight, because really good wrestlers as well.

You know, it's not, it's like the problem you have with Kap going in against Pantoja is just like, there is a huge, huge disparity once that fight hits the ground. I think, I know, I know it's not exactly what Dana White wants at the UFC. Yeah. No, on the ground.

I'm saying on the feet though, Kap's got an advantage. Like, you know, it's a fight. I think Pantoja's improved so much. Kaya Sakuro was good on the feet as well You're talking to the number You're talking to the number one You have to give him credit

You're always throwing shit all over Pantoja I'm a hater, I hate Pantoja Give us Sulamabai of a big fight Give him Roy Valor Moreno or something His last two losses were to Figgy and to Askarov Line them up The guy has to like lap everyone

we figured it out for them and by the way they know what they have to do now where's dustin ortiz at that's his third loss he hasn't fought in three years yeah i think dustin ortiz back too man just bring back shorty torres where you at mate let's get you back bring my hive back bring them all back we've now had this conversation for two weeks in a row. How can anybody not value what Pantoja has done? The thoroughness with which he has done this should be lauded every single day in MMA circles. What he has done to the point that they have to scramble like this to find somebody to fight him. Meanwhile, we're talking about welterweight. We've got 15 guys.

We're like, oh, this guy could get a title shot. This guy could get a title shot. This guy could get a title shot. At flyweight, he's dismantled everybody to the point that there's nobody who can get a title shot. He's incredible. Honestly, you got to start getting these guys that are coming off a loss as busy, too. Make like Amir Al-Bazi versus Tatsuro Taira or something just to get them a win. So it's just like, all right, they can get a title.

I mean, Kakao France is one and two in his last three. I know he's coming off a win, but, like, he lost his two previous before that. And now people are like, yeah, put him into a title shot. So get these other guys busy to get a win on their record so they can call for a proper title as well. Great call. PT, after the win on Friday, do you think the UFC re-signs Mukhaev? I don't know the ins and outs of that situation. I don't think anyone does.

We're basically, we're we're basically we're trying to understand what happened based off like media clippings right dana said this mccoy i said this i don't know what happened there but it must have been pretty bad i guess if they're gonna let i don't think by the way i i don't think that there was some big incident per se i just think that the uh things over and over again matchmaker study was difficult to deal with and they said the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. And I also think that they didn't love his style. I think that they told him and, and,

and, and sort of insinuated that he doesn't go for it, that he doesn't put himself at risk. He doesn't go for the finish. And it's just not really a fan friendly style that they want to be a part of. I mean, they,

you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, the, the, the, the, they're not the world, Ankhalaev, they're not releasing those guys because their contracts aren't up.

But with Makaev, the contract was up and the combo of him maybe being a little bit difficult and B, not really putting on super exciting fights. By the way,

that's not my opinion. I'm just saying this is what they were saying. That's stupid. I agree. Also, he's super my opinion. I'm just saying this is what they were saying. That's stupid. I agree. Also, he's super young too. Like he can evolve. And then the other thing is there's nowhere for him to go.

So it's not like you're letting a guy walk and all of a sudden he's going to sign with PFL. PFL doesn't even have the weight class. You know what I mean? They don't even have flyweight. Neither does Bellator. And so he's fighting for brave. He's taking a step back, a massive one at that. So typically when we think like, all right, UFC is going to, I don't know.

I remember them releasing Miguel Torres out of the blue and then bringing him back. Obviously that was for an incident, a tweet. But like Paul Daly, they never brought back. And I'm not comparing any of these things, but, you know, sometimes when they make a decision and everyone thinks the right thing to do is to, you know, kind of fix that decision, if you will, they dig their heels in

and they double down and they say no. So I don't know what they're going to do, but I lean towards them not wanting to re-sign him. Ryan super chatted in and said, did you see Cejudo tell Habib that he can make 125 again, that he matches up well against Pantoja? Would you be interested in that? Cejudo, anything?

1,000%. He's just a name, and it's another fight. He's a bigger name than all of them. I would love to see it. I don't know if I believe him, but I would love to see it. I don't think he has a chance either at this stage. Oh, my God. Against Pantoja in his current form? I don't know about that. Let to see it. I don't think he has a chance either at this stage. Oh my God. Against Pantoja in his current form?

I don't know about that. Let's see it. Anyone, just book this, man. Let's see it. I love it. So the other big story, of course, was Cub Swanson. The big win,

completely different than the sort of depressing nature of 3-10 where we had Clay Guida, Chris Weidman, and Anthony Smith all lose. Here's now the older gentleman getting the nice win, getting the moment with his family, beating Billy Q in a firefight of a fight, a classic Cub Swanson fight. And it was great to see him get his flowers, get that love.

A guy who never fought for a title in the UFC, but has just been there for well over a decade. And afterwards, and we're going to talk to him in about an hour and a half and we'll see that that's a great celebration shot do we have the the photo of his kids recreating it uh his kids were on his uh his instagram recreating the celebration which uh you know i i i i know the Pereira one is a famous one. It wasn't in the ring, but there you go. There he is recreating it. And shout out to Billy Q,

who always handles these situations very well. What do you think, Petey? Was that the end of Cub Swanson? Because it seems like he's having this internal battle where he's like, he wants to go out on top. He's liking coaching these days, unless they bring something. I could see it. I could see him just sort of like walking off into the night

and not making a big to-do about it. Well, it's a classic fighter moment really, isn't it? Like I'd say if you were to ask Cobb all week, is this your last fight? He'd be like, yeah, absolutely. 100%. I'm definitely retiring. Then you go out and do something as spectacular as that.

And you can see the cogs turning in his head as he's being interviewed because I think it's Bisping interviewing him. Is it? Yeah. Saying this is like Bisping is set up to give him a farewell here. You know, he's like, no matter what happens here,

Cub, Cub is retiring. So he's trying to give him the big farewell. And you just see the look of Cub's face with his missus in the background who he's told he's retiring. And he's trying to give him the big farewell and you just see the look of his face with his missus in the background who he's told he's retiring and he's like yeah i'm not really going to commit to that just yet lads like and that is the course of fighters right like and i think we talked about tony fergson on the old show an awful lot when he'd be fighting and we were kind of getting into that let's watch it through the fingers phase of tony's careers

to tony's career and we were like the worst thing that could Let's watch it through the fingers phase of Tony's careers to Tony's career. And we were like, the worst thing that could happen right now is for him to win. Because as soon as these guys win these high level fighters, like Cobb should have fought for a title. He obviously has history with Aldo really kind of obscured him from getting another shot. I think for a long time, he's a,

he's a Brit. He's a legendary featherweight. And when a legendary featherweight does something legendary this late in their career, you can understand where they're like, shit, I could probably do this to a few more guys. So I think it's just a classic case study in how a fighter's mind works in that moment. You can see it. And honestly, if there's an element of doubt there for Kub, I expect to see him fight again. I do believe that Kub is the type of guy when he does retire, when he takes off the gloves, we will not see him again. I mean, he's getting up there.

41, just turned 41. He's been around for so long. He's fought so many guys. He's beaten so many guys. You know, people threw out, okay, if you can fight Doohu Choi again. Or what were the other ones that were thrown out to him? I think Jose Aldo's name was thrown out, a WEC, like a WEC night, if you will, but there aren't that many of those guys left, to be honest. I guess there's enough, but I don't see them doing that anytime soon. He seems to really enjoy coaching these days.

He seems to really enjoy being that veteran, being that leader. He's got this bloodline team. He seems to be in a great place mentally. You know, we were talking about Joaquin Buckley. Like, that post-fight press conference I really enjoyed. He's just very introspective and thoughtful. He's always been that guy. He's not really a guy who puffs his chest out.

He's not really someone who loves to talk trash or disrespect others. He really just makes it about himself and his journey. And so I go both ways, but it sounded to me like he was at least leaning towards, unless, it reminds me a little bit of Joe Lozon. Joe Lozon never really retired, but he said like, unless something really interesting comes up, I think I'm done. And that's, that's the feeling that I got out of Cub on Saturday.

And, and, and he certainly deserves that. I don't know if he's going to fight for a belt anytime soon. I think he's at peace's going to fight for a belt anytime soon. I think he's at peace with that as well. He's kind of traded wins and losses. What do you think, GC? You think he fights again based on what we heard from him? Yeah, I think it's just going to be difficult for him to hang it up with the way that he won on Saturday night. Had he won just by a split decision or something like that,

it'd be like, all right, let's just finish on a win. But to have that emphatic of a knockout and all the fans going crazy and the kids recreating it and everything, I know he's getting up there. I think he's 41 or something now, but it's just like, it's tough to walk away, especially after you just did that. To a guy like Billy Q, too, in the co-main event, it wasn't like he was down on the prelims. We saw Clay Guida and his opponent was a minus 1,000 or whatever it was. He's clearly got something left in the tank and it's hard for these guys to step away like that. I guess if the wife and kids are asking you though, then, then that's also a good argument to be made. Yeah. Um, well, let's see, let us see, uh, final UFC event, uh, has come and gone some,

some interesting nuggets from, from Dana White in the post-fight press conference. Perhaps the most interesting came at the very, very end, courtesy of a question from Danny Segura around the Tom Aspinall-John Jones fight and his confidence level going into it. I thought there were a couple of interesting things that he said about it. I wanted to play the clip for you guys, and then we can react to it. Here's Dana White talking about the possibility and the chances and his confidence level going into 2025

of us seeing Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall. Jones versus Aspinall, is that sort of the big priority and you think that's the biggest fight the promotion can put on in 2025? 100%. And I think it's probably the biggest fight in heavyweight history and uh it's a massive fight in the uh in the history of the company too it's a big fight yeah we know tom aspinall's down jones is kind of like on the fence or at least that's what he said publicly right have you talked weird how confident what's weird about that let me tell you what's weird about that so usually those guys say that shit behind the scenes and not publicly john says that shit publicly but not behind the scenes and not publicly. John says that shit publicly, but not behind the scenes. John is a very unique individual to deal with. From day one, I've been confident that John

Jones would do that fight, right? I mean, even before the fight. So if he won, there's no way John doesn't do this fight. John Jones isn't afraid to fight anybody. And that's a fact. And the only time that anything remotely weird has ever happened with Jon Jones was the time that his fucking camp did the weird Chael Sonnen thing. We can't fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. And that wasn't him. It was his team.

And he listened to his team for whatever reason. But that's like the goofiest fucking move in the history of the UFC. But other than that, Jon Jones behind the scenes is not a guy that turns down fights. Would you guarantee 100% we see that fight? Yeah. I'll say 100%. By the way, that's great stuff from Danny Segura. That follow-up question was tremendous.

And so the two interesting things for me in that exchange, number one, him guaranteeing 100% is a big deal. Now, is it something you take to the bank? No, because things change. I mean, we're still waiting on Zufa boxing all these years later. But he does seem quite confident, and surely he would know. But even more interesting than that is what he said prior about john jones saying that you know there are some guys who

publicly will say i want to fight but then privately they say opposite with john he's saying publicly he's saying he doesn't want to fight but privately he's saying he wants to fight and so this would back up the theory that he's just messing around. This would back up the theory that he's just trolling us. Now, I still feel like there's a chance it doesn't happen. I still feel like there's a chance for whatever reason it doesn't happen. But this, if you are one of those people who are praying for this moment to come, if you are praying for this fight, if this is your fight to watch in 2025 that you are hoping happens, I would say those two little nuggets should put you in a great mood. Number one, he 100% guarantees it. And number two, he says John

is saying something differently publicly as opposed to privately. All right, we can talk more about that. For now, though, let us say hello to our first guest of the day. He is the man who was supposed to fight Tommy Fury on the 18th of January. That fight apparently isn't happening. He's the pride of Liverpool. He's the one and only Darren Till, who was giving us a bit of a mare, as they say. He was in, he was out. What's wrong, Darren? Is everything okay? You were making my producer sweat a little bit back there. What's going, Darren? Is everything okay? You were making my producer sweat a little bit back there. What's going on?

Were you trolling? What's happening? No, I wasn't trolling. Sorry. What are you? Christmas shopping? What's more important in your life than this appearance, than this show? Christmas shopping.

Am I right? Yeah, you're right. You cheeky bastard. Okay, so we won't take up too much of your time Because I know you're very busy shopping I see some presents back there I'm awaiting mine because certainly you have a lot to forgive Or I have a lot to forgive you about

After our incident Of a couple of years ago Where do things stand as far as January 18th is concerned And are you still there or did you leave I don't know if I can Can you see me? Can you hear me? Yeah.

Did I break off? Yeah, yeah, you broke up. I can see you. You froze for a minute there. Can you see me? Yeah, yeah, I can see you now. Can you see me now? Yeah, I can see you.

Where do things stand? Where do things stand as far as January 18th is concerned? Just looking for another opponent, Peril. I was devastated, really, to be totally honest with you. Are you fighting on that date?

I think so yeah I know that Misfits is trying hard to get me an opponent So as I said Any one Any time, any place Obviously January 18th At any rate I said So hopefully someone steps up to the plate isn't it? I heard they're close.

Are you hearing the same? Yeah, I heard that they are close, which is good to know. It's all promising, isn't it? Are you, and I don't want you to get in trouble or anything like that, but are you happy with the option being presented to you? You still there, Ariel?

Yeah, can you hear me? Yeah, I'm obviously... Everything all right? Yeah, I think there's been a crash ahead oh yeah well involving you not involving me no just a crash i think the the quartering off the road so uh i was just i was just looking to see how to it. I don't think they've stopped someone. Sorry. Sorry, Ariel. That's not you.

You're all good, right? Because I'll run over there and back you up. I'm okay. Yeah, as I say, I'm probably a little bit upset at the whole situation with Tommy not being able to fight him because that was a big fight and that was a fight that obviously looked good in and that, because it was definitely going to beat him, and he knows that. So any option at this point is just off the take on the chain, isn't it, and just accept. Fair enough.

Can I say something, Darren? Far be it for me to question anyone, but I do want to say I don't believe the story that is being put out there. I don't believe it say I don't believe the story that is being put out there. I don't believe it. I don't believe it's about your words or what you said. Your story. Do you want me to tell you the real story? Please, please, please. Sorry, Aaron.

No problem. Are you still there? Yeah, I'm still here. Tell us the story. This is the story that I'm 100% convinced on and a lot of other people are. We think, because obviously our gym is close to his gym and there's a lot of people that train in the gyms

and stuff like that. I just believe that he's heard rumors of how I'm getting on in the gym in terms of like sparring and stuff like that because we've had a lot of high profile professionals come in and obviously uh i've been sparring great with these guys like really like really impressive even for a lot of the pro boxers in the gym they're like wow so you're really impressive man like you fucking hit hard you know you look good you know just all that So we just think that he's aired rumors and he's just thought,

this is just not going to be an easy night. Like, do you know what I mean? And that's why we think he's pulled out because you can't be pulling out with that excuse. What do you give? It's a terrible excuse. It's an awful excuse. And considering like the stuff that his dad has done

and just like, you know, building a fight and whatnot. What, if anything, do you know about what Misfits and or DAZN is doing about this? Because he did, did he not sign a contract to say that he would show up and you can't just walk out like that without an injury, no? No, yeah. Like it's, it's extremely shameful and extremely bad on his part like like you've got a commitment in place to fight and you just you pull it out not even because of an injury because of that like because of some mean nasty words were said to you and be forgive it or be before the press conference he was actually saying on a misfit into you if darren wants to get crazy we can get crazy air

you know there's no one's crazier than the Fioris and stuff like that. And it's just, it's shown a bad light on John and Tommy. And even Tyson, that's like, they've always prided themselves on being like a fighting family and stuff like that. And then,

do you know what I mean? On the flip side, this is a huge victory for you, right? You could go around saying this man backed out of a fight. I'd even have to lace up the gloves. Yeah. It's a massive victory for you right you could go around saying this man backed out of a fight i'd even have to lace up the gloves yeah it's a massive victory for me ariel like i think my name's only gotten stronger from it you know what i mean like 100 the years the fioris have bullied the way i with everyone and i come along just this one man band that until and i've just ended them in

one press conference. Is there a part of you that says, oh man, I wish it was more like the UFC, because that would never... You know Dana would never let someone just walk out like that. Is this a bit of a reminder of how crazy the world of boxing is and that this stuff can fly? Yeah,

it's just like, what is going on? There's just loads of stoppages everywhere, Ariel. You are right. They're not coming after you, are they? No, I hope not. Deja vu. It's like we're back in the Canary Islands here.

Deja vu. But not the Canary Islands. It's just everywhere. I get arrested all over the place, don't I? Yeah, it's a massive victory for me Ariel but it's also it's a big blow it's like another

fight fell through after two years like all this man wants to do is fight that's all I want to do is fight Ariel like it's

that's upsetting do you know what I mean I saw an interview that you did this weekend you were at the fight in Liverpool and someone asked you if you know if he wanted to fight you down the line would you be open to it and you

said yes why would you agree to fight him if he's unreliable i don't know i think i think that i think that uh it's it's just made the fight bigger hasn't it aerial yeah that it's just made the fight bigger, hasn't it, Ariel? Yeah. But it's, I don't know. Like, I haven't got a lot of respect for Tommy as it happens, to be honest with you, mate. Yeah. Was there any consideration of you versus Karl Froch?

I don't think so, no. I don't think so right now. You know, Flat Earth Froch has been having a go at me. You know this, yeah? Yeah, I've seen it, yeah. What's he been saying? He's trying to insert himself into the Jake Paul sweepstakes while saying that he actually doesn't want the Jake Paul lottery ticket.

But clearly, if you look at his YouTube channel, 90% of the content is about Jake Paul. And he's claiming that I say that Jake Paul could be a champion. I've never said that. All I've said is that, you know, he gives opportunities for other boxers. And you can't deny that. You know, Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, others. That's all.

I don't think Jake Paul is going to be a champion. I don't think he's championship level. And he has somehow realized that, oh, if he goes at me, people will, you know, people will like him for it. But it's a little disingenuous if you ask me and then and then i saw you say that you called him up or something and then he hung up on you or something like that yeah he called up he was talking shit at me at a charity event in liverpool so i got someone who was there to pass the phone to him for like obviously you know see what kind of comments he had to say to me and he didn't have nothing to say to me so he put the phone down that's it you said hi it's darren and then he hung up no i said i said what's happening it's darren i said i said like something like you fucking little

divvy who you're talking to and he went fuck off your little prick and put the phone down so that that says everything it needs to say to me. All right. What about Billy Joe? Yeah, fight Billy Joe. I'd fight him as well. Okay. Were any of these discussed? No, they weren't discussed. They discussed one or two other opponents that I put forward.

They said that them guys weren't good enough and then I think they're going with someone new. Hopefully, they've said if we can get it in place. Okay. So the big topic is, the big news, you are going to remain on this card. They are close to securing an opponent. And you're upset, but you've moved on now. C'est la vie.

Yeah, basically, yeah. All right. I feel like you want to go, so I'm going to let you go. Yeah, I do. I'm sorry i'm sorry to be abrupt this time i usually do like this is like one of your worst you you gave us one of your best appearances ever and you followed it up with maybe your worst appearance ever you know this i can i could say this to you from the heart as as a friend yeah you can't because you know it you

know i don't take no offense to it so no but it's i mean i'd like to say thank you but i take i i'd be lying if i said thank you no No, if you said thank you, I wouldn't respect you as well, I think. But I'm allowed to have an abundance of you every once in a while because I've given you a lot of good content over the years, haven't I? You have. You're right. You're right.

All right. You know what? Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry, Ariel. I'm sorry. I am feeling a little bit down, to be honest. It's been a shitty few days. I'm sorry.

Where's the motivation coming from after two years? Do you know what I mean? Well, better days ahead. Holidays coming up. Your birthday? And I've just had to go Christmas shopping and my car declined, so I had to put stuff back. That's disgusting. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you need me to

sell you or money transfer you something? Please. Please. Times are hard with friends of you. But it's hard to fucking you, innit? You saved the interview. You saved it with that. Just with that, you saved it. No.

No, I'm messing around. Do you know, when I say this shit as well, I'm only joking. Someone usually does a YouTube video and I'm saying, oh, Darren shit as well, I'm only joking. Someone usually does a YouTube video and I'll say, oh, Darren Phil's broke. I'm not broke, mate. I've got my company on the face of the UFC octagon. I'm okay.

Trust me, money's flying in. We didn't doubt it. Your birthday's coming up as well, right? On December 24th? I'm 32, December 24th. That's right. Yeah, you can't say when my birthday is It's a one way street here But

I know when your birthday is Yeah when Your birthday is in June Not bad by the way July So not bad You got it I

I know things You know I'm very very I'm good Not bad I have these things in me And they just It's like a radar

To tell the things. Like, I know when a person's bad or not. And that's why you like me? You're a good person. I do believe deep down you're a good person. I think you get a lot of hate for some reason. Jealousy. You have stayed the pot over the years, though. Do you not think? No, no. By the way, you can leave now. We don't have to get into lot of hate for some reason. Jealousy. You have stayed the pot over the years, though.

Do you not think? No, no. By the way, you can leave now. We don't have to get into all of this. I don't think I have. Unless you want to stay. Do you want to stay now? Are you having fun?

No, not with me. You haven't stayed the pot ever. I don't actually think you've stayed the pot. I think you've just done good journalism, if I'm being honest. Thank you. That's all I've ever wanted. That's it. Right there.

That's all I've ever wanted that's it right there that's all i want and then i have i think people i think people just don't like the truth but you would think i think excuse me what was that bless you oh no i'm so sorry gosh she must be hating me, I'm sorry But bless you, I hope you're not sick Thank you That might be the first time that we've ever seen your Mrs. on camera Yeah That's a big moment This has turned into actually one of your best appearances Oh, for fuck's sake, Darren Mind the language, Ariel?

No, no problem Let's say you know what how do I make it up to you can I make it up to you with like something else no through the week

no listen when the fight gets announced fight week you come on and we'll talk about it okay well if the fight gets announced this week

I'll come straight on with you and break it like in a way like where we just got the first tips something like that deal it's a deal okay all right hang your sorry mate darren you're a legend all right chin up all right you're the man you're beloved happy birthday happy holidays my best to you and your family. And better days ahead. Appreciate that, Adios. See you soon. There he is, the great Darren Till. What's that, Frank, a Bahambug?

No Bahambug. He's got the Bahambug. Yeah. I think we lifted his spirits. I think we did. I also love the comment that his missus made. It has to go as a drop now, I think. Oh, for fuck's sake, Darren.

How many times do you think she says that? I'm sure she says it on the hour, every hour. My favorite part of that is, it's been a rough few days, what's the motivation anymore? I'm like, oh shit, this is about to get real. Then it's like, all right, see you later. Or then it's like,

and you do stir the pot a lot, Ariel. Actually, you know what? You don't stir the pot a lot. Darren is the best. Well, at least he showed up because he was giving you the runaround. Listen, I'm always down for Darren. I ride for Darren Till. Darren Till, as he said, he's delivered us many, many great moments over the years.

Another one, I think, right there. In a weird way, yes. Except for when he, like like posts our personal information on, on, well, that's not, uh, Frank,

there's a, who the F is we, that you can drop for that one. Cause who the fuck is your boys? Your boys, your boys. All right. It's just you.

Yeah, no, that's why Frank, by the way, Frank, the line of the, of the interview. And he's like,

you know, I know things. I know a lot of things, Ariel. Frank was like, and your phone number. I know it's like your birthday. You know what? Screw you. Um, well, I know things. I know a lot of things, Ariel. Frank was like, and your phone number. I know it. It's like your birthday.

You know what? Screw you. Well, there you go. Maybe we'll get the announcement later in the week. An announcement, by the way, that we did get on a Saturday morning was the main and co-main for the UFC's return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And what a one-two punch this is. A spectacular one-two punch for a fight night, by the way. Not a main event, excuse me, not a pay-per-view, but a fight night on February

1st, part of Riyadh season, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Main event, Israel Adesanya fighting in a non-title fight for, I think, the first time since when? 2019, I think it is, against Nasuldin Imovov. There it is. And then co-main event, MVP against Shara Bullitt. Yo. And that's the one that MVP was talking about. And I presume this is also a 185, right? So MVP moving up to 185. This is tremendous stuff. I think, did you guys feel like more people were pumped about the MVP Shara bullet fight? Either way, I love both of them. These are both great. On a fight night. I'm going to talk out of both sides of my mouth here, admittedly.

I love Israel Adesanya for being a gamer and being like, hey, this is not like the guy that's going to get me necessarily like back to the title contention. This is not the guy that's going to get me necessarily back to the title contention. This is not the guy who's going to headline a pay-per-view with me in Nasruddin Emovov. But I'm willing to put it out there and fight a tough guy. It's not the fight that you typically see somebody take, so I respect it.

But I also kind of want to see Israel Adesanya in those fights. I don't love this fight. It just doesn't do it for me in that way. Now, you say you don't like it because you don't like the matchup or because he's too big for this? He's too big for it. It's just like this is not the proper foil for Izzy.

But he's not in the title picture. That's okay. But even think about MVP versus Shara Bullitt. This is not like, oh, I just want to see Israel Adesanya in the most exciting possible fights against the biggest names. And I feel like he's earned that. I guess who would it rather be? I don't know.

Imovov is fit. How about MVP himself? I'll take MVP and Izzy. That, to me, feels like a bigger thing. I think they're boys. Okay, well, so find somebody. I don't mind it. I don't mind it.

By the way, it is, in fact, his first non-title fight since the Anderson Silva fight in 2019. He is the long-reigning champ. And this is why I feel that way. But then at the same time, I'm like, dude, tip your cap. Respect. The dude is not just looking for only those opportunities and is willing to put it on the line against, again, a really high-level ranked guy, but not necessarily the sexy name. I don't know. I respect the hell out of it.

I think Izzy's a gangster for taking it, but I'm also just kind of like, I don't know. I don't know. What do you think, GC? There's something sexier out there for Israel. I'm fine with it. What's the alternative? I don't mind it at all.

I'm actually surprised by this, Casey. Imavov is number five. If you look at the rankings, it's just like Sean Strickland's fighting DDP, then it's Izzy, then Hamzat is obviously just going to wait for the title shot. Robert Whitaker, we've always already seen that fight multiple times. And then Nasruddin Imovov.

Yeah. I don't know who else it would be. He's not the, he's not. I'd rather see Paolo Costa. There's, there's, there's just better,

more bigger names. You just want to foil for him. I just want to foil for Israel. I just want something that feels like, okay, this is the pairing of the two. This feels like it's all on Israel. It's hinging on Israel. It falls on Israel. And I don't know.

I guess maybe I'm off base here. Maybe people are excited about this fight. I'm sure they are. And as I said, the respect level is up here. But I just want something like... This is the way back to those fights, though. Hopefully. You beat Imanbav, then you're Israel Adesanya.

You can start calling for a title shot yourself. By the way, I love the fact that Izzy's fighting on a fight night, A. I love the fact that he's being celebrated for this. That he's not just sticking around and saying, Oh, I should be... That's what I'm saying. I respect the hell out of that. I really do. Truly.

I think it's a winnable fight for Izzy. Absolutely. By the way, if he can't beat Imovov, then, you know, the title fight days are long gone. If he can, he's right back in there. And then you follow that up with MVP versus Shara Bullitt, which, you know what I like about the MVP Shara Bullitt fight? It's one of those fights

that like gets thrown out on Twitter or it gets mentioned in an interview but it never comes to fruition if only because they're not in the same weight class right and they actually made it yeah i love it great fun fight fantastic super fun uh both guys are just gonna strike shower bullets gonna try to you know outststrike MVP, who's elusive. At this point in MVP's career, I don't need to see him against the grappler. At this point. Same with Wonderboy.

Those guys, I don't want to see it. We kind of know what's going to happen, although I still believe that MVP beat Logan Storley off his back. The point is, there's enough of these guys out there that we can have a little bit of fun. Winner gets Israel? I like that. Let's do that. Well, if he wins.

If they win. If he wins, and if... Even if he loses. They're... What? Shara is 14 in the UFC rankings. I'm going to say, honestly, it makes more sense if Izzy loses, then he gets Shara. Let's do that one. I just want to see these types. This is what I'm after. Shara Bullitt vs. Izzy would have been nuts.

Okay, so you understand what I'm saying. Shara Bullock versus Izzy would have been nuts. Okay. So you understand what I'm saying. It would have been nuts. But when I saw this, I was like, shit, Izzy on a fight night. Izzy and Riyad, I know he's friends with Turkey. I don't know. It just feels you knew that the days of them going to Saudi Arabia and not bringing a big card, if it's not a pay-per-view, they weren't going to get away.

Remember that first one last year when they were unhappy with it? And then the next one was better, but then, of course, Hamza. Dana said they weren't unhappy with it. Yeah, okay. Then the next one was Hamza. Compare this card to that card. Something happened. And the names.

What was the very first one they came up with? It was awful. It was awful. That turkey was literally like, we're not doing this. Ryan writes in to Rick, in all fairness, Rick, this is a much bigger fight than many of Izzy's previous title fights, Kananir, Vittori, etc.

Those all had less hype than this. Nah, definitely not. Just about the same, I guess, from an opponent standpoint, but there's no belt on the line. Vittori had wound up into Just about the same, I guess, from an opponent's standpoint, but there's no belt on the line. Yeah, there's no belt on the line. Before he had wound up into knots, like driving himself crazy. Nah, not even close.

Wow. You know, I'm looking at the chat a little bit. Shout out to the chat. Thumbs up. They're not with me, huh? They're not riding with me. Breaking news? What? They're riding with you.

Hey, I'm a man of the people. Yeah. I'm a man of the people. I mean, I'm seeing, I'm seeing. Hold your ground, Rick. The chat thinks it's whack. Come on, we want big fights. I'm saying, who did you want it against?

Bullet? Like, Bullet is not that big of a fight. He has such name cachet that you really want to make something of it. Now, I'll say this. If Imhovov beats him, that's a huge name for his resume now. What is he ranked UFC? He's ranked number five. That really propels him up,

but I feel like it's doing more of a favor for him and for the UFC than it is for Israel. Because it's a tough fight. This is an extremely tough fight. But yeah, either way, look, I think we all respect that. Israel Adesanya headlining a fight night is big. They are getting a big

fight for this fight card. I think it's great, but I don't know. I do want to see Izzy and Paulo again. Oh, I'd love to see that. I don't know what's up with Paulo. He's been a little distant. He even reads my text and doesn't reply.

I mean, he is 1-4 in his last five. Yeah, but there's been a little distant. He even reads my text and doesn't reply. Yeah, but he is one and four in his last five. Yeah, but there's a great story there. Yeah, I understand that, but he's got to get back on the horse as well. He could do all the wine content. Ah, tremendous. Super Chatter Alessio says, What's wrong with number two versus number five? It's a banger of a fight.

Nothing. I agree. Nothing is wrong with it. Sounds like you have something. No, I have other preferences above it. Nothing is wrong with it at all. If have something. No, I have other preferences above it. Nothing is wrong with it at all. If you were booking Izzy's next fight, who's the opponent? That's what I keep asking.

After this one? No, no, no, no. No, no, no, this one. This one. Who should it have been? Who should it have been? Yeah. Chara, Paolo, a 205-er that could have been a fun striking battle.

Anything. Charbel, not there yet. A 205-er that could have been a good strike? No, I don't want to see two. Izzy, a 205. We saw that already. Well, I take it. I been a good shot. No, I don't want to see two. Is he a 205? We saw that already. Well, I take it. I definitely take Alex Pereira, but I don't think they're going to fight.

What do you mean we don't want to see? Why? Is he versus a fun guy who would strike with him at 205? That'd be sick. Who? Who? I don't know. Name one.

You name one. That's what we're asking. Dominic Reyes versus Israel Desai. Nah, I don't want to see that. No. Johnny Walker versus Israel Desai. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was going to say Khalil Rountree, but now we're getting into...

That would actually be an exciting... He's just fine at 185. You guys are trying to move me into... I'm the one who loved this. I loved this announcement. I was... I was in a great mood when I saw it. It's sad to see a glazer go from a hater to a hater like this. I'm not hating at all. I think... I'm almost saying the mood when I saw that. It's sad to see a glazer go from a hater like this.

I'm not hating at all. I think I'm almost saying the opposite. I think Israel deserves a better opportunity here to put on a show. So you're hating so hard that you're actually glazed. I'm hating so hard that I'm glazed. I respect it. It's the opposite of my Pantosian style. UFC's starting out hot in 2025, man. I love it It's the opposite of my Pantosian UFC's starting out hot in 2025 The first month of fights

Is just stacked Well the first show Isn't the best Listen man you gotta work through the mud a little bit You gotta get warmed back up I think it's an Apex card You hit that pay per view though And it's like

And then what is it apex card it's an apex yeah you hit that pay-per-view though and it's like pay-per-view boy and then and then what is it so then the pay-per-view is there one on the 25th too uh we might be off oh okay yeah they always do that like welcome back and then just straight to off uh it's like it's always welcome back then a little break yeah you're off on the 25th 15 weeks in a row. That's how they always do it. This is how the first four cards of the year go. Dern Hibas 2, the rematch we've all been waiting for. You know, you can find something to like there.

Ko main, Cesar Almeida, Abdul Razak Ahasan. Banger. Austin Bashi on the main card on that one. All right, you get through the January 11th card, and then it's Makachev, Sorokin 2, UFC 311. Then it's week off. Then it's fight night, Adesanya, Imovov. Then it's Duplessis, Strickland, too.

Wow. Good. Good. Good that first month. Good mention here from Trevone. Contract year, the UFC is going hard. It's not a bad shout. Yeah.

Ryan says, I hope this is a permanent move to 185 for MVP. I met him last year, and he is a very big person. There are way less heavy wrestlers at 85, and I like MVP's chances against any striker on the planet. And also, Tech is asking if we can spice up Rick's background. Maybe GC can sort it out. I feel like that's his whole thing yeah it's the not spicy background that's his gimmick right right mine also bleeds into his we're much closer

than we were yes what is obsession by the way back there is that the poster for uh fury you say yeah i got i got i got that poster and then i got the alt poster right here which is pretty sick but what's the one over your left shoulder yeah it's is that the official i don't know if it's official but it's the riad season this is like riad season branded that looks like that looks legit like a like a horror movie yeah it looks like the substance a little bit honestly oh yeah that's i was that's so crazy i was thinking the same thing yeah and then it's got like it's actually like a movie trailer because it's got like the reviews epic trailer pure madness mind bending this might be the poster for the trailer that's how big they do and the trailer is fantastic unbelievable the

trailer is amazing and it's kind of playing off that theme if you haven't seen it yet do yourself a favor and check it out all right so we're talking about january for the ufc january february fantastic and of course uf 311, fantastic card. That's the one at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. A man who will be making his California MMA debut is our next guest in a highly anticipated light heavyweight bout against Jamal Hill. It's the former champion, the pride of the Czech Republic, the one and only Jiri Prochaska.

And he is joining us right now. Great to have him on as always. Hello, Yuri. How are you? Hey. Hey, Ariel. I'm great. Good to see you.

Good to hear you. It's always a pleasure. Always love having you on. Can I ask, when they offered you this matchup against Jamal, did you like the idea? Did you like the fight? Yes. Yes, I really liked that idea Did you like the fight? Yes

Yes, I really like that idea because Jamal is the is a great opponent for me right like right now and he was the one of the guy who talked about of me a lot of many things and and I want to I would like to share the cage with this guy and and uh show that i am that guy who who made the change who really made the change of of himself in a life and uh in in my style and and i want to make a target, take a target for, for the title. Yeah.

Yeah. I, I, I've seen you guys kind of go back and forth, uh, with video and then he responds to you and then, you know, all this stuff. So, so what is in your opinion, the, the, the feelings towards Jamal right now? My feelings is the same like to every opponent. I have no hate, totally no bad feelings against my opponent because I'm just focusing for myself,

for my vibe wife my trainings and to feel some hate or some anger for some some some my opponent that's not that's not my style. So for me, Jamal is the guy who talks a little bit, but he's not enemy. He's my opponent right now. Okay. Do you have to, sometimes, you know, you're a human being. If someone says something that maybe you don't agree with or gets under your skin, do you have to, like, try to block that out? Like, actually make a conscious effort to move it out? Or does it happen naturally? Honestly, you give a full power and full effort for your training.

You already clean yourself from all these things. And there is no hate in you because there is just self-discipline. The only opponent is your ego your uh and this ego makes from other people opponents so this fighting generally generally is not about others opponent and because they it's like it's paradox it's funny but they my my opponents make myself to be better yeah that's that's all that's true and i like to i i like to stay in that because I know I see in the people around me, in everybody. I want to see the good around you and fight with these demons, hell, with bad thoughts, bad experiences, with everything inside yourself and win that battle. And when you win that battle, then you will see the world around you in a beauty. And that's, that's, that's it.

That's true. That's my, that's my truth. I love that. I love that. Um, it speaks to the kind of person that you are. Um, and, and this is a big car. I mentioned that this is, uh, your first time fighting in California, right? Does this, does this excite you in any way, or do you not care if the fight is

happening on the moon or in the forest or, you know, anywhere? Well, you know, uh, I really, I really don't care where I will fight, but every time I will find something special on the place where I'm fighting. I was like two times in LA and this is a little bit, yeah. It's a good city, great city. Some parts are really weird. But I really like this vibe of LA. So right now I have to say that I'm really looking forward to fight in LA. and uh i want to go there to to the to the sea yeah to the ocean because last time i was there and i jumped and i shadow boxing i shadow boxed and trained in uh in the in the sea there and uh and it was amazing experience yeah it was a really good good feeling from that by the way um we haven't talked to you since then did you consider after your last fight moving down to 185 did you seriously consider that uh i thought about that a lot but light heavyweight is my division and I want to stay there. Maybe, yeah, this is the thing.

I said to myself, yeah, I will go to the middleweight, but first I need to return to the throne of light heavyweight. I know maybe it sounds like very crazy because Alex is there and he won twice. But still, I believe. And I'm really open to a big changes in my life to do that, to make it, to make it happen.

You think you can do it in a, in a, in a healthy way? You can, you can cut down to 85. Sure. Yeah. For me, it's no problem to do that okay but like i said i'm i i feel strong i feel like uh i'm the one the guy who, who have the, uh, uh, one of the best physical, uh, physical exams in, uh, in,

in light heavyweight. So, so I much like more stronger than, than, than, uh, the more than most guys in, uh, in light heavyweight and, and all these things. So, so I'm, I'm ready for that. You were just spending some time recently. I think you were at the PI in Mexico, right? and all these things. So, so I'm, I'm ready for that. Um, you were just spending some time recently. I think you were at the PI in, uh, Mexico, right?

Um, if so, what brought you there? Why did you go to that one? And, and maybe not the Vegas one. Yeah, I go,

I went there because high attitude and I wanted to, to do that because, uh, man, uh, high attitude and i wanted to to do that because man i'm doing the in my school in my in my university i'm doing the like the part of the final exams there is a like study there is the one study what I need to do. And one of that study is how efficient is the high-attitude training in the professional preparation of MMA fighters. So that's my laboratory. And I wanted to do that. I wanted to train there in these high altitudes to know how it is. And it was amazing, really.

Wow. So you're in university right now? Yes, still, still. Last year, man, right now. And I really want to make it which right now what's the name of the school if you don't mind me asking this is the unit masaryk masaryk university like the first czechoslovak president tomas garik tomas garik masaryk and uh yeah masaryk university sport university yeah so if you're a student and like you're just in class and you're

sitting next to Yeri Prochaska. Yeah. Just every Friday, every Friday I have school. Yeah. So, so this Friday, yeah, we have, we have a last day of this last, last day of the school of this year, but yeah, every Friday. And when, when do you hope to graduate? When is it?

Is it in the spring in May? Yeah. In, in, in the spring. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Something amazing. Um, and when you were in Mexico, did you go to some Lucha

Libre, the Mexican wrestling? And yes, we were there once and it was really my first time. Uh, the, the Lucha Libre, like, uh, uh, WW. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun, right? Yeah. It's, it's really fun.

And these guys are really amazing artists and athletes. So, so I was really surprised by their performances. Did you see Alex Pereira when you were there? Yes, yes. I saw we met there. When I arrived to New Mexico, like in two days there, two days, yeah, we met there. What was that like for you?

Yeah. You know, what was that like for me? Man, in every part of my training i was ready for for everything like uh for sparring for for everything but he had the his own trainings and uh and uh i was there for like for for my trainings. So we, we just met, we just, uh, talk a little bit about like some self-respect and all these good things, what's makes a true fighters and, uh, no, it was a good meeting. Yeah. Um, I i saw you did an interview with the media from czech republic and you said that you were interested in sparring him but you were unsure if you'd be able to hold back if you sparred him it was that is that accurate is that an accurate translation that's right that's right that's right. Yeah, that's why I didn't came with that

because I still like it's in me, it's in me to be, to rule the cage, to rule the fight and if you have, especially before you, somebody who won twice in a cage man that's mean for me uh a big challenge like yeah i bet did you see by the way the video of jamal going up to him at the pi and and wanting to fight yeah i saw some some some things and what to say i just i just saw some some things like the jamal said like about uh he's going to the cage for the money and that's the another thing what's what i don't want to talk because because I need I will be it will be not a nice talking because for me I don't need the money to to fight for uh with the champion or or uh or the guys who stay in the in the top five. You would do it for free for, for the Bushido spirit.

Sure. And no, it's not like Bushido spirit. It's, it's, it's our natural. I think if you are true, if you are really a fighter, a really real warrior, you will go. Hmm. No matter what. And, and, and I just think maybe that that style of a sort of incident like

that is not really your style, right? What we saw there, the, the tension. Oh, you know what? It's, uh, I like to be, I don't know how to say like, to be, not to be nice, but to be, to be, uh, respectful for, for others, for the losers, for the winners, for your opponents, for your, uh, uh, for everybody. are a fighter, you have the power to, to. To change the things, to make happen, to, to lift somebody or give them down. So every word, every, every doing is, is, um, you have to be careful what you're doing, what you're saying. Um, well, just one question on the Alex you're doing, what you're saying. Um,

just one question on the Alex fight. Do you regret taking that fight on short notice? Do you wish you would have given yourself a full camp? The one in June? Yeah, right now I will, I will do that. Just,

just, uh, I'm, I'm the guy who, who is the yes man. Yeah. If you ask me, I will go. But, uh, right now, I'm, I'm the guy who, who is the yes man. Yeah. If you ask me, I will go.

But, uh, right now, um, I really, uh, understand the things of, of the life that everything have,

uh, right timing, right timing. And, uh, For me right now is to be a professional, to have good preparation, good targets, everything settled,

and let's go for that. Do you think Magomed has a chance to beat Alex? I think no especially if he if he will fight in a like he said he will fight just in stand up

sorry no if he said he will fight just in stand-up sorry no if he if alex will be in his uh shape like he was what he showed in the last fights 100 no but uh everything everything is showing that to Anka Life that he's winning his fights right now. But he's not showing the performance, but still he's winning. So we will see. Like every time I'm saying let the better winner but right now i how i see that uh no there is a bigger chances of the of the alex for me okay and just a couple other things i wanted to ask you but i know you were in japan recently and did you recently get awarded um a new belt in Kyokushin? Yeah.

Tomorrow, tomorrow I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to, to my sensei here in Czech Republic. And, uh, he just, uh,

he just, um, uh, the, the, the belt, the black belt from Japan just arrived. Wow.

And the last week and, uh, tomorrow I'm, I'm going to, to, to take that belt in in his gym in his dojo wow congratulations i would love to see you and you know gsp grew up uh learning kyokushin karate yeah man man that was and gsp they uh he did a kyokushin yeah that was when he was a kid that was his first introduction to martial arts oh oh man kyokushin and uh the master a big grandmaster the founder of Kyokushin that was a real warrior like really warrior and he's he really inspired me in that and that that that why I I said to myself like this is

the this is the style of the karate. What I want to do, like what, where, where I have wants to have the black belt. Well, congratulations. That's a huge honor. Thank you.

Thank you. Honor from like, really, really. Um, also speaking of, uh, a big honor I saw,

uh, did you recently come out with like your own, your own shoe line? My own what? Your own shoe. Oh, shoes. Yes.

Yeah. These shoes. Those are yours. Man. Yeah. That's, that's my, yeah, that's my one.

And, uh, if you want, I will bring, I will bring with myself to, to LA. It's amazing. Just give me your number and I will give you one.

Thank you. because the company that made these shoes, it's an old, uh, with them, with, uh, this company Botas, uh, which made a really good, great quality of the shoes. So it's, it's, it's honor. It's, it's, it's a big one. Yes. The BJP shoes. I love it. Um, and also speaking of honor before I let you go, and I know you saw this cause you

tweeted about it this morning I saw a young woman Say that she was going through chemotherapy And that she made her hairstyle in honor How about that? In honor of you Her favorite fighter She wrote

Lost my hair to chemo Not before celebrating my favorite UFC fighter That is incredible right? That's incredible How does that make you feel when you see that man you know like what what i what i wrote on the on every in uh every fighter have to should have a war hair and these people like with uh with these experiences of the of the of these shits so they are real warrior so they have to really fight because i have a foundation and my this my foundation uh i'm going to the hospital for the for the oncology for the for for young kids and i really know how big shit it this this is so so uh

this is the true this is the true fighting yeah and i wanna i wanna know this girl i wanna know this girl i don't know this girl i want to wrote her something some some good message to to be in the context about that because i really like to to help her that's a beautiful thing just just to just to make a change a little bit here and when you make a big change here the body body will adapt for that. So, so believe. Well, we wish her the best and I know you do as well. And maybe she'll see this and maybe we can help connect you to, or she'll reach out to you in another way.

Because I saw that and I can't imagine how that makes you feel for someone to want to honor you in a dark moment for themselves and maybe use your spirit and what you represent to uplift themselves is maybe the greatest honor that a fan can give someone like yourself, I would imagine. Yeah, it's honor, really, really honor. Yuri, thank you so much. I really appreciate you doing this. Looking forward to your return in a little less than a month. If you celebrate, happy holidays, happy new year to you and your family and looking forward to the big fight next month in Los

Angeles. That's right. Thank you for, thank you to be here and let's go for it. Let's get it. 18 January, let's go for the victory. Can't wait. Thank you, Yuri. All the best to you. You're the it. 18 January. Let's go for the victory. Can't wait. Thank you, Yuri.

All the best to you. You're the man. Thank you. You too. Thank you. You too. My man, Yuri Prokhaska. What a guy.

How do you not root for him? Representing, in my opinion, the best of this sport. I always feel so much better about my life and humanity and about the warrior spirit and just human beings in general after speaking to Yuri. And that's the truth. He's really a special human being. And that young woman, I think she posted that on, was that Reddit? That was Reddit. What's her Reddit name?

It was... It's in the bottom right of the picture. Can we show the photo? Yeah, show the photo. Butterfly105, she posted that to the UFC right of the picture. Can we show the photo? Yeah, show the photo. Butterfly 105. She posted that to the UFC Reddit. UFC Reddit. She said, I had a lot of fun doing this with my friend before shaving it all off.

Cancer sucks, but you have to make the best of it sometimes. I'll be rooting for my boy in January. I mean, that is just. Imagine if she does get a message from Yuri. I hope she does. I saw him quote tweet something about it, but hopefully she saw that and I wish her the best.

If anyone knows who she is or what her Twitter or Instagram is, I'd be more than happy to send it straight to Yuri because I'm sure he gets a ton of messages.

But how do you not love that guy? How do you not root for that guy? How do you not root for that guy? How do you not want to see him succeed? And, you know, a tough year for him, no doubt, but I'd like to think, you know, it ended obviously with the June 29th fight, but this is a big opportunity for him to get back on track

in a very high profile fight. And, you know, I would think, hopefully this doesn't affect, I think he would be the baby face going into that fight. I'm coming! Yes. Is that a hot take right there? I don't know. But I just love talking to him.

I really do. So thank you very much to Yuri. And that fight card cannot come soon enough. With those two title fights at the top, Islam versus Arman, Marab against Umar, that fight's on there. A bunch of other fights are on there. Looking forward to the return of Peyton Talbot off the top of my head. So that is a very fun fight card coming up on the 18th of January. That's going to be a fun day if Darren stays on that card as well. And it sounds like he

is going to stay on the card. In a matter of of moments we're going to be joined by Patricio Pitbull Who is the current Bellator featherweight champion Surely you are familiar with him He is 37 He is 36 and 7 24 and 6 in Bellator Three time featherweight champion with nine combined title defenses One time lightweight champion He's been a member of Bellator since 2010

And has competed in 17 Bellator Title fights across bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight, which is remarkable. Wins over the likes of Michael Chandler, AJ McKee, Juan Archuleta, Pat Curran, Daniel Strauss, Wilson Hayes, and many others. His last Bellator fight was in March of 2024. And recently, he has been quite vocal about the fact that he is just unhappy with the lack of fights that he is receiving from Bellator. Of course, around this time last year, we found out that PFL was acquiring Bellator from Viacom, Showtime, Paramount, etc. And others have weighed in, Apache Mix, Corey Anderson, many others

have voiced their displeasure with the lack of fights that they have received. Actually have a list. Here's a tweet here. I haven't fought since February. I wanted to fight three times this year. I was told I'd have to wait until December 31st. Found out online my opponent would fight someone else.

Then they had a replacement. I bring people over, spend more money with camp, and there's no fights. That's him quote tweeting a tweet from Leandro Higo. Here's the last time the Bellator champions have fought. Pachi Mix, last fought in May.

Pitbull, featherweight champion. Pachi is bantamweight. Pitbull, last fought in March. Ousmane Amargamedov, who's a lightweight champion, last fought in September. He had a fight booked for May, withdrew, and then, of course, came, is coming back in January to fight Paul Hughes on January 25th. Welterweight champ Ramzan Kuramagomedov last fought in June. Johnny Eblen fought twice in Riyadh, the February fight, and then, of course,

the October fight. Corey Anderson, light heavyweight champ, last fought in March. Ryan Bader last fought in February. Cyborg just fought in October. And then Liz Karmouche fought three times in 2024. She's their flyweight champion. And she was part of the Bellator, excuse me, the PFL season, she crossed over from Bellator. The most recent Bellator event was in September, Champion Series 5, September 14th, didn't feature any Bellator champions. You'll recall there was the big to-do over the fact that there would be at least two title fights on the Bellator cards. And as of right now, you know, they've had to cancel the last three, I believe it is. Chicago, Paris, and Japan were all canceled. And like I said, a lot of these guys recently, a lot of these big names have been saying that they're unhappy.

So there is a card coming up on January 25th that is sort of, I suppose, a Bellator card. But it does feature Paul Hughes, who's signed to PFL fighting against Usman Nurmagomedov. I think we're getting Corey Anderson versus Vadim Nemkov at heavyweight, but now I'm seeing something that that fight might be off. It's, it's being billed as like Dubai champion series. There's no real Bellator branding on there. So it's a little bit confusing.

And, you know, this was the fear. I think with PFL acquired Bellator, we, we, youator, there were some of us that said, all right, you'll get some fun cross-promotional matchups. But this is the fear when one promotion takes over the other. more often than not, one of the promotions being acquired, usually it's the one that is actually being acquired, fizzles out. We've seen this time and again. We saw it with Strikeforce.

We saw it with WC Adventure. And those had, you know, WC is probably the best example. It was able to live concurrently. It had its own TV deal with Versus. They featured the bantamweights and the featherweights, which the UFC didn't. They also had lightweight and welterweight and 205 middleweight as well. Those ended up getting fizzled out. vibe that was the best example of how one ownership can sort of you know run two separate promotions at the same time with two tv partners two separate tv partners and i think that's what the pfl was going for here when they acquired bellator but it obviously hasn't worked and for various reasons they've uh they've had issues with the last three shows.

And then they've had, you know, these public tweets, which isn't good for business. Like I said, I reached out to Don Davis, asked for his take on it. And I read his statement, which was basically, we're going to have big fights and more fights than ever in 2025. So I wanted to have Patricio Pippo on the program to talk about this all. And he is in Natal, Brazil and kind enough to join us right now. So let us go to him and speak about some of these frustrations. He's being joined by his manager, Mateus, as well. Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate it. Thank you, Patricio. Thank you for coming on. Obrigado. Thank you, my friend. It's a pleasure.

Thank you, Ariel. Thank you. Okay, so let's get into it. Patricio, you have been vocal, and I'm sure it took a lot for you to get to the point where you were vocal about some of your frustrations. Can you tell us what ultimately led to you to go public with, you know, you being unhappy with the current state of Bellator? What kind of led to you to say, all right, I need to go public with this, enough is enough? Acabou que essa luta não aconteceu e todas as informações que eu recebia eram através da mídia.

Eu achei uma forma de respeito. E algumas outras coisas que acredito que mais pra frente nessa conversa a gente vai chegar a elas. A última história foi quando eles cancelaram minha luta. Eles me deixaram esperar até dezembro 31. Me disseram que em algumas semanas a minha luta foi cancelada. E eu descobri o mudamento de equipamentos na internet. 31st and let me know with a few weeks notice that my fight was cancelled and I actually found out the change of events on the internet and then they said there would be no event and there were a few other things that I believe we're going to address this during the

this conversation that things just kept fighting up and I just had enough as enough. Who were you supposed to fight on December 31st? I was supposed to fight Suzuki in a rematch, and then it was announced that he would fight Cleber Koiki. And we were waiting to find out that Patrick would fight Cleber. So we both would fight on the same event. And then they were fighting each other. So when I went to voucher, they told me I would be fighting on Pico.

After that, they canceled the show. And what reason were you given as to why they were canceling the show? What reason did they give you to cancel the show? I don't know. I haven't discovered it yet. They promised they would do 8 battles per year, and they did 5, and I don't know why. I still don't know. I'm waiting to fight out. They told us there will be eight

aftershows during the year. They only did five, and no one really knows when. Yeah, and they've canceled the last three, right? The Chicago, Paris, and now this December 31st card. You have fought once.

You fought in March. That was your last fight. You said on Twitter that you wanted to fight three times this year why haven't you fought more than once obviously we know about december 31st but were there efforts to have you fight in the summertime as well Eu queria ter lutado contra Pico em Setembro e queria ter lutado contra Chihiro em Dezembro. E eles não me deram nada até agora. Então, estou muito satisfeito e acho que vou me respeitar também. Eu pedi para eles lutarem contra Pico em Setembro, mas todos foram bons. Então, eu pedi para eles lutarem em Setembro contra Pico.

E eles disseram que não podiam fazer isso. So I asked to fight in September against Mikko. And they said they couldn't do that. And I had to choose either fight Mikko in September or Shihir in December. And I wanted to do both of those fights. So as I have a history of Shihir, I chose to fight him first. But if it was up to me, I would have done those two fights this year. So you've been in Bellator for quite some time, 14 years. You're the face of Bellator, the most decorated champion.

You have flown the flag. Can I ask, what is your take on the current state of Bellator as it currently stands? What is your take on it? no Bellator do céu, na cara do evento você viu muitas fases qual é a sua análise no momento atual, o que está acontecendo com ela? O Bellator que eu ajudei a crescer, não é mais

a mesma organização eu acho que nem Bellator mais existe, parece que eles exigiram desse grande nome que já estava construído e agora é Lodz Dubai então as coisas estão muito estranhas eu não sei nem o que mais pertence, então a saída que eu tive foi pensar na minha carreira e seguir o meu caminho. Eu acredito que o ciclo chegou ao fim e tudo o que a gente vê até agora foi muito bonito, mas cada um tem que seguir o seu caminho e fazer o que acredita.

O velatório que eu fiz foi um novo. Eles they changed the name. It's now Road to Dubai. So everything is much different than what it used to be. The history that I made in Bellator, it was beautiful, but it's a cycle that has come to an end. It's not the same place anymore. Things are working like they used to do. And... Okay. and I think we just have to move our separate ways and all the strings are patched. Yeah, you mentioned that card on January 25th, like there's no Bellator branding, it's called like

Road to Dubai Champion Series, so it feels like they're phasing it out. Nevertheless, there are some Bellator names on there. Is there any chance that you are on that card? No, they said no. So I'm waiting all this time and they said no to me. And why?

Why did they say no? What's the reason? I don't know. I really don't know. And so when you or your management when you try to get answers, who do you reach out to? Who is the boss of Bellator right now? When we talk to someone, we talk to Mike Hogan,

but he even apologizes because he sometimes doesn't know how to answer some questions. The person we talked to is Mike Colgan, but he even has apologized to us a few times because he didn't have answers for some of our questions. I really feel that he wants to help, but he doesn't have the potential, I think. I really feel that he wants to help us, but it's not something that is possible right now. Yeah, because my understanding is you've had a very good relationship with Mike over the years, and he's been a part of Bellator for a long time. And so do you think that his hands are kind of tied right now, and that's what's making it difficult, that there are decisions being made above him that are leading to no answers coming your way? a engrenagem continuar girando e ele não tem opção suficiente para fazer com que isso aconteça.

Então eu não culpo, pelo contrário, eu agradeço, eu acho que a minha ótima relação com a organização foi mantida até hoje por causa dele. Então é um grande culpado de me ajudar e ajudar meu irmão, toda a minha equipe, todas as pessoas que eu tenho requisitado que merecem estar lá dentro do atleta. Então eu acho que ele é um cara que eu quero agradecer. best that he can. One of the reasons I was staying with Dan Arnott was my Kogan. He's done a lot for me, for my brother, for my teammates who fought in Bellator. For everyone that I know that had dealt with my Kogan, he was always a great guy. I wish that the higher-ups would let him do his work because he's very good at what he does. Can I ask, how many fights do you have left on your Bellator contract? I don't know.

I have to have one fight in the most time. It's for time and for fight. So I have to have one fight in four months, five months. It's at the end. I don't have any more interest in fighting. I don't have any more desire to fight. So I think the best way now is to give Bellator 4 meses, 4, 5 meses. Tá no fim. Eu não tenho mais intenção de lutar, eu não tenho mais vontade de lutar, então eu acho que o melhor caminho agora é, melhor momento, a gente dar tchau, acarnar as mãos e saber que o trabalho até aqui foi bem feito.

Eu tenho mais uma luta e 4 a 5 meses, o que for primeiro. Então, eu só espero que isso seja feito, eu não tenho mais problemas de luta. So I just wish we could get this done already. I don't have any issues with pipeline anymore. The work that I could do that voucher has been done. Everything that I could do, first promotion was already made. And I guess it's time to move on. So you have publicly asked to be released. Have they responded, maybe privately? Have they said that they are willing to let you go now? Like, are you, maybe this is a question for you as well, Mateus, like, are you asking them, will you,

and they're just giving you no answer, or they say, well, you're gonna think about it, because it's, you know, you asking them, and they're just giving you no answer? Or they say, well, you're going to think about it? Because you are 37, so time is an infinite. We're wasting time here, no? Yeah, so far all we have is, we'll get back to you on that. Okay. Nothing to feel. They said they were working on it, and they'll get back to us. We still don't have anything concrete from them.

Okay. If they come to you, Patricio, and say, okay, we found something for you in February, are you open to fighting one last time, or do you just want to be gone at this point? Eu acho que chegou a hora de ir para uma nova plataforma e tentar lutar contra todos esses caras. Eu não me sinto bem, eu não me sinto velho, eu me sinto fresco. Então, eu estou bem. Meu desejo é só ir embora.

Eu quero lutar contra os caras de frente, eu quero lutar contra Max Holloway, Topuria, Diego Lopes, Bokanovski, todos esses caras. As pessoas disseram que queriam ver eu lutar contra eles. Mas eu já tive que fazer um doutorado. Topuria, Diego Lopes, Bokanowski, all those guys that people said they wanted to see me fight against them. Well, I had to do a voucher already, so I just want to move on. So you said that there's one fight left on your deal or maybe like four or five months. And sometimes with these contracts, there's like a negotiation period and you can't talk. Like how realistic or how soon, I should say say could you actually explore other options and and I know that I'm kind of putting you guys on the spot here so you know obviously tell me what you're comfortable with but just curious because I think a lot of fans feel the same way we've seen you

fight the same guys for a long time and those are fresh fun matchups that would be very interesting interessante. Eu realmente não estou interessado, eu quero falar da Tchau e fazer com que as coisas andem o mais rápido possível. A gente sabe que um campeão parado perde ritmo e isso é muito interessante. Então eu preciso voltar e eu quero enfrentar novos fãs. Eu já adiantei, eu já adiantei para isso que essa negociação não vai existir, I just go there talking or I'm free to go. I've seen it before, I've seen it before, that this kind of negotiation won't exist. This kind of exclusivity, I don't want it. Even if they give me a form of the promotion or whatever, I'm not interested, I just want to move on and fight these other guys.

And I've told them that even if they let my contract be up and they come up with much more money, whatever, I'm not interested, so I'm not signing it. And I'm not very young anymore, so time is of the essence. The longer I speak, the more I move the rhythm, and it's important for me right now to be active. So I just wish we could basically just shake hands and go our separate ways. Now, for me, it's about legacy. You know? I want to fight in the UFC.

Okay. Are you aware? Is there interest from the UFC? Do you think that the UFC would want to sign you? I think so, yes. Dana White doesn't want anyone. He just says no. But when he was asked about

me in the recent press conference, he gave a so-so kind of answer, so I'm sure that when I'm free he will be able to speak more openly. Yeah, no, I actually thought that answer,

if you're asking me, if you're wondering, I thought that answer was very positive towards you because I don't think he watches a lot of Bellator or PFL, and I know he knows who he is. And so by his answer, to me, it seemed like he didn't want to come out and say, of course we would sign him. But to your point, Patricio, if he didn't,

he would have just said, no, this guy is not of interest or good enough for us. So I think that there is interest there. What I'm wondering from your standpoint is, did he understand what I said or do you want to repeat that to him? I'm going to explain it to him. Okay, yeah. He said that he thinks that the way he responded,

he really knew who you were and he was very positive because he wasn't watching the NFL, but he knew who you were. eles foram muito positivos, porque ele não, com certeza, não fica assistindo o Pelotoco FL, mas ele sabia quem era você. Então, ali é uma coisa que, quando você for no mercado, ele acredita que ele não vai te interessar. Pô, eu tô amarradão, não vejo a hora disso acontecer, a gente tem inúmeras lutadoras aí do peso pena que estão rodando ali naquele top 5 e a categoria precisa renewed and I'm the one who's going to do that. In that same answer, Dana talked about some of the issues with PFL and he's obviously been critical of them. Can I ask, Pedruchio, what do you think about the current state of the company and why things maybe are going this way and a lot of fighters are frustrated? não devem falar sobre os resultados, por isso que o PF é. E quer saber a sua opinião, porque você acha que o evento chegou assim,

quais são os problemas com o PF? Dom Davis é um cara que investe, até ele faz uma declaração pública dizendo que nem ele assiste o PF. Então qual vai ser a informação de um fonte de associação? A gente sabe que ele tinha duas organizações na mão, uma de maior prestígio,

que era o Bellator, e ele decidiu fundar essa organização. E não cumpriu com os contratos. A gente sabe que meu irmão aqui, informação de débito da equipe, a gente sabe que o contrato dele teve que ser renegociado, então a gente recebeu dele ser cortado. O Douglas Limbo também é uma peça

chave da organização, também passou por o mesmo processo. Então é generalizado, é um problema que a organização enfrenta agora e eu não tenho vontade de esperar isso se formatar e ter uma boa organização. Talvez eles tenham daqui a algum tempo, mas eu não tenho tempo para esperar isso. Então é a minha hora de dar de alta. So how come you have an enemy promotion and third people not watching the fights? What interest do they have watching us?

You know, they had a great brand in Bellator, which was already established. It was very big and they decided to fold it and promote BFL. But they didn't keep up with their promise to honor their fighter contracts. They cut a lot of people. My brother, for instance, he had to renegotiate his deal with the cut. Douglas Lima had to go through the same thing. Some other players had their contracts tweaked a little bit in order to continue with BFL. So it creates a sense of insecurity for all of us.

So I think there's a lot of things they need to address and to improve as a promotion, and I really hope they do. They could do something good with the right mindset, but I'm not expecting that to be anytime soon and I don't have all the time to wait. So I'm in another chapter, the last chapter of my career and I just need to move on to somewhere where things can happen right now. Did they try to get you to fight in the PFL tournament? No. No. No.

Do you have any interest in that? No, thank you. No, even for the million dollars at the end. No interest. I already made that speech. I should fight for NBA. Okay, wow. All right. And maybe that's the problem, right? Maybe to have you fight four times and plus the million doesn't make economic sense.

They got a lot of these contracts from Bellator when they acquired the company. And I think part of the problem is maybe they can't honor all of these and so you're the current champion at 145 could I ask is there anything

that as champion ties you to you know some organizations have champions clause where you can't leave if you're the champion

is that at play here at all? I'm in the last chapter of the contract so now I'm going to be free that's what I have going on right now and that's why I'll be free soon okay alright Eu estou no último capítulo da pausa do encontrado, então agora realmente vou ficar frio.

É isso que eu tenho acontecendo agora e é por isso que eu vou ficar frio. Ok, ok. E você não pode simplesmente relinquir o cinturão, não funciona assim. Aí você não pode simplesmente abrir mão do cinturão, né? Não funciona assim. É, eu tenho que ir até o final. Eu acho que até maio o jogo é alguma coisa assim. Eu tenho que ir com frir, mas eu não posso dessa data. E, pô, eu tô muito empolgado pra lutar contra esses caras do UFC e mostrar

a todos o meu potencial. É, não é minha decisão, então se é minha, eu tenho que esperar até o fim, meio-dia. Eu não sei exatamente qual é o tempo. Mas eu estou animado pra ir lá e lutar contra os caras do UFC e ver o que acontece. Por favor, não teme. Me solte. it is uh but i'm excited to move on and fight the guys in the ufc and see what's definitely please don't dance release me there it is there and what about your brother um how many fights

does he have left does he want to leave as well is he is he frustrated too Ele está frustrado, a organização não fala quando vai ser a próxima luta, o contrato vai acabar. A gente sabe que o Patrick vem de algumas lutas que o resultado foi positivo, mas sempre está vendo o show e acho que é a luta mais empolgante que a gente espera ver. Também não é um cara novo, mas sempre deixado no máximo lá dentro do ringue. E porra, é igual os irmãos Dias, a gente sabe que quando coloca, tem um pouco de atenção. Então a gente está vendo o tratamento merecido. O Patrick, especialmente, não é tão jovem mais, mas ainda está levando fogo para todas as suas lutas. Se oferecem alguma coisa, ele vai tomar e vai lutar. Quantos anos mais você quer lutar? treino, indicativo de potência, de resistência. Quanto tempo eu consegui me bater na zona de luta dentro da academia e a gente ainda consegue

bater alguns records, mesmo tendo pouco, mas eu ainda continuo superando os meus limites. Então, quando a gente ver que isso começar a marcar mais, eu não vou brigar mais por título e espero só fazer super lutas. Se for alguém da minha idade com a minha história, a gente luta até

sonhamos., mas por hora eu consigo brigar por citrões e é isso que eu vou fazer. e ainda estou quebrando alguns dos meus próprios recordes. Então, agora, eu ainda estou em condições de poder lutar por campeonatos. Se isso for muito rápido e eu puder enfrentar alguém do mesmo ângulo que eu, eu vou continuar até os 100 anos. Agora, eu ainda estou em um nível de campeonato e é isso que eu vou perseguir. Depois disso, eu vou tentar fazer algumas lutas super, algumas lutas de treinamento. Algum cara já fez isso. E essa vai ser uma marca que eu vou quebrar. Pode anotar o dia de hoje. A Patrícia falou o dia de hoje.

Vai quebrar essa marca e eu vou quebrar. lighter weight classes, but we've seen this happen in heavy weight classes. And that's something that's another, I broke a lot of records. I wrote some of them and you can write it down right now. Patricio is saying that after he signs up to UFC, he's going to be UFC champion. So if you could script your own story, Patricio, and we'll end it here, who would you fight in your UFC debut? If you could write it down in the interview, who would you fight in your UFC debut? So you versus Ilya or the winner of Ilya versus Alex Volkanovsky? I love it.

I love it. That would be quite the scene. Yes, of course. Of course. And you see, you know, how much more popular Michael Chandler has gone since coming to the UFC.

I'm sure there's a part of you that feels like you deserve the same, right? I'm sure that Michael

Chandler has become more popular when he came to the UFC. I imagine that a part of you feels

like you deserve the same. Oh, yes. I beat Michael Chandler in one minute and he had

a good reception. I beat him in one minute, and he had a good reception. So I'm expecting to have the same reception from now. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry you're going through this. I hope it gets resolved in 2025 and that everything works out in your favor. So thank you so much to the both of you for coming on and, and,

and good luck in figuring all this out. I'm sure it's not very fun. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate that. Thank you. Obrigado. Thank you so much.

There they are. Patricia Pippo, one of the greatest, if not the greatest fighter in Bellator history, his manager, Mateus Aquino. It's a, it's a tough spot.

I feel for him on several fronts a he wants to fight a he wants to make money and b you know you don't want to sit there and be like oh I want to you know like from a negotiation standpoint I'm sure he doesn't want to sit there and be like I want to go here but that's that's the spot obviously and so there's there's some interesting decisions that have to be made here if you're PFL slash Bellator. He's been a good soldier. I know he's only fought once under the new umbrella. But it might be time.

His last fight in March. I'd be down to see him fight in the UFC. I mean, there's a litany of fun fights for him over there. Just an absolute plethora of fun fights. I'm not sure if they'll give him a title shot off the jump, but I'd be down to see him over there. At some point, it feels like we're going to get answers. And maybe it's around that Dubai champion series event,

which takes place on January 25th. And by the way, we will have Paul Hughes in studio on Wednesday, so we can maybe talk to him about some of this, but things are working out nicely for big news Hughes. He's gotten two big fights and is now fighting the champion, Usman Nurmagomedov.

I feel for Petrischio because, A, I mean, if you're him, you're probably looking at what's happened to Michael Chandler and saying, like, golly, here I am, stuck here. And he's not getting any younger. He's 37. And he turns 38 in July July 7th day before my birthday so tough spot for him let's see how it pans out who should he fight in his debut if it's not the champ I mean there's there's just a litany. Sign me up for Patricia versus Max Holloway. Sign me up for

Patricia versus Brian Ortega, Yair Rodriguez, Arnold Allen, Josh Emmett. Yes, please. All. All of them, right? Yeah, there's not a bad one amongst those. Hell, I'd see him at 55 too. I mean... Dan Ige, Lerone Murphy, Bryce.

I mean, there's just so many guys well you just have to he has been in bellator for so long and he seemed to have some kind of direction as champion now it seems like he's directionless right they have not given him a mission they have not given him something to strive for you're looking around you're like who's left to even fight what what is my motivation ufc has all these new fresh matchups and he says he vowed right there with you that he's going to be the ufc champion seems like he's found his motivation again feels like we've seen these uh these stories play out when when uh promotion gets acquired and then the fighters who are part of the promotion

that got acquired are left frustrated. And he said it right there. He makes a lot of money. And so I get it from an economic standpoint. You know, there was a theory thrown out there and I don't know who's, one of them said it, where a lot of the Bellator fighters got signed to big deals right before the acquisition. This is what happened to Gagarin Musasi, by the way. He got signed to a new deal right before the acquisition went through.

And I don't know if there was any sort of like cheekiness involved in all of that. But PFL then, you know, acquires the company and says like, well, we can't put you in the tournament because you're making so much. It doesn't make any financial sense. And I get that. They're not going to torpedo their business. We've seen that happen plenty of times. And I understand the fighters saying like,

no, my contract says this. Now, I think there are some who said, all right, I'll take the new deal. I'll take the slash deal. But then there are others like Patricia Yu who probably think, you know what? I've been here long enough. I think there's a home for me in the UFC.

I don't want to take a pay cut. This is what I agree to. If you don't want to pay me, just let me walk. And I understand that as well. The problem was that Don Davis, when the deal happened, said we're going to honor all the deals. That's the issue. That is an issue.

Just don't even say it. Say, look, we have some decisions to make. And we're at that point now, right? Nobody is under the illusion or guise that they're going to honor all these deals. But don't start with that. Don't come with that as your lead story because you don't have to.

It's a business. You have to figure out what's best for business. And they seem to have now. But we'll see what happens. There's a lot of questions. I mean, even in the press releases regarding this January 25th card, it never says where it's going to air,

unless I'm missing it in the super fine print. But I'm like reading these press releases with a fine-tooth comb because I'm like, there's literally only like one Bellator mention and that's when they write, like Usman Armagomedov is the Bellator champion. But otherwise,

is it just a Dubai fight series series now i don't know i don't know what it is to be honest now they had they had their their pfl europe finale this weekend in in france and i noted this first of all you can't watch it in america if you're wondering how i watch it you know a friend of the program, they give us a way to watch it. All very above board, but you know. The crowd is on fire. It's jam-packed to the rafters. There is no venue, no city in America that would go to a PFL or Bellator event at this point and show up with that type of excitement and those kinds of numbers it feels like they should just be a a european brand like no nowhere i mean even if they go to

mohegan sun or they go to i don't know some random place san diego or chicago or france london ireland you know you do your deals in the Middle East and that feels to be the only place where there's like real, you know, there's some real juice there. So there's a lot of questions that need to be answered in 2025. In addition to where are these fights going to air? And I think that next year is the final year of their deal with ESPN as well. I think. Definitely the final year. It's all very weird. It's all very weird. But point is, just like I was talking about with pro wrestling, it's better for the fighters when there are other options. So they have other places to negotiate with, other outlets, other spots where, hey, if you're not welcome here, you could

go here and still make a great living. It's not good for the business. I know fans probably want that, but it's not good for the business if there's just one spot. It's good from a sporting standpoint because you hope that the best fight the best, but strictly looking out for the fighters here, it's better if there's multiple spots because then they can make more money and be able to negotiate and get hopefully as much as possible in this short window that they have. Anyway, someone who knows a thing or two about the business of MMA, he has been around for quite some time, celebrated 20 years as a pro this past summer and had a fantastic win and subsequent moment afterwards in the cage on Saturday in Tampa. The great Cub Swanson joining us

right now to talk about everything that transpired this weekend. There he is. Hello, Cub. How are you? I'm doing good. How are you? I'm doing great. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but we have right over here, we still have your guy right here representing in our new studio. Don't forget,

you know, we still got a couple. I appreciate that. Oh, yeah, we're representing. So we haven't left them behind. This is Super Cub, right? Yep, that's the Super Cub. Legend. Can people buy these, by the way?

Not right now. They were on sale for a little while. And then what we didn't sell, I actually have in my garage. I have a small quantity left. But yeah, I got 300 made. We sold a decent amount. And that's all that there is. Okay. Well, these are collector's items. So thank you very much. I appreciate it greatly. Two days later, a lot of emotion, I would imagine, incredible win, incredible stoppage, and then all the stuff afterwards. How are you feeling about this weekend? I mean, it was an amazing night. Yeah, yesterday, I hardly got any sleep.

I traveled. And then today, it was back to normal. I woke up and me and my wife got the kids ready for school at seven and took them to school. And I've just been kind of hanging out, trying to unpack my bags and just kind of unpack everything. Is that a wild thing to go from like you're fighting on ESPN, you get a moment like that, and then it's back to like rushing the kid. I know how chaotic that can be to like take off the entertainer fighter hat and then just be regular dad on the Monday after. Yeah, it's humbling, but I think that it's necessary. You know, I think as fighters, we have to have this like enormous confidence and and feel like I could beat anybody. But then I think it's also very important to know that you're just a normal person. You're nothing special. You know, we all, we're just human beings. And so kids are a good marker for that. They keep you humble. I saw a photo that you posted on your Instagram story of your kids re reenacting

the stoppage. Uh, this is legendary stuff right here. Your, your thoughts when you see this, your feelings. I mean, it was, it was pretty cute. Uh, but at the same time, I feel a little bad. Uh, yeah. Cause I mean, Billy's such a nice guy. Him and his people were so cool the whole time. And obviously, I was worried about his health. And luckily, he was doing all right. So, yeah, I wasn't trying to poke fun at him or anything like that. But it was pretty cute to see my kids trying to, you know, mimic art.

Yeah. I would say mimic art. Considering this may have been the last one, did you consider bringing them to the fight? Yeah, I did. But just traveling all the way to Tampa, it put so much more pressure on my wife. Because it's like, yeah, I want them there. You do all this hard work. And it just really wasn't. It didn't seem like the fair thing to do they're still in school so it just made sense and and i was thinking we talked about it on the way home i was like man could you imagine

if we brought the kids to this one it would have been a lot more difficult so i'm happy with the move they got to come to a couple fights so i think we made the right call so heading into the fight fight week even before heading out to florida what were you saying like sometimes we've heard from fighters say uh you know if i would have lost this one i would have been done i would have taken off the gloves did you make any sort of definitive choice or were you just saying that you were going to leave it up to how you're feeling afterwards? No, I, I've, I've been feeling like it's close and, and I didn't want to put like a, like a stamp on it. Uh, one thing I did want to do is get my 30th win. And, uh, I woke up on my last fight with, with the Feely fight. I woke up that morning. I was like, man, this is international

fight week. I'm on the main card. It's going to be huge. What a night. If I go out there and put on a show, then maybe I'll call it. And if I get beat up, then I probably shouldn't be fighting. And so I go out there. I have a great fight. And then everybody's like, man, I thought you won. You looked great. And so it left me kind of empty. I didn't get an answer. And so I wanted to get right back in there and so it left me kind of empty like it i didn't get an answer and so

i wanted to get right back in there and do it again and um i got this opportunity and and you know it everything happened like i wanted to the fight before so the you know i i I'm very confident right now. I'm very content on where I stand right now. You know, we'll see if I get excited about something. But for the most part, the way I'm feeling right now, I'm pretty happy. And I think I can be done right now. Okay, so you kind of stopped short of being definitive on Saturday. Are you saying definitively now that you think that was the last one? No, because I see everyone wants me just to say what it is.

And that's just not it. I really need to think about it because I don't want to be a guy that's coming, you know, unretiring, retiring. It's just not fair to all the people around me. It's not fair to all the people around me. It's not fair to anybody. So I want to make sure I take the time and make the right decisions. I still need to get, you know, my hand looked at. I need to get my eyes looked at a little bit. So yeah, there's things I just got to do. And like I said, if there's a fight that really excites me, maybe

that'll motivate me. But as of right now, if you're asking me right now, I just don't see myself fighting again. Sure. And I guess what you were saying prior is, um, if in fact that was your, you're at peace, you're content, there's, there's no itch that needs to be scratched or anything like that. At this moment? No. Yeah. I felt like that was a great win. I fought the way I wanted to fight. I just kept telling myself, no pressure, just go out there. I was trying to listen to music in my head and just have a rhythm the whole time. When I'm sparring the music, I flow so well. That's what I wanted to give the fans.

Wow. What were you listening to in your head? Well, the song I came out to was really the one that had got me in the zone. But backstage, I was listening to David Guetta, just like on Pandora. He just like on pandora and then you just kind of like dance music just just kind of upbeat dance music just that that tempo that's the pace i like to go at you know just do do do do do do like that's that's the pace i want to fight it all the time and and i know the fans love it so

that's what i was trying to keep in my head you referenced your last fight the feely fight um if that would have gone your way do you think you would have felt the same way? I guess as you're speaking about motivation and whatnot, because that ended in an upsetting manner, was that all the motivation you needed to come back and try to end on a high note? Yeah. If I would have won the Feely fight, I think I would have laid down my gloves right there. Wow. But that didn't happen. And that kind of just messed me up.

You know, like I said, I felt empty. I it was it was a weird feeling. I was a little I was pissed and then I had to go back and think about it. And I was like, all right, I'm jumping right back in back in there so yeah yeah that's what what's what happened i actually asked to fight in china um and and they couldn't get me on that card so they got me on this one wow what why china um just because like i said in in in some interviews like korea is the place that i would have wanted to fight but the china card was coming up and i know that i have such a big fan base in asia so uh because of the duo joy fight they've really um you know taken me in as one of their favorites so uh yeah i've always just tried

to please the fans um and that would have been incredible the only reason i asked it was a lot of fighters are like i don't want to travel that far You know the time difference and what not So very unique to hear Someone say that especially At the stage you're at in your career And I promise you I'm not trying to harp On this or get any sort of sound bite out of you

But I I'm fascinated by the fact that You say that okay if you would have won the Philly fight you would have taken the gloves off But here you are coming off a win and you didn't take the gloves off. And so what's the difference between the two scenarios? Uh, I don't know, just the way I'm feeling. Yeah, I get it. It is difficult because I'm still performing at a high level, especially in the gym. I felt like in the Feely fight, I had a little bit of ring rust. I didn't feel like I performed my best.

But regardless, I didn't feel like I performed my best in this one. I felt like it just turned out to be a great fight. But yeah, I just need to think about it. I need time. I need time to be able to make up my decision. But like I said, when I say I'm done, I'm going to be done. So that's why I want to make sure that I don't speak too quickly. By the way, there have been some fighters who have just never said that they were done

and just kind of sail off into the sunset. Are you perhaps one of those guys i mean maybe uh yeah i don't know like i said i'm in the gym all the time i'm gonna be right back in the gym i just uh signed on to help with the alta program but we have in my gym oh nice i don't know you know no more about that. Yeah. Yeah. So I committed to an hour before I coach my fight team, the bloodline guys. So I'm going to have to start going an hour early, coaching these people that I've never trained before, most of them, and get them ready for a fight in three months, which I think is amazing. That's something I'm really passionate about. And then going right to coaching my fighters. And I just feel like I've been so selfish with my time for so many years and it's really

time for me to give back. And I got these young hungry guys that are doing so well in the, in, in the regional scene and even in the UFC. And I I'd love to give them more attention and help them achieve their dreams. Yeah, love that program. It used to be known as Wimped to Warrior and we've had some friends do it as well. So I think that's great

that they get to learn from someone like you. And you've spoken about the Bloodline team and whatnot. When did that all start? And I love the name as well. When did that all start? And you're heading it up, right? You're the head coach. Yeah, yeah, I'm the head coach and I co-manage with my partner monty and so that came about because

you know during during covid my my manager passed away and uh it was me and a couple other fighters rafa garcia and dan argeta and danny silva we were helping out. And when Kami passed away, he, you know, I was going to kind of make sure the guys got a new manager that I trusted. And then when I, right away, they were giving managers, like, poaching them, and I was getting pretty angry. And so I decided, you know what, no one's going to look out for them like I am. So me and Kami's cousin, who is Monty, my partner now, we decided to both step up and he's a corporate attorney. I'm a fighter and, you know, we've been doing our best to just help these guys out. And the way that i structured the whole thing we just been getting a lot of people wanting to be a part of it because uh it's like a family and the the way we picked the name bloodline was when we were going through all commies old stuff uh he used to have he used

to like halloween a lot and uh he used to have a halloween um like a haunted house every year. And he had a company called Bloodline LLC, which was what he ran all his haunted house stuff through. And so we basically brought that back, meaning, you know, our family. So Bloodline is our team. I love that. And very sorry to hear about his passing, but incredible how you're, you're keeping the legacy alive. What is the, what, what is the sort of vision for the team? Like how big do you want this to be? Do you want it to be just kind of a small tight-knit team? Are you, are you envisioning the next American top team? What,

what would you like for it to be? No, I want to keep it a little smaller. I don't believe that you can really help these guys as well as they need to be helped if you're, if you're too big. Um, so, you know, as of late, the business model for management is, is to have as many guys as possible was a fighter. That's not really cool because you don't, you know, what, where are you on that list if they, if they have so many people on their roster? Um, and you know, I want to be able to, to help these guys. My, my goal is that these guys, um, have like houses and that they, they have their families and, and they basically fight and get to a high level and then transition out of fighting and be successful after fighting as well. I don't want them to have serious injuries, do anything stupid. I'm really trying to mentor

them and make sure that they're good people, they're hard workers, they learn their craft, and that they're successful fighters. And what I love about this as well, it's not just coaching, it's coaching and management, right? Yeah, it's coaching, management, and mentoring. I mean, we have a guide, Dr. Roy Collins, who went to Yale and Stanford and is our team sports psychologist that all our guys can talk to whenever they need to, um, that just, uh, that we take care of for them. Um, so then, you know, my partner,

Monty is a corporate attorney, so he's able to give them advice. Uh, we we've been able to, to help these guys out with so many things already. It's, it's, it's been pretty cool. And, and my biggest thing is that all the fighters we we don't hurt each other that's the thing is we all trust each other and we we train really hard but no one gets hurt there's no egos there's no uh you know trying to step on people there's no beefs in the gym it's just it's trying to have just like a good family thing when when did the desire to be a coach mentor manager start was that always the plan post-fighting or a recent development no i started coaching which is crazy like it's been like 17 years um i i've been helping out for forever uh i've always

been kind of since i started i've been coaching up my forever. Uh, I've always been kind of, since I started, I've been coaching up my training partners so that I could have training partners. Cause I, you know, I didn't come from an area where, where they were everywhere, like Orange County and, and, uh, Florida and you know, where everyone's doing it. But when I started, I had to like recruit people to come in to be my training partners. So so that's that's kind of how it started um and just more like i said when my when my manager passed away i i really had to think about what i was going to do after fighting and you know what comes next and uh that was a big moment in my life and when i really thought about, everything that I've gone through in my career, like if I really think about it, all the ups and downs and the hardships that I've had, what does it make me?

It makes me the most resilient and fighter coach that these guys could ask for. I've been there, done that. And, uh, anything that comes their way that they freak out about, I'm like, well, I've actually, that's happened to me. You know, I can relate, you know, and I can like talk them through it. So that's what I do a lot of. I have to just talk, you know, talk them off of a ledge a lot of times. Hey, it's normal. Um, it's okay to talk about your fears and your doubts, and we'll work through them, and we'll come out the other side stronger.

Speaking of which, you mentioned in the post-fight press conference that I think after you fractured your face in 2011, both your mom and stepmom wanted you to retire. Was that the Ricardo Llamas fight, by the way? It was before that fight. Okay. I was coming off of the injury and going into that fight, I had just had my face, I had just had reconstructive surgery on my face.

And so they were pleading for you, and here we are 13 years later, and you're still doing it and still thriving. How close were you to actually saying okay i'm i'm done i mean i i gave it thought because i mean you got people have to understand like this wasn't like very popular you know it was gaining popularity it was like i'm started doing this fighting thing and i'm like don't worry it's you know it's not a big deal and then I had this like really bad injury that, you know, I could have lost my eye. I could have been disfigured. I got very lucky. And then I'm going to go have the surgery and they're like, so what are you done? And, and I had to say, like, my mom was literally crying and she was like what's wrong with you why wouldn't why would you continue to do this well look at you you're about to go into surgery

and I was just like look I I I've been able to make it up to to the the top of the the heap already but I'm I'm not fulfilled I don't feel like I've accomplished enough. I feel like I have more to give. And, yeah, I had to tell them, I'm sorry, I'm not going to quit doing this. And I know it was hard for them. And it's been hard for everyone in my family to watch me through the years because I've taken a lot of damage and I've, you know, kept pushing through. Any regrets about the career? When you say you're, no regrets whatsoever. No, I mean, I am who I am today because of every decision I've made. I feel very strong in that. You know, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life,

but I am who I am today and it's made me a very well-rounded person. I feel like I have a good perspective. Like I said, now as me being a coach and a father and those two things, I have so much knowledge to give them, and I'm still learning. One thing that I'm quite passionate about is I will always, hopefully I get to cover the sport for another 50 years, but I will always hold a very special place in my heart for the guys of your

era, you know, like the 2007 to let's say 2020 era, the WC guys, the Strikeforce guys, as the sport was exploding. It will never be the same as that that for me because that's kind of like my entry into covering the sport and and and one thing that you know gets me a little bit uh fired up and emotional is i i don't feel like we as i'm not pointing the finger at anyone here but we as a community do a good enough job of remembering and honoring that era and the era before that and the history of the sport it's all about the big fight coming up and then it's onto the next one. And then it's onto the next one. You know, you hear people talk about WC a little bit, but will people still talk about it in five years?

Will they remember what made it so special? All those things and more, I think are very important to, especially now with so many new fans getting involved and, uh, some fighters who I bring this up to say, I couldn't care less. And then I know there are some fighters who would like, you know, that type of respect and, and, and to be honored in a certain way. How do you feel about that as someone who is now in that sort of mentor spot? And you probably see some, some new kids come through the gym who maybe don't remember,

you know, Faber and Pulver and all those guys back in the day in, in, in the blue, the blue canvas era. Does it bother you? Pulver and all those guys back in the day in the blue canvas era. Does it bother you? Does it make you feel some sort of way? Or is this just me getting into my feelings and all that? No, it definitely does. Because when I got into the sport, I was upset at myself for never knowing it was there.

And I got into it in 2003 going like, how have I never heard of this before? And so I started going back and looking at the first UFCs and looking at the history of jujitsu, how it started and just martial arts in general. And I got to learn all the old stuff. So I knew about all these things, like the history of mma i feel like i know a decent amount about and then i've lived through a good chunk of it now and so when people are like oh who's that guy i'm like you don't know who that is like what are you doing like it does irritate me because i feel like it's important to know the history and understand where it came from and and just see the evolution of the sport it's it's it's been wild to be a part of it's been wild to watch and you know I encourage people to kind of go back and learn and you know I might some of my students will will send each other videos of really old boxers or MMA fighters and pick apart things they did. And I love that. I think that everybody should do that. I think, you know, Eric Paulson's another

guy that I mentored under. And someone's like, look at this new jujitsu move. And then I'm like, oh, look, he did it in 1998. It's not new. Yeah, 100%. That is a good point, especially about Eric. I just got to go to the, well, I think it's called the Virgin now, Virgin Hotel, but it used to be the Hard Rock for the MMA Awards, and I hadn't been there in years, and I felt like I was walking into a time warp to those WEC, early UFC days, and it was just very special.

I'm not trying to be the old guy who's like reminiscing about the old days but it was just kind of a special fraternity slash community and to see where it's come is great but there you know there's a part of me that kind of misses those days as well it was different on verses and all that if you were to tell someone like if someone to ask you like okay what is quintessential Cub Swanson maybe this is a stupid question because one of your fights is in the Hall of Fame. What would be the first fight that you would want to show people? Would it be the Duhu Choi fight or is it a different fight? Yeah, it depends for what reason.

If they just only were going to watch one fight, I'd say that's a great one. You know, I really liked the finish I had with Elkins because I was playing with some stuff on that one about standing square and switching stances. Yeah, I really pull from my own fights when I'm when I'm doing like seminars or coaching guys, because I I always say if you can do it. During the fight on the biggest stage, like then it's a real move. Um, you, you gotta, you gotta practice it, you know, uh, in the gym and then you gotta practice it in sparring. And if you can pull it off in a fight, then, then it's a legit move. So I always like to pull from my fights and say, look what I did here. This is what I was thinking. This is what I was trying to do. And, you know, I'm a lot more technical than people think,

and my brain is constantly going when I'm in there. You said you got into it in 2003. That young kid, if someone would have told him, you know, 20 years in the game, the highest of highs in the sport, all that stuff, fighting on ESPN, fighting on Fox, would you have believed? Obviously, the intricate details you can never really know, but would you have believed you'd be in it for this long and made it to the top of the sport? No, I, I knew that the sport was going to be big.

And when I had heard that the ultimate fighter one was going to happen to be on TV, I was like, this is it. This is what's going to change the trajectory of the sport because this is the coolest, realest sport there is. And people just need to give it a chance. And, you know, but I couldn't have imagined that it'd be here today. But one thing I'll say that kind of trips me out when I go back thinking about it is I was like living in in the ghetto uh in a small place with me and my brothers and another roommate and one night when I first got into it and deciding I wanted to try MMA I was doing all this research and it was dial up internet and I was sitting there for hours because the internet was so slow and I had went on King

of the Cage website and I was looking at all the the the champions and and I was trying to see what they did because I had no no like I just was at a jiu-jitsu school and I had no reference of how to make it and I I had looked I found Joe Stevenson and he had an email address attached to his like profile on King of the Cage website somehow and I was like hey my name's Cub Swanson and I do jiu-jitsu can I come train with you and then like a month later he just called me and he was like who who are you and I was like oh uh. I, I, I don't think I live that far from you. Can I come train with you? And I, I, he was like, okay. And I ended up driving an hour and a half to where he lived and he had been sleeping on let's go down to this gym and then me and him worked out he beat me up pretty bad and then i didn't hear from him for a little while and he ended up getting on the ultimate fighter and i started fighting in that time and i i got to like six or seven and one at

the time and he got off the show and then he called me and I had just fought. I had a, I had fought Charlie Valencia and I had a broken rib and a, and a broken nose. And he called me at seven in the morning and was like, Hey, it's Joe daddy. And I was like, who he's like, Joe daddy. And I was like, Oh, Hey, Hey. And he's like, you want to help me for a training camp? I'm fighting in the UFC. And I was like, oh, hey, hey. And he's like, you want to help me for a training camp? I'm fighting in the UFC. And I was like, yeah. And I was like, when? And he's like, today.

I was like, give me two days and I'll be there. And I drove up to Big Bear. And then I started becoming a part of his camps. And yeah, it really took off for me after that. I love that. I love those stories. I love those stories so much. If your kids say they want to do this as well, what will you say to them?

So I will try to convince them that it is a very hard life and that I think that they could do other things. But if it is their desire, then it is what it is um i i have always said that i will never let anybody not chase their dreams um because there's been people that have come in my gym that they're like hey i want to do what you do and then i'm like man this guy i don't think this kid got it right but who am i to say uh i will tell them i'll be real with them on how hard it's going to be and the steps and things like that, but I will never crush anyone's dreams. And I feel like with my kids as well, if they truly want to do it, I can't stop them, but I will definitely try to convince them that there's easier ways of life. Well, if that was in fact the last one, Cub, thank you very much.

Congratulations on an incredible career, an incredible run. And from like a media perspective, always so thoughtful, always so introspective, always so gracious with your time. And I really do appreciate that. So thank you for everything, for the fights, for the moments, for the interviews, the access, all that stuff. If it wasn't the last one, I look forward to a few more down the line and to hopefully seeing you back in there. But it's great to see you in this very content and happy state and with nothing left to prove

because you don't have anything. As you said on Saturday, who cares? Belt, no belt, like you did it all. You fought them all and you beat the vast majority of them as well. So it's great to see you in that state and to hear that perspective as well. So again, congratulations on everything

and thank you for coming on on this Monday to talk about it all. Thank you. I truly appreciate it. And you know, all the fans, you have been the reason to keep me going. Yeah, I just always wanted to prove myself and prove that I could do it to myself.

I'm a fan of the sport, and I just wanted to be able to give my imprint on the sport and be able to be like, yeah, I was a somebody once. So I appreciate you guys, and we'll see what happens in the future. All right. Thank you, Cub. Happy holidays to you and your family. Thank you. You too.

All right. There he is, the great Cub Swanson stopping by. Amazing stuff. Great chat. Incredible fighter. And again, I read it at the beginning, but worth repeating. Wins over Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens, Ross Pearson, Dennis Seaver, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Darren Elkins. Tied max hallway for most wins in UFC slash WC featherweight history with 20. 11 fight night bonuses brings him ahead of the great max hallway for most fight night bonuses in featherweight history. And if you include WC bonuses, it's 15 total. That's an incredible career. Obviously his fight against Duhu Choi at UFC 206

is in the Hall of Fame, the UFC Hall of Fame, in their fight wing. Nothing left to prove. Nothing left to do. But if he wants to come back, there's still obviously some fun fights left for him. Maybe against Patricio Pitbull. Not 145.

Don't hate it. Another one. I think Pitbull will be looking5. Don't hate it. Another one. I think Pitbull will be looking for a more, a faster track to the title like Michael Chandler kind of had. No, I know. As a fight, hey, you could do worse than that. Cubs never really been in a boring fight. And still looks decent.

Yeah. This win against Billy Q, this is a good win. Yeah. looks decent. This win against Billy Q, this is a good win. Made his WEC debut back, would you believe it, in March of 2007. WEC 26 against Tommy Lee.

Not the drummer, but another Tommy Lee. This is one of the reasons why I love MMA so much, though. You read those accolades, you look at that career, did not fight for a UFC championship, but like you don't have to. You have had an incredible career in MMA, and I don't know if that's the same for every sport. Kind of people are measured against their championships. But like you look at the names, you think about Dustin Poirier, you think about Charles Oliveira, and you're like, this guy has beaten those guys.

Like, yeah, that's what I love about MMA. You can just go down this rabbit hole. You go on Tapology or Sherdog, and you can just find these moments in time where somebody was so damn good, but maybe never captured that UFC championship, but has a career worth celebrating because of the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows. It's not all just protecting that record

in a way that I think boxing kind of doesn't have as many of these types of characters. I was just about to add that point. It's impossible to be the equivalent of Cub Swanson in boxing and be like, oh shit, and you beat this guy, that guy, and this guy, and you never fought for the belt or won the belt? You know what I mean?

They're gone from the sport by that time. Yeah. It doesn't exist. Yeah. If you get knocked down in your, like, 15th fight and by the way, you're a bum. I never was. I remember when he made his UFC debut on that Fox card after the WC merger, the first Fox card, JDS versus Kane

against Ricardo Lamas. And that was like sort of the time period where the featherweights and the bantamweights were starting to come over. And it was just very exciting. In uh anthony pettis tweeting today that uh today is the 14 year anniversary of the showtime cake 14 years what damn december 2010 glendale wc 53 are you kidding me crazy crazy. Crazy, crazy. By the way, speaking of. Greatest knockout in MMA history. That wasn't a knockout.

Yeah, I was just about to correct you. It wasn't a knockout. No, everybody's like, look at this knockout. All the clips I see of this resurfacing are like the craziest knockout of all time. It wasn't even a knockout. Greatest knockdown. Potentially, yeah. I mean, that for sure.

That was a Wednesday night in Glendale. I think GC was in the lunch line. What was it? Second grade, 2010? How old were you in 2010? 10th grade. 10th grade, really? I guess December, though.

I would have been in 11th grade, junior in high school. Nah, the story's not as good. Wednesday night. Yeah, it was a Wednesday night. Yeah. You don't know about the Wednesday night WC cards. I was doing homework. I was already in bed. Up 10, 9 o a Wednesday night. Yeah. You don't know about the Wednesday night WFC cards. I was doing homework. I was already in bed.

Yeah. Up 10, 9 o'clock sharp. I miss, you know what? I miss some of those Wednesday night cards. I wish they did Wednesday night cards. Wednesday, Thursday. I wish they did Friday night cards. Yeah, you know what?

Friday, we get that with, you know, the odd PFL belt. I love them. And I love them. Midweek, midweek was fun. A Thursday night UFC card? Sign me up for that. Wednesday? Maybe?

Listen, this is going to be one of the things we'll talk about in our preview, but UFC deals coming up. I wouldn't be surprised if they split up that a little bit here to, I'm just throwing out, I'm not hinting at anything, but a little bit here to an Amazon Prime, a little bit here to a Netflix, a little bit here to an Apple, a little bit here to an ESPN. That may be the future. Yeah, hop off the Saturdays. I'd be so down for that.

I don't know if they're hopping off the Saturdays, but it might be a bit of a... Tuesday night pay-per-view card. Wow. These are horrible ideas. Tuesday night is a little bit weird. They've built this habit over all this time. They own Saturday nights, and now all of a sudden they're just like, hey, we're going to do it on Tuesday now.

Perfect. Do they own Saturday nights? They've got contender series on this. Is there a big thing on a Wednesday? Like, obviously, you don't want to go on Monday because of football. You don't want to go on Thursday because of football. You don't want to go on Wednesday because who's watching shit on Wednesday? AEW Dynamite.

No. What is there? What is there on the Wednesday? There's nothing on Wednesday. What? There's nothing. There's no WWE, so they're not going up against one of their entities. There's probably a good reason from the broadcast that there's nothing there on Wednesday.

Well, speaking of the featherweight division, Ilya Teporia has provided some sort of clarity on, or maybe there isn't clarity. I don't know. I was going to say, I don't know about the clarity part Well what did he say he tweeted some stuff He said I will not leave the title vacant The decision to move up to the next category

Is entirely mine I haven't had any conversations with the UFC yet So everything is still to be decided Stop celebrating because I'm not going anywhere I have conquered my division And I will do the same in the next one Has he conquered his division I'm going to say no, not yet.

By the way, we don't have it here, but my favorite part of this tweet was Arnold Allen's response to the tweet. Did you guys see that? I did see that and I quite enjoyed it. Arnold Allen responds. Wasn't it like? It was like thought so. Yeah.

Didn't think so. Yeah. That went over well. Oh, Arnold. But then he got shit for it. And he wrote, I don't understand why everyone thought this was me talking smack. I literally just didn't think he was going to vacate. Which is fair because I think we all don't think he's going to.

It's so good because it's like, oh, yeah? You didn't think so? What, do you think he's afraid of you He's like no The tone and the tweet If you know Arnold you knew that he was just Responding very genuinely That's how he talks shit

He's got to fight Volk again And there's still some other guys Movsar Alright well there's Some clarity We were talking A little pro wrestling Is there clarity I still don't know

What's the clarity I never thought That he was moving up And vacating to begin with But now he's saying Everyone was running with it He's cleared out the division He's gonna dominate

The next one But I don't know He didn't put a time frame on it I just don't get this I don't know What are we doing here Did you guys watch Saturday night's main event

No Did anyone watch it? Wait, the UFC main event? No. Because of Kobe and Joaquin Buckley? With Hulk Hogan there. With Hulk Hogan in attendance? Walking out with a flag?

Saturday night's main event was, let me tell you something. It was a vibe. They did a great job. I had to go to a Christmas party or some sort of holiday party on Saturday. And I wasn't. So you went to that one? I was non-plus. Yes, I was non-plus.

You didn't go to the other one. The way the chips I had so many potential outs And the chips just kept falling against me on this one Oh Jesse the body shout out Jesse the body showed up Not only that They did the retro We can't show any of it

They did the retro intro They had the retro music They had the retro sign They had the retro ramp With like the barricades. Jesse the Body shows up wearing a snakeskin jacket, the boa. They had the red, white, and blue ropes. They had the old school logo. The referees, as you can see, were wearing the old school outfit with the bow tie.

This is pretty sick right here. Yo, it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. And they didn't go to UBS, by the way They were on Long Island They went to Nassau Coliseum Because that was the site of the first ever Saturday Night's Main Event

39 years ago They went to the decrepit Nassau Coliseum I'm just saying That's pretty damn cool For those that don't know Saturday Night's Main Event Was so great in the 80s And a little bit early 90s, but mainly in the 80s.

I think it first started in 84, where it would be like once a quarter, instead of Saturday Night Live, in the Saturday Night Live slot at 1130 Eastern would be Saturday night's main event on NBC, which was big in its own right because wrestling wasn't on broadcast television. And I tweeted about this over the weekend. I'm like six, seven years old, obsessed with wrestling. I don't really understand this. There's no, and I'm not, I'm not, there's no internet. I don't have TV guide. I don't know how to know what's coming up. There's no like digital guide that you could search through. It's literally like turning the dial. That's how freaking old I am. And so every Saturday I would record at 1130 Pacific or 1130 PM Eastern. I would record on our, on our VHS, VCR, pop it in, put that thing in there. You would record.

I remember how it all looked and, looked, and I would go to bed, I would, there would be a way that you could program it on the VCR, and I would go to bed, and I would wake up every Sunday at like 6, 6.15, 6.30, I would run to our one room that had a TV, I would rewind the tape, and I would pray that it wouldn't be this stupid Saturday Night Live show, that it would be WWF, Saturday Night's main event. And more often than not, because it only happened like four times a year, I would be disappointed.

I'd be like, I can't understand this. And I would fast forward until the very end, and there would be a show called Baloney that would come on after SNL. And once I knew that was playing, I was like, they didn't have TV Guide? You never had TV Guide? I didn't have TV. I don't know. Living in Montreal, immigrant parents.

I didn't understand it. I was also six years old. I didn't know what any of this stuff was. I guess that's true. You were a little younger. Yeah, I'm like, I don't even know that this exists. But let me tell you something. When it would pop on, instead of SNL, oh my god. And it was big time matches. It was Hogan, it was Andre, it was big-time matches. It was Hogan.

It was Andre. It was Ricky Steamboat. It was Macho Man. So on, on, on. Did you ever watch one of the SNLs instead? Couldn't care less. I'm literally sick. As soon as you saw it, you're just like that. And this is like prime SNL, right?

Like 80s Eddie Murphy, all that stuff. I can't believe you remember something from when you were six. Oh, my God. I remember this vividly. I remember being in the video store and so WrestleMania I was 1985. And so I'm probably, it's probably like 86 now.

And I remember seeing the box for WrestleMania I with Hogan and Mr. T on there and being like, what is that? When you were like four? I swear. I remember it.

That's crazy. Yes. There's a lot of crap over here. Okay. So anyway, on Saturday, there and being like what is that when you were like four i swear i remember it that's crazy yes crap over here okay so so anyway on saturday to go with the whole retro theme at the beginning of the show they have like an old school tv with the buttons and then the voice comes on saying saturday night live will not be airing tonight instead we'll have this special presentation like they did the thing they did the thing that would air. Oh, it was brilliant.

And then it went into the music and all that stuff. I was, I was, I watched, uh, Eric Bischoff do, um, like a,

a reaction on his, on his YouTube channel. And the way he described it was comfort, comfort food for the soul, for the soul of the wrestling fan out there. And, uh, I couldn't agree more. It was just fun.

What was different from a product perspective or was it all like the trappings? Oh, I mean, it was the same, you know, it with the crowd behind them which is where gorilla monsoon and jesse and when vince was a broadcaster there was there was a lord alfred hayes back in the day as well mean gene from time to time where they would have this set with the crowd behind them and they did the same exact set and then they threw it to michael cole and pat mcafee but just having like the red white and blue ropes which they don't use the entrance was incredible they had like the old steel barricades nothing else no fancy entrance like they have now and super close to the wrestlers like it was this tight it just all felt the only thing that would have made it like true blue old school SNME would be if it aired at 1130.

That was it. But no need for that. I mean, it was on at 8, and that's better for younger kids. But it was just so much fun. And they're going to do another one on January 25th. I guess they're going to do four of these. And I hope they just keep up with the old school theme. And in addition to that, and you'll appreciate this, Connor, one night only

they brought back the old winged heavyweight title belt. The one that you wore for Halloween? I love it. They brought back that one and so Cody Rhodes came out with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant. And what would this have been instead? Like if it wasn't Saturday night's main event.

It was just a special. There was nothing. I love it. Yeah, it was just a special. That's what made it big. They had five big matches, Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens. You asked me earlier today if Cody is actually hurt because he did get. Yeah, WWE tweeted about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, he's not. It was a pilot. No, it was serious. I mean, they banned pilot drivers. Wow. They banned them. I can just never tell No, no, they said he injured his neck, it's serious

So, I loved it It's a serious injury, I loved it I love the broadcast I saw it in a tweet I loved everything about it He's moving on from Cody I know, I love the tweet I love the

I love the attack afterwards I love the, I love the, I love the, the attack afterwards. Furs up for Cody. Congratulations to Canada's own Chelsea Green, the very first women's United States champion. And they're about to crown the very first women's IC champion, which I think is great. IC of course stands for intercontinental champion.

I mean, it's just a great time. Sorry to get my kids to watch. They weren't really that interested. My son was totally into the NBA Cup. Completely into it. If you wanted to watch Hawks and Bucks, Commiserations. Makes one of us.

GC. I got to say, I don't know. I'm a sucker for stakes. Right. And I know the stakes. Right, exactly. The NBA Cup. It's something.

It's the culmination of something. No, it's not. Yes, it is. Just regular season games. Right, exactly. The NBA Cup is zero stakes. It's something. It's the culmination of something. No, it's not. Yes, it is. Just regular season games. No, no, no. That haven't been played otherwise. No, no, no. Zero stakes.

I went to that game. You can't hate the BMF and love the NBA Cup. No, that's so crazy. They are equivalently useless. This looks crazy. The NBA Cup is just a manufactured thing to add more games, make more money, and put these fake stakes on the line. Wow.

What's the season? 70 games. 66. You know, I don't hate that, by the way, but I do have to say I went to the Hawks game against the Knicks. It was a depressing. I was pissed. I was embarrassed at how pissed I was after that loss.

I was like, fuck, I wanted to see them go to Vegas. I wanted to see them win the NBA Cup. Damn Trey Young. And he rolled the dice on the logo. Bastard. Trey really has become the Reggie Miller. He's become the Knicks. Yeah, guess what?

Guess what? His record against the Knicks is like 9-18. The big ones he's winning. But he wins the big ones. Fair play. And by the way, if this was the 90s, Charles Oakley would have decked him for doing that. How'd they all stand there and let him do that? Someone would have freaking clotheslined him.

You sat there and let him do it. I did. You know what? I thought. You should have got up and clotheslined him. Yeah should have got up yeah i know i know someone's entering the court who is this it's helwani by god hit him with a stunner and the police have taken him he's in handcuffs oh they're tasing him now would it have been worth it yeah absolutely it would have been worth it for us the end from msg definitely not the content the It would have been Worth it for us The end from MSG Definitely not

The content The content Would have been fantastic The content Would have been 10 out of 10 We would have We would have needed

A filler host Oh my gosh We worked out The lawsuits But it would have Been amazing By the way Speaking of SNL

Did you guys see that Jake Paul got mentioned On SNL No I did see that He got mentioned By the great Chris Rock

I think this is a big deal We have the quote Right over here He He got mentioned by the great Chris Rock. I think this is a big deal. We have the quote right over here. He's doing his monologue, and Chris Rock says, I hate Jake Paul. I got landlord hate for him. Let me see if I can imitate him.

I got landlord hate for him. Was that good? No, let's keep that one in the back. We'll talk about that for a bit. No, okay. I hate him more than cocaine hates monogamy. Sheesh. Now, I sent this to Nikisa, and I was like, congrats.

He's like, why congrats? I'm like, you're getting mentioned in an SNL monologue by Chris Rock. That's validation. That's big time. I know it's obviously not a positive mention But I think it's a pretty big deal He ain't mentioning other boxers

And not feeling this sort of way about other boxers If you've reached the point that everyone hates you that much To the point where they're going to watch And hope that you get knocked out Hope that you fail Because they are watching That means you've made it Floyd Mayweather went from pretty boy Floyd,

people were sort of apathetic, to Money Mayweather, and everyone wants to see him get his ass whooped. Isn't that also Jake Paul's brand? Like, his brand is like, I'm knocking out your hero, like, his whole thing is this. It's working. It's 100% working. I just think you're getting

mentioned by Chris Rock in an SNL model. It's a big freaking deal. So I thought that was pretty cool. Jake Paul was just think you're getting mentioned by Chris Rock in a SNL model. Yeah, you did it right. It's a big freaking deal. So I thought that was pretty cool. Jake Paul was named Promoter of the Year by the WBA. I'm sure everyone loves that. Jake Paul was? Yeah. On Friday at the Most Valuable Prospects event.

You're right, you're right. They did a whole event. Frank was the only voter on that category. Oh, yeah. They were showing him all kinds of love. Amanda Serrano too, well deserved. Yeah, it was quite the scene. Shout out to Tamara Thibault for winning

her first pro fight, the Canadian Olympian, two-time Olympian. Fighting three-minute rounds as well. She looked very good. She's going to be a name. Remember that name. And by the way, same weight class as your girl, Rick. Watch out. Olympian versus Olympian vs Olympian Food

Nobody's touching my girl You gotta watch the movie The trailer looks great Have you seen the trailer I have yes He's going to the midnight premiere He's gonna be lined up Popcorn and Slurpee in hand

The 11.59 jump Sir We're not doing 11.59 film. Like, sir, we're not doing an 11.59. You're like, what? So we haven't done a midnight release in years. Can you please leave?

We're definitely not doing one for this movie. Honestly, if I'm being real, I should have a private screening set up for me. I'm just saying, like, I've been

beating the drum. Like, they should come to me and find a way to privately screen this for me. Can I say something? I agree with you

And I feel like I could sort this out Listen, let's make it happen I got you It does look good though, have you guys seen the trailer? Yeah, very well made, Hollywood She's got an incredible story 100% Wherever you fall in the pound for pound

Greatest woman in this Her actual story is Incredible 100%. Whether you, wherever you fall in the pound for pound or greatest woman in this, like, her actual story is incredible and worthy of a film. Mm-hmm. 100%. Just a couple more things that I wanted to bring up. By the way,

did you guys see... Wait, can we write off some super chats as well? Oh, sure. Well, I'm not done. I mean, you're like, I got a couple more things.

Let me just play this. Do them on that. Let me just play this. Yeah, very end. Just remind me. And shout out to NordVPN. We love them as well. I got to do more things. Let me just play this. Yeah, very end. Just remind me. And shout out to NordVPN. We love them as well. I got to play this Drew McIntyre promo.

Did you guys see this promo? Did you guys actually watch the promo? I did not. It's the promo of the year. I know you guys are haters. Close your eyes. This is him on the Busted Open, the Busted Open holiday party. Busted Open, great show on Sirius XM uh Fight Nation their

flagship wrestling show Drew McIntyre who's been phenomenal this year the pride of Scotland cuts this unbelievable promo tell me you watch this and don't feel some sort of way tell me you don't want to be emotionally invested in this guy here's Drew McIntyre shout out to busted open for this an incredible moment an incredible I don't know you know what you'll see why i'm hesitant to call it a promo but it's just it's it's riveting it's it's theater at its finest close your eyes take a listen i felt a few months ago i'd be really happy you know i've always given to this industry um probably too much and i never really feel like I got too much back and I would be over the moon if I felt like people were following suit

and it was going to be good for industry in the future and to be completely honest after Hell in a Cell I went back home a close family member died I don't care about the staples in my head, all that shit I can get over injuries, I've showed up with broken bones never told the office

and worked right through it but i've never had true time at home ever in 17 years i've only ever been home when there's a wrestling show i've missed the weddings birthdays some funerals i should have been at just for this industry my mom passed i went home for a couple of weeks i was straight back at work i never truly truly dealt with it and then going home this time and spending real time my family I realized I might have made a mistake I've given and given and given and given to this industry and it's taken and taken and taken from my real family and I'm trying to keep it together respect everybody sitting with

me right now but as much as we're on the road, we call each other family. That's a matter of convenience. I was with my real family. And when I was gone for that three months, I can count on pretty much one finger how many people checked in. Like, how are you doing, Drew? And it really opened my eyes. I was gone around here. I tried to stay away from the social media and the likes. Obviously, I'll be back ripping people, you know, being myself, but I see things like someone cuts a one minute promo and that's the best promo of the year. What have you done for me lately? The same old crap. And it occurred to me, like, why are we placating so much to the smart marks, to the internet fans? When did things change? And I realized it wasn't like when we started

together, I was a young kid. It's when we started letting the marks in the locker room. And it's really getting to me. And I hate to say this. I gave and gave and gave. And as far as in wrestling, on TV, it's concerned. I've got to take and take and take. Tomorrow morning, I'm still going to be out there helping the homeless.

Things that really mean something to me. But when it comes to Drew McIntyre on TV, Drew McIntyre in general, I really hate to say this because I didn't believe it till the past until I saw the proof right in front of my face, the lack of contact. And the look in my family's face and realizing everything that I've missed that I'm just going to take from now on.

And I'll leave this industry. I won't be one of those guys when I was a kid in the locker room during the Indies that were just chasing that last paycheck, just chasing that last shot of glory. Please remember me. When I leave, when I retire, I'll have accomplished everything. And it doesn't matter if you're Mark Henry, Billy Ray,

Tommy Dreamer, Drew McIntyre, Stone Cold Steve Austin. When you're gone, they move on. They forget. And it sucks, but it's true. So as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to the internet, I don't give a fuck about your opinion. I mean, tell me. Isn't that...

What was he promoting? He wasn't. He was a guest on their holiday show. He was just saying how he's angry at the industry for his family. He's just angry, yeah. Come on. I dug it. He spoke passionately.

It was great. It's magic. When you blur the lines like that, and I don't even know how much of it is blurred. I was going to say it. I don't think it is blurred. It's genuine, but that's the art. That's when wrestling is at its best.

Yeah, it feels like that's how I really felt. And he's been tapping into that a lot over the past year. I just thought that that, and I don't even, again, I feel like it's cheapening it to call it a promo, but I just thought that that was absolute. There's definitely a part of him, no matter how genuine, even if it was 100% from the heart, there is definitely a part of him that thinks,

that knows it's a performance as well. So even if it's 100% genuine, it's everything he means, he also knows at the end of the day, he is still a performer, and there has to be part of that that he's thinking about in there. But it was incredible. And he's tapping into that. Yeah. You know what I mean? That's what makes it so great.

I love that. I love that. When you start to wonder, like, how much of this is legit? How much is real? Is he really that upset? What does he do when he gets to the back there? That's the other thing. You know?

What happens after that? Yeah. What does the office say about it? What does the brass say about that? But ever since he's gone to this dark place and that's his character now it's like dark yeah it's great i remember there was a like didn't um cm punk get hurt and he did something where he's like good i wanted that to happen i prayed for that from men that's when it started he said i prayed for this but it really yeah he did say that that was wild

it really comes back to the fact that he was supposed to beat Brock Lester in 2020 at WrestleMania, and he was robbed at the moment because of the pandemic. And so he ended up beating Brock Lester in an empty performance center, and he's never gotten that moment again. And so everyone thought that he was going to get that moment at Clash of the Castle two years ago in Wales in front of 60,000 people in Cardiff when he went up against Roman Reigns and Roman beat him. And so they all thought this was the make good, if you will. And he's never gotten that make good. And to a degree, he's been a little bit salty and has been just dropping these bombs and these magical moments like this. So shout out to him.

Um, did want to mention at the top of the show, Pete, he brought up the, uh, the cameo that we made in the, uh, the new Netflix documentary undisputed.

Um, do we have this thing? We have it, right? Yes. We don't. Yes, we have it.

Okay. All right. Um, I, uh, I got a little wordy there, the message, uh, we have a lot of things going on, but we have it okay all right um i uh i got a little wordy there the message uh we have a lot of things going on but we got it okay so there's a new documentary out called undisputed it's on netflix right now it's uh it's about fury usic one the making of the fight and then it helps

preview obviously the fight that's coming up this weekend on his own pay-per-view shout out and you'll recall back in february we had that saturday special that uh which is funny because that's what my kids and i call the bagels that we get on saturdays which you'll understand why i'm laughing at that in a moment if you haven't seen it uh we did that impromptu interview with uh turkey tyson and usic this was the day after the cut was revealed and then they rescheduled it and it was just like this impromptu moment and so i did an interview with the uh we go again crew tremendous crew uh tom and carl and their whole team are just amazing remember these guys came to our studio and they had like, I mean, I remember Frank was just salivating. Johnny Gimble.

Do you remember that? Yeah, I do. They came with all this incredible equipment and they're top notch and they've been making these great docs for the re-ed season events. And it's not airing here in the United States, at least not right now.

And so PT's like, have you seen this? And I said, no. I remember doing the interview, telling them how the whole thing came about, but I didn't realize that they turned it into what they turned it into. And so they've allowed us to play this snippet, which I think our worldwide audience will appreciate very much. Here's what they put that's in the documentary. If you're in the UK and Ireland, I suggest you go check it out because it's a great, great, it's a great watch and everything they've done uh is is absolutely stellar fantastic stuff but obviously this reenactment of that crazy day

back in uh february of this past year uh was was a real treat and i'll tell you that my kids liked it as well and so here it is from undisputed which is out right now on netflix produced by the great we go again team take a look at this. All right, so it's Friday, February 2nd. It's around 2 p.m. Eastern time or so, maybe a little bit before here in New York. And I remember seeing on Twitter that Tyson Fury has suffered a cut and that the February 17th fight against Alexander Usyk in Riyadh is off. Fast forward to the next day. Now we're at February 3rd. One of my favorite things to do on Saturdays is attend my son's soccer games. I'm not one of these crazy dads, but I'm locked in on the game. Just so happened that I looked at my phone and all of a sudden I'm getting a call from His Excellency Turkey Alshank.

Now all of a sudden like the heart is beating, you're sweating a little bit, you know he gets right to business and asks me if we're doing a show today. So I say no, but what's up? He says, could you do a show today? I said, yeah, I'm in. I get my son, we get in the car, much to his chagrin, I tell him we don't have time to stop for the post-game meal, which we usually do.

We usually get an egg and cheese bagel. He's never late. game meal which we usually do we usually get a egg and cheese bagel. Get home, run upstairs, put on a patented plaid shirt. I sit down, open my computer, fire on my one LED light and now we're testing so it's like me and the two producers were testing does this work does this look good is everything okay yes everything's okay and so I say are you guys ready to go again not really knowing what's going on and we go live the mixed martial arts tower is back in your life on this saturday february 3rd 2024 yes a special breaking news edition of the program. Let's go to Mr. Turkey Alshef. This fight I want it to happen. 18th of May we will have Tyson,

Ozik, Ozik Tyson. Never call me a coward again. I've had 35 professional fights. I've been boxing 18 years of my life. And I'm no fucking coward. I've boxed all my life. It happens. It happens, brother. How can you call me a coward? You've never boxed in your life. It happens. It happens, brother. How could you call me a coward?

You've never boxed in your life. How am I a coward? I've had 35 professional fights. I'm a two-time undefeated heavyweight champion. I'm the second longest reigning lineal champion in history. How am I a coward? Let's see the answer. Let's see the coward.

No, no, no. Let's see the answer in the 18th May. And then I remember when the thing ended, I've never smoked before. I don't smoke a cigarette. I felt like I needed a cigarette, if you get what I'm saying. I felt like an 8,000 pound gorilla had just been taken off my shoulders. And then we get the new date

and it all worked out perfectly. Round seven. How freaking great is that? I mean, that was unbelievable. Production value on that is truly unbelievable. The comic strips, everything, the bodega scene. I cannot applaud We Go Again.

It really is unbelievable. All the little things to the point that even the comic representations of you had the expressions perfectly. I can see you saying those things in real life and making those faces. I'm in. And then doing that in the sort of telephone voice. The bodega thing was great. The soccer thing was great.

And all that happened. I was at my kid's soccer game. I looked at my phone. There were a bunch of missed calls, sort of like a couple of weeks ago when we were doing the show with Ade. Bunch of missed calls from Saudi Arabia. Then, and you guys have the other perspective

where I'm calling you guys and like, can we do this? Because we weren't as well versed on live at home stuff. We're a lot further along now. I was about to leave my house. I had my shoes on to like go out for the day to be gone off the radar. And then, yeah, I got the call in. And then Humee was born from that.

Humee was born. Shout out to Casey. Casey was a big part of that. Shout out. Casey was directing big part of that Shout out, hero of the day We didn't even use OBS Or anything like that which is what we use now For some of our stuff We used some Ecamm thing and I was like

I've never used this And we've got one of the most important interviews I don't know Of the year in combat sports With Tyson and Riyad Turkey's there too Usyk's in Spain, his manager is there whom he is born what a time what a time you had to know that right you had to know that all the boxing media

everyone was like why the fuck did he get it yeah welcome into the mma hour as we break the biggest boxing story of the year yeah that's right yeah right. Yeah. Send that to Flat Earth Brotch. Will ya? Anyway. Give some flying fuck about Carl Frock or what he's got to say. Is anybody really interested? You're right, Frank.

I should get over it. You're right. Which Frank are you saying that to, by the way? We are one collective. Yeah, both of them. All right, Super Chats, before we go. You want me to read them off? Sure.

Is that the move? Oh, wait. Can I get them myself? It's going to be faster. All right, Super Chats, before we go. You want me to read them off? Sure. Is that the move? Oh, wait. Can I get them myself? It's going to be faster. All right. Somebody suggested, Reza's suggesting Colby needs to go full liberal, reinvent himself, start calling himself non-binary and grow his hair out, Vince McMahon. Okay, I found them.

I found them. Switch the character. I found them. Some we read, though. Come on, come here. Yeah, I know. Of course. What do you mean some we read? I'm the one who read them the ones with emojis all right

all right i'm leaving it to you you know what go ahead super chat helwani here go ahead okay all you okay well you you mentioned suhudo that's from ryan we already read that one i'm saying shout out to ryan yeah we already read that one but you know you know jason just want to shout out pt for a great gfl chat on the crack. Also, Go Bills. It was a great chat. It was a great chat on Friday. Great insight from Ben Folks and Chuck Mendenhall as well. Brett says, Cub Swanson versus Dominic Cruz double retirement fight. Different weight classes, but sure.

I'm down. A not nice name says When will we get JDM back on the show The problem is the time zone right now That's the problem But we're working on it We're working through the kinks Tune Joe says Arizona Mick

His heart as black as his collection of t-shirts. Never satisfied. The best part is whatever his name is. Yeah, yeah, he is. Okay, all right. This was when I was poo-pooing Imavov and Arizona Mick. Oh, I get it now. Let the record show.

I like the fight. It's just fun. Yeah, all right. And finally, from the legend, I don't think he's ever contributed, Salwani Steakhouse. I love Salwani Steakhouse. He's my guy. Shout out to BC.

Do you think Conor and Khabib will be in attendance for the Paul Hughes versus Usman fight? I think Khabib will. I'd be surprised if Conor will. Conor doesn't train with Paul Hughes, so I think that might be a stretch. But Khabib will. I'd be surprised if Conor will. Conor doesn't train with Paul Hughes, so I think that might be a stretch. But Khabib obviously trains Usman.

I mean, that's going to be a crazy seven-day stretch for Khabib with Umar, with Islam, and then with Usman fighting a week later. So smart money would say Khabib, yes. Conor, no. Let's also shout out Rogi Apapiel for becoming a Heelw Rogia Papiel for becoming a Heelwani and Sterling for becoming a Hellwannabe. Yeah. And much more fun stuff to come

on the page and for the members in the next few days. We'll ask Paul Hughes that question on Wednesday. He'll be here in studio whether Connor will in fact be cornering him. Wow, big news. Yeah, big news Hughes. Oh, I meant it was big

news he was in studio. Oh, I already said this. Big news that big news Hughes will be in studio. No, I know, but I said it like two hours ago. Oh, I wasn't listening. I didn't listen. No problem. I'm used to it by now from all of you back there. Crickets?

Crickets? Who, me? No, not you. Oh. Oh, one last thing from someone who just sent me an email. LOL, that Darren Till sneeze in the interview today absolutely has to be clipped and placed into the soundboard. Ideas on when you could use it. You can use it whenever you have to switch into the Heelwani zone.

It's kind of like an FU. Can I just say? Yes. We're closing submissions for you guys. Most of these are horrible ideas. You could give people who start PS with you a big Darren Till sneeze. Well, it wasn't him who sneezed.

I also like the super, super chat. Super, super chat is the email to you. Oh, yeah. This guy goes straight to me. Yeah. Vito and submissions are now officially closed I don't think they were ever open People have really taken it upon themselves The best part of that moment

Was her saying for fuck's sake there Yes that was it Now that I can be convinced But even that I'm like I like the for the life The sneeze is just. No, useless, random. Yeah.

It doesn't work. Yeah. All right. We don't care. There we go. Okay, thank you. Great way to end it. And I do wish the best to Darren.

I hope that he starts to feel better in the not too distant future. It kind of reminds me of the, oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree. It's really dark outside, by the way. I don't know if you guys. Cloud coverage. It is 440. Don't do that, man. By the way, when's winter solstice?

Saturday. 21st. Ah, it's the worst. The days start getting longer. But then we turn the corner, right? The days officially start getting longer, and then we just got to make it to March for daylight saving. By the way. Oh, sorry. Did you hear your boy Trump's trying to get rid of it? Shout out

I don't know if that's good or bad Does that mean we're locked on early sunsets Or locked on late sunsets? What are you doing? I don't know What do we want? You think he knows the answer? I want late sunset.

Ant, can you put it on the poll? Oh, yeah. Ant's not here. Ant's not here. I know. What do we want? Do we want early sunset? I like the late, but does that mean that we have to switch to spring forward and then

keep it at spring forward? Always give me late sunset. No, I know. But the time will stay the same so that there is no change. There is no late and early. It is just when we're approaching. Which one are we locking in on? Keep me on the summertime.

Keep me on the summertime. Do you need a few more years to gravitate towards one or the other? There are states in the United States that don't deserve the L.A. I would know, Arizona, Mick. Yeah. I think Arizona is one of them. Yeah, it would. Considering that we're this flat, shouldn't we just have the same time zone for everything?

That's a good question, Frank. We'll never know. You thought it would hit better, but it didn't. Yeah, it really didn't. Because maybe the fact that it's not flat. Thank you very much to everyone who tuned in. Thank you to our guests, Darren Till, Yuri Pichaska, Cub Swanson, and Patricia Opeyepo. Thanks to them.

Thanks to you. Back on Tuesday, same time, at the Disney Movie Seminar.