The Ariel Helwani Show - Debating Jon Jones' complicated legacy, Mairon Santos joins the show, more | The Boys in the Back

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

The Boys in the Back start the show by breaking down the timeline of Jon Jones’ recent flurry of social media activity (02:34), before debating his complicated legacy and whether retiring before fighting Tom Aspinall hurts how he's viewed (19:57).UFC featherweight and TUF winner Marion Santos joins the show after his decision victory over Sodiq Yusuff at UFC Vegas 106 to discuss the win, growing up in Brazil, being inspired by Anderson Silva and Charles Oliveira, his relationship with teammate Matheus Camilo, dreams of playing soccer, and more (32:38).The Boys rank their P4P summer activities (1:05:30), listen to your voicemails (1:27:37), and answer Super Chats (1:48:15).

But but but but but boys in the back but but but boys boys boys boys boys What is good? We are back with another episode of the boys in the back. I am one half you heard me correctly one half the boys in the back mysterious Frank enjoying his vacation in Seattle so we are running just the two of us I'm Connor Burks join alongside me as always Mr.. New York Rick mr.. Jackman Big Ricky in the house hello my friend. I like how Frankie immediately got axed. We're gone to two Enjoy your coffee. Enjoy your rain

There's also brought he brought Seattle to New York today this with this weather Yeah, we can or this is this just a representation of how? The Knicks fan base feels today after last night. Yeah, I hope I won He's not watching because even if he is I that my sincerest apologies. I feel for all New York Nick fans out there Tough loss last night. You just gotta see the end of the game last night really bad collapse What's the whole thing? Yeah, the Oilers they were up 3-1 gave it 5 in the third lose 6-3 so tough one for them hey shout out to the stars as well gonna dub Frankie stars even though you're not here Frank i'm supporting you that's the code word for today

to see if you're actually watching go stars wait did we get a response from frank from yesterday now word no he didn't he didn't send yesterday's code in yeah If you didn't see at the Knicks up 17 at one point up 9 with 52 seconds Yeah, not good got up to the 99.7 percent win probability Is it time for me to start taking the pacer seriously because I haven't really at this point I might have to if they win game two, it's not looking good But yeah I feel for I have many a die-hard Knicks fans in my life and that When that when the ball bounced up and then went straight back down

in the hoop, I gassed on my couch. I mean, I thought it was a three to start. I was like, oh, this is game over. I thought it was a three, too. I was like, oh. You hit that shot against us, too, against the Cavs. Yeah, my heart breaks, because the Knicks have been a tortured franchise for a long time.

Ariel Hauwani's been tortured for a long time when it comes to the sports fandom. I'm trying to will this into existence for the Knicks and their fans, but I don't know if we're gonna be able to do it. Gotta win the next game. We're not here to talk about basketball. We're here to talk about MMA.

No UFC card this weekend, but we will have Myron Santos on the show later. We'll also do pound-for-pound rankings in honor of Memorial Day summer activities, and then we'll do your voicemails and your super chats as well. But I wanted to kick the show off because I feel like the biggest news surrounding the UFC, surrounding the world of MMA right now, is what's going on with John Jones. He's been very active on social media this week, responding to to people's comments on Instagram doing a Q&A on Twitter videos have been coming out. Yeah, he's essentially trolling at this point So what I wanted to do was first go over

What he's done this week on social media and then sort of have the discussion of do we actually think he's done and if he is Done, where does that leave his legacy if he never fights again, what does his legacy look like in retirement? So the big video that sparked all this came out this week where he's talking on the phone with someone and they're essentially saying, you still got years left in this game, you're active, and he responds, I'm done. No, no, no, man, I'm done. We have the video right here. Now we have the video right here. The video where he says I'm excited. I'm excited. He said you got 10 years left, but you're still active.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again, Camille. You look great. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Let's let's do some business. All right. So there he says, I'm done. No, no, no, no, man, I'm done. How serious is he? Probably not dead serious, but he could be. And also, could that change tomorrow? Sure, but for now, in that moment, it seems like he's saying, I'm good for now.

And by the way, it's not like he's been secretive about this, right? Everything he's been saying to people has been not about coming back to fight to high mass, but everything he's been secretive about this right everything he's been saying to people has been not about coming back to fight to high mass but all everything he's been saying is like talking about how great his legacy is seeing if somebody says like hey we still want to see you fight him being like it's not a bad idea to come back and fight he has not in any way kind of broadcast the idea that he does want to come back and fight so for to hear him say like I'm done it would

make sense that he would be. Yeah, let's go through some of the tweets that we have from this week. Jordan, I'll just let you go in order and we can read them out. He starts, this is what really started it all. He says, dude, I'm out here in Thailand and I'm enjoying my life.

I'm stuffing my face every day and I swear I'm losing weight somehow. The quality of food here is amazing. So delicious, so clean. I hear that a lot about food outside of America. And someone responds, enjoying your last days as champ before being stripped, I see a John. And then he responds to that. Stripped? LOL. Do I come across as the type of person who cares about things like that? For the record. For the record, no. I don't

think he cares about that. He has been stripped three times in the past, in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and he did vacate his light heavyweight title in 2020. So he is not a stranger to that happening. Someone says, otherwise you'd vacate the belt a long time ago because you don't plan to fight Tom. He responds, y'all barking up the wrong tree. I told the UFC my plans a long time ago. I have no clue why they haven't shared them with you guys yet. Which is very interesting, which was pointed out by Hawani earlier this week

as essentially ammunition for the Aspen Hall team to go to the UFC and be like, all right man, what are the plans? What's going on here? What are John's plans? If you're not gonna tell everybody, at least tell me so I know what's going on with my career. It's also interesting as a response to somebody being like, well, you're not gonna tell everybody at least tell me so I know what's going on with my career. It's also

Interesting as a response to somebody being like well, you're holding this up and John not saying Don't worry. Like don't worry. This will happen instead saying like they know my plan which Reading the tea leaves could not be the affirmative right could not be hey, I told the UFC I'm ready to fight. Let them know. It seems much more in the other direction. Let's continue. So you work, so are you fighting again or not? You are the current champion of the division. Johnny Meat says, not a bad idea. So now we're swinging in the other direction.

But are we though? Like if somebody says you should fight. This is like a master class in trolling. Yeah, not a bad idea isn't the same as, yeah, I'm gonna fight. But still trolling from John, Johnny, yeah, not a bad idea isn't the same as, yeah, I'm gonna fight, but still trolling from John. Johnny Meat. He continues on social media, all of this taking place

over the course of a few days. And then Anthony asks, how does it feel to be retired? Johnny Meat says, I don't know if I wanna call it retired. I feel like I've always had an ability to pop out and show them. I've had many breaks throughout my career. My identity outside of fighting is well intact. I'm genuinely enjoying life. I'm growing in different ways." He keeps going back to this like, I'm not ducking, life is good.

So like there's a world that he's like... Also pop out and show him from John Jones. He's gonna pop out and show him. Shout out to Kendrick Lamar. It feels like he keeps going back to this like, I'm not ducking, man, I'm just out here living my life. I'm just enjoying my life. I got money, I'm fine. I'm not ducking. Which is not what you would hear from somebody who is interested in fighting, right?

If we were to talk to Ian Machado Gary, right? Maybe he'll tell you about how great his life is. Maybe he'll talk about how good it is. But the other thing he'll tell you about is how desperately hungry he is to be a UFC champion. How desperately hungry he is to knock off the top contenders and prove that he is the best in the world. I'm only using Ian as an example. You can point to many athletes out there,

nearly everybody who is in the UFC. John Jones doesn't seem to be taking the tone and the tenor that they would. It seems like somebody who is on the other side of that, who is thinking about walking away from the game. Now, do I think that's definitive? I don't know, probably not. Like, as he said, maybe he pops out.

I can't believe he said pop out of the show. He's not that old. No, he's not that old. He's only 37. And especially at the heavyweight division, that is not that old. Not only has he been doing it for a long time But he's been a champion for a long time

He's been long time the face of the UFC at various points for a long time one of the UFC's biggest stars for a long time So when we talk about like a guy, you know Having miles on them his miles are different miles than most people's miles because he has been the man since he entered the fray and so That's a lot of responsibility. That's the fray and so that's a lot of responsibility that's a long time there's been a lot of ups and downs in his career it has not just been smooth sailing all the way through and so if you're somebody whose legacy is basically established as one of the goats and we can debate whether he is the goat or one of the goats suffice it

to say he is one of the best fighters of all time leaving now would not necessarily disrupt that would not overturn that to the point that people go well he's not he wasn't any good he is firmly established in that regard what would happen though if he came back and was able to beat Tom was it'd be in a stratosphere that I don't think anybody could ever potentially touch but I would understand if a man in his position just said, hey, I'm good. I'm good. I don't need it. I actually think if he did retire today, say, you just tweeted out, I'm done fighting him, never fighting again, a lot of people would be like, oh, duck, duck, I can't believe you duck,

blah, blah, blah. Then there would also be probably the majority of people would be like, well, he's still one of the greatest fighters of all time, respect, enjoy your time and everything like that. And I also think as time went on, the ducking stuff would just fade off and it would just be like, this guy is one of, if not the greatest fighters of all time. There's a couple more social media interactions he had this week. Sean Scott said, bro really wasted Tom's prime like that. No respect at all. Johnny Bone says, cry more. Essentially like, I don't care. Let's continue. I think there's one or two more. No. There it is. Legacy completely ruined.

LMAO. John Jones responds, John Jones, youngest champion UFC history, most dominant, longest reigning, made millions, left the sport on his own terms, flipped that fight money into real business success, became a great fighter, inspired people all over the world. Yeah. What a terrible legacy. Great father. Oh, great father. What did I say?

Great fighter? Yeah. Great father. Inspired people all over the world. Yeah. What a terrible legacy. He's laid out essentially what I'm saying, right? Like, I don't think that this is a legacy runner,

and I don't think it could possibly be because of how much he has done in the sport, but it is one of those things that this is the story of the moment, and it is impossible to escape, and it is impossible for him to escape. If this didn't bother him, I don't think he'd be replying, right?

If this was just something where it was like, people are saying all these things, it didn't bother him, he let it roll off his back, I'd be more firmly feeling like he could walk away comfortably. But the fact that people continue to talk to him about this, I do think leaves that possibility that he goes, I want to shut these people up. Because it has to be incessant. It has to be non-stop. Yeah, I mean, anytime you look him up, all it is is just about him and Tom Aspinall. And he's engaging with it, meaning he's seeing it. And for everyone that he replies to, there's 10 more he didn't reply to that he saw, you know? Okay, so all the vibes that we're getting from him is that he's sound in his legacy, he's sound with everything,

he's never even mentioned, like, I am going to fight Tom Aspinall. No. He actually goes the inverse. When he talks about Tom Aspinall, he's like, oh yeah, the guy that John Jones, that called out John Jones and never achieved anything great. That was a deleted tweet now. He's essentially just like, oh man, all he ever did was call out John Jones. See, like, where I accomplished all of these incredible things in my life. Now on the flip side of that, when Dana White made the announcements last week of Ilya and Charles, DDP, Hamza, people were asking him in the IG live about the fight, and this is what he had to say.

Naturally, right? I'm Aspen Hall, I didn't read it. I told you guys already, we'll get Aspen Hall versus Jones done. John Jones versus... The heavyweight fight will happen relax I'll announce that soon so did he forget Tom's name there what happened no I think it's like choked on some spit or something spit heavyweight fight will get done this is like nine days ago and he's like I will announce that soon he's been pretty consistent right like throughout the time now that is That this is going to happen. The optimism maybe has gone from 1,000%, 10 million%, 100%, don't worry, to like, OK, don't sweat it.

Don't get announced. It feels like it's like a softening of it. To me, that feels like hopeful, wishful thinking, right? That feels like Dana White going, look, if we can figure out a way to make it worth his while, we'll be able to get it done. To their credit, USC most often times does get that done, right? USC has a track record of being able to kind of figure out how to get these fights done, even the hardest ones to make. And so I

think that there's a confidence that you can build from coming from that place. And I think Dana White's right to do that. I also think there's a fear that if they go we didn't make Tom Aspinall versus John Jones the fans are going to be upset and the fans are going to hold that against them and the fans are going to say you always tell me Dana White, Dana White you always tell me MMA is where these fights happen, the UFC is where these fights happen, boxing they never make the fights they duck each other there's a thousand belts in the UFC we make the best fight the best. And if they can't stand on that promise, now we have an example where Francis Ngannou and John Jones were talking about each other and

it was not able to be made. John Jones and Tom Aspinall are seemingly on a collision course and it was not able to be made. There's a world where that is now becoming the record, at least when it comes to John Jones and some of these big time fights for the UFC. And I don't think the UFC wants that by any means, nor Dana White. Meanwhile, on the flip side of that, boxing is the one making the fights happen right now.

At the moment, Turkey Al-Sheik is footin' the bill on a lot of these fights. Danello Crawford, we're seeing these things happen. Yeah, you start to wonder, and what do they do? Do they just come out and just be like, all right, we're stripping John Jones, you're getting Tom Aspinall versus Ciro Ghan for the Undisputed.

Imagine the mayhem on MMA Twitter that day. It would erupt. Now, would the IRB be directed toward the UFC or John Jones? Because I think John Jones would take the majority of the heat. I think John Jones as well. I think there would be some directed at the UFC sort of like under the same breath that you were just saying.

Like, Danny, you kept saying it was gonna get done, now it doesn't get done. Now we get Tom Aspinall versus Cyril Gahn. Now on the flip side of this, sort of siding with the UFC, is there an argument to be made that like, John Jones doing this is just only drawing more attention to the potential of the fight happening?

Oh, it certainly is, and we said this back in November? When did Tom fight? November. November. No, July. July, holy shit. Yeah, Manchester, John Jones back in November. When did Tom fight? November. November. No, July. July, holy shit. 304, yeah, Manchester. John Jones fought in November.

That's right. We said this in November around the time that John Jones fought. He fought Stipe Miocic at MSG, where the stuff that he was doing in terms of shutting down Tom's advances and making it kind of unclear whether he was gonna fight him or not fight him until

the moment he stepped in the cage only built the anticipation of the fight, only built the promotion of the fight up. I think this does the same thing, but I don't know if that lasts forever. There's a certain point where people are going to go, shit or get off the pot like John Jones needs to make a decision. Because seemingly from all we've heard and Ariel has talked about this, the UFC is not the holdup anymore. There was a time where maybe the money was the holdup The UFC is not the holdup anymore. And now it's John Jones The one who is sitting and Kapos, uh posted that clip of Dana White I think after like UFC 169 or something about GSP and was essentially like you don't get to just sit on the belt

You you can't just be like, oh, I'm gonna go go take a cruise, and you'll come back, and the belt will be waiting for you. No, you owe it to the man that is challenging for the title. You owe it to the fans. You owe it to the promotion to continue to defend your belt. It's crazy how times have changed. I saw someone posted it as if it was an audio recording, and it was supposed to be framed as him talking about John Jones. And all the comments were like, AI, AI, this is bullshit.

It's like, no, this is actually just him talking about another one of the greats, GSP, probablySP yeah probably what 10 12 years ago at this point yeah GSP in the in you know after one of his title defenses going I'm gonna take some time away and Dana White not happy about it I also imagine if John Jones were to walk away we'd get a narrative from Dana White that's different I imagine he'd he'd be quicker to throw John under the bus at a certain point if he can't make this fight. All right, do you think he's done? No, I don't.

Do you think he fights Tom Aspinall next? No. Do you think Tom Aspinall's next fight is John Jones? No. Okay. So you think he leaves, Tom Aspinall fights with the bell, yada yada yada, and then eventually he comes back. I don't think he fights Tom Aspinall fights with the bell, yada, yada, yada, and then eventually he comes back. I don't think he fights Tom Aspinall now.

I think if Tom Aspinall could get some more wins under his belt, all of a sudden, maybe that becomes a little more appealing and then he's able to justify it and come back. Maybe some of the fire comes, you know, if John Jones is sitting on the sidelines for a year or two, all of a sudden maybe the itch to get back in there happens, and that thing that fueled him to become the great champion

that he had been previously kind of returns. I just don't think, I don't think right now, as we continue to creep further and further and closer and closer and closer to this, like, drop dead point of we need to make this fight, I don't think he's ultimately gonna do it at this point in time I think we'll know months before but I feel like MSG is the is the point of whether you know or not 100% you then you have to find out some time in September August yeah I feel like far and at that point if we're not finding

out till then that means Tom Aspinall will have been active Inactive for over a year just sitting on the sidelines with you're in a half almost at his athletic prime Yeah, as many people are rightly angry about Tom Aspinall has wasted some of his prime years because he's good on the The the silver lining on the plus side if you want to look at the glass Looking at the glass half full, one, there's not a lot of challengers, right? There's not a lot of guys that I'm like dying

to see Tom Aspinal fight, so it's not like- You're getting this half-baked zero gone over a questionable decision victory over Volkov. I thought Volkov won that fight clear as day. Yeah, so did I. Are you dying for that fight? No, not at all. I'm not dying for any of these.

So it's not like there's been something that Tom could have been doing in the interim. Tom also, he was in an interview with DJ earlier this week where he said as much, essentially he's just like, this is the fight with John Jones. It's more than just getting in the octagon and fighting him. I have to deal with all of this because the legacy on the line, the money on the line.

What we have lost though is some momentum because as we did on an episode of the show, I think Tom could be the biggest star in the UFC. And so we've lost time on that, but I think he has plenty of time to still achieve that. At heavyweight, you've got some years as we see, you can fight into older, later years because that power kind of doesn't go away. I think Tom's got a long career ahead of him. And so it's been unfortunate, but I don't think it's a, I don't think we lost much. I think we'll all recover been unfortunate, but I don't think it's a I don't think we lost much I think I think I think we'll all recover from it, but it does suck for Tom

He's not earning money for his family, you know at a time that he could be and massive life-changing money All right Let's live in a world where he is done John John where we get an announcement where we get an announcement Dana White goes on his IG live and he's just like yo John Jones out Tom Aspinpinall, serial gone, undisputed heavyweight title at MSG in November. John Jones gets on Twitter, yep, that's it, peace, Bon Voyage, that's it for me, 28, one, and one.

That's how we're gonna end this one. Where does his legacy lie? Where does his legacy stand? Let's go through the accomplishments and the controversies that come with John Jones in his career. Let's do it. The accomplishments, he's 28 and won. Won a no contest. That was a disqualification. So no man has ever stopped him or out-pointed him in a mixed martial arts fight. He also did beat DC

that got overturned to a no contest. He is the youngest champion in UFC history. He's a two division champion. He has the most title fight wins in UFC history with 16. He has the most successful title defenses in UFC history with 12. He has the most wins, most title defenses, longest win streak in UFC light heavyweight history. He's the only fighter ever to beat five former UFC champions consecutively. He holds wins over eight undisputed UFC champions and then Cyril Gaughan who was interim. Longest total reign is pound for pound number one with 1,743 days. Longest unbeaten streak in UFC history with 20 wins. He already has a fight in the Hall of Fame against Gustafson, will undoubtedly be a Hall of Famer himself,

and he was the 2011 Consensus Fighter of the Year. The resume is insane. If you stop there, if you end the conversation there, I don't think it's even debatable. I don't think it's a conversation. I don't think there's anybody else who can put their resume next to that, looking at the fights, put it next to next to that and go I did it better

There's just not there's it's just not possible The other half of what we'll get to is where I do think it becomes murkier Which is the controversy that that have Martin within the realm of the octagon within the realm of the sport Within the realm of the octagon, within the realm of the sport, Tess found the primary metabolic of cocaine prior to UFC 182 that was chalked up to just being a mistake. Tested positive for two banned substances prior to UFC 200, 12-month suspension from USADA. Tested positive for anabolic steroids prior to UFC 214, 15-month suspension from USADA. He was stripped of the light heavyweight title in April 2015 from his hit and run incident, which we'll get into in a second. He was stripped of his interim

light heavyweight title in November 2016, doping violation. He was again stripped of light heavyweight title in September 2017 due to steroids after the DC fight. December 23, 2018, UFC 232 was moved from Las Vegas to LA for him after a random drug test found a trace amount of steroids in it They said it was negligible, but they needed to move the commissions. It was the pulsing thing pulsing Yeah, and then he vacated the light heavyweight title in August 2020 to move up to heavyweight outside of the octagon a DUI in 2012 hit-and-run conviction 2015, charged with battery against a waitress in 2019, DUI in 2020 with no insurance and negligent use of a handgun, domestic violence arrest

in 2021, anger management class for allegedly threatening to kill a drug testing agent in 2024. And that's up until 2025, the outside of the octagon controversies. Yeah. until 2025, the outside of the octagon controversies. Yeah, it paints the picture of a very complicated kind of conversation to have to separate the art from the artist, right? Like inside the cage, he is brilliant. And when he is doing his work, when he is fighting,

he is brilliant. But there is no doubt that when you talk about John Jones, this is all part of that conversation, right? The positive test. Now, in a lot of these cases, it's been either cleared or there's been an explanation in the case of- Or you saw that has come out and been like, he is not a drug cheat.

These circumstances happened. You talked about moving the event. It was a pulsing from a previous positive test that they were, and as you kind of like wade through it, there is kind of some explanation that arises with some of these things, then you get to the outside, the octagon stuff you get to, whether, I would say that those two things are separate in my mind.

If I'm talking about MMA GOAT, I'm not talking about their personal life. That would be something that, the conversation of like, is John Jones a role model? Is John Jones a good person? Those kinds of things I think are a conversation to have and are part of that whole picture when you think about John Jones, but not necessarily what I'm factoring into when I talk about is John Jones the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, right?

We've reached a point where we know so much about our athletes in 2025. You have so much more knowledge into these athletes that we didn't have 20, 30 years ago. They're on social media, their lives are playing out in the public. There's 24 seven news coverage, all these things kind of like could be hidden away and you could just love your favorite athletes. Now we have a much more complicated relationship with some of these

athletes. We learn about them for good and for bad, right? There's some guys that we learned about and we're like, wow, they're everything we thought they were. And there's some guys that we learned about and we like, wow, they're everything we thought they were. And there's some guys that we learned about and were like, man, I wish this dude was a better dude. When I have this conversation about John Jones' legacy, I do separate that out in terms of goat status, but it's not separate from the conversation.

It's not put to the side when you talk about who is John Jones, what is John Jones, what was the impact he had on people, what was the impact he had on us as MMA fans? All this is part of that narrative. It just for me doesn't factor into goat or not goat. Now, there are some who will factor in the positive tests, right?

Now that factors into can you be the goat? Because there- That was going in my question. Does any of it affect the goats that it's arguing for? I think it has to. I agree. I think it has to. For me, ultimately, it is not enough

to make me think that John Jones is not the goat. The performances that I saw in the cage are enough for me to definitively say that I believe John Jones to be the greatest fighter of all time. But I think there are many out there and who would be rightful to say, these positive tests, mar that.

These positive tests take away from what I think is the best fighter, and I would have somebody else call it GSP, call it whoever else you wanna do. DJ, there's plenty of great names that you could pick from that. The resume itself though, I can't look at that and not go, and to have been alive for it, to see it,

to be a fan of the sport at the time that John Jones was competing, I can't look at him as anything other than the greatest mixed martial artist to fight. It's so similar to the Barry B John Jones was competing, I can't look at him as anything other than the greatest mixed martial artist to fight. It's so similar to the Barry Bonds argument in baseball, because we know Barry Bonds was an incredible baseball player before the steroids. When you could tell the dude was not on steroids,

tiny head, everything like that, but he still won multiple MVPs with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and then he starts launching balls into the river in San Francisco. And it's just like, the dude's unbelievable. He's undoubtedly one of the best baseball players alive, but like, is he the GOAT because you know that he took steroids? So it's sort of the same thing with John Jones.

Like, it has to hurt the argument that in some of the biggest fights of his life, were marred by these positive tests. Correct me if I'm wrong though, was there any that did not get explained away by Usada? Was there any that... No, no, it was really... Everything had some kind of justification, right? Justification, yes.

That it wasn't him taking them, trying to get an edge. There was an ingestion and then the pulsing. So to me, it's an impossible test if the people that we have put in charge of this testing and put in charge of this kind of conversation are saying he didn't knowingly ingest this, or this case was a pulsing and yada, yada, yada,

and onward and onward, it's hard for me to go, okay, this is the reason not. Now, I don't think I'm like everybody. I think there are many out there who will go, no, I don't care I'm like everybody. I think there will there are many out there No, we'll go. No, I don't care. He had it in the system and that's enough for me No, but I completely understand that it's not enough for me to go He's not the goat, but I think the story of John Jones if he was to retire today Beyond just like John Jones is the goat John Jones to me and it's not often you would say this about somebody who's as great

As he is is the biggest what what if story in MMA history. He's the biggest what could he have been if he took it as seriously as he should have, if he kept himself out of trouble. If he was somebody who was as dedicated to the game as he was doing everything else, what could he have been? Could he have done this times two? He took years out of his career

for some of these positive tests, for the outside the cage incidents, for all the things that were happening in his life. If he showed up as the best version of John Jones on every single night that we saw him and was as disciplined as, say, a George St. Pierre, would this resume be twice as good? Would this resume be three times as good? It'd be insane to think about what John Jones could have done if he took it as seriously as some of the other top athletes. That's a great point by you, because like the years that he missed, I mean think about it, since February of 2020 he's fought twice, Seregan and Stipe Miocic. Now I understand he was moving up at the vision and everything

like that, but it's like, and then you add in the 12 month suspension, the 15 month suspension, you know, having to win his title back, the no contest, everything like that, it really does make you wonder if he had approached the game as clinically as like a GSP did from... Purely too, just like everything was about it, everything was like keeping your body in the way, like as we know, John Jones liked the party, that's fine, but if he wasn't what could he have been right like from like 2009 2008 all the way up until now to him being 37 what would the resume look like what would he be 37 and oh like there's just no telling they there truly is no just no telling what I think I think because of how insane the resume is you cannot leave him off your Mount Rushmore of fighters.

I think a lot of people, because of the tests, are going to say he isn't the GOAT, and I understand that. But when it comes to my money for the best fighter of all time, I think it's John Jones. I think there's a difference between the GOAT and the best. I think the GOAT is the overall resume, everything put into the picture, and then the best, just at their peak, who was the best fighter of all time? For my money, it's John Jones.

Yeah, and the reason I'm so confident that the resume would be even more impressive is because during that peak, during that run where he was on top, there was nobody who was touching him. There was nobody. Now, there will be people who will tell you to this day Dominic Reyes beat him Dominic Reyes will be one of them The years before that I promise you nobody was coming close to this guy like he was just on a level and on a planet that Nobody else was able to to get to and nobody was able to achieve and so if he was if he was fighting Regularly during that period he would have racked up so many more wins.

It would have just been, it would have been this like insane Tiger Woods-esque run. Now, he's probably already the Tiger Woods, right? In terms of where he stands as far as on the field performance type stuff goes. But- 16 title fight wins. Insane, ridiculous.

Like- I mean, every fight he's been in since 2011 has been a title fight. He is undoubtedly, in terms of the performances, one of our best, one of the peak performers that we've ever had. But as we said, the legacy is more complicated than that. It can't just be the things in the cage,

and there's a lot to talk about when it comes to John Jones. And that will disqualify him for many people's list. And there will also be some people who are just like, man, I just don't like the guy. I don't want to talk about him because I don't like the guy. And I understand that. Like that, as I said, we are exposed to athletes in a completely different way now in 2025 where we know so much more about them than just the performances on the field or in the cage or things like that. And so complicated legacy, complicated life for John Jones. But ultimately for me, the greatest whoever did it, the best whoever did it. And the biggest what if story in MMA history, because often that

what if thing is about somebody who didn't make it, right? It's like, what if everything broke right for this guy? It's often what if he, everything did break right for this guy. He became one of the best ever. He became the best ever and I still believe he left some on the table. I still believe he left a lot to be desired, which is crazy. It truly is crazy and how much more,

we went through how crazy the resume is, how much more does a Tom Aspinal win help that legacy? Huge, it'd be massive. It just gets rid of the ducking allegations, he says that he beat the next generation at heavyweight. There will always be a guy that somebody will go but you didn't fight him. There will always be that. I don't think that that list ever ends. This is as close as you can get to ending the list. If you beat Tom Aspinall in his prime right now, I don't think anybody goes, but you didn't beat Cyril Gonn again. Actually,

I know exactly what would happen. If he did beat Tom, I guarantee you they anybody goes, but you didn't beat Cyril Gonn again. Oh, do you know what? Actually, I know exactly what would happen. If he did beat Tom, I guarantee you, they'd say, you ducked Francis, though. That's what would happen. I guarantee it. But this would be as close to completion as you can possibly get. There will always be the naysayers. All right, let's transition to UFC Apex 106 this past weekend, where we saw Myron Santos defeat Sadiiddique, Yusef by a unanimous

decision and we're lucky enough for him to join us right now. Myron, what's going on man? Thanks so much for the time. Hey, thanks for having me. Yeah, man. Great weekend. I'm very happy. Yeah, man.

So after the after the France's Marshall fight, you actually came out and said it yourself that there was very close scorecards. A lot of people scored it for Francis. You said that you felt he maybe should have had his hand raised as well. How good did it feel to go out there against the guy in Sadiq Youssef that now has 10 UFC fights, has been in main events, is a veteran of the sport at the highest level and get a clear unanimous decision win over him? of the sport at the highest level and get a clear unanimous decision win over him? Yeah man, it was great. We always want to finish fights, but I think for this one it was special to have a unanimous decision because of my last fight. And yeah, just like you said, like this guy, he's been in the UFC a long time. Main event fought a lot of good names.

You know, Diego Lopez, I think he got to the rankings after beating Siddiq, so he's a big name. So I'm just like super happy to have this performance and be dominant against a guy like him. Yeah, it was an incredible win. I do want to go back to the, to the Marshall fight just for a moment. I know, I know we're moving on bigger and better. I do want to go back to the martial fight just for a moment. I know we're moving on bigger and better. I do want to go back to something you said though.

I saw in an interview with Tom Drabacy for UFC.com, you talked about believing that the martial fight was going to be an easy fight. And you learned a lesson from that. Can I just ask you, what did the preparation look like for that fight that was different? What did thinking it was going to be an easy fight lead you to do differently in the preparation look like for that fight that was different? What did thinking it was gonna be an easy fight lead you to do differently in the preparation?

Was it less preparation? Was it not as intense preparation? How did that end up happening and what did that look like? So my preparation for the fight was very hard. Like with training, everything was like I always do, you know, super hard. And I always try to push myself to the limit. But my mind wasn't in the right spot. Like it wasn't about the training more. It was more about like my mindset going to the fight coming off like a knockout in the tough finale and I just felt like when I saw like his state and his fights I

thought it was gonna be easy fight you know because I really do believe in myself but I think I had too much of it so So I went there like, okay, first punch I'm gonna throw, like this guy, he gets hit a lot and I'm good in finding openings. So I thought I was gonna find the opening early and gonna knock him out. The problem in that fight was more like my mindset, not my preparation.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And so then how did you prepare your mind? What did you do leading into the fight against Sadik Yousef that allowed you to perform the way that you wanted to, that allowed you to go, okay, I'm not gonna ice him with the first punch. I'm gonna maybe be in there for longer and get yourself ready for a fight against a very tough guy.

Yeah, first of all, having good people around me helped me a lot. Coach Eric Nixik, when we got this fight, he said to me, hey, I need you like to be classy all the time, eyes open. And man, don't be relaxed like your last fight. And also I knew at this point when I got the fight, I already knew that what was wrong. So I just said to myself I'm gonna respect this guy but not respect him. So I knew he was powerful, I knew he was dangerous and always like to finish fights early. So I just like couldn't be like too comfortable

So I just like couldn't be like too comfortable going like to relax like I did with Marshall. So that was one of the things that I changed for this fight. Like I have to respect but at the same time don't respect. I saw in your IG story and I can see it on your chin now you said the only cut that you got in the fight was from his hair. How did this happen? the only cut that you got in the fight was from his hair? How did this happen? Yeah, so he was pressing me against the cage. It wasn't the first round and you know we are dry, no sweat, no nothing. And I just felt in the moment like burn after like he put his hat on my chin and I felt burned a little bit, but like that's normal. But then the next day was like. It looks like your skin's gone.

Yeah, man. And the bad thing is I always forgot. So after my shower, I was like with the towel drying my face and I like, I forgot and I did this and like it was bleeding and like the, like my, the like my that you know like this skin when it's healing so all this was gone so it was like just blood and this like skin so I don't know but yeah I maybe I'll have this mark forever and I remember yeah the scar from Sadiq Youssef.

I also saw on your IG story, you ballooned up to 83 kilograms after the fight. I was doing some research, man. Through your career, I saw you fought as low as 125 in your early career. I saw you fought as high as 175 pounds and now you're ballooning up to like, that's like 185 pounds. Is 155, obviously this was your first time fighting in 155 in the UFC. Is this gonna be your true weight class from now on? I don't know.

Could you do 170? No. Okay, all right. No, but like right now I'm leaning towards one more fight at 45. But like right now I'm resting, like I'm taking this week off. Next week I'll be training again, like not like usually I do because I want to rest a little bit. I feel like I've had three camps in a row, so my body's like all hurts and injuries from my last fights.

But I want to go back to training, go back to eat like normal and see how my body's going to feel. And then I'll take, like, my final decision. Right now, I still want to do one more at 45 because I like my height and reach for the weight class. And I think 155, of course, I'm healthy, but I'm like, my reach and height are very like average. And that's a big thing that I like to use in my fights, you know, because I like to fight long and things like that.

So I'll see. It was good to fight 155. I had no issues cutting the weight and recovery. So let's see. But right now my heart is like, okay, one boy at 45, but I haven't, like I don't have my decision yet. Yeah, you say that now, but I believe on media day,

before the fight, you said that we're looking at like, to get to featherweight, we're looking at a 40 pound weight cut, is that true? And if so, are you gonna feel that same way come fight week about going down to 45? So it's hard because like I had like fights like in this sequence so I didn't have time like to settle down and see like how my body would react like to a normal routine without having a camp. So I don't think that's good for me 40 pounds that's why I'm

thinking about 155 but like before like last year my normal weight, my walk around weight was like 170 to 175. So I want to see if my body changed or if it's just like I'm getting like too big between fights and after my body like we were tapped and go back to 170, 175. But yeah, man, 40 pounds is hard. I don't like that. I will always make weight regardless, but it's not fun. 40 pounds is draining, man. 40 pounds is draining. I know you and Mateus Camillo are boys and he got to make his UFC debut this week and unfortunately it didn't work out for him,

but how cool was that for y'all to not only be on the same card, but him making his UFC debut with you? Man, it was great. I said that to him and I'm gonna say here like he's been through this situation before and a good where he was winning and like he made a mistake and lost and after that six five streak, like four finishes. He fought the guy on the Dana White show. So I think it will be a good lesson for him. We are young, so we learn fast. And I know him.

I know he's already training. I know he didn't lose his focus. So I know it's going to didn't lose like his focus. So I know it's gonna be a good loss for him. And when when he comes back, it's gonna be like a good fight and you guys gonna see like a new version. And of course, like fighting the same card as him. In the UFC debut, it was good because we used to work together, like struggles together, and now we are in the UFC. And I know like we're gonna fight one day, same card again, and we're gonna have our

both friends hands raised. Yeah, that's incredible. And I wanna talk more a little bit about that relationship. I saw in an interview with Mike Owens of Inside Fighting that he, that it had been mentioned that you guys were washing vans together, you had been on the come up in Brazil waiting for your opportunity, saying one day we're both gonna be at this level,

and then you achieved it. Can you take me back to that point? Can you take me back to when you guys are cleaning the vans, to what the conversations are like, and how you're talking about making that dream come true? So that was actually here in the U S like 2021 to 2022. I think it was 2022. Yeah.

So I used to work in a tour company in Vegas. They're like, goes to Grand Canyon, places like that. But some days like I had to wash five vans and the vans were big, so I couldn't do it alone. And I would always call him to help me. And we would work together, get paid together. And even with two people, it was still hard. So, and before that, like I was working all day

doing food delivery. So I would work and train at the same time. Sometimes I would finish like by midnight and then I would go wash the vans and then finish like 5 a.m. in the morning. So we were doing that together like midnight to 4 to 5 a.m. And then like we would always say, hey man, one day we're going to be in the UFC and all these going to be just like good story that we're going to tell people.

And now it's a good story that we are telling people. So it's a good story that we are telling people. So it's good. Like I always believed it and he always believed it. So I think that was one of the reasons that we got like to get along so well, because like we, we passed through the same things in Brazil, the struggles and then the US same thing. So yeah, man, it was, now I can say, it was good times.

Yeah. And this was all by circumstance that you guys got put on the same card? Yeah, his fight was scheduled already like weeks before mine, I got the call. I thought it was four weeks, but actually it was like three weeks and someday like a couple more days.

But he was already scheduled to fight. I got the short notice fight and like luckily it wasn't the same card. And it was good. We got like to share the same locker room, like to have our concentration together. And of course, like it didn't go his way, but he's in the UFC, like he got to the UFC.

So he just had to make some adjustments and he'll be back stronger. I saw you welcomed your first child back in January with your wife, Yasmin. Congratulations, obviously. How has it been going through these training camps now as a father? Still just at 24 as well. Yeah, man. So, oh my God. You guys gonna make me cry. Happy tears, though. Happy tears. Yeah. So that's one of the reasons that I want to rest a little bit because this little guy, he puts in the work.

He's already talking, rolling over. Right now, we can't leave him in the bed and just rest because he's moving a lot. And I want to like, to be honest, these like two fights that I've had with him, I was sad because I couldn't be more present. So right now that's why I want to take some time off like to be more with him. And I don't want to miss any details because every day he's learning a new thing. So I want to be all these moments and some days I will be training and then home, shower, eat and train again and my wife would send me a video of him doing a new thing and I was like, oh, I'm sad because I'm missing this. Of course, I know I have to train and do everything,

but at the same time, I feel like if I rest a little bit, fight just in the end of the year, I will enjoy him a lot. Also, I want to like heal some injuries that I had from my fight with Marshall. So I want to take some time off and it's awesome to have him. My dream was always to be a dad and have a family and I have this now so I couldn't be any happier. Yeah, congratulations. We're so happy for you and you're wise beyond your years.

You're only 24 years old, but that's a great mentality to have. That's the right mindset to have. You're not going to get that time back, so make sure you do spend that time with your family. Make sure you're there for those moments. Also, your career is in a great trajectory. As I said, you're only 24 years old. You've got a lot of time ahead of you and you're already in a great position. Speaking of childhood, I was thinking about this. I also saw in another UFC article by Tom Drabacy that soccer was the calling,

or football was the calling for you when you were younger, but some kind of foot injury ended that dream. What was that? Can you tell me more about the foot injury and when you put the soccer dream on the side, and what was the thing that got you to transition into fighting? the soccer dream on the side, and what was the thing that got you

to transition into fighting? So I'll try to explain that. In English it's hard, sorry. But I'll try to explain. I was playing soccer in synthetic grass. It wasn't like a field with the natural grass. And I don't know if there was some glass or something in the grass that that I was like running and I just like I felt something cut my

big toe like a huge gash I had to take like eight stitches my my toe like was hanging like this, like it was hanging and I could see my bone. Oh my God. It wasn't good. And then I went to the hospital, eight stitches, rest. And okay, you can play soccer, it's fine. And then I think 10 days after, instead of going to the hospital, I just took

a clipper to cut nails and I removed the stitches by myself. I was 12. And then everything was fine. And then I slept. I stepped on the water and I slept and I hit the wall and I opened my toe again. And this time was even like worse. So the doctor said, if you don't rest, you can't play soccer. And I rest, I did everything. But every time I would play, my toe would bleed a lot because I'm like my good foot, I'm orthodox. My good foot like to kick is my right foot, my right leg. So every time it would bleed, it would hurt. And it was just annoying. And I was already

a fan of mixed martial arts. I was actually a big fan of Anderson Silva, because he was trending in Brazil at the time, because of his movements and everything. So I just said to my friend, like, hey, actually my friend invited me, hey, let's train Muay Tai. I was like 13 to 14. And I said, Oh man, my toe. No, no, you can use your hands. And they say, okay, Muay Thai isn't that thing that Anderson Silva does in the fight. And then after that, I just fell in love with like

striking. But I wanted to do like what I was watching the TV. So I started to train like MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, and then here I am. Okay, I have a few quick follow ups. One, does the toe ever come into play when you're training when when in the fight? No, no. Okay. So I really needed rest. Yeah, If I had like rest to play soccer, maybe I would be like a soccer player. I don't know.

But I didn't rest. So my first day is like training. I wouldn't kick because I was like scared of having something. So I wouldn't kick. I wouldn't do things like that. And then, like, I took the time that I needed because I wasn't using my foot and my toe. So I just needed time and I was using my hands, elbows, like doing pads. So my toe right now is 100%. It's just like super ugly, but I'm a fighter. So that's how it is. We're glad that you made the switch. We're happy to have you in MMA and

fighting. You mentioned some injuries. You mentioned some lingering things. Can you talk about what they are and will the end of the year you mentioned coming back potentially at the end of the year be a good enough timeline to get some of those worked out and healed? So I'm gonna talk about one. I have more than one, but one, my job here from the knockdown that Francis landed on me on my UFC debut, I don't know what it is, but it's hard. So

I still have some pain here. I checked with the doctor. It's not serious. I just need to rest. Sometimes when I'm chewing and sometimes even when I get hit, it hurts. So I need to rest. I have a couple more things, but I don't wanna say this here. I can say after, but here. But yeah, man. One of the things is like my jaw.

Again, props like to Francis, he landed a good punch and I wanna like have this fixed again, props like to Francis, he landed a good punch. And I wanna like have this fixed because otherwise I would have to jump to another profession. So I don't wanna do that. We do not wanna do that. You mentioned Anderson Silva as one of your inspirations. I also saw you got to meet Charles Olivera back in 2022. And you said that he was one of your inspirations as well.

What was it like getting to meet him, you know, at this point you're what, 21, 22? me Charles Oliveira back in 2022 and you said that he was one of your inspirations as well. What was it like getting to meet him, you know, at this point you're what, 21, 22? What was it like getting to meet him so young into your career? Oh man, it was great. At the time I was new here in the US, new going to the PI, so every time I would see a fighter I was like oh that's how a fighter looks in person but with Charles was different because I was a big fan even before the belt like because I knew I always knew that he was like a good fighter

but he would always like have these off moments but I knew that that wasn't him. And then I think he found his thing, he said that after his daughter was born, everything changed. And I was just a big fan, because I also come from a humble place in Brazil, and he has the same story, like small house, like trying to give a good life for his family.

And I just felt like inspired by that. And I was a big fan. So meeting him was great. And also like we were, we got to share like a moment in the sauna together and like he was asking me things that hey when you gonna fight I wish you the best so it was good it was awesome man like at the at the time I was talking with him and in my mind I was like oh my god I'm talking with Charles and it was great it was great. And now Charles Charles Olivares talking about you. Speaking of Charles, he takes on Ilya next month.

Incredible fight. I was doing some math in my head here. Ilya moves up to 155, changes his name to La Leyenda, which means the legend in Spanish. Your nickname is The Legend. You move up to 155, he changes his nickname

back to El Matador. I feel like that's out of respect for you. Yeah, I think he saw that I was coming after him. No, I'm kidding. Maybe he saw that, like, he wasn't the only one. To be honest, like, he's very popular and I was like, I was like, Oh, everybody gonna say that I'm trying to steal Ilya's nickname. But he changed. He was stealing yours. Yeah, yeah. He was stealing my nickname, but he changed and his nickname is cool.

Like he's the only El Matador I think. So good for him. And it's a good matchup. I'm with Charles and like always, he's the underdog. He's gonna be a easy fight, but he always proved like the double is wrong. So I think it's gonna be one of those nights that he's gonna shock the world

and it's gonna be easy. Incredible. I mean, that would be an incredible moment for Charles. Talking about these legends that you met, being inspired by Anderson Silva, meeting Charles and him inspiring you, I saw on Embedded that you got to go back to the tough house and talk to some of the people that are competing

on the current season. You're the winner of 32, they're competing on tough 33. What was it like to be in that position now on the other side of it where you were once the one in the house trying to scrape and scratch and claw to get your opportunity in the UFC, and now you're coming back to talk to some people who are in that same position as you.

What was that experience like for you? So, first of all, it was a crazy experience just to step in the house again because they did it in the same house. And it's crazy because I live so close to their house. And I would always say to myself, I'm going to go visit the house, like just pass on the street and see the house, you know, to leave again everything in my head. But I would never do that.

And then my manager texted me and said, hey, they want you to go to the house and do embedded. And I was like, that's great. So it was amazing to go back to the house, kind of leave everything again in my head. I got to go to the place that I was sleeping, like to the place that I was struggling, like to make way to everything. So it was fun.

And talking with the guys, it was cool because I really felt like some of them, like got inspired by things what I said. They were asking things. And even like off camera, some of them came to me and say, hey man, thank you for your words because you really helped me. So I'm excited to see this season and it was a good moment. And yeah, man, like one year after being able to go back to the house as the champion and like having the chance

to talk with like the competitors and guys that have the same dream that I had and it was amazing. You get to come back with the hardware. Just a couple more before we let you go. I saw you rocking the Akatsuki shorts in training and I saw you had the Naruto shirt on in the Charles Olivera picture. Is that your favorite anime? Yeah, man, my favorite anime I liked so much. I tried to not buy these things, but man, I

end up buying things like that and I just love it. I just think it's a cool anime. I'm not the guy that, oh, I get inspired by these characters and they change my way to think. No, I'm more simple. I just love it. That's it.

I think it's a cool it. That's it. I think it's a it's a cool anime. It's entertaining. And yeah, I have like tattoos. I can't show because I'm wearing like sweatshirt. But wait, you say, oh, I have one here. Oh, yeah, we can see it. Yeah, I have this one. I have on my arm, too. I really see it. Yeah, I have this one. I have on my arm too.

I really like it. And these are all from Naruto? Yeah, all from Naruto. I mean, in your defense, the shorts are sick. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's a... It's... They have cool, like, stories

why the characters, they do that, and the things they do. So I love it. Is that really the only one you watch? No, no, I watch a lot of animes. I watch Attack on Titan, Death Note, Demo Slayer, Dragon Ball Z. I'm an anime guy.

Oh, sick. But Naruto is my favorite one. I love it, man. One last one before we let you go. We were going back through some older pictures of you. We came across this one that the internet seems to love that they post on your Fight Week. This one right here.

What is the story behind this? We know that this isn't actually you, but like if you type your name in like all these Brazilian fans are tweeting it out and they're like it's Myron Santos fight week We saw Moicano used it in a thumbnail like it feels like it's everywhere so There's one guy he works like UFC fight pass in Brazil and He's like a friend. One day someone sent to him,

this guy looks like Mario Santos. He has a lot of followers. And I found out this so funny that I started to share too. And now, if I look up my name, like if I put Mario Santos on Google, I put Maricentos on Google, I know I'm going to find this image. And to be honest, I think the body type is just like me. So that's why it's so funny.

And also, I was doing interviews for UFC Brazil and I said to the guy that I was the prettiest guy in the UFC and then they take this photo and they like, now it's time for the prettiest guy to fight and then they put this photo and everybody loves it. I put it as my profile photo for a little while and it's funny. It's so good. I actually had to like deep dive. I wasn't sure if it was actually like an old picture of you and you were like doing a bodybuilding contest or something. I didn't know what it was but we finally found the the source image for it. It was it was ridiculous. We got such a good kick out of it. Yeah, man. This guy like, I'm built like, I don't know, Spongebob. This guy just like

that. So I don't know. It's funny. I don't have problem with that. I know I'm the prettiest fighter in the UFC, so I don't care. That's a good title to have. Myron, thanks so much for joining us, man. We really appreciate it. The future is bright. Congratulations on all of this success and we'll talk to you soon, man. Thank you, Myron. Thanks, man.

Thanks for having me. It was awesome to have this conversation with you guys and I can't wait to be back. Yes, sir. The pleasure was all ours, man. Be easy, Myron. Bye, Myron. Thank you.

Oh, the man. What a fun interview. The stable grows. Yeah, I feel like we're in a good groove of like, you just wanna talk to like certain people. And learn more about them. And you learn so much about his personality, the fact that this started as like an in-joke

with somebody at USC Brazil and he was running with it. He's a funny dude, he's this low-key funny dude. All right, so we got Myron Santos, we got Montel Jackson, we got Malcolm Wallmaker, Julianna Pena. I think those are the four in the boys in the back. For now, yeah. That's the stable. Now anytime these guys fight, I'm gonna be living or dying with every shot. Yeah, I mean, 24 years old, like, good head on his shoulders.

16 and 1, but but also like their perspective of Hey, I messed up in that Francis Marshall fight. Like there's a lot of guys who that's a denial, right? That's I was an off night this and that he's like no that's a lot of guys saying go back and watch it I won. Oh, yeah, that's exactly go back and go back and watch it. I out pointed him in this round in that round That's exactly what it is. And he is the guy who says no, I probably lost that fight. Actually, I wasn't mentally there I'm gonna improve for the next one. You got it and get a huge win over Siddiq Yusef You got a baby like the dudes the dude is well put together for a 24 year old Yeah, baby life in order 16 and 1 2 and 0 in the UFC tough champion Vaseline guy

Prettiest prettiest man in the UFC. How about that? How about him laying down the gauntlet? He is the prettiest man in the UFC. I wonder who the other contender, is Carlos Olberg gonna come up and be like, no, that's my title? He's gotta be up there. But shout out to Myron Santos, that was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun.

All right, no fights this weekend, not a lot to recap. I would finish down like a unit and a half, probably pass the law, shout out. But that's pretty much the only recap we got. No bets for this weekend because there's no big, big fights going on. So I think it's time to jump in to our pound for pound rankings.

Let's do it. Summer activities. Yes. Memorial Day weekend, at least in the States, feels like the unofficial kickoff to summer. A lot of kids starting to get out of school. Vacation's starting to happen. It feels like summer is here.

Frank in Seattle, so Jordan, tell me how we're going to do this. So Frank still did submit a list, so in typical Frank fashion, he demands to go first, and Eric will go second, and we'll finish up with you, Connor. I'm just impressed Frank actually, like Frank usually takes the easy way out and doesn't do anything if he doesn't have to. Yeah. No shrimp cocktail on the list, surprisingly. Wow! In the summer?

Summer activity, refreshing, put a little lemon on there, refreshing shrimp. Alright, so Frank's summer activities list kind of has a theme that when he sent it to Andy and I, we kind of just editorialized a little bit and kind of got into the mind of Frank. He's a bit of a lover. He likes, he loves love. And what's great about summer? Summer love. You know, the situationship, relationship.

He likes to do, you like to do something with a significant other. So at number five, a great activity to go to with a significant other. A lot of conversation can be had. You can play some board games there and cards. A beer garden. Wow. All right, Frank. Okay.

I didn't know where we were going with this. I was like, the married man's favorite activity is summer love? You're viewing this as, as Frank is thinking of date spots. Like that's what this beer garden is representing in your mind. 100%. Got it.

I think that aligns with what Frank put on. All right, beer gardens. Yeah. Who doesn't love a good beer garden? Yeah, coming up at number four, we've got, one that I think is a little questionable, I'm gonna guess it's pool, as in not swimming pool, I'm gonna guess it's playing pool.

Oh, got it. For him, right, cause I was like, this could go either way. Going to a pool. Billiards. Billiards, yeah, going to the billiards. Well, either way, billiards, pool time, you know, you get a little noodle time in the pool or reading some books together.

Date, check, check. Summer of love. Number three, definitely something you do if you're in love in the summer. Holding hands, letting the water get into the feet, sand beneath the toes, some beach walks. Oh, yeah. That's nailed it with Frank. Black jeans, black hoodie, black hat.

Let's go walk on the beach. Oh, I love it. All right, coming up now with number two, something that's very typical to do in New York in the summer. Outdoor concert. Everybody loves these, right? These are great. Rick and Frank did an outdoor concert last summer.

And they were in love. And we are still in love. His whole overarching theme of the list was love? Yeah. According to us, yeah. Look at it. Alright. We're inside Frank's brain. They are interpreting it. Okay, so he literally just gave you these five words and we're just choosing to interpret it how we want? They know Frank so well. Okay. This is what they've divined. Okay. And I agree with them, by the way. Number one, I'm very curious. Number one, not really only a summer activity. Really can do this at any point,

but this is, again, on brand from Frank. Record shopping, you can literally do this in the winter. Honestly, I think you prefer to do this in the winter. It's indoors, it's an indoor activity, but you know what? But also, are you talking? Are you walking around and just showing each other records? Like, what are just showing each other records? This is when Frank likes to give you all the knowledge of oh you know they use this to record it actually you know if you play it out in a certain way on a certain turntable. Do we think this was

his first date with Tracy? Probably yeah. This was like a very like good summary list. It was okay. No. 5. It was okay And then and then the and then number one the records Summer of love. Shout out. Frank Lenz. 2025 the summer of love as they as they characterized it. All right, who's up next? Rick is up next. Okay Let's let's hit my list No. 5 Sorry, just had to scroll to it.

Number five, we're in the backyard. Yeah. Beaten down. You're feeling that heat. You're feeling, you got your sunscreen on. The family's here. The family's all together. Fire up that grill.

Fire up that grill. Fire up that grill, baby. Oh, wait a minute, time out. Oh, look at that. Oh, wait, hold on. Go back to that list. What is that grill. Fire up that grill, baby. Oh, wait a minute, time out. Oh, look at that. Oh, wait, hold on. Go back to that list. What is that? Why does that say BBQ?

You said grilling slash barbecue, I guess. I know, but why did we default to barbecue? It's very important to me that. OK, so we were having this debate earlier, Andy and I. I feel like when you're in New York, especially where you're from on Long Island. We call it barbecue. Barbecue, grill, interchangeable.

If you were like Connor or Frank from Texas or Georgia, grilling and barbecue, very different things. Yes, I just wanted to make it clear for the watchers and listeners out there, I know the difference now. Growing up, I called everything barbecue. I know that this is not barbecue. I know that this is grill.

I'm talking about grilling. Even then, a barbecue is like an event that like 20 30 people are gonna be at that's like a barbecue if you're Grilling with you and your wife and your kids you're grilling. I'm talking grilling We're throwing some hot dogs. We're throwing some hamburgers on there Maybe chicken if we're feeling you know little steak whole foods got a sale going yeah This is all snag a steak steak is where I feel like it's a little outside my comfort zone. Okay, I just want to put something on there and leave it. Yeah, I don't want to go. Come on now. Can we break the fourth wall here for a second? So I was talking to Rick at lunch about this barbecue situation and I'm like Rick told me he doesn't have a barbecue.

So where is this happening? Are you going to the park? No. Are you renting a barbecue? Are you going? Where are we going? I don't currently. I just moved. I moved to my house in 2022. I have had at various points. We don't have a grill. You moved to your house in 2022 as if that's an excuse to not have a grill yet. Literally. I don't have a grill. That was three years ago. You had one less child. You've you've gotten a child since then but you haven't gotten a grill Yeah, I don't have a grill yet. You know, oh actually, you know what? I do have a grill. I have a grill It's in the basement. It's one of the Tabletop charcoal rough rough get you a real grill don't have it father Wait propane is propane is legal out there. Like I can get a propane tank. Yeah. Yeah And fire a gas grill, which is easy. Easy work. Don't have one yet though. But anybody is welcome to come over to my house

and provide the grill and then they can grill up some food for me and my family. Okay. Gotta grill. Wait, so you want someone to bring a grill to your house with food as well, cook for you, and then you're like, all right, time to grill. Bring that green egg over and make me some meat.

All right, number four. It's hot, again, you know, summer. Like, whenever I think of summer, I think of like that oppressive heat. Like, I like that heat, I don't like the dry, like, I want like sweaty, nasty heat, cause it makes me feel like I'm alive. I like that heat.

Summer, it's hot, you gotta cool down, right? What's a great way to cool down? I mean, there's a few, but this is one of my favorites. Water balloon fight. Water balloon fight. I lived for these when I was a kid. I was always like, super soakers, water guns, that was always in the rotation,

but there was nothing I liked more than hurling plastic water balloons at somebody's head. And also, you can fire one back at me, it's gonna cool us off, we're gonna have a great time. Love a water balloon fight, especially if you get the whole block involved. Can we go to that second picture of the water balloon fight? Is that Ben the Bane Davis on the left

in the water balloon fight? It is, I asked Ben to send me a water balloon fight photo. That legit looks like an AI rendition of a water balloon fight? It is. I asked Ben to send me a water balloon fight photo. That legit looks like an AI rendition of a water balloon fight. I mean, of Ben the Bane Davis at a water balloon fight. Yes, it does. Oh, man, what a spot. Shout out to Ben the Bane Davis for sending me this water

balloon fight picture. Love a water balloon fight. Shout out to Glenn Poirier. Are you, shout out to Glenn Poirier. Are you water gun or water balloon if you can only choose one weapon? Gun. Nah, balloon.

Give me the balloons. I like the Chuck. Real super soaker. The like big daddy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, number three. Again, that heat's coming down. Oh man, we just got into a water balloon fight.

I'm all out of breath. We're exhausted. We went to war. We had a battle. How are we gonna cool out of breath, we're exhausted, we went to war, we had a battle. How are we gonna cool off? How are we gonna relax after this? How are we gonna unwind? We're gonna grab an Italian ice.

We're gonna grab an Italian ice. You gotta have that water ice. Now, Marinos, obviously everybody knows and recognizes the yellow ice thing, but we can go to any of our local spots, you know, you go to the Lemon Ice King of Corona in Queens, you can hit up a Ralph go to any of our local spots. You know, you go to the Lemon Ice King of Corona in Queens. You can hit up a Ralph's, any of those local spots that you love,

but we got to unwind with that water ice. Also, you keep talking about the oppressive heat. It feels a million times better to cool off from the heat than it does to heat up from the cold. Oh, a hundred percent. A million times better. Yeah, it's the best. And it's a good feeling.

It's like- Oh, it feels amazing. You seek it in a way. It's also like instant relief. Coming in from the heat, or coming in from the cold into the heat, like your hands are kind of un-numbing, they kind of hurt, it takes a minute, you're all stuffy, it's terrible. There's another way to cool off when that heat is oppressing you, and that's, you choose. You know, you could go to your backyard, you could take a little trip, get the toes on the sand, go swimming.

Oh yeah. Hop in that water, and here's the important thing. I wanna show some pictures here. Jordan, show the, I mean this one. Classic. Kids in the backyard, you're just jumping in that pool. Looks pretty similar to my pool, actually. Girl got nowhere.

No, yeah, no hops on that one. But show my other one, because I think this is a very important thing, and I need to do a PSA right now. If you go to the beach, get in the fucking water. Okay, all right, you're like, you have to go get in the water. If you go to the beach, get in the fucking water. I know you wanna sit there in suntan,

you got your book out, you do whatever. The beach is for swimming. And this is non-negotiable for me. The best part of the beach is the water. Getting that close to nature, experiencing that ocean, that is what you go for. I love it, I love swimming. Beach, pool, doesn't matter.

If I had to choose, I'm probably going pool just because the beaches around here are not as nice as some of the beaches I'd like. But also the sand, you have to deal with that. You pack up, you got the towel, you're coming back. I'm going pool every time. Yeah, pool. Even in like Miami, I'm going pool over beach.

Pool's a nicer experience. The sand is so much, the water is not as nice. With the pool you're just walking in, it's perfect, it's great. I'm pool over ocean every time. The best places in time for beach is a place like Hawaii where it's like, you're gonna be wearing this all day anyway.

Yeah. You're not, like there is no shift, there is no change. You go to the beach, you swim, you get out, and then you're going to lunch. Just go about your day. Yeah, you just go about your day. So I like that, that's where I prefer to do it, but pool, beach, doesn't matter, get in the water.

Number one, this is the easiest one for me. It was what I did every summer, all throughout my childhood. It's one of my favorite activities. Less so to this day, I try to keep up with it, but it was my number one forever, play basketball. Outdoor, black top basketball, especially in New York City. Sweating your ass off.

Sweating your ass off, barely drinking water because you gotta stay on the court for the next game. The water fountains are typically broken in the New York City parks. Here's the shame of it. In 2025 and maybe even for the last like 10 years, every time I drive by a park, empty. Not a soul on the fucking court. When I was a kid, every single court full, all around Queens, all around Brooklyn, all around Manhattan, wherever you'd go. When I was a kid, 10 around Queens, all around Brooklyn, all around Manhattan, wherever you'd go. When I was a kid, let's call it 15, 20 years ago,

if you drove by a park and it was the summer, it was buzzing, it was popping, and there were kids playing basketball at all hours of the night. Nine p.m., sun's just kinda cracking down, everybody's still there. Now it's a ghost town and it breaks my heart because I grew up playing like outdoor black top basketball.

I don't think I played basketball gym till I started playing like, you know, church league stuff. Love it. Chain link nets. Chain link nets. Love a good chain link net. Most of the time in New York, no nets. Because that's how we go.

Can't tell if it went in or not. It's the best. Yeah, no idea. Shout out black top basketball, it's for me. Shout out. It's how we go. Can't tell if it went in or not. Yeah, no idea. Shout out, Blacktop basketball, it's for me. Shout out. It's a good list, it's a solid list. That's an enjoyable list right there. All right.

It's no record store though. No record store, you gotta go record shopping. Everybody does that in the summer. All right, number, excuse me. Number five, eating summer foods. Watermelon, lobster rolls. 100%. Waterfront restaurant, you're eating seafood. Eating summer foods. Watermelon, lobster rolls. 100%.

Waterfront restaurant, you're eating seafood. Yeah, you get the pies, the feta with the watermelon, the hot dogs. Hot dogs are a summer food. If I see you slamming a glizzy in the dead of winter, we gotta talk. Oh wow. There's something going on.

If you're slamming glizzies in the dead of winter. I didn't know this. I'm a hot dog, it's summer food. Tomatoes, corn on the cob, look at those lobster rolls. I had a lobster roll last week for the first time this year and it was just a reminder of how fucking good a good lobster roll is. I'll eat it Connecticut style, I'll eat it Maine style,

I don't care, they're both incredible. Corn on the cob, Aperol spritz, like just things that you would not do in the winter, gotta enjoy the summer foods. Corn on the cob really is a summer food. Oh yeah. I think corn on the cob and hot dogs you can eat year round,

but in my opinion it's like, that's a summer food. Got it. That's a summer food. I like it. Fresh tomatoes. Tomato sandwiches in the summer are my go-to. Number four, matinee movie. Oh! Who doesn't love a summer blockbuster? And I'm talking you pull, one o'clock,

almost always an action movie, it's like 100 degrees out, it's ice cold in the movie theater, it's pitch black, you come out at like 3.30, you're literally blinded by the sunlight, yeah, there me, you and Frankie enjoying a summer blockbuster, you're blinded by the sunlight, you don't know what's going on. My birthday is in July, so always, like my go-to birthday party was like, let's just go see the big action movie what's going on. My birthday is in July, so always like my go-to birthday party was

like, let's just go see the big action movie that's coming out. Like I swear I've had so many big time movies come out on my actual birthday. Like I think Harry Potter 7 did, Inception did, one of the Spider-Mans did. So it was just like my go-to birthday party would be like, all right, let's go to the movies. Number three, you're number five, firing up the grill. Let's do it. You and the boys, family coming over, you're throwing a barbecue at the house, there we are, grilling it up, whatever it may be, dogs, burgers, brats, chicken thighs, I say steak, maybe a little cedar plank with some salmon if you're getting crazy, corn on the cob. Summer, maybe throw some pineapple on there, toast the buns.

Now, are you the grill master? I am not a guy who's like, I gotta run the grill, but I can run the grill. Got it. I can do charcoal and I can do gas. My dad has been big into grilling my whole life growing up, so I know how to operate it. All right, so when somebody brings the grill to my house, you can hop on the sticks. Oh, we'll have a good time.

We'll have a good time. The smell, the beauty of it all, the food just tastes better when you cooked it yourself. Do you have a preference over charcoal or gas? I like charcoal over gas. You like that smokiness. Yeah, yeah, I really enjoy that. Love the grill.

Love the grill. Got it. All right, number two, got gotta set the scene for this one. Okay. You go to a local creamery. Mm-hmm. No BS, pints from the grocery store, some place called like Frisbees or the Crazy Cow,

Pasture Hills Creamery, something like that. You go at like 8.30, I'm talking like twilight. You spent all day at the pool or hooping playing basketball or you went and saw a movie, you're fresh out of the shower. Someone's like, you guys wanna go get ice cream? And you're like, it's the summer, what better do I gotta do? Let's go.

You go, the bugs are out, you eat while you're there. Yeah, like a place that looks like this. Oh, I love that. Sun is like down, you eat the ice cream while you're there, you all pull up in like a 2007 like Tahoe everybody climbs out about the back Look at this and then like as the sun setting like finally saying goodbye You're finishing your ice cream then you and the gang get back to the house You like watch a movie or something and like just like Nirvana perfect summer night. I have a take okay

I don't know if this is hot, lukewarm, you're gonna have to tell me. Freezing cold, you're gonna have to tell me on this take. I like a evening ice cream, I like a summer ice cream. But I do feel like water ice is more refreshing. Okay. The juice of it, the water. Yeah, like a sherbert.

Element of it. Even, I'm saying like an Italian ice, right? Yeah. The fact that it's like frozen ice with flavor or like a sherbert. Element of it. Even, I'm saying like an Italian ice, right? Yeah. The fact that it's like frozen ice with flavor or like a snow cone. Yeah. As opposed to something that's like a little creamier, it almost feels too dense.

I like the lightness. So I would agree with you if we were getting this at like 1 p.m. Okay. The fact that we're getting this so late at night, it's probably like 86 out now. Got it. It's not quite as hot.

You were blasting the AC in the in the Tahoe on the way over there and like you're settling down. It's the capper. It's not the like refreshment in the middle of the day. I got it. It's not the capper. I like all-time one. Like you get some crazy flavor like cotton candy explosion or like Cookie Monster. You what? Cotton candy is my like number one ice cream flavor. They don't have Brewsters up here do they? There's a place called Brewsters down south that had a thing called Cotton Candy Explosion and it was like cotton candy ice cream with pop rocks in it. Go to one. Yeah that sounds like me. Go to. Even just a blizzard from

Dairy Queen will work. Shut up. Number one, no-brainer, you had it on yours. Going the bodies of water. Like you said. Pool, lake, ocean, I mean it's just incredible. It doesn't get any better than a beach day, a pool day, a lake day, slathered in sunscreen all day, sun beating down on you, you're drinking, you're eating, you're having a great time, there we are at the pool sharing a good time together. And then like that post on the water all day shower like when you get out and you feel so clean because you were so nasty and like your skin is just like radiating from sitting in the Sun all day it's the best. Now are you as

strong in my direction in terms of if you go you must get in? I agree with that yeah okay I agree with that whether whether it's lake whether it's whether it's ocean whether it's pool. By the way, I'll accept the like dipping the feet in. I'll accept like you can hang on the ledge, you can walk into the ocean. Just get in. Just get in the water. Just get in. You have to get in. I don't care about your hair. I don't care about your makeup. Get in. Honorable mentions, I had some. Watching the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup. Always good. Seasonal things that come around every time. Yeah. Boat days, like going out on a boat. Always

good time. Didn't do that a big role, man. Big down there, big down there. Fourth of July. Oh yeah, of course. That's just like the best. This combines all those elements. Magical feeling around the Fourth of July. Getting into random sports. Like I love the Tour de France. Okay. don't give a shit about cycling But I will get into the Tour de France tennis with Wimbledon and the French Open like if the Olympics are down I'm watching everything the Euros World Cup stuff like that. Love that Rooftops whether it's bars Going to an amusement park six flags, whatever it may be

going to baseball games. Summer's the best. Summer's great. Love the summer. I have an opinion that I needed to share with you guys. Please, Jordan. You guys were talking about going in the ocean. You complained about the sand.

So you just deal with it. The beach is one of the most enjoyable places you can be in the summer. You get a nice breeze. If it gets too hot, like you said, you just get in the water. Who cares about the temperature? You can throw the ball, you can throw the frisbee. You can do so many things. We love to do a little pizza on the beach for

dinner as the sun's going down. Interesting. You're bringing the pizza to the beach? No, they actually are delivering the pizza to the beach. Wow. Must be nice. That's a move. That's a flex. Come on down, man. It's really enjoyable on, uh, what did you say? Shitty Long Island? Uh, it is a piece of shit. I mean, there's no doubt about that. The beaches are not great. In my head, I was imagining like the white sand beaches of Florida, of

Mexico. I forgot that it will be the rocky cesspool that is Long Island. Also, bike rides. Of course they remember. They deliver the pizza because it's essentially just like a highway They're just like a full throw the pizza out the window. Yeah, bike rides are great, too. Bike rides are great, too Basket on the front home run derby MLB all-star game. That's a great one. That's a great one late at night It's good stuff. That's good stuff man

By the way, Jordan like numbers here the complaining about the sand was very minimal don't don't try and spin this You know the beaches by me, they have a shower, so when you get off the beach, there's a little water, you rinse your feet off, no sand, and you go get your car. They just have rocks that don't stick to you like sand. Then you're in the towel, and then you're in the car all wet. It's not as convenient. I'm riding my bike from my house to the beach.

I forgot about your little sojourn with the... So I combine two good summer activities into one. Also, fantastic. And you get an icy, and you're good and you're good for I enjoy the beach a lot it's just if if I had to choose if you Jordan on air Jordan we're putting a gun to my head and forcing me to choose one I'm taking the pool probably it depends which beach but I'll probably do the same But god those Hawaii beaches IG caption Girl, I just like TVT any outdoor movies this summer. Oh like a

Great the tricky part with that is I usually are already york So you can go to like a bunch of places, but we like to go to Dumbo Okay, Dumbo has a really good... I'm assuming it's not drive up right? It's like they have seating? Or you sit on the lawn. It's gotta be great for the kids right? Because it's gonna be like goonies and like the sandlot like it's not gonna be like or like Avengers like stuff like that. Yeah yeah yeah Coney Island does it too, the Rockaways do it too. Yeah. Jaws every summer on the beach. Jaws every summer. Yeah. Most people watch the Meg now on the beach every summer yeah most people watch the Meg now on the beach but it's neither here nor there what'd you say Jordan about Jill no I said jaws every summer oh jaws I think it's a the Meg yeah the Meg the superior Oh, wow! Frank is back.

Boys in the back, man, it's a pleasure to be here. I've stood up for Miami. First off, shout out to Frank for knowing all about house music and the history in Chicago. Shout out Frank. Question. I'll never hear this. With so many amazing teams in the MMA, what would be your Mount Rushmore of all these, with the search of you know the Fighting Nerds and obviously ATT, what would be your Mount Rushmore of MMA teams? Much love, especially to Andy, Mipaisana, and El La Mejor. Shout out, shout out to

Rufalo. Shout out. Mount Rushmore of MMA teams. I feel like ATT's on there. Stream for tour? It gets tough because it's like, Jackson Wink has had like John, GSP, like it'd be hard to leave them off. Trevor Whitman? No, cause then you've got like, then you've got like Shoot a Box,

which is like back in the day, the original like, MMA team. Tristar? There's so many Tristar, Sarah Longo, Extreme Couture, AKA. Yeah, AKA has to be on there. It's hard to narrow it down to four.

It's having to be in DC? It's really hard. When fighting nerds even more see it's really hard When fighting nerds even be on it they have no mouth of mail team alpha male they the funny nerds doesn't really have any champions yet All right, if I had to go down to four, I'm gonna go Jackson wink yeah, aka aka ATT shoot the box And like is it ATT ATT is that so many champions like

Yeah, no one now is so many so many dudes have come through there. Yeah, I guess there's gonna be like a long go We'll go ATT. All right, those are my four. Now rush more. This is harder than I thought. There's been a lot of great ones, but the inspiration for the question, Fighting Nerds is a fantastic team. Fantastic team, fantastic gym.

That was a great question. Yeah. What's going on, boys in the back? Love your guys' show, love what you're doing. What's up, man, thanks. I just wanted to give a special shout out to GC. I'm a Georgia boy myself. Hey, shout out. I currently live in Old Fourth Ward. Shout out. I just want to say shout you out. Appreciate you for always digging up Atlanta and keep up the good work you guys. The man. Shout out to the Old Fourth Ward.

It's a neighborhood within Atlanta, the old fourth ward. It's a neighborhood within Atlanta the city of Atlanta It's gonna be like near the the Beltline area. It's a nice area. Shout out to him, man What's up boys long time listener First time caller, you know the cliche. Just want to know like what's up with y'all hating on John Jones constantly You know, he's gonna sleep your boy Tommy when they get in the ring. It's gonna happen. I'm just so tired. Every time I put on your guys' show, particularly with Ariel, he's always crapping on my boy John. Love you guys. Love you too, bro. Just the 30 minutes on John. Yeah, I don't think we're shitting on him. Like, we just want him to fight, man, or vacate the belt. He's holding up the glamour vacate the belt. He's holding

up the glamour division in the UFC. That's really all that comes down to it. This point it's gotten to a point of ridiculousness. He fought Stipe while there was an interim champion waiting. He didn't fight Tom Aspinall. It's now been six months since that fight and we've heard nothing in terms of that. Tom Aspinall is now the longest reigning interim champion in UFC history. It's time to defend or vacate. That's all this comes down to. I think I'm speaking for everybody, including Ariel.

We'd love nothing more than John to come back and fight. We don't hate John. We want to see John Jones fight. We want it more than anything. But we want a decision. That is all it comes down to. I promise you we're not hating on him. I think my track record's pretty clear

of being unabashed at John Jones. The glaze was real. What's up boys, long-time listener, first-time caller, you know the cliche. I know he's gonna sleep. The thing is... Every time I put on your guys... I mean, it was a great call. He must have gotten through twice. Yeah, he must have gotten through twice. Shout out to him though. It's the fucking boys, Max from Blind Clash at Rail View. It's the fucking boys match from blank like I really just call it to say once all by any other becomes the motherfucking well-to-wear champion of the world you need to head to Wales fight piece card if blank like I whatever you are on the shot fuck purse fuck island Wales is a place to be

Yelp I had to focus to be able to So open Elliott's gonna become the welterweight champion of the world. We're going to do a Fight Fee's Cardiff. Duncaster? Where did he say? Somewhere, but I think he said Fight Fee's Cardiff. And then he said, fuck Perth, fuck Ireland. I'm talking about Wales, yeah.

He was talking about Wales, for sure. Yup, Oban Elliott, he fights in about a week and a half on the much anticipated long-awaited Blanchfield-Barber UFC Apex 107 card. For sure? Long-awaited? Could have just had a guy like that in Newark next week. This is a pro-Oban Elliott show. It sure is. We will be supporting. He's like a minus 600. What's up fellas? This is Dennis from Fresno, California. Shout out to 559. Shout out to 559.

So a good homie of mine opened a pizza restaurant in the Bowery in Manhattan. Oh shit. And Dave Portnoy just rated it a 9.2. Wow. It's called Siri's Pizza. I heard about this. L-C-E-R-E-S.2. Wow. It's called series pizza. I heard about this. Yes. And if you see Jake there tell him the gas station said hi. Okay so if we see Jake. Jake the gas station said hi. How about this? I'm assuming he's the gas station? He has to be the gas station. Hook us up. Send your boy

Jake a text and be like, the boys are coming. Give us an introduction. I am more than down to go do that. Actually, I'm dying to do that. Not only did Dave Portnoy give it a 9.2, Jimmy Fallon pulled it up on his show and said it's one of his favorite places.

Got the box on there and everything, man. I'd love to go. That's big business. Gas station, hook us up with your boy Jake. The box, I'm looking at the box, it is absolutely beautiful. It's like this beautiful blue color with their logo on it. I'm down. That's a skipping a hop away from here. I mean we could be there in 20 minutes flat. Why do you think his nickname is Gas Station? I don't know, but we might have to see him before we go to the pizza place. Well, 24 and Stubbs calling. There he is.

Have to get his peak down. Curve stomp, spin kick to the head. Yeah, spin kick to the head. Listen, congratulations to New York. I still hate y'all. Arne Jordan, Frank, GC Rick Rick yuck it up defending chance are dead I don't know what to say on the on the baseball and on that go Red Sox go Dodgers I'm out go Red Sox go Dodgers Wow, what's a Dodgers? Maybe that's just a Yankees hate thing. Oh, maybe yeah, I see it dubs

Congratulations on the exit. Hey boys, Andy, Jordan, Frank. What's up, Don? What's up, Donny? You know what's up, Don Vegas. I just wanted to, first off, thank you for shouting out my boys, Hodkins, at the Bodkin Show. That meant so much.

Shout out Bobby Bluntz, K-Wood. I'm That meant so much. Shout out Bobby Blunt. I'm glad you went on. Shout out Bobby Blunt. No MMA news again this week, you know? Pachi, congratulations. That's all I got to say about that. Let's get to the real meat of what our discussions are about. PFO Cape Town.

You guys ever heard of a game called Katamari Damacy? Anybody? Connor? I heard of it. I'm sure Frank has. Love those games. Rick, got a question for you. Not a lot of free time, you know? Frank Video Games just kills me. Building a big global M&A brand, but you know, all work and no play next on a dull boy. How

does one get started playing Magic the Gathering? Okay, no clue, set me up with it. That's all I got this week. Bear in mind, you know when I make these calls, as I did last week, they are not up to the minute with the news. So a lot of people were wondering what I wanted to say about Patchy and nothing to say, but I'm wordin' upward.

Remember where he started, the PFL, thank you. Remember where he started in the PFL, he never even fought for the PFL. Yeah. I never fought once in the PFL. I love what Don calls. God, thank you Don.

The video game with Frank just kills me every time. How do you get started on Magic? It's easy, you just download the Magic the Gathering app and play MTG Arena on your phone. And it can be, the learning curve is a little bit steep, but it's fun, you'll enjoy it, you get some cards. It is a free game, but like you'll probably do better if you spend some money.

Thankfully, I'm a free to pay player and I've maintained that, but it took some money. Thankfully, I'm a free to pay player and I've maintained that, but it took some time. Yeah, he supplements the pay to play by playing all the time. For my life. You also learn very quickly how to ignore your coworkers. Did you say something? No, no, no.

Well, 24 and Stubbs, Colin, after this beatdown, curb stomps, spin kick to the head. I think we heard this one too. 24 and Stubbs did call in like three times the other week though. Hey boys, Andy, Jordan. I think we heard this one too. Have we been through them all? The one after this. Here we go.

Hey boys, it's me, Ayas. And I'm Sam. I went from Melbourne, Australia. Now, not a question. one after this a boy it's me and i'm sam aware from melbourne australia now question is for the whole career eric on frank andy and on imagine you guys

agon on a b i t b a lucky you you each get to bring one ufc father along for the journey but you bring along to spice up the evening and make for an unforgettable night out? Shout out Frank, pick up the shrimp cocktail, jazz in a rainy day, and a book in a quiet coffee shop. Catch you in the next one. Bye! Oh, amazing. That might have been the best one ever. They did our like, but the coordination, the call-outs to other factors on the show, that was, that was... The cheesiness like but the coordination the callouts to other factors on the show that was that was cheesiness like we did

on the on the message that was incredible from Australia to that was that truly was that was sensational that was that was incredible stuff there a question I forgot yeah it was uh we all got selected to go on a VIP pub oh that's right what you have see fighter would we take with us oh that's a tremendous

question do you go completely deranged What UFC fighter would we take with us? Oh, that's a tremendous question Do you go completely deranged like a Connor McGregor like off the rails? Someone's got to bring him right? Do you do? like get somebody out of their shell like a Wonder boy, like do you do like the I want to see this guy cut loose Do you do the Tai Chi we Vasa who you know can handle the drink? Thai Chui Vassa I feel like it's got to be there. Someone's got to bring Thai, someone's got to bring Connor. I don't know how much of an effect Derek Lewis is gonna have. It feels like he's just gonna be more chill. I think a Connor and a Thai is tremendous shouts. Anybody on the desk here? Who else? Um, would you want, but you'd probably want to have a beer with like a Volk, no? You'd probably like, somebody

you'd want to just spend. I think DDP would be good too, because he can chug the shit out of beers. DDP, Connor, and Ty right now is shaping up pretty good. Alright, those are the three. One of us will bring one. Did he ask for Andy's and Jordan's as well? Yeah. He did, but I mean, it's so tough. I've always been a fan of Izzy, going back to 2018, 2019 when I started watching. It'd be a good time.

Our good friend Juliana Pena, probably a good time to grab a drink with. Just a couple that come to the top of my mind. Paul Hughes training right now. So for Paul, you already know. time to grab a drink with just a couple that come to the top of my mind Paul Hughes train right now a couple points with Paul yeah I'm down there could be some tension between Paul and Connor though all right so we'll lose Connor Paul's in all right hi this is Gerald Edwards from Perryton, Texas. What's up Gerald? I'm out delivering my route. I deliver the mail every day. Just wanted to say.

Thanks for everything you guys do. I fucking love the show. I appreciate that, Gerald. I've been listening to their Hauani show in the mail. It stands 2014. Wow. Big fan. Shout out to New York Rick, GC, mysterious friend keeping it 100. Love that guy. Andy, Jordan,

thanks for everything. Y'all have a great day. Damn, thank you Joe. That was a great message. Nice voice on him too. Definitely hit a couple heaters in his day. heaters in his day. Sup boys, it's Brad from Nebraska. Oh what's up Brad? I just wanted to let you guys know I'm going to be proposing to my girlfriend tomorrow. Got some odds. Okay. Prop bets for that, just wanted to run by you real quick.

Yeah yeah yeah, let's hear em. I heard her say no, at plus 10,000. Alright, good shit. I'm not taking that. I heard her cry at minus 300. Yup. I need a cry at plus 150. Okay.

I'm taking that one. I heard you already know even though her cry at minus 300. Yup. I need a cry at plus 150. Okay. I'm taking that one. Got her to already know it's supposed to be a surprise at plus 450. Okay, I'm taking that one too. And finally us to be divorced by the end of the decade at plus 300. This will be happening during your show tomorrow, so I will not be watching live.

Sorry. So it might be happening right now. Shout out. Might be happening right now. Shout out. Shout out Brett from Nebraska Let me get a max bet down on her crying minus 300. There's good value there We're definitely taking you to cry plus 150. I'm for sure taking both of those and then I'm taking the 450 Her already knowing plus 450. I'm gonna get a sprinkle on that as well I'm taking that too. If he wants to avoid the divorce

Frank has some great summer activities that will keep the love alive. Good point. Check out our list from earlier in the show. Good point. Summer love. Great point. Maybe he's proposing at a record store right now. Could be. Could be. Hey fellas, this is Cole from Texas here. What's up, Cole? Not having the best of days up here at work and I open up Twitter and Eric this is more of a question for you I know you love the movies. I guess Michael Bay's making a skivvy toilet movie and it started production this weekend. Are we cooked? Are we cooked as people? Are we cooked? What is this about? Are you gonna see this Eric? Do you know what this is? I don't even know what this is

Shit's crazy Bye fellas. Um, I know what skibbity toilet is. I knew that Michael Bay was doing something We are not cooked Things will get better. It's you said you're having a rough time We're here for you Hopefully your day can be made a little bit better and we're pulling for you. I am sorry to hear that Hopefully your day can be made a little bit better and we're pulling for you. I am sorry to hear that. Skibbity toilet movie though, we're cooked. There's some great movies coming out. Mission Impossible this weekend,

Friendship with Tim Robinson, Final Destination Bloodlines came out, Superman coming out, Lilo and Stitch this weekend, Smashing Machine in October. There's some movies. There's some movies. There's some stuff. I just wanted to call, you know, get straight to the point. Why is it that everybody's so happy to see Dustin Poirier leave instead of, you know, pushing him to continue to win or chase the title? You know, it's like that real life metaphor of the guy digging for diamonds and the guy who gives up right before he gets it. And speaking of diamonds, it's diamond Dustin Poirier. All he has to do is play the waiting game. I mean look how many superstars in the UFC have ultimately

waited and got a championship title shot for no reason. Dustin Poirier, Islam is out of the division. Dustin's not a bum. Dustin has not fallen off in terms of performance by any means necessary. He beats Max Holloway. What does that move him up in the rankings after beating Max Holloway, who's ranked ahead of him? He plays his cards right.

He takes his time. No rush to get into a fight, and the opportunity comes for a title fight. It's there and he can leave a champion. He can leave a champion. So unfortunately, he is essentially coming off of that against Islam. The cards fell in his favor and he ended up getting a title shot that he didn't necessarily deserve.

I mean, he had just been head-kicked KO'd by Justin Gagey the prior July and then he got a win over BSD who wasn't even in the top 10 at the time and he got a title shot off that. In addition to that he's only getting older. In addition to that that was his third title shot and he's come up short in each of them. He knows that his career is coming to a close. Lightweight is one of the deepest divisions, if not the deepest division in all of MMA. It is incredibly difficult to win a title. He's proven such.

He knows that his career is coming to an end. He's getting his send-off fight in New Orleans. Go out with a win. Kiss everybody, bon voyage. Incredible career, storybook career. And just call it a day. If they gave, let's say Ilja wins, and they offered Dustin a title shot, they gave, let's say Ilja wins

and they offered Dustin a title shot, he would take it, you know this, right? Like he would take it. No? Yeah, yeah, of course. But they wouldn't offer it to him. No. That's the thing. Because he can't, the scenario that this person has set up of him walking away as champion,

that's the last thing they want. They don't want somebody to win the belt and then walk away. This is what GSP did and they don't want that. They like the champion to stay and so it would just never set up where they'd go, okay Dustin, you fight for the title and then you can walk away after this. The UFC, that's the last thing they want. So we're saying all this so if he gets sniked by Ilya and that's how he has to go out yeah it's not a great that's not what we want to happen so I think it's setting up perfectly if he can get a win over Max Ilya doesn't need to fight any more fan favorite legends yeah yeah yeah

give him give him a taste camera or something what up boys in the back this is Dylan from La Crosse Wisconsin. Oh, shot in Wisconsin. And after watching the Island Boys brothers throw it down, the fight itself was pathetic. There was someone all over the place. But it got me thinking, if you had a chance to fight your brother, I know Ariel has one, I'm not sure if you guys have any brothers. I do, I do what you got paid to fight your brother in front of Aiden Ross

For that kick boxing stream service. Would you do it? Yes, take it easy and as always shout out James to who know shout out to James. So I have two brothers It depends on the payday. What is there a price to fight your brother? Yeah, of course there is. To do an exhibition boxing match against them? Yeah. I don't have a brother, but I'd fight somebody's brother for money.

I'd go out there and lightly spar and get on with my day. Now, I'm sure you guys have had some actual fights for free in the backyard at some point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One time they threw me through a coffee table, split my head open, I had to give 14 stitches. Oh, Christ. Like body slammed through a coffee table.

Yeah, so that would just be the get back for that. It'd be like, oh yeah, they're paying me a hundred G's to beat your ass? It was shitty because I'm four years younger than one, seven years younger than the oldest, so they always had massive size advantage on me. Yeah. You're the runt, huh?

What'd you say? You're the runt. Yeah, well, not the runt, but I just was so much younger than them. Now I'm bigger than one, the other one's like six, so. Got it. All right, that'll do it for voicemails. Jordan, do we have any super chats? All right, a Lajuan dream requests for the boys in the back to interview Julius Walker. Okay. All right. Well, we'll note it down. We're writing it down. Right here. The juice box. Juice box. Shout out. 6-1. 6-1. Coming off a split decision loss to Alonzo Minnifield fighting August 9th. Down. Jacob Garcia says GC, you gotta check out Dragon Ball

Thema? Done writing it down as well. I'm kind of in the mood. It's an anime I assume. Yeah, it's a Dragon Ball outlet. Yeah, I'm kind of in the mood to redownload Crunchyroll after talking with Myron Santos. Myron, you're big on that anime. And lastly, Corbin says, who are some fighters that never made it far but you really enjoyed watching? Mine are Dennis Kane, Bobby O'Maldonado, and Paul Taylor. Mm-hmm. Who is the dude that Drew Dober fought that he knocked out? Was it Rafael Alves? He got... Turn? Shout out to the turn, Rafael Alves? Was that who it was?

Yeah, it was. It was Drew Dober. Yeah, I always really enjoyed watching him fight. He hasn't touched the rankings yet, but like I am the biggest Steve Garcia fan. Who else? I'll tell you who Jim Miller Yeah, you know one never got her title opportunity, but like god damn that guy brought it every every single time. I love Jim Miller Yeah, I'm trying to I loved him the shell Pereira when he started he was coming out He said the first walk out he was like kind of crying and laughing and dancing It was just an electric factory doing flips. Yeah in the fights like you never knew what was still gonna be a UFC champ though So that's oh, it's a good point, but he hasn't been yet

Michelle Pereira the absolute man Nate Diaz doesn't count. No that guy was in the biggest fights ever. Yeah, you fought for a title Trying to think it's hard to think of the names like this, but I always did like George Sotirapoulos I know you have no idea who that was but he was like a guy who was like on a crazy win streak Like the Leons and Ballas of the world and just never got the title opportunity Another one, Ross Pearson from that era was a lot of fun. Melvin Gallard?

I mean, Melvin was kind of fun too. Yeah, he was just icing people or getting iced himself. That era had a lot of guys like that. That's a good question. It's good to think about. A lot of the really entertaining fighters end up making it far though. Yeah. They become the fan favorites. All right, you said that was it, Jordan? That was it. It's good to think about a lot of the really entertaining fighters end up making it far though. Yeah I'm the fan favorites. All right. You said that was it Jordan That was it. All right. I think that'll do it for us here on the boys in the back Crack tomorrow and then a reminder We will not be back Monday with the area I want to show because of Memorial Day here in the States Wow only

36 shoutouts shout out to the shout out counter. That's the there it is States. Wow, only 36 shout outs. Shout out to the shout out counter. That's it. There it is. Shout out. Let's get it to 40. We might as well. Crack tomorrow. Ariel, I want to show back on Tuesday because Memorial Day. If you're in the States, enjoy your long weekend. If not, enjoy your weekend. All the same. And we will see you soon. Thank you for watching.