The Ariel Helwani Show - Darren Till, Valentina Shevchenko, Benoit Saint Denis, Arjan Bhullar and MMA super manager Tim Simpson in studio, On the Nose

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Ariel Helwani kicks off the the show by reacting to the news that Patchy Mix has been released by the PFL (01:44).Valentina Shevchenko calls in after her UFC flyweight title defense against Manon Fiorot and talks training at Tristar gym, making a bet with Fiorot, a superfight with current strawweight champion Zhang Weili, Chael Sonnen’s problem with her, and more (03:54).A fired-up Darren Till joins to discuss his Misfits Boxing 21 fight against Darren Stewart, his future in the sport, Dricus du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev, a potential fight with KSI, Tommy Fury’s pullout, Mike Perry, the lack of mega-fights in MMA, plus teams up with Ariel against Carl Froch (18:45).Ariel and the Boys get into some big PFL news and debate the future of the promotion before diving deep into your On the Nose questions (43:29).Benoit Saint Denis comes on after his rebound victory in Montreal over Kyle Prepolec and speaks on his short-notice opponent change, major additions to his corner, his quick rise through the UFC and the pressure it put on him, Mateusz Gamrot’s message, speaking to the French rugby team, and more (1:21:51).Tim Simpson, powerhouse MMA manager and founder of Chosen Advisory Group, joins in-studio to break down Jack Della Maddalena’s title-winning victory, Paul Hughes’ Belfast homecoming, matchmaking between his clients, Belal Muhammad’s strategy at UFC 315, Islam Makhachev moving up to welterweight, Leon Edwards, Holloway-Poirier 3, Israel Adesanya, and more stories from managing the sport’s biggest stars (2:02:00).Former ONE Championship heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar steps into the studio to discuss his relationship with Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez, leaving ONE Championship, his relationship with Chatri Sityodtong, receiving an ultra-rare red card in MMA, TKO’s takeover of combat sports, working with one of India’s richest families on superfights, the documentary coming out about his life, future fight news, and more (2:58:14).The Boys join Ariel to answer your Super Chats and react to breaking news of Holly Holm signing with Most Valuable Promotions (3:49:06).Join us on the bike: avironactive.com/uncrowned

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Err-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r- 2000 and 25 hello again everyone well I sure hope you're doing well it is great to be inside our New York City studio because it is pouring rain outside in the city that never sleeps the greatest city in the world the home to potentially your winners tonight in game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals I'll get too crazy it's not get too crazy but the vibes are high and and what about the vibes here at uncrowned studios? I feel like we didn't even go home. I think I was just sitting here. We did three shows yesterday my friends three shows Regular a8 show, you know, Jack Dillon studio NBD Bill Haney others as well as a great day then the Dzone show to guess on that one

Great time with that. Oladipo. Then as we're leaving, we're literally packing up. Dana White drops the news regarding UFC 317, regarding 319, a couple other fights sprinkled in there. So we do a reaction show, a breaking news reaction show, that's up on the channel right now. Ilya and Charles and DDP and Hamzad and International Fight Week and Islam moving up and Marc-Andre Barriot against Shara Bullitt.

So much to dissect, so much to digest. We did like an hour. We get home, we go to bed, we do it all over again. Also by the way, as we're leaving, I noticed that Patchy Mix is now out of the UFC, excuse me, Freudian Slip, out of PFL, no doubt headed to the UFC, and I could tell you some intel on that in a bit. So we got a lot to discuss, a lot to get into.

I, in fact, wanted to do a breaking news show for Patchy Mix. Everyone was in except for Frank. It's crazy. We're all sitting there, but we- Who was the first one to suggest it? We didn't have an audio guy. It's crazy. We were all sitting there, but we- Who was the first one to suggest it? We didn't have an audio guy. It's crazy. Anyway, today on the program,

we have a fantastic lineup once again. We are also presented by our good friends over at Avron. Shout out to Avron. Avronactive.com slash Uncrowned is the place to be for all your great products. We love these guys. Great Canadian company. They gamified working out. They gamified it. And I'll tell you more about them as we do On the

Nose. You know we like to answer your questions on Wednesdays. arielhawani.substack.com is where you can send those questions and we will get to those in a bit. Back into the show we're going to be joined by former One Championship Heavyweight Champion Arjun Buller. He's got a great story to tell. We haven't seen him fight in about 14 months. He has a new documentary coming out, but you'll recall his last appearance in MMA in One Championship was a controversial one. More on that in a bit. We'll be joined by Tim Simpson in studio, one of the best managers in all of combat sports.

Manager to the likes of Paul Hughes, manager to the likes of the new champ, Jack Della Maddalena, Israel Adesanya, Leon Edwards, a lot of big names, Bam Bam Tuivasa. He's got a tremendous stable, the chosen advisory group, the chosen few, a boutique firm, and he'll be joining us in studio after a massive weekend for his squad with Paul and Jack Della winning on the same day. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Benoit Saint-Denis, had the big win on Saturday in Montreal, change of opponent, but back on track after a horrific 2024. Prior to that, we'll be joined by Darren Till, who's in the UK right now, getting ready for misfits on Friday. He's joined by Darren Till who's in the UK right now

getting ready for misfits on Friday. He's fighting Darren the dentist steward. We'll be joined by him in a few minutes time but first things first my friends let us talk to one of the greatest female fighters of all time. Hell one of the greatest fighters of all time period. She successfully defended her women's flyway title. Once again, this past Saturday in Montreal, defeating Manon Fureau, a workman-like performance, a savvy veteran performance out of her once again. And perhaps, perhaps this lines us up for the the mega fight against one Zhang Weili. First things first, let us say hello once again to the bullet, the great Valentina Shevchenko.

There she is joining us outside. I love it. Is this like a gun range or something? Where are we right now? I wish, no, but we are in Texas. There is a lot of gun ranges in here. I love it. Well, thank you as always for joining us. It's great to see you and congratulations on the win. By the way, Valentina, how was my hometown? Montreal, near and dear to my heart. How did it treat you? Beautiful, Ariel. It's amazing city. And I was very lucky that our team became like a few days before, not few days, like two weeks before the fight.

And the whole week before the fight week, we had an opportunity to travel around and explore the city. We went to majority parks and it's like beautiful nature, so many, so much history, so much architecture, so much beautiful churches. So it's, I loved, I loved the city, I loved Montreal. And I am happy that our first time when we came to Montreal for the press conference, it was wintertime, a lot of snow, super cold. And I was very happy that during the springtime, we had this opportunity to have nicer weather. Yes, it's beautiful in May in Montreal.

And I also understand that you got to spend some time at TriStar, right? You went to train there a little bit before the fight? Yes, we trained in TriStar. We had amazing training partners from there. And I had like leading to the fight. All the first hour week we trained over there. And then during the fight week, it was between TriStar and Hotel Gym. Yes, you know you've had a lot of big wins, you've been here before, you've defended the title, you're the greatest women's flyweight champion of all time, one of the greatest champions ever, but I'm wondering Valentina if this one felt a little different only because I was feeling

like there was a little underlying tension between you and Manon with the whole like sign the contract Retirement stuff and you proved your point like you you you you let her know who's who? Did you feel like there was a little more? I don't know it was it was a little more gratifying to get this win and to move on from her You know It's what's not about not because of like this kind of like tension or whatever you're saying between me and Manon, because I'm kind of like during the fight and leading to the fight I completely out of all these things and I focus on my preparation. I saw like very solid mind what I have and my like everything that I have to do to win the fight. But in general like

all these factors that was leading to the fight like being me underdog like spin speaking about about age about like lack of motivation and everything like that I I was, it was not only like intention to show that people are wrong, but also say that kind of like, it's different, it's different. When you are champion, you just like, and holding the belt, you just, how you cannot have motivation. I really don't understand that it's kind of like possible. Sure, no, I understand that. And you fought that way as well. And I saw what you said afterwards to her. You don't want her to retire.

You never really thought she was going to retire, right? Oh, actually I was thinking and I was not really thinking about that, but I was like, if a person like throwing a word and a person respect their words and stand by their word, it might happen. So I don't know that if she said that, it's probably she would consider that. But I went ahead and said, no, I don't want that kind of wrong actions and mistake will affect someone's career. And I really don't want a person who is living off martial arts and feeling this happiness

of what they promised. And that's why I really stand like, okay, there is no deal anymore. Okay. I respect that. In the immediate aftermath, following the win, I saw the photo, I'm sure you did as well, of Zhang Weili standing in front of the TV with the thumbs up. This is the fight, Valentina. And I know in the post-fight press conference, you said like, you know, you'll leave it up to the fans, and Natalia Silva, who had a big win, or Zhang. This is the fight Valentina and I know in the post-fight press conference you said like you know you'll leave it up to the fans and Natalia Silva who had a big win or Jean. This is one of the biggest fights in women's MMA history and one of the biggest fights that the UFC could put on. Surely you recognize that right? This is the one that has to happen. It's the perfect time for it.

I feel yes. I feel right now I'm kind of like a little bit still, how would I say, like after the fight, you have many things that is going around you and during the entire week you're going to feel completely different. It's not like that, okay, you fought and the next day all the tension gone and you feel so good and like no like during the week it's the worst I would say time to recover because your mind is still in purified mode your body is sore your like your cannot sleep your sleep regimen is broken you cannot sleep during the night, you feel sleepy during the day and that's why it's kind of like the worst moment I would say this one week after the

fight and for now I kind of like try to not overthink too much about the fight, about the future, about like what's next because I prefer to calm me down and then analyze and take the right decision because I feel when you are kind of like too much things going on inside, you have to take the right decision in terms of date and like names and like whatever. But yes, I definitely, um, um, really she's amazing fighter. Through the years, through her title defense, losing the belt, getting the belt back and continue growing up, getting better with every single fight. So yeah, definitely I recognize that she is an amazing fighter, a very strong fighter, and definitely

it's something that people would love to see. There's a thing now with champions moving up having to give up their belt, vacate their title. Ilya had to give up his belt. We just found out yesterday Islam had to give up his belt to move up to 170. Do you think she'll have to give up her belt if she moves up to fight you? Would you want that? He really didn't know about that because this is what just recently like something happening and I'm not aware how does it work because as far as I know before it was that people keep their belt and they are moving up and they become a double champ, but it looks like apparently it's not happening anymore, so it's no more double champ, something like that. It's kind of like champ against champ, but no more two belts on the line.

So this is very new for me and I really don't know how does it works and how it's set it up everything like. Okay. But if I could press just a little more if it was up to you, would she be your first choice? I know you've had a fight and you're still processing, but between her and Natalia Silva, would it be fair to say that's a bigger fight in your opinion? Um, speaking about, about Natalia, I think she's also like, um, she showed amazing fight and she showed like the skill ability, uh, very correct, uh, tactic choosing like strategy for the fight. She used like, um, the distance, um, because like Alexa, she's very good and very strong and she like really wants this interchange.

She wants to fight on the closer distance, but Natalia showed like the skills and the ability to analyze like with their with their team choosing the right tactic. And yeah, definitely I would would say it was very beautiful fight, very a smart fight strategically. And in term like about speaking about myself, you know me Ariel, I'm here to fight like anyone, I'm ready to fight like just like to fight people. This is what I was made for and I you know and you could see this through all my career. I never was picking my opponent or negotiating with UFC or no, I want to fight here, I want to fight there.

They offered me fight, I accepted. They offered me another name, I just accepted. And even I never was declining the places. So if I had to fight in my opponent's home against their fans and everything, and I would do that because I am martial artist like all the way. And yeah, it's kind of like the way I was build it as a fighter.

I understand. And that's why we love and respect you. Can I ask though, what is going on between you and Chelsunin, what is this feud that you guys have? I saw him post videos about you, you responded to him. Is there a feud there? What is happening here with Chelsunin? I don't know what's happening with Chelsunin

and what problem he has with me, but I'm saying the problem is solved. Like I'm a nice, I'm not a spy. Do you think he really believes this? Or is he just trying to like, you know, make some content? Oh, I would say like if people post something and they probably believe, but you kind of like feel that, right?

Speaking with me, do you feel me a bad person? Not at all. I don't understand. So I don't understand what his issue is. Have you ever met him? Have you ever talked to him face to face? Actually no. All our like conversation is through the online.

I would love to meet him and ask him like directly, what is his thinking? Okay. And what problem he has with me. Yes, he makes a lot of videos about you and I don't understand what the issue is. Yeah, let's find out. Okay. Like, let's, like, Charles Sonnen,

let's find out what problem you have with me. Do you think his problem is that he thinks you're a spy and this bothers him? Maybe, maybe I have to, like, we have to go to the shooting range and, like, maybe he will release the tension, like, about, to go to the shooting range and, like, maybe he will release the tension, like, about, like, scary, like that. Yeah.

And I show that, like, people who martial arts, they can shoot as well, they can speak different languages and they are not spies. Okay. So you would like to extend an invitation to him to go to shooting range, bury the hatchet, shake hands, be friends, and learn more about each other? I would not say like that much. Okay, sorry. Be friends. It's all about the circumstances.

I don't know what is the problem, but when I will listen to his problem, when I will understand his problem, then I will decide, will we be friends or no? Do you have a problem with him? Me, no. I don't have a problem with anyone. I'm a good person. I'm a nice person. And I saw, by the way, you and Joanna,

you were training together last week, right? Yes. Joanna, she came earlier to Montreal and to help me in my last trainings. And we training Triar, we trained all the way leading to the fight and it was very nice to have her in my team. And actually I had so many people, so many good friends in my team for this fight and I was like just like feeling the support and it's just amazing to feel what I felt going into the fight. In terms of when you would like to return,

what would be ideal for you? No, I don't want to say I throw every date for now because I'm still kind of like super sore. I, my body still feel so much, um, like during training camp, you just, um, deal with injuries and like from the other fights, you still have some injuries and you just deal with this. It's never gone, but you have to super pass it in terms like to, um, like perform your best and, um, for now for now, my body completely want to take any decisions and taking a day for the next fight. So I prefer as I mentioned, with when it will be rested, when it when I feel like calm again and like re-energized, then we will have our conversation with my coach Pavel, with my team, with everyone and decide for the next move.

Okay, so you're now getting very close to the likes of Amanda Nunes, Anderson Silva, Mighty Mouse, John Jones. That was your 10th victory in a UFC title fight, one away from tying Amanda Nunes and Anderson Silva. So we hope that we'll get to see that opportunity later on this year. You continue to be one of the greats, one of the legends of the game,

and it's always a pleasure and honor to watch you compete and then to have you on the show afterwards. Thanks for doing this while you're out there in Texas, Valentina, always great to have you on. Thank you so much, Ariel. All right, talk to you soon. Same to you, there she is, the great Valentina Shevchenko joining us. Yes, now sixth all-time, 10 victories in UFC title fights, one away from Nunez and Silva, 11, Mighty Mouse, 12, GSP, 13, John Jones, 16. Okay, it has been quite the journey.

It has been quite, I don't know, quite the drama to get this man on the program. He has left us at the altar multiple times. I'm told he is joining us and I'm told precious Darren only has five minutes to spare. Let's see what's going on here with Darren Till. Joining us from Derby, England, of all places, site of the Misfits event on Friday. Is that true, Darren? They told me now five minutes. Precious Darren, diva Darren has five minutes on Friday. Is that true, Darren? They told me now five minutes. Precious Darren, Diva Darren has five minutes for us. Is that true? Who are you talking to, Ariel?

You look fantastic. You look fantastic. Your speakers proper low. Is it? Ariel, do you want me to come on my phone? Send me the Zoom link to my number and I'll get you guys to send it to my phone. No, no, no, I'm not sending you anything to your number

because then you're gonna have my phone number and post it. His speaker's dead low. Can you do that right now? I don't know. Or Eric, can you send him the Zoom? Yeah, we'll put it. Send me the Zoom, I'll jump on from my, have you got it?

Have you got it? 20 seconds, my friend. I don't believe you. You're never gonna show up again. I've got it on. All right, I'm fine. On your life, 20 seconds. On your life, valuable.

Okay, all right right there he is. Does that count as an appearance if he doesn't show up again? Does that count? I think it does. Yeah we'll break that out 45 seconds. Yeah 30 you know. Looking fantastic. Yeah teeth are like brightest. Yeah highlighter white. Well there he is Darren Till competing

on the Misfits card. What are they calling it? Peaky blinders? Blinders and brawls, I believe it is. They've got the poster there. Yeah, look at that. Misfits 21, blinders and brawls. Idris Virgo on there. But the big one is Darren Till versus Darren Stewart.

It's the battle of the Darons. Darren Squared. The Gorilla versus the Dentist. From Valiant Live in Derby, can I be honest? I didn't know that Derby was an actual place. Like I know that people say it's like the Manchester Derby or the London Derby when it's Tottenham Arsenal, Manchester Derby, City against United.

I didn't know Derby was an actual spot. Did you guys know that? Anyway, we'll figure that out. Darren, are you there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's back. Darren, why did you no-show the show three times this year? Like you kept saying you're in, you're out.

I never no-showed you. I never no-showed you were sending me messages and we never scheduled, not on social. No, no, no, you did. I was very hurt by this. I thought we were back. I thought we had made amends. I thought we were friends, you did. I was very hurt by this. I thought we were back. I thought we had made amends. I thought we were friends again.

And then I was left at the altar. I think me and you got to accept that we've got a little bit of a love hate relationship for the rest of our life now. Were you mad at me? No, I just let, I don't know, games, games, games, games. You like to, you're some kind of pissed there, as they say. You're a proper pissed.

What about Liverpool, old mate? What about Liverpool? Come on. What up? pissed, Aaron, as they say. You're a proper pissed. What about Liverpool, mate? What about Liverpool? Come on. What up? Yeah, yeah, you guys are doing well. You won the Premier League. Congratulations. It's a good time.

Where is Derby, by the way? I didn't even know this was a real place. Who knows, mate? It's not a real day. Okay, is it far from you? One hour, 20 minutes, but I missed two of my turn-offs, so it took me three hours.

Jesus. Well, I saw the press conference conference earlier today and let's shoot straight. You know you've been very critical of this world and I was wondering what is Darren thinking right now? Like he's up there with this cast of characters you know like what are you thinking? My producer said you know what he's thinking? You know the money looks good in his bank account that's what he's thinking. Is that what this is here? Your producers are smart man Ariel. They pay well? They pay well mate trust me. Look you know me Ariel I'm always a straight shooter you join the

circus expect to see fucking bullshit so that's exactly what it is. The only little thing today was a disrespectful comment got brought up by, I won't mention a name towards a guy and they wouldn't let him finish his sentence. So I just thought I have to show these people sometimes it's about respect, sometimes it's about disrespect. So I feel everyone learned a valuable lesson today.

Okay. And was it about you, the comment? No, it wasn't about me, it was about the guy to my right. Something happened when he was a kid, you know, very insidious situation and it shouldn't have been brought up early. It was brought up in bad taste, I think. There's a lot of kids around, so we had to just let him say his piece when it was my turn to speak. I understand that and respect that. You were supposed to fight a couple of months ago, the card got cancelled. How annoying was that for you? Or was this a blessing that you got more time? It's not that you're all there

For two years now, I've stayed so consistent in the gym. My boxing's got so incredibly good Even my body type's changed even like if I went back to the UFC now is the middleweight I could be I'd fucking tear that Drikas' head off. Tell Drikas I said fucking, by the way. The little fucking gob shake. Cause I can't stand his guts, cause he's so shit. He's so good. You think he beats Hamza, your boy?

No, he, I'm, with respect, I'm never gonna look past Drikas, cause he trains hard, he's super dedicated, he's super strong, and he's got that awkward style that doesn't make any sense. I think Kamsat will beat him inside the two rounds, I really do believe that, but look, Kamsat knows, I was speaking to Kamsat on the FaceTime

the other day, because I'm meant to be going out to Dubai to help with the camp. Kamsat knows it's a tough fight, but you know, Kamsat seems like a beast. I do think Kamsat gets it in two rounds done. Do you know what I'm saying? By the way, you're looking svelte. You're looking great.

How much are you weighing right now? Everyone's been saying that, you know. They're looking fabulous. Yeah, you are. Do I look fabulous? Ariel, let's just go. Do I look fabulous? I say, I think you look fabulous.

The teeth are just like blinding me. I wish I was wearing sunglasses right now. No. You're looking fit. Way fitter than the last time right yeah I thought you were gonna show me another thing there was getting very low the camera was weird I was uncomfortable well well well only my missus gets to see that I don't be disrespectful no no I just it was good so so you're you're

you're looking good you're looking fit do you feel like Darren Stewart is a challenge for you obviously he's a bigger guy than Anthony Taylor. What are you feeling about him? I feel like these type of questions when asked, and this is not to you, this is a lot of people ask them, are very disrespectful and for me to answer in a manner of, do I think he's beneath me or above me? I think as a proper fighter and a real man I think if you're ever going into Mortal Kombat you should never ever ever underestimate your opponent and I did that one time in my life

and it was the first ever time I got knocked out for it. Can you guess who by? First time you got knocked out, was that Woodley or was there one before that? No, Woodley never knocked me out he submitted me Jorge Masvidal. Oh right oh yeah that's right that's right yeah. That was one camp I don't think I took seriously because Jorge had just come out of some celebrity reality show and I'm not making excuses he fucking knocked me clean out and it was phenomenal

the way he done it. But yeah I don't think we should ever ever I've learnt my lesson I don't think we should ever as men underestimate anyone so Darren is fourth in the UFC he done it. But yeah, I don't think we should ever ever have learnt my lesson. I don't think we should ever as men underestimate anyone. So Darren, he's fourth in the UFC, he's a tough guy. You know, Friday have got to be on the A games to fucking finish him inside of eight rounds, isn't it? But but just to be clear, I wasn't trying to disrespect him. I was just wondering what kind of challenge you felt like he brought. He's more your size, veteran? Yeah, no, I think, no, I wasn't saying it like that. Sometimes, like even with the Anthony Taylor thing, because he was a bit smaller, people think that sometimes someone can be a lesser opponent, not me generally, just every fight thing in particular.

He's strong and he's durable and he's got a good chin. You know, I don't think he's as good as a striker as me. Come on, I was one of the best strikers in the UFC at one point, I really was. You win this fight. Is KSI next? That's if KSI wants it, my friend. You don't think he does? Tommy Fiori is fighting in Hungary, Budapest somewhere.

What's happening here? These guys don't want to fight BT. What's going on? Did you watch that? No, I, Ariel, if I had the choice, I wouldn't even watch my own fight. What are you on about? Like, I'd be in the ring, but if my brain could be somewhere else, I'd rather. I don't give a shit. And I'm not watching that shit from him. I still can't wrap my head around what happened.

He bailed from the fight because you said you were going to kick him and now he's fighting someone in Hungary that no one's ever heard of on a Friday afternoon. I don't understand it. Basically, he's putting sweets up there. I'm not that guy no more, Ariel. That's it? What? This is from like two days ago. What are you talking about? Oh, did I? Yeah. Oh, that. It must have been Block Acid. They have me logins. Explain Block Acid. All right, all right. Fair enough.

Do you remember Block Acid, who you said it was all a Ponzi? I never said Ponzi. No, it's a gorilla eating a strawberry. On the canvas of the UFC. What does that mean? Look at me now. I could put my name on the canvas of the UFC. You're hated in the UFC, my friend. Nah, by the way, they like you as much as they like me.

True story. What does it go back to? Sorry. Tommy Fury. Yeah, Tommy. No, Ariel, this is what's happened with Tommy Fury. I'll keep it short and sweet. We were scheduled to fight. I intimidated him and his family.

I don't know what's happened to him since. Now he's fighting in Hungary and he's saying in interviews that I blew my chance or I said some words and that's why the fight... Let's just get it straight out here, Eri, please. I don't give a fuck if I fight Tommy or Jake Paul. Do I want to fight them? Yes, it's a lot of money. But have you ever seen me begging for a fight with Jake Paul? No, I just don't do that shit I'm not gonna certainly beg for a fight with Tommy so you can go off and fight in Hungary

Why are you even fighting in Hungary? Like I'm still on misfits. I'm still fighting on the big shows. He's fighting in Hungary. No, nobody cares Nobody cares. No one's arsed What about Perry because I remember he was on the show a couple of weeks ago here and then you responded to the things that he said about you. We keep going in this circle, right? Yeah, he's a numnutz. Perry's a numnutz. Malche's a numnutz. Abe is a numnutz.

Jose is a numnutz. Firm of numnutz. He's a numpy shiffer brains cunt. Does he want to fight or not? Stop offering me a low ball with your shitty little offers. So if it was up to you, you get by Darren Stewart on Friday, who's the guy that makes the most sense and when? I don't know. Any of them. Like KSI, Jake, Mike, Hoey, Masuda, Woodley, you know. It doesn't sound like MMA though, right? No, I don't. This is confusion. Like Dylan Darnes is chatting MMA. I'm not, I don't fight MMA no more. I'm, I'm, I've completely, I'm two years in boxing.

Okay. I'm two years in boxing. I don't think about MMA at the current time. Maybe in the future, yeah, but not right now. I don't think about MMA. I think about pure professional boxing. Okay, so you're all in, you're all in. I'm always, I'm all in whatever I do in life. No matter what I do, I'm all in. I'm never halfway and I'm all in.

If I'm thinking, yeah If I'm Zinkin, be here. I'm Zinkin to die. And what if it's just like regular boxers where it's not like an influencer or fan? Like you just want to like climb the ranks and go for a title. Is that a possibility or no? No. Boring. No. I want to make money. I'm here to make money. I'm here to make a shitload of money on an influencer thing. If I went on pro boxing now, I know I could do well, but I'd be getting 10K, 10K, something like that.

No, I'm making shit tons of money. Okay. You know what, do you think I'm a nutty or something? No, but I just didn't know if like, oh, I want to be a WBC champion. So I'll like climb the ranks and fight a bunch of guys. Oh yeah, but see what happens. My coaches have even said that, you know,

they're so proud and impressed with me, the way my boxing is, but right now, mates, I'm making chunks. I'm making tons of money. How many fights with misfits? It's none of your business. Well, I'm not asking you how much you got paid. I'm just asking how many fights? Three fights. Okay, so one more? So one more.

One more after this. If this one comes to you, you think this one will happen, right, on Friday? What do you mean? I don't know, because they canceled the KSI one a week before. You're right Ariel, you're right. So what do you think? Yeah, look at that. What do we got? Tobacco? It's just a, oh, lock bet. Gorilla. Tobacco. So you don't know what tobacco is yet, so. Okay, what is that? No face, no face. Okay.

Can't tell you this yet. All right. Gorilla. Is that your company? Gorilla. That's my car finance company. You own a car finance company? Yeah. What? Well, how did this happen? Listen to the best part. What a story, right?

Listen to the best part about it. Tell me, tell me. I own it. I own it. I own it, but I can't get past the finance for myself because I have such bad credit. That's the greatest part of it. Can you get it in the Canary Islands? No, I'm banned from the Canary Islands, Daniel. You know that.

Oh, that's amazing. I love that. Look at you. And what's the top one over there? Applied what? Applied nutrition, supplement sponsor. We got me CBD sponsor. We got me Green Life sponsor.

It was Green Life sponsor. And then we have Block Assets and Blockbeth. You know who they are, Ayo, because they make them serious. They're on the mat. They're on the mat. Okay, let me ask you two more and then I'll let you go. Cause I know you're very busy over there.

Who do you, what do you have to do by the way? Like what's bigger than this? Nothing's bigger than this? Nothing's bigger than this. You know, the last interview, I actually said to the guy, I said, I'm not going on aerial and he begged me to come on. So I said, why, why, why would you say that?

I'm messing, I'm messing. You're some kind of piss. The last time you were on, which was months and months ago, you went on this incredible rant, which we still, we still play it all the time. Everyone stopped chatting shit. You know that one Yeah, you trying to get me you go and get a real what about the state of MMA right now? They're not making fights John Jones still not fighting. No, no, don't get me started

It's so true like I I get messages every day from people like when are you coming back? We need a superstar now granted look I'm from Liverpool and there's a guy flying the flag for Liverpool right now, Paddy You know, there's still your superstars inside the UFC but it does feel like it's just dampened a little bit. Fights aren't getting made. I don't know, it just all seems a little bit fake and stuff like that as well. Like, I don't know, I don't want to, I want to go on a rant but I don't. No, no, go on a rant, go on a rant.

We love your rant. I don't know, it no, go on a rant. Go on a rant. We love your rant. I don't know. It just seems shit at the moment. It seems shit. It seems like when I was in the welterweight division, it seemed like it was just killers roll. Now the welterweight division just seems shit. I'm sorry to say the welterweight division is on its ass.

The lightweight division, I feel like it's on its ass. The featherweight division, on its ass. The middleweight division, probably the best one for me at the moment. Light heavyweight's on its ass the featherweight division on its ass Like the middleweight division probably the best one for me at the moment light heavyweight on its ass heavyweight on its ass Like it's just on its ass, but I do love the I've seen I love Dana You know if they fucking what they do, but right now it just seems like it's on its ass I just want to be we want a bit of spark As I said, there's a guy from my city flying the flag party You know, he's gonna be an incredible superstar as Kamrat is as as aoria is, as Islam, but there's just, I feel like there's a few

things missing. I really do. I agree. And the big fights aren't being made. No, and I don't know if that's Dana's fault or not, cause you know, Dana runs a tight ship, you know, he knows how to conduct business and do things, but I don't know, it's hard. And I think his attention has been spun a little bit into boxing. So you can, you know, you've got to obviously give him a little bit of leeway on that. But the fights aren't

being made, I agree, and I'm a fight fan, you know what I mean? I sit down every Saturday to watch the fights, but it's just not like they're not getting made. It's very frustrating as a fan. I think they should have Paddy fight Ilya. If Ilya wins on June 28th, just give him the title shot now. Just do it. Yeah. Yeah. Right? I want to see that fight. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Billy and obviously Paddy's

a hometown scouts like myself so obviously I'm always rooting for Paddy but I think that's going to be a big fight of a big magnitude. I think he was talking about doing it in the Bern about. Oh wow. That would be so big. My dream fight for you next, can I tell you what it is and then I'll let you go? My dream fight for Darren Till. Darren the Gorilla Till versus Flat Earth Frotch. This knobhead thinks that the world is flat. You know this right? Have you just

called him a knobhead? Yeah he thinks that if he walked in New York City, that one person would know who he is. No one has any idea who this guy is, yet he continues to talk about how he sold a bunch of tickets at Wembley 15 years ago and how everyone knows who he is. He has no clue. He fought in the United States four times, twice was at Boardwalk Hall. He was not even the B side, he was the like D side. He was that far down the spectrum and then he fought at a nightclub in front of six people in Los Angeles and he thinks he's some kind of deal. Every time he does an interview he's like, I don't want the Jake Paul fight but I would do anything for the Jake Paul fight. I would do it for free.

I would do it with one hand tied behind my back. I would give it to charity. Hey Carl, what charity? Oh some charity, you know, I'll come up with one. What a fucking clown. This guy is a true freaking loser Can we have you and then you see the time? He's like Canel Alvarez saw me and he got up and he shook my hand What a great honor it is to be in the presence of Carl Franch Fucking hell Fuck this guy.

You're killing me over here son. You're killing me. I love the way you have beef with the fighters because you can't even fight. I love it. It's not even about that. It's just about keeping it real. Yeah. He's got a little bit of delusions going on Carl.

He asked me to come on the show this week and I said no. Come on Nate. Look at that. Wow. You like that style don't you? Why? Why did you say no? I said no innit come on I said I don't want to be friends I want to fight him I don't give a f- look

do you think a calf rocks a better box than me? Yeah he is he's a calf rocks an hard case mate I don't give a fuck I'll fight the cunt I'm not asked to buy you I'm not asked to buy you or your big long nose it's not you here he's got a long nose he's a boater he's got a long nose sorry here I shouldn't have said that I didn't think- No no it's okay sorry here. We're on the same team here. I shouldn't have said that. No, no, it's okay. We're on the same team here. I shouldn't have said that here because I do skitter his nose, but I know I've skittered you in the past. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. Keep going. Keep going. That's the fight.

Well, let's do it then. I'm not asked about it, mate. Let's go. That's the one. I think that would be great. You'd sell all the tickets. He'd go along for the ride and, you know, relive the glory days and tell everyone that he was a big deal. Have to remind them, show the pictures, show the tape. And if he was beating me, if he was beating me though, I would be taking him down in that fight. There's no way I'm letting a guy like that. Now don't do this again. Now he's going to pull out of the fight. This is the same problem with Tommy. No one wants to hear this. Yeah, but them boxers need to know, mate. They need to know what time it is.

No, you can't do that. If you're all in on boxing, you can't say, but in a real fight, I would take you down. You know what, actually, yeah. You know what, accountability there, you're right. Sorry about that. No, I wouldn't take him down. No way. You know I wouldn't anyway. Yeah, no, no, no. But I think that would be a big deal. You do that in Nottingham, you do that in Liverpool. No, he come to me, I'm a bigger star, as you said. If I go to New York, Ariel, do people recognise me?

Hell yeah. You fought at Madison Square Garden. You know where he fought? He fought in front of six people in Los Angeles at the Avalon Theatre. I mean, in his prime, by the way. In his prime! Yes, Ariel. Come on, this guy. I love it. You know Ariel. I do love it when you go in on people. Darren, you're a great guy. I don't want to tell you. We went over five

minutes. You come on after the win. Will you come on after the guy keeps the guy keeps looking at his watch. He's getting, he's getting concerned, right? Why does he want you off? Why does he want you off? Well, he's off some can of piss that Darren till, huh? Anyway, I would love to see it. Carl Frosch versus Darren till it would be great if you don't if you don't get the fight then I'll take till for sure you can't a piss we have you to blame for hearing can a piss over what's up man PC how's it going no boys did I use it well did I use it well it's the best saying ever because it's very unoffensive, but it also is very visual.

I feel, you know, you're kind of trying to. I'm trying to learn how to properly use fucking oath. Oh, I know I got I got. I asked the dude, I asked Amo about it, right? Because he started laughing like as soon as that interview started, he sent to me fucking out straight away. And I was like, what is this? Like, is that me? Like, you're a sound fucker.

Like and he was like, no, I he was like no I if I agreed with something I'd say fucking oath is it like Bible it's like Bible it's like word yeah word yeah that's what I okay so it's like it's like yeah like I agree I agree wholeheartedly Joey you say facts facts facts okay all right by the way did you cut your your internet cord out in the garden when you were working on it? What's happening? We actually just thought it was perfect seconds ago. I don't know how this is. It's a little jumpy It was Oban Elliott told me about the the fucking oath he was the one that that told me to say that and then I wrote it on my Instagram and

Everyone said I used it incorrectly by the way, it's great to see PT. PT and I, the canapist that he is, we had a bit of a fight earlier this week. Oh, a real fight, work or shoot? No, this was, I think- I don't really know what happened. Listen- I think he was just frustrated.

No, we worked ourselves into a shoot. We worked ourselves into a shoot. Oh, okay, all right. Can I talk about it, PT? I don't know, I actually January don't know what happened. He just had a bit of a hissy fit. It went from zero, no, hissy fit. I've been what happened. He just had a bit of a hissy fit. It went from zero. No, no, no.

Hissy fit. I've been there. He's gonna have a hissy fit again. He's about to have another hissy fit. Look. I love when people do that. Listen, listen, listen. What the fuck is going on, bro?

That's what I, I literally text him. What the fuck is going on? I'm gonna go make some popcorn. Be right back. I need to hear this. By the way, by the way, Frank, I teed you up for the everyone stopped chatting shit during Darren and you were nowhere to be found. Thanks. way, Frank, I teed you up for the everyone stopped chatting shit during Darren

and you were nowhere to be found, thanks. He actually was not in here. What, he left? I literally was in here, finger on the button. It wasn't the right time. So all I asked Pizzi was, did you see the Knicks game last night? And he writes back, oh, I fell asleep.

There's that, oh, no problem. He goes, I'm delighted for you. No, no, no, no. And then he says- And then he got mad. Fake news, fake news immediately. I said, I woke up for the last quarter and I'm delighted fake news fake news immediately I said I walked over the court last quarter and I'm delighted for you yes fucking said okay go ahead and then he says this is like when you're talking to your

significant other and then he hits you back with things like just like you're happy for me when United win right and I'm like what and I'm like he's like you don't you don't you don't this is when the hissy fifth start this one is I don't understand I'm like wait uh, he's like, you don't, you don't, you don't, this is when the Hissy fifth started. This is when the Hissy fifth started. I don't understand. I'm like, wait a second, wait a second. Are we like, first of all, what does one have to do with the other? Second of all, like are we, are we, but like, are we comparing Europa league semis to a second round series against the defending champion, Boston Celtics with our backs against well with the whole

world. Like, what are we talking about? We're talking about the NIT tournament versus NBA playoffs bring up the tech and then he's like oh well you don't support you don't support my teams like I support yours I was like whoa bro what is this being very very very creative there with the actual dialogue that took me not saying you hear see you hear see it immediately I was like what the fuck what's wrong with you and you were like, I think you know what's wrong. I think you know what's wrong.

Literally never said that. What, we were texting first of all, so how could you know my tone? Second of all, why do you think? All I wanna know is- You tell me mate. And he's like, you know what? We don't need you for the rest of the week or something. Yeah, I said that.

I said that. Wow. That is fucking unbelievable. That is. That's classic home run. That's a hissing fit right there. That is a hissy fit right there. Did you or did you not say just like you're happy when United win? Yeah, I did.

I think that's fair play. This is not a tit for tat? This is what he did in Tagsform. That was it. That was his reply. And I was like, what are you doing? I can't handle this. I think you know why I think you know what it is Why would me why does me asking did you see if the next one? Prompt a just like you're happy for me when my toy literally fucking see it on the lawyer for you

Wait, then just take it and then and then what did you say? And then what did you say? Then? What did you say? We already we already gone through what we said here What what does we don't have to do the other that feels like what someone's like? Oh, I'm happy for you, but you're not happy for me. That's what it feels like tit-for-tat I didn't think I thought we were we were bigger than that. I thought we were past that point You're hissing again. Oh You're off on a hiss Wow, I feel you're in a hiss. Wow, this is crazy. You're in a tailspin of hissy.

Everyone stop chatting shit. That's right. Time now for everyone's favorite segment of the week is time... I think they're doing a Netflix upfront in New York this afternoon. If we could keep our eye on that because because I do think that they're gonna announce the Crawford Canelo plans, and I do think they're gonna announce the date, and I do think they're gonna announce the platform,

and I think we'll get a lot of clarity there, and perhaps more clarity regarding some TKO boxing plans. So that's something to keep an eye on. Another thing, let's talk about Patchy Mix for a second. We found out yesterday that Patchy Mix is out of the PFL. He is a free man. Here it is on the 13th of May, 2025. Professional Fighters League and Patchy Mix

have mutually agreed to not extend his contract. We both decided this is the best course of action for PFL and him. Patchy is a fantastic fighter and we wish him well. PFL is excited to crown our next 135 pound champion in the PFL World Tournament. Does that mean that the winner of the tournament becomes the champion? I'm still confused as to what this all means. What I do know is, according to sources, there's no exclusive negotiation period.

He can sign with someone today. And it's not a matter of if he'll sign with the UFC it's a matter of when and really i'll go as far as to say it's not a matter of when he'll sign with the UFC it's when he'll debut for the UFC this is fait accompli done deal you may have seen some reports i believe mma fighting one of the outlets to report it chito vera out of the mario bautista fight june 7th could we see him fight against mario Bautista as soon as June 7th, which is in less than a month? What do you guys think of that? Do you like that matchup for him?

I think Mario Bautista has the chance to do something pretty funny here if- Screw up all the plans? Josie Aldo and everybody raging at him, him ruining the debut of Patchy Mix would also be quite interesting. To me, it doesn't matter the matchup. Getting Patchy Mix in the UFC would be fantastic.

Yeah, but you want to win, right? Yeah, sure. Do you think he wants that fight? Honestly, you want a bigger baby face turn. You leave the PFL, you come to the UFC, everyone's all excited and then you beat Mario Bautista, the enemy of the Bantamweight division right now after the Jose Aldo performance.

It's just another bad news story for PFL, isn't it? Yeah, like, you know that that's that's my big takeaway Look patchy mix is class. We all love patchy mix. We know he wanted to be here. That's great But we overwhelm and feeling Ariel was like another one, you know, like all the time look I mean probably knew this was gonna happen But I feel like every time you get something to get excited about like Paul Hughes. It's like oh, yeah Nobody could see it in America. You know every time there's something good to celebrate a big blow comes like this again Like I feel like we've been trying to get behind PFL as much as we can but like we have to be realistic like that's another massive name gone and

I Think it's obvious that some of their bigger names are still not very happy with their situations. And we're talking about Hughes, right? You know, obviously coming off that week he's a front of mind and you're thinking what's happening with Usman. Why can't you make that fight? Why does it feel like that fight's kind of feels like there's something there? I wish I could confidently say like, I cannot wait for that fight. Why does it feel like that fight's kind of feels like there's something there. I wish I could confidently say like I cannot wait for that fight. One of

the best fights of the year already that was a home run for them but we still can't get too excited because it doesn't feel like they can get things like this over the line. I think that's my overwhelming feeling like another big L for PFL unfortunately. I think that we will see the Usman fight but I think he eventually will leave as well. I think there's gonna be an exodus, and I think that we are entering a period where the PFL will eventually be,

and I don't say this as any kind of shot towards the promotion that I'm comparing them to, but they'll be sort of like LFA plus. They won't be a feeder league, but they're not going to be the promotion that is making big money deals for the likes of Francis Ngganu or in the past, Roy McDonald, etc. I don't think they're in that business anymore. And you do have to seriously question, why did they even acquire Bellator? Now, it's an important note to bring up. They didn't actually pay money for Bellator, right? It was an equity deal, but they did absorb all of their costs.

So they did end up having to pay, you know, some money in the exchange. But when you look at what they did with Bellator, the whole thing was, hey, we're gonna treat this like a separate entity. It's going to be like our, you know, strike force to UFC or WEC to UFC or NXT to WWE or AAA to WWE.

We're gonna try to get its own TV deal, which they did for a year. It was on Max, which by the way, did you guys hear is now HBO Max again? Crazy, they changed the name back. Never should have changed it. Couldn't agree more. Should have just kept that purple HBO Max from like 2022.

When Netflix started to come flickster. I don't know about that, but HBO has, HBO has you know has cache Max makes me think of like some Cinemax streaming. Actually once they changed it from HBO Max just to Max I just started calling it HBO. Weird. Yeah. Anyway they did this one year deal that fizzled out then you say okay we're gonna bring everyone under the same umbrella and slowly but surely they're all leaving. All the big names that you acquired are leaving. Or unhappy.

Patricia Pippel, unhappy leaving. Pico, unhappy leaving. Patchy, unhappy leaving. You didn't keep Kayla Harrison around. What the heck? What is going on? So, you know, if I'm there, look, the thad jeans of the world, you're getting a great opportunity. But these guys who have kind of reached a certain point

and feel like, hey, I can compete with the best or I want to compete with the best, there doesn't appear to be a home for you. And you just let one of the best fighters, if not the best fighter on your roster, you can make a strong case that it's him, it's Usman, who else? Like in terms of like guys who could be top five, top 10 title challengers, right?

Deem Nemkov, Eblen. Dakota. Yeah, Dakota. Yeah, I was thinking it was Man. Dakota's a PFO. Oh my God, what are you thinking for Dakota at this point? You know what I mean? Yeah.

What are you thinking if you're any fighter on the roster? You just see the best guys. No, but again, like fat gene I can understand. A fat gene is getting it up to me. He can chill there for a little bit. Yes. Just like Dakota was happy a year ago or two years ago. But now-

I think he was as happy, but obviously he is very confident that this fight is gonna happen. That's why he's happy. I'm gonna get my chance at this guy again. But what happens if that doesn't happen? And happy for how long? Exactly. He's still young in this game. Like they I would be shocked if he's still there in five years. Oh Wait a second

You could start yours. You could start talking about like years is PFL gonna be is PFL gonna be around. Yeah That's that's the bigger question and that's really fucking worrying for MMA in general. We talked about this when the Bellator thing happened. As much as that was a big news story and there was a lot of promises made at the time, Jake Paul was going to fight for them, all this kind of stuff, it was getting rid of one option for fighters. So if you take PFL off the table now, what is there? There is not a lot that is a massive massive Option for fighters to go to will be removed again

And that's not a good thing for the sport and I know so many fans just watch you see you don't have to remind us We get it. You you only watch you see it's a brilliant product I completely understand but if if every fighter that gets caught from the UFC has nowhere to go. It's a huge problem It's a really worrying situation. I was talking about this earlier today about the current sort of landscape of MMA. Let me know if you guys agree with me. There's obviously the UFC and the gap

has maybe never been bigger ever in the history of the sport between the UFC and everyone else. And then you've got PFL and you almost have like the top four that would be in the running for a guy to potentially go to. But like I said, UFC is here, PFL is here, and then you've got, I would say, one championship in Ryzen. Now I think Ryzen of those three has a little bit of momentum now to where maybe they sign Ryan Bader, okay I get it, he's a little past his prime, but you know, they're doing 40K at Tokyo Dome, there's something there, I would say,

one kind of going in the opposite direction. Then you've got the next category of promotions, and I would say that's sort of like the KSWs, the octagons, they're putting on huge events, but they're very localized, right? There's a lot of, like, KSW is more popular in Poland than the UFC is, but certainly not more popular worldwide than the UFC is, same with Octagon.

Maybe they're more popular in Germany or the Czech Republic, but not worldwide. So you'll have those promotions there. And then you'll have, you know, like the LFAs, the cage warriors, you know, the CFFCs. Feeders, I think cage warriors has done a great job, a great job, excuse me, of what's tough, it's tough to follow the LFA product because everyone is, everyone's just coming and going, right?

It's a bit of a revolving door. What cage warriors does well is they build up local rivalries, they have guys stick around for three, four title defenses, two title defenses, LFA,FA like you it's very hard to name a single LFA champion They are the number one feeder league to the UFC, but it's it's all very fluid with them But that's pretty much it so they're to your point PT like there isn't that other place and that is very worrying In retrospect it would have been better if some other entity bought belt or and tried to rebrand it revive it keep it going But yeah, I mean they're all they're all flocking to the UFC. And how about the UFC?

They didn't have to pay a penny, and all the big names just started coming to them. That's great. I think we just have to acknowledge that these promotions are not in the same business as the UFC. They may be landing spots, they may be people with money, there may be opportunities for the fighters to fight for them, but for how long, right?

Especially if you're a top level fighter like a Paul Hughes or a Patchy Mix or a Johnny Eblen, their ambitions are to test themselves against the best in the world, and the collection of the best talent in the world, regardless of if there's a handful of names out there, is always going to be in the UFC until something dramatically shifts

from a business perspective. I think even right now, or even if Bellator was still existing right now, I think influencer boxing and top level boxing would still be a bigger draw than those promotions for a lot of fighters. As the prevalence of people going into boxing continues to grow, I just, they are in completely different businesses.

They're not competitors in my mind. They are not doing the same thing. And I think we will see PFL. I'm not predicting that PFL will not be around, but I do predict that their business has to drastically shift. And it will not be Patchy Mix. It will not be Johnny Eblen. It will not be Dakota. It will not be those names that ultimately stay there.

And they won't be signing like a Francis Ngannu, the big splash that they made in the U.S. It will not be Johnny Eblen. It will not be Dakota. It will not be those names that ultimately stay there. And they won't be signing like a Francis Ngannou, the big splash that they made previously. Because the economics of that don't make sense. How much money do you think they could have possibly made on Francis Ngannou by this point? It can't be enough to recoup what they are spending. And so they can't do that.

It's just not good business. It is not effective business. One thing that they're doing they announced this PFL Pacific they've got the MENA, they've got Europe but you know why they do it right so they'll do they'll do PFL Europe with their zone France and they'll do PFL Pacific with some Australian TV entity and they'll do MENA with some you know UAE entity so they're everything a MENA with some, you know, UAE entities. So they're, everything is about like, let's cut a deal. Let's divide the pie and cut the deal here.

It's road to Dubai. And when you're doing that, you're now, you're now just looking at like balance sheets. You're not trying to build a singular promotion. You're a hundred percent right. It just has to be the PFL. The PFL is coming to town. All these localized regional deals that you're

cutting, no, just cut those deals for the PFL. But the problem is it these localized regional deals that you're cutting, no, just cut those deals for the PFL. But the problem is it's like what you see here in America. Oh, well ESPN has exclusive rights to the PFL. You've done this PFL Europe deal. Now you can't show these great fights. The best of your product are the European events. And now you can't show them to your North American audience. That's an issue. There needs to be a fight dude at the top of the chain there that is telling them, hey you guys may be finance guys, you may be sports business guys, but you're fumbling all of this. You're missing the point. And it's frustrating to watch from afar because they are the de facto number two.

The only thing I would ask in response to that is, let's say you do consolidate, are you guaranteed to get a deal? You cannot consolidate because you made all these deals with other entities. But if you could, how much is it worth? Deal with who? That's what I'm at. If you were to consolidate, if it was PFL and it's available with one partner globally, let's say like the WWE deal with Netflix, hey, we're going to everywhere come when the term expires in the US, you're going to be everywhere, you know, come when the term expires in the

US, you're going to be watched this here. What would PFL's broadcast rights be worth in that scenario? I'm not convinced that it would be something that would be a hot commodity potentially. And so you're in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Cutting those individual local deals probably keeps you able to stay in business and do the things that you're doing. Without it, you're going all in on like, this is going to be super valuable to somebody and I'm not convinced that it would be. You're staying in business but you're not growing a fan base. You're just viewed as the de facto number two but it feels like at every turn you're getting clowned for the

moves that you're making. It's's almost just like anytime PFL posts, Don Davis posts, the UFC fans just come in and just clown on what they're doing. And you're not selling tickets, so you have to rely on these localized deals. But again, it's not growing the brand, PFL Pacific. It's just... It feels like the gap is widening between UFC and the PFL.

While the UFC really isn't even doing anything different actually I would say like they're going backwards. They're going backwards in terms of promotion everything like we're getting someone posted a clip of At the end of the summer kickoff prep press conference where they announced Connor versus Habib and how hype everyone was and it was this Big promo package and everything like that and now for International Fight Week We're getting a Dana White IG live and at the end of it he's just like, all right, that's the fights. Everyone happy? Is everyone happy? We'll get the heavyweight fight eventually. All right, see you guys and logs off. It feels like they're putting in less effort than ever before and the gap is just getting wider and

wider between these other promotions, which is concerning for the sport of MMA in the future. All right, let's get to some questions. Go ahead. Sorry, it just feels a bit like even the number two thing, like it does feel like when you see what Octagon do on 60,000 people there, KSW have done this countless times. It does feel a bit strange. Like as you say, it's de facto now, I guess, I guess this is what it is. You have the names, but it's, it's becoming. They have the names, but now the names are going to the UFC. And do they have the fans? Do they have the fans? There is no, I've long stood on this corner. There is no number two. Number two is irrelevant.

There is, there is UFC and everybody else. There is no number two. There is no, you have no benefit. You have no status. You have no material gain from being the quote unquote number two, because nobody recognizes you as the number two. You all are just a blip on the radar in the UFC's like rear-view mirror and so ultimately the number like de facto number two doesn't really matter. You need to you need to have a completely different business model and right now they're chasing right steals. The UFC is having people knock down their door to hand them right

steals. You need to get into that position and it is not on the back of losing all your talent. So I don't know if you ask me right now how do you save that? How do you turn the tide? What could be the the smoking gun outside of a prime UFC fighter choosing to go into the PFL and save that business? I don't know what you do. Like if Iliya Toporiya tomorrow was a free agent and went, I'm going to choose to sign with the PFL, that could be something that potentially turns the tide. What happened with and Ghanu though? He was, I mean, I would, I would not consider him prime. Right. I feel like, you know, we're, we're down.

And, and also it was not helped by the fact that he went into boxing. Right. He went into, he went to the PFL, but he's boxed more. And we've seen more boxing out of Francis Ngannou than MMA fighting, and so it wasn't exactly a swoon for them. And even that, I'm not sure. I'm not sure, so I don't know. I don't know what the answer is, but it feels like it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't. All right, let's answer some questions.

First up, Jason Tackman, my good friend, Unc. Yesterday, the champ went on about the steak and chicken at Schwartz's You were kind of surprised someone ordered something other than the smoked meat if I'm being a hundred percent honest This is me now Editorializing I thought that you were kind of a sucker I thought you were a sucker if you ordered anything but the smoked meat But it has come to my attention You actually like really no ball if you order things other than the smoked meat.

Jason continues, as a Schwartz's expert, it is my favorite place in the world. Plus, I used to FedEx it to my office in Vancouver as a gift slash present to clients when they shipped. I will tell you that low key the chicken and steak are arguably on par with the legendary smoked meat. They are spiced and cooked to perfection and somehow, somehow their smell permeates in the restaurant over legendary smoked meat. They are spiced and cooked to perfection and somehow, somehow, their smell permeates in the restaurant over the smoked meat. Difficult to do but they nail it. My question to you, do you know of any places whose secondary dish is on par with their moneymaker? Oh I got one Rick

and I'm gonna go to you on this. I got Luger's. Peter Luger's burger. Yeah, yeah the world is unbelievable. Everyone talks about the steak. A line, no burger. Yeah. Yeah the wow Unbelievable. Yeah, everyone talks about a no burger Wow Remember I went and I was selling Rick like I got the burger I got this and that news like you did it Right, you did it right in good fellows when he gets out of jail, you know Yeah, you didn't go down. I was like, yeah, the sink is fine It's a good experience the burger is the is the money they try Did you actually Bronson and Volkonovsky had it together in one of their videos, the burger.

Did you ever try the turkey? Isn't the turkey, I've never tried it, but it's very thick. Bacon strip? Yeah, bacon strip. Oh sorry, not turkey, I think of turkey bacon. Got that, fantastic. Thick cut bacon, very, very solid,

but the burger is what I would go for. And then don't they give you like, just like a plate of whipped cream for dessert? I didn't do that shit. No, I'm not dessert Yeah, the whipped cream. They're also just yeah, honestly whipped cream is whipped cream, but it's they do something to it Yeah, burden. How do I love about the lagers that the steak burger situation? We're bad Lugers. Oh, you gotta go Take the bacon and put it on the burger and now you have their best items have now become their top tier items. That was actually Brunson's tip in the video he did with

Vogue so it was great. Take the thick cut bacon and put it on the burger. Yeah okay. The other one that comes to mind is you know GSP always talks about the spaghetti meatballs at at Orange Julep. Now I actually think that that's a weird one no one gets spaghetti meatballs. But that would be a secondary item at a place that's known for a thing. They're known for their orange juice and their hot dogs. Does any other one come to mind? You know, I'm more of an omakase guy.

You know, I just let the chef give me, you know, what he likes. You know, Fong's in Des Moines, Iowa. Yes, tell us. They're known for their crab rangoon pizza. We actually liked the Korean beef one better. I gotta say, those pizzas did not look good. It wasn't good.

Okay. It wasn't good. We try to be nice to the restaurant in the review, especially when we're there. Yeah, Fong's, I can do without it. Do people go to Outback for the steak or the Bloomin' Onion? Mm, good question. They actually go for the Fong's.

I feel like Bloomin' Onion is what you actually go for and that's what people recognize. But it's a steakhouse. They're not like, I know. I actually go for the brown bread. The bread is unbelievable. Shout out. That's actually the real appeal.

That's a good call. Here's Big Guy Bishop. Hello and we'll stick with the restaurant themes for a moment. Hello Ariel and friends. The question is for the whole gang. In two weeks, my girlfriend and I are taking a road trip all the way over to Toronto for Memorial Day weekend.

Lovely. Just wondering if any of you guys have been, of course, and if you have any recommendations for things to do or places to eat. Much love to the boys in the chat or from the boys in the chat. Love Toronto the Six. It's not Montreal, but it's great.

Catch a Blue Jays game. Go to the Rogers Center. They've got a nice little aquarium next door. You got to check out the CN Tower that's right next door as well. Go to Danny's Pizza Tavern. That's my friend's pizza place. It's great. It is great.

I also have a recommendation. Go ahead. Go ahead. There's a place called Storm Crow. What's that? It's like a, I mean, I'm not going to lie. It's a very nerdy, like almost theme park style restaurant in Toronto that I went to. That if you're a fan of anything like sci-fi, fantasy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, whatever, they have it for you.

And it's quite the experience. I can't settle it enough. Wow. Okay, there you have it. It's just great, you know, downtown is beautiful. There's a lot of great restaurants. If the weather is nice and hopefully it will be in a couple of weeks, you're going to have a great time. So do your thing. Roberto, Ariel and the boys in the back, if Jones versus Tom and Islam versus Ilja are fight number one and number two to make, what are three, four and five greetings from Naples, Italy? Well, I think a lot of people would agree that

DDP versus Hamza is on that list. That's three. What about Zhang Weili versus Valentina? Yeah, that's four. Okay, okay, we've got one left. For me, Suga and and Jan is up there for me as a good one. use a noose man. That's what I want to see That fucking fight Honestly, I don't think it gets enough credit. It was fucking amazing. We saw them Yeah, I was gonna say we talked about yesterday as our fight of the year so far I have it in my fight of the year so far mine too. Yeah, definitely big onk and Alex prayer that's not a bad one. It's not up there for me. What about Ilya Paddy? Ilya Paddy's not bad?

That one's got some juice. Can I tell you one? We need to get the fortune out of there. Shafqa Islam, I would be very excited for. Yeah. By the way, JDM Islam, I really wanna see it. Yeah. I saw my boy Ali doing the media rounds yesterday saying,

if he's not ready to fight, if JDM's not ready to fight, Islam's gonna fight for the vacant title at 170. Come on, man. Yeah. And I'm like, what is happening? Would you actually be shocked though? Well, he cited Jamal Hill. He cited the Jamal Hill situation, but Jamal Hill like, tore his Achilles. He fucking fought a few days ago! What the fuck are we talking about? I think it's ridiculous, but I'm just saying would you be surprised? I would be surprised. Yeah, I wouldn't just yapping out on the modern USC It's a crit no They just Islam and Ilya both got forced to give up their belts if they make Jack Della

Vacate of like sitting for three months made Islam vacate is 155 made Ilya vacate is 145 and John Jones Continue to sit on the heavyweight belt I'm a fucking lose it Come my new number one It is crazy though, right isn't it crazy that all this is happening and John is still the champ and and is living his best life But he's living his best life if there was just a number one contender out there that people were like You know, I'll take that fight. I think they would be more inclined There is no option for Tom Aspinall other than John Jones that look I like to care about I'd like to see this real

gunfight at this sure wouldn't mind it but After this much ball tickling, you know, I mean, it's the same fucking thing with Ilya and Islam It's like, you know, yeah, okay, like yeah Ilya and Charles and I heard Rick And I get it, you know, it's a good fight. I'm not denying that but it's like it's not you know Been fucking like you like it's like we're going through this rain forest for four months to see this beautiful fucking sunset Right and we're walking through we got the stupid fucking what's the thing the little water thing? We're wearing the stupid boots or fucking hiking and we get to the of the mountain, and you're like, oh, this is lovely, like, there's all this nature here, and there's beautiful flowers, and they're like, wait till the sunset comes,

and then you look where the sunset comes, and a big fucking cloud just comes out in front of the thing. And look, it's lovely, you know, oh yeah, it's still really nice, we had this experience, we got to the top of the fucking mountain, but the sunset, we can't... So absurd, internet cleaning up. We got to the top of the fucking mountain. But the sun's setting. We can't. Fucking Ophi. But you're going off and your internet let you down. You, it completely froze man. When winter learned brother. What is happening on my internet?

We've been asking. We've been having this conversation for a few weeks now. Literally weeks. It completely froze, man. Winner line, brother. What has happened on my internet? We've been asking the same thing for a few weeks now. In defense of the matchup, Ilya Charles, we knew what we were getting based on the outcome of the 170 title last Saturday, and we got the outcome that led us to Ilya and Charles. It just kind of annoys me. I heard this clip from Ali yesterday where he's like,

oh, you know, if Bilal would have know, he would have fought on June 28th Why do you have to say that just then fight him on June 28th and move on with your life? Like you're telling me it really all hinged on that that's crazy talk By the way, it was brought to my attention yesterday the tweet that Islam put out Regarding his future plans and so now in retrospect. How do we feel about what he tweeted? Just this was just a couple of days before 315. Do we have the tweet here? So I can read it. The Islam tweet from just a couple of days before 315. There it is. This Saturday's main event will define what my next move is, but regardless of

outcome of that fight, I'm not going to vacate my lightweight title. We might get a real contender there well then what happened? Yeah he was forced I referenced this yesterday he said he didn't want to vacate and then they forced him anyway which is why this whole like you know Ilya gave it up Islam vacated like they didn't vacate they had it stripped off them let's let's call it what it is told you know yeah you're this is not your title anymore. Yeah. I feel it's stupid. As I laid out yesterday, the easiest path is Islam

keeps the title, fights for 170. If he wins it, you let him choose which one he wants to continue with. That's it. Defender vacate and you have a division with an interim champion in it. Heavyweight is really marring the whole picture, that's for sure.

Adele, Ariel and the folks, not gonna lie, I missed the old intro, but the back in your life is wearing on me. Does that mean that you like it or you don't like it? I can't- You're wearing on me. I think he meant growing. Yeah.

Anyways, I've got two questions. Voicemails, who's going through the messages in the trenches scouring what should be included in the show for that person? What is the worst question or comment you've had so far? It's a collective Effort and our crack producers are on it. What's the number again? 415 sup bit B. There it is or one five

four one five seven eight seven two four eight Frank's got a good like he's great. He's great Ariel I feel like you never addressed the Twitter interaction that you had with Don Davis given your relationship Why would Don call you out on Twitter of all places? Have you spoken with him ever since and if so have you confirmed if that's him calling weekly on the boys in the back? That dude is incredible the way he speaks like him, the inflection, certain words that he says is phenomenal. That guy is brilliant. I have not spoken to him since.

I don't understand why he came after me like that. And one thing that does piss me off is when people say that I'm lying when I'm misinforming, which I wasn't. And I wasn't even necessarily taking a shot at the PFL. I was just saying that like like business is tough right now. There aren't a ton of options, the same type of stuff that we've been talking about for a while here. And then he came out saying that, you know, business is great and you're lying. And I'm like, well, then why is this happening and that happening and this happening?

And since why are you letting Patchy Mix just walk out the door for nothing? Free of charge, just handing him over to the UFC. If business is so great, why is that happening? But I haven't talked to him since and, you know, is what it is. I'm sure we will talk again soon. Not the first time. I don't like getting into those public spats, but if you're going to call me out publicly, I have to respond publicly. I would think. No? Probably.

Your mom goes to college. Ariel, I've asked you this question for three weeks in a row now. We must know the answer. All right. Your friendship with DC is legendary. You two gave us all so much to laugh during the pandemic. Dahlia, fake A.H., Twitter account,

and it would be remiss of me if I didn't wish you a happy national dance like a chicken day. It's actually today. C'est la danse des canals, ferme ta bouche, va t'insprer. Na na na na, mm mm mm mm. You guys know that song? C'est la danse des canals. The chicken dance, yeah, we're aware.

Ferme ta bouche, ferme ta bouche, va t'insprer. Na na na na na. My question is, we don't see DC on the show much these days. Can we expect to see him soon? Do you feel the UFC brass would be in his ear about doing your show and encouraging him not to do it? No to the latter. In fact, I will say quite disappointed

in my quote unquote friends, DC and Chill, who were gallivanting all around New York City yesterday and didn't tell their boy. Chill was nice enough to invite me out for dinner with him and Douglas Crosby, which I couldn't make. I wish I could have. Would have been nice to be there. I would have loved to have been there. But no, I don't know. You know, they've got their things. They're busy,

you know, doing their thing, you know, being good company men. That's okay. I'll always have love for them. Like I've said, they would be in my wedding party. If I got married today, they would be in my wedding party. Of course, they both probably wouldn't show up. They would let me down, just like Frank. But they would be there. And then I would invite Pizzi to the wedding and he would be like, I'm so happy for you,

just like you're happy for me when I get married, right? Pizzi left. Pizzi's let you down again. There you go. He's gone right now. GC would say, oh yeah, would love to be there, but there's an LFA fight that I have to attend. Sorry, no can do bro. Yeah, I mean, then when we got into those power rankings

at one time, I'll tell you who'll be there. Who's- You know who'll be there. Who schedules their wedding the night of an LFA event is the better question. That is a good question. Now Rick's gonna be there. I'll be there.

J.K. will be there? If there's not a vacation plan. Wait, where's the date? Andy will be there. You going to the birthday? He'll never let us down. Now it's a rave? Yeah, it's getting bigger and bigger.

You wonder on Andy? No, no, no, no, I wonder. Wow. I guess I'm the last unmarried, I'm the only one unmarried person on the team. Also the youngest United member. That's true. I think if I had a wedding. By the way,

Pee-Tee not married. Pee-Tee's not married? No. Engaged. Going on three years. Are you gonna go? Um. I've been waiting for that. I've been waiting for that. That would be a tremendous. That's I mean, that's the reason to go to Ireland. I would go. I would go and I would say to him, I'm so happy for you. Just like you were happy for me when I got married. Nice. And I didn't even know him back then but I felt it I would go would you guys go team trip bonding I mean we're talking about this morning we're going at some

point no I'm actually gonna go to Ireland marriage or not you mean wedding or not no no no marriage like if pizza if pizza is getting married or not? No, no, no, no, marriage. It's like if Pizzi's getting married or not, he's coming. I think it would be the perfect way to excuse to go though. Here's Lewis. Why is Francis Ngannou still in your pound for pound MMA rankings? He hasn't won an MMA fight since 2022. I mean, he won one in October of 2024, but all right. Yeah, well, what the hell is that? Also, I don't do the rankings. I will say this, if I was doing the rankings,

I don't know if I'd put him on there. I don't have him in there. I actually don't think he should be. Neither do I. I do not. So who's putting him on there? No one. I don't know. All right. Not on this crew.

Gage, hey crew, I've always noticed while ending an interview, you seem to try to get the last goodbye in. Is this something that was taught in school or even intentional? I mean, I don't know. I just, I don't like it to just sort of linger. I don't want, like it's still, it still bothers me till this day. I don't remember who it was.

It was someone we didn't get to, oh, D-Rod. We never actually said goodbye to D-Rod. We got, we got the text, you know, 40-Rod. We never actually said goodbye to D-Rod. We got the text, you know, 40 minutes later, when the phone finally came back in to have some charge, and he was very apologetic. But no, this wasn't Todd. I think it's more of like a quirk or human nature.

Mac, hello guys. Why are people not more impressed with Valentina? She recaptured her belt after overcoming a tough rival at the age of 36 and not only just won another title on Sunday or defended it, but she beat the clear, inarguable number one contender in her division. She never picks her fights, true. She just takes the next best up and is still winning

the most talented women's division that's never had more contenders. There was a time though where the gap was gigantic, but yes I agree now. Hated the fight, thought it was boring, but I couldn't help but stand and clap after she was announced winner. I don't know, I mean what's going on by the way with Chael and Valentina? What's happening? No idea. Chael gets on these weird things and then just like pursues them forever. But the Valentina thing's been... It's been latent for a while. It's been under the surface there. He's had this weird thing. Also I love Valentina and it was very impressive

but like he also said in the same sentence, I hated the fight, it was incredibly boring, but I had to give her flowers at the end of it. That could be a reason why some people aren't resonating with it as much. Yeah. For one thing, she's not like, you know, huge power knockout artist, right? She's not like one hitter quitter type. For two, she's not like, you know, huge power knockout artist, right? She's not like a one hitter quitter type. For two, she's been locked in this trilogy with Alexa Grasso for a bit, right? It's not been like fresh names, fresh faces. She just, to this person's point,

she just took out a young, talented up and comer, and now we move on. I think Val gets her flowers. I think the Zhang Weili fight would be just what the doctor ordered. She wins it. No, just like the buildup, the stakes. She needs a big fight like that.

Yeah. Until they make Zhang vacate or 115. Oh. No. We'll find out if this is a hard and fast rule, but I think it would be crazy to vacate the title. I know Vierne is out there. No.

But still. Viren. Um, uh, Abay, Ariel, you're my guy, but I gotta respectfully disagree with you on this Islam Ilya saga. First, you suggested Isliam fight Ilya, Islam fight Ilya in six weeks and win or lose, still fight for the title, welterweight title. But surely a loss would cost him that welterweight

title shot. Why? We have seen many people lose fights. Again, I bring up Alex Gustafson getting knocked out and then getting a title shot. People get title shots off the losses quite often in this sport. Why would a loss at 55 affect his plans when he's one of the greatest champions? Okay, he loses to Ilya. All right, now I'm out. I'm going to go to another division. Why can't you get a title shot there? I don't see why that's a problem. Anyway, also this talk from the likes of Chuck of him holding up divisions is unfair.

He fought 13 slash 14 weeks ago and probably fights again in Abu Dhabi. I'm with New York, Rick, and as pound for pound number one, he's earned the right to pursue double champ. No one has said no to that, by the way. I'm just saying like selfishly, selfishly I'm saying. He's got his own thing.

Like he doesn't have to answer to me. I'm just saying selfishly that fight is in a month and a half, I would have loved to see it. Especially when we were told all Bilal had to do was win that fifth round and we were getting it. It's like right there. Anyway, finally, Ilya versus Charles is still a sick fight, no disagreement, and more competitive than Ilya versus Islam. Not sure about that. Also, I guess Islam vacating suggests whether you would do the same which he faces Shevchenko. Hopefully not much love your boy, Abay

Hello, Ariel. What's up? G senior quick PCM serious Frank since the topic is hot Talk a little bit about the hottest or most interesting division right now. My pick would be welterweight much love would love to hear your thoughts Yeah, I agree. I said this on Monday Monday I think welterweight is the most interesting. Yeah I think without a shadow of a doubt. I would love to see if Dakota moved over to women's flyweight women's flyweight would be really great but yeah welterweight and and and lightweight is interesting now you know because there's there's some transition. Yeah 155 always interesting 135 is very interesting as well. Tell you what's not interesting, heavyweight? Yeah, it isn't interesting. Until one fight gets made it will not be interesting. Cosmo, good

afternoon Ariel. What do you make of Nottingham Forest owner Maranakis coming on to the pitch to publicly argue with the gaffer? Also do you have any reservations supporting the club due to Maranakis history with drug trafficking, to publicly argue with the gaffer. Also, do you have any reservations supporting the club due to Marinakis history with drug trafficking, match fixing, and abusing officials? Well, I'll say regarding point number one, not a great look. They've since cleared it up.

He was upset about the awani injury. And what a crazy story. He's now had surgery. They put him in a medically induced coma. And it was all because he was off sides. They raised the flag, but they let the play play out. People are saying just stop the play because then he like went full steam ahead and smashed into the goalpost.

Scary scary stuff. So he was upset about that but in the end that should happen behind closed doors in the tunnel away from the cameras. Nuno has been magic. He deserves all the praise, all the money in the world. He's a fiery guy, he's broken TVs, he's been suspended, that's just who he is. And it seems like the fans admire and respect it. I saw the pundits like Gary Neville talking smack about it, Jamie Carragher and others, but that's just who he is. He's done amazing things for the club, for the community,

and I think for the most part, he's done a lot of great things for the fans. others, but that's just who he is. He's done amazing things for the club, for the community, and I think for the most part everyone backs him, but first things first, Nuno deserves all the respect in the world. And let's see, two games left, let's see if they can hold on. I sure hope they can. Well actually it's not even holding on. They need to win. They need to win both of them to get into the Champions League. And they need Man City to beat Crystal Palace to at least secure their spot in Europa League. So there's a lot at play in the next few weeks.

And if Man United beats Tottenham, I'll just be so happy for P.T. over the moon. Anyway, let's move along to our next guest. He had a big win in Montreal just a couple of days ago. Coming off a tough year for him, he is now firmly back on track. He is the pride of France. He is the god of war. He is the one and only Benoit Saint-Denis. He's kind enough to join us. Salut, Benoit! Thank you very much for coming on. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I appreciate you coming on very much and félicitations, congratulations on the win. It seemed to me, Benoit, like you really, I don't know if you know this, but I'm from Montreal and so I'm always curious to hear what people have to say about my hometown.

It seemed like you really enjoyed your time over there. That's the sense that I got. Is that true? Yeah, it was amazing. You know, the fact of being on the home soil of French-speaking champions of the mixed martial arts world like GSP, it was great. And I felt great out there. I felt like it was a mix of European culture with American culture. And I like it a lot. Was that your first time there?

Yeah, first time in Canada and of course first time in Quebec. By the way, what did you think of the Québécois French? Because it sounds a little different than the French from France, right? Some say it's like a little more slang, they have anglicism, they use English words and French sentences. What did you think of the difference? No, I think it's the opposite. To be honest, I think they love their French speaking region of Quebec. I don't know if it's a federation or a region, but yeah, Quebec is, they really like their French and they are really related to it. Yeah, of course there is a huge accent.

The accent is huge. But despite that, the word they use, I feel like they don't like to mix it up too much when with English. When they talk English, they talk only English, but when they talk French, they don't want some English words in there. That is true, that is true. Yes, it's a province,

and they would like to separate from Canada. There's a lot of people in Quebec that want to separate and be their own sovereign nation, independent from Canada, a little bit like England and the rest of the UK and Europe. So it's a very interesting place and I'm happy that you enjoyed it. This was obviously a really big fight for you. And then obviously we find out that your original opponent Joel Alvarez had to pull out just a few days before. Was there any chance of you not competing on this card? Was it ever getting close to where you weren't going to be able to fight on Saturday?

It's a good part about being in the UFC. It's a huge war machine and banger maker. They always have the ability to find an opponent and to give you a fight. At the beginning, of course, I was disappointed, but I was not afraid they wouldn't find anybody because I knew somebody would step in. You don't seem to be someone who gets too down on themselves or really anxious, given what you used to do in your previous life You know you have incredible courage, but I'm just wondering Considering what happened last year the two fights against Dustin and Hennata Moekano How was your confidence going into this fight? Were you questioning yourself? Were you feeling a little?

You know shy gun shy as they say in the fight business How are you feeling compared to when you were on that great winning streak a couple of years ago? No, I was feeling great because I made the adjustment I had to do to make is having a coach and not doing the general and the soldier by myself. So since, you know, because with the Poirier fight, I always had in my head that I was sick and that it was why I lost, but it's not completely true. It's also because I was doing the general and the soldier job. And the Moikano fight was a very humble experience. It brought me back to knowing that you cannot enter a fight without a strategy and without knowing exactly what type of fight you want to make

and what type of battle you want to settle. I'm well surrounded. I have a Nicola Haute by my side doing this job. And yeah, I was feeling like home because I knew what I would do to win this fight and what I had to do. So I was only concentrated on my task. So this is the first time that you weren't the head coach for yourself? Yes, since a long time. Wow.

Since over a year. And you noticed a big difference? Yeah, it's huge because I'm only focusing on the task, not on trying to figure out a plan. The guy is doing that for me, and I'm focusing only on the simple task to get the job done. Ah, well that's great to hear, and very impressive that you were doing this on your own essentially, leading yourself for so long.

Were you familiar with Kyle Prepilek when they mentioned him as your opponent? Not too much, but like I said with my head coach, I did more video. I knew Prepolak more than I knew Dustin or Moicano because I watched a lot of his fights and despite having no time, I had a better strategy against these guys than against the former guys I had. I saw he was a good striker. He was kind of winning the striking exchange in his UFC career, but he was a bit short on the grappling department. First round I used a lot of it to get him tired.

I knew he was a veteran and tough to finish because since Kevin Lee in 2013 he hasn't been finished. He's just a tough guy with a well-rounded skill. Of course better on the feet than the grappling department, but something is lacking to bring him to the very, very top level, but a tough guy. And I respected that. So, when you fought Dustin or Moikano,

were you not watching any footage before those fights? Highlights and yeah, one or two, two, two three fights something like that. Wow. Yeah it was a huge mistake I made. Like I said I started MMA late 2018 and my first pro fight was in 2019. I think a guy like Raul Rosas did his amateur beginning almost at the same time I did. It went pretty fast for me despite my age because I started very late at 22, 23. It was an humble experience and I had a lot to learn.

And when you are moving only forward, you don't question yourself as much as when you get a defeat. I saw in the post-fight press conference, you had mentioned, as your star continued to rise, meeting with the president, having the pressure of the winning streak and representing your country, it got to be a lot. Would it be fair to say you were feeling that pressure

and it affected you a little bit last year? Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely because it was difficult to keep your focus on the training. I had a lack on the diet department and the energy department. I felt sick a lot more than I used to do. Yeah, it's all because I think it's an honor and a privilege to have pressure because if you have pressure it means your fights are getting bigger and people want to look at

them and it's like I said, it's an honor and a privilege but of, you have like a learning experience of getting used to it and getting over it because at the end of the day the only thing that matters is you getting your hand raised and in victory you have a lot of people but in defeat it's about you, your family and your close friends. That's all. The Poirier fight had a lot of attention and the Morecano fight was at home. But this one, you know, there were the title fights.

You were a little bit out of the spotlight. Was that refreshing for you that all the attention wasn't on you this time? That they were talking about the main event, the co-main event, Zahabi, and you were just kind of there able to do your thing. Yeah, I had a lot of excitement with the Alvarez fight because I knew it was going to be my type of fight with a lot of violence.

We are the two guys in the lightweight division with a 100% finish rate. So, a lot of excitement, but yeah, it was, you feel, you feel, definitely you feel a bit lighter that you don't have the pressure of the main or command event. And you feel it a little bit, but also with the experience, you get, like I say, you get a bit more used to it and yeah, you just feel a bit more freely to do your stuff. Do you want that Alvarez fight? Like next, is that one, because you were preparing for it, would you like to see that one through,

or are you moving on now? I have many, yeah, I was looking for it, but he told everybody wants to move up a division. So I will not move up a division to get that fight except if he becomes champion and I do in my division you know but story will be will be cool but I know I'm focusing on a couple of guys I got a lot of No, I'm focusing on a couple of guys. I got a lot of call-outs by Gamroth. Also Hooker and Gaiji are guys that have been reacting a lot over my last fights last year.

It seems like the Hooker fight will be a violent fight like the alvarez fight should have been and I would enjoy it a lot. It's a gagey fight obviously as well and gamrot also because I would like to avenge a friend of mine called Monso Banawi, but it will be a huge story. So if it was up to you, the next one would be Hooker. Yeah, Gagey, Hooker, or Gamrot are the three names I have in mind because I'm hunting them since a long time. Okay, Gamrot seemed to be upset that he wasn't fighting you in Montreal and seemed to suggest that you said no to the fight, but that's not accurate, right?

Yeah, no way. No way. You don't seem like the type to say no. Yeah, yeah. It's really a fight I would love to. It's really a fight I would love to. I'm looking forward to what is happening for his next fight. If he fights Ludovic, I hope he wins. I would love to face him. Why not in Europe or to go out there and go on a huge card against him because I know

he is not prepared for the violence I will bring him. And it's what happened to him with his last fight against Hooker. And yeah, I would love to bring him engagement once again. So Gamrot was, he was notified that you were gonna be on our show today and he sent us a video message for you. Are you interested in hearing what he had to say or would you rather not hear it? If it's only to say he's ready and they would like to fight,

you know what is my answer. I would love to get his fight against the guy. Yeah. Okay, that's what he wants essentially. He would like to fight you. He does have his fight, as you said, lined up against Ludovic Klein. But if he gets by him, I think that would be one that makes sense for the two of you in addition to Hooker and Gaiety, of course. Those two would be incredible.

Yeah, I can tell you right now, if he wins this fight and if he's up to fighting me next time, that's the fight I want to make. Of course, 100%. Let's do it. How quickly do you want to return? Let's do it. How quickly do you want to return? Yeah, if it's a gamut fight as soon as he wants to fight I'm ready and I'm ready to get back to work and Yeah, I hope then he wins without injury without anything and we we get our war together And they've a nice little dance together very soon. Now when you weighed in on Friday there was some concern that maybe you had a staph infection again on your face. Were you were you dealing with that over your

eyebrow? No, no I wasn't dealing with it but training came past B been hard and I got some scourge of the last couple of weeks. To be honest, I had some injuries coming into the fight, but now I have learned my lesson. You don't talk about it because everybody has injuries coming into fights. It's a part of our training camp. It's very rarely that you will see a fighter going 100% with no scratch, nothing, no injury, no sickness. It's rarely happening because you are losing a little bit of weight as well as the two last weeks. It's a tough sport on the body and I think it happens to all the guys. Of course, now I know that if it's really too bad, maybe you get out of the fight because you have to be, at least to be operational

to do your job inside the cage. By the way, congratulations. I saw you started a YouTube channel and it's doing quite well. Are you enjoying this, building your YouTube channel, making the content, or do you just have other people doing it for you and you don't even look at it? Yeah, I'm working with a guy called T-Ox on Instagram,

I think it is, and he's doing a great job. I like working with him and sharing a little bit of the journey. My wife is also working with me on that. I'm happy to have good, close friends and family helping me on my journey as a fighter. And like I said, it makes me also more and more being only focused on the task of training, sleeping and getting the job done inside the Octagon, which is of course the most important part for the fighter because if you are not getting the job done, anything else doesn't matter anymore. I saw a great photo speaking of your wife that she posted after the victory saying that Lopex-Montreal is finished.

Is OPEX here you guys? By the way, I mean this is like the toughest couple of all time. Look at you guys. No one's going to mess with you. Was she also in the army too? She was a police officer until we got our first kid, a shooting instructor and also a dog keeper. We have two Malin whites, Belgian Shepard, I think you say in English, that are working with her. And now we have more of a family life because I didn't like the fact of roaring about her journey. So now she's only focusing on my career. And yeah, of course, we love the family life, having kids and focusing

on my career because we are like, I love the phrase of the beginning of the Careem journey, the 40 days before Easter is like, you burned, burned dust and you will dust your soul return. So yeah, we try to live this way, like having fun doing our work and trying to be relevant for the people that are watching our career and yeah, trying to have a life. We will be happy to watch from upstairs after life. I love it.

One last thing, I also saw that you spoke to the French national rugby team recently. What was that like for you? Was that an honor for you to speak to them? Yeah, of course. It's a huge sport in France and the level of professionalism they have because this sport is professional since 95

and it's a huge sport now like NFL or NHL. Like those type of sports it means they are professional all the way and the only thing that makes the difference is the individuals but everything is professional from the medicine to the physical preparation to the technical aspect of the sport. Everything was very interesting. Like I said, my life as an athlete is very young. You learn a lot from having those meetings because those guys are professionals since they are 14 almost because the journey of becoming a high-level rugby player is long. I do believe it must be long with all the university way to the NFL for the NFL athletes. It's the same with the rugby. They are starting very young and you learn a lot from there.

From them. Congratulations again Benoit. Thank you for coming on. Very happy for you. It's great to see you back. Great victory, great performance. I also love that you were translating yourself in there. You spoke in English and French. No translator. You did the the post-fight interview twice in the cage because they didn't have someone to to translate for the the French speaking crowd Or the english-speaking crowd so well done Felicitación and welcome back. Thank you Thank you. I'll what was a pleasure to talk with you and there I hope we will give you this fight us

I look forward to it. There is the god of war the great Benoit Saint-Denis back on track, Hooker, Gachey, Gamrot would be great. Makes a lot of sense. Sounds like Alvarez is moving up to 170. Just for the sake of, you know, Gamrot going through the effort of Gamera going through the effort of sending us a clip. Here is said clip. Nothing too, you know, malicious or or you know drama inducing But I didn't want it to go to waste. So here it is from Mateusz Gamera Yo, what's up guys? I'm sportsman. I respect all fighters I respect you Benias and Denny as well. But bro, you can lie to your friends and fans that this is not true.

But exactly you know that I get offer from UFC. I say yes and I was ready go to Montreal, make weight and beat your ass. You took amateur guy and you won, but I wasn't impressive your performance. Right now my focus is against tough opponent in my 31. But if you ask fight with me, I can fight with you tomorrow. No problem. Bro, take care and train hard. Hey, I like this little spiciness from Gamron. I mean, this is good. This is good. Look, this is how you get noticed. So let's see if he gets by Klein, maybe that's the fight. Let's go back to the questions here, 15 or so minutes, and then we'll get to Tim Simpson in studio, round out the day

with the one and only Arjun Buller. Jordan from Perth. Salaam alaikum, Ariel and team. Have you heard anything about the possibility of JDM versus Islam being in Perth in September and any chance we get Volk versus Mosar coming for that card? No, the September pay-per-view is Guadalajara, Noche UFC, so I don't think so. And per UFC executive Ali Abdelziz, Islam would not be going to Australia. So I don't think it's gonna happen. And to be honest, I don't think Islam's gonna go again. He went there once for Volkha. I can't see him doing it again.

So I would be surprised. Abu Dhabi, New York, Vegas, back into the year is when I expect us to see it. We'll have Tim in studio in 15 minutes. He is the manager of one Jack Delamadalana. He can tell us more about that. PS, can I get a shout out to Perth City from the boys in the back? Perth City! Yeah. Gary. Yeah. If DDP beats Hamzat, can you make the argument he's pound for pound number one? Well, if Islam moves up to 170 and wins, I mean, there's no, there's no, you know,

there's no argument to be made. He is the guy. But if TDP wins, I mean, who is number two out there right now? I don't even know. My books, it's Teporia. Teporia, right. Oh, hey, PZ.

What's crack? You're back. Yeah, it was actually the UFC intercepted it. They did? I was making that point. Yeah, they were like, we can't get this guy out. He's cooking too much. That's what I rang the provider.

That's what they tell me. All right. The revolting blob. Hey Ariel, are you willing to reveal who the mystery guest was supposed to be from a couple of weeks back from the Lex Luger DDP episode? Was it going to be the other DDP? No, it was supposed to be Darentel.

We don't care. Yeah, I just didn't feel comfortable promoting him because he's such a lunatic. Cross, hi Ariel, I think I've got the remaining UFC pay-per-view schedule for the year figured out like below. June, IFW. July, New Orleans.

August, Chicago. September, Noche. October, SLC. October, November, Abu Dhabi, November, MSG, December, T-Mobile. So basically you just compared or copied last year's schedule. Yeah.

He gave us the ones that have already been announced and then copied last year. And there's no dates. He's saying, do you think this is accurate? I mean, but yeah, what are the dates? Sure. Have we had a two pay-per-view month yet in 2025? No.

So June will be the first one and there's always two of them. That's right. Yeah, so it could be October. Could be. That was the other one. Lon Don, hello to the team. Question for GC. Seems like the Brady match is slipping away from us.

Any chance you challenge other guest fighters, Poitain, Chandler, Poirier, JDM? Can I say something? Yeah, sure, man. GC versus Tim Simpson. Tim is a great guy. other guest fighters Poitain Chandler Porry JDM can I say something yeah sure you see versus Tim Simpson Tim is Tim is in shape we blew that we blew that because obviously it takes a while to set up the bike right here do right here it's in studio what cameras going on that man listen this essentially we're looking for a child we're looking for Charles Oliver. We're looking for Charles Oliver.

I'll go on Zoom and I'll stream it from my phone. Have you seen Tim Simpson with Goggins and Izzy? I think he smokes me. Yeah, I think he smokes me. You see this- Connor Bourke, he is the Iliad to Puri of this situation. Sean Brady ran away. Listen, look at this guy.

Look at this guy, he's just jogging. Look at that breathing. What's that breathing coming from? The pectoral is just like... You want to know what's crazy is that Goggins and Izzy are in such insane shape they kind of make Tim look average. If I was in this trio I would look like the biggest schlub on him. Oh my god.

You want to know the worst part is not only is Brady like it feels like he's sort of like I wouldn't even say ducking he's like he's like avoiding it all together immediately change the subject of something completely nonsensical completely irrelevant So blabbering about not on me. He told me if you're yeah, Tommy Fiori did it I was just like oh wow, and then he's like it's not even worth my time You know now the fans coming up and it was weird. We're like Fongs. We actually mentioned Fongs in Des Moines I'm sitting there shoving crab Rangoon pizza down my gullet and some guys like doesn't look like you're getting ready for the Brady bike, right? I was like, all right, take it easy. I'm born ready. It's what it's so weird. It's like hey Sean Can you come on June 7th at?

3 p.m. And he's like, you know, what's crazy? Like I was walking outside and I saw the clouds. It's so weird. You would think we're a dentist office asking him for a random Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. eight months in the future. It's just like, hey man, we'll have a luxury limo pick you up from your house, wisp you here, we'll provide Gatorade,

we'll provide hydration supplements, some Celsius in the car for you. Electrolytes. Electrolytes. Door to door. We'll have you ready to go door to door. Nanny for your girl. You talk, we'll pay for services for your children.

Pay, you talk, you bounce right back to Philly. It's like you never even came and he's just like, eh, can't be bothered. No, no. London changed him. London No no. I'm losing lack of motivation I wasn't gonna say it because I didn't want to have any excuses I was dealing with a horrendous back injury I mean I had a pillow in the seat for a while I wasn't gonna bring this up I don't want to use excuses so I feel like I'm falling out of shape just in time for the bike ride just in time for pool as. It's not looking good for me. So, yeah, I mean, it's it does.

It feels like the momentum is it's losing its steam. We'll see. We'll see. I can tell you it's not my fault. It's not on my end. I've been ready. You're standing on business, as they say. All right. So we'll hold out hope. We'll hold out hope. I had one. Oh, Almond Joy.

Hello, Ariel. What has been your favorite part of being a dad? How has parenting and being a husband helped you grow personally and professionally? Golly, this is a tough one. It's not tough because it's hard to answer. There's just so much there. I am really, there's different chapters, right? And when they're super young, that's an incredible thing.

It's like, holy crap, how does this even happen? And how are we going to do this? And then you kind of figure it out and you're tired, but it's just such a joy to see them go from one month to two months to three months and you take the photos and all this stuff. But right now, it is so much fun because my boys are 13 and 11 11 and their personalities are just exploding and they're funny and they're fun to hang out with. And as I noted a couple of days ago, sports is just, it's such a gift. Like I always dreamed of being a dad.

I always wanted to be a dad. And then of course you're like, oh man, wouldn't it be great if my kids love sports as much as I do and then they love my teams as much as I do. And early on, like they don't really care. And you start to make that out to be a bigger deal than it is. When your kids are five and six, they're not supposed to care. But you kind of want to speed up the process.

They're like, why don't you care as much as I do? But now they're sitting there, and it's 10 PM, and we're living and dying with every shot and then high-fiving and then hugging and then my wife's saying that my daughter's sleeping and we need to keep it quiet and then she's trying to tell them it's time to go to bed and I'm like,

they're not going to bed now? There's eight minutes left to the fourth quarter, are you insane? It's just amazing and they're telling me about things. Did you see this? Did you hear this? It is such a joy and the Knicks currently are on a run that reminds me of the 99 Knicks or the 94 Knicks, just

those 90s Knicks, but to experience that now as a dad as opposed to a 13, 14, 15, 16 year old, you know, in his parents living room by himself with two brothers who hated the Knicks, who made fun of me every time they lost. It is so much more fun. It is so much more fun. So you know that's a great joy and that's really what sports are all about. For those that don't understand why it's so much fun to be a sports fan, why it's so special, like this is it. It unites, it bonds, it gives you something to look forward to. It's just a wonderful thing to see my daughter get into, you know, her favorite things, gymnastics, playing piano, she's doing spelling tests, all of it. All of it is just

such a joy. So my advice would be to enjoy every chapter, every period. Don't hope, oh, I can't wait till they're 10, till they're 15, till they're like, enjoy every moment. Even enjoy the tough parts. And I know it's easy for me to say as someone who's maybe on the other end of it, but like the traveling, the car seats, the diapers, revel in that because it will go away like this. It will go away so quickly. The spit ups, all that stuff, the diaper changes, like enjoy it all because it goes away and you don't get it back unless you have another one. So it's the greatest experience, it's the greatest achievement, it's the greatest accomplishment, and yeah to see them progress and

evolve and graduate to these new stages is incredibly fun as well. That's my spiel as far as parenthood is concerned. Okay, okay. Let's keep going here a few more minutes. Ola Ariel, yesterday's breaking news edition reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of content you've ever put out, the Shamayev Diaz weigh-in fight reshuffling. I believe that episode was like seven hours. You had a flight coming up. It was epic. I love the chaotic unplanned shows and wondering what your thoughts and or memories of such shows were. I did that with PT. Remember that PT Spotify live? It's crazy. It was so funny. And I was

remember me and Ann Devon started talking about like we're waiting for this news to come on. It's seven hours long and Ariel, he has to get this flight. So he's gone and he's kind of keeping me up to date with text messages and then we went off in this 15 minute query kind of conversation what's our favorite query order and next call Ariel rang in and he fucking lost his shit it's like what the fuck are you guys talking about you're in the lion remember you were trying to get some food and you couldn't get some food it was in Jersey airport wasn't it it was um but remember like we were doing a way in show that started at 80,000 people listen, listen to it starting at noon on Spotify live, an

app that no one used, uh, except, you know, to be fair, it was, it was us in a, in a, um, a fantasy football show. That's right. Uh, but we would do our post shows and we, we built a great community there. We met a lot of great people who we are still in touch with today. A lot of great characters. I don't want to name their names because I'm afraid I'm going to forget someone. Well, there's 80,000 of them. Well, no, but like just on the week to week basis.

But that one was crazy because it was just your regular show. And now all of a sudden, and that fight was intriguing because of Diaz's contract. Is he staying? Is he going? And are they feeding him to the wolves? And then we come to a learn mid-weighing show, Shemai is not showing up and he's overweight, and they reshuffle the whole card, and I have to leave now, because I have to catch a flight on a Friday afternoon,

and you guys keep it going, and Ant now comes in. And Chuck had to rewrite his piece, remember Chuck had a feature out, and he had to rewrite the whole thing, so he went. So Chuck and Ariel, the main two guys of the show go, I'm there just left with this 80,000 people, so Aunt jumped in and then we're like tagging people in the whole time. It was wild. And then you just jump in and out like when big things happen when you heard something you come back in. It was so much fun. It finally got announced as I'm on the plane and we're

literally minutes away from taking off. It finally got sorted. They reshuffled the top of the card. I don't know if I've ever said this publicly. You probably know because of private conversations, but I don't know if I ever told people where I was going. Did I ever tell people where I was going? No, I don't think you did. So I was going on a trip for Real Sports on HBO, which was a great job, which I'm so sad is no longer around, that the show is no more. And I was traveling to Pittsburgh because I was going to do a piece,

a story on the Super Bowl of nude volleyball. Every September at this nudist resort outside of Pittsburgh, incredible volleyball players, not like, you know, overweight weirdos, not like something like that. Like this is like high level division one, premium athletes come together to compete in this volleyball tournament that is contested while being in the nude. You are 100% naked and it's on hard courts.

It's not on sand. It's hard court volleyball. And we went there and spent the weekend there. I didn't sleep there. We went to a hotel like 10 minutes outside of the resort, but I was there Saturday and Sunday and I was interviewing these people in the nude. And they were, I wasn't in the nude, they were, but they were some of the most fascinating and lovely people that I've ever come across. They had this like, joie de vivre, they unlock this key to life.

It was this lock to life, if you will. It was just an amazing experience being there. They did a couple of times, try to convince me to get naked, and I was like, no, I can't do that. I mean, what are we talking about here? But it was an unbelievable experience, but I was traveling to do that. So I did this piece.

I did the interviews. We did the walk-in talks. Like I have one, I don't have much footage from it because they have it all, but the producer sent me one where I'm doing a walk and talk with a guy who's a real estate agent in Florida, and he's fully nude, like, don out, walking, and we're just chatting.

Wow, you did so much cool shit with them as well. I mean, never got to see. And then the freaking show ended, and then the show ended, and the story never saw the light of day. It was one of the longest running shows ever. Yes. And you just happened to join it. And also... But he got the moment. He got his moment with Brian Gombly, he brought you out. Oh, of course. He got incredible moments. I'm just saying how much of a bummer it is that we never got to see this because the show ended.

The piece was so much fun to do. The story was so great to work on. And I kept thinking, like, okay, when's it coming out? When's it coming out? And then I got the word that the show was coming to an end. I was like, oh, please let this piece come out before. And then they told me, they had so many pieces in the oven that they couldn't get them all out in time. Then I asked them, like, can I buy the footage? Can I repurpose it?

But those people had agreed to just being on that show. And there were actually some people that didn't want to be seen, and they wore wristbands, which they handed out beforehand. And so the editor, who I had talked to, because that was in the making for a year, he had to like blur out all the people in the background that didn't want to be on camera because people wanted to be anonymous. It was unbelievable. I had that story in the oven and then I had another story on breakdancing in the Olympics and we talked to like former gymnasts who you know whose career ended in gymnastics and we're now trying out to be the first Olympic break dancers. This is before the Olympics last year. And that story never saw the light of day either. We went to the Bronx, we talked to all these people. It was madness. I did get one in at the buzzer. That was the one

on Danny Hurley. But it was just such a joy because I was an intern on that show in 2003. And so to make it all the way as a correspondent 20 years later is one of the greatest achievements of my life because it's such an unbelievable show. You sent us some footage from the nude volleyball. Oh, good stuff, right? Screenshots where some of the funniest things I've ever seen. You're doing like a walk and talk and a dude just has this completely full frontal nudity. And you're fully dressed, taking it as serious as any other professional interview.

Yeah. It got me banged real, if it was you. Full banger. Couldn't do it. Considered it for a brief second. But the people were just so lovely. They were so comfortable in their own skin. They were so happy.

And when you think of like nudist resort, you think of like people having orgies and things like that. I didn't feel any of that, honestly. I mean, that's what I think a lot of people think of. It was, it was not that, you know, there were, there were cancer survivors, there were old people, young people, middle-aged people, just so happy to be there, comfortable, people barbecuing in the nude.

Like everything was in the nude. You, you pull up in your car and the security guard is nude, like right off the jump. It's just, it's just nudity. It's dongs everywhere. It was a great experience. I remember trying to like, it was a teenager, we were away in Spain and my mate was there at the same time. We were like, there's a nude place up around here. And everyone was like over seven years of age at the thing. It was very disappointed. They were all crinklies.

So we just left. It was very sad. One last very quick one. Good day, Ariel. With all the celebrations for Australia's own Jack Dalmatelina and your talk with him, you mentioned the Adelaide Crows. We need you and the team full swing back on the bandwagon. They are currently fifth on the ladder and with a big win this weekend coming up, could go into third. Some of the players you need to know are Taylor Walker, Tex, Riley Philthrop, Filthy, or even our big forward, Darcy Fogarty, the Fogg. And even better, they have their own, they have their own all the way from Ireland, Mark Keane.

All right. What can I with Kant? We're back on the bandwagon. Someone knows, uh, who knows a thing or two about this particular sport. I think it's Aussie Rules. I'm not sure. Maybe it's Union. We'll ask him in a moment.

He's one of the best managers in all of mixed martial arts. He's got an incredible team. He had an incredible Saturday with Paul Hughes winning in Belfast and of course, Jack Della winning in Montreal on the same freaking day. They're on fire. He's back on top of the welterweight division. He's our old pal Timbo Tim Simpson who's joining us in studio for our yearly chat there he is the man are you sir good day fucking out of me did I get it

no no I mean that wasn't you're you're you're a fucking oath cunt right no that's not how you say it please sit sit speaking to the microphone this is how we talk on podcasts I know you don't do them often sorry I was trying to like an American way to explain it okay it's like you guys would say like like right on or like fucking hey yeah yeah it's it's it's a it's a term of like agreement like strong agreement like oath like that's it's like an oath like that's a real hard fact okay if you be like so you can't be that no you're not you're not a you're not a fucking person you'd be like you're a you're a great

bloke and if I'm in agreement I about your fucking oath oh okay like a term of agreement yeah yeah yeah okay all right but I appreciate you trying I'm trying this is yours yeah well you need a coaster no you're good don't worry about Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ah, okay, all right. But I appreciate you trying. I'm trying, I'm trying. This isn't. This is yours, yeah. Well, you need a coaster? No, you're good. You're good. Don't worry about it.

I just answered a question, I don't know if you heard about the Adelaide Crows. You hate the Adelaide Crows. I wouldn't say I hate them. But they're doing well, according to this guy who just wrote me. Yeah, I'm West Coast, we're zero and nine this year.

Zero and nine. So I'm pretty well checked out of AFL news at the moment. Did you follow, is that your favorite sport outside of fighting? Wild pro wrestling and AFL. I like cricket as well. Is that, what is it? Is it Aussie rules?

Aussie rules, yeah. Okay, and what's the difference between Aussie rules and rugby union? Different sport. Totally different. Yeah, so Australian rules started about I think about 150 years ago. It's like a sport that's not quite as rough as rugby,

but a bit rougher than soccer. Okay. It's a bit of a mix, but yeah, it's a unique. So you can't do both? No, no, no. So Volk did what? Volk played rugby. And Jack Della?

Rugby. Rugby. Tuivasa rugby. Anyone play Aussie rules? Not at like a, not at a high level that I can think of in MMA No one I can think of what a time for you Tim. Yes, been got married recently. Yeah, you went to WrestleMania You killed it on Saturday good day That's got to be one of the best days right for you as a manager in this game

Paul Hughes Belfast, homecoming, Jack Della winning the belt. Yeah. I know you've had some great ones. Leon winning, Izzy, but that's gotta be one of the top ones, right? Yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome, yeah.

It was a really good day, definitely. And like, you know, all of them are really special. Obviously, there's a certain like pride of Jack doing it from Perth, you know? Like Perth is my heart. Your hometown. Yeah, and it's my heart, man. Like, you know, like Perth is your hometown. Yeah, it's my heart man. Like we're so we really get around each other. And like, statistically, like how small and remote that is to what he's done. Like the chance the odds of that are so small. And like, being from there, like my family still there, all my friends are there, like Perth, it really is my heart.

And for him to do it from Perth, like it means so much for all of us. When did you first find out about him, hear about him? Meet him? It's funny, cause my old man reckons he's owed a finder's fee. Ah, you found him. No, no, don't say that.

I mean. No, so, me, like Perth's small, me and Jack probably grew up about 10 minutes from each other. Wow. But I'm a bit older than him. So he... He... We went to... So there's like the PSA school system, like the sports...

So you like play sports and like my school played against it. I grew up playing against... He went to Aquinas, I went to Scotch. I grew up playing against Aquinas, but he... I would have been in year 12, so my senior year, when he was in year eight, so just coming into high school. Okay.

I'm five years old, or so. So I didn't cross over with him in school. My brother and his brother are the same age. So there's a bit of crossover there, but like I knew who he was just from following like the region, like the Australian scene, like he was tearing it up. But my parents and his parents met on a holiday no way in Broome and they were just chatting and

they were like yeah my son's an MMA fighter and my son's an MMA manager and they went chatting there so this is where my dad thinks he found him and I was like everybody knew who Jack Delaw was in Australia did you know of him when they told you like yeah yeah yeah I yeah Yeah, he's the then he may have only been like Five and two or like six maybe six and two like it was early early on I was like, you know I'm you sick. He knocks everyone out and then we went when Izzy fought

Rob in Melbourne, okay, I went to eternal the night before where Jack was fighting Kevin Jussay And watch Jack met his parents and I was like, listen, Jack's amazing. I don't think he needs a manager right now, but when the time comes, let's have a chat. And when I feel like I can add value, let's do it. And that ended up being towards the end of his Eternal career. And here we are. So a good five, six years ago. And I remember you were telling from the beat, like, this is the guy. You were super high on him. Did you think it would happen?

I don't want to say this soon because it has been a few years and he had the setback with the arm but like it feels like it was it was moving along moving along move along and then And obviously some things had to happen with what happened a couple months ago But like beginning of the year, you probably weren't expecting this right? Well, no beginning of the year no because probably weren't expecting this, right? Well, no, beginning of the year, no, because they had, we had March scheduled with Leon. How difficult was that for you? You love both guys. Those are two favorites, right?

What difficult if they were going to fight each other? Yeah. Yeah. It was not fun. Like, like I guess from a personal perspective, but like in the end, Leon wanted it, Jack wanted it, UFC wanted it, the fans wanted it, so I think my interests probably fall at the bottom of that pile. But in a perfect world, you don't have your clients fighting each other. Because I remember the first time you launched Chosen, you said you wanted one guy per weight

class to avoid this issue. Correct. And these were the only two because Leon's one of my best mates in the the world and Jack's my boyfriend Perth and also very close friends. I was not like when I said I was leaving they were both like well we're going wherever you're going. So I was not going to tell either of those guys sorry like there's only one spot at welterweight so that that was going to happen and they never end up fighting each other yet. They're very much well you know may happen in the future and I'll just deal with it then I guess. Yeah so I wonder what was tougher like the the prospect of them fighting each other or then when things get shifted and one moves on yeah

because you know when Leon was on the show he said like I would have taken the title fight obviously but he was so tied to that card they could have taken him off London was that a difficult spot for you? I mean it it was, but at the same time, it's like the UFC made a decision. And it's like there was nothing necessarily that I could have done. Like, what am I, like, I couldn't really campaign against it or for it necessarily.

I just had to ask questions of like, you know, why Jack over Leon? I just need the information. And, you know, I said, is it Leon or is it Jack? And they just said listen We're doing Jack. It's not like I could pick anything or do anything so From there. It's just manage the situation the best I can wasn't necessarily on my shoulders on my decision so in that case It's not too much for me to stress over that makes sense and your level of cobs you're gonna back your guy

Do you want to get your water? No, no. You worried? It's okay, don't worry. You know, there's a funny, I just have like, I'm just a fidgeter. Okay. Like I can't sit still at any time in my life. So this is tough for you?

Yeah, but like it's, I'm really not much on social media. Sure. I'm not in the con, but my wife does. My wife reads everything. And like- She's reading the comments. She reads everything. Oh no. But it's like the biggest thing when I, and don't only really do interviews with you it's just

like he's on drugs he's on cocaine oh no why is he so twitchy what's wrong with him like oh that's that's a crackhead I'm like I'm not really trying to sit still do your thing be comfortable at any time like around the house if I'm on the phone I'm talking I'm always up moving and everything So I'm trying to like not that I really care what the streets are saying. Yeah, I'm a twitchy person This is in Mexico by the way Where you live? Yeah, I live in Mexico. Yeah, which is wild like I was telling the boys in the back They're like what he lives in Mexico. How do you like it there? Love it? Yeah, love it's been Over two years now. Yeah incredible other Mexico. So are you City. We were wondering if you are the gringiest,

or gringiest, gringo in Mexico, because you're so white. Probably not. I mean, there's where I live in Mexico City, it's like a foot field with expats from all over. Oh, okay. But yeah, probably. Why did you pick Mexico?

So my wife's Colombian. So she speaks Spanish. I want to speak Spanish fluently before we have kids. So there's no secrets in my own household, you know? Ah. And then we, you know, I was in LA for like seven years. I think things in LA got kind of weird around COVID. And it was just like a lot of people were moving out of the city.

It's like cheaper in Mexico. And just, we both work from home. We both work for ourselves. So it's like, you've got an opportunity to do something different. I've always, I've lived in like 10 different cities in my life. Like I like to, I don't dig roots too much, you know, so just another move, something cool and loving it. How is the Spanish? I would say I'm fluent. Oh really? You can have a full conversation?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fluent to the extent that I don't need English. I think the goal is to understand and be understood. It might not be very pretty, but it's enough to facilitate conversation without English needed. Our director is from Venezuela, and so I told her that I was gonna ask you to speak a little bit of Spanish, and she said she'd never heard someone with an Australian accent speak Spanish. Not pretty.

So could you tell us just like how you felt seeing Jack win the title in Spanish? Yeah, bien. That's it? Me senti bien. Okay. Senti bien, yeah. I felt good. Everything was fine. I was very very excited. I'm a different guy, I feel it. It gets a little more high-pitched. Yeah, yeah, okay, this is good. I'm trying, yeah, I put in a lot of work, like doing the lessons there, obviously living there,

and yeah, I love it. It's like, you speak a bit of French, eh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think a second language is really cool. I really like it. I feel like it made me smarter. How was my hometown? How did it treat you?

Loved it. Was that your first time there? Other than the Presso where we went. Right, right, like this little, yeah, you liked it. You liked Schwartz's, huh? Really cool, yeah, we did Schwartz a few times. Hard to get a bad meal there. Food was really good everywhere and people were really nice.

We were in old Montreal which is really beautiful. Only criticism is the parking was a nightmare but, I think we copped about six parking tickets on the whole team so other than that. Was it because you couldn't read the signs, you couldn't understand? That and there was just like around Jack's Airbnb, there wasn't much.

So we were just like, fuck, we'll just cop it, I guess. Did you feel like, like, did Jack get a lot of love there? Was he getting support or was it more... Like from the crowd? Yeah, from the people, like if you guys were... Yeah, I think there was a lot of like, a lot of Palestinian flags, a lot of Palestinians. So it was getting a bit of boos,

but I think Balau got like booed to bits, got, was very like very loud booze and Jack was kind of half cheers, half booze. So I think that was definitely love for him. Yeah. He's a hard guy not to like. Absolutely. And we'll get to that in a moment, but having to, I mean, obviously you're a guy who's fighting for the belt, but you have Paul Hughes,

who you adore as well as getting this homecoming fight, not being there with him, how difficult was that for you? Sucked. Like, Paul's a big boy and because he's at home, he was very well equipped to look after himself. I was more just like for the experience because people are telling me that was the loudest crowd.

Like the place was just humming. So that was a bummer. And I think it's quite rude of the UFC and the PFL not to consider my travel schedule. Agreed. But next time. So how did you watch? Man, we, uh, don't know if I should admit this as a someone in the industry, but we had to get a stream. Oh yeah, yeah.

Cause it wasn't, it wasn't playing in Canada. Yeah, it was unbelievable. It wasn't playing in the US either. Yeah, yeah, and I'm like, man, like freaking out. We're trying to like use VPNs and I'm just here incriminating myself and everything. We couldn't get it to work. So Dan ended up finding a stream and we just watched it on the stream. Crazy. Here it is, the finish right here. 42 seconds.

Beautiful. People want to talk about like, say Bruno was overmatched, but Bruno is so tough and just that technique is so beautiful, where he traps, it's like an outside catch, and then swings around. Like, that's not an easy thing to do. It was just like, perfect execution of quite a difficult technique.

His striking is phenomenal. Amazing, yeah, amazing. AJ McKee, he looked phenomenal in. This fight has to happen, the rematch. Yeah, hell yeah. Do you think it does happen? I believe so. There's a little part of me that is worried

that there's this exodus happening in the PFL right now. Patchy Mick's now gone. This happened yesterday. Lot of the former Bellator guys, right? Yeah, and Usman is one of them. Yeah, I don't know. Nothing to my understanding is that he's... Have they told you that it's gonna happen?

It's the plan, I'm not being coy with you. There's a few things that have to happen, but The plan was build back to it. Okay, it was how quickly do we build back to it? But I think after what happened outside just why would you not do it now and like I've been speaking to Kogan about it Kogan's great. He gets it. You know, Kogan's been doing it for 20 years Yeah, how to build fighters and promote a fight. So that's the conversation we're having. And my opinion is let's do it now. Paul's opinion is do it now.

I can't see why we wouldn't do it now. Last year, the big thing was, okay, where's Paul going to sign all this stuff? He seems very happy and it seems very genuine. Is there any part of you that feels like, okay, yes, he's happy. It's genuine, all this stuff. But let's be honest, the biggest spotlight is, is when you're fighting in the UFC that changes lives. Does he need to get there?

Tough question, right? Like if you look at financially, it's if he had signed to the UFC versus what he's done in four fights in the PFL without giving exact numbers. It's like 10x. OK, wow. When it's like that much of a difference, it's like for exposure, for money, as long as you're happy and you're meeting your own financial goals, does he need to go there?

No, he doesn't need to go there. Does he want to go there one day? Who knows? But right now, he is't need to go there. Does he want to go there one day? Who knows? But right now he is genuinely really happy with the PFL. They've done so well by him and he's done well by them. Like four fights in, three of those four have been blockbusters. Like what you just did in Belfast was huge. Usman fight was huge. AJ McKay fight was huge. Even Dublin when he fought Bobby King, like that was a spectacle as well. I think he's delivered big time for him

and they've really looked after him. So happy days right now. So no better person to ask this question than you in the sense that, we were just talking about this earlier, the state of the game, the state of the business, the lack of competition right now, the gap between the UFC and everyone else

getting bigger and bigger, PFL letting these guys go. You wanna be in the business of like, hey, what can I get from you? What can I get from you? You gotta negotiate, you need leverage. This is your world, right? How do you feel about the current state of the game

when it seems like one isn't an option anymore, they're not really paying top dollar. It just feels like there's less places for guys to negotiate with, thus there's a cap on how much they can make How do you feel? I definitely agree that leverage is important I'll tell you I'm probably not the best person to discuss like between the organizations about to sneeze. Um, because It's gone But because I you know of my athletes only got one in the PFL.

You know what I mean? Everyone else is UFC, so I don't deal with the PFL all that much. But yeah, leverage and competition is super important. Super important. You feel like it's healthy right now? Not like it was. I think there's certainly less,

and it doesn't affect me so much, because all my athletes with the UFC, except for Paul. But it could affect you in the sense of like, hey, one guy's deal is coming up. The free agency. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, and that's, I'm not currently in that situation. There's no one that's like on the edge of free agency right now.

Like we did new long-term deals with all my biggest clients. The past 12 months, we did Leon Max, Yuri and Izzy. So like they're all fresh. That's years away from happening. So I don't really put my mind into a situation like, hey, this person's coming to free agency very soon. How am I going to play that situation? And I'm not trying to dodge your question. No, no, I get it. I very much mind my own business and try and relate it to myself. But as a whole, no, I get it. I very much, my own business, and try and relate it to myself. But as a whole, yeah, you are, right? Like, a lot of people put their eggs in the GFL basket

and even bailed out of like, existing contracts to do that. And I think, I didn't speak to anyone there, but that's up in smoke now. Right. So if you are, yeah, I mean, listen, if you're the UFC and you've got a big star, or if you're the PFL and you got a big star, or if you're the PFL and you got a big star,

it's like, yeah, you've only got one competitor that they could possibly go to. And it's a small industry. It's like not great for leverage, that's for sure. Where were you during the the jack fight? On the weekend. No, like where were you sitting? Oh, in the front with his wife and his mom and his dad.

What is that like when you're there with the loved ones? Cause like you have a connection, right? And you probably feel a great anxiety, but for them, like this is their son, their husband. You talk to each other. Are you reacting to things? I can't even imagine what that stress is like. Yeah, often, often.

And it really varies as well. It really varies like, they were pretty chill, the Delacroix. Really? Yeah, obviously they were pretty chill, the Dela crew. Really? They were pretty chill. Yeah, obviously they were pretty nervous. But I mean, we're not super high-strung people from Western Australia anyway. So I think they were, there was obviously nerves

and everything, and in between rounds, you know, I think we're up here, I think we're up here. That's fun. And they were pretty cool, the Delas. I've had a lot of intense ones. What was the most intense? Oh, with the Adesanyas. Like, God, his parents are such good people,

they're beautiful people, but his mum really kind of gets in almost like a very, very intense. There's a lot of prayer and everything. Always very intense with his parents. They're very spiritual people and I think they get quite into it. So always with them it feels very intense and you just want them to be okay. You know what I mean? Sure. Were you surprised at how the fight played out? No. What did I text you last week?

Well, I mean, yeah, you told me you were coming with the belt and all this stuff. I said it's like we know something. Oh yeah, yeah. 100%. mean, yeah, you told me you were coming with the belt and all this stuff. I said I said it's like we know something Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah so I wasn't surprised I equated it to like when Max was fighting Justin or When Leon was fighting was men the third time. Mm-hmm, or when like Izzy was fighting cost this feeling where it's like What did it? What are what are you guys watching? Right? I'm like, I feel like Jack was an awesome matchup for Below. And I was like, what, what, what,

of course we're really close to it. But I'm like, what are we saying that everyone else is not seeing? I felt that same way before about the fight. So I was like, I wasn't really surprised. And even I was talking to Dan, because we all waved at me, and Dan like, this could happen, this could happen.

I said to Dan, I was like, I've got a feeling this is going to be a dominant decision. Like, that's what I said during the week. And like, I don't know, I wasn't surprised. What about the narrative in the aftermath? Like, why didn't he shoot more? And my thing is like, he didn't shoot more because he

had Big Jack in front of him. Well, the first line of defense in martial arts, every martial art is your footwork, is distance. So like people like think about like Israel Adesanya's title run, he kept it on the feet. They does have good defensive wrestling but it's when you think about Anderson Silver like yeah they got good defensive wrestling but it's your first line of defense is your distance. When you're a master of striking you're a master of distance and that's just what it was like it's Jack's footwork and distance. It

wasn't like if Bilal wanted to shoot more, he would have shot more. It wasn't like he's made, there's that narrative of I'm gonna show those hands. It's like when you're in the heat, you're doing what you do. So yeah, there's no, I don't think it was a strategic thing from Bilal. I think Jack's footwork and distance was just precise and it makes it very hard So since we had Jack in studio Dana White announced yesterday all the news Islam moving up vacating the title Ilia Charles, etc, etc So he did say it's going to be Islam versus Jack, but no no time frame attached to it

Yeah, I'm assuming later on this year. Yeah, it'll be this year for sure. It won't be August because that's DDP against Hamzat. September, it would make no sense. That's the Noche UFC card. So I'm thinking- That looks like Canela. Yeah, no, he does. And last year they had Marab and Sean

at the top of the card. So it could happen. And I don't think they got a Mexican star that could main event it right. That one in Guadalajara would be a little weird no? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway you gotta put someone there. Then you've got October and then MSG and December. When do you think it happens? Between September and December. Yeah okay. That's an honest answer. Yeah. I could spoke that obviously was

speaking to Hunter all day yesterday and it's like I have a few moving pieces. So Jack gets home, leaves here Friday, gets home Sunday, deserves a little bit of downtime. He's got one of his main training partner and one of his best mates, Jack Becker's fighting next weekend in China, in RTU. So he's probably gonna go there and support his teammate, then get back and I won't say he's gonna rest.

He's at the gym today. Wow, here in New York. Wow. He was training today. So it's like he might be resting, but it's like, yeah, just let the body heal up a little bit and then he'll want to go as soon as he can. It's just about what makes sense, you know. So I saw an interview with Ali Abdulaziz, who is Islam's manager, and he's like, look, if you know, if Jack's not ready to go, they're going to strip him of the belt and all this stuff. I'm like,

the guy just fought three days ago. What are you talking about? Why wouldn't he be ready to go? I don't know. I think he was just trying to be like, you know, we call the shots here, you know, just because we're moving up and we're not the champ, we're calling the shots. Did you see this clip? No, I didn't say it. Okay. I mean, if I had four legs and said, no, I'd be a cow. I mean, I just don't really see the relevance. He's going to be good to go. Yeah. There are no issues there.

No, he's just like, he's just fine. He's not injured. Right. I don't know. Do you like this for Jack in his first title defense? I love it. Why? Cause he loves it.

I mean, it's like what's bigger you know? What's bigger than the number one pound for pound guy? We're saying it feels weird because he's like, he's gonna be the champion and Islam doesn't have a belt or won't have a belt but I feel like, kind of feels like Jack's the challenger, you know what I mean? In a certain capacity, it's like he's challenging, I guess, for the number one pound for pound spotter. It kind of feels like he's the guy that's chasing it because Islam is so great. Islam is the number one pound for pound. He's done so much. Almost feels like it's sure Jack will be the champion, but it's almost like inverse. That's the way I kind of see it. And I think that's the way Jack sees it too.

And, you know, what he said yesterday, we were kind of see it. And I think that's the way Jack sees it too. And, you know, when, what he said yesterday, we were kind of chatting about during the week and he does, he's always kind of spoke about these fights as like matchups rather than like what, what moves in towards a belt or what is a belt. He's always kind of like, yeah, I reckon I can beat him. And that's what it was with Balau. It was like, when we was like, man, it's a title shot.

He's like, oh, I reckon I can beat Balau. Yeah, he's got the belt, man. And he says the same thing about his names. I reckon I can beat him. So who am I going to be like, oh, this is a bad idea. Like, I think he's, he's. It's the highest profile fight as well. Massive, massive.

There's, there's financial benefit to that. There's legacy is going to be number one pound for pound. But more often, like more than anything, Jack's like, I reckon I can beat him. So let's go, let's go. I feel like it's still, yeah he's a champion, but I feel he's got nothing to lose, right? You know, he said that he thinks that is some is gonna stay for one fight and then go back down after fighting him I like that. It was like some subtle shit talking from him. Yeah, he's quicker than people Give him credit for you so chill, but he says some things you say side. Oh, yeah, Ian's online that got a lot of attention

he's a he he's very Considerate with his words, but he's like He's quick. He's quicker than he than he than he gives off. You know what I mean feels like maybe some guys not not not Specifically talking about any of your fighters But like some guys might be hard to deal with or maybe a little demanding feels like a pretty chill client right? Oh yeah I mean he's our boy you know that's like he's he's my mate first and foremost he's Dan's mate and since day one like just I guess where we're both born the way we grew up

you know we're very similar and like when you got someone who on a personal level you connect with really well but then also like yeah, just wants to fight everybody doesn't complain like nothing really bothers him in life So yeah, he's always great to work with how worried were you about the the forearm as he was going through all that I? think the extra He was scheduled to fight in March I think the extra couple months helped a bit, but he's been cleared since December, so not worried. It wasn't getting scary with the multiple surgeries and the-

Oh, back last year? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, it was, yeah, it sucked, like, just because it was really affecting him. Like, you talk about a guy who doesn't complain much. Like, and he wasn't, oh, this sucks, it's not fair on me, he's not like that. But you could tell it was hurting him because he just, he's a competitor and he loves to fight, like he loves to fight. He's he's from that like Adesanya and Volkanovsky type cloth, if you could give him six paper

views a year they would, like he 100% would. So that sucked for him and I think like anything there's silver lining in it all like his daughter Paloma was born and he was able to be at home with that and yeah it was definitely I never really worried that like oh he'll never come back but I did really feel for him because it was just a nightmare you know I missed two Australian cards one home in Perth like it was it just sucks because he because I knew he wanted to be out there and fighting's what he does.

How do you think the rest of the division now plays out? Now that we know that this is the title fight, Brady, Gary? I think so. I think that makes sense. Is that an unworked tender fight? Probably depends what old Shavkat's doing. I then I think like, Leon's a former champion, like Leon wins one fight and he's right back there. When you're a former champion, you've always got that shine on you.

When do you think he comes back? Sooner or later. This year? Yep, yeah, 100%. He's in good spot. Have there been talks yet about his return? Not yet. Okay.

A few, he's got a few things going on, so just figuring out a few things. How is he doing? We haven't heard anything from him since the fight. He's good, of like he's got a few things going on so just figuring out a few things How is he doing? We haven't heard anything from him since he's good man. He's good like obviously It heard him like he doesn't like losing because he's again a strong competitor But like I'm so proud of where he's at in his life Like this is a guy who was born I've said it a hundred times, like in some of the greatest level of poverty you can find. Like a lot of people want to talk about what they've been through, and he's been through more than anybody knows.

And like where he started in life, he's got a beautiful house in Birmingham, he's got a beautiful family, like he's good for life now, which I'm super proud of. So there's nothing that's going to drag him down too much because he's done so well and he's happy, you know? Happy in life, right? That said, he's a competitor and he wants to get back to the top. And I think it's when you're a guy like him, a couple fights and he's right back in the mix. So that's obviously a big

push for us is let's get Leon right back up to the top. I've talked about this with a few managers because I'm fascinated in this, and I'm fascinated in what you guys go through, the roller coaster. You guys, I talk about the managers, you guys, you experience the highest of highs, right? I mean, I can't even imagine what it's like

going with a guy on that journey, and then they win the belt, and then you're in the back, you're doing the medicals, like, holy shit, we won, like, that's gotta be unlike any feeling. And then there's that other side of the coin where it's like they lose the belt. And the world is now coming down on them

and everyone's calling them out and everyone's saying like, you don't have heart and all. Like those two extremes, which one is more, which feeling is more intense? Obviously you'd always want that, that victory feeling, but the, the 2 a.m. trip to the hospital, maybe when you had the bell two hours ago, now you don't like those are two, I can't even imagine what those emotions are like. Which one is more intense?

Which one do you feel more? Do you know what I mean? It's a good question. It's a good question. I mean, the weekend was nice to feel one the other time because prior to that It was 12 months of like our clients lost five consecutive world title fights in a row Wow, so yeah, it was a real is he went max Yuri is he? No Yuri Leon is he max Paul golly in the space of like seven months. Yeah, so I was pretty much dead inside.

How was that? How did you deal with that? Oh, it sucked. It sucked. It sucked. I was like, my life is good. Like I'm not gonna sit around and sulk, but it definitely took a toll.

Like month after month, like you go and you spend a whole week, and these are my friends. These are people I love. And go and you spend a whole week. And these are my friends, these are people I love. And it's like spend the whole week and then like, they lose a title, lose a big fight. And then you, yeah, you're in that hole because you ride it with them. And it was like one month after the next month,

after the next month. And then like even into this year, like then Izzy in Saudi and then like even into this year like then Izzy in Saudi and then like Leon in London and I was just like I was like I was making jokes like Jack loses I'm retiring. There's easier ways to make money but you got to like. It takes a lot out of you right? This whole.

Oh it did for sure. It did for sure. Like it was one moment in particular where it broke me a bit. And then after that, I was like, I'm dead inside. If we lose, we lose. But yeah, particularly with people that I'm so personally close with, it's not even from a sense of, oh, this isn't good for business.

Because that'll always figure, these guys are going to be in good fights. Not a career thing. It's just an exhausting feeling to feel that. And then a month, and you do it again, and then you kind of get this expectation of it. Because I guess, I know you prep yourself for disappointment, which is a crazy thing,

but you get kind of used to it. So this was like, it felt good this Saturday to get back to that feeling, I guess. Which, when you're 80 years old and you're kind of reminiscing on your career which fight week do you like think about the most that you're most nostalgic about like this one just everything went right the vibes were great the camaraderie was great the the the city was great the weather was great the arena was great is there one that like just it felt like everything just

kind of fell into place? Not that I can think of. I can actually think of ones where the vibes are bad all week. Oh really? I can think of a few of them. Really? You just felt it? Yeah, I felt it. Like Manchester. Manchester last year. Oh, the middle of the night one? Yeah, it was like the moment.

Even leading up to it? I got to Birmingham and when I got to Birmingham, first time I saw Leon, I felt it was just bad, because he'd been trying to train on that time zone for six weeks, and he looked drained, and I was just like, oh, fuck. And then that fight where he's staying up all night

and everything, it was just like, I had this feeling in my stomach. I was like, something's off here. I don't know if vibes are, the universe, whatever. I was just like, fuck, something bad is going on here. So I've had those. But on the flip side like a lot of good ones too. This was like last week was a sick week like with the boys from Perth. Like yeah it's a great crew. When we're in Miami when Izzy knocked out Pereira that was that was awesome. But any anytime like that's the the best part of this job is the people it's like

Take the piss what I do for a living because half the time I'm like in my third like Helping to a bunch of 30 year olds. I all live in a house like boarding school And just go and you're doing like the media stuff and then you got a fight at the end. That's like it's I'm grateful for all of that It's such a cool thing to do over and over again. And it's not something you can do forever, right? So it's something I definitely like in those moments, just enjoy being in those moments.

And they're all awesome like that because there's a lot of other things I could be doing in life, but I'm pretty happy that a lot of my time is spent doing that. So you represent some of the biggest names in the sport, Jack Dillon, now champion, Izzy, Yeri, Max, Leon, Bam Bam, who else do we have, Casey O'Neil,

I'm doing this off the top of my head here, so you tell me, Paul Hughes obviously in PFL, those are some of the biggest names in the sport, right? And I understand that you're not gonna tell everything here, but just take us into your world for a moment. When you're in the trenches, can you give us the negotiations with the UFC? I hear about these negotiations all the time, right?

The old days with Lorenzo and Dana, you're now part of the new era with Hunter and Dana, right? And I think it's more Hunter who's in the trenches when it comes to these things. I think he's the most important person in the company right now because he's the mover and shakeraker you see him out in Dagestan You know going to meet with Islam. What are those? Experiences like for you still pretty young 31 32 33 33. This is my 10th year in MMA. So I've

Say I'm a you are a veteran. Yes I remember when used to walk around with Connor suit trailing him with his driving I know a long way a veteran. Yes. I remember when used to walk around with Connor suit Trailing him with his dry cleaning. I know a long way. I know I'm grateful for that too. Like that's great memories But I mean, yeah, it's it's in a small industry It like a lot is built off reputation relationships And I feel like I've done so many deals with Hunter that you kind of get a cadence for it. And I would like to, like, I was a lawyer, Hunter's a lawyer.

I think we're pretty good. I mean, you know, one of the main skills you learn is just kind of being fact-based and trying to strip emotion out of it. And I think, obviously I've had, like, big professional disagreements with Hunter and like, we just don't see things the same way. That's fine. But I think it's like when you've done the same type of business with the same person so many times,

like we get stuff done pretty easily. And I've got a lot of respect for him. Like I think he he he treats the fighters with a lot of respect. And if we disagree, like we're just going to disagree. a lot of respect and if we disagree, like we're just going to disagree. And ultimately it's like, it will resolve itself some way, but it's probably not as particularly now it's probably not as like you would say on like a show like, like Ballers or Jerry McGuire yelling down the phone. I think my temperament is quite like I'm a deal maker and as a deal maker, I feel like I'm a pragmatic deal maker.

Like it's solutions focused and I feel Hunter's kind of the same way. And as a Sean and Mick, like I'm a pragmatic dealmaker like it's solutions focused and I feel hunters kind of the same way and okay as a Sean and Mick like I don't really get into like big drawn-out emotional things with them it's probably not as sexy and as like high stakes as people want okay make it out to be you know these are big ass deals that you're you're part of yeah but it's right I know but it's it's now big but it's like it's also pretty straightforward after doing the same thing for so many times. Like straightforward in some way, but it's just like, I know it like the back of my hand

as does the UFC, so let's just figure it out. Max Dustin, retirement fight, third one between two of them. Did you like that one when they brought it to you guys? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was kind of cooking forever. Yeah. With Max up to 55 and everything's moving around there,

like, he really liked fighting Charles. I really liked fighting Dustin because, like, Max is such a nice guy. But, like, one thing I guess that publicly you don't see as much of him is he's so competitive. Like, he's so competitive. And I think the two wins that Dustin has over him, I think a part of him wants to really get those back

because they were on kind of like weird circumstances. One was a short notice on his debut. The other was also a short notice, upper weight class. So I think without any animosity towards Dustin, I think there's a bit of a chip on his shoulder to beat this guy. And it's a top five ranked fight in the UFC for a big bell to main event.

So yeah, I really like that. Is he staying at 55 now? Yeah. For the rest of his career? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it? I would never say never, but I would be very surprised. For now?

Yeah, very surprised. By the way, do you know if Dustin, if he wins, are they gonna retire that belt? Like, did they tell you, cause they haven't talked about it, that's not an option that you're thinking of obviously. Well, I don't think that'd come to me and say, hey, in case he loses.

Sure, fair enough, fair enough. So yeah, no, no discussion on that. I saw you training with Max. Are you full on sparring with him or is he just being nice to you? Yeah, I'm fucking him up. Yeah? You're touching him up? Where's Max? He's out there. I'm fucking him up.

No, no, no. Where you are? Look at you, look at you. Tall, long. Just cleaning him with that right hand. What are you about to hit him with? An uppercut? Cleaning him. Okay, look how much bigger you look than him in this photo. He's also crouching down. Yeah, pretty big now. Yeah No, we were like flow sparring. Okay, even with like flow sparring I've it's actually humiliating like he's he's his movement. His footwork is so good

He was just like he had this grin on his face I was like fuck you like I could tell like he was literally going I was Trying to like we're not throwing hard, but he was like, fuck you. I could tell he was literally going, I was trying to like, we're not throwing hard, but it was beyond toying with me. Beyond toying with me. That was at Zuckerberg's, right? What is that like? So cool.

Here you guys are, just hanging with Zuck. So cool, yeah, they're all cool. Like I've known Jason for a while, one of his coaches, and all those boys were really cool. Really, obviously really cool. Dave Camerulo there. Yeah, Dave, really nice guy as well. Just really like... You sparred Zuck? Nah.

They don't let you get close to him, huh? I tell you what, like, he's... It's not like that. Like, Max kind of put it on him. Really? Yeah. Wow. Max kind of put it on him and he like... He doesn't fold. Like, he kind of put it on him and he like, he doesn't fold like he's like, I'll give him that. Like he's, he's tough. Like he's tough. And like, not like in the striking, right in the grappling, like Max, Max wasn't like trading him like

with, with like on eggshells, like Max was giving him pretty good work. That's crazy. What does he do? He just calls them up and says like, do you guys want to come? Yeah, well him and Max know each other and Max that was in Hawaii is pretty close and I think that like they chat on a number of stuff. Max we've done heaps of like Like activations with Meta and everything. So I think it was a matter of time But hey when it lines up come over to the ranch or get some training in. What experiences you have and then I see you Training with Goggins and Izzy. That was fun. Going for the run there. Did you do the whole thing? I did the run. You just did the run. Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately There was only like two assault bikes only two stair masters this I had to bow which they are Otherwise look at you out there hanging with the boys. No, I am slow motion. I am hex going up and down

Yeah, I had an axis on oh Is that the problem? I didn't know we were going to train. What's wrong with air maxes? You can't run in those? Mate, they're not a running shoe. They were heavy and they were stiff and my feet were like bleeding and my shins in my car were so sore. I'm not going to not, I'm not going to say, I'm not going to not take that opportunity. How long was that run? 9K. 9K? Yeah. Damn. 9K. Were you struggling? I've been running a bit lately so no I was alright. Okay. It was definitely a much faster clip than than what I usually

run. I run pretty slow but fortunately I've been running a bit so I wasn't in bad shape. It was more just my feet were fucked from the shoes. Really? And what's his vibe like? So cool man. Intense? It's not all for the cameras? No no no no no no no no no no he's intense he's intense. I couldn't believe like not all for the cameras? Like he's going to go? No, no, no, no, no. He's intense. He's intense. I couldn't believe how hard he pushed Izzy, and he was not even breaking. And then afterwards, Izzy went and got a massage,

had a nice bath. What are you going to do now? He's like, oh, I'm going to train. Damn, man. What you just did was insane. He is what he projects himself to be. I don't think there's any fakeness there. Did you throw up?

No, I just did the run. I was good, I was good, I was good. And then you went to WrestleMania that same weekend. That was around the same time. Your first WrestleMania, you're a diehard fan. What was it like? Awesome, awesome. Everything I hoped it would have been.

I mean, even like, night one was sick, night two was, think that some of the master the main event and that bit was a bit of a disappointed light on pay off as I said Matt WrestleMania is a payoff show right and I don't didn't feel any kind of payoff and but the experience was insane 60,000 people like so fortunate to get really good seats thanks to Israel and yeah thanks to the look at you and the boys I mean those are pretty damn good seats I think you were right behind the the announce table right yeah yeah they showed Izzy on the screen and name-plated him I thought I was I was

gonna see you get that I was there I was trying to film him and yeah yeah yeah now but yeah now it was cool that was again just so fortunate to have been watching pro wrestling for 30 years and watch so many WrestleMania's. So it was definitely exhausting. Like by the, towards the end of night two, I was like, man, like my adrenaline is so bad. Do you like the two nights? I think for WrestleMania, yes. I think for SummerSlam, it's a bit overkill.

WrestleMania, I think it's good. I think it adds some spectacle and gives enough people like the opportunity to work. I thought last year they did it perfectly because night one and night two, there was a connective tissue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't, I'm not trying to be a stickler,

but I don't consider main eventing night one to be the main event. It's, that's a good point. Yeah, I agree. So like when they try to say this now. For punk. And I'm happy for him. I love the guy, but I'd like for him to main event night two.

Yeah. And then all the stuff was Cena and the Rock not showing up. I don't feel like, yeah, I don't feel like it's the, like you main evented a night of WrestleMania, but I feel like the main event, main event is night two. They're not gonna put the big, they were never gonna put Cody and Roman on night one. And so that's just as important.

Of course not. Who's your favorite guy right now? Penta. I knew you were gonna say like either him or- I love Pamon. Or Ray Phoenix. Yeah, yeah, Ray Phoenix is cool too. I mean Seth, I'm a big Seth Rollins guy.

Seth's been my guy for a long time, so. Did you get to go to the back? Nah, nah, it's crazy. The way they did it, like, they don't really have like a celebrity section like the UFC does where they bring you through the back to your seats and it's roped off from the general public We went through the general entrances. I luckily had some of the like venue security

But I don't really do it the same as UFC like Izzy was kind of just out in the wild on the last part Was he being bothered? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah that guy can't go anywhere in the world like Wow I think the way he looks he's so tall and he was so famous I sure am like more than anyone like man he's, can't go anywhere in the world without getting bothered. What do you think's next for him? Or what do you want to be next for him? He wants to fight this year.

We've like kind of had light conversations around when that is, like his schedule's so busy with like, outside of fight stuff, so it's about like, lining a few things up and making the fight the absolute priority, like he did with Imovov, like he really really locked in for camp and I think he looked great and got him lucky so just figuring out like timing wise when that works but for sure one more time this year. Strickland? Potentially, potentially.

You like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like uh I mean what what I want like I'd love for Izzy to get like someone with the name value you know there's all these young up-anders. I'm like, what does that really do for him? Right. You know, so. Strengthen will qualify and there's a good story there, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I know Izzy really wants that again, like when we were talking about Jack fighting Islam, it's like, like I'm a very, I think my, my management style is very like fighter and coach first. I'm not often the one that's going, Hey, I think this is

who you should fight. Like I have those opinions, but I think that should be more deferred to the athlete and the coach. So if Izzy and Eugene are like, Hey, we want to fight Strickland. Who am I to say? No, no, no, no, this is a better option. You know what I mean? So if that's what Izzy and Eugene thinks a good idea, then I'm going to support that. Did he consider retirement after the last fight? No, no, no, he's still hungry. Like hungry. I feel like he's in a different era now. Again, when you've got that former champion title, I'd say almost every, almost every,

I'm sure there's examples that don't make sense, but one or two fights, and they can sell you into a title fight any time. So he still has the hunger for the sport and the training. I think young guys in his gym are really motivating him, like Nav on the weekend and all that stuff. And I think he looked really good against Imovov. By that round one, I was like, this is vintage Izzy.

If he came out and just looked like super washed and slow and he wasn't training hard, then it's like, we have to have a conversation of, is this worth it anymore? But when he looked that good, it's like how you decide and then you got caught. How are you to say you're not in this anymore? I think you looked brilliant in round one. So I wish you would have taken some time after the eye poke. Yeah, yeah, true.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. He felt like he was on him, right? I know, I know. Gamma inches. Yuri, you mentioned I had heard that there was a talk, you know, so I don't think Alex Perra was hacked. I don't think that was a real thing. But God bless him for that story. I had heard that he was upset because they were saying, hey, if you can't fight on this

particular day, I think International Fight Week, that they were talking about Yuri versus Mike Omed. Is that accurate? Yes. They inquired about if Yuri could Michael Mad. Is that accurate? Yes. They inquired about if Yuri could do it. And could he have? If, I was like, I don't know how real this is or if it's like a testing orders, you know what I mean? Not even like games and shit,

like they just want to know what their options are. I felt like it may not have been necessarily an option for sure. But yeah, he's doing his exams. And like, hey, he took- His school exams. Yeah. That's legit.

He's like, he's deferred them so many times. I'm like, I can't defer these again. Oh my god. So he wants to finish the exams. But also like, he's done a lot, like some short notice stuff for him before. And he's like, man, when he gets full proper camps, like he looks so much better. And like, because he's so, man, when he gets full proper camps,

like he looks so much better, and like, because he's so diligent with his body, so I don't think he's gonna be a short notice guy any time soon. Okay, do you think maybe the winner of this fight coming up, Khalil Jamal, or does that timing not work out? Because they're only fighting in late June. I thought if they were fighting in April,

it would kind of work out with his timeline, but now that would keep him on the sidelines for a long time. Yeah, I think the plan is to put him on the same card as Pereira and Ankaleyev, and one contender. Who's that guy? Who's the guy? Could be one of those two. Could be Carlos Auerberg, one of those guys. Any top contender around then, and then fight the winner of.

Man, you versus Ash, that's awkward. That would be the first time, yeah. First time, yeah. That would be the first time, yep, yep, yep, yep. It is what it is. Yeah. I love Carlos as well, but you know, can happen in the game.

But it would seem to be like he's right there, like maybe one away from getting. Oh yeah, I mean, they could him in Ankleiab right now. Like if Pereira was not ready to go, do him in Ankleiab. That's a sick fight. I think Yuri matches up so well against him, and I would favour him in that fight. So you can put Yuri in there anytime. Again, the former champion thing. Like you got that shine on on you forever you can put him in a title fight whenever and like you're never ever gonna regret putting Yuri Pahaska in a big spot because the fights always gonna be good so yeah he's there okay let's let's end on this I remember when you

launched chosen it was two years ago or maybe it's three now has time flown this man this 20 23 20 so two years ago, right? Around springtime of 2023. January. January, okay. Two and a half years almost. And you said you wanted it to be boutique. You wanted one guy per weight class.

That's the goal. Obviously you're growing. Do you still want that? Or meaning like, do you foresee with all the great success, like at some point you're gonna have 30, 40 clients. Are you always gonna keep it small like this? Not 30 or 40. So we launched with 10,

we're at 16 now. I don't see it getting much bigger. You know, it's still just me and Dan. And then my brother has actually just completed his university degree. My brother's gonna start working for us. Oh wow. How old's he? He's 30. Okay. So he had a career change and he's going to come join us.

Definitely not like 30, 40. Maybe if we get up to like 20. I think that's manageable with three staff. And as long as I feel like we can do a good job, continue to do a good job and it's manageable and good for the clients and also like maintaining the work life balance that I want and that Dan wants. Like I don't want to, like we could, we could, between Dan and I, we could go up to 40 clients in the space of six months and I think it would be fine, but I think that's not the best for our current clients. That's not the best for us. Like I don't, I don't want to be working like I used to work, frankly. And I'm not like, I'm not like bored into that. I work

so hard. I'm not like, I do work hard, but I also like, I like to train twice a day. I like to get eight hours of sleep. I like to have a good personal relationship. I like to have friends and do other things. And twice a day. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, I'm not like, I'm not, I'm not gonna, I think there's this such like a facade about like, I work 20 out like, cool bro. Yeah. I'm happy with the way my life is right now. And I don't need like, if I wanted more money, like, yeah, okay. 10 more fighters, I'm going to make more money, but I'm pretty happy right now. You know, Are we training for another fight? Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Really? I want to, I want to this year, but I am... Pro or amateur? I mean it's amateur. It just kind of depends. The last one, I think the opponent said it was a pro fight, but it was an amateur fight. You were wearing shin guards, right? No, no, no. Okay. No, no, no. But then you can still have amateur without shin guards. I don't know. Fight's a fight. MMA though? No, no, no, I've never done MMA. Muay Thai? Just Muay Thai, yeah.

Okay, but there's something, like you still wanna keep doing this? Yeah, I had heaps of fun last year doing it. You know, I had those fights 10 years ago, and then I started running out of photos to post on Instagram, so I was like, man. You're not a big Instagram guy. We had to go on other people,

I think Izzy was the best chronicler of your wedding. He posted a bunch of stuff. I think yourzy was the the the best chronicler of your wedding Yeah, he posted a bunch of stuff. I think your brother was singing was he singing at one point because we saw there my best Mate, we saw footage and I was like is that Tim singing? Yeah, they did a song they did It was my brother and my best mate. Yeah, the song was in honor of you. Look at you guys. This is all from Izzy Oh, well, I actually according to Connor who's our you know social media master. He said you posted nothing Alright, so I don't really you look at this wedding and got Bam Bam. They got Leon there Not affair. I'm not super comfortable putting my personal life in the public I have like this is annoying you that we're doing this. I mean it is what it is. Look at this guy

This is your brother right here. Yeah, he looks exactly like exactly like you. My best mate Red. Yeah, it's amazing Um, this looks like an unbelievable wedding. I'm a little offended. I wasn't invited. Sorry. Look at this No, it was best man. Best four days of my life. Amazing. Like I couldn't couldn't have gone any better Honestly, I'm very very lucky. But now I don't really like to Like I don't really use Instagram that much like I have it on my laptop Like if I need to post something I'll put on my phone and then post and then delete it again I use it on my laptop like so like during working hours It's kind of like see it as like a work tool okay, and I do like I have a private Instagram

Which is more about like me and my wife and my family and stuff like that, but um Yeah, I don't know internet's weird and yeah If I could be completely off it I would. Really? Social media, but... You delete it off your phone? Yeah, I don't use it on my phone. Wow. What about Twitter?

Don't even have one, no. Don't even have it? No. Don't feel like you need it? No. For what? How are you so wise at such a young age? I don't know.

What's your age you're addicted to it? Tell you, I love YouTube. I like YouTube. Okay. I feel like I learn things on YouTube. Okay, like just random shit on YouTube thing But yeah, no like we start a channel maybe telling people how to manage The more I can be logs the more like like I appreciate this platform with you Like it's because it's good good for my business and that but them like I don't even love doing this You know, I thought you just like talking to me. Yeah, if I have to, it's gonna be you.

But it's like, yeah, I mean, if I can be anonymous, I think that's the best. Well, that's what I respect about you. You're not about yourself, you're about your clients. You and Dan as well. We were talking about your mustache, Dan. It's one of the great mustaches. No one can see it,

but they can see it maybe on your social media. Does Dan own a Street X? That's not, different Dan. That's a different Dan? Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Fuck, I wish we owned Street X. Yeah.

No, Dan, that's Daniel Bradshaw, different Dan. Okay, okay, that's the one who was messaging about the pinging the cunts and all that, okay. It's actually, it's out. Yeah, yeah. Connor, GC in the back there tried to buy it. He said it was a little pricey. He's the merch king.

He's the JDM king. He was the only one out of your entire uncrowned staff who picked JDM. I think Frank did too. Mysterious Frank? Yeah, mysterious Frank. Yeah, let's not forget about it. Most people do forget about him, if I'm being honest. Wait, what?

There he is. Sorry, Frank, didn't know you were listening. Yeah, I's not forget about him. Most people do forget about him if I'm being honest. Wait, what? Sorry Frank, didn't know you were listening. Yeah, I like that. I know Connor's a big JDM guy. Smart man. It was great to have him yesterday. Great to have you as well. Congrats on all the success. Saturday, what a day. And what's the next big one? I think you have one, you have Jack coming up, Jack Hermansen. Hermansen's back on International Fight Week. Is that the next big one? And then Max in July.

So I got a bit of a break now, which is nice. Oh, you have a nice little like month and a half off. Yeah, gone to Thailand. When's she coming back, by the way, Casey? Hopefully this year. Okay. She suffered another injury, which is really unfortunate,

but she's rehabbing hard and when she's healthy, back at it. All right. Well, we look forward to that. Thank you so much for coming in. Appreciate you very much. We'll take a quick break, and we'll be joined by Arjun Buller in studio. Don't go anywhere.

Classic clip coming up. I don't even remember which one it is. Take a look. We'll find out together. There he is. The king of MMA managers, Tim Simpson. That was such a lovely chat with Jack Del Maddalena. You can see it right now on the channel

Great to have him in studio. Just a couple days after the victory great to have Tim Simpson in studio one of the very best Managers in the game. What a what a roster he has. It's really unbelievable Especially at such a young age and it's just him and his partner Daniel Doing incredible work for the likes of JDM Paul Hughes Israel destiny at high Tui Vasa Leon Edwards here You're a pro husker max Holloway Jack Hermansen Shamil gaz. Yev Casey O'Neill. I mean, it's really it's a it's a who's who It is a who's who let me get that That's a good one Can you hear what I'm doing it?, I can hear part of it. How?

Because it's so loud. But it's supposed to be a cough button. This is an attenuator, not a muter. All right. So that was great chat. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. In a matter of seconds, we're gonna be joined by the former one championship heavyweight champion.

It was actually just his birthday yesterday. Two time NAIA gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, member of Team Canada in the 2012 Summer Olympics, a former UFC fighter, and of course a one-championship fighter. We last saw him in action back in March of 2024. He has a new documentary coming out on Amazon Prime in just a few days time. He is the pride of both India and Canada.

He is the one and only Arjun Buller. He is here in studio. We go back to back. There he is, my guy Arjun. How are you? It's been a while in person. It has been a minute. It's great to see you.

Absolutely. Beautiful studio. Thank you, thank you. You liked it? I was loving it. Not only that, my family's loving it. It has been a minute. It's great to see you. Absolutely. Beautiful studio. Thank you, thank you. You liked it? I was loving it. Not only that, my family's loving it. I got the kids here.

I got the wife. I got everybody. How many kids now? So I've got three. I've got my seven-year-old. I've got my four-year-old. And I got my little guy. He's one and a half.

He's sleeping in his drawer. Okay, okay. I love it. Yeah. It's not easy because you're coming from BC, right? BC, Vancouver. It's not easy to come from're coming from BC, right? BC, Vancouver. It's not easy to come from BC to New York with three kids under the age of seven.

Hey, but I gotta do it. I'm coming into my guy's studio. Well, you're not just here for me, with all due respect. You've got a lot going on. By the way, happy belated birthday. Thank you. Yesterday, right? That's true. 39?

Yeah. Were you here or were you home? I was, I departed last night. Okay, so you got to spend some time at home? Some time there, a little brunch, that type of thing, but we were packing and getting out this way. As you know, we had some loose ends to tie up, so it was a heck of a day, but made it here. You're all good. Okay, so why are you in New York? I'm just admiring this person. You might have a DC stare at me over there.

Yeah, he's everywhere. People don't get to see this side of the studio. They get to see a little bit of it. I remember that picture. Which one, which one? That one, the USA one. The one on the right? Yeah, on the left.

The singlet, the wrestling one. That's the original guy. Yeah, this is him right there. That's the killer. You still sound exactly like him. There it is. That's the guy, full-headed here, little trimmer. He's in New York too.

He's here right now. Well, he was here yesterday. He might've left. Okay. He didn't come by the studio. I'm a little bit mad at him. He was doing media. You guys have your thing, right?

We have a love-hate. We have a love-hate. But yes, because you were a part of AKA. Yeah. He actually tells the story of like meeting you at the Olympic Training Center. That's how I, that's the wrestling route. That's what I'm saying.

Yes, yes, yes. He was the guy, because he's older, right? Yes. Yes. And so you study all the guys that are that are great. And he was the guy he's the captain of the U.S. Olympic team for a reason. Yeah, we've known each other since I was 18, 19 years old. Was he cool? Was he nice to the younger guys? Was he was. Yeah.

He didn't like big time you. No, man. No. And I was to be honest, I still have it today. I'm always a little shy around him. Really? Because of his aura. Just him. He's one of the guys. He's one of, you know, he sweat together.

He spent all his time together, but still. Because not only, you know, I got stories for days with this guy, right? Not only has he carried himself well professionally, he's a family man all the way around as well. Right, right. No issues outside the cage or outside of, you know, and a lot of setbacks obviously, you know,

but his family situation coming through, he bounced back from that, you know, the Olympics, weighing in, not being able to compete for his country. Sure, sure. And then on the coming on in the MMA world and not, you know, I'm going to say it like it is not being able to, to, to have a, a clean opponent to see how great he is, you know? Um, so he's had a lot of adversity, but that's also allowed him to get to height. And I, and I took a lot of that, you know, um, how, you know, I was there, um, by his side since Jones won

and, uh, I just, you know, how, how does he deal with a lot of that stuff? Sure. Right, to be front seat there and seeing that, you know, you take a lot away from great people around you. And he's been that guy for sure. You were at AK during the prime of AK, right? Like you're in that room and it's DC, it's Khabib, yourself, Luke Rockhold, Kane, golly.

Oh yeah, he just ran through Brock, all that stuff. Wow. I remember my first day, man. Shout out Kane. Yeah. That guy's... Crazy, right? Huge.

I can't believe the California justice system, to be quite honest with you. From what I heard, the judge went as light as possible. Right, thank God. Thank God. I've seen, actually, I actually I seen how throw something out that if it was up to Trump, he'd pardon him right away, but it has to be a State governor. Yeah, okay. Okay. I mean, I think I think Trump would be quite honest, but um Kane man, he was you know, my first day there remember and Kane was was a dog. That was primetime Kane and

Again, you know that you ever shake hand, soft hands? Oh, yes. All that. You know, all that. And, uh, he had his Porsche. Jump in, let me take you for a ride. The Porsche booted me around, uh, around town there and stuff after training. And I was like, wow.

And you're just new to the gym. New first trip, first time. Wow. AK came to Alaska, jumped in my car. Let me take you for a ride. And, uh, yeah. And then it just speaks to what the team was about. Right. Right.

Kane was like that. Obviously DC was open arms. Hav, it comes from the top. Bob Cook. Yeah. You know, Luke was there. You know, Habib, all these guys, right? And Habib was in Habib at that time.

Right, right. But, and I was just a wrestler. I was just coming in as a wrestling guy for Jones 1. That. Right, right. But, and I was just a wrestler. I was just coming in as a wrestling guy for Jones One. That was it. Wow, did you even want to be an MMA fighter at that point? I did. Okay, but you hadn't fought yet.

I hadn't done anything yet. Wow. But I had that, heading into the Olympics, I already had my mind that I wanted to go explore this. I couldn't wait for the Olympics to be done so I can go and do that. You don't want to do two things Obviously, right, right. So I don't want her kind of that journey and see that through

and and I actually Right after the Olympics. I don't know if he was UFC Toronto For whatever reason the guys were in Toronto and the Olympic team had an event in Toronto downtown Toronto. It could have been a UFC Toronto event right after the Olympics and Rashad was there, DC was there, a bunch of these guys there in the club and a bunch of the Olympians were there, Team Canada and I went up there, hey man, like I just wrapped up and started talking to Rashad. He was with the Black Zillions at the time, they had just launched. He gave me his number, he said, come through. I told him, I want to do this fight stuff.

And DC was there obviously and that was a natural connect. And I remember running up and they were getting into it. They were? I said, I can beat you. I know I can take you down. They're just joining. Friendly, yeah. Yeah.

And I was like, Matt, this is cool. So that was kind of my first introduction to kind of the UFC side of things was right after the Olympics there, I had my mind made up. I didn't follow up with Rashad. I went down actually to tri-star first. Oh wow. Canadian stomping grounds.

And then down to AK, obviously. You know, the best heavyweights were there. Yeah. And it was just a perfect figure. As soon as I walked in Same grind as wrestling sparring hard all the time going hard all aspects a little bit different approach from tri star Trish I didn't have the bigger bodies. I love the hobby and his mindset and his approach But just aka was as soon as I walked through those doors that was it and okay So so we're kind of going down a different path here

But let's stick on this path for a moment because we know about your UFC time, won championship, you became heavyweight champion, first champion of Indian descent to become a champion in a major organization, but we haven't seen you fight since March of 2024. Where have you been? I've been waiting, man. You know how the business side of things are, man. It's been a rough go to be quite honest. You, and a lot of guys are dealing with that with

other companies. Sure. You know, but. You're not retired. I've never been retired. Never, never. So why haven't you fought? My contract just got expired now.

Wow. You know, like literally. I'm literally January 1st. Okay. Okay. Yeah.? Like literally last? Literally January 1st. Okay, okay. Yeah. All right. So. So I've been.

So you're a free agent. I'm a free agent. You're done with one championship. Done with one championship. Why didn't you stay with them? Why I didn't stay with them? I'm not at liberty to speak my mind even after. Why not?

You have contracts and non-discouraging clauses. You're a free man. Really? You would think so. You would think so. So it is what it is. How do things end with them? You know, heading into that, I'll say this. When I was a free agent with the UFC, I had the offer from the UFC.

One was just signed DJ, signed Eddie, signed Sage, had a TV deal with Star in India, big deal. There, what is it, 300 million homes, 400 million homes out there. And got a call from Matty Hume, you know? Hey, we wanna do business and we wanna bring you out, want you to be our guy, all that stuff. And I will say this, one doesn't run without Matthew.

He's the guy, right? And Flumeo, red carpet treatment, all that kind of stuff in Singapore, love the vibe of it. They had Indian investors as well, Weshokan's with, so they were fully invested into the Indian market, whereas the UFC had no plans. Their plans were for Abu Dhabi at that time, jump into that market,

Middle East, nothing for that. So I, you know, and I talked it over with the people around me and I thought, okay, this is the best way to go for me. And I, to be, to be honest in, in Hinds tight, I still think it was, and I can get to that. You don't regret it.

I don't because, you know, one at the end of the day gave me an opportunity to fight for a world title. It gave me a platform in India, which I always craved and always wanted. No one had those opportunities outside of that. Um, Bellator didn't make sense.

PFL didn't make sense. UFC was tied up for several years at that time between DC, Stipe and Francis. And that played out for several years after. And, um, so it And so it gave me a lot of things. It chucked off a lot of boxes for me. And got that title. Then the business side kicks in. I was blind to kind of that side of the business. What do you mean by, by what these, how these contracts handcuff you?

Oh, okay. Um, as, as you know, you know, uh, all contracts are similar. Yeah. You know, athletes can't, can't say anything disparaging to the company, which is a blanket statement that could be anything. Whereas the company can say whatever they want

and do whatever they want for an athlete. You have essentially, uh, shout out to the company, which is a blanket statement that could be anything. Whereas the company can say whatever they want and do whatever they want for an athlete. You have essentially, shout out to the MMA, the class action lawsuit. It's the reason they did that, was to get more, more rights for fighters. Cause essentially that piece of paper means nothing.

We're held to what we have to do as fighters. Every company has that same clauses, same everything. And the company generally doesn't really have to honor as fighters, every company has that, same closet, same everything. And the company doesn't really have to honor their end of it. You have no, what are you going to do, who are you going to go to? There's no body to appeal to. And so anyhow, so we went through that.

Things kind of went left from there, through that kind of renegotiation once I became a champion. And as a fighter, you want to stay active. That's when you get paid. That's how you stay sharp. You know, you got a family to feed. You want to be the best. You only have a certain amount of time.

So any company that says otherwise, that a fighter doesn't want to be active, isn't accurate. So I can speak to myself, and I've always wanted to be active is inaccurate. So I can speak to myself and I've always wanted to be active. And you know the second half of my time with them shook out the way it did. And it is what it is. Like I said I can't, you know, I have great things that are on the horizon here and I'd rather just I have great things that are on the horizon here and I'd rather just shine a light on that and put that behind me. Because end of the day, if I look at all that, I've been able to live quite a great life. I don't hang myself up on any one moment in life.

The life I've had, first I was a wrestler. Commonwealth Games, Olympics Olympics all of that That's that's one whole life lived a lot of people that would live just that life would be that's that's a 1% They get to go to the Olympics right and go represent the country for years and years around the world went over 30 different countries That that's a full life lived turn that chapter UFC that whole life that whole life, one championship, that whole, I lived another life. Right. People would be very blessed to be able to live that life. So I, and now I'm setting up a couple other things on the back end which we can get into. So I've been able to live multiple lives that people would love to kind of be able to live

live out. So I look at it through that lens. You know, life's a journey. I've lived a great life. I'm not just a wrestler. I'm not just a fighter. The most important part of what matters to me is in your studio up front. And I was just talking to you guy Eric, actually, to be quite honest. So we have the, he has three kids, I have three kids. Same age, same gender, we're all three, broke it, broke it, and we were just talking about it. And it's funny, he said it and it's true, priorities change. And you know, I'm not the same person I was when I was 20, 25, 30, and so on and so forth. Legacy is very important to me, and that's what really drove me through my athletics.

And I wanted to have secure legacy and have a legacy for my family and for my kids to look up to. But then the more I got into it, and as I had a second kid and a third kid, I was like, wait a second, this is the true legacy. This is the real stuff. Right. And you have to be very selfish as a fighter, for sure.

And then you gotta get at a crossroads. If you're doing this for your family and for your kids, then you should be more present as well. You can't be more selfish than what needs to be taken care of on that front. Because again, coming from a wrestler's mindset, you want to be the best at everything you do. You want to be the best father, the best husband, the best son, the best in business, in every

aspect. And so those priorities were, I was grappling with those and they change as you go through different parts of life. And so, you know, I'm at peace with everything that I've lived and I'm excited for what I have coming up and that's really where things are at. So I don't really want to dwell on one championship or anything else to be quite honest with you that it went well for the parts that did and I'm excited for the future.

I would be remiss if I don't ask you this, because I know you're a very proud man. Absolutely. And I know you're very proud of your heritage and your family and where your family comes from, of India, of Canada, et cetera. The last sort of image that I have of you in one championship is Chatterjee sitting

at the Post Fight Press Conference saying, India is not going to be proud of Arjun Buller because of the fight, because of the red card. That to me is a bridge too far. Everyone has a bad fight, everyone has a bad night at the office, and we could talk about that, but to say that your country is not proud of you

because of that fight, that felt personal, and that felt like a low blow. Honestly, I felt like that was too much, and I just wanted to know how you felt when you heard that a year ago. Well, you nailed it in terms of what my insides are about. And I'm really struggling with biting my tongue here. I understand.

And I'm not trying to put you in a tough spot. No, no, I understand that and you get flack for that, but I get you, it's on me. I got a phone call just on the way here about this, you know, from my side, from my guys. To be careful. To be careful, that's all. You know, why I signed with One, they checked off the Asian values, honor, humility, respect, family values, right?

All of those things is what was marketed and what the company stood for from the top down. He said what he said. I'll leave it to you to see if that reflects the company values. And you know. What's crazy is he could say, I didn't like the fight, we didn't like the fight, but to say that the country

now is ashamed of you is a crazy statement to make. You can't speak for anybody, that's a fact. Well, yeah, and that too. You know, so, you know. Was it over for you at that point? Did you know like, hey. It was over before that. Oh, it was, okay, all right.

You know, to be quite honest, I mean, and I appreciate you asking when he was on your studio, I was watching, hey where's this guy? Where's my guy at? And asking those questions. I wasn't able to speak to it and I'm even, you know, like I said, the contracts are the contracts now, but I appreciate you always being the voice for athletes because you're not hamstrung by anything. I appreciate that.

So can I ask about the performance? Sure. Why did it play out that way? So for those that don't remember, you were given a very rare red card. I didn't even know they could do that, to be quite honest. I didn't even know that whole system, to be quite honest. So it's a red card for timidity, and as a result,

you're disqualified. Sure. So how did that happen? Blew my mind. So it's a red card for timidity, and as a result you're disqualified. Sure. So how did that happen? Blew my mind. Was it fair? Was this the one championship version of the Montreal Screwjob? Oh yeah, true, very true.

First of all, I didn't even know that could happen. You had no idea? No, I didn't know that. I've. Number one. You had no idea. No, I didn't, I didn't know that. I've never seen that. You've seen yellow cards. I guess I have seen those, but I've never seen that. And I didn't, I don't even know the process of how that happens. Yeah.

I don't know. Um, you know, you know, aside from my fight, for example, the fight after me, um, if you look at that same card, there was a guy named Monkey God that fought. Jared Brooks. Did you watch that fight? Oh, I mean, top of the mind, I don't remember how it played out. I felt for him. You know, and I don't have the answers to any of this, but he fought, he pounded the

guy out, got on the cage, declared the winner by Herb Dean, everything. And then there's a voice from the side saying, hey, no, that's actually, he's disqualified. And it's a red card and they reversed the decision in the cage. So, you know, I don't know, I don't know how this stuff, you know, I don't know. I'm not going to speak on myself, but I was, there was questions for that same event for Monkey God's fight.

Monkey God was crying in the back. He's like, what just happened? You know? For someone like you right now. I will say, you know, go ahead. Well, I'm just wondering, now that you're a free agent, I was just talking about this with Tim Simpson, who's a great manager,

and we talk about it on the show all the time. There aren't a ton of options, right? Sure. The MMA business is in a weird spot. Agreed. It's a, it's a, it's, it's. Are you feeling frustrated by it? Um, yes and no.

Um, yes and no, you know, um, it, it, it, it's definitely tough for the athletes. Um, you know, you, you want options. Um, the reason there aren't options are because of the way the contracts are from the top down, from the UFC down to be quite honest. The playbook was written by those guys. That's, you want options. The reason there aren't options are because of the way the contracts are from the top down, from the UFC down to be quite honest. The playbook was written by those guys, let's be honest. You know, that's why there was a class action lawsuit.

You don't have options for athletes. You have no negotiating power, no promoters bidding on your services. You know, companies are going to go out of business quick, you know? Um, but kudos to them making it work and now sucking up the WWE and the TKO and it looks like boxing, so we have combat sports on the lock. Um, but for the fighters agreed.

I mean, you know, one thing I'd say to the fighters for sure, and I've had this discussion many times, the only, the only recourse fighters generally have are legal if you're stuck and you can threaten to go to discovery and go with legal, and generally companies don't like that, and that's what happened with class action and other fighters that have gone that route. So it helps being in a North American court where there is discovery for a company based out of Las Vegas or what have you so you can play that. But companies like Ryzen or anybody else that aren't North American based, you don't even

have that. So there's no card you can play. At least you can play that card. Because the company usually doesn't want to go through discovery and show kind of their communications and their business practices if you're being wronged. But that's all I'll say for that. I was wondering about this.

We had on Monday Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff on the program. And they're launching this real American freestyle wrestling. I know you love pro wrestling and wrestling is your bread and butter. I'm talking collegiate amateur wrestling, Olympic wrestling. Is that a potential option for you? You know what? That's exciting. And I hope that gets going. It's a tough venture, first of all. They used to have real amateur wrestling, R-A-W before, which DC competed at. I remember, yes, yes, yes.

So they used to have that as well. So it's not the first time someone's taken a crack at this. And it didn't work. It didn't work, but you know what? It's a different marketplace too. Sure, sure, sure. MMA didn't have this highlight on the sport of wrestling. Donald Trump wasn't showing up at the NCAAs.

You didn't have Elon Musk sitting there. You didn't have all of that happening. So the sport is at a different place. NILs obviously changed the landscape for all college sports. And you didn't have Hogan and Bischoff and that black and white NWOP kind of marketing behind it. So there is a bigger fan base to make it happen I'm curious to see what their business case is but Wyatt Henderson, Gable Stevenson they really I think launched that from what Hogan and Bischoff were saying. Heck of a match, heck of a storyline, final match, the president sitting there salute, you know, huge upset.

And uh. Would you want to go back to that or would you prefer to be in MMA? You know what? They signed Ben Askren, I don't know if you saw this. I didn't see that. He's gonna compete. He's gonna compete, yeah.

Okay. Kyle Dake, they signed Kyle Snyder, but we're not sure about. Askren's looking a little puff nowadays. Have you seen him? He's put on a little. Has he? Because actually, last time I saw him,

he was actually looking ripped. I thought he was on the TRT. Exactly what I'm alluding to. Oh, okay. Okay. In a good way. Yeah, yeah. Oh, he's looking buff.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I don't know if there's any drug testing in that organization. That's one thing I'll look at for any future contracts for sure. I've been clean my whole life. I can speak to myself. Okay. I don't know about any of my past opponents. Yeah.

You know? But that's definitely something that I'll look at for sure. Even playing field is a must. But yeah, I mean, if Askren signed, you know, that's- I think they need to do that. Like to try to get some names from the world of MMA. Agreed. Those crossover matches is like that. Yes, yes.

And definitely would interest me, absolutely. You know, my time for chasing to be the best I can to compete against the best in the world in MMA, that time has passed. Okay. Naturally. I don't have that itch to do that. And my best years have passed. Now fun stuff, check, check all the way through.

Okay. We're talking, we can get into the boxing aspect a little bit here. We can talk the pro wrestling. You want to box? Well, I mean, you know, it's fun stuff, fun matchups. And recently I was involved with exploring that side of the business with the Imbani family. Okay. You were involved. This story that came out in December. Correct. With Logan, Paul, and Conor McGregor.

You were involved. All of that, yes, absolutely. In what way, shape, or form? So, I'll lay it out. So, it was myself and a fellow New Yorker, your guy, Akash Singh, Flegant Podcast. Okay, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was us.

So he- It was you guys. It was us, yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, it was us. So he- It was you guys. It was us, yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So what that was essentially, my contract was coming up.

Yeah. And again, I knew where I was at in terms of what I wanted to do. And that was something I was just saying, Saudis, all these guys are putting on huge events, but everyone continues to overlook India. That market, everybody. This huge capital in that market. I mean there's a reason Trump's pivoting away from China and going that way. There's a huge, you know, they've got the largest population in the

world, democracy, huge capital and they love combat sports, right? So the pitch was that. Akash had been out to the Ambani wedding. Ananth Ambani's wedding. This is one of the richest families in the world. This wedding. This is a top five family in the world. Right. The wedding was some crazy number, right? 300 million spent on the wedding.

Golly. 300 million, yeah. And you had everyone from Bezos to Zuckerberg to heads of state. This was last summer? This was last summer. Yeah. Yeah. Last summer. So it was a huge flex and it was, you know, weeks and weeks and, you know, they had everybody, you had your Kardashians there, you had Floyd pop through, everyone was there. it was the place to be and Yeah, so as I was looking at that I'm like, okay, you know, here's a family there

They're a leading family in India. They get behind anything it takes off, right? They had just done a deal They owned Geo sports in India huge platform. They had just done a merger with star sports And the merger was valued at eight and a half billion dollars. Starsports is owned by Disney out in India. So they did a merger, huge media company out there and anything they get behind sports wise, you know, the wives on the IOC board, they want to bring the Olympics to India, they want to make this the century of India and the Ambani family leading that way. Okay And they've done a great job to be quite honest with you for doing that

So I was like, okay, we got to get to these people and make a pitch I mean, you know, if you look at the Middle East it checks off all the boxes for India what they wanted to do and so I went through, you know a few people my roll it X and And one of them was Akash, because he went to that wedding as well. And we got to talking, and he loved it. And he was picking Andrew Shultz's brain on that as well. He's a big fight fan, big boxing guy.

And so he got the vision of it, and he had the relationship at first. I was like, connect me, and let's see what we can do. So we pitched him and it started snow-billing fast from there. And they were very interested. And they wanted to do it in India. They wanted to, what we were told, word for word, it has to be 100 million or bigger,

or we're not interested. If our name's attached to it. And I'm like, okay. You know, they're like, we want a spectacle. Boxing as a sport isn't developed enough where they follow the kind of the, you know, your run of the mill boxers, but we want the names and we want the spectacle to come to India in Mumbai. And they just built a stadium there, spent

a billion dollars on it, it's their stadium. So all the pieces were in place except for the fight aspect and that's where I got to work. And we sat down with Richard Schaeffer, Floyd's team, got on the horn with Jake's team, Logan's team, they had a relationship with Logan and Connor, got on the phone with basically Canelo's team, Eddie Reynoso, those guys. So when you, so you know we went down the road with all of them for all the matchups, explored, I don't want to say who turned what down, I don't want to get to that aspect obviously, explored all of sure. Obviously who explored all of those. Manny's name was brought up for Floyd.

Um, Logan's name was brought up. Um, like I said, um, that's the corner stuff got going both under the TKO umbrella. Um, and, uh, and then, you know, it was Canelo and Jake was the last one on the deck. After all those didn't work out for one reason or another it was Jake and Canelo okay and it was it was something that wasn't kept Canelo side was surprised they said

if Jake would take that we're 100% on board wow they were shocked that he would be open to it so the fact that they're even fighting now or they they were papering it, was because of that. It wasn't even a thought to them before. They didn't think it was a real fight. But you weren't involved in where it ended up, right? Yeah, so we'll get to that. So they were shocked. They're like, we'll do it.

And they go, it's not Al Hayman. It's nothing like that. You're talking to the guys in charge, And it's Eddie, it's Canelo. And that's it. Went back to Jake's side. They were game. OK, let's put pen to paper and numbers and all that. And for that, he and Bonnie's obviously

had to speak for what they wanted to do. And as we were juggling that, next thing you know, it's basically, hey, are you guys going to come up with X? Yes or no? Otherwise, we're going to do it. And MVP was going to do it. And they had it papered, and they, I guess, connected because of that. And it was in Imbani's court.

And it was a big number. And it was going to be on Netflix and Netflix India, Netflix in America, if it's MVP, out this way, but end of the day they didn't come up with a number and weren't willing to write that check. They, the Imbanis, in India, to secure it. Was the number that big? It was a big number. It was a big number. It was nine figures. It was more than 100. It was a big number. And so to secure it, they go, and then, so basically it was a done deal and the quesas, you know, had it all done with Canelo's side. That's what we were told and it was at the 11th hour and they were in LA to get the thing done if the Mbanis didn't do it.

Next thing, you know, freaking two weeks later or whatever it was, I can't remember the exact timeline, and Canelo signing with Turkey and going that route. I can speak to that, that was a done deal from everything Nekisa said, and it started on with the Imbani side. What about Logan and Conor? Did that ever get off the ground? Not with the UFC. No, they weren't interested.

I mean, they were down, they were both game. Who, the fighters, yeah. The fighters were down, Logan was down, Conor were down. They were both game. Who the fighters. Yeah. Fighters were down. Yeah. Logan was down. Connor was down. You saw her as you know, we're just talking about contracts. He has two fights left. Yeah. Um, he was tweeting about it like, and he was

referencing the family. Exactly. Exactly. Um, uh, yeah. So it was all real. It was all right there. It was high level stuff. Um, um, Bonnie's got on the phone on the UFC side. I'm not going to say with who, um, and they said Yeah, so it was all real, it was all right there. It was high level stuff.

Bonnie's got on the phone on the UFC side, I'm not gonna say with who, and they said they want that Connor to fulfill his contractual obligations. And then they were considering going TKO, ARRI, and just going all the way up, and decided, you know let's let's pursue this Jake Canelo thing while Connor fixes it. They didn't want to get in a messy situation and Connor all of obviously has to be in fight shape and he had a

case at that time and some bad so they go you know what this one's cleaner let's just go that way and and we don't even know if we can get this done if the UFC is gonna stand in the way of it but I think that's a great fight. And we don't even know if we can get this done. If the UFC is going to stand in the way of it, but I think that's a great fight. Oh yeah. I don't know what you're going to get out of Connor at this point, but a Logan Connor fight. That's going to be a huge spectacle.

Huge. So, so are they still interested in promoting fights or putting on a big event? So they're interested in spectacles, big events. They said we're still interested, but I don't know what's out there now. What do you pitch them? There there's, there's, you know, Floyd's not a-

What about Logan versus Jake? Logan versus Jake. Yeah, that's the one that I think- That's the only one that's out there. And I mean, I guess you'd have to get TKO involved, but I feel like they'd be more open to it than- On the Logan side you're saying? Well, yeah, just cause maybe not.

Maybe not, I think he's free. I mean, he did the boxing match. He had to do boxing. I mean, they would probably more open to it than... On the Logan side you're saying? Well, yeah, just because, maybe not. Maybe not. I think he's free. He had to do boxing. I mean, they would probably have to sign off on it, but I've always felt when Jake versus Mike fell through, the first time it was supposed to happen last summer, they were kicking around the idea of Jake versus Logan. Yeah.

And I've always felt like that was the next big one. Well, you know, there is... There's a story between them. And not only that, when Ambani's, what I was told, had that conversation with the UFC, they gave their answer, but also pivoted, hey, let's figure out a way we can get the UFC to India. So they're looking to make inroads out that way, too.

And you're not going to make inroads into India without the Ambani family, because of Geostar, because of their will in the country. You can't do business in there without them. So there is something that could be worked out for both sides win-win. You never know, that's actually a good thought. Yeah.

Do I get a finder's fee or something? Do I get a cut, 1% of the 100 milli? Hey, breaking news right here. Where's the horn? Yeah, yeah, yeah, where's the horn, Frank? Where's the horn? I don't know if you can play it out. There it is, there it is, there it is.

Wow, have you met them? Yeah, virtually of course. Okay, okay. Can't imagine what that's like. I didn't fly out there. Obviously if it was a done deal, it'd be a different story. Sure, sure, sure. But yeah. Incredible. Okay, let's Can't imagine what that's like. I can fly out there. Obviously if it was a done deal, it'd be a different story. Sure, sure, sure.

But yeah. Incredible. Okay, let's talk about what you're doing here. Sure. What are you doing here? I am here, wanting to catch up with my pal. Okay, yeah. Absolutely.

You have a documentary? What's that? You have a documentary coming out about yourself? I do, I do. So that's been cooking for a while. And very excited, very proud. It's called Title Fight Between Two Worlds, produced by Ambassador.

Ambassador Studios based here right in New York. Like I said, been years in the making. Yeah, how long has this been in the making? Because I remember when they reached out to me, it was like four or so years ago about this. Yeah, yeah, so they've been, and they've got footage from India. This is the trailer right here?

Right here, right here. They're running it? Yeah, we're running it right now. That's me and my old man, look at him. By the way, you're- That's me and my old man. That's your dad? That's my dad.

Your dad was Jack. He's the wrestler, brother, that's where he came from. Wow. That's it. Who did he compete for? He, born in India, but trained in Canada with the Olympic team, but always went back to India. That was his roots

That's where he is. That's his that's our club in India where those guys are training. Okay, these guys are wrestlers That's traditional style wrestling. That's our club in India. What footage is unbelievable. That's where my dad came up This is how they train. This is how they train. This is a combat. So that's why I carry DC that mace Yeah, that's what you get the champion wrestlers And athletes get that you're the grand supreme champion. Oh, wow. That's like your get, the champion wrestlers and athletes get that. You're the grand supreme champion. Oh wow, that's like your version of the belt. Absolutely.

And that was Russell Peters. Russell Peters. The man. And... So this follows your life, it tells... Is it about your life story? Is this your wife? That's wife, this is the man. So is it about the story of Arjun Buller?

Everything, it's, you know what, it starts with story of Arjun Buller? Everything. You know what? It starts with my father, father-son story, immigrant story, and then it gets into the fighting aspect. I don't know, these are the guys. That whole bit. The father-son is very close to me, obviously. And that's the immigrant story. That's why I had great conversations

with Russell too, Prime Minister Trudeau. You have the actual Prime Minister talking about you in there. Yeah. That's crazy. Oops. Yeah. And so when does this come out?

So this is, we got some breaking news on that too. Okay. We'll let this run. Okay, yeah. This is your boy Vera. Yeah. What a Yeah. Um, is your boy Vera? Yeah. What a time. Title fight. That fight was in the pandemic.

Yeah. Um, so yeah, that was, yeah, title fight between two worlds. Between two worlds, as you know, Canadian, Indian, juggling that, um, but honoring that at the same time talking about the the immigrants join my father my family coming over the connection with my father as you saw the man was jacked yeah and since diapers been been been pushing me and and then Russell Peters really spoke on that actually to be quite honest with you he was stuck in the same area, you know, Indian ethnicity,

heritage, you want to honor that, but you're Canadian and the struggles with that, you know, um, you know, it was a different time when my family came over, like there were physical fights, physical altercations, open racism. Um, and that's the time my, my, my family came through. Um, so I really wanted to capture that, uh, as a part of the story, cause it is, it really motivated me. Um, you know, that's one of the reasons my dad continued with wrestling, self-defense, he needed to, um, you know, in the streets at that time, if, um, you know, in our community and it's not just our family, our entire community, if you, you, you, you had brown skin, you wore different clothes, you ate different food, you weren't welcomed.

And you had to travel in groups because of safety and all that kind of stuff. Fights were regular. And both my parents faced that. They got spat on, they got beat up. In Canada. In Canada. In Vancouver.

And not only that, in that time, in the early 70s, it was even, when my grandpa came before that, it was even worse, you know? And he wore a turban, my father did not, right? For that reason? What's that? Did he not wear a turban for that reason? Cause he didn't want to drive.

You tried to fit in, always. At that time, obviously times have changed and you embrace multiculturalism and things of, you know? And that's one of the reasons I tried to represent that. Because at that time, it was looked down upon and you didn't, and now here I am, I'm going to do that. I'm going to represent that.

That was a wild time when you wanted to wear it in the UFC and they said it was the Reebok deal. Come on, that was such nonsense, right? They always use Reebok as the scapegoat. Oh, the Reebok deal won't allow it. then eventually you got to do it yeah absolutely I appreciate you again crazy standing up for the fighters on that that was great Winnipeg I remember yeah Edmonton excuse me yes and that's right yeah um so it talks about that immigrant story the connection with my father and our story which is very

close to me Russell expands on that as well. That's, you know, he struggled. He got bullied a lot too. I don't know if you know, you know, he could throw hands. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He's sure he could throw hands. Trades.

Yeah. His dad was a boxer in India. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, he's got pictures. Okay. He's accomplished. So when Russell was getting beat up and, and, and facing a lot of that, he's older than me.

So he had it worse. Um, um, he's younger than my dad, but older than me. In Toronto, in Brampton as you know, there weren't many Indians back then. And yeah, he faced that all the time and he goes one day when I came home and I'm beat up, my dad goes that's enough. I'm going to show you how to throw your hands down, how to protect yourself. And then he started going to a boxing gym. That's how he met Lennox Lewis, all these guys. And he talked about a lot of that too, just where do you fit in, in Canada, in India? You know what I mean? So yeah, and then talk about a full circle moment. My family came over when Pierre Elliott Trudeau

was Prime Minister and allowed us in the country. Wow. And they faced what they faced. And here, and then they came for their family, for their future, for their kids to have a better opportunity. And here's their kid who represented the Maple Leaf for years and years around the world, Olympic

Games, all of that. Goes to the UFC, goes to one championship, wins a world title, and sitting there is now the Prime Minister of that same country thanking him and his family for coming to the country. Wow, wow. You know, full circle. And that Prime Minister is the son of the Prime Minister who welcomed your family. Exactly. So talk about, um, talk about, uh, full circle, talk about, um, redemption, if you will talk about inspiration. Um, that's our story as a family and it's there. This comes out this week, right?

So this comes out. It's so we were here in New York to launch it. It's tomorrow at NBA headquarters, but just for you and your viewers, your guy, Eric has a link for a sneak peek for anyone that's watching your stuff. Oh, right now. You throw it out. Okay. And they can go to that link and they can

catch it before it's released to anybody else in the world. Wow. And that's just for you, my friend. That's incredible. We come bringing gifts. Ah, that's amazing. We can put that in the chat guys and pin it at

the top of the chat right now. So anyone who's watching this live and we can put it in the, in the pin it at the top of the chat right now so anyone who's watching this live, and we can put it in the description. That's incredible, thank you. Who the fuck is we? All of Hillwani's people, that is for you. Wow. And yeah, so we're doing our official launch is tomorrow. It's gonna be on Amazon Prime.

There it is. There it is. That's a nice poster. Thank you, thank you. Why at the NBA headquarters, by the way? Why not? Why not, all right. I don't know if they were involved in some kind of way. I mean they are. They're gonna have their people there. Okay. I'm not involved on the planning side of it to be quite honest. Yeah, but when they said hey

This is what we were looking at Gold House as well. Okay. I guess that's here I don't know the lay of the land here. They do a lot of things for multiculturalism and okay, okay,ism. And NBA was another one. HQ and go, let's go. No problem. And the Knicks are playing this Saturday. Well, they're playing tonight in Boston. If we win, the series is over.

So I hope they're not playing this weekend. True. Because I want to get ready for the Eastern Conference Finals. I had it on my calendar for Saturday night. I'm hoping to get it here, but agreed. If we win tonight, I'm sorry, but we're unavailable. Hard to be a part of something like this, to have the cameras, your family,

you're kind of opening your life, your family's history, your story to the world. Is that a tough thing? Again, it's something I had to grow accustomed to. I never had social media even heading to the Olympics. I that a tough thing? Again, it's something I had to grow accustomed to. I never had social media even heading to the Olympics. Wow. I'm a very private guy. And then I was struggling for that coming into this world because one, they require it. And two, I've never posted about when I'm banged up or any excuses or anything like that. And I didn't want to give any ammo to any of my opponents because that's something I hold

real close to myself is my family and you share so much with the world, you want something that's actually yours. So I wanted to keep something that was mine but these guys really pushed me. And they followed me like I said, they had in India, in Canada, at AK, behind the scenes stuff. For example, for that title fight I was the most banged up I've been for any of my fights. Out of all my fights. And they captured a lot of that. I hadn't trained for weeks leading into that. Fighters always talk about that. But I never shed light on any of that kind of stuff. And then obviously the pandemic was a huge thing.

But yeah, it was, like I said, priorities change. And if I really wanted to have this as a legacy piece for my family forever, I did want to open some of that up. And they did a good job of pushing me. And it's there. You got a lot of behind the scenes stuff. You know, stuff you wouldn't see otherwise. You know, for people that don't know, I live on a big farm in Richmond. You know, when our family came over, there were six, seven people to a room on both sides, my mom's family and my dad's family, because there was no money in the pocket, you had to. And so there were a lot of people that were

housed and a lot of people that came over that you housed until they got on their feet. So how we live now is the same way. Wow. So I've got, we've got over, we've got about 25 people that live in one house. Wow. And they kind of show that dynamics. We're multi-generational and multi-family. So, um. 25 in one house. Easily.

From your side or your wife's side? This is no, no, no, the A side. My, my. Okay. Uh-oh. Wait, who's the A side? I still don't know the answer to this. I'm a buller, right?

Okay. Okay. All right. That's what it is. All right. it is. I take care, you know. So that's generally in the culture, right? So my father and his brothers built this big farmhouse with my grandparents. You got four different houses built like this that are connected. My grandparents are in the middle, who have now passed. And that's what we celebrate all the Christmases,

Thanksgiving, birthdays. Watch our UFCs or any other big event, your Super Bowls. That's kind of in the middle that connects everybody. And you'll see some of that footage here from some Thanksgiving and that type of stuff. But everyone has their own houses. So my dad has his, my uncles have theirs, and so do their kids

And some have moved some are still there, but the kids are now married and they have kids Okay, so you've got I'm there with my uncles aunts. Wow cousins Sister-in-law's if you will their kids so everyone and it's a beautiful way to live Because everyone has a purpose everyone is has a purpose for being there. The older people of the family pass down knowledge, take care of the grandkids, they're in that phase of their life, that aspect. The younger generation like us, we're out there hustling and we give that kind of platform and that position to our seniors that respects to them and So they feel fulfilled we feel you know we're giving that respect and honor and we've got that support

And then you got the kids they've got their parents. They got their grandkids Which which is unique, but now they've got you know their additional grandparents and their additional uncles and aunts So you have these kids being raised in such a community based feel And benefiting from that. It's just such a holistic way to live And and you don't see too much of that, but that's something we kept over from the old days Yeah, you did that when your face first came over, but now we're doing another choice. So that's that's just one aspect of it That's that's that's cool and unique that people wouldn't get a glimpse of otherwise And I'm on board to seeing it. I look forward to seeing it and thank you

I'm told they put it in the chat right now So if you're watching this live or after the fact you can watch it. Thanks to Arjun and the team Are we gonna see you fight this year? Um, you know what? Let me check my phone. Okay, what you got a text? I there were there was something Okay, there a fight offer on the table there were so it's cool stuff. I told you. Okay. What? You got a text? I, there were, there was something. Okay. Is there a fight offer on the table? There were, um, so it's cool stuff. I told you, right? Yeah. It's cool stuff and, and, uh, combat that I'm interested in, be it pro wrestling, be it, uh, boxing or even a fun fight on the MMA side, which is few and far

between now considering the options. So there is something I was hoping to announce here. Ah. They're in a meeting and you would it's it's they've told me it's a done deal but I can't announce it until I get the paperwork. Which side of the equation is it like are we talking? You're gonna love it. Okay it's on that side for sure and it's gonna be I will be out there before the end of the month this month for this. Okay. So you'll know I can even tell you off here You'll know like If they're in the meeting right now, you'll know in 24 48 hours if no, oh wow

So you left us hanging it's something that you love. It's something I love. I have a feeling I know what it is They some what you're saying But yeah, so it's that's that's exciting. Yeah, it's something that, again, it checks off what motivates me. Like I said, I'm very active, and I'm motivated, and it has to make sense, it has to be fun, and this does all of those things. Okay, well stay tuned for that. Absolutely. This was great.

Thank you for coming in, Arjun. Thank you, man. Great to see you. You know what? It's been a minute since I've been on your show, first time in the studio. Yes, it's great. I want to give you your props as well. Great to see you. You know what it's been a minute. Yeah. I've been on your show first time in the studio. Yes. I want to give you your props as well. Oh thank you. Like I said when athletes don't have a voice you're that voice. Thank you. When people can't even managers when they can't speak their mind because you know managers are handcuffed in this business as well. Sure. They only have so much sway as well. You speak your mind and you say what needs to be said and

you're the only man standing and you get there's no one else out there that's able to do what you do that's put himself on the line like you have that's been ostracized because of you taking a stance I respect that and that's not a new thing you've stood on that since day one you're a proud Canadian to boot and and keep doing what you're doing man. I don't know if fighters tell you or not but we all appreciate it and your platform serves us and thank you so much. Man, thank you. That means the world to me, honestly, sincerely. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. You're a mensch. I appreciate you very

much and I wish you the best and I can't wait to watch the doc. It looks fantastic It looks really high quality. So good luck with that and good luck with whatever thing You got brewing here. It sounds pretty exciting. He is Arjun Buller. He is the man He is the pride of India in Canada kind enough to join us here We're gonna take a quick break. We'll answer your super chats on the back end of all this do not go anywhere That was my conversation with the one and only, the legendary Kimbo Slice back in September of 2009. The reason that one came to mind is cause I saw DC and Chael here in New York

promoting the Ultimate Fighter. He was in New York promoting the Ultimate Fighter. What a time that was. I remember being at a Yankees game, the day that he fought Roy Nelson on the Ultimate Fighter. Now this is a fight that was taped four months prior. I remember leaving early, running in the rain to make it to my Upper East Side apartment

in time to watch Kimbo versus Roy, which ended up being a win for Roy, of course. Didn't quite work out. But that's how big it was. That's how important the Ultimate Fighter was back then. What a time it was, what a time it was. Now, it's been a great day. We gotta wrap things up.

I've been completely off the grid because I've been locked in on these in-studio chats. I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed them as well. We do have in the chat right now, the Arjun Buller documentary pinned. So shout out to Arjun and his team for hooking us up with that when this show is done. Please enjoy On the House. Now while we've been on the air, some breaking news from the world

of both boxing and mixed martial arts. How about this one? We talked yesterday on the Ariel and Adé program about MVP really going all in on women's boxing. Signing earlier this week Chantel Cameron, signing Savannah Marshall. Well, they just announced moments ago that they have signed the boxing Hall of Famer, the former UFC women's bantamweight champion, the preacher's daughter, Holly Holm. She is signed with MVP. There she is with Nakisa, face off moments ago in LA, and she will be fighting on the June 28th card And she will be fighting on the June 28th card in Orange County at the Honda Center, going up against the undefeated Yolanda Vega in a 10-round lightweight bout.

So that's 135 pounds. And I'm reading the story here. I'm excited to partner with Most Viable Promotions. This is according to ESPN. She's coming back, back to boxing. She was 33, two and three, won world titles in three weight classes, competed in both boxing and MMA in 2011, but shifted solely to MMA as

a lot of you know in 2013, and then of course famously knocked out Ronda Rousey in 2015. What a story. I love this. Remember she left the UFC, was linked to GFL. This is where, alright, so I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this if I can. Remember I said that there was a story where a manager asked me like, which route should I go? I don't know if anyone remembers that.

I was saying like, just to kind of prove like how I had massive doubts. And he said, if you were me, which route would you go? I said, I'm not telling you what to do, but if it was me, MVP, return to boxing or GFL, I'm taking that MVP deal all day. Because the story of Holly going back to boxing, seeing what they were doing with the women's fighters,

you know, there's Serrano out there, they've got the relationship with Katie Taylor, that's a fight that's been talked about, this feels like the perfect way to end her career. So I love this. Congratulations to her. There was a report that came out that Nasaldin Imavov is the backup fighter for UFC 319. And Drikus, who's a Hall of Fame trash talker at this point he tweeted or excuse me wrote on his

IG story guess I'm fighting that's what he evolved What I don't understand is why isn't it Nasal Dean versus Kyle bojali Oh Like why isn't that the number one contender fight? Why? Like if he's gonna be preparing to compete on that day one up and Kyle Needs a fight. What did that make the most sense? I don't know. Yeah, I've never really understood, Nasruddin's gonna get a paycheck, which is nice,

but it doesn't guarantee him a title shot or anything. Why not just put the Bahá'u'lláh fight? I mean, we just saw Ian Gehry in Montreal be the backup fighter, and he's multiple fights away from getting a title shot. Yeah, but 100% Ian just fought. Okay, it makes sense. Like this is a fight that's happening in Three months a card that's in three months. Kyle needs a fight I think everyone thinks that that's the fight to make or believes that that's a fight to make and

According to Kyle. It was a fight that was offered to him. I don't know it just seems kind of weird no? I'm with you. So those are things that have happened. Let's answer some super chats shall we? I'm saying this all because where the hell is the Superchats channel? I can't. So, oh, there it is. Now where is it? Just, just write a, write something in it so it pops up again. Cause it's not highlighted and I can't find it. Oh, here it is.

All right. There it is. It's been a long day gents. It's been a long day. All right, here it is. All right, there it is. It's been a long day, gents. It's been a long day. All right, here we go. Jake from the Windy City, when are you getting the Stanley Cup in the studio? I'd love to have it.

I don't know, do they parade it around like they do the Lario B? If they do. You don't even know, right? I feel like more so do they do they bring it to people do they do like media stuff with it but the team gets to hold it for a few weeks yeah that's after the fact but I don't know if they do like the media build up like the NBA does it does it was just at the UFC fighting on no no no that now it wasn't just there they have their own version But it goes places, you know, it does it was I mean it was just at the UFC fight in not well

No, no, no that now wasn't just there. They have their own version of it because Montreal's won 24 So they've got the whole thing. Oh, they just have replicas. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I don't think that was the real one Very cool shot when Jack is walking into the arena the game of the long Entrance and right behind him are all the small cups and the logo love that but yeah the teams will have them but that's not the real one and I don't know if they do the media stuff like the NBA does I love when the NBA does that. Throwing it out there we ever get the chance we would like to do it we ain't kissing that one we're putting some champagne in there we're drinking it yeah we're having a whole party. Throwing it out there. This is from George

Stewart Pacers versus Knicks, back-to-back playoffs, this time Easter Conference finals. You can officially call this a rivalry. Also, fraud check is a real thing, prime example. Cleveland versus Indiana. Okay, there's a lot there, George. Number one, it ain't Pacers versus Knicks just yet, because the Knicks have to beat the Celtics,

and we are not looking past them. They are a wounded animal, but sometimes those are the most dangerous animals. We still have to win five, six or seven. I pray it's tonight and we can rest a little bit. If we do get by them, it would be Knicks versus Pacers. We'd be the higher seed. We'd get the home court advantage. What a turn of events. I have always felt throughout the year

that the Pacers were a formidable foe and that they were underachieving, especially, remember last year during the playoffs, they didn't have, and people call him Matheran, it's not Matheran, it's Benedict Maturin, the pride of Montreal. They didn't have him during that playoff run last year. They're very good. They're very good. They're very tough. They've got energy for days.

They're essentially pressing you for 48 minutes. They're deep. They're athletic. You've got multiple options. Siakam is, I think, very underrated. Miles Turner, Tyrese Halberden, TJ McConnell is a pest. You've got Nie Smith and Nemhart. I mean, Matron as well. Like, it is a pest. You've got Nie Smith and Nemhart.

I mean, Matron as well. Like it is a very, very good team. I'm still shocked that they beat the Cavs. Injuries are not. I thought the Cavs would at least extend it to six. You know, obviously when you're banged up hard to make it competitive. I get that, totally understand.

But I thought they would win at home and at least extend it to six and then maybe, you know, flame out there. Were the Cavs fraud checked? I don't know. I don't think the Cavs were frauds. I think the Cavs were a really good team. And I thought for the longest time it was going to be Cavs versus OKC. That's how it was trending. I mean, they had 13, 14, 15 game winning streaks, like multiple very long 10 plus game winning streaks. I think they just got to Richard. Remember last year the same thing happened to the Knicks. No one cried for the Knicks last year when we lost Julius Randall, we lost OGN and OB, we lost Mitchell Robinson, Jalen was banged up, Josh Hart was banged up. No one was crying for

the Knicks back then. So this just happens. It's the luck of the draw, if you will. It's injuries in the playoffs. I feel for Cavs fans, I was asking Rick this, I mean he's a massive Cavs fan. Do you feel like you were kind of like, you know, taking for a ride? No, I know, I wasn't throwing it because I figured he would have stepped up. You've got to put them in the bucket. I don't think they were fraud checked because of the injury. They were not fraud-checked. They just lost to a very good and a very healthy team. The last thing George brings up though is like, I'm not getting into the, of course it's a rivalry,

because guess what? What you're going to see over the next, if the Knicks advance, is not only parallels drawn to last year's Eastern Conference semis, where the Pacers beat the Knicks in seven games and our heart was broken because there was a path there and we got injured. But oh, by the way, the last three times

that the Knicks were in the conference finals was against the Pacers. We beat the Pacers in 94, we beat them in 99, we lost to them in 2000. There's a history there. There's a rivalry there. And you know what sucks, you know what drives me nuts? The conference finals are on TNT

and that means Reggie Miller is gonna be the... You took the words out of my mouth. Yeah, it's gonna... Also, T.J. McConnell, not sure, I can't remember if you mentioned him, Thorin and Jalen Brunson side last year. Oh yeah, no, I did mention him. I called him an annoying pest. Yeah, no. I see some people saying that the Knicks are the favorites now to

win the Eastern Conference. First of all, I am NOT looking past the Celtics. I think they are going to come out firing today and if they do, the Pacers are not going to roll over. Like, that's a seven game series in my opinion and a tough one. Derek the Dad, who would win in a fatal four-way P.T. Ariel, G.C. or Rick? I think the fans would win. Why are people so interested in these questions? MJ Anderson asks, I respect Francis. It would seem that his signing was the last piece of good news to come out of the PFL. I mean I don't know about that. The Paul Hughes fight was in January against Usman and it was a great fight. But yes, last big splash. Ah, signing Paul Hughes was a pretty big splash.

Anyway, was it the first step in their financial mismanagement and inevitable bankruptcy? Beltour was the final nail in the coffin. No, he fought once for them. This idea that Francis bankrupted the PFL, he fought once for them. This idea that Francis bankrupted the PFL, he fought once for them. They made a ton of mistakes leading up to Francis and a ton of mistakes after Francis as well. And by the way, I urge you all to listen to the Ringer MMA show that we did, the breaking news one, on a Tuesday when Francis signed with the PFL. I didn't applaud it that day. What I said was, let's see how the whole story plays out. Once he got the Tyson Fury fight, then I said, all right, the gamble paid off.

But if the decision to leave the UFC led to just signing with the PFL, it wouldn't have been a success. He needed that other part. That's the one that got him the money. Fury fight, AJ fight. That's the one where got him the money. Fury Fight, AJ Fight, that's the one where he got the massive bucks. Go back. Don't listen to the revisionist historians out there. Charger, Kasti21, the difference, John Jones is the greatest to ever fight in the UFC and for you casuals, Valentina is higher on the goat list than Ilya in Islam. I mean, is anyone refuting that? Of

course she's higher. She's been around much longer. Ilya has one title defense. Islam, I believe it's five. So yeah she's been around. She's been around for sure. All right that does it for our super chats. I'm just looking very quickly here. Any other news happen since... Wow, look at this picture here with Oscar in between. It's Oscar and Nekisa standing in between Jake and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

You like that signing, GC? Oh yeah. Holly? Fired up. Okay. I dig it. He just said fired up. I don't think.

Man is stoked. I don't think he was being. Once it hit the internet, he was hooting and hollering. Here's Big Onk saying all the guys turned me down International Fight Week. Yep. Well I mean he did, Tim did say that Yuri has some exams. Yeah I get it man, school comes first. There's a great picture someone tweeted or I don't know, it got posted somewhere where someone said like, Yuri's in my class. Did you see this?

Yeah, so good. So good. Imagine. Can you imagine? Like he just acts like a regular student as well. Yeah, did they announce the, the Riyadh season stuff? Or the TKO boxing stuff? Nah, we've had an eye on the Netflix upfront, but.

Nothing? Nothing. All right. Well, I think we're good then. What do you say? It's been a long three days here. It has. Can we shout out.

Sorry, what was that, Brang? Our phone number again. Oh yeah. Yeah, leave us a message with a couple more voicemails. With the voice in the back tomorrow. 415-SUB-EITB. 415-787-2482. Yeah. tomorrow for one five subbie itb four one five seven eight seven two four eight two yeah

Frank's been begging Jordan to put that graphic up also Why we put it up earlier as he just wanted to read it for oh? Nine people of the phone number can you imagine like? Professor emailing you're even like hey come in a class this Thursday, and he's like And then oh, it's a little aggressive, Yuri. That's a good one. You think when he puts his hand up in class, he just puts up the fist?

He just puts up the fist and makes a grand entrance. I just like that Frank is now teeing himself up. Yeah, it's good shit. It's good shit. What do we got? What do we got tomorrow on The Boys in the Back? A clinical, a deep breakdown of UFC Apex 106, Gilbert Burns, Michael Morales. Good fight by the way. Pretty good fight. Important fight. Important fight. Especially for, I mean, you could,

Gilbert Burns loses. Michael Morales wins. You got another guy right in that heap of welterweight contenders. It's a good one. Maybe not the deepest card. No, certainly not. I'm not saying that, but there are some people

out there saying that it might not be the deepest card ever. We'll talk about that. Who's the lightweight goat? Okay. Islam's done, is he the lightweight goat? Pound for pound rankings. Because the UFC is returning to Chicago, pound for pound Chicago stuff. Just random? What? We're doing this three months in advance? We're high on Chicago right now. Chicago's so high. I don't know if you know this, but when you break break down the demographics most of our audience is from Chicago. I do kind of feel weird like we didn't get any Montreal fight feasts we're not getting any Montreal

pound-for-pound like it was nothing like Montreal was just like a blip on the radar. What was the gate like in Montreal? Six milli. What is the gate gonna be like in Chicago? 20. I rest my case. Yeah. All right. I mean, we only had Quebec flag, Canada flag hanging. That was nice, I did appreciate that. I did appreciate that, thank you. And then not only that, we were hanging it correctly. Yes.

Maple leaf going the right way. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Also, what's that pendant behind you? Is that new to the set? I didn't... Yeah, no, that was nice. That's a nice cut. You know, the debacle there has been explained

endless times. One that you were like, ah, there's a million Montreal cards. Just do the Demolition. That one I never said. That one I actually never said. Weren't you on the post show? This is also crazy.

Like the pizza thing was crazy. I'm really excited. I don't think, I think I'm on my pizza thing. The conversation went like, hey, did you see the Knicks game? Yeah, I'm delighted for you. Just, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, to be delighted for me. I just asked him if he saw the game. He could be a Celtics fan. But you probably told him you're, we don't need to. I will show it to you. I need screenshots of the text before I make my,

I go to the game. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I just asked you if you saw the game. I'm not asking for any sort of like, you know, fandom on your part. I was just like, where's this coming from? And then I did say, like, hey, are we really comparing the NIT tournament

to the NBA playoffs? Because that's what the Europa League is Let's be honest. I mean we'll be in the Champions League and you won't be so you know I did hear you take sides earlier Damn, I hate it when you guys fight By the way, Brendan Johnson is my favorite player. Yeah, I know we had an interview with him back in the day Yeah, of course I won this first one and especially after this whole debacle from Pizzi 1000% did you tell him that he wasn't needed on the show did I say have a great rest of your week yes but that just means like you hit him with one of those I just like how because he wasn't he

wasn't gonna be on the show tomorrow or yesterday so I wasn't sure like oh maybe he's got some more gardening to do or maybe you know what you said what's fucked up and your backpeddling I said have a great rest of your week like what what what's what's the big deal anyways gents it's time I'm delighted for you anyone I feel like I feel like we need like you guys want to go to like a Senk asset you're just making up words now? Saint-Cassette is the French term for happy hour. It's 520. Saint-Cassette, 5 to 7.

So the happy hour is two hours? Saint-Cassette, I like that. Yeah, happy hour is two hours. So if you tell someone in Montreal, like, hey, you want to go to a Saint-Cassette, that means you're going to a happy hour. Saint-C, 5, à, 7. That's what they call it. In La Belle Provence.

No, I'm just, I'm taught, you know, I think it's the Saturday pay-per-view post show, staying up late and then right back at it. I mean, how many in-studio guests? How many do we have? Not the wash party leading up to the post show. Well, I'm just talking about, I'm talking about myself. Jesus, you guys are... you're unbelievable.

I'm sorry? You're unbelievable. I've been sitting here for four and a half hours speaking, locked in. You know how tiring that is mentally? We just go into stasis. And then of course, I knew this was going to happen. What about us? I'm not talking about you. You may not be tired. You may be revved and ready to go. I'm revved and ready to go. I'm revved and ready to go You know credit to you. You were the first one here today. So after three shows yesterday

Wow, oh go ahead and have lunch guys Wow never felt more rest in my life. Yeah as you continue to like slump more and more down your chair. St. Gustav let's go Run it up. Same time, same place tomorrow. Hold on, are you gonna be here? Oh, I will be here. I will be here! I'm coming! Thank you to all our guests,

Arjun Buller, Tim Simpson, Benoit St. Denis, Valentina Shepchenko, Darren Till. Thanks to all of you, thanks to all of them. Back tomorrow, same time, same place. This is gonna be so much fun. and bless this happy summer here. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you