The Ariel Helwani Show - Demetrious Johnson, Chris Eubank Jr., Brandon Royval, Johnny Eblen, On the Nose is back!

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

On the debut edition of On the Nose (8:47) of the Uncrowned era, Ariel Helwani and The Boys In The Back answer your questions about the transition to the new era, UFC's Contender Series, the job of MMA media, and more.Chris Eubank Jr. (21:26) discusses his IBO middleweight title win over Kamil Szremeta, his viral comments about why he signed with Boxxer, his various encounters with Conor Benn, the status of the Benn fight and targeted dates, his strained relationship with his father, betting on himself to eventually land Canelo Alvarez, and more.Flyweight GOAT Demetrious Johnson (01:07:50) walks us through his journey to retirement and discusses what led to the decision, his emotional announcement, favorite moments from his Hall of Fame career, his quest to reach perfection, regrets, whether UFC or ONE Championship won the trade, dream fights and MMA GOATS, plus more.Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen (2:33:33) beams in from Riyadh to discuss Saturday's title rematch against Fabian Edwards at PFL: Battle of the Giants, the truth behind their alleged spitting incident, what it's like to spar Sean Strickland, a potential light heavyweight title bout against Corey Anderson, Sean O'Malley's comments on Monday's show, Derek Brunson's recent callout, and more.Brandon Royval  (3:00:42) discusses his UFC main event win over Tatsuro Taira, following through on his desire to train with Taira, the timing of the next flyweight title fight, why he hopes Kai Asakura shakes up the division at UFC 310, Dana White's recent comments, why he's delighting in causing the UFC matchmakers headaches, his willingness to spend every penny he owns building a youth center in his hometown of Denver, and more.On the Nose continues (3:18:57) with questions about the lineal BMF champion, phone addiction, the great Parlay Pals vs. Parlay Boys debate, and much more. Tom Aspinall also calls in from Wednesday's WWE event to share his unexpected in-ring encounter. 

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Area Hawaii Show! Back in your life! On this Wednesday, October 16th, 2024. Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. Welcome back to our brand new, new, new, new, New York City studio. And the beauty of doing a daily show,

Monday we did a show, our first show, Tuesday we did a show, here we are on a lovely Wednesday. And you know how I know it's lovely? Look outside. Yes, look at that sky. Look at that real window showing us the sky. We make tweaks. We make tweaks along the way. Now, hello to the chat. Give me a thumbs up if you notice anything different. If it's a little more crystal clear, if it's a little poppier, if the colors are jumping out at you.

We're making tweaks, my friends, as we go. It's not fake, by the way, the window. It's not fake. I will prove it to you. I've now actually asked the airline people to fly at approximately 1.16 p.m. They're going to fly with a banner. You're going to see it. It's going to be fantastic.

Give us a thumbs up if you see me loud and clear. Give us a thumbs up if it's crystal clear HD 1080p, perhaps even 5K. We're introducing that and we are going to continue to improve and make it better. Do me a favor. Go back to the first episode, the return to the MMA hour about three years ago now, a little over. Go back and look how I looked then and go back and look how I looked back in July, three years later. Things are changing. Things are evolving. We continue to upgrade. And so I'm so happy to be here on a beautiful Wednesday and on the nose Wednesday. That's when we shoot and we got a lot to shoot. And you know, I said on Monday's program that we were back, my friends. And I said on Tuesday that we were back on a Tuesday and it's rare to do a show on a Tuesday. And of course, Wednesday is old hat, but I actually

lied. I actually lied. I lied to all of you and I want to apologize to all of you for lying. Because in fact, in retrospect, we were not live on Monday. We were not back on Monday. We were not back on Tuesday either. We are actually officially back on this Wednesday, October 16th. When the book is written on the Ari Helwani Show era, the Uncrowned era, uncrowned.com, everything that we're doing.

When the book is written, go back to Wednesday, October 16th as day one. Do you know why? Do you know why, guys? Frank, do you know why do you know why guys frank do you know why um i'm kind of afraid to know frank hit the breaking news we are officially back today today is day one of the new era yesterday was uh negative one monday was negative two do you know why today is day one of the new era

is it because of the on the nose no it's not because on the nose but it's a good it's a good attempt on your part it's because frank we're officially back because the haters are out they're finally out and it was only going to be officially back season once the haters came out. And so hello, Bilal. Hello, Ali and all my good friends out there. Once they finally took, you see how much they missed us? They had to react after day one and two. Oh, they couldn't help. The real estate is better than rent-free. They couldn't help themselves. They had to find the one little morsel to react to, to get all up in arms about, to start throwing out words and accusations and insults, temper tantrums, because we're back in their lives because there was a void. There was a void in their lives. Three long months, no interviews, no shows, no in-studio shows. And you do one and all of a

sudden you get all kinds of reactions. And so we are now back. The haters are out and we welcome them all. One and all, come here. Come, listen, sit back, relax, grab a cup of peppermint tea, a little shot of whiskey, an espresso, whatever it is you want, welcome. Please, we welcome you all. And we welcome you with peace and love. You will hit us with temper tantrums.

We will hit you with peace, love, and a big old hug and maybe even a kiss. Congratulations on the win. Congratulations on the win. Congratulations on the life. Congratulations on especially being in a spot in your life. And I'm referring to Ali in particular. On being in a spot in your life where you're so dependent on one particular man that you have to continuously kiss that man's tuchus.

And that is a Yiddish term. Look it up. That is the behind of a man. You have to kiss his tuchus repeatedly. You have a Yiddish term, look it up. That is the behind of a man. You have to kiss his tuchus repeatedly, you have to tag him, you have to thank him, you have to continuously praise him because without that man, you are cut off. Meanwhile, here, we are independent.

We are solo. We are thriving, we are expanding, we are growing. We're making things happen, we're building empires solo. You're regardless and independent of anyone's help, anyone's support, anyone having to give us a pass, anyone having to bless us and say, no, you are okay because you kiss our tuchus. So it's a beautiful life. It's a life that we are thankful for. It's a life that we continue to be grateful for. And it's a life that we welcome everyone to join in on and to take part in because this is the way to live one's life.

We have seen the light. We have seen it and it is glorious. Is it not glorious, Frank? It is glorious. Have you seen the light? I have seen the light. Ah, you know yourself. You know yourself, Frank.

It is glorious. And we've got another great show for all of you on this beautiful Wednesday in New York City. They're working on buildings over there. You see it? You see the buildings? Is that a crane there? Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, I mean, what about our crystal clear picture? Picture still looks dark and grady? That's an absolute lie. Later in the program, we're going to be joined by Brandon Royville, who had a massive win over tatsuro taira uh he beat tatsuro taira on saturday at the apex and my favorite part of the win it was a great fight it was a great win but i have to say the post-fight interview was absolutely amazing did you guys see the post-fight interview it was spectacular he gave him props he said he'd help him out uh he wants to be the number one contender. He has a strong case.

Obviously, Kai Asakura is going to be fighting for the belt on December 7th. That's going to be against Alexandre Pantoja. But the man has a strong case. He's been on quite the roll this year. So he'll join us at 4 at 3.30. We're going to go back to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where, of course, our good friend Adi Oladipo joined us yesterday. He's going to, actually, not he's going to join us. Johnny Eblen's going to join us.

Johnny Eblen is fighting on Saturday against Fabian Edwards in a rematch of a fight that happened a little over a year ago for the Bellator middleweight title. Back then they're fighting for the, I don't know, Super Fights belt. Are the belts actually even on the line? I should probably know this. Are there belts on the line on this card? I don't even know. PFL Super Fight. Super Fights pay-per-view belt, I think.

No, it's a Bellator middleweight title fight. According to Tapology, and they would never lie, Cyborg and Pacheco are fighting for the PFL Featherweight Super Fights Championship, and Ganu and Faheda are fighting for the PFL Super Fight Championship belt, but it seems like Eblen's fighting for his belt or defending his belt. Anyway, Johnny Eblen, one of our favorites. He'll join us at 3.30. On the nose, prior to that, prior to that, Demetrius Mighty Mouse Johnson, obviously one of the greatest of all time, 11 straight title defenses, UFC flyweight champion, pioneer for the flyweights,

eventual one championship champion as well, bantamweight champion and recently retired fighter will join us. And I think his first interview since retiring, of course, he has a great YouTube channel produced by our good friend, Michael Wantsover. Love talking to DJ. He'll join us at 2.15 and Chris Eubank Jr., EJ's favorite fighter is going to join us at around 1.30. But it is, ah, look at that. We've got our whole team right there. There's the squad. Regulators, mount up.

Hope you've enjoyed Monday's show, Tuesday's show. Hope you've subscribed to the feed by now. Hopefully that's, you know, hopefully there's more subscriptions to come. But if you're watching, press the and then the bell. And then if you go on podcast and you hit the follow or the sub or the comment or the five stars, all these things help. So we appreciate you. Give us a thumbs up in the chat. Give us a thumbs up in the chat if you're watching.

Yeah. Give us a thumbs up in the chat. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And on Wednesdays, Frank, you know, we love to shoot around these parts, right? Everyone loves it. Absolutely. And it's been a while since we've shot. It's been a while.

It's been over three months since we shot. And so I presume there's a lot of questions. Let's get to some of them now. And then we'll get to the rest later in the program. Okay? To keep you on your toes. How does that sound, Frank? I'm alpha.

Yeah. You know yourself, Frank, in Rampage Alpha. We're going to get Mr. Ramp you on your toes. How does that sound, Frank? I'm alpha. Yeah, you know yourself, Frank, in Rampage, you're alpha. We're going to get Mr. Rampage on the program. Saturday, by the way, PFL Battle of the Giants on DAZN pay-per-view. By the pay-per-view,

you get us alternate commentary, the very first Helwani Vision broadcast, myself, Chael P., Tyron Woodley, Megan Anderson, Tim Welch, Jake Paul, all going to join us. Manningcast style, box, box, feed.

And you can watch, it's not like a watch party where you're just watching me. You can actually watch the pay-per-view with our team, our commentary, live from this studio with this amazing new camera. Life is good. There it is. Helwani Vision, Saturday, beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. in the UK, 1 p.m. Pacific, only on DAZN pay-per-view. First question, Dominic. I'm just going to go in order here. And I will be honest with all of you. I have not read any of these. Hello, Ariel and crew. Oh, look at that. graphic yeah who did that shout out to gc

gcu did that stop yeah i made it man lost the uh lost the last one in the move uh so we had to get a new one there was no branding on that one yeah lost the last one in the move though okay the actual file i can't find it. Oh, okay. As if the branding is what would cause Got my whole computer on a hard drive. Yeah, I can't find

the old counter. It's gone. Well, you know what? I like this one better. That's all I needed to hear, man. I like this one better. Thank you very much. Hello, Ariel and crew.

Congratulations on the new channel and partnership. Wishing you all great success and we'll be watching every day. Thank you. I have a two-part question for you first. Now that the Ariel Helwani show is three days a week, along with the two others, do you think you would consider covering the contender series results when that is going on and discussing potential future stars from each new week now that it has produced top UFC fighters and former champs? Similar to that, would you guys consider a potential short segment in one of the shows where you talk about a prospect to be on the lookout from one of the top regional promotions? I don't like having branded segments like that because I just feel like it boxes you in if there's something we're talking

about, you know, we're trying to cover as much as we can. Contender Series, I'm pretty sure, is done, right? It goes in seasons and waves, so I'm pretty sure it's done. It is currently on right now. No, no, I'm pretty sure it's done. It is currently on right now. No, no, no. I know it's, I think Tuesdays was the last one.

Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. I know it happened on Tuesday, but. Yeah, no, I think Tuesday was the last one for this particular run. So yeah, when there's things to talk about, you know, we try to tell you. There was once a guy who was the two-weight world champion from Cage Warriors who was on our show before his UFC debut. So we've had people on from all those organizations. And totally not against it.

We're trying to do as good of a job as possible. And cover as much as possible. Of course, moderator Lewis Emeritus. Wouldn't be the same without him. Ariel, boys in the back, love that name, and Pizzi. Pizzi here, by the way. Sorry, yes, I am. Oh, hey, Pizzi. How are you?

You're just saying, I like this look, this is a nice look This is casual Wednesdays I wanted to, you know Have a departure from the black t-shirt today No, this is a complete departure I change my clothes every day I just want that underlined It looks like you're a tourist

In Ireland Who's going to check out the local pubs Do Irish people wear Guinness merch? Oh yeah. I'm Irish. I'm wearing it. Okay, thanks for that. Moderator Lewis, the uncrowned era

is here and it's vibrant and radiating like the window over Helwani's shoulder and dare I say that windows never look better. Love the studio, love the lower thirds and the color palette. It's all giving damn Daniel. 84 days.

Wow, I didn't realize it was that long since you last sat in a studio and did what you did best or do best. Excuse me. Now we're here. Can you and the boys reflect on how it felt to make the leap from where you were and onto this journey to build Uncrowned

and the A.H. show? Much love, Louis. You can always count on Louis to dig deep and to get us into our feelings. I mean, this is a communal question. I would say for me, this journey mentally for me started last summer because when you're thinking about new deals,

when you're thinking about new opportunities, it kind of starts a year out, at least mentally. You can't do everything. You can't put it into action. You can't sign deals and things of that nature, but you can start thinking and planning and strategizing. And it really started with me. And as I've said before, my agent, Jerry, but I was always keeping the guys as much as possible abreast. Um, we've already addressed, you know, the doubters and all that stuff. It's not a big deal. Um, and then, you know, you get to like six months out and then you start thinking a little bit more. And I will be honest, in my mind, the hope was, all right, I know I'm going to the Olympics. I know that that is coming. I think I was leaving July 22nd, 23rd, something like that. I would love to have everything wrapped up, an announcement, a big to-do. I could go, clear head, go on vacation afterwards, come back ready to go. Didn't quite work out that way, especially when you're talking about something as complex as this. So we had to kind of be a little bit more

patient. And so when I was in the studio on that last show and said, I don't know if I'll be back here or somewhere else, I truly didn't know. Things were leaning in this direction, but I didn't know at that point. And then like a few days into Paris, it became very clear, but I only signed my contract August 23rd to give you a sense of, you know, how long it takes to button all these things up. And so that was a month later. And then, you know, once that was signed, and before that we were talking and planning because we had to hit the ground running and I had already told everyone of my decision.

And like I said, it came down to five entities and, you know, two of those included Vox and Spotify and two others in addition to this one and just felt like this was the right deal. And there was so much. And I was, you know, the guys did an amazing job when I was away, either A, at the Olympics or on vacation. And I joined as much as possible.

And I hope that I was present as much as possible. But then when I got back, everything really started to ramp up. And, you know, from late August up until Monday, you know, there was so much planning because we're not just launching a new YouTube channel, but we're also building a studio and we're building graphics for all these new shows and we're planning things out and we're hiring new people. And in addition to all of that, there's a whole website. Like that's one of these is big enough. And so we're doing

this and this at the same time. And I loved every second of it. And I was telling people that I was enjoying the preparation and the planning and the strategizing chapter. But by the end, I was longing for this chapter. This is what I like doing best. Sitting here, interviewing people, talking about fight sports and all that stuff. And so it was an incredible experience. We're still kind of living it.

As I said, we're still tweaking. We're still doing things and meeting and staying very late. And everyone was here every single day last week, including Saturday and Sunday. And they'll be back tomorrow. And then there's the crack on Friday and then Helwani Vision. And then we've got the watch party. Like it's a lot and it's a, it's a change, but I think I speak for everyone. Maybe not Frank, you know, we're all having a great time. I'm having a great time, man. I wouldn't

trade anything in the world for those. I'm kidding. Obviously I know you're having a great time and you're crushing it. And let me just say something about frank if i may please there was a period there was a period there where we didn't have andy and andy to me is kind of like the captain of the ship when it comes to production and technical stuff um she knows about it as well as anyone and she was so crucial to the operation but there was a period where we had to get her over and and frank was here before her um and frank really i mean you took you took the baton to the point where i was enjoying people asking you questions about production and video and stuff like that that you know nothing about but you you faked it until you made it that's right it was very impressive you really think

i was faking it huh i was I was. I was. Absolutely. They're asking, so Frank, like when you guys use the bit rates on the thing, and Frank's like, yeah, you know, you get the 4.5 PC and the 6. The 4.5? Yeah. And that was really in play when we were preparing for the Vegas show because that was before Andy joined and before Jordan joined as well and not everything was in place. So it was really impressive to see everyone step up

and again, we're still building it, but man, there's so much pride when you're kind of building your own thing with a great partner as opposed to just kind of sitting back and taking what is given to you as an employee, if you will. And so like I'm waking up, I just can't wait to get here.

And I'm constantly thinking about things. And, you know, I hope that I'm able to balance it all. And people still keep asking me if I'm going to burn out and, you know, the guests and all that stuff. And we'll get to a groove. It's going to be just fine. That's the least of my worries. I believe in this so much. I believe in what we're doing. I believe in the content. I believe in the vision. I believe in the website.

I believe in our partnership. I believe in Yahoo. Shout out to my guy, Jim Lanzone, CEO of the company who gave me this yesterday. One more time, Frank. I got my own sounds now. We're taking that away from you. And I just believe in all of it. I believe in all of it. I believe in PT. I believe in the crack. I believe in Shaheen. I believe in every single person that we've hired. And I think we've built the dream team here. So I'm just loving it. And this is what I constantly tell myself. When it gets a little

frustrating, when you want this done ASAP, when you are mad about this or frustrated about this or anxious about this, there's going to be a time, God willing, when we're all 100, like my wife's Nana, who just turned 100 on Monday. And we are going to dream of this anxiety in our lives. We're going to dream of, of, of, you know, late nights and meetings and planning and zooms and all this stuff. We are going to long for it and think back and look back on it with great nostalgia and pride and joy. We're going to dream of haters like Bilal and Ali tweeting about me and making all kinds of ridiculous comments about me. I'm going to miss that. I will think back and say,

that was a fun time. I was alive. Do you know what I mean? And so I try to have that perspective. I try to enjoy it all. And yeah, I can't wait for six months from now when we're even better than today. Because I feel like after every show,

we get a little bit better and a little bit better. Is there anything else that anyone wants to add? I think you nailed it all all right skinny hey guys this is not a dig at all but don't you think mma media in general should do a better job at highlighting up-and-coming fighters rather than calling cards with entry-level fighters weak what was that oh did you guys write to me? You know, I don't have, I have a weird thing. Oh yeah. Oh, that's a 117. Damn. I don't get the notifications anymore. All right. Thank you for telling me, Eric. I didn't see that. Okay. We'll put a pin in the questions for now. I appreciate that. I don't see, or maybe I was just waxing poetic too much.

Enough about me. Enough about my craziness. Enough about my emotions and my feelings. Let's get to a guest that I'm so excited to talk to. He's one of my favorite people in the world of the sweet science. And on Saturday, he returned to action and looked great, scoring a seventh round knockout.

He's back. He's looking good. He's fit. And he potentially has a massive fight on the horizon. I'm talking about Chris Eubank Jr. who is kind enough to join us. There he is. Hello, Chris. How are you? Sorry for keeping you waiting. You're early, my friend. Last time we had to search high and wide for you. This time you made up for it by coming 10 minutes Thank you so much. Yeah, I wanted to make sure I wasn't late again. Chilling, I'm happy. I'm relaxing in Dubai again.

Last interview that we did, I was in Dubai as well. And yeah, man, just recovering, trying to heal up. I got a little cut on top of of my eyebrow unfortunately from from the fight from the headbutt so uh gotta gotta stay out of sparring for the next couple weeks but yeah we'll uh be back soon and yeah we've got a big one coming up okay well i thought you looked great out there on saturday congratulations on the win it was great to see you back in action uh are you happy with how you looked obviously you're out for a year there was a lot of there was a lot of interest in how you would look you have been linked to some big fights this felt like a fight to get you back on track

get your feet wet again were you happy with how you looked um yeah you know i dominated every round i knocked the guy down four times um i got cut, so I'm pissed off about that. But aside from that, it was a good performance. I wanted to see how it felt coming off of a cap with Jonathan Banks, going through the weight cut again, just testing things out, man. You know, I feel like I could have taken the guy on the first round after that first knockdown, but I let him off the hook because I wanted to stay in that ring, man. I wanted to enjoy myself.

That's my life. That's what I do. I didn't want it to be over so quick. That cost me a cut, but we, you know, we learned a lot about, you know, ourselves in that fight. And, yeah, I think everything went to plan aside from the cut. we uh you know we learned a lot about you know ourselves in that fight and um yeah i think everyone went to everything went to plan aside from the cut and you know within the next couple months i'll be back in the room how many stitches by the way uh six i believe okay um yeah that is unfortunate but um like i said you look great and there was some concern when that video came out of you cutting weight, which I know is common.

Was this a tougher weight cut or is that usually how the struggle goes for the last few pounds? Listen, as you get older, everything gets a little bit tougher. But listen, I'm a middleweight. Everyone has to go through hell to make weight. You know, I'm no different. It's not fun. It's not nice. It's not comfortable.

It's brutal, but it's part of being a fire unless you're a heavyweight. So, you know, it's something we all just have to deal with and go through. Felt like you were really enjoying yourself out there. Felt like you were really enjoying Riyadh, the experience. You got into the spirit. You were wearing the traditional garb.

It seemed like you were really having a great time. You even brought up the sword on multiple occasions. Can you tell me why you were having so much fun and what was going on as you're walking around? What's going on in your mind as you're walking around with that somewhat scary sword? was quite long i was afraid that someone might get hurt it looked real as well yeah i mean listen the sword is um it's a symbol it's a symbol of you know a royal family royalty in saudi but it's also a symbol of war and um

that was the mindset i had going into this fight you know i wanted to i wanted to get into a real fight i knew this guy was tough i knew he wasn't going to go down uh and quit you know so i knew i was in there for a fight you know if i if i wasn't on my p's and q's or i didn't have my stamina right if my reflexes weren't right then it was going to be a tough fight but you know everything was where it was supposed to be um and yeah you know i'm just respecting the culture and the uh and the people and you know i love the um the dope that i was wearing i even did some uh some some pad work in it on the um the public workout which was fun it was kind of hard to move around, but it was fun. I don't think anyone's ever done that before.

So, yeah, I had a great time. At my age, it's about enjoying yourself. I don't have to have... I don't have to be too serious all the time, especially in fights like that, where the guy...

I'm kind of neutral. The guy hasn't... I don't know the guy uh he hasn't disrespected me in any way so i don't really have to be too um too serious you know i i can be light during fight week um you know there is no real beef it's just you know we're being professional and we're both just going in there to put on a show and to win and to and to be competitive you know that's all it was about for this fight um will i be as light-hearted in my next fight against someone like a connor ben uh absolutely not but um for this fight yeah it was all about having fun and enjoying myself taking a step back uh you made news when you

announced the partnership with boxer and ben shalom ultimately why did you decide to go that route why did you link up with him um i've made that pretty public already in my uh press conference a few weeks back you can oh i didn't see that i wasn't aware of uh no No, I'm kidding. I'm joking. Everyone saw it. Come on. It was quite the day. Fair enough. You want to leave it at that? Yeah, I mean, you know, I said what I said. It can't be taken back. Do you regret saying what you said? A lot of people, you know, have issues with managers, promoters, teammates, you know, people that are supposed to be on their side, but they're not. You know, so I was kind of just speaking about all the people that have been, you know, fucked over in their careers. And to be honest, I think every single fighter on planet Earth has dealt with some type of bullshit during their career.

No one's gone through their entire career not having to deal with something. So it is what it is. At the end of the day, fighters should come first. That is the, you know, that should go without saying. But the insane thing is that it's actually not the case. So many times the fighters don't come first or second or third you know there are people that you know are put in front of the fighters and that's why i'm i'm so happy to be involved

with his excellency turkey al-shaykh because he is probably the only promoter in history that puts the fighters first every single time. Before him, before the promoters, before anybody. All right, I'm going to give this fighter what he deserves to go out there and risk his life. Even if, you know, maybe I lose money on the show, fighters come first. And that is amazing. That is, it's unheard of so uh it's a great time to be a fighter if you can get into that mix if you get onto that scene it's uh it's it's an amazing journey it's an amazing path and i'm there you know my journey

began on the weekend now moving forward we we can make massive fights with that contingency in Saudi Arabia backing us. And, you know, I'm excited, man. I'm looking forward to everything that's coming. And so, obviously, before the fight, the face-off, if you will, with Conor made headlines. And then immediately after the fight, I mean, he walked into the ring with ease. That made headlines. And Turkey Al-Sheikh said that he would like to make that fight. And it seems like everyone, you know, wants to make that fight.

Let me ask you this. It's a several-parter, but I'll start with this one. Did you know that he was going to be there before the fight? Did you know that you were going to run into him? And if not, were you annoyed that all that popped off as you're cutting weight before a big return fight for you? For sure I was annoyed. The last thing I want to do is have some idiot in front of me

pushing me while I'm trying to cut weight. No fluids, no food, barely any sleep. And then I've got some idiot pushing me, talking shit in front of me, in front of all these cameras. I had no idea that it was going to happen, but it did. And it's one of those things, it shows you who Connor Ben really is. That he would pick that day of all days to come and try and stand in front of me. There's been plenty of other occasions where if he was really about that life, he could have been in front of me. You know, we were both at the fight, the AJ Dubois fight.

He knew I was there. He chose to stay away from me. But all of a sudden on weight cutting day, oh, he's front and center. Where are the cameras? Where's Chris? And then again, in the ring after the fight, when I've just done seven rounds, I've got a cut. Oh, he's Mr. Big and Brave with all the security around. Would it be the case if, you know, he

see me just walking down the street and he hasn't got his people around him, there's no security, is he going to come up to me and say something then i doubt it i really do um but you know the exciting thing is we have an opportunity to see how he really is um in the build-up to the fight whenever it does get made you know he's going to be in positions where you know he's going to have to show who he really is. So we'll see. So when you say that you have an opportunity and it sounds like everything's lean, can you tell us definitively, is this next for you? Is there an agreement in place,

a verbal agreement? What is in fact in place as far as you and Connor Ben finally happening? I mean, there's no contracts been signed. You know, the agreements have been verbal in terms of Turkey saying to me that this is what I want. He came into my changing room before the fight and said, this is all I care about. You and Ben, this is what we want. So that agreement is verbal. You know, me and Conor both said we want to fight. It just comes down to him getting his license back because obviously he's had a ban for trying to cheat in our last fight, in our first scheduled fight a couple of years ago when he got caught with performance and housing drugs in the system twice. So, you know, everyone's saying he's expected to get his license back within the next couple of months or a couple of weeks or whenever it's going to be. And then after that, the fight gets made.

Does that fight have to be in the UK, in your opinion, or are you past that? Would you be at peace if it's in, let's say, Riyadh? Are you okay with it being somewhere outside of the UK? And I'm assuming if it's not in the UK, it's going to be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I mean, obviously, it's an all- in riad saudi arabia i mean obviously it's it's a it's an all british affair you know the history is british boxing behind the history behind our fathers behind us you know it would make the most sense for it to be in in britain fill our football stadium. But again, you know, if the people that are putting on the show

want it in a different location, then it is what it is. You know, I can say where I want it to be, but at the end of the day, it's the people that are putting up the money that they get to choose. And, you know know to be completely honest it doesn't really matter where it is you know for the fans yes it would be great to have it in the

uk but for me personally i'm going to tear that boy apart whether it's in saudi whether it's in the uk or whether it's in a parking lot somewhere it It doesn't matter. The next big Saudi show is December 21st. Obviously, it's not happening then. And then there's one in February that Turkey has talked about, tentatively February 22nd. Could it happen on that card in February in Riyadh? Is that what is being discussed? It could. Absolutely, it could.

Is that the target at this point? Yes, I would definitely say that that is a target date okay and obviously that is something that you're amenable to right you're open with that timeline because that's in four months from now yeah the cut will be healed up in uh within the next month um so after that yeah i'm good to go and so what weight do you think this would be at because obviously 157 seems like uh a far cry from where you were at on on saturday that was the agreed upon weight two years ago right 168 seems like a weight that you're most comfortable at he's probably a natural 147 pounder if we're being fair 154 where do you think this actually falls do you know where it falls if

you guys fight it falls at the middleweight division of 160 yes the first fight was made at 157 uh a weight which i did cut down to just to show everybody that I could do it but now this kid has no privileges he has no leeway he has no power he cannot call the shots on weights he cannot call the shots on uh rehydration clauses and, uh, anything he has, he has no say in anything. He takes what he gets. Now that's what happens when you cheat and get caught. You don't then come back into the game, demanding things.

You, you take what you're given. And what he's getting is one 60 middleweight. Do you think he'll agree to that? He has no choice. Do you have any sense of whether or not he has agreed to that, verbally? Yes. He's said it many times, actually. I'll fight him at 160. Okay. And to the best of my knowledge, the British Boxing Board of Control is the one overseeing and sanctioning these fights in Riyadh.

Do you think that they will try to stop this fight from happening I don't think so I think it's I think he's served his time you know in terms of uh you know the time he's been out of the ring the time he hasn't been able to box in the UK um you know to be honest you know if I'm actually being truthful I think anyone that gets caught with drugs in this system should have a lifetime ban but that's just not how boxing works so you know he's been out he's been out of the boxing scene in the UK for a couple of years now the fight needs to happen so yeah I don't think they're going to try and block it so you think it should be strike one and you're out essentially no you know two-year

ban for the first offense none of that like you think if you get caught knowingly unknowingly you're done absolutely um does it give you any pause then, knowing that you're going to go in there with someone who has this infraction on his record? No, because everybody has infractions on their record. Look at all these fighters that are getting popped, and then they're back in the ring six months' time or a year's time. Canelo, Tyson Fury, the list is disgustingly long. That's just how boxing is. You know, the guys at the elite level, they're still getting caught and they're still back in the ring. It's a sad state of affairs, but that's just what it is.

And it's why I guess that so many people still do cheat because they know, all right, I'm going to get a slap on the wrist. I'm going to get a fine. I'm going to get a ban for a year or two if I get caught, which I might not. So, yeah, it's worth the risk. guys start getting banned for serious amounts of time you know but that you know guys are not these organizations are not doing that because they need fighters to fight that's the only way that everyone can make money so you know for fighters like me

who continue to stay clean who continue not to cut corners who continue to stay clean, who continue not to cut corners, who continue to, you know, be model fighters, model citizens in the sport of boxing. It's just, you know, it really does show you the strength of character and who we are because so many of these guys, they buckle. You know, so many of these guys end up, you know what, let me just take this. Let me just try and see if I can get away with this.

No one's going to find out. There's doctors saying it'll be out of my system in this long and, you know, I'm going to feel great and I'm going to win and I'm going to make money and, you know what, let's just do it. So many of these guys are doing it. So for the guys that don't do it like me, we should be respected. We should be admired.

Um, yeah, it's, it's, it's real out there, man. Two years later, what do you believe in your heart of hearts?

Did he knowingly take something or unknowingly? What do you think? I mean, the, the evidence is is um you can't argue against it you he got caught twice he felt two drugs tests there's no argument um he was undeniably cheating. And you know what? Even the guys who say, I didn't know, I made a mistake, I didn't realize that this,

whatever I ate or took or had in my system, I didn't realize that it was in the food or in the nasal spray, or this guy gave it to me. Even those guys who come out with that story, you still cheated. Because as a professional, it's your job to know absolutely everything that's going into your system at all times. That's what you have to do at the elite level in the sport. You have to be responsible as a man and as a fighter to know, okay, this may have something in it. So let me make sure it's legit. Let me make sure it's okay to take before I take it.

If you're not willing to do that with all the money that people are making out here, then even if you didn't knowingly cheat, you did cheat because it's in your system. It doesn't matter how it got in there. It doesn't matter if you were asleep and someone came and jabbed you in the ass with a syringe. It's your job to protect yourself at all times. And if you don't do that, you're a cheat, you're a scumbag, and you don't deserve to be in the ring. Unfortunately, like I said, guys get away with it. guys get a slap on the wrist and they're back in the ring it is what it is connor ben's gonna pay for cheating or trying to cheat he's gonna i'm gonna make him pay dearly for that there's no part of that within the next i'm sorry for interrupting but i'm just wondering there's no part of you that says, no, I'm not going to give you

the honor of fighting me. You cheated in my opinion. And I only want to fight clean fighters. Why give him that if you feel like he should be banned for life? I'm a prize fighter. I need to get paid. I need to win money.

I need to win titles. I need to get paid i need to win money i need to i need to win titles i need to win fans i need to uh i need to fight you know and there's so many guys cheating out there if you say i'm not gonna fight jeez you ain't gonna fight anybody at the end of the day who can you fight um it's sad to say but it is what it is, man. I got to get paid. I got to do what I do. And if that means finding a guy who's coming off of a ban, that's what it means. He will be tested like no other for the lead up to our fight.

That we will make sure of. And that's the best we can do. Just curious, he was on my show in March before his Vegas fight. He was extremely emotional talking about considering taking his life in the midst of all this. He has said this to other people. Have you ever seen those clips?

And when you see those clips, do you feel any kind of remorse for him do i feel remorse for the guy who was taking performance enhancing drugs to try and beat me in a fight what type of insane question is that aaron it's it's not so much um i guess i guess it would go down the path of perhaps if you did believe that he unknowingly took something, that it was a tainted supplement or something or a tainted eggs or whatever it is, who knows how these things get in people's system. And you see a guy crying who's a father and says he was this close to taking his own life. I don't know. You've just answered the question in so many ways, but I was just, and I'm not judging you if you say to hell with him, he tried to hurt me. I couldn't care less. I was just

curious when you see that, what your reaction is. There are some people who say crocodile tears. I don't believe it. It's all to get sympathy. It's all a show to hell with them. And I wouldn't blame you to be honest, if you felt that way way i was just curious more what your reaction was the guy is an exceptional actor fair enough i mean an academy award is what's needed for that guy okay fair enough um could i ask that when you signed with boxer there was uh there was some talk of you versus canelo did any of that get close did any of that seem to be a reality and perhaps is it a reality if all goes well in february and you know maybe cinco de mayo or or September when he traditionally fights? We were in talks. We were in, we were, you know,

the fight was getting made, but we couldn't agree on the business side of things. And at the end of the day, I decided that, you know what? The numbers aren't adding up. And that combined with the fact that I've been out of the ring for a year, this is not the right time

you know I don't need to rush into a fight with Canelo I'm not starving to get paid I'm not going in there to just survive so I can make a couple mil I want to win survive so I can make a couple mil. I want to win.

And when I do win, I want to make the absolute most amount of money I can. So, beat Conor Benn. Beat Lara. Get a world title. Get on a hot streak. And then get in the ring with Canelo that is the goal that's the plan I'm betting on myself

you know yeah I could have taken 5 mil or whatever it was they were saying to fight him now but I'm betting on myself I'm betting on myself to be in a better position next year to where they can't offer me those numbers when he's making four email plus or whatever he's making.

I'm betting on myself. You guys know I'm a little bit of a gambler. I like to play poker. I've seen you. And I have extreme confidence in my ability. So why am I going to short change myself why am I going to rush into something after having a year off doesn't make sense I respect it and it's fair I'm wondering in those plans does Hamza Shiraz fit in any kind of way in there he's an

up-and-comer he has talked about wanting to fight you there's been talk of offers and whatnot are you at all interested in fighting him at some point at some point maybe but in the in the within the next year or two you know the guy's not a name you know he's he's he's he's been he's been visible on the scene for what a year i don't know you know he he can walk into boxing gyms and people won't know who he is. Why would I fight somebody like that right now? You know, let him build himself. Let him let him get legitimately built. So that when the fight does happen, it actually makes sense and it's actually just some up and coming kid with a big mouth and the backing of uh the saudi contingency um you know trying to make a name off of me could i ask and just a couple more and then we'll let

you go and thank you so much i always love talking to you because you're very thoughtful honest and forthright so i appreciate it very much uh i did notice uh just a couple of days ago uh you tweeted and and i responded to you i don't know if you saw you tweeted a video of days ago, you tweeted, and I responded to you, I don't know if you saw, you tweeted a video of your father speaking very eloquently. And that is the best way to describe any time your father speaks, because he's one of the most, I mean, he's just one of the most unique characters that I've ever met anyone who speaks quite like him as well as him. And that gave me perhaps hope that perhaps if you do fight Conor Benn, that he will be involved and that there's, you know, there's a good standing between you guys. Could you give us any type of update on where you are at with your father and if you would like for him to be involved because of the history with your father and, of course, Conor's father? I would love him to be involved. The fact that I even have to say that is insane. How is that even a thing? That his son is going to fight the son of his arch nemesis

all those years ago when he was a world champion. How is it a thing that he may not be there? But it's a thing. We don't talk. He has shown no interest in my career for a long period of time now. He's shown no interest in me in a long period of time. He's gone through a lot over the last few years, and he's still dealing with his demons,

and he thinks certain things aren't right and should be a certain way, and they're not, and he's not happy with it, and this is how he's dealing with it, by not being in my life. As somebody who's lost a son, I think that that's a pretty insane thing to be doing an insane way to be acting to kind of not be speaking to your you know your remaining kids but he's his own man he's he's dealing with his with his with his situation how he thinks he should and um all i can

do is is sit and wait and hope that he comes around at some point um but i can't tell you if that will happen anytime soon have you tried to reach out to him recently to extend any kind of olive branch yeah i message him every once in a while. Don't really hear much back. He doesn't reply. Yeah. Sometimes he'll be a one-word answer or an Instagram post, but there's no real conversation there. It's sad, but I'm my own man,

and I've got massive things on my plate, in my path that I have to complete, that I have to succeed in. So I can't let anything like that affect me spiritually, mentally, emotionally. I have to be strong. I have to be strong i have to be focused um you know once my career is done then i can try and you know spend time worrying about other people's feelings but for right now it's all systems go man i gotta i gotta uh i gotta be me have you heard from him since the win on saturday no i have not okay um i think i speak for everyone and and and i appreciate you even speaking on this it would it would make everyone so happy but for a long time i kind

of tried to act like it was cool and you know people would ask me you know how's your dad yeah we're good but i got sick of that shit man it's bullshit we're not cool you know we're good, but I got sick of that shit, man. It's bullshit. We're not cool. You know, we're not okay. And people need to know. You know, the people that are around him need to hear this and speak to him and let him understand that what he's doing is not okay. And, you know, we need to reunite as a team as a family um yeah that's all i have to say on it and can i ask when was the last time you were in fact cool like when would you say how long has it been

probably a couple years man okay maybe maybe more wow. And you would love for this to be changed. You want this. My dad, of course. But you know, mental, mental health is a real thing. And PTSD is a real thing. You know, he's dealing with whatever he's dealing with. He won't tell me the things he's dealing with, but he's dealing with them. And so I can't really judge him. I, you know, I just have to let him, let him do his thing. Well, uh, I think we wish for that. All of us do, uh, appreciate you

talking about that, uh, truthfully, cause I know it's not an easy thing and, and, and one might say it's none of our business, but he is such a larger than life figure. And now with this fight coming up, most likely it's the story of your father and Connor's father is going to be told again and again. It's going to be a part of the promotion, right? It's why you guys are fighting in many respects. And so we wish for that for you. Thank you so much for coming on, Chris. Really do appreciate it.

I know you don't do a ton of these, so really do appreciate the time and the candor. I hope you heal up soon. And I hope that 2025 is even greater than 24. And hopefully we get a chance to talk if the fight gets materialized. Can't wait for it. In fact, there's a guy on our team in the back, New York Rick, he says of all the fights and all the combat sports, he's been saying this for two years, Chris, this is his most anticipated fight. And people have been mocking him for saying this,ris this is his most anticipated fight and and people have been mocking him for saying this but he is the one on the front lines banging the drum is that not right new york rick you want to tell chris is that not right you are the one saying this is your most anticipated fight in all forms of combat sports right yeah i think the only person

who might want it more than chris and connor is me i'm the one there you go there you go chris he's the one he He's the guy. Perhaps he could be in your corner at your hype man as you walk out in February. Maybe, maybe. Listen, this is a fight, you know,

this is a fight that has a history and a story behind it that has never happened in the entire history of boxing. So, you know, regardless of what you think about weights and levels and age and all of that

this is a unique special event that will never happen again and has never happened so just from that alone it's uh it's an exciting it's an exciting event it's an exciting opportunity and it's real you know it's it's so real. And, you know, this is not an act it gets me excited, man. It really does. You're the man, Chris. Thank you so much. All the best to you and appreciate the time. Okay. Good man. Speak soon. soon there he is the great chris eubank jr and what a line at the end there right we're fighting for our father's legacies and you hear that after how open he was about the state of his relationship with his father um it really does cut deep in it and it makes you wonder as he is reopening these wounds and i've never really quite heard him speak that candidly about the state of their relationship, at least as of late.

Think about how many times he's going to be asked and reminded of his father in the buildup to this fight. If it does happen in February, it's the story. It's the thread. It's the seed, right? I thought what he said there was quite fascinating, though, that, you know, he's his own man. He has his own responsibilities and he seems to be taking it with the kind of stance, the position of like this train's going. I've got the hugest opportunities of my life ahead of me. If my dad is involved, he would love that. And it sounded like he was very interested in reconciliation.

You know, the words were we need to reunite as a team, as a family. It doesn't get clearer than that, right? He wants the father back in his life, but he's also willing to trudge forward and chase these big opportunities, whether, you know, senior is along for the ride or not. And so it's unfortunate, but he seems extremely focused on his future and, you know, manifesting what he's been after. Yo, you're a father of three. I'm a father of three. When you hear-

It breaks my heart. Yeah, when you hear a son talk about their dad, like you never want to be in that position, right? Where your son is saying, I want you back in my life. Because that means things have gone horribly wrong, right? It's supposed to be unconditional. And who knows?

And senior has his reasons and junior has his reasons and junior has his reasons but you see him tweeting it out yeah he tweeted the video and it's like that's that's that's junior saying to senior i'm thinking of you i love you and whatever happened and and then when you remember and some of the mma fans man i know this you know his son as he said passed away yes his brother um and he's talked about taking care of his son which is his nephew chris junior's nephew like there's a lot there and so you can understand that there would be a lot there it would what a scene it would be could

you imagine i've chills if if if senior is walking out junior doesn't even have to doesn't even have to corner him or at least or if Turkey can invite him and be there. And who knows? There's things that are deeper than plane tickets and money and all that stuff. But man, I think everyone would love it. At this point, I'd even take if there was a kind word. Let's say he's not ready to jump both feet in and stay. He wants to stay at arm's length from it.

Even if it's just a message of support to show that he's in Chris's, you know, his son's corner. Like, I need it. Like, I'm a father of a son, a young son. My dad is watching this right now. He watches it every day. He sends me text messages.

Shout out to my dad. But like, I couldn't imagine the relationship getting to that point and my heart breaks for them. Shout out to the chat. Thumbs up to the chat. Thumbs up, thumbs up. Poll right now

73% of our fans Think that Chris Eubank Jr. Beats Connor Benn Obviously a big size difference He says it's 160 I'm not moving down to 157 No catch weights You're coming up

To fight me 100% of them think That this is the biggest fight In combat sports right now So shout out to them They're on the money with this And by the way Shout out to Mr. Jackman

Who is a very loyal Watcher And I do believe He has New pound for pound rankings As far as his favorites On this program I'm concerned

Is it true that the Patron Saint is now Number one over Mysterious Frank That's what I'm hearing He made an impression PT made an impression On my dad For this one

We got a text this morning Just glowing About PT's performance How long have they Interacted You know One to one That's not important Frank an impression on my dad for this one. We got a text this morning just glowing about P.T.'s performance. How long have they interacted, you know, one-to-one? That's not important, Frank. That's not important. It's very important. That's not what was asked.

That's not what was asked. Who was your favorite, they said. You just, you can sneak your little sneakiness in there, and I don't want to, I'm not here for it. Did he say favorite? Or did he just say, you know, I kind of like this Peter guy. Potato, potato. Look, this is what we'll do.

Tomorrow or after this show, I guarantee I'll get a pound for pound ranking. I need everybody in order so we can see. I bet you get it in the next 30 to 45 minutes. I'm happy with what I heard this morning. I don't need an update. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jackman. You are my favorite too.

In the list of favorite fathers, I see him neck and neck with Andy Aspin Thank you, Mr. Jackman. You are my favorite too. In the list of favorite fathers, I see him neck and neck with Andy Aspinall now, as far as I'm concerned. Yes. That's a big praise. Your father's a legend, PT. Can you do me a favor, PT? Give the old microphone a tap there for me. I'm not sure if that was you just hitting the microphone.

What do you think, Frank? Well, considering that I asked him to mute earlier and he's like, I got you. And then he wasn't muted. Who knows anymore? Okay. We're working through the kinks. We're working through the kinks here. We're working through the kinks.

It's all good. By the way. Oh, that's a big difference. I don't know what's happening. What'd you do? What'd you change? If I was using my own computer, this would be fine. You know, I got this new computer.

It's very fancy. Well, I'm sorry that your employer has decided to give you equipment to use. Is it fancy? What year is it? Brand new, mate. Brand new 2024? PT, you haven't been using your mic this entire time.

Yeah, no, clearly, right? I mean, it's amazing. PT, by the way, your old man... This wasn't mentioned during the onboarding situation. Your old man, PT, is a longtime fight fan don't you think if you told him ben and you bank were fighting do you think he would say sign me up he would say let's go to the pub and watch this right oh absolutely it'll be definitely a trip to the book for lame old carol no doubt about it um and to be honest like a lot of a lot of the guys who like you know you're connecting this to that magic era like i don't know if you guys know but there's a documentary out in prime at the

moment called the four kings it's about that era of british boxing eubank ben lennox lewis and frank bruno it's really really good and it's stirring up all this nostalgia and and really those you know you want to see chris senior and nigel there when this goes down you want to be able to compare the feelings compare the rivalry you want all of that stuff so it would be an awful shame but i think chris jr is putting his best foot forward there in the interview with you you know he seems to be an open book and as you said him kind of referencing his dad's you know previous interviews or whatever it is that is him offering the olive branch as far as i'm concerned uh pt as as we noted uh on the the bottom there has his uh first official show of the new era coming out on friday 1 p.m eastern

here on this youtube channel podcast on the feed it. It's The Crack. And I do believe, have you made your debut on uncrowned.com just yet? Is it up? I have, yeah. The Paul Hughes feature is up. No, no, no. I did an article with John Wood. You text me this big long message. No, but that was, uncrowned.com wasn't officially launched when you put out that article. Let's not get crazy here. That was pre-U-utah uncrown.com was born on monday when's the paul hughes feature coming out i've heard so much about this i've heard it's

it's it's pulitzer worthy um that will be down to shane alshadi and the amazing amount of editing he has to do you know i'm only getting back in the swing of things and um this was quite a considerable task uh talk to paul's mother talk to dan hardy obviously during the week and i talked to paul in belfast paul used the story not a lot of people know the journey he's been on here the setbacks he's had in his career this is a guy that in 2020 we were talking about who is the best fighter from ireland ian gary or paul hughes ian gry has obviously gone on and done amazing things in the UFC. He's knocking on the door of welterweight title contention.

Paul, on the other hand, had setbacks trying to get out of the Cage Warriors promotion. He did everything that the guys before him had done. Conor McGregor, Cole Pendrick, Neil Seary, all of these Cage Warriors champions. Ian Garry as well, obviously. And we thought it was all but done,

him going to the UFC. The UFC did reach out to him at some points, but was injured and if you know anything about Paul you know that he had massive setbacks early on in his career after one of the greatest Irish MMA debuts we've ever seen he broke his left hand he even booked a fight after that he's like I'm gonna be back in five months let's book a fight he subsequently broke his right hand and then he broke his right hand again and then he broke his right hand again and then he broke his right hand again to the point where he was told he would never fight again and to rebuild his life the way he has and to be in this spot where he was one of the biggest free agents well the biggest

free agent irish mma has ever seen you got to understand that conor mcgregor wasn't a free agent ever of course when i say that but to get into that situation and to have people now saying when he's about to fight AJ McKee this is too much too soon that is absolutely not Paul's mentality you know the guy you've met him Ariel this is a guy that is sprinting towards his goals he has already had so much time taken away from him which is what the article is based on and he is relentlessly pursuing what he's going after now. I love that. Way to set it up. Can't wait to read it. And can't wait for that fight. Him versus AJ McKee is arguably the most interesting matchup on the card. It's fantastic.

And a step up and the fight that he has been longing for, right? The opportunity and the matchup and the test that he's been longing for. Big fight for McKee, who at 55 is trying to still, you know, get his footing. The four fights, the four main fights on that card are fantastic. And I'm not going to get into the, is it better than this card or better? Like, it's a solid four pack of fights. When you consider Francis and his story and his return to MMA and what happened in March and everything that's happened to him this year, when you consider how good Hennepah Hedda looked in February against Ryan Bader.

When you consider Chris Cyborg, the legend that she is, the icon, the pioneer that she is going up against Pacheco, who's the last person to beat Kayla Harrison. And how big of a deal that is, certainly for Brazilian MMA as well. You consider AJ McKee in his story andckee and his story and paul hughes in his story and then of course johnny eblen who we're talking to in a bit who has uh you know become one of the best middleweights in the world going up against fabian edwards the brother of leon edwards and the first fight for the family since leon lost the ball and uh and it was all ball and it was an impressive win and it was an incredible win and what a great winning streak he is on and he should be praised and showered with love for that uh that's a great story and then obviously what happened to the two

of them in their in their fight the first time over a year ago with the the cut and the spitting and all that stuff and more so i'm looking forward to it and i can't wait for helwani vision on saturday on his own pay-per-view beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific, and of course, 9 p.m. over in the UK. In a matter of seconds, we're going to be joined by our next guest who is featured all over this great set of ours. You can see him right over here. You can see him right over here you can see him right over there um i think he might be somewhere else too there's a couple dcs over there i mean there's a whole host of figurines here but i think that's it uh he is of course, one of the greatest fighters of all time. He is a man who I think so highly of because he's always kept it real. He's always obviously

been so gracious with his time. He's always been so good to me. But as I said, when he announced his retirement a little over a month ago, I said that I have infinite amount of respect for him because he never changed. He did it his way. He didn't care about what people said or what they may have not said or promoted, not promoted. He just went out there. He did his job, and he did it, in many respects, better than anyone else. Number one all-time most consecutive UFC title defenses, tied with Jon Jones for most UFC title defenses overall. He had nine UFC fight night awards, number one for post-fight bonuses in UFC flyweight history. Of course, former one championship flyweight champion. I refer to it as bantamweight because it's 135 over there, but technically it is flyweight um in in uh in one championship and there was nothing left to prove and now he's tackling a new challenge that is brazilian jiu-jitsu he's

tackling a new challenge that is youtubing and streaming and all that stuff and more he's one of my favorite people that i've ever come across not only in mixed martial arts but in life he's an inspiration he's a tremendous father and husband in addition to all those great things. And perhaps most importantly, he is the one and only Demetrius Mighty Mouse Johnson. Ah, look at that. Look at that. Crystal clear. Who did this? Who did this? Wandsover? Who's responsible for this? No, I am. I'm responsible, but I will give Wandover Credit because he did teach me You know he's very talented and each time I see him do certain things

I'm always asking him questions because I think when you can set up your own Studio it's very empowering And it feels good Look at us look at us DJ Look at us Why do you always look so damn good on your stream there Is it something like your skin is just so freaking smooth and shiny?

Like, what are you doing? What is the routine now these days? And the beard is always so on point. I got to do a special stream. Special shout out to Ame and Killer J. Jessica, that's my girl. She takes care of, you know, my skincare routine. And also my wife.

She's always, you know, helping me with my skincare routine. And also my wife, she's always helping me with my skincare routine because I want to age gracefully. I want to look good when I'm like 65, 70 years old, just looking fresh, man. You look fantastic. Dare I say, you've never looked better than right now. Fair? Accurate? I mean, if you want to say that, I mean, the beard's on point.

I just had it done. So that's why I look really good. You look fantastic. Much respect. Retirement looks good on you uh and speaking of that and of course shout out to you all those great interviews that you're doing exclusives tony ferguson you're getting all these big things and we will get to all that in a moment but of course i haven't talked to you because we were on our little hiatus um and you've been so supportive during the hiatus so thank you very much uh you announced your retirement in early september at that event in denver

and they they they, they did it the right way. It was beautiful the way they did it. You got the moment, you got the stage, you got the microphone, you got the spotlight that you deserved. I am curious about the road to that point, because I do remember you being in studio and everyone's like, are you done? Are you done?

Are you going to walk away? And it was almost a year between fights, right? And if not more, and, and, and, and you said, you know, one day I learned from Eddie Alvarez, I'm going to drink coffee. I'm going to tell my wife I'm done. And that's that. So could you tell us about the, the embryonic stages of the decision? When did you in fact inform your wife or have that conversation, which then led to the announcement in September? I can't remember when me and your wife talked about it, but it was kind of like, you know, what Eddie said, we talked, me and my wife talked about it and I was like, I think I'm done.

I just feel, you know, after that fight with Adriano, the third one, I had my wife, had my kids. I was like, okay, is this what my life is all? Is this what life is? Like I'm relying on my body to make a living essentially. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna give myself a year. I'm gonna try to focus on jujitsu, put some muscle on, get bigger for the division because the division in jujitsu is 154. I'm not going to wait till 141 and I got to wait 138 and wait to keep. But fast forward, my wife talked about it. She goes, yeah, I think it's good. And my wife texts me one day and she goes, man, it's so enjoyable to have you around the house, to see the kids, to help me take them to school, help me, help me shuffle them around. And I just really enjoy having you at home more. And I was like, well, that's, that's all you got to say.

And then I remember having lunch with Matt and me and Matt, he were sitting there and that's why I love Matt. Cause he's, he's such a fucking G we're sitting there. And I was like, Matt, I think I've done. He goes, yeah, I think it's time to call a career too. And he goes, you made out good, baby. You made out good. I like, you made great money. You don't have any serious concussions. You're still healthy. You can still train if you want to. And that's always the goal. Like you got out when you want to. And then, but I told him, I was like, I'm gonna give myself a year just in case I miss it. Cause I don't want to be one of those guys. Like I'm done fighting. I'm not coming back. And next, you know, Hey guys, I'm coming to give myself a year just in case I miss it. Cause I don't want to be one of those guys. Like I'm done fighting. I'm not coming back. And next,

you know, Hey guys, I'm coming back to fight. I don't want to be one of those cases. And everybody has their own situation. I know Aldo came back. I know Donna Cerrone has talked about him coming back as well. He wants to get 50 fights in the UFC.

But for me, I'm like, I'm done. I don't miss it. I enjoy jujitsu. That's feeding my competitive edge. It's keeping me healthy. It's a breath of fresh air because my professor, Professor Yan, is very good about teaching me and I'm trying to understand jujitsu and the gi on a deeper level.

And yeah, and I didn't want to do the announcement in one championship, but my wife and Chachere, you know, they convinced me and showed me it's not just about you, but it's also closing that chapter with your fans. And for myself, you know, I didn't think I was going to get through, but my wife, I think I was getting emotional. Right. But when you're sitting there and the spotlight's on you, you see your wife, you see Matt, you see your kid, you see your, you know, your family. It was a bunch of emotions of so many years of training in the gym, in and out, all come to a conclusion of like, I'm never fighting mixed martial arts ever again. And it was a good time. I'm very grateful that one championship gave me the opportunity to do it on that amazing platform. It was a sold out crowd in Denver.

So, yeah, that's how it went down, man. Initially, if it was up to you, how did you want to announce it? Just disappear. Just disappear. Not even a post? Not even a video? I mean, it was going to be a post like, all right, boys, we out. GGs.

On to the next. Just because, you know, the biggest thing i didn't want to take away from the athletes who were competing that night in denver right i respect them so much that the night wasn't about me the night was about them you know john hagerty take on a super lake an amazing fight and the whole car was just stacked i didn't want to take away from their limelight and you know i've always been a guy who doesn't really search for attention of what I'm doing in my career, I guess. And I'm almost kind of shy.

I don't know. But I just wanted to be like, hey, you know, I'm done. It has been an amazing road in mixed martial arts. On to the next thing. But I'm very grateful that my wife and Chachere helped me and pushed me and encouraged me to do what I did in Denver. By the way, how long did you have to sit on this? Like how long in between the announcement and when you actually made up your mind? I think it was a year.

Literally a year. I knew after I fought Adriano the third time, I knew I was done. I was like, this wow not boring but i was like okay i just won again what's next um and then there was time like when aljo he he was a man i was like god he would be a great fight i was like nobody think at the time like nobody could beat aljo like he was you know winning and i was like god that'll be, winning. And I was like, God, that'll be, that fight intrigued me. I was like, man, it'll be nice to maybe fight him. Man, I grappled his ass. Woo.

I'm glad I didn't fight him to get his black ass on my back. I tell you what, that motherfucker was good. But I knew for a year that I didn't want to fight, but I wanted to make sure. I just wanted to make sure. So I took that year to focus on, you know, jujitsu. What is life after fighting going to be like? Can I, do I miss the lights? Do I miss heading to 135? Do I miss, you know, slamming my legs against the pads for five rounds, 25 minutes? Am I going to miss that? And it came out, I didn't miss it. So I was like, all right,

my decision is good. At any point in that process between you making that decision and you announcing it, was anything dangled in front of you? One last attempt? Nothing? Nothing that you considered? They offered me to do a super fight with Mikey Mitsumichi. They're like, hey, what do you think about doing a grappling match

with Mikey? We were going back and forth with the price and we just couldn't come to terms. They're like, how about a super fight with Mikey Mitsumichi we were going back and forth like with the price and we just couldn't come to terms. And then they're like, how about a super fight with Mikey Mitsumichi? We'll do one round grappling, one round mixed martial arts.

And I was like, guys, I truly don't care about fighting. You know, I just had an offer, you know, I think it was maybe three weeks ago for great money, phenomenal money.

And I was like, I just don't care i don't i just don't care to fight i truly don't care to fight mixed martial arts anymore so yeah i mean i'm happy those opportunities came to me because i never forget when i was on the couch and they called me to fight rots and i was like let's fucking do it like let's let's let's lace it up call matt and that was like let's get it and then when those opportunities presented itself, I was like, no, I don't, I don't, I don't really care. I'm getting opportunities from jujitsu competitions to go out there and grapple some monsters. But I'm like, I don't care. Like for me, jujitsu is fun. Like I get to go out there and just compete and not worry about trying to get a big paycheck or anything like that or to press conference and all that stuff. Maybe one day I might get to that point.

But right now, it's truly fun. Like I'm signing up for this tournament. I pay my $150. I pay my IBJJF, you know, yearly membership. And I show up like a weekend warrior. And I go to work. And then after the tournament is done, I go home back in the lab and we start we start cooking me and wandsworth we start cooking it's you know we start cooking uh that offer three four weeks ago what was that

i can't i don't want to discuss it it was it was it mma was it mma it it was mixed martial arts outside of one i don't uh it was outside of one it was outside of one but i was like i was like guys i'm i'm i'm retired with one you know my contract i have five slots on my contract okay so you couldn't even do it i was like i couldn't do it but i'm sure if i truly wanted to do it i'm sure i could have talked to chacheree and and and the organization but i just don't care to fight like i told him i was like that's that sounds like great money. I told my wife, my wife was like, damn. Damn. You sure, baby?

I was like, babe, I don't care to fight. More than what you were making at one? You know, people throw price tags around but you can't believe the price tag until the zeros hit the bank account. But in terms of what they were saying, in terms of what they were saying, it's actually more? Yeah, it was more. But at the same time they were saying, in terms of what they were saying, it's actually more. Yeah,

it was more, but at the same time, you know, I don't care to fight. Like I truly find more enjoyment on talking to people, building the mighty cast, the YouTube channel, working on the mighty brand.

We got season two dropping. I've got some big projects coming up down the line. Like my goal is, can I make more money from building the YouTube, the Mighty Merch, the project coming out in 2025? Can I make more money doing that stuff than fighting? When I do that, that's fucking, you made it. That's fucking dope.

Like Conor has made more money from proper number 12 and all the shit he's got going on than he has from fighting. And that's amazing in my book. That's what every athlete should strive for. Like, okay, I've made, you know, $5 million for fighting. Can I make $20 million outside of the cage? That is my goal now. That's fair. That's fair.

I understand. One last thing. You piqued my, you know, I have to. Was it from the UFC, the offer? No to uh was it from the ufc the offer no it was not from the ufc all right i'll leave it at that i'll leave it at that was not from the ufc what was it like you make the announcement it's a beautiful speech you're emotional and then it's just like everyone is weighing in on you i can't even imagine like you're one of those guys i'll text you if it's not if a reply isn't coming within 10 minutes like it seems like something is wrong i remember you texted me like 36 hours later i can't even imagine. Like, you're one of those guys, I'll text you. If it's not, if a reply isn't coming within 10 minutes,

like, it seems like something is wrong. I remember you texting me, like, 36 hours later. I can't imagine what your phone was like and the messages. What is it like when you get all that praise, all that love, all these people reaching out and just showering you with it all?

How do you handle that? Just one day at a time, I guess. You know, I had a lot of great messages from fighters, Izzy, T-Wood. I mean, delicious goes on work. It just goes down. Best friends from high school, just everybody. And I'm always grateful.

You know, I've always been very kind to everybody I've come across. And for them to show me the same respect and kindness, you know, I'm just grateful. And then obviously I got to you, you know, 36 hours. I apologize, I'm sure you wanted to be number one no no no i just can't be it just made me think man i can't imagine what the the the the text messages are like right now and and and for me like i i get uncomfortable when anyone sends me something sort of quote unquote nice and so i just wondered if it was weird for you to just see all this love and all this admiration and all this praise being thrown on you.

No, it was cool. It was cool. Like, I don't know how to answer that question, but it was cool. Like, I went through every single text message and I responded to every single one of them. And I'm just grateful. And I think it came out of left field, right? Because, you know, I still train every single day. Can I fight?

Oh, yeah, 1,000%. Like, I still have it. You never truly lose it. failed right because you know i still train every single day can i fight ah oh yeah 1000 percent like it's i i still have it you never truly lose it and i think me and not making that announcement i think it caught people off guard essentially so there was people out there i mean you kind of knew i was going to retire because me you talked behind close scenes chatri knew mad hume knew my wife knew michael wanz knew, and a couple of my close friends, but the world, the public, everybody's like, man, where's DJ going to fight again? Man, can we get DJ back in the UFC? Alex Pantoja versus Demetri Johnson, da-da-da-da. My name is still being talked about, even though I haven't fought in a year. So that always feels

good, but I think I caught a lot of people off guard. You know what was my favorite part about all of that? In the cage when you made the announcement, that was you. And that is the you that those who know you have known for a long time. I remember always saying like, man, I would talk to you, you know, I would talk to you in Montreal and stuff like that and talk to you before your fights and you're dropping F-bombs. And I'm like, why can't we get this DJ in the UFC? Now we get him.

Now we know who you are. You show us who you are on your social media, on your YouTube. And the guy in the cage was exactly you. You were dropping, you know, curse words and all that stuff. You were taking the microphone. You were just so comfortable in your skin.

And the voice cracking and the crying was just amazing. It was just amazing. It was, did you, did you like, were you consciously trying to fight it is that why you went so high or is that always how you sound when you get emotional that's how i sound when i get emotional it doesn't happen happen very often you know my wife doesn't see me cry often and i didn't think you know you always think oh i'm gonna prepare a speech and this and that but i'm i kind of like to raw dog it. I like to just go out there,

speak from the heart and you know, your boy, you know, got, got a little high pitch. And at the end of the day, I don't regret one thing in my career. You know, when you said, how can we get this type of comfortable Demetrius Johnson in, you know, the octagon, because I was like, when, when it's time for me to fight, I'm a different person. I'm truly a person set on a mission. When me and Matt, we would be strategic. We would come up with these elaborate game plans against the athletes we would fight to defend the title. I was stepping in a cage. I'm like, hey, it's time to fucking go to work.

I got time. I was just a different person now that i'm not competing and i'm not trying to be the best in the world i could just be be me not that i wasn't be me but i show up and i'm like all right it's time to fight shake hands let's get it incredible it's it's really incredible and what's so i guess for me it's i will just say it's frustrating because i feel like you get more respect from people now than you did when you were fighting. And that bothers me. That annoys me.

Does it not annoy you a little bit? No, I think, you know, we just dropped that Anthony DePettis podcast on the MightyCast. Make sure you guys check it out. And me and him talked about it. Like, I think at the time when I was doing my thing and even in, you know, one championship, you know, the beautiful knockout when I did Adriano the second time. Even when I got knocked out by Adriano, that was that, that time period of during COVID was kind of weird. And a lot of people didn't realize I was still fighting over in Asia, but the power of social media and just everything now is just so magnified. So when people look at like the back of my career, they're like, holy shit, like this guy is, this guy did this and this.

He's so creative. He's intelligent. He never really fucks up outside of the cage. He never misses weight. I think people nowadays can appreciate, you know, how I handled my career. And then you look at today's mixed martial arts. You see some guys who just,

they're fighting so often. You know, when I won the belt back in 2012, I remember I beat Joseph at UFC 152 Jones versus Vitor Belfort. I beat Joseph, turned around, defended my belt in January, got surgery, shoulder surgery in March. Then I turned around and I fought John Moraga, finished him in, I think it was the fourth round. And then I turned around in December, knocked out Joseph. You're not going to see, you might, it's very rare that you see a champion be so active, right?

But in today's market, it's very rare where I did three title defenses and had surgery in one year, one calendar year. So I think people can look back on my career and appreciate that. Oh yeah, 100%. And I hope that they are taking this time to learn. If they don't know, there's a lot of new fans don't know about you. If you were to tell a new fan,

you know, a 2020 fan, a 2022 fan, there's a lot of these new ESPN era fans, nothing wrong with them. We love them. But who weren't watching in 2013 and 2012 when you were bursting onto the flyweight scene what's what's the quintessential demetrius johnson fight what's the fight that you would say okay watch this one first which is the one you're most proud

of that's hard because every single one of them something happened like i never forget i never get the first time i was fighting dots and boy. Boy, that man, he hit fucking hard. He dropped me so many times. And I remember, you know, digging deep and then pushing through. Then just finding the clinch and just, you know, beating him up. And then, you know, you had the Kyojo Higuchi. I did not want to be there. Sick. Then when I fought Dotson the second time, the Chris Caruso. I mean, there's all highlights I could take from every single one of my fights.

So I can't just pinpoint, like, watch this one. the Chris Carrioso I mean there's all highlights I could take from every one of my fights so I can't just pinpoint like watch this one but I would say watch all of them and just see how I was able to evolve while being a champion like you look at champions today my opinion is and this is why I'm so grateful for Matt is that Matt were literally I'll come back and I would destroy like when I beat Wilson Hayes, do you think we went back to the gym? I was like, Oh man, that, that shit, but you, boy, you put his ass in the matrix. You got that arm bar. No, Matt didn't do that. Matt was like, that looked bad. We're going to work on your grappling. And I would just focus

on that, that, that area in mixed martial arts, where you see some guys come out and they fight and they fight and they look exactly the same, the same, the same. And I get it. Like you're at the top of, of the food chain and the pinnacle of the sport. But Matt always forced me to change and be crafty and intelligent. And I felt at the very end of my career, that's when I reached kind of perfection. It took me 18 years to get there. But like when I fought Adron the second time, granted the rounds were close back and forth, but that's what you have to do in order to get to that, that sweet spot to land that

beautiful flying knee. Then the third time I fought him, I was so, I was like, okay, we're moving outside. I was like, okay, he's longer than me. So I can't get a five piece chicken meal on him. Each time I try to get close to him, he runs away. Okay, so we're just going to try to beat him up in the clinch. And then I just beat the shit out of him in the clinch for five rounds. And then I was like, I feel like I've kind of figured out mixed martial arts. But the context of the thing is that it's very hard to see athletes change and develop their skills at this level of mixed martial arts. Like Valentina Shevchenko is one of them who was a champion that each time she came out, she always impressed me. I'm like,

wow, you are a champion and you continue to get better. It reminds me of me when I was a champion, I kept on getting better and being more cerebral and intelligent inside the octagon. And I feel like you don't see that now today you know you said a moment ago no regrets very happy you walk away content and and i believe you i'm just wondering is there someone you wish you had an opportunity to fight i think gsp even though he's bigger than me because i think he's also intelligent john jones i would love to fucking fight him. He would try to do that. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. My clinch, I know my clinch game is way better than his. I'll put money on that.

And by the way, are we talking like flyweight DJ against light heavyweight, like open weight fight? Or you wish you were the same weight? Oh, I wish I was the same weight. Because I think you can hang open weight. No, no, no, no. He's too long. He's too long. Too quick. Too cerebral. you can hang open weight no no no he's too long too long too too quick too too too cerebral like

those i mean in other words i say those because they're so good and they're very intelligent and i'd be curious to see like for example when i train with aljo we would move around and from what i saw when i watched him fight and i felt aljo's when he realized his best asset is his grappling and then when we grappled granted Aljo is way bigger than me I'm like Jesus you are a big body even though I fight at 135 I don't cut my I don't cut as much weight as him but he's still a big body and I'm like god damn so I'm okay that fight would have been, very hard because you're just bigger and you're grappling. IQ is so high. Um, so when I look at, when I call out, you know, not call it, but when I say GSP would be a great one, John Jones would have been a great one because they're so intelligent and athletic and good that what would happen if I was 205 pounds

and me and John Jones were to fight. And I still had all my skill set and he has his skill set. Or if Jon Jones was a mini version of 125, what would that look like? So it's not, it's their brain that I want to fight. I don't really care about their attributes. I want to see what their brain would do in my pressure or my constant changing and transitioning between the aspects of mixed martial arts.

The morning after your announcement, I said the Mount Rushmore of UFC champions is the easiest debate to have in MMA right now. It's a very easy one in my opinion. It's Jon Jones, it's Anderson Silva, it's George St. Pierre, and it's you. I don't think there's any debate. And a couple of people said, Jose Aldo, yes. If there were five on Mount Rushmore, yes, he's there. But there's four faces. Khabib didn't have the title defenses.

I'm talking about people who defend the title multiple times. There's no debate in my mind. Agree or disagree? I think you got it all wrong. Let me give you the four. You're ready. There's Daylan, Daylan, Daylan, and Daylan. This has gone over my head. go what is that what is that

if you know you know um did I just get exposed what is that what did you just say what just happened there what language was that I ever seen making the band with uh Dave Chappelle when he was like I'm trying to get deep on you here dj i'm trying to i'm trying to i'm trying to get me with dylan jokes what is this well i'm sorry i i it's i hit everyone with that joke you know i think when you when you put in that aspect of guys who no worries no worries no worries no worries but let's get back let's get back on track so when i was like did you just short circuit what happened no no one of your producers in the back jumped on my jumped in my ear and i was like who the hell is this guy this is an aerial okay sorry so that

that's what happened don't don't think cte concussions are coming up gentlemen i didn't get hit much in my career. Look it up. Let's get back. Let's get back to, um, the Mount Rushmore. So when you put in that aspect of guys who had many title defenses, successful title defenses, who,

you know, finish their opponents during those title defenses. I think that Mount Rushmore is fair to say, like I was looking at one of my things and it says out of my 11 consecutive toddler fences, I had seven finishes. That's fucking crazy. Like I didn't even realize that until somebody was doing all the numbers for

me. So I think GSB, he was very good, was always creative, super athletic. You have John Jones, you know, John Jones,

the only loss he's had is a Hamill. And that was a DQ. but other than that i think i always felt john jones could finish anybody whenever he fought them and then the other person myself myself and you had anderson silva anderson you know i think a lot of people don't put anderson on there because he stayed maybe too long at the party because at the end of his career he started taking a loss he lost the izzy lost it you know a couple guys and but if you look at that time he was fighting stephan bonner um you know boris griffin uh chris leaving even before he became the champion i mean he was doing magnificent stuff inside the octagon by the way was that

something you were conscious of i don't want to be one of those guys. Unfortunately, there have been, you know, who sticks around too long and has five straight losses and all this stuff. Like, have you seen those guys when you were fighting and said, I don't want that to happen? No, I seen the guys who end up quitting. They end up broke. That's when, when I said, I don't want to be one of those guys. I think everybody, I mean, you know, mixed martial arts is a very interesting sport. And I think everybody remembers your last fight.

And, you know, I can't say that somebody has stuck. In my opinion, I think some athletes stick around too long. And then as a person and as an athlete for myself, I think to myself, why are they still fighting? What is motivating to still fight? Do they enjoy fighting? Do they need the money?

What is the motivating factor for somebody to fight when they're on a downtrend or whatever it may be? So I like to, you know, put those questions in my mind, but the only person who can answer that is that athlete, like if i was asked anderson silva like hey why do you you know keep on fighting when you've made millions and millions of dollars you know you're you're late late 30s going to your early 40s why are you still fighting and only person who can

answer that is himself same thing with chel son and like him and anderson had a boxing match you know why'd you guys do it? They might say, why the fuck not? I'm like, you're absolutely right. Good luck. It's only for them to answer that. For me, I felt there was nothing else to prove. I wasn't having fun anymore.

I was relying on my body to make money. I was like, okay, let's change our mindset. Let's start focusing on using my brain to make money. I i was like okay well let's change our mindset and let's start focusing on using my brain to make money because i can do this i can have the podcast i can have the youtube until i'm 75 years old i i i don't plan on you know i don't i wouldn't want to fight till i'm 45 because your body breaks down i've never taken drugs in my life i don't want to start taking drugs and it's just a natural progression of an athlete. You're going to get slower.

You're going to start having injuries. So why not go out on top as a champion and healthy? That sounds amazing to me. What is your reaction when you see these testimonials from fighters in this class action lawsuit and you see the state of their lives and their health compared to yours? I'm going to keep it 1,000% real. One, I don't know what those guys did with their money.

I have no idea. I'm sure that Kung Lee and who else is on there? Shane Carwin? I think a lot of athletes... I feel comfortable saying that shane carwin and kong lee probably made more money than i did in the ufc i could be wrong you think so but well i mean i'm sure that i i just feel benelli silva i know he did i mean i just feel from me i feel like they

probably did right i never got pay-per- just feel from me, I feel like they probably did, right? I never got pay-per-view points only one time. I feel like those guys were put in a position where they could have gotten maybe, you know, two, $3 million paycheck. I don't know. This is just how I feel. So when I hear that, and I could be absolutely wrong, but this is my opinion. When I read that, my first thing comes to mind was, okay, what did you guys do with your money when you made it? Right? When I thought Matt Hume was absolutely amazing. He says, you're going to invest your money. You're going to save your money. That's what you're going to do. Granted, you know, I'm 38 now. I'm 38 from, I'm hoping I live to 95, but from 38 to 95, that is a long span of years

that I have to, you know, make the money stretch, whatever it may be. So my first thing was like, okay, what do you guys do with your money? How much did you make? Were you investing in it? Do you know, as athletes, we don't have health care. Do you, you know, were you putting money away from a rainy day for a rainy day? Like those are the first thing that come to my mind. Yes. And it breaks my heart to hear these guys are having, they're struggling to do, you know, everyday functional things, necessities, you know, I'm having a hard time, you know, writing a book or whatever it may be, or do the things they need to do to get by. Like it breaks my heart. But at the same time I look at it, it's just like an NFL player.

This isn't the first athletes that have gone through this, right? NFL players, they make all this money. They're not like, I'm fucking broke. I brought my car, got all this jewelry, got this, you know, Richard Millie. It's, you know, it's happened in football. I don't think it's ever happened in baseball. Them motherfuckers get big ass contracts. I'm sure it has happened in soccer. They get big ass contracts. But besides the point point my first thing that comes to mind is like okay one what did you do with your money and two how much money you made i felt comfortable when i saw the guys on the list like bernard civil kong lead those guys i felt like they made more money in their ufc career than i did the cpa or the person who runs all the financing in mixed martial and the ufc zupa they can come back

and tell the numbers they they paid those guys compared to mine but yeah you know it breaks my heart and hey i'll tell you right now like i tell my boys i can't wait to get my check i don't know what i'm gonna buy what should i buy what should i buy how much is it what do you know do you know i don't know man i can't wait to get it i I'll tell you that, though. When I get it, I'm like, see, and here's the thing. When I get it, I'm going to invest the money, and then I'm going to put that money to work for me. I might go out and buy a new watch. Happy jewelers, you might be waiting for my call. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the money, but when it comes, I'm going to be smart and strategic with it. I'm not going to blow it. And I hope all the other fighters from that class lawsuit

do the same thing. By the way, what's that one fight that you got pay-per-view points for? Henry Cejudo. First or second? Second. Okay. The one in LA? Yes, sir. Ironically, the one, the last one. The one that you lost. Yes, sir.

Weird. And I know you chose not to, but why was that one different ah all right i'm not gonna go down this fucking road again i've done it many many times but if you've done it no no no i mean what was different uh because there was a point in time in a contract with this one hunter camel came in there and then you know we go back and forth then it says i don't want pay-per-view points and guys think about this how many times i'm not even right there okay so in my my my ufc career when i first became the champion back in ufc 152 2012 i was still on my old contract the contract when i fought uh ema call when i became the champion, I got no new contract.

I fought, what's his name? John Dotson, John Moraga, and Josephine DeVitas. By that time, I believe I was done with the contract. I maybe had one or two fights left. And I said, me and Matt was like, hey, I was probably, I'll have to go back and look at the numbers.

I might have been at like 40 and 40, or I don't know. Somebody can look it up. But then I remember when I fought, after I knocked out Josephine DeVitas, got the bonus, and then it was time for me to renew my contract. And I remember I said, I want to pay for your points. And they said, we do not give him two flyweights. Remember, ladies and gentlemen, the flyweight infancy stage was from 2012, and I got a new contract in 2013. So there was no they said we don't give them the flyweights i'm said okay so they gave me 125 to show 50 000 to win okay i go through that whole entire contract that you have kyoji chris carriazo um

himmelsy hudo list goes on then it came to the point where it was like, hey, you're up for a new contract. What do you want? I said, I want pay-per-view points. And I'm like, well, if you take pay-per-view points, you're not going to get, you know, the 350. I'm like, Tyron Woodley just became a champion. He's getting 500,000 plus pay-per-view points. Don't play this fucking bullshit with me because I just talked to the motherfucker. So I'm on like seven or eight title defenses and I'm asking for, you see what I mean?

And then they're like, well, what do you want? And I'm like, well, I can't dictate what card I'm going to be on. You guys dictate that. So I'm going to go with the 350 and not, and these guys are getting it, you know. So then we had some, you know, some shit came up. Hunter Campbell came in there.

We had dinner and then he looked at it and he goes, okay, we'll give you. And then I would get capped out at $400,000. And then when it came to the Henry Cejudo fight, I think it was at $380,000 because I went up every $10,000 escalator. They said, okay, we'll give you one peer-review point opportunity in your contract. And that's when I fight Henry Cejudo. And that's why i landed on that so that's like kind of so it was up it was shot it's 100 campbell for giving me that opportunity

but don't don't fucking listen to when they're like oh he did what motherfucker if i could dictate what card i want to be on and say okay when is this guy fight okay this is gonna be okay yeah absolutely but when you the athletes don't have the opportunity to pick and choose at least back in my day right i mean there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that you know you guys she said he said but if you look at my track record i think i'm pretty spot on when i when i speak i speak by it i speak truth yeah okay now i get the reference now i get the reference by the way a lot a lot of people have supported you you know this uh i'd like to think that we supported you here and a lot of fans and and a lot of fellow

fighters but you do have to admit no one supported you more than dana white i mean you would say shout out shout out to mma guru he's he's been amazing i know a lot of people in the media and all that stuff they don't really like that's my boy that's my biggest fan he is your biggest fan right but you know that's one thing i love he's gonna do a 45 minute video just on this 10 second interaction just for the record he's gonna do a 45 minute breakdown i love him you know what yeah you know he might but you know let's get back to the question here's the thing you know me daniel i have nothing to give stan away my career was absolutely amazing he gave me an opportunity to fight him on one of the biggest organizations in north america i made my name there i wish him

nothing to the best i hope you know the company keeps doing well, and I keep killing it, right? But he did support me, but he did shit on me a couple times. And who hasn't Dana White shit on? He shit on everybody. I'm sure MMA Guru can do a video, and he will take the time to look at every interview that Dana White's done and to see how many times he shit on his champions. I was going to say he hasn't shit on me.

Well, you're not a champion. Oh, he has shit on you before. Yes, of course. He has. But you know what? Like I said, he's got to lay his head down in a pillow at night. I sleep good. I'm sure he sleeps good. He's wealthy. His family's healthy. He's got a happy life. He's got to lay his head down in a pillow at night. I sleep good. I'm sure he sleeps good. He's wealthy. His family's healthy.

He's got a happy life. He's successful. And I have nothing, no ill will whatsoever from Dana White. I just look back on my career and I just love when he was like, oh, I didn't know he had an amazing career. Absolutely, he'd be in dental hall. Hey, hey, you look at me. I defended Demetrius Johnson more than anybody.

Yeah. I'm not too thrilled with demetrius johnson you know he didn't want he didn't want like i said like i wish the only thing i do regret i wish that i could record every single conversation i had with with them that way it's like guys but i think that might be like against the law invaded privacy or or negotiation tactics but that's the only thing i the only thing i regret is that if everybody in mixed martial arts and ufc whatever if you're like okay we're going live we're going to record this conversation that way everybody uh you know we have receipts all right go i'd love that too i'd love that too i'd love

that by the way if you don't get inducted into the hall of fame next july are we allowed to riot it has to happen right yeah yeah the fuck y'all want i mean if if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't i believe that what i've done in my career in mixed martial arts, I guess is spectacular. Yes. And we'll see what happens. I would say true or false, true or false. In your lifetime, there'll be a fighters union. No, I don't think there will be. Why not?

I think because you'll always find somebody who will fight for less. And the brand is too big. I learned this a long time ago at one point in time, one of my coaches, he, he pointed this out to me and I, and I kind of realized that you look at, you know,

there's a couple of big stars in the UFC or any organization, but when you see somebody, they're like, Oh man, look at that UFC fighter. Look at that UFC fighter. They don't say, Oh,

look at, you know, look at Demetrius Johnson or look at Max or look at that UFC fighter. Look at that UFC fighter. They don't say, oh, look at, you know, look at Demetrius Johnson or look at Max, or look at Ili Deporia. Obviously they probably do that, but you have, the brand is so big, they can throw, you know, two guys on there and people are still going to tune in

because it's the UFC. And there's always going to be someone who's going to fight for cheaper. The only way a union is ever going to happen is when you see all of the bigger stars come together and band together and say, guys, we're not fighting. Like, you guys stop fighting. Stop. Can it happen? Absolutely.

It's happened in Hollywood. It just happened in, you know, the Longshoremen. Because guess what? Them fucking containers. Somebody's got to empty those containers. And you know, the longshoremen because guess what? Them fucking containers. Somebody's got to empty those containers and you know, who's not going to do it. The fucking people who, you know, run the contracts. So I'm pretty sure the UFC has a certain amount of fights. They have to give to ESPN.

And if all the fires say, guys, we're not fucking fighting, like stop fighting. But here's the thing. We don't make big enough. They don't, I'm not in a boat anymore. They don't make big enough contracts where they can be like, guys, we're not fighting for two to three years. There's going to be fighters out there that are like, guys, I'm making 10 and 10. I got a wife. I got kids. I got medical expenses. I got a mortgage. They can't do that. But NBA stars, they can do that because their contract is like 20, 30, $40 million. If the whole team, if the whole mixed martial arts roster was making 20 million, you know, if everybody had like, I don't know, $2 million in the bank, they can take some years off

to be able to negotiate a contract, but they don't want to do that because the UFC has a contract with ESPN that they need to fulfill those contracts. If they don't, then they're in, you know, liability, they're, they're, they're a breach of contract. So in my lifetime, I don't think it's going to happen. I don't honestly think it will ever happen just because that motion, like fight, but we don't make it. I just, the fighters don't make enough money. Like, and we're, we're designed to hate each other and, you fighting each other and he got this contract and da-da-da-da. It's just too much of this for the fighters.

We always want what the other person has. Why do you think now more than ever the gap between the UFC and the competition seems bigger than ever? Competition as in like organizations? The other promotions uh i think because the ufc has spent so many years building and it's a it's a marketing machine i mean you look at the social media you look at what espn is being able to do and i think anthony pettis said it best uh you have saturday nights uh is the big pay-per-view every you know once a month and then you have Dana White's container series then you also have uh the UFC fight nights and then you also have you know the branding of the UFC gyms around the world then you also I mean it's just they're everywhere you look you know if Sugar

Sean O'Malley just fights and he knocks out somebody he's on you know Pat the Pat McAfee show you also got the irho wani show that is promoting all the fighters who fight underneath that that brand so i think when you look at it and you look you know you take a step back and you look at it it's okay why you have the pfl going on you have francis who's coming back to mixed martial arts um you have the pfl you have one championship which they're killing it over in as. You know, the Denver event sold out. I still think, you know, second or right behind it is one championship because they have a different product in the UFC.

They have mixed martial arts, Muay Thai, kickboxing, grappling. And it's, I just think the UFC is just at a point where they have the biggest stars in North America. Um, and they're also getting big stars from Asia for people who actually follow the sport and a deep level. They just got Kai Asakura, who's going to be taking an Alex Pantoja. If you guys don't know who Kai Asakura is, he's a nasty standup artist. He has losses, you know, Manel, uh, Manel cop has knocked him out.

Um, Kyojo Horiguchi has knocked him out, but they're bringing this guy over to, you know, that's a big, Manel cop has knocked him out. Um, Kyojo Horiguchi has knocked him out, but they're bringing this guy over to, you know, that's a big, he was a, he was the champion in rising and he left his, he vacated his belt to come to UFC. When you have athletes doing that, now everybody who followed Kai Asakura in rising, they're going to follow his ass over to the UFC. And then now they get the viewership from japan so like there's a whole i mean it's it's it's a marketing machine uh just a couple more left and then i'll let you go this has been amazing i could talk to you for hours you're good babe you're good babe you're the man let me get let me get my protein shake you know shot the first form try to keep these calories

up okay okay okay uh i'll i'll ask while you drink um if you drink. I love when you break things down and you get excited. Can you put your analyst hat on for a moment? The big return of Francis Ngannou this Saturday, Hena Fajeda, the Battle of the Giants, as they're calling it. By the way, Helwani Vision on his own pay-per-view. If you're watching at home, do check it out. And shout out to Bibiano Fernandez, by the way, who I understand is opening up a gym and having a seminar, which you will be a part of this Saturday as well. So shout out to another legend of the game uh you think francis gets it done or is there any concern uh the layoff switching your style and training boxing back to mma didn't work out very well for connor obviously getting knocked out in his last fight that can change you as a

human being and as a person do you think he stumbles against the lesser known hen and fajita first uh man it's very hard um you know the biggest thing for francis is he's very powerful he can wrestle he does have submission victories. He is fighting against a bigger gentleman, but I'd never stop them. Yes, he did get knocked out by Anthony Joshua. And I did believe Anthony Joshua could beat him in mixed martial arts. When I said that, for full disclosure, when I'm sitting there and I'm watching the fight and I saw how Anthony Joshua was able to make those reads in boxing why can't he make that same read in mixed martial arts it's the same shit only thing changes you got four ounce gloves yes Francis can kick yes Francis can wrestle but if you give a guy who's athletic like Anthony

Joshua the opportunity to work with a guy like Firas Sahabi or Craig Jackson or myself but it's okay we're gonna fucking he throws a kick, you check. Bring your motherfucking leg up and check it, okay? Keep that same distance, control the void and wait for him to cross the void and land the right hand. I don't see why that doesn't transfer very well, but after seeing Anthony Joshua get worked and

knocked out from the last guy, you know, shit happens. Not everything I say is a big W. I take L's all the time, but I think Francis, God, it's going to be, I think it's going to be a hard fight because I think Francis switching back over to mixed martial arts,

yes, he's going to have that knockout power, but how is he going to deal with the distance of trying to get to his opponent, get himself to the right position where he can start landing those shots. Yes, he has his leg kicks, but he hasn't competed. But I'm never going to count Francis out when it comes, uh, because I don't know too much about his opponent. I know he's good. I know he's athletic. I know he's big,

but I've just, you know, I just don't feel comfortable making a pick, but it's part of my job. Now I I'm going to have to go to Francis on on that one but it's i just don't know he has been as active as i would like to have been in mixed martial arts fair fair very fair i can't wait to see how it unfolds by the way on our youtube chat right now uh we have a poll 41 of the fans say that you are in their top three pound for pound all time and 18 have you as number one so so let's go let's let's hear yours top three of what power pound all time greatest of all time, and 18% have you as number one. So let's go. Let's hear yours. Top three. Of what?

Pound for pound? All time. Greatest of all time. Top three. Dylan. Dylan. You're doing it again. You're doing it again.

Top three. So for me, it comes down. I don't care about John Jones, obviously, because I've been in a room with him and I've seen his mind work. Uh, I'll definitely say, Oh God, you know, Habib is Habib is good. Habib is really fucking good. Like he, he knows what he But obviously he just. Did it. Oh. Man. Habib.

God damn it. And then I'll have to say split second. Split third between GSP and Anderson. Like those. Those guys like. When I look at Habib like. Even though he wasn't as like you know. Crisp on the feet.

And like his rhythm wasn't like how I would have liked it had been like he would like what he did to michael johnson when he did to connor what he did to all i mean dude like you know yeah you're not in there come on oh i don't put myself in there i i don't need to do that you guys can do that you so so you're you're not putting yourself in there because you not because you don't think you belong it's just because you don't feel comfortable doing it yeah i don't feel comfortable doing it like i i don't need to have another athlete put me in there but i think for those three i think those guys those four those guys were like you know they did they did something very, which we probably won't see. We have new guys coming up.

Ilya Deporia, you have Alex Piheda. You have guys who are really on fire right now that can leave a long-lasting legacy in their careers. You're a black belt when it comes to martial arts, in my opinion, all forms of martial arts. Your preparation, your planning is the highest of levels. And I love when I see incredible athletes then become media members. And in particular, when they become interviewers, because you are so used to being on the other side of the questions. And there's a certain ego that comes with that and, and, and, and self-centeredness,

if you understand what I'm saying. And now you have to completely change the way you view conversations because you're the one who has to keep the conversation going and asking questions. I think one of the best athletes to ever make that transition is Stone Cold Steve Austin, believe it or not. I used to love his podcast because you could tell he, his preparation was incredible. His follow-ups were great. His questions were great. His research was great. And it was a joy. Unfortunately, he doesn't do it anymore. And I'm putting you in that category now.

Your questions, your preparation, your conversation. I'm not just saying it. I just wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it. And so I'm just curious about your process. It doesn't seem like you have questions in front of you. It is clear that you are preparing, that you are doing the research. You're getting up to speed.

And so what, like, you know, you have Pettis or Ferguson or Robert Whitaker or Izzy coming up on Thursday. What are you doing to prepare for that conversation? I'm actually fascinated. Nothing, to be honest with you. Wow. The reason why is because I want to hear the story. Like for me, I've always been a good listener. You know, I've heard that from my wife. I've heard that from my mother-in-law. And I truly want to know their story from their mouth.

So, you know, I just have Bo Nickel on. Amazing story, you know, to hear his career through wrestling and then to hear him and his father still have an amazing relationship. And his father coached him. And that's kind of like the journey I'm on right now with my son. And I want to make sure I still have a great relationship with my son. If he is successful in Jiu Jitsu at the, at the highest level, or if he doesn't right. And so I, I kind of, you know, love that aspect of the conversation me and Bo Nickel had, um, we just had Max Holloway on, which will be dropping next week because he's about to fight illy deporia like i love talking to max we've hung out before he's another athlete who's very

intelligent as well how he you know moves in his thought process so i just like to talk to the athletes or the in the the guest as the questions i want to know about them essentially right like i would love to have Michael Chandler as a personal headline. I want to have Tom Aspin on. I would love to have Conor McGregor on. I'll be like, Conor, do you do cocaine, Conor? It's okay if you do. Conor was like, you know, Mike,

I'd love to do a little line here and there to get the juices rolling. Is that a bad question to ask him? I would love to have gordon ryan on or craig jones just to talk about the steroids like you know there was a point in time before you put that needle or you took steroids like what was going through your mind like do you think you'd be just as good if you didn't take like i have no problem asking those questions because i'm genuinely curious like what's your thought process even when i have mikey mcmeachie on like i was like dude if i were you i'll be hunting all

these motherfuckers i don't care how like why i just i just feel when i ask these questions it's coming from an honest place i'm not looking for sound bites i'm just i want to know like i truly want to know like donald serr, I just reached out to him. He wants to come back to fighting. Now, Donald Cerrone retired. Now, he's coming back to fighting. He was on TRT. He was open about taking testosterone.

He goes, I feel so much better. Now, from my research and from my understanding, what I hear from other people around the world is that when you jump on TRT, when you get off it, your body hasn't been producing that testosterone. So, that's a question i'm going to ask him like what's what's that journey going to be like that's a valid question ask somebody who's been a fighter he's been open about trt use and now he wants to come back and fight is he going to get a uh uh an exemption or what's um what did you want to know? Yeah, for sure. No, this is great. So that's, so that's how I just, that's how I approach my interviews is like,

you know, I follow these guys' careers, you know, before I have a guest on, I don't sit there and like, okay, he won this. I want the guest, I want the viewers to hear from their mouth and I want their reaction to be just like mine. And that's why I love doing the podcast. I was like, I love to know these guys stories. Cause I talked to Anthony Pettis here about his journey and how he was always trying to be the businessman. He was always in Dana White's office,

how he got on the Wheaties box. If you guys haven't heard that, that interview, do us a favor, go to the mighty gaming channel, the mighty cast channel and subscribe. Listen to that one. But I just love doing it and I just love the raw dogging, man.

By the way, you mentioned your kids. You have two boys and a girl. Incredibly cute kids, by the way. Well done to both you and your wife. Thank you. Do you think any of them are going to become fighters like you?

Not do you want them. Do you think any of them are going to become fighters like you? Not do you want them. Do you think they will be? If one of them does. God. The two, the oldest and the middle have the traits that could be a successful fighter. One, my oldest, he works hard and he understands. He's very good at Jiu-Jitsu. He could. he works hard and he understands like he's very good at jujitsu um he could and then my middle one uh his technique and his mindset is so good but he just doesn't care but sometimes that makes the

best athlete because i didn't care it was something fun i did but um i'm not going to push them i don't want them to be fighters. I just want them to be good people, good human beings, and enjoy their life. Okay, here's the last one, and it's the most important one, and you're not going to be able to sit on the fence, all right?

And it's a simple question. Who won the motherfucking trade? Now, once and for all, who won the motherfucking trade? Did the UFC win by acquiring Ben Askren, or did one win by acquiring you? Say it. Say it once. Say it for all. Who won the motherfucking trade? Did the UFC win by acquiring Ben Askren or did one win by acquiring you? Say it. Say it once.

Say it for all. Who won the motherfucking trade? Go ahead. I mean, it's no doubt. I mean, you look at your boy. I was a fucking working horse. Working horse the best in the world. You know, probably pound for pound

if you didn't count Jon Jones for skipping me. I think, you know, I think Ben Askren was out. He was retired. And me, Ben Askren, we had him on the mighty cast i'll drop soon and we talked about it but i think when you look at like just money wise i think the ufc won because of how much more money they were able to generate and quote unquote from daniel white knows guys i wasn't making them any money, but I think the sheer of the, of just the fucking horse that one championship got. I mean,

if I wanted to today, I could still fight. I don't think Ben Askin could still fight. I could still fight if I truly want it to. He can't. And you look at the fights. I was able to produce the knockouts, the buzz that I was able to produce for one knockouts, the buzz that I was able to produce for one championship.

I mean, it's easy clear that they got the better athlete, the better fighter. But when it comes down to the money aspect of it, they probably won. But it's what are you looking for? Are you looking to generate more money or you're looking to have the best athletes in the world? You want to have the best athletes in the world? They got my black ass. I love it, man.

I love you as well. You're the freaking man. What a joy. When people ask me my favorites ever to cover, you're at the very, very, very top of the list. I feel like I'm constantly showering you with praise and love as well. And so I'll just say thank you for coming on. You're killing it now. I'm such a huge fan of what you and Once Over are doing. And I'm always there to support or or help in any type of way and thank you for doing the same for me throughout the career i'll never forget los angeles us in the hallway remind you saying why don't you come on the fakakta version of the mmar and you say because that's my guy remember that in the hallway i was like fuck man in a moment where i

was feeling like i was lost that meant the world the flyway champ saying that in that moment in the hallway, I'll never forget it, how it made me feel. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Always here for you.

Congratulations on an incredible hall of fame career. I feel confident in saying, unlike some other guys that we've heard come back after retiring, you're not doing that. And God bless you for it. Keep up the great work, much love and respect. Thank you.

I appreciate you. Hey, just because I'm done fighting doesn't mean you can't cover me in my jiu-jitsu. Yes, yes. I'm in the lab right now trying to work some new stuff, and I appreciate you. Anytime you need me, you got my number. Just dial me, dawg. Thank you so much, DJ. Talk to you soon. There he is. The great Demetrius Mighty Mouse Johnson. What a legend. What a guy. What a chat. What a chat. It's always great talking to him, and I love that we get extended time and and what an evolution as far as his personality and what he has allowed us to see um rick and i talk about remember rick remember that interview remember that interview when he was in hawaii when he dropped the bomb letter remember that how mad he was the whole tj

dillashaw thing and uh look how far he has come because when he dropped that, we were all like, holy shit, man. It was a side of DJ we hadn't seen before. It was the coming out of the shell of DJ and to be honest, imagine the world where we didn't get that.

We get this every time now. This is the guy that we get now. God loved the other version. I respect and admire DJ and how he handled himself and comported himself at that time. But this is the version I prefer and I'm

glad we got it. By the way, do you think we'll ever see a trade? Again? Yes. I do. There was some talk, by the way. Uh-oh. What do you got? Tell me. Have I talked about this? There was some talk maybe a year or so ago of a

couple of Bellator pfl trades before the purchase that i had heard of no sorry you have to clarify right you're saying bellator or pfl to ufc no no you're saying between bellator and pfl before uh pfl acquired bellator wait a second wait a second now it's all coming back to me let me take that back let me take that back let me take that back what was it really tell me no i it's not coming back to me it's been i'm rusty but no i take back what i said because i got mixed up because of the whole new era and the combining of the brands it was it was it is it was bellator ufc it was bellator ufc there were a couple there were a couple bandied about there were a couple feelers thrown out yes it was bellator u It was Bellator UFC Oh boy There were a couple Oh boy There were a couple Bandied about There were a couple

Feelers thrown out Yes It was Bellator UFC UFC Bellator And we talked some names Not at the moment Not at the moment Because honestly

It's not because I'm not allowed to It's because the Memory is a bit foggy You actually want to Go back and like Yes I don't want to Fuck it up

Yeah I don't want to Fuck it up That's the kind of Journalistic standards I'm holding myself to. But no, I misspoke there. It was Bellator, UFC, UFC, Bellator. What are we talking on?

If your memory serves you, we're talking juicy. Yeah, yeah, big dogs. Spicy, spicy. Big dogs. I think it could happen, and I would love to see it happen. It will happen, in my opinion. There are just times. If you ask me who won One and UFC trade

Both You're giving me the old Timberwolves-Knicks No, no, first of all, I think the Knicks won that trade Second of all The promotions each needed Different things and continue to need different things One needed DJ Much more than they needed Ben Askren

UFC needed Ben Askren much more than they needed Demetrius Johnson at that time That's true, no I couldn't agree more. They had holes to fill. Askren got them some big fights. If there's no Askren, there's no Masvidal moment. And you saw what happened there, the trickle-down effect is immense. And the same with DJ. DJ helped bring a lot of legitimacy to one championship one championship so i i agree i think ultimately it comes down to the question of who you think had the better career and it's obviously dj and who had the better well that's not that's not quite true it's not who had the better career

because like that's not even a debate right no no no like when people talk about the trade i think they start when they talk about it in the aftermath i think they start debating like whose resume is better which oh that's not the is better, which you're right. Oh, that's not the right. No, which you're right. But then you could get into, all right, forget about the money, just who performed better post-trade?

Again. Who performed better post-trade? And that's a part of the discussion, but then ultimately, what does the prize-fighting business come down to? Prize-making, right? Like the money that you're generating. DJ said, look look we have to be

honest about it right the it wasn't ben askren who like ben askren had a huge part in it but it wasn't ben askren winning fights and dominating in the way that dj did that made the money it was becoming that foil for jorge masvidal and then launching that to, you know, that rocket ship generated the money for the UFC. And so, you know, yeah, we can't look at it at the basis of like who's a better fighter or who was a better fighter from that point forward. The answer is always going to be DJ there, but like he's giving, he's shooting straight. He's shooting from the hip as we do on Wednesdays. Yes, right here on the program.

And that's a good segue. By the way, 70% of the fans in our chat, the people's chat, I'm working on a name for the chat. Thumbs up to the chat. Thumbs up, thumbs up if you're watching this. Yeah. Screen, look at that, look at that, look at that.

Not screen, sorry, window, window, window, window. Sky, clouds. What the fuck is going on, bro? They say that one championship won the trade. Okay, coming up at 3.30, Johnny Ebelin, the reigning defending Bellator middleweight champion, the man who will be rematching Fabian Edwards on Saturday on his own pay-per-view, Helwani Vision.

Check it out, 4 p.m. Eastern. I hope you do check it out. Support our causes here. He'll join us, and then Brandon Royival uh raw dog who uh actually dj said that a couple times in the interview i don't think he was referring to brandon roival but that is in fact his nickname so he'll join us at four let's get back to some of the questions if we can i didn't really get too deep into them um i was i did read skinny's question about us saying that lower level cards are weak and that we should highlight. Correct me if I'm wrong.

When we talk about some of these apex cards, which is what he is referring to, I don't think we are disparaging the fighters. I think we're talking about the depth. I think we're talking about the slate, if you will. And this is something that Dana White famously was on camera talking about when he had that call with the Sherdog editors, like, your job, the media's job is to promote. The media's job is to cover. And the media's job is to tell stories and talk to fighters and do research and do journalism. Our job is not to promote. Now, a byproduct of all that is promotion. You can't deny that. That's what I've said. This show, the purpose of the show is not to promote. It is to talk. It is to create content

and entertainment and to show you a different side of fighters and fodder and all that stuff and escape. And there is a byproduct there. By virtue of doing all that stuff, we are promoting intentionally or unintentionally, but that's not our job. That's not our purpose. The UFC's job quite simply boiled down to its core is to put on the best product possible to then promote that product to the world and to get that world to either tune in on linear TV, on ESPN Plus, or on pay-per-view, pay their hard-earned money to watch the product. Their job is to promote. Our job is to cover. There's a big difference between the two. So again, it's not on us. Our job is to tell it like it is.

If the product isn't great, we're not disrespecting the fighters. We're talking about the product and we're holding the best promotion as far as combat sports is concerned in the world. MMA or boxing, they are number one by a mile, a country mile, we are holding them to a high standard because they have earned the right to be held to that higher standard. They have done all the right things to be put in that bucket. They deserve that. And so that's why when we say, eh, this isn't up to snuff, it's not because we're trying to shit on the fighters. It's because we're just trying to tell it like it is. And that's why when the smaller promotions have cards that are even lesser than the worst UFC cards, they're not held to the same standards because they're not number one. The best CFL game isn't as good as the worst NFL game. It's just different. It's different stratospheres.

The best EuroLeague game isn't as good as the worst NBA game. You can make that argument. Atmosphere-wise, EuroLeague games are incredible, but you get the point. Different levels. And so I hope that makes sense. All right. Nick. Hi, Ariel. In relation to yesterday's discussion about the BMF belt being on the line for Max versus Ilya, is Bilal Muhammad the lineal BMF champion? Let's see. So someone did talk about the BMF belt yesterday and said it was created for Masvidal.

Who was it? Who was it? Who was it? My memory is horrible here. It was Dustin. Who was it? Who was it? My memory is horrible here. It was Dustin. Dustin was going through like. Actually, it was created by Nate Diaz, right? It wasn't.

So it was created by Nate Diaz. I think he was saying one though, but one by Jorge. Because we were talking about, he was saying Max should be defending it. But then again, it was actually Jorge's and he didn't defend it. And so there was the whole thing. So Nate creates it. Masvidal beats him. Masvidal loses to Usman.

So it goes to Usman, right? Usman, champ, champ, champ, loses to Leon. Leon, champ, champ, champ, loses to Bilal. Yeah. That's 100% right. Bilal Muhammad, clip this off for me right now tag him balal muhammad is the lineal bmf champion of the world if we are going to honor what the word lineal means and and i'm a stickler for these things just like i think francis saganu is the

lineal mma heavyweight champion he is in fact the lineal bm champion. Now, I don't know the rules of the BMF title. I don't know how it actually works. Does it get to bounce around? Is it not a lineal? I don't know. But if we are going to compare it to the way the other titles, the standards that we place upon the other titles and their history and their lineage,

then yes, you are in fact right. No notes. Newman. Hello, Ariel and crew. Welcome back and congrats on launching the Combat Sports Juggernaut Uncrowned. PT has been an incredible addition to the show. I agree. And I'm really looking forward to the Boys in the Back on Thursday. Yes, 1 p.m. Eastern right here, same time, place, Boys in the Back. I have called Charlotte, North Carolina, home for the past 12 years. Little did I know when I watched Tough 29 back in 2021 that Charlotte's own Brian, the Butcher Battle would emerge as a breakout star for the UFC in 2024. And if you have

not seen his post-fight interview in Paris, it is a thing of beauty. It is 1984 WWF in a nutshell. You think I was going to lose to some French guy? I mean, it's just amazing. I can't do it justice. I watched him ignite the home crowd in May of 2023 with a 14-second KO of Gabe Green. And just a few weeks ago, I felt like a proud father watching him deliver the promo of the year in paris after another spectacular finish it was recently announced that he'll face randy brown at ufc 310 in what will be the biggest fight of his career to date when is the butcher going to be on the ah show and what are your thoughts on his future with a win in december future very high with a win future very high right now i would absolutely love to have brian battle on and i hope that he will come on. I don't want to be presumptuous, but he's an incredible character and very entertaining, and I loved, loved, loved that promo. And I wonder

if he's a pro wrestling fan. Perhaps he's talked about it, but it felt very pro wrestling to me. So we shall effort, as they say in the business, Newman, to make that happen. Kenny, welcome back, Ariel and crew. You've been missed. How do you balance the relationships you've built with fighters over the years as a journalist with expressing your opinions as a viewer? For example, it seemed like Pena didn't like your initial scorecard

and Max may have not liked that you picked Arnold Allen to win the parlay. It seems like such a tricky, delicate situation to navigate, it is. And it's one that I learned many moons ago when I was working for Fox. And I remember, I think I picked against Rashad Evans, I think,

and they would ask me for predictions and I think he got mad at me and I remember saying to myself, and we're totally fine now, I love Rashad, he's an absolute gentleman and a legend and I think I said, yep, I'm not going to do this.

There is no value in this for me, there's no upside. I'm in the business of trying to talk to people and have good relationships. Contrary to popular beliefs, I'm not trying to have bad relationships. I'm trying to do the job as best as I can and ask pertinent questions like DJ was talking about.

I'm not trying to piss people off. Sometimes I understand it could happen. And I really truly do respect the people like Juliana who may disagree with me for whatever reason, but still say, yeah, of course, I know it's not personal. Me talking about a fight is not personal. As long as I don't say you're an idiot or a clown or a loser or a scumbag, that's not personal. That's just sports fodder. That's just what this is. It's not personal. I think there are some people who do take it personally and that's unfortunate. I think, for example, our friend Bilal has been going on this tour of calling everyone out who

has picked against them or slighted them in any kind of way possible and has taken it very personally. And I think personally that that is not the best way to go, but everyone is different. When you make it personal, when you insult someone, then you could take it personally. But what did I always say on the show? If you say that you think I suck as a journalist, as a reporter, as an interviewer, X, Y, and Z, ultimately it could hurt my feelings, but I can't take it personally like I would if you say that I'm a scumbag, I'm a lowlife, I'm a rat, I'm a scumbag, I'm a lowlife, I'm a rat, I'm a weasel, all these things, right?

That I feel like is taking it personally. That is going low and below the belt, whatever you want to say. So I appreciate those people that say, hey, I don't agree with you, but let's talk it out, or I'm not going to hold it against you, or I'm not going to take it personally. I disagree with you. I think you're an ass. i think you're an ass i think you're wrong i think you're a dummy and and and we can move on but the truth is like people always bring it back to like oh you just want people on your show or you know you just want the access like have you guys not figured out by now we're're good, man.

At this point, with what we got now, do you not realize if you don't want to come on, we're just fine. And now the pool has gotten bigger. And there's way more people accessible. We're just fine. We don't need the handouts. We don't need the access. We don't need the guests.

We're more than fine. How many guests on this week? 14. We're good. So we keep swimming along. Eran, Shalom Ariel, once again, congratulations on all your success. It is definitely a dream come true for you, but also for us. Wow. Thank you. I have a serious question here. How do you manage to navigate through all the things in life, family, work, hobbies, training? On one hand, I don't want to miss a minute of the program, but on the other hand, it's impossible in today's world to consume all the content while also staying focused on the important things in life. I'd love to hear your advice as well as the team thoughts. Thanks, Adan. I've heard this from some people, like, how do I consume all this?

Well, you don't have to consume it all. I hope you do. You also don't have to consume it all in one shot. I'd like to think that if you don't finish Monday's show, you could still check it out on Friday night if you're going for a walk and it's still good on Saturday morning or Sunday, obviously, the page kind of turns because events will have happened. But that DJ interview is very evergreen other than maybe the Francis question. There are plenty of radio shows and podcasts that are on every day. I used to consume the Howard Stern show a lot and it was 6 to 10, 30 AM every day. There are shows like the Dan Lebitard

show and the Dan Patrick show and the Rich Eisen show and the Pat McAfee show and Mike and Mike back in the day and on and on it goes where they're on every single day for multiple hours. I'd love it if you consumed everything, but we believe that upping the content was desirable and there was a void and it was something that we wanted to do and and something that made a lot of sense and i'm enjoying it three days in i'm having a great time hard disagree consume it all okay fine consume all of it all right i'm just saying like i've heard this from a lot of people what do i do there's too much i'm not done monday's show i'm not done tuesday's show uh my response would be get your shit together. Wait, there's going to be more. Yeah, priorities. We're giving

you more. All right, fine. This train is going faster. So consume it all. I will say, can I be honest for a second? Here's my biggest concern. And it's almost not even fair to worry about it right now this is something that i've thought about i have a very hard time shutting off my brain like yesterday i mean you guys can attest to this like i'm texting or slacking stuff and it was like 1 a.m i have a very hard time coming down and i i need to do better at just like saying, okay, now I'm going to stop thinking, stop getting fired up, stop contemplating working, whatever, and focus on kids, family. I don't think I do a good job. I don't think I did a good job of that last night. My family came home from Montreal and I don't feel like I was like there. I don't feel like I was present. Now we're going through a lot of stuff here. We're doing a lot of stuff. There's a lot of things being done. I don't think that would be the same in three, four months. I certainly don't

want it to be the same and I hope it's not the same, but I think I do a very, uh, at times, poor job of this. How do you do? What about you guys? What, what what what are you asking us to weigh in on whether you do no no no no or how do you shut your brain off how do you like look i'll be honest with you you talk about movies right you talk about going to the theater i love movies i don't know if i could do it i honestly don't know if i could do it why explain it i don't know if i could do it i don't know if i could shut my brain off and just sit there and not think about work or not text or not email force yourself to do it go do it i step one put the phone away yeah you say that and you do a great job of it and we joke about it but the truth is like

i am somewhat envious of that i don't think i can't do it yeah you can i don't think so what's gonna happen if you don't if you don't if you just put it in a drawer for a couple hours? Yeah, where's your phone right now? Right here. There has to be, what's the longest time we're going here? There has to be a moment where you're not on your phone. Even if it's five minutes, what is the longest time? When I'm sleeping.

Where is it when you sleep? Right next to you? It's right next to me, yeah. No, no, no. Don't count sleep. No, no, but listen. I set goals that I'm actually embarrassed by goal like and and actually some of them i've accomplished like i used to wake up and check twitter right away i don't do that like i consciously say you're not going on twitter but i do wake up and check to see if there's a text

or an email i do do that 100 now so i think there's a small victory there i used to wake up and check to see if there's a text or an email. I do do that 100%. Now, so I think there's a small victory there. I used to wake up right away, check Twitter, and someone says, you're, you know, a dirty punk Jew, and my day was ruined at 6.30 a.m. I have conquered that goal. But I hear from people who say, I wake up and don't look at my phone for an hour. And I don't know how that's possible. There's a combination of two things, right?

Twitter. At least I'm being honest. No, no. And I can appreciate your honesty. Waking up and checking Twitter isn't a responsibility, right? Like, because there's nothing on that platform that is providing anything

to your actual responsibilities and the things you have to do and the obligations. Checking your texts, right? There's things, you're booking the show, there's things that could happen. That is a responsibility and one that I don't envy your position in terms of how you can escape that because you do have a lot on your plate. You just have a lot going and that is a reality. But those ones that are not responsibilities, start to cut those out like you have done with Twitter. The ones that are responsibilities, I don't have a solution for because you are interwoven into so many of these different things.

I don't think you can separate all of it. But there are things that aren't responsibilities that you can. I will say once I got into the groove of post-Paris, post-Paris like like, our trip to Europe, I was pretty proud, like, there were times where I'm like, the phone is going in my bag

and I'm not gonna look at it for- So why can't we return to that? Oh, because we're so in it now. This is obviously

a little bit of a different time, right? But like, when you're in the thick of it, shout out to KSI, I'm in the thick of it,

everybody knows. Favorite song ever. Ah, it's classic. Still haven't heard it. Still haven't heard it. Fuck no. I need to do It's class. Still haven't heard it. Still haven't heard it. Fuck. No.

I need to do a better job. I'm excited about tackling this somewhat ridiculous challenge. Like, the only concern I had when we decided to go

more days and do all this stuff was I really enjoy, I enjoy working with a trainer because I don't think I am good enough at just working out on my own and the boxing and all that stuff. And my usual cadence was Tuesday, Thursday, Friday if I'm not traveling.

Now Tuesday is out of the window. Thursday I will do in the morning. Earlier and Friday we're somewhat free. That's PT's day. And so I'm like, oh, man, I'm missing out on the Tuesday. But you know, these are sacrifices that you make and you just have to adapt and you just have to, you know, you just have to, you have to figure it out. When you're in the boxing ring, you have your phone? No, I do not. By the way, you know what? I think that's actually why I love it

so much. Okay. So we've just realized that you can do this and you just need to find more windows of time to do it. What happens if like, if you're at home and this and you just need to find more windows of time to do what what happens if like if you're at home and like you're trying to spend time with your kids and you you put the phone in your bedroom or something and and go back and hang out with your kids what happens you start getting anxious like you start like scratching it's it's a it no it's legit it's legit it's it's it's like a it's almost like a it's almost like a a fear of what you're missing out. And there's like a weird pride that I have in like responding right away.

And I want... The accessibility. No, that's bullshit. I don't get mad. He said the cutoff is one hour, right? Frank, five minutes ago, this text came in. What's the deal? He did say the cutoff. It's tough.

Have you ever put the phone away and then come back to it? Can I tell you, there's a couple of times. You remember I was having dinner here on Friday because it was about to be Yom Kippur. And so I got a challah from Wegmans. Shout out. And I love having challah on Friday nights, Shabbat. And by the way, happy Sukkot to everyone out there celebrating. I consciously on Friday night put the phone in another room

and it's a very empowering feeling. And I last maybe an hour. But here's the thing that I'm about to face truly. This is gonna be the biggest challenge for me when it comes to this. And I might be getting roasted here for for all i know but um my son my oldest son doesn't have a phone yet he's like one of the last he's in seventh grade he's one of the last kids if not the last so we're trying very hard because i know what it can do but soon he's going to have the

phone and if i'm on the phone i can't tell him not to be on the phone he's going to have the phone. And if I'm on the phone, I can't tell him not to be on the phone. Yeah, he's going to learn from you. Yeah. And he probably already has to some degree and that's on me. But that might be the thing where it's like I need to talk the talk and walk the walk. You know what I mean? Yeah. What's your screen time? Fuck, man.

What do you think it is? 13 hours. Yep. That's it. You nailed it. Seriously? Yeah. You put it down when you like brush your teeth and stuff. Jeez, I feel so

good about myself. Thanks, Aaron. What do you got? I'm not far from you, so maybe I'm in the 11 or 12. Wow. I used to shame my roommate for being at 8. Yeah, you're only 12? I am 557. Wow.

Is that true? 557, Frank, explains the lag time in response. I actually don't even know where my phone is right now. I'm 10.45. GC's got to be low. What are you, GC? I want to say last week it was like 4.15, and I still see that, and I'm like, God, I got to get that down.

4.15. I got to get that down. I don't even feel this. You guys walk around this office sometimes Like zombies The meme creation alone has got to take more than 415 That's on a computer though Oh yes yes If you add it in the computer I'm obviously higher than that

I also on these commutes Rick is banging out like Magic the Gathering on his phone I am reading a book I won't get on my phone when when i'm commuting by the way that wasn't a joke i actually am playing magic uh great i just finished the second book today on the train ride in it's good stuff what book are you reading this month it was a it was one called the wedding people it was nice and emotional at the end you

know it was really touching and then they uh and then a woman next to me on the train uh vomited this morning it was a great way to start my morning Yo Ariel That's actually a good thing to do though You know like Reading hard copy books instead of like a Kindle Before I go to sleep Never been a Kindle guy

Yeah I can't do it So if you read like pages A proper book it kind of knocks you out What are you reading now? As opposed to an improper book PT what are you reading now? As opposed to an improper book? PT, what are you reading now? Is he all right, man?

Someone talking to him in his ear like they did DJ? PT, can you hear me? I don't think you can hear us. What happened to him? All right. So what do you got in your hand there, Connor? This is the book I just finished. Could we just... Shout out.

I got another one ready for the train ride home. The Alchemist. I mean, look at this. Oh, The Alchemist. Is that Ayn Rand? Nope. Paolo Colello. I tried. I tried. I don't know. Shout out. That's tough. No, we can't do what I was

about to ask. So we're going to skip on that. I was about to ask for something and we can't. So moving on. What do you mean? you mean no i just can't you're just not gonna tell us uh no i'm not gonna tell you oh that was weird did you see that or is that just my monitor all right um no we saw it okay it was yeah that was that was there working through the kings working through the kings thumbs up to the chat thumbs up to the chat Let's just make that our safe zone Thumbs up to the chat The chat thumbs up

Is like our safety net Everything good? Thumbs up to the chat Beautiful day here in New York City Can I squeeze in one more or no? Yeah Squeeze in one I'll allow it Okay here's an important one.

Ariel, so happy you are all back and doing this the way you wanted to. Love to see it. My only gripe, why are we going back to the name Parley Boys? Sounds terrible. And makes no sense now that Juliana is a part of the Pals.

I know she is the one that keeps saying it, but man, you guys need to solidify the name and stop going back and forth, Parley Pals for life. Thoughts, guys? What are we doing? I mean As always

Through the entirety of this show Been Parley Pals Yeah There was a There was a point where it went back to boys No it was boys It was boys Because Juliana

Y'all tried to start this boys revolution When Juliana improperly called us the Parley Boys I like when Juliana called it that So once and for all It's Parley Boys With or without Juliana Please that so once and for all it's parlay boys with or without juliana please for the love no it's parlay it's the alliteration it's so easy it's right there for i like juliana coined it though that's why i'm i'm i'm adorable i gotta i gotta shoot her a uh also where are the boys where are the boys in the back so i feel like come on it's

it's it fits. Yeah. All right. The debate will rage on. I think we haven't actually accomplished anything with that one. Time for one more? No. I don't know. I'm kind of flying blind here.

No time for one more. Okay. By the way, GC, any plans to discuss your bets in greater detail each week on the Boys in the Back? Trin wants to know Oh yeah, we're going to do bets I don't know about in greater detail, maybe less Detail actually. Okay, but that's coming tomorrow People are asking. Tomorrow, yes Parlay Pals tomorrow

And bets for PFL Oh yeah, PFL and Apex 99 That's right We're this much closer to the love letter Apex 99 That's right That's right Apex 99 We're this much closer To the love letter Apex mania

Yes To the love letter To the Apex Alright well speaking of PFL And speaking of The Battle of the Giants card Which by the way

DAZN pay-per-view 4pm Eastern Exclusively on DAZN Helwani Vision The first of its kind You can get it You can buy the pay-per-view Come hang with me and my pals.

One of the biggest fights on the card, of course, is for the belt to our middleweight title. It is a rematch of a fight that happened a little over a year ago. It is Fabian Edwards versus our guests at this time, the reigning defending belt to our middleweight champion joining us from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the one and only Johnny Eblen. There he is. Hello, Johnny. How are you?

Hey, what's up? How you doing, Ariel? I'm doing great. I kind of have some issues with the Wi-Fi out here. I got a hotspot. I don't know. The Wi-Fi has been an issue lately. Oh, all right. Well, we're going to try to work through it i guess uh where are you are you in your hotel i'm not in a hotel i'm at a coffee shop right now we were just touring the sky tower at the kingdom kingdom tower okay it's like it takes you like an elevator all the way up to the top and you like take this like sky bridge and it's like basically is a whole view of the city at night and it's like it's truly whole view of the city at night. And it's like, it's truly something like crazy. Well, second time for you fighting there, right? Um, any difference this time around?

Does it feel familiar? Does it feel any better, worse, different? How would you describe it? Uh, it feels better. I, I understand like the time difference. Like I'm glad that I got out here early, like last time. And I brought some more friends along. Definitely feels more familiar.

I know where to go to get groceries. I know I just, it's very familiar. So it feels more routine this time around than, than last. It was like a big bit of a culture shock last time. I was talking about this at the beginning of the show. Francis and Hennon aren't fighting For a traditional belt

It's like the super fight title Your title is on the line right Yes So the Bellator middleweight title is on the line When they presented you Fabian 2 A little over a year after you fought him And stopped him

Were you into it Yeah of course I'm the type of guy if you put anybody in front of me i'm gonna fight him you know i'm looking for the next fight the next paycheck and i'm always looking to showcase my skills to everybody and he was the next guy on the list and i don't technically agree that he earned the rematch that quickly, but it is what it is. We don't have that much depth where I'm at, so you're going to have some rematches pretty quickly. But it is what it is. I'm working with it, and I'm not too upset.

So like I said, you did stop him. It was a decisive stoppage, but it felt to me, correct me if you feel otherwise, it was the first fight that you had to deal with some adversity, sort of like Kayla over the weekend. She got cut. You got cut. You had to kind of cross over a bridge that maybe you aren't used to crossing over. Is that fair for you? Is that how you look back at that fight? That was one fight where you were tested and had to dig a little deeper. Absolutely. You know, even my last fight, uh, with Impaa i had to deal with uh i got a knock i got knocked down in the second i had to come out dig deep and and win the fight in the third um so

similar similar type of fight uh the last time i fought edwards except he had me cut and the fight might get stopped early and i really had to dig deep and push the action and push the pressure, and I finished him. It's hard to do, and I'm glad that I was able to get that done. I think it's important for guys to see that. For me, it was great to see that or for that to happen, and I still come out on top because usually that's not the case. Where is your confidence coming off of the IMPA fight,a fight where again you did have to dig a little deeper where where are you at in terms of your your level of confidence about your skills and going into

this fight i think my skill set is better than it's ever been my confidence is very very high but i always have a little bit of doubt and that's what keeps me driving forward and keeps me getting better is that like that bit of insecurity, that bit of insecurity in the back of your mind is the reason why you train a little bit extra or the reason why you work a little, do a few more reps on that technique or why you wake up a little bit earlier and get to the gym earlier. It's those little things that drive me to be better. And I saw Fabian at the media day, I believe it was earlier today, where he said there's nothing personal between you two. He doesn't, at one time, he may have felt one way, but nothing personal, especially considering the aftermath of the fight.

I wasn't sure if you were questioning me by doing that or cracking your neck. How do you? No, I was cracking my neck. Okay, okay, fair enough. Initially, I thought, but then you did it me by doing that or cracking your neck. How do you know? I was cracking my neck. OK, OK, fair enough. Initially, I thought then you did it the other way. What about you? Is it personal between you and Fabian?

No, man, it's not personal. I think this time around, it's it's been better. Like. At the end of the day, we're both high level athletes, both killers, and we were here to do a job. And I think this time around, we're treating it level athletes, both killers, and we were here to do a job. And I think this time around, we're treating it more like that. Not too much with the annex, not too much with like, uh, when we do the face off, we're not, we're not getting emotional.

And, uh, I think it's good. You know, it's, it's just us growing as fighters. Um, and also we've already been in there, done that. And I knocked him out last time. So it's like, if he comes in with a, with an attitude, it wouldn't really make any sense. And for me, you know, I'm just going to share that respect back to him because he's not trying to pull anything or be emotional about anything. Once and for all, what is the truth behind the spitting incident? It didn't happen. I was just saying my choice of words, swear words that i don't want to repeat but i ended one with a

with a p called them a p whatever finish it however you want and uh you know that action made it look like i may have spit on him but no it didn't happen um and i think i watched an interview with him he was a pd PT or PT or something like that. PT Carol. Yeah. He was saying like where I come from, dude, like at the end of the fight,

if you get knocked unconscious, like he could have pissed on me. And I was like, honestly, dude, like, yeah, get caught in the street.

There's worse things that could happen to you. So it's like at the end of the day, it's like, yeah, we got, we had high emotions after the fight. I decided to say my choice words at him, but it's like, if you get got, you get got, you just got to take the consequences when it comes.

Since that fight, he has won once it was against Aaron Jeffrey. You say you're not really quite certain about his path to getting back here, but you're happy to do the fight again. Was there anyone else that you were more interested in or that you had your sights set on before this was officially offered? not really because just i mean i was hoping maybe aaron would have got a win i'm not hoping but like it would have been somebody new so it would have been more intriguing um but him and then costello is another guy van stinusenis. I think he's the next guy in line after Fabian on the Bellator side. But then there's other matchups that you can make up,

like a rematch with Impa and then a Derek Brunson match. That would be great. We're approaching one year since the purchase or the acquisition of Bellator by PFL. How would you describe it now? How has it gone for you? You know, it's going good. I'm getting paid well.

I'm fighting twice a year. Nothing major has been taken away from me. I would just say definitely not smooth transition because, I mean're they're taking on a whole another organization and that takes time and it takes effort and and for you to turn that into a fine tuned machine it just it's gonna take a little bit of time and you know there's some bumpy bumpy uh patches in the road but we're getting through them um do you feel like you are being challenged do you feel like there's motivation in the opponents or is the challenge coming just from yourself i think a little bit about you know it's it's challenging to rematch somebody you know that's that's a challenge in itself and i

think they're making challenges like by making a super fight with impa you know um they're creating them however they can with the staff that they have or with the fighters that they have And at the end of the day i'm also challenging myself every single day Um, like for instance this fight camp I sparred 120 rounds and I had two sparring partners each time Like I would do three rounds with one guy and two rounds of the other and it's like That was I I made that part of myself, you know I don't have to do that but i choose to do that

because i think that's how you press to the next level were any of those rounds with sean strickland uh no because i had to fight a southpaw so sean can't sean doesn't go southpaw but i i helped sean a bit uh for his was it yeah yeah i mean i went out to his fight when he fought I'm blanking on his name. Paulo Costa. Paulo Costa, that's right. Yeah, exactly. And I trained a little bit with him before that fight as well. But yeah, man.

After that, though, I had to stay focused on Fabian because I knew that was an upcoming fight. And I had to just really focus on fighting Southpaws. I've heard Eric Nixick say that you do a great job of emulating DDP, Drikus Du Plessis, in helping him get ready for the fight and all that. And they'll fight again next year. What is it like when you do go, you know, full on with Sean Strickland?

Dude, it's, it's great. It's like a pay-per-view rounds for everybody. That's why we're both getting better. Um, and yeah, man, it's the challenge, you know, it's like every time we, we spar, we, we, we change our style a little bit and it's like, it's like a chess match each and every time. And it's great too. Cause I get to train with all the guys at uh extreme and i get different looks and i get to pick uh eric makes his brain a little bit so training out with them dude it's always a good time i remember i think it was prior to the first fabian fight maybe the february fight when you were doing the whole social media thing with the

skits and all that and now you're just now you're just like a country man now you're like you're living in a van down by the you you've gone complete 180 so where do you actually live like where's your home these days well i have a few homes but uh i ran out i have like three rentals i have a house in uh coral springs it's right next to the gym um i have a camper van that i take out and uh uh, yeah, wherever I want to go, I can, I can take that thing and live out of it, dude. It's, I lived out of that thing for about a month with my girl and our dogs and it's, it's great. Um, yeah, dude, I, I think I was trying to lean into the whole social media thing, but then I realized like how much effort it takes and like

how you have to be on top of it and how much I was on my phone. I was like, dude, I don't want to do this. This is not me. I'm just going to get off social media because I've been contemplating doing that, but the only thing that was keeping me on was fighting because the more you can promote yourself on social media, the more people are going to tune into your fight.

But at the end of the day, dude, I think I'm putting all my marbles on being the best fighter and having that bring the eyes so are you off are you off social yeah i mean i have a separate phone where i get on my socials just so i can make posts wow and get off yeah i don't i don't i don't really scroll the only thing i do scroll on sometimes is x because i want to get some uh information and news okay because i was going to ask you uh we did have on Monday's program, Sean O'Malley. We were talking about some of the blowback that he received.

And he's like, yeah, Johnny Ebeling came out of nowhere. And I'm like, I don't even have any beef with John. I have no history with Johnny Ebeling. He said that. What did I say? He said that? He said, I think if my memory serves me correct, and guys, check me if I'm wrong here, I think he was talking about saying that he beat Murab and that you weighed in, and he was like,

where is this coming from? He didn't beat Murab, bro. In what world? Did you weigh in, though? Did I weigh in? What do you mean? Yeah, yeah, I weighed in. I think I said something on X.

Okay. I think I definitely said something. Okay. I think I remember that. But that's funny. I didn't know he commented about that. That's funny. You don't think there's a chance.

He maintains he won. I think it was 1-5 in one of the middle rounds. I don't want to misquote him. No? I think he's reaching. He's reaching. This is O'Malley right now. Reaching.

But honestly, I like o'malley i like his style i think he can adapt to make marab adapts i think you know i want to see that fight again in the in the near future but i also want to see marab and uh umar marab and umar would be tremendous uh the the the quote uh the tweet you was, so this is what it's like when you have a bunch of yes men around you. I remember this now. Yes, yes.

Honestly, bro, when you have a bunch of people, you know, because if you're like, oh, dude, I won that. You got to have a guy that's like, bro, you didn't.

Like, you lost. But I think the guys around him, you know, are agreeing. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm crazy. But that's just how I am. Outsider looking in.

No hate towards Sean. No hate towards him. I mean, he's built a great platform for himself. Probably making a ton of money. So good for him. If you were in a position like that and said, no, guys, I won 1-3-5. Do you think Mako and and mike brown and dustin poirier would say no you didn't if if i truly lost they would be like you lost i

think they would tell me the truth okay like the guys around the guys that have around me are pretty objective this thread by the way is is quite juicy because the first reply under is from derek brunson who says sign the contract and then you reply to him what contract i'm fighting that's actually a big pet peeve of mine when people say sign the contract when there is no contract what is that and so literally what is the contract no clue i think he's just trying to uh kind of put his name in the hat for the next fight because i think they're going to try to do another collaborative card with pfl and bellator so i think he's just trying to stir up some bf to you know make him a likely candidate are you interested in that next sure you know

we can make it happen for impa i would like to rematch Impa. Okay. That's what you want next? Yeah. I don't know if I... I mean, I don't know. Depends on what they set up for me. But right now I'm focused on Fabian. Whatever happens next, happens next. Yeah. By the way, Impa at 205 or 185? 85.

Okay. You're not interested in 205? Not really. If I'm going to go up to 205, I'm going to fight for a belt., I'm going to fight for a belt. And I'm going to fight Corey Anderson. That would make sense. Go up to 205, fight for another belt, and Bellator. Any chance of you being in a tournament next year for PFL if all goes well here? Has that been discussed? If they pay me what I'm getting paid per fight, and they want me to fight four times for the year, I mean, I'm not going to be upset.

I'd be multimillionaire by the end of it. So, I mean, if they want to do that, just got to make sure they don't change my contract up and we keep it the same. And, you know, we've got to make sure we would have to renegotiate some stuff. I think. Has that been discussed or even brought up in any way, shape or form? No. I remember that they were bringing up a tournament. They were going to start a middleweight division

and maybe a bandweight division in 2025, but I haven't heard anything since then. Okay. First time we see an Edwards brother fight, obviously since Leon lost the belt back in July. Do you feel like they're wounded animals? Do you think they'll be extra motivated? Does one have anything to do with the other?

Or is that just a talking point that media people talk about? No, I don't think they necessarily have anything to do with each other. If anything, the media coverage won't be as heavy because his brother is no longer a champion. I don't know. Maybe morale's down at their

gym. I don't know know maybe it's boosted their morale to like train harder who knows dude a lot of people i a lot of people like respond to stress and adversity different ways so i couldn't tell you unless i was there but for a fact i don't think the media is going to be covering it as hard how do you feel about the coverage for this big victory biggest card of the year for bellator no doubt about it um i i i did hear eric nixix say he felt the francis fight wasn't being promoted enough uh we had kaylon yesterday saying you know she didn't hear much about the cyborg pacheco fight you're in one of the biggest fights on the card you feel like it's being promoted as a big deal i think they're trying their best with the

capabilities that they have um i mean from what i've seen on when i'm like barely on social media they're making me uh they're posting about me they're posting about the fight the battle of the giants and they're doing everything they can i think and uh it is what it is some people have more reach than others and uh maybe that's the issue okay by the way we're doing a helwani vision for this card have you heard about this what a hell a helwani what yes are you a football fan do you ever watch manning cast yeah yeah i like football yeah you ever see the manning cast with the uh the manning brothers eli and payton and then you can watch the game and they're on the side and they have guests have you ever seen that on espn on monday football? I haven't seen that.

No, I haven't seen that though. People do watch parties and stuff, but, but for us, we're doing Helwani vision on, on, on Saturday for your card.

If you buy the pay-per-view on the zone at four o'clock Eastern time, when the main card starts, you can either choose the official broadcast or we're going to be broadcast here and you'll get the fights in the middle and me and Chael Sonnen and, and Megan Anderson and Tyron Woodley, they're going to be broadcast here and you'll get the fights in the middle and me and chael sunnan and and megan anderson and tyron woodley they're going to join us and we're going to get to talk just kind of freely openly in this setting about the fights you can choose the alternate commentary feed or the actual official one that's pretty damn cool right that's big time that's actually that's actually really really cool i i'm glad that you're doing that because

it's giving it it's giving people an alternate view of how to look at the fights. Because I think sometimes people get bored and they want something new. And I think that's actually really, really cool. It's really valuable. Hopefully you keep doing that and I hope a lot of people tune in, man. Ah, thank you, Johnny. I appreciate that.

From your lips to the God's ears of MMA. Great stuff, Johnny. good luck to you final prediction let's hear it what do you think it's it's tough to top that prediction that was a great finish but it got a little dicey on the way to the finish so what are we thinking what are we feeling i'm thinking total domination whether it's in the first round or the fifth round i think i'm gonna i going to show my whole card or my whole hand this time,

and I'm going to put it on him, man. I'm going to be violent. Whether it's a submission or a knockout or we go all five, it's going to be a fun fight. Love it. Can't wait. Thank you, as always, for the time, Johnny. Good luck to you on Saturday.

Appreciate it. No problem. Thanks, Ariel. There he is, Johnny Eblen, reigning defending Bellator middleweight champion. Let's see that poster. It's a nice-looking poster. Yeahriel there he is johnny eblin reigning defending belt or middleweight champion let's see that poster it's a nice looking poster uh yeah there it is against leon's brother fabian edwards this saturday on the zone pay-per-view you can get that worldwide by the way no matter where you are in the world who is the favorite going into that fight i'm assuming it is johnny right he got the

win he's the champ yeah he's a massive favorite massive huh yeah minus 500 or something last time i checked wow really yeah i can tell you the exact right now uh people betting on fabian though minus 400 now for johnny eblin plus 300 fabian edwards coming back is there any i think one of the sites one of the sites has like the history like i wonder fight johnny opened at a minus 650 no but like first time first time oh first time yeah what do you think it was you think it was bigger first time uh i know he was a favorite but i can tell you right now yep here we are on me yeah this is you just googling this i i think i think through it i think he was oh there he is minus 550 oh so it's kind of the same pretty close i wonder if people are betting on fabian this time because of the cut that's it's it's kind of crazy that it's

that far out as far as i'm concerned because if you remember the first fight there was a situation where johnny kind of had to finish fabian his eye was in rag order like it was people were taking a very close look he had a lot of people like his fate his head was coming out of his face and that's why i was so impressed by johnny that night because it was similar to the kasangan i fight where you're like, well, is this one getting away from Johnny? But I felt on a much more extreme level because he's not playing against time, just time. He's playing against

the doctors. And he went in and he did what he did with, um, he did what he did to Fabian and tune in to the crack on Friday to hear Dan Hardy's breakdown of how he actually did that. Very interesting stuff. Interesting. Have you had a chance to talk to Fabian before this fight, PT? Yeah, he, well,

they were initially booked and they swapped the date. Oof, look at that cut. Jesus. People are underestimating how bad that cut was. I mean, it's a bad, it is a crater in his head.

Jesus. He was told in his corner, like, you better go out and finish this, and he did it. And I think that was the outpouring of emotion we saw from him as well.

You know, like, just complete adrenaline um to watch that in person was it was was something to behold honestly like it was incredible and i'm i think eblin doesn't get enough credit for doing what he did in that fight and then against kasang and i people were like oh this fight is so boring like he wrestled victory from the jaws of defeat two times. Absolutely incredible, Will. Do you think, or do you get the sense that what happened to Leon is on Fabian's mind, or it's the extra motivation thing that I was talking about? Do you get that vibe from Fabian Pizzi? I don't get that.

Like, I don't think they, here's the funny thing about the Edwards brothers. They take things personally for each other. I don't think they take defeat personally, but they take personal slights very badly. So when you had Eblen coming at Fabian in that situation after he's finished him, as he said, he dropped the P word, Leon got in the cage. And there's this whole situation with leon and eblin and it kind of

works the same way like when they had the incident with jorge masvidal the most furious person there was fabian right you know like it's two brothers yeah yeah a very interesting story but in terms of that and i know balal doesn't want anyone talking about this but when they when they talk about it be careful i know i mean but when they talk about that camp they're obviously talking about the time thing an awful lot and he's right like i was there the belal was spectacular like he did he he did an amazing job and we haven't seen anyone treat leon like that but as far as they were concerned, and yes, he did get in the sleep coach, which Tom Aspinall borrowed the information for,

as far as I remember. But it was a weird atmosphere. I think Bilal would even speak to that. In that arena, and obviously he's the guy coming in and taking on the hometown dude. Not hometown, but he's the home guy, right? It's in the UK, that's where Leon lives. After Bilal took him down, it was in the uk that's where leon lives after balal took

him down it was like the lungs of the the arena had emptied like it was like they got their last gasp of emotion out for for tom and paddy and there was lulls before that as well and then it was like a crash you know during that main event even when i saw leon walking out it was it was a bit weird that night but i think it was it was just an extremely extremely strange event like you heard Tom talking about it he doesn't want to compete at that time again I doubt Bilal wants to compete at that time again no one being honest too but I always maintained that it was better for the American fighters because you could just stay on American time zone because the fight was being geared towards Americans back home right if you're fighting at 5 a.m in the uk it's it's 12 a.m

here which is typically when a main event happens uh the notion that and we're going down this path and this is your fault pt he's gonna get he's gonna fire up the podcast in front of the loyal hundred viewers that they have and he's gonna go and and kill me again it's gonna be a huge problem in any event he's he's he's he's saying that you you can't even bring this up as a talking point because look how good Tom Aspinall did and look how good Patti Pimla did. Well, not everyone reacts to things the same way. You can stay up for 72 hours in Vegas and not go to bed and have a boatload of Guinness and I need my beauty sleep. We're all different human beings and so to say that Leon wasn't quite on his a-game it could have been he had bad food the night before it could have been he was he was tired it could have been a whole host of things but that's my that's my feeling when watching that fight I don't that's not a knock I just don't feel like he was at his best and the first thing that comes to mind is this fight was happening in the middle of the night or supremely early where he Yeah, and obviously Tom has a story about, like,

getting all this cycle together, right? Like, working so hard to start, you know, as the fight got closer, he was sleeping later. He was waking up earlier, all this kind of stuff. But then the night before the fight, his body just decided, I'm not doing that. And so he's just up the whole day before he goes into fight. Curtis Blades, a fight that was

tremendously traumatic to him given to what happened in the first fight but um yeah i honestly to get back to the main point yeah why did you take me down this path this is all your fault by the way i'm gonna get killed well it was because of the leon fabian thing you're genuinely furious i'm trying to get a phone call after this it's gonna be mental it is tough it is tough but honestly i don't think i think in the same way as leon put everything to the side with colby that's what fabian's doing with this he's like i'm not letting this play into my preparation i'm not g-ing myself up for this big confrontation with my blood rival like i'm going in here and i'm treating this like a fight i thought he did an exceptional job in the first couple of rounds of that fight um you know it shocked an awful lot of people how well he was doing against eblin early but again eblin has that

extra gear you can find if you can deal with that you have a very good chance against him i'm actually shocked at that line that gc brought up earlier all right uh more to come we still have some other questions to answer but for now now, final guest of the day, and what a performance on Saturday. Obviously, in the world of combat sports on Saturday, a ton of attention on the card in Riyadh, the boxing card, but if you clicked over to ESPN+, you saw one of the best fights of the year in the main event, a tremendous flyweight fight, a tremendous back-and-forth battle between Tetsuro Taira, who was on some kind of role in the UFC going up against former title contender, Brandon Royville. And

in the end, it was Royville who came out on top. And in the end, it was a hard fought, well-earned victory. And again, I loved his post-fight interview because of the honesty and the praise that he threw upon Tetsuro Tairra. Raw Dog himself, who has been mentioned on today's program several times, kind enough to join us. Thank you so much for the time, Brandon. Congratulations on the win. Man, the fight was great.

The performance was great. But really, I really did enjoy how compassionate and how honest you were in the post-fight because usually people afterwards come on and say, oh, you know, I'm the man, this and that. All you wanted to do was throw praise Tyra's way. why did you feel the need to do that in that moment um i i honestly have no clue i feel like that just kind of like hit me but uh like i got to train with them a little bit and it was just one of the like probably few fights in division i just don't i didn't want

to take wow it's it's a lot easier uh facing someone that you don't really know or care about or like have any of those but it's like you know i i run into this kid uh a fair amount in colorado and uh probably the nicest human being you'll ever meet um i 100% thought this fight was not going to be that close at all i thought it was going to be pure destruction but um man fighting fighting and training are two different things. We've always said that I've always known that. And, uh, it was, uh, it was definitely one of those, like, uh, I don't know. It was, it was a humbling experience. It was, uh, and it was just like,

you know, I really do just want that kid to do good, man. I really do want that. If you thought it was going to be a destruction, why did you not want the fight? Uh, just cause there's people I want to punch in the face. In my division, there's people I want to punch in the face. You actually like them. There's plenty of people I don't like.

It's as far as people you like. You want to see them do well. And it's like, yeah, there's people that you want to see do well. And that was one of the people where I'm like, I didn't expect for me and him to to align up this quickly the fact that we have is dope uh i don't know i feel like both of our stock rose that day and i think that was the coolest part about both of it i i would agree what surprised you most about him uh his like how strong he was on the back wow like yeah yeah because i knew his back would probably be good but like how strong he was wasn't phrasing like i would and then like the second

round of maybe like two minutes in i was like oh that's a different feeling like uh there's only been like maybe a handful of people like maybe around my size you know bigger dudes will could do stuff like that but like a couple people my size there's one other person i could think of that could just flatten me out like that and i was like yeah it was it was mind-blowing so uh super humbling super uh eye-opening and uh yeah that was cool are you are you happy i mean obviously you're happy you got the win it was a great fight it's being called one of the best fights of the year but is there a part of you that is disappointed that it was such a back and forth fight and that it did go the distance and that it was at times close um no not at all not not at all man i feel like uh

these experiences these five round experiences if i ever want to fight pantoja again having another back rider and having that experience is is super good especially in like these five round scenarios and it just proves too is like and that's why i want the apex card or like i want to be on a main event of a fight night specifically because i think i'm one of the best in the world when it comes to five rounds i think in a five round fight i'm not getting beaten and i've been saying that for years uh but now i get it kind of proven um and so here we are a big win you get on the microphone like i said you you throw this praise uh i'm just wondering did you did you get a chance to talk to him afterwards how was he handling everything and will you in fact look to train with him in the

future again yeah yeah he'll be in colorado man we're gonna cross paths a dozen times over so uh yeah we're gonna we're gonna go past we going to run like into each other fairly often. I bounce around Colorado, like gyms kind of a lot. So I run into like anybody that's in Denver, I'm going to run across them eventually, you know? So, um, yeah, uh, yeah, for sure. For sure. That's going to happen. What is in fact going on with the, the, the training situation in Colorado? Uh, it's, well well can you tell us about this i mean i i feel like as far as like other gyms go as of right now i i feel like there's a lot of craziness going on but as far as like what we're doing and my team right now

the raw doggers is what we call ourselves at this moment okay all right all right i like it brandon revel the raw doggers we have like a, I'm a front person, like the lead singer. And then, you know, like Prince of the Revolution. Okay. So who makes up the Raw Doggers? Dang, I'm really happy that you said that. It just depends on who's fighting the week is who makes up the name. But we've had a really good week.

It's Alex Hernandez. Clay Matos, our head coach. rafa is one of our coaches and uh louise groulet who you seen just get signed to the ufc yesterday so oh wow we're a real small team we're a real real like tight knit and uh you know we definitely bring people in and like have people kind of come help us out along the way but that being said is just we have very detail-oriented practices and uh really small time as of right now and uh it's been cool man i've been uh separated from the gym i was formerly at for probably like four months now and uh these four months i'm just training my best friends and uh having the time of my life man and we all just caught dubs within

the last two weeks of each other and you're referring to factory x right yeah yeah could you tell us what happened there um just uh man i think it was just uh a lot just a long story just a long story and just uh kind of just needed to needed to change the sceneries with uh the people that were we're doing doing right by like you're not right by me but i would say the people that were doing the work for me is the coach that I have was my head coach for the last maybe three years and just writing game plans out for me, writing a schedule out for me. Like, oh, we need to do this. We need to work on this this day.

We need to work on this this day. And, you know, I finally just get to pay him a good amount of money. And I feel like with that bonus,, that was my goal is the bonus. And, uh, you know, uh, within the last two weeks, uh, uh, the right person made a good amount of money for the first time of his life. And, uh, that was really cool. It was really cool to cut a check to him. I've never been so, uh, no, I've never been so satisfied cutting a check in my life. Uh, that's for sure. And, and who is that? His name is Clay Mata. Okay.

Amazing. Uh, and, and, and congrats to him as well. Um, and, and it was interesting because earlier in the day, uh,

Dana White actually announced the next flyweight title fight. So the timing was kind of interesting. Some thought that if Tetsura Tyra would have won, he would have, he would have been next. Uh, but in fact, it was Kaya Sakura,

who's making his promotional debut. It'll be against Shandera Pantoja on December 7th. What was your react? Did you even know about that? Did you hear about that? No, I knew about that a long time ago. Okay, so you were not, it didn't, like, the timing didn't throw you off or anything like that. Yeah, and then it just

gave me a way to aim, you know what I'm saying? And that's what I wanted. I wanted a direction to go because I'm like, fuck, I'm about to call out three, four different other people. But now that it's like, okay, there's a title shot, okay, I got the winner. And it's like, I think if the winner, whoever the winner is, there are certain advantages either way. It's just like, I could go fight in Brazil or I could go fight in Japan. And I think if Asakura wins, a fight in Japan would be almost a mandatory, I think. Yeah, that would be incredible. And a long time coming. How do you feel about someone

getting a title shot in their UFC debut? I personally don't care because I need to shake up in the division. I'm running through everybody behind me. The whole top five, I have pretty much a W over. And that goes as far as the whole top 10 is like, you know, I'm recycling top five people are, I'm about to be recycling top five people at this point. And it's like, I need someone to shake up the division and Kai Asakura could be that guy, man. If he could catch a W, then I'm getting the next title shot almost guaranteed in my head. Yesterday after contender series, I believe Dana White pretty much insinuated that you are next.

Have you seen these comments? And is this the same that you have heard internally? I've never heard anything internally. But I got tagged in a few things saying something like that, but I didn't go back and watch the interview. Okay. But I mean, I don't really see how I would not be, you know. Like I said, I haven't went over the whole top five of the division right now.

So, it's like, who else is there right now? So, I've been putting them in really rough positions by keep winning fights and keep taking out, like, their moneymakers with Moreno and then Taito Tsujiro, who's a future star in Japan. I'm sure he already is a star. So, it's like. My goal is to make the matchmakers job hard. I've been very much probably causing

them headaches, but I'm still here, man, and I'm still showing my worth. Like I said, I shouldn't be a plus 300 against any motherfucker in this division. Do you think they wanted him to win? I don't think they wanted to, but I think it'd be more beneficial for the UFC, if I'm honest.

By the way, I don't look at the lines all the time. We've got an expert in the back GC who does that. Were you a plus 300? I was a plus 300. Wow. I was like, what the fuck? The second and fourth round, I was like, god damn it. I should have told all my friends to bet on me.

Man. So you actually knew this before and used it as motivation annoyed you but yeah yeah i had a big old and then also it's just like that's also like uh why my coach was like you know uh i wanted the albazi fight bad and it's like i knew i had to wait a couple extra months if i if i was gonna get that but But my coach was like, no, let's take the Tyra fight because he has all this hype around him, man. He has all this hype and all this 16 and 0. There's a lot of hype that comes with everything he's doing right now. And with all that hype, then I end up plus 300. So it's like I can't be wanting a guy with a bunch of hype and then be pissed about the plus 300 thing, too. But it's also just motivation that I was pissed about.

I ain't gonna lie. Uh, what if they do in fact offer you Al-Bazi next? What do you say? Uh, whoever the, like, I want to clear out the whole division. If you guys, if they're not going to give me a title shot, then whoever they give me is like, like whoever I haven't fought, whoever's in my way, I'm going to take out. I'm going to take out. And that's literally just my mind i'm gonna take out i'm gonna take out and that's literally just my mind state is just i'm gonna take out anybody in the way and give them

no no doubt and no other explanation of who needs the title shot next and i feel like i've done a pretty good job at that already i fought moreno on a month notice uh tore my mcl the first round uh taught to retire i 16 you know I just handed him his first loss. But if anybody else, man, they feel they want to throw in at me, I'll go take him out. By the way, who do you think wins? Asakura or Pantoja?

I don't know, man. If Pantoja gets him to the ground, it's over. But that being said, Asakura is scary to get to the ground. The fight stands like it starts striking and uh i don't know man i really don't know i'm i'm hoping man i like pantoja a lot as a person so i just wanted to be i want the best from at all times uh but osakura if he wins i'm pretty sure i'm getting the title shot him next. So I kind of need him, you know? You don't think they would rematch them?

If Asakura wins, say, okay, Pantoja, you were a champ for over a year. You know, sometimes they do that. Sometimes they don't. There's no real rhyme or reason. I don't think they will. No, okay. I don't think they will. Yeah, and to be fair, I think if Asakura wins, it'll be brutally.

Okay, wow. Interesting. By the way, recently i saw an interview you spoke to sports kita and you talked about wanting to build um in a quote-unquote poor neighborhood somewhere in in denver you said a safe place for young boys and girls to go hang out not just a gym necessarily but like a youth center this is one of your dreams um how far is this just a dream right now or are you actually actively trying to i have a i a, I have a thought that I'm going to try to buy right now. And that's actually the next goal is now that I, we just got into Colorado like less than

like an hour ago. And that's the goal this week is just to try to get rights to this building and try to get a couple of grants along the way. But that being said, if, if I don't get any grants for this, or if this isn't anything, this is a hundred percent of Hill I'll die on and a hundred percent of Hill that I don't get any grants for this or if this isn't anything this is 100 a hill i'll die on and 100 a hill that i don't mind going broke on and uh so yeah i'm i'm going all in on this uh i have a spot picked out uh west denver um right off of like you know it's right it's right in the center of uh like the importance of this building is the building has like three,

like it's upstairs that's separate and like, like huge, it's huge. And then a downstairs where there's two separate rooms. And it's like, I could have a spot where Jim's ran out of, I can have a spot where like homework's done. I have a spot for like maybe a barbershop and then just like a spot to like hang out. And like, you know, I, I really want just like an all around place where like you could just spend all day, you know i i really want just like an all-around place where like you could just spend all day you know boys and girls club here in colorado they uh they they open late and they like you have to leave like seven o'clock so it's like they start at like four and then you leave at seven which is like you know they're doing good things but that being said is like i was getting in trouble at

9 a.m early you know like i was doing dumb shit 9 a.m so i already know like you know i just want to be preventing a lot of stuff and uh preventing a lot of craziness and the spot that i have picked out is right in the hub of uh it's a little industrialized which i don't like but it's a mile away from every major project area i want to hit and uh two miles away being for this one so it's there's easy access to it and that's really what i want the most much respect man you also said computer labs game room everything's kids can need i want to provide for the youth in denver because there's a lot going on shootings and teenagers going at each other i can relate so i want to do something and you just said like

that's that's that's something that you're willing to go broke like you you are willing to put your own money in in into something like this to build it for the kids is it because it hits so close to home and you don't want kids to have the same experiences that you had and I guess not to go into like too much detail but I would just say like two of like two of the closest people to me like one of my best friends and then my brother uh you know we all got into mixed martial arts around the same time. We all, mixed martial arts was, like, our life, you know. And, like, we would go wake up, like, I would have them, like, watching. Like, that's important about the whole Japan thing, too, is on summer nights, we would spend up all night, like, stay up all night watching, uh, pride, all those. So it's just like, I feel like, you know, if we had a,

a good way to kind of aim some of that, or if they had a good way to kind of aim their, uh, energy and all that stuff, it could have prevented a lot of, uh, a lot of things along the way, you know?

And, and, and your brother and your friend, where are they now? Uh, they are both locked up. They're both, uh,

incarcerated right now. Okay. Um, are you, are you able to communicate with them? Are they aware of what you're doing? No, no, I don't tell them anything like that. My brother knows, but my other friend is locked up in Al-Aran. So he's not in a way where we can really communicate often. Damn.

And how long has that been? He's been in for at least two years so probably right after kai kar france fight so like two years okay and he'll be in there for a long ass time and your bro and my brother probably he's in and out he'll he'll be in and out so okay is there a chance for for with this a project like this of of of getting him on the path that you're on on the right path yeah yeah for sure and i think. And I think that's something that he mentioned to me or he's mentioned to the people that he communicates with often is that's something that he wants to kind of get on.

But it's like my priority is the youth around Denver. I will not have anybody on that's a liability. And I wouldn't have anybody on that who a liability you know and i wouldn't have anybody on that whoever my vision so he needs to be uh in a good way before that's even an option in my head you know i wouldn't bring him he's not coming in fresh out of jail you know i get it i get it 100 and by the way realistically when can this be open to the public i have no clue i have no clue i'm hoping within as soon as possible okay and that was the thing too is like this fight uh this fight um i i had it all kind of planned out and it was all going smoothly and then i get booked this fight i leave the gym and then it's like okay well i'm training

all around colorado right now so i have zero time to put effort into this to put anything into it and none of this even matters uh or none of this is even possible if I lose this fight. If I lose this fight, the money is significantly less and the notoriety is significantly less. So I need a name. I need a little bit of a name and that will help me get a little bit of help from the outside world. But I need income too so it's like the president is making money right now because uh that's what's going to get this started much respect man that's that's incredible and um and and good luck obviously and your heart seems

to be in the right place and you're on a roll right now and you've got a platform that's only going to get bigger obviously if you get the title shot and and if all goes well there so uh wish you the best congratulations i know i know you just got home as as you said so thanks for jumping on i'm sure you're a little bit tired uh really really appreciate it again congrats on a great fight and and i love the post-fight interview there was just something so honestly dare i say raw about it and uh it was really it was really well done i feel like I get really emotional after my fight so it's all pretty organic and sometimes it's it's the worst thing that I could say and sometimes it's a really good thing and I'm really glad that I could give Tatsuro's flowers which I think he

really deserved as do you well done thanks Brandon all the best all right thank you for your time bro have a good day you too there he is Royville, an easy guy to root for. Great stuff. And certainly wish him the best when it comes to his plans to help the youth in Denver. Need a lot more guys like that. All right. Let's finish up with, excuse me, some more questions. And we will keep things going there was there was someone named

uh trin who asked gc about the uh the bets plans and we answered that uh frank he has a question for you oh really how does it feel to have merch you know it feels great did you get yours yet i didn't in fact i about 20 minutes ago was gonna send an email off because I'd really like to have it. You were going to send an email 20 minutes ago? Yeah. And that's, if my math is correct, actually during the show. Yeah, that's how important it is to me. Who do you email in that situation?

Does that go to directly to you, Ariel? No, no. I got a guy. I got my guy, Brandon. I received mine. Not the same Brandon, by the way. He's the best. I don't know what's going on.

There has been some talk about potentially you not checking out because you said you didn't get a confirmation. I'm going to completely own up to that, that maybe I... You never actually submitted the order? Yeah, so Frank's emailing people about merch he didn't get because he didn't check out. I need them to verify. Look, when I have the merch, you'll know.

Okay. But I'm also sweating it because a lot of it's sold out now. Is it selling out? I mean, we're killing it. We're killing it. No, listen, we had grand plans for merch and we're here. This is a good segue. We've got an update on the power rankings from my dad.

Oh, wow. Oh, geez. Let's bring this up. We don't need to hear that. No, no, no. It's the real news. Here we go. From my father.

You want me to read this out? Let's see. If you can let mysterious Frank know not to be jealous of my compliment of Carol. no no no it's the real news here we go from my father you want me to read this out let's say if you can let mysterious frank know not to be jealous of my compliment of carol he's going by last name joining the team mysterious frank is fantastic in that his personality comes through to the fans only using audio so frank even just with audio you're conveying it my dad's a big fan your dad is a dad i never had also i mean you're, you're welcome to him. He's everybody's dad. Wow. I'm glad to see GC live in the studio.

So, GC, he's happy you're back here with us. Right, right, right. No, like, I mean, Frank's fantastic. His personality comes through to the audio waves. Oh, I've shared the text. It's really just my location. No, no, no. He's happy with my location.

I've shared the text. I've shared the text. Before you run. Also, I have to compliment Mr. Jackman on that one because just completely ducked the actual power rankings. Just complimenting yourself. Savvy veteran. Just a classy message.

A classy message. What was implied, Frank? Because technically Carol went first, then Mysterious Frank. He's like he's the new kid on the block. Boys, boys, boys. I don't want this to become a thing. Let's just, you know.

My dad loves us all. It's okay. Who the fuck is we? Who was the first person mentioned in the text? It was Carol. It was technically mysterious Frank. It was Alphaprang. He was just saying not to worry.

PC got his own text this morning, so I think that says enough. Carol, please. Hello. I like this Carol. That's going to stick. Mr. Jackman, we appreciate your love. I actually thought you were about to plug the merch site because we haven't done that yet. We plugged a lot of things.

Forget that. ArielHawani.com, by the way. ArielHawani.com is where you get all the merch. We've got a ton of shirts. We've got some cups. We've got some mugs and things. I don't know what they're called. Thermoses. Not this one. I should probably use the one. That would make a lot of sense.

Did the boys legit get a code? You all got a code. Where was the code? You know what? on the website. Yeah, water bottles. Did the boys legit get a code, yeah? Because that's been playing on my mind. You all got a code. Yeah, I got a code, but I paid myself. I pulled an aspirin off. You know what? Class. Not necessary.

I didn't get the option. I paid without having a code. So, I mean, different situation. ArielHawani.com looking a lot better than it did this time last year. Oh, yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Let us never forget. Thank you to my friend Daniel Wolfe for making that happen. Yes, check it out. Let us never forget. Thank you to my friend Daniel Wolff for making that happen. Yes, check it out, arielhawani.com. Appreciate you all very much.

It is great to see it up and running. We just had two new drops. I believe that's what the kids say, right? Drops? Yeah. What the fuck is that? Juan Sanchez. Hello, Ariel and Cruz.

So happy to see you Back in our life I've got a question That relates to the New Uncrowned Era Are you at all concerned About the massive Influx of content

That you are creating Being dare I say Too much for people To consume You see This is a thing People are worried This is the second time

Someone's commented that I can only say From my experience The past two days That I was only about Halfway through Monday's content When Tuesday's Four hour show came out I'm only about An hour in the past two days that I was only about halfway through Monday's content. When Tuesday's four-hour show came out, I'm only about an hour in, and there's potentially four more hours.

And then BITB, and then The Crack, not complaining, we are getting incredibly spoiled. But I just don't know when I'll be able to find the time to watch all what I like to watch. Are these the people who are like, oh, there's too much cake here. It's like too much. Who are these people? Who are these sav who are saying who are these savages that so why is it going for longer than an hour these are the same people what are we eating over there frankie more cake more candy what are we chomping on literally nothing the

audio guys just giving us bad audio because it sounded like someone was in his mouth should i just start like rubbing this you sneak a licorice you sneak one of my licorice how does this sound i will just say this watch whatever you want consume what you want we appreciate you all we appreciate you all very much i do take great joy in the people who are commenting and comparing our our views and whatnot to establish sites lest you forget this site this channel was dormant for about 13 years before i recently resurrected it on a very sort of occasional basis the fact that we are even sniffing the numbers that we are sniffing in the first three days has me over the moon so whatever you are trying to do the very very very

very few of you out there it it ain't hitting sometimes it hits it ain't hitting i just want to let you know give us a year and then we can talk. Yeah, give us a year. Give us two weeks. We're rolling. I'll take a year. Think about Elixironi's comeback. We went away. We got new hair. We took a lot of steroids.

And now we're back, baby. You would be said steroids. New beard and all. He said steroids. Direct quote from the post yes thank you um jay stew hey ariel and crew congrats on everything what were your thoughts on the rock's return at bad blood do you think they'll do a triple threat match with the rock versus roman versus cody this is a an amazing predicament that they're in by the way uh for all the people worried about the wrestling very little wrestling in week one dare I say right I think this might be the first wrestling reference Since we've been back

I might be wrong There it is Frankie I liked it It was a surprise It was fun I don't think he'll be a constant By the way check out uncrowned.com Wrestling section

New member of the team Penn not to be confused with Ken Shamrock By the way, check out uncrowned.com Wrestling section New member of the team, Penn Not to be confused with Ken Shamrock Great recap of Monday Night Raw We'll also have a nice recap of AEW We're very down the middle here No favorites I don't know what they're going to do at WrestleMania

I really don't I'm dying to see how it all plays out And I'd like for us to all be there In Las Vegas in April Because I think it's going to be an incredible show wrestlemania 41 allegiance stadium first time vegas wrestlemania since wrestlemania 9 at at at couldn't tell you hit us caesar's palace no oh wow that's outdoor show um nick khan current president of WWE Was an usher at that event

How about that You don't get tidbits like that anywhere else I agree Who gives you this No one in the biz Speaking of WWE I think they're in Manchester right now England Is that true

That's where Manchester is Well there's a New Hampshire Wow What is that Right now It's possible. That's where Manchester is. Well, there's a New Hampshire. Wow! What is that? Cody Rhodes. Right now? Supposedly.

Shout out to Ben Rogerson for posting the picture. Yo! This is amazing. It's either right now or it's from Monday because he's wearing the shirt that he was

wearing on the show. That is a good point. Wow, Tommy. Look at this. Or he's just wearing that shirt around the clock. I mean, I would too if those products

made me some gear. What is this? What is this? When did this happen? We gotta just wearing that shirt around the clock. I mean, I would too if those products made me some gear. What is this? What is this? When did this happen? It just came to me. We got to find out. We got to find out.

I originally saw it tweeted by our guy, ACD MMA. Formerly. Out of context MMA. Should we ask Tommy? Yeah, why not? I mean, he's in there. He's got the UFC belt. He's right next to Cody Rhodes.

Supposedly cutting a promo on Gunther. Wow. Tommy, we're live on the show right now. You know this show. You have come on. You were one of our first ever guests. And I just saw a photo of you and Gunther in the ring in WWE. You didn't tell me about this.

I'm supposed to be your mouthpiece. I'm supposed to be your wise man. Please give us the scoop. We're on the air for another 10 minutes. What's the story here? You versus Gunther, WrestleMania 41? Okay, let's see. Wait, you recorded recorded that video i thought you were on facetime yeah all right i'm recording it for him and he's gonna send us a video back couldn't just call them i thought we were in 10 minutes trying to do it live let's see let's all fooled here let's see on air for another 10 minutes he doesn't reply

aspirin is more on the gc side of things when it comes to that kind of stuff. I just sent the video. It says online. Let's see if we get the two blue checks. I think he pledges allegiance to you, Petey, actually. I think it might be you who gets the reply. I got it open here.

Let's see. Check. Blue checks. He has seen it. He's probably watching right now.. Blue checks. Blue checks. He has seen it. Well, he's probably watching right now. Yeah, tell him to call. We don't want this video message exchange thing.

Do you want me to ring Andy and ask him what the crack is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dial up Andy, see what's going on. Get the crack. Let's see. Let's see.

Okay. Anyway, Rock versus Roman versus Cody would be nice. I kind of feel like we need Rock versus Roman at some point.

Cody versus who though? Punk? We'll see. We'll see. Josh Pav. What? Is this true? He just texted.

I don't know if this is. It's calm. He just texted me something insane. I'm calling him. Sorry. It's breaking news. Frank. Tom, you're live on the air.

Where are you? Can I show? Oh, he's at the event right now. He's there. Tom, you versus Gunther? Is it happening? Are you fighting Gunther at Crown Jewel? Is this happening?

You're live on the air right now. Is this an exclusive for us pizzi wants to know if this is an exclusive are you are you fighting gunther in in in in in two weeks at wwe crown jewel maybe wow oh maybe no too. Okay. Well, I have to say, enjoy the matches. I have to say, I love the photo. And next time you do that, just please give me a heads up. I don't like to hear about it. Randy Orton's in.

Randy Orton's in the ring. There he is. Who are Randy? I see it. Ah, great move there by Randy. Nice forearm. That's genuine excitement right there. He's loving it. Ah, great move there by Randy. Nice forearm. That's genuine excitement right there. He's loving it.

Let's leave that up. Let's just have Tom as the soundtrack. Okay, bye, Tom. What did he say? Go on, Randy? Yeah, he said go on, Randy. What a legend. Go on, Randy.

So it's now. Yeah, he's literally there. I just saw him. That's great. Breaking news, too. Maybe Gunther Maybe maybe not What happens first John Jones Tom Aspinall

Or Tom Aspinall Gunther And put it on the chat What happens first is it Gunther Versus Aspinall or Aspinall Versus Jones or even Aspinall versus Pereira Perhaps Or Aspinall versus Stipe Wow four choices

Quick ones from Joshosh pav gc did you find a new apartment yeah yeah imagine he put everything we were staying at and a new apartment has been found yeah frankie more expansive soundboard question mark yeah yeah it's got a lot of functions a lot of features i mean that i haven't fully explored yet what a weird response i'm looking at he's got like 50 buttons now compared to like five before just say yes what the fuck is that rick yeah will you still be doing socials no not at all thank god i'm done i'm free free as a bird. Shout out to Kel and Spencer holding it down. Yeah, look, don't get me wrong. Great

gig. Advanced my career. We have a great team doing it now, but I am happy to not be doing it anymore. Pete C, favorite part of your new role? Also, welcome to the team, he says. Favorite part of my new role? Just getting to spend more time with all you cool

guys. Wow. Okay, my favorite part is when your mic doesn't work um listen the computer has been hard to get used to okay let's see most people would say the new computer me and the new computer currently battling you would think he would have he of anybody he would be the one to have sympathy for this but he's just throwing you right under the bus there yeah he he likes to pretend that he's some technical whiz because he knows i'm not bad like compared to me he's just throwing you right under the bus there. Yeah, he likes to pretend that he's some technical whiz because he knows I'm not bad. Compared to me, he's frank. You know what I mean? That's our relationship.

Helwani, one high and one low from the last three months. That is a great question. Only highs. The Olympics were incredible. I'm nostalgic about the Olympics and I was nostalgic like a week, like there were moments

where I was sitting there in Paris and I was like, I can't believe I'm actually here. I'm watching Summer McIntosh win a gold medal for Canada and have an incredible summer games and just getting to interview the 4x100 relay team.

That was a huge honor. Moments after they won gold, like that was just unbelievable. And then really just seeing all of this come to fruition. And I would say the highest of them all is just seeing, it's so fun when you're in the trenches and everyone's working together and we're all doing a little extra

and we're all doing more and we're all kind of out of our comfort zones and to see it all come to fruition together to the point where we're at on Monday when this place was just an empty room three weeks ago and now we're together to the point where we're at on monday when this place was just an empty room three weeks ago and now we're broadcasting to the world what's better than that he also adds uh given your expanded resources does that change the way you book guests no well slightly for now but but maybe i was i paused by the way for the conor mcgregor no

that was the one. Also, this is from Adele. Since we've got a longer show now, are we going to get more segments like OTN and Parlay Boys? You know, we just kind of evolve. We evolve. So yes, they are all coming. David Velasquez, Ariel, first off,

welcome back to you and the crew. I'm happy you guys are still together. Let's keep it that way. Now onto my question. One of the fights announced for 310 was Tatiana Suarez against Vierna Gianjiroba. She's one of our own. My immediate reaction was,

whatever happened to Tatiana getting a title shot? What do you think is the reason, Ariel? Is Zhang injured, visa issues, or maybe a potential super fight with Valentina in the works, as you have talked about constantly? I don't know, man. I was surprised, too, if I'm being honest. Tatiana, I feel like, like, when you think about a world where debutantes are getting title shots, I know Tatiana's been out.

I know it's been a long road. But, geez, Louise, who would have minded if she didn't get a title shot like two fights ago? You know what I mean? But she's fighting Verna 310. It's a great fight. And, uh, I'd love to see that. And I'd love to see Zhang versus Valentina, uh, Cheeto Pancakes. What's up, Ariel, welcome back, El Narese. Question regarding the decision to go Monday, Wednesday for the AIDS show. What was the main reason? I don't know. I had two before.

Now I wanted three. We continue to level up. Like I said, a lot of people go five. And how would that affect booking? A lot of people are concerned about my life and my health. I don't think you've talked about it enough. Well, I'm answering questions. You think I talk about it too much? Yeah, I mean, clearly, like these people are checking in on the oh okay i thought you were being but uh it's not true that there's no change i feel like we're we're slowly

getting into a newer place you don't feel that um i mean now as far as booking not not necessarily yeah on the back end on the back back end. Everything is getting better. No, everything. I'm not worried at all. We'll get there. Have I complained? No, I'm not talking about the complaining. I'm saying in the old era,

these people are like, the booking thing has now become all they're asking about. Yeah, no, 100%. By the way, I love the fact that people actually care about this. You know what I mean? They care so much about the process.

Yeah. You don't think that they're like casting doubt? No. No, hell no. You love the booking. I love the what? You love the booking. Oh, yeah.

It's fantastic. Jesse, as you mentioned that you want to bring back journalism to the sport, which is awesome, will Uncrowned have a presence for on-site reporting? Of course. We have already had. Chuck Mendenhall was at the Sphere. As was I. That was a good article. I'll be at UFC Apex 100.

That's right. Lie. Rory. I may be looking into a cruise holiday for the fam and hoping New York Rick can update us on how his recent cruise experience was. Cruises are not for me. My wife didn't enjoy it as much as she thought. So I think we're good on those for a while.

Just not for me. Not my thing. Another question about the booking of the guests. I'm just not going to i appreciate all of them but it's probably boring um for all of you uh nick welcome back i now know when the wednesday when wednesday is again on a scale of robbie lawler sleeping before a fight to screaming in rory mcdonald's bloody face how excited are the boys for the penultimate tough champ fighting this weekend? And he tells me who it is.

Do you guys know who it is? The penultimate... No, you can't look it up. I see you looking it up. The penultimate means the one before the most recent? Yes. Oh, Jesus.

Say the question one more time. Are you looking forward to the penultimate Oh wait Was that the season That was the Conor McGregor season Yeah that was the Conor season That's my season So you should know this Wasn't that Brian Battle

No that wasn't Brian Battle Brad Katona was the winner Oh look at you I mean penultimate No so isn't that it That's the answer Yeah two seasons ago Good job man

Thanks everyone I thought I was having I thought I was going to have to pull like a Cody Gibson Or a Oh you were thinking of the runner up I'm was going to have to pull like a Cody Gibson or a... No, you nailed it. Oh, you were thinking of the runner-up from... I'm not going to lie. Zoned out when Helwani originally asked the question. I didn't know what we were looking for.

I heard tough and ultimate. You got it. It's tough. The ultimate fighter, though, Bracketona. It's tough for tough is perfect. Last one. Bracketona fights this weekend? Apparently.

Just Simon. Ultimate fighter would be a good series. Hi, Ariel. First of all, a fight this weekend? Apparently. Just Simon. It'll be a good series. Hi, Ariel. First of all, congrats on the new show. But now that the name has changed, where's the MMA Hour belt? Did you see him? Where's the MMA Hour belt? It's right here, bitches.

Still undisputed. Still undisputed. Still the fucking man. what do you think you think i ain't have this belt i walk around this damn office with this belt what do you think and this is always going to be by my side number one 14 time you think you got rid of me you think you got rid of this cancer just getting getting started. Bigger and better. I'm alpha. That's right, Rampage.

That's right, Quentin. We still here. And now we got a whole fucking company backing us. Yeah. Remind me to take that away from you tonight. Thank you very much to everyone who sent in questions. We'll get to more of them all throughout our existence. Tomorrow, it's Boys in the Back

You guys can answer Some of these as well If you'd like If you are running out of things Any quick plug? I've been plugging The shows the day before You guys want to plug anything?

What do we got? We've got We've got an exclusive interview With? With Oscar Willis Ah You can't see Victor This past weekend

First round knockout of You know our guy Ben Davis Yeah And we are going to ask Some questions But I think we're going to Go to the YouTube chat We're going to chat

I think we're going to Go to the chat We're going to the chat We're going to break down The PFL card We're going to look to UFC Apex 99 That's why I didn't want

To mention the Brad Katona thing You ruined our preview Sorry sorry Yeah the preview's Completely been spoiled We might talk to PZ Carroll

Fantasy Football Minute Oh wow okay I think we need an update Yeah We need the music This is what I've been Sorry, sorry. Yeah, the preview's completely been spoiled. We might talk to P.T. Carroll, Fantasy Football Minute. Oh, wow. Okay. I think we need an update, yeah. We need the music. This is what I've been waiting for this my whole life. I can't wait.

It's time to get called up. Just like, we can't get enough P.T. And then he'll finish off the week on the crack. And then we really finish off the week with the Helwani Vision broadcast. Let's go. I mean, yeah. You know what? You are getting spoiled. It is an embarrassment of content

But we ain't stopping we just getting started PT can't wait for the crack on Friday Tremendous debut here on the A8 show but we don't end here Much more to come boys in the back tomorrow 1pm Eastern same time Same channel and then of course PT 1pm Eastern

With the crack heading into the Weekend Helwani Vision 4 4 p.m. Eastern, exclusively on DAZN PPV. Frankie? Let's go home. How are you feeling, Frank? Look at this one.

I mean, am I cra crazy or were there clouds before? There were clouds. There were a ton of clouds. There was a plane that came by. Was there a plane? You scrub through the YouTube channel and go real fast. You can see the window. Doing what a window does.

Vindicated. Allowing you to see the outside world. Vindicated. Thumbs up in the chat. We got to find something new, man. We have so many options. Need a better catchphrase. Thumbs up in the chat. We've got to find something new, man. We have so many options. Need a better catchphrase. Thumbs up in the chat. Has the picture been better today?

Have we gotten 1% better every single day? Are we continuing to get better? Is the belt back? Do I have this now? No, you're not going to have that anymore. This is a one and done. I mean, where else would you rather be than right here right now,

as the great Marv Levy once said, head coach of your Buffalo Bills. And by the way, congratulations to the Buffalo Bills on the acquisition of one Amari Cooper. And congratulations to my good friend, my close personal friend, Joshua Allen, on 100 starts this Sunday. Yeah, how about that? How about that? 100 starts for my big guy. For my big guy.

JA17. So much more. Usually, like, we kind of sign off for the week here, but we ain't signing off, my friends. We are on the road to Battle of the Giants. What a chat with Chris Eubank Jr. What a chat with Demetrius Johnson. Tremendous stuff from Brandon Royville. Thank you so much as well to the defending champion, what a chat with Chris Eubank Jr. what a chat with Demetrius Johnson tremendous stuff

from Brandon Royville thank you so much as well to the defending champion Johnny Ebeling good luck to him this weekend thanks to all of you who sent in questions thanks to all of them

back on Thursday same time and place I tell them we say peace I'm out of here