The Ariel Helwani Show - Eddie Hearn, Paulo Costa, Alycia Baumgardner & Alex Terrible IN STUDIO, Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Garry in Philly?

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Ariel Helwani starts the show by reacting to the faceoff between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven (04:12). Boxing champ Alycia Baumgardner, who headlines the Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday, joins Ariel in-studio to preview her bout against Bo Mi Re Shin, then discuss not being in the Ring P4P rankings, potential superfights against Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, Caroline Dubois’ recent win, believing Mikaela Mayer can beat Claressa Shields, accusations made by fighters and fans due to her physique, ongoing conversations with WWE, and more (09:54). Ariel and the Boys in the Back tackle some recent news and notes, including one fan’s stunning Jon Jones tattoo, the latest UFC rankings, and more (46:28). Plus, your Super Chats (1:22:38). Paulo Costa is back following his massive win over Azamat Murzakanov at UFC 327, talking about his beef with Josh Hokit, whether he could be fighting for UFC gold while Carlos Ulberg heals up, his feeling on Ulberg’s performance against Jiri Prochazka, his reaction to Prochazka saying he showed Ulberg “mercy,” believing Israel Adesanya should retire, having one fight remaining on his UFC contract, and more (1:38:32). Deathcore artist and Slaughter to Prevail frontman Alex Terrible is in-studio with Ariel to discuss his family life, being on tour and experiencing burnout, his upcoming BKFC fight, the meaning behind his tattoos, grappling with tigers and bears, and more (2:11:04). Eddie Hearn returns to react to the performances of Tyson Fury and Conor Benn’s fights on Netflix, then reveals details from the night, including Anthony Joshua being asked to go into the ring and ongoing negotiations for the Fury fight. Plus, he reviews the latest Zuffa Boxing events, accepts Dana White’s challenge to a boxing match, gives an update on Tom Aspinall, and more (3:04:50). Ariel wraps up with a few more Super Chats (3:59:43).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the air... On this Tuesday, April 14,000, 26, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well, and if I'm being honest, I feel like I was just sitting here. Yesterday was a supersized edition of the program. It wasn't only super stacked, it was super sized as well. We went five plus hours, I think, five hours and 15.

People were delighted. Everyone was very excited. Wow, we missed you. You gave us so much. Thanks for making up for your, you know, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, being away for the past 10 or so days leading up to yesterday's show. So we like to give back. We like to make amends.

We like to write wrongs over here. And I think that we did that yesterday with six amazing guests. Great stuff from Carlos Ulberg. Great stuff from Eugene Berman. Cubs Swanson. Kevin Holland. The Mending Fences Tour that is 2020. continues and today's another Superstack show.

And what I like about today's program, my friends, what I like about today's program is that it's a little something for everyone. It's not your typical show. We'll start in about 10 minutes time with Alicia Baumgartner in studio, the unified Super Featherweight World Champion who will be headlining MVPW2

this Friday on ESPN, not ESPN Plus or ESPN Unlimited, on ESPN from this. the InfoSys Theater, formerly known as the Hulu Theater, formerly known as the MSG Theater. You know, that cool venue with the iconic ceiling and the lights. This Friday, I'll be working the card. So it's significant because she's defending her titles, but also because it's my return to ESPN for being 100% honest. So that's a really big deal.

She's going to be joining us in studio. It's a huge week for MVP and a huge stretch for them as well. Back on April 5th, they had their first MVPW show. that's the Women's League that they put together. That happened in London. The show headline by Caroline Dubois versus Terry Harper, Caroline Wan. There's a bit of a rivalry between her and Alicia Baumgartner, who's one of the biggest stars in women's boxing.

Now they have this show on April 17th. It's their first show on ESPN Linear. And then, of course, they've got the May 16th show on Netflix. Tomorrow, I want to let you know we're doing back-to-back press conferences. We, meaning I, will be hosting them. The first one will be for the May 17th, excuse me, April 17th show this Friday. And then the second one will be for the May 16th show. So it'll be boxing and MMA.

I'll be hosting both of them. And that's why tomorrow's show is going to start at 12 o'clock. It'll still be the same length. You'll still get everything that you're used to actually too amazing in studio guests tomorrow. And I'll tell you about those later in the day. But we're just going to start an hour early to give us enough time to give you the full shows. So take note of that. 12 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. BST, 9 a.m. P.T. start. That's tomorrow. So that's why it's a big week for MVP. They've got that show on Friday

headline by Alicia Baumgartner, who will be joining us in studio in a matter of moments. After that, we're going to be joined by one of the newest members of the BKFC family, and that is the gorilla himself, Darren Till. Wow, Darren Till, who for the longest time seems to have been flirting with David Feldman and BKFC. Does this mean we're finally going to get the Mike Perry fight? I'm not quite sure, but we're going to talk to Darren about why he's doing this, why he left misfits to sign with these guys. His debut on May 30th.

Is there an opponent? It's been set for Birmingham, England, May 30th, BKFC, 15,000 or so seat stadium. So this is a big deal, or arena, I should say. And Darren Till, who's always a good time, we'll join us at 2 o'clock to talk about all that and more. Palo Costa coming off the big win over Azamat Mirzikanov this past weekend at UFC 327. He's going to join us a return to 205 for him and he looks fantastic.

He's now Donald Trump's favorite fighter. He had a nice little moment with him. He's going back and forth with Josh Hokit on Twitter over the last 12 or so hours. Boaschina needs no introduction. He's going to join us in a matter of, what, an hour and a half or so at 2.30. at 3 o'clock, a young man named Alex Terrible, frontman for Slaughter to Prevail. His real name, I want to let you know, his real name is actually, oh, my thing closed here. I had it.

I had it. Wait, wait. Oh, no, here it is. Here it is. His real name is actually Alexander Shikolai of Russia, now hailing in the United States. Very popular gentleman. and, well, I should say, like, he goes hard. This band goes hard.

He talks like this. He shares raw chicken with tigers. He wrestles bears. He's from afar a terrifying fellow. I'm not really sure what he's all about. I wasn't really too familiar with his genre of music. Frank, what would you call his genre of music? I'd call this death core, which is a derivative of metal core.

You love this. stuff, right? I'm actually not a huge into metal core. I do understand the appeal. I totally get it. It's just a little too precise for me. I like a little bit of slop. What is precise? What does that even mean? It sounds like... It's like real tight.

Oh yeah. I think you get put off by the vocals, but like all the instrumentation is just so locked in. It's so highly produced and it sounds phenomenal on like a good system. You're saying it's too poppy. It's too mainstream. Too polished. That's crazy to me because when I see it, I get anxiety from these

Which is the intention. You're supposed to be feeling those emotions. I don't want that. It's just about happiness. It's depravity, sadness. No. All right. I don't, I don't subscribe to that.

But I am looking forward to speaking to this, man. Alex Shikolai, aka Alex Terrible, who actually has a show tonight, Slaughter to Prevail. They have a show tonight, which I wish I could attend, if I'm being honest, had I known in advance, at Hammerstein Ballroom, one of the iconic venues here in New York City. So he's going to stop by here before doing the show, which is pretty remarkable. And then we'll end the day with Eddie here. A lot to talk to Eddie about.

In fact, we'll talk to him about Connor Ben and H.A., but literally seconds ago, over in London, a press conference wrapped up for the Alexander Usik Riko Verhoeven fight that's going down May 23rd that he is going to be promoting. He doesn't work with either guy, but he's been slotted in as the promoter for this one

at the Pyramids in Giza. Over in Egypt, we do have the faceoff for you. This just happened seconds ago. there they are Rico Usik Eddie the umpalupa in the middle

they're all in the house look at these guys Usik's so cool everyone's just so nice in this fight I like these guys gentlemen for the middleman right there what's that

the tough look for the middleman right here his eyes barely making this shot You can't make the frame. Any theatrics? Any histrionics? I don't think so. They let these go on forever over in boxing. On and on they go.

It's going to be interesting. I'm really curious what this does. Remember, we learned that Rico had a deal on the table to fight Francis Inganu on May 16th. on Netflix in MMA And he chose this one Out of

Out of respect for Turkey The deal that they had to fight Anthony Joshua The zoomed-out shot is a little bit You know more friendly To Oompa Look at Eddie Eddie

Eddie looking dapper back there, huh? And the black men in black suit Usik with the Heisenberg hat on Yeah I like the jacket as well I mean, do they just stand here forever? Is there anything that happened? You're going to have to wait and find out. He's going to stay there all night.

Oh, okay. Yo, they're locked. They're locked and loaded. Okay, now. Looks like looking big, huh? Eddie said, I've got to go. I got an interview. Yeah, hell yeah.

Is that a Man United shirt? Definitely not. No. Maybe in Iax. Anyway, that's transpiring on the 23rd of May. We'll talk about that with. Eddie and obviously we'll have a lot to talk to him about. There's the five pack right there. I mean, what a lineup, something for everyone on this beautiful, absolutely beautiful, 80-plus

day here in New York City. In a matter of seconds, though, I want to welcome our first guest in studio who oozes superstardom. She is the unified female Super Featherweight World Champion. She holds the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring world titles, not the WBC because she wants to fight three-minute rounds. Her fight on Friday. April 17th at this Friday, InfoSys Theater, right next door to MSG. Home of the New York Knicks will be hosting the Atlanta Hawks

on Saturday at 6 p.m. So what a weekend for the world's most famous arena and the surrounding arenas? That's going to be headlining MVPW's first show on ESPN, and it will be three-minute rounds, but this time it will be 10 three-minute rounds. So not 12, three-minute rounds like her last fight was back on December, what was that?

December 19th, Kasea Center in Miami. against Lela Baudouin. This is 10, three-minute rounds, and that's part of the reason why. WBC, our friends over at the WBC, Mr. Mauricio, they're not down with that sort of thing for whatever reason. This is upside down, and that is not very nice. Anyway, without further ado, let us say hello to the Baum,

Alicia Baumgartner, who is kind enough to join us here on this beautiful Tuesday. Hello, Alicia. Hello there. How are you? How are you? Welcome. I'm great. I'm blessed. It's great to have you here.

We're blessed to have you. How about that? Yes. How are you? I'm blessed. I'm thankful. I'm excited. The energy has been very peaceful zen.

Oh. I'm ready. When did you get here? I got here Saturday. Okay. Peaceful Zen in New York City, because some people say, and you're no stranger to New York, but why do you pinpoint those words? Because I'm ready.

I'm prepared. And New York is such a fun place to be. And the fact that this is my main event fight, it just brings everything to the front line. Do you like fighting in New York? I love fighting in New York. Why? The energy of the fans, man. It gives me that extra boost of confidence that I love to have and the energy and the respect.

New York is that place, baby. Did you do something at Flight Club on Sunday? I did. We did a meet and greet. Not too far from here. Yeah, we did a meet and greet. How was it? It was great. Great turnout and got to meet my fans.

And we did a giveaway of some Johnny Dane custom. grills. Wow. Yes. So they got... When you say grills, do you mean like... Yeah, mouth grills. They're just giving them out? Bling out. Wow. No, somebody won them. Okay, okay, okay. Do you get any shoes there? Because they're like one of the best... Definitely got some shoes. What'd you get?

Listen, they got me the off white ones. Wow. The ones, yes. They got me actually a few. Some crocs. But when you're saying they got you, they just like gifted them to you? They gifted them to the best. Yes. Must be nice. You know, they respect the champ. Yeah, it must be nice to be the champ. Yeah.

Well, this is a big deal. Obviously, MVPW2 on ESPN. They had their first show a couple weeks ago. That was on ESPN Unlimited. This one on ESPN Linear, the actual channel, here in the United States. And there's obviously a lot going on. And I feel like there's a lot at stake because I like when people who are circling each other fight close to each other. So obviously there's the Caroline Dubois fight two weeks ago.

Now your fight, everyone's sort of intertwined in the news together. And you have a common opponent here. in Bomieration, she beat her around 12 or so months ago. So now you have an opportunity to say maybe anything you can do, I can do better. Is that fair or no? Always that. I mean, I always step up to the play. I do everything better than anyone in the space that I'm in.

And you'll see that Friday night. Do you feel like you need a stoppage? I don't feel like I need anything. What I do know is I'm going to be present and my preparation will show for itself. And you will get that viral moment that everybody's looking. for. Do you feel like, I feel like because you've given us viral moments, the fans expect it from you, you sort of ooze that when you walk onto the stage, when you have that presence at the press conference weigh-ins, and when they don't get it, they're upset and they're putting that pressure on you. Do you feel

that pressure? You know, honestly, fight fans are never satisfied, and that's okay. You can be flippy, floppy, and that's typically the fan base. And I just know when I'm in there, I'm going to come out with the victory, point blank period, with the clean face, and maybe like, I do this. So it's never the expectations of others. It's what I have for myself. This fight is 10, 3 minute rounds. Last one, 12, 3 minute rounds. How do you choose if it's 12, if it's 10? Let's talk about it. I mean, first off, three minutes, hello, game changer. I love it. It was an opportunity to do 12. We showed that we could do 12 this time. 10 makes the most sense because that's what women do fight is 10 rounds. Okay. And I like, I like that. I like 10. Again, two more extra rounds would be

able to do it, but 10 was the call for this and we're going to do that. Who makes that call? The team. Okay. Yes. So you get to dictate. Yes. And part of the reason why you don't have this belt anymore is because they're not down with the three minutes, the WBC. They are, they are not an agreement. Yeah, what's up with that? You know, I think it's an opinion of their own and I respect that. I also know what I am and what I'm able to do and what it is to move a sport forward like boxing. You have to be a game changer. You have to take a challenge. And I'm all for people who support that.

And I'm nothing less than that. Do you think they'll ever change their mind? Possibly. Anything can happen. Why does this matter to you, three minutes? It matters because it shows the pedigree of the fighter that I am. When we talk about Alicia Baumgartner, her skill set, we have to talk about high-level boxing. I know that people have this idea what women are supposed to fight like or what they do fight like.

I don't fight like any of the women in boxing. I have my own style. I have a very high-level boxing IQ. And I love that I can use three minutes to really dictate the pace, my punch placement, my ring generalship. Like, these things matter. And I want people to respect me as a fighter as a whole, not as a woman competing with a man, as a fighter, as a champion. And that's what we show. Do you feel like they do? Do you feel like they respect you like that in the way in which you want to be respected?

Yes, because it shows, again, that I'm stepping up to the plate, that I am doing something that a lot of women aren't doing. And it's not a competition. It's if you want to do it, and I'm able to do it. So, and I do it at the highest level. I've got to be honest, I looked at the ring pound for pound rankings today. I was shocked that you weren't on them. You know, that's been a been, it's been a thing. What's up with that? How's that possible? You know, I don't know, and I honestly do not care. You don't care? Not at all.

That's respect, though, no? Oh, my gosh. Nah, these are people who come together at the kitchen table to make a list. I do not care about that list. I've said it a long time ago. I don't move off other people's validation for me, their expectations for me. I know what I do on a daily basis. I know the sacrifices that I make.

So for you to say, oh, she's not on this pound for pound for pound, baby, I make my own list. I'm pound for pound one through ten. That's what that looked like. Do you think there's a vendetta against you? Maybe so, maybe. Do you think the media doesn't like you? Maybe. Maybe I can't call it.

I mean, we could go through the list right now. I just have a hard time believing that you're not one of the 10 best powerful powerful power female fighters in the world. Yeah, you know, it's an opinion-based list. And what I do know Friday night when I capitalize on my moment, what would they say then? What can they say? I mean, I would imagine they should have said long ago that you were on that And so maybe there's more to prove in their eyes.

I don't think so. Listen, I ain't nothing to prove to them, baby. It's all for me. Fair enough. But you want to prove to yourself that you're the best, right? I am the best. You feel that already. I already know that.

Do you consider yourself the best female fighter in the world? Absolutely. In my heart, in my soul, in my hands. So I think that there's a desire to see you in big time fights, right? Like super fights. Super fights. Okay. To you, to you, what is a super fight?

A super fight, yes. When we talk about a super fight, we talk about. the biggest stage. We were on Netflix twice last year. Now we're headlining on ESPN. There's only two names that have that pedigree of being on a stage like that. That's Amanda Serrano and that's Katie Taylor. Those are the two names that I want. I've been very vocal when I was once signed with Matrum, now signing with MVP. I've been very vocal about those fights because I understand what that does for women's sports, what that does for women's boxing and boxing as a whole. When we talk about two high-level women fighters, you need those type of pedigree fights to push for people to see the

skill set because there's only so many women with the skill set like Amanda, like a Katie, like Alicia. So yes, those are the two fights, a super fight that I want. Okay, so starting with Katie, she has said she has one fight left. She wants to do it in Ireland. Chances of you being that last opponent? Could be. You know, I think sometimes fighters will say that that's their last fight. was able to talk to Katie personally. I had a great conversation with her. Recently? Yeah, actually. Women to women, I'm just like, listen, I respect what you do. I love what you have done. I would love to share the ring with you. And she agreed. She respects my level of skills. She respects who I am as an individual. And we know what the sport needs. And she's a

gamer, right? She's game on. Then you also have her team. So her team may be speaking for her. but I talk to Katie myself, so she's definitely interested. Okay. The easiest one, obviously, is Amanda. You're both under the MVP umbrella. Do you think that could happen? Do you think she wants to fight you? I love that fight.

I love the fight with Amanda Serrano. Yes, I've been very vocal with Jordan. I've been vocal with Amanda. Again, it's always a respect thing. We'd love to share the ring with him. The money has to be there, obviously. And that's a fight we could see in New York City at the garden as well, and we have the fan base for that.

Do you think she wants it? I think she wants it. She's interested in it. You feel that from her. I would say so. Again, I respect where they are and the money that they've been able to generate. And again, with a fight, a high-level fight between either two women, it has to make sense, and we have to be paid.

That's just the bottom line. 100%. Do you feel like there's a market for that? Like, you can get paid. Do you think it's... 1,000%. 1,000%. The performance.

Friday night, we'll elevate that, we'll set the standard on we want to see Alicia Baumgartner again, and who do we want to see her against? Got to be one of those two. It may not be super fight, but I would say big time fight is you versus Caroline, in my opinion. Do you agree? That's a big fight, yes. Okay. You don't put it quite up there as far as, no, no. But it interests you. It is an interest, yes. What did you think of her performance a couple weeks ago? Honestly, very unfortunate for her. Okay, why? Because I think, that was her opportunity to separate herself at the 135 pound division to fight a former champion like Terry Harper. I had high expectations for her, honestly. I thought she would get her out of

there. I thought... Like you did? Like I did. Right. And she underperformed. And I see a lot of flaws within her style. She's young. You know, we have to remember, she's 25 years old. She's hungry. I was there once. I know the fire that burns and her desire to want to be the best to fight the best, but you're quite not ready. You're not ready. And if you want to get that L sooner than later, cool. I can give you that. But I also need her to understand what business looks like, what it is to build a fight, what it is to have marketability behind you, what it is to sell tickets, not just in the UK, not just in America, but worldwide. People want to tune in for what? How do they know you? And you've called her a sea level fighter?

Sea level. You really think she's sea level? C level. Wow. That performance gave me C level because, again, I have eyes. It's boxer eyes. Sure. I've been in this game for 24 years and I see a lot of things. And I keep those to myself and she will be better.

I believe that because she believes in herself, her skill set. But yeah, right now she's at a C. Can I ask if you want to share, like, what did you see out of her that didn't impress you? What are you seeing that makes her a C level fighter? What I saw was that she was okay with. being comfortable. If you go back to the fight with Tira, she was okay with just doing what she was able to do in that fight.

Terry was already dropped. You didn't step on her. Terry also was cut. You didn't take advantage of the moment that you had. And yeah, I see it right through that. I know exactly what that means. And so do you think this is what MVP wants? Do you think that they want you to win on Friday and then match you two up?

I mean, it makes sense on a business level, right? They're going to compare the two. And we'll just have to show why I've always been a level above these women. Do you think that's what's at stake here? You win, you look good on Friday, that's what they're going to do. Because it feels like the most momentum is behind this matchup, you versus Cal. No, you know, I've been very vocal with the Kesa, with Jake. I know Eddie Hearn's going to be on your show later.

Yes. You know, and again, when I was with Match Room, I was very vocal about having these big super fights. I'm in line for a super fight. Yeah. Caroline is just another fight. It's not a big fight. It's only big because she's fighting me.

Let's be honest. She did headline in the UK very recently. I mean, yeah, cool. Yeah. Cool. For show. But she's, again, she got to put some skin in the game, Ariel. She got to put some skin in the game.

I beat the champ to be the champ. Right. I've had a journey. And also, They said I wasn't going to beat Terry. They said I wasn't going to beat Michaela. We went to the UK twice and proved that. I became undisputed.

I'm fighting three minutes, 12 rounds. You know, when we talk about being a game changer and being in the face of women's boxing, you have to step up to the plate. And every time they give me a challenge, I step up to the plate. We've been able to fight on Netflix twice last year. Again, opening up for ESPN. These are major things when we talk about brand building. And it takes time to build that brand.

And you can't just use my name for Clout because you think that's the way to go. No. Go put some work in. So if I'm reading you correctly, you're saying like not next. It's not next. Okay, okay, wow. That fight's not next. I want my super fight.

You want it. I want my super fight. Amanda or Katie, very vocal on that. And what happens if that doesn't come to fruition? We just have to see. Right now, I've been pushing that. I know what type of statement I have to make come Friday night. and that's the conversation that we need to have next.

How do we position Alicia to be the superstar that she is? How do we give her the fight that she wants? How do we continue to break the sport in a way where it changes as a whole? You know, not just women, boxing. I feel like you can be the face of women's boxing. You check off all the boxes. What do we need to do to get there? We need that man on.

Yeah. You have money on behind us because baby. They've put you in big spots, right? Yeah, 100%. 100%. But we need the money, the capital, to be put behind the women as they've already done and we should do it again. Because now you have another woman coming up who is a star. And that's me.

Yeah. You got to respect that. I feel, this is just from my perspective, I feel like they're putting you in that position to be that person. Absolutely. To be the face. Would you also say the performance? have to... They have to match.

Match. Yes. They have to match 100%. I understand the expectations MVP has, Nikisa, Jake. I understand the importance of what we're building. You know, MVPW is major. You know, they are supporting the women. They are giving them a platform.

And it's up to us to really break those barriers and be in the conversation all the time, period. Did you ever see this coming? Like, when you sign with these guys, Did they tell you that they wanted to eventually start their own women's promotion or did all this evolve over the less? I mean, I think they knew exactly what they were doing. They need game changers. And when we talk about being a game changer, when we talk about who's building a brand, who's big in and outside the rain. That's Alicia Baumgartner.

So it was a no-brainer for them to say, you know, let's sign Alicia. Let's continue to build together because I'm not just a fighter under a roster. I am an equal. I am a partner. And when we talk about business, we make sure that everything is aligned and that I am financially secure. And I am getting deals inside and outside the ring. People have to remember that. And I'm doing that.

When you say you're a partner, what does that mean? Like you have equity in the company? A partner as I'm an equal. We have a conversation. Who are we fighting? What are we doing next? How are we setting up the next big fight? What do we do when new women are assigned?

How are we able to come as a collective? We need our male counterparts and we need our women to come together. Cohesiveness works. Yes. And when we're able to have that and you're able to have a conversation with your promoter, with your partner, and you can understand that you can have the best conversation. Everything starts with a conversation. Everything is a negotiation too.

I feel like they've signed pretty much every great female boxer under the sun except for four. At the top of that list is Clarissa, who you obviously know quite well. were you surprised when she was a free agent not that long ago that she didn't end up signing with them? They had talked. It seemed like it was a real thing. And then she ended up, you know, resigning with Salida and also, you know, having her own kind of group as well with Papu's leading the way with the record label. Were you surprised she didn't sign with them? Not surprised at all.

Okay. How come? You said Papu's first. Yeah. That's all I got to say. No, I don't understand. I mean, it's simple. If she has someone in her corner that's saying that she can.

can help and she feels like that's the best way for her, she's going to do that. I think that Clarissa has separated herself in her own category and maybe she thinks that's the best way for her. Kudos to that. That's what you do for your business. And maybe her business didn't match what MVP wanted to do. So, you know, women, boxing as a whole has allowed athletes to be their own individual self. So if she is with win records and they offered her whatever they offered her and she believes that she can be in her own space, so be it. There seems to be a little bit of bus surrounding her versus Michaela. Your thoughts on that. You know Michaela quite well? Yeah, I do. I actually heard about that. Honestly, my opinion is Michaela Mayer would be Clarissa Shields.

Wow. Yes. Does the weight matter? I never say, I never would say weight matters. Okay. think skills matter. You think she is more skillful than Clarissa? Absolutely. Really? Yes. Clarissa, arguably pound for pound number one. Money and baby, that's the list. We was just talking about. That's the list we was talking about. But the resume does back it up, right? The resume backs it up. And come on, we have to talk about the skill set. Okay, tell me, tell me. Why do you think so? We got to talk about the skill set. We have to talk about the grit. We have to talk about

the experience when we talk about a fighter, right? McKeala Mayer, when her and I fought in London, amazing fight. Incredible. Let me put this out there. We sold that show. Nobody was tuning in for Clarissa Shields and Savannah Marshall. It was Alicia Baumgartner and Michaela Mayer. That sold that show at the O2 Arena.

And I beat Michaela, moved on, became undisputed. She also moved on and became another world champion and another weight class. I have to give her credit to that. I have to give her credit on bouncing back for. from a loss because I've took a loss early in my career. So I know where her mindset is when it comes to losing, losing could be everything. And then coming back and becoming a world champion

and pivoting differently in your career. So I know that it has to do something to character change. Clarissa thinks she's the best in the world. She truly believes that. I don't think she is. I think she's the most accomplished, but I don't think she's the best.

And I believe that Michaela has the skills to beat Clarissa Shields due to her experience in boxing, her loss, and her character building. Do you feel like Clarissa isn't fighting top-tier talent at this point? And that's part of the problem as well when you're not challenging yourself. And she is sort of a victim of the fact that at that weight class up there, there's just not a lot of top talent. Yes, at that weight class, there isn't.

But again, it comes down to a disciplined fighter. How dedicated are you? Get a nutritionist. I ain't seen that girl come to a. weighing-ins with abs at all. And I don't know if that's AI. So you can't tell me. But I've never seen her come to weighings with abs. I never seen her in tip-top dog shape. And so if you are dedicated on making those fights, come down a weight class, get a nutritionist. It's not hard. Fighters do it all the time. So if she wants those big fights and she wants to keep her name active,

she should know what she should do. And it's not just, you know, going with the flow because you think you did everything. Cool. You got 20,000 belts. What else? Big turnout in Detroit when she fights. No? I mean, sure. You know the girl who's fighting in the co-main event, Shadija, I'd love to see her fight, Clarissa too. Those are two fights that I'd love to see her in. Yeah, I think the fight with Shadasia and Shields would be a great fight. I think that the co-main event, you're going to see Friday night why Shadija is a name to fight. She's a dedicated. Do you think she beats Clarissa as well? She's a dedicated fighter. She's disciplined. I want to see what she does Friday night.

I think people have to understand a fighter grows each fight. They learn and they take away. And each fight, they're able to recognize what they're missing, what they have to do better. And I believe Shadasia's hungry. You know, that win against Savannah Marshall did something to her. and I saw that because I felt it, and I know what that looks like. And so if she continues to stay dedicated and discipline, she can beat, Clarissa. Anybody can be beat. I'm going to say that. You know, there's a lot of fans who may not know that if things kind of worked out differently,

you could have been an MMA star. You have a wrestling background way back in the day. I know it. Yes. I know Terrence is a great wrestler and his kids are wrestling now. I've not seen any footage of you wrestling. Have you ever? I have to post it. Listen.

Do you ever dabble still? Oh. Not really. I haven't. It's good for in the clinch, you know, the hips. But listen, once you got it, it don't leave you. Okay. Wrestling was my first sport.

Started when I was five years old. My boy cousins wrestled. I wrestled with them. I was the first girl to wrestle in middle school. I did a lot of bitty wrestling. I won national, women national tournaments. Like, I have more medals in wrestling than boxing. Wow.

Like arm length. Why did you stop? You know, it was. I was in high school and I had an opportunity to wrestle, but I also had an opportunity to run track. So I've done every sport, and track was that sport for me in high school. And that's what I decided to do. And I was still boxing at the time, never stopped boxing. And it was just something that I was able to build as a foundation as a young girl with confidence to wrestle boys

and understand the space that I was in and knowing that I was training with men. and I wasn't competing with them, but they also made me better. So wrestling transitioned into boxing to really build that confidence as a young girl and just that foundation. You know, you're going to see, you need that aggressiveness,

that body language when you're in the ring too. So it goes hand in hand. So when you had to make those decisions, why was wrestling the one to go as opposed to boxing? Like, why did you ultimately choose? Yeah. You know, when I started boxing at eight years old,

it was an opportunity to do a different sport. And I think boxing, I don't think. I know boxing was made for me because it challenged me in the most way. In the most mental way, you can be challenged. You have to believe in yourself. You have to have self-belief.

You have to have self-discipline. And that allowed me to truly look myself in the mirror and have accountability and face the facts on what needs to be done and how I'm going to be the best and what's it going to take. How many siblings do you have? I have three sisters and a brother.

And there's five of us. You all grew up together, I believe, in tight quarters, right? Mm-hmm. Two-bedroom house, just all of us in one little house and very family-oriented. And I'm so thankful for those moments because my family still supports me to this day. They are my biggest supporters. And it shapes you. It shapes you as a person.

And I know your grandmother was a big part of your life as well. And you recently posted a picture of her, I think, is today her. her birthday or yesterday yesterday? Can you tell us why she means so much to you, why she was such a big part of your life? So this is, I want people to understand this fight wasn't just taking on the notion of because she fought Dubois.

No, that wasn't even the first. This fight was for my Korean fans, for my Asians, my Blasians, like I've been saying, and the crossover, when we talk about being a world champion, we talk about worldwide. And my Korean heritage is so important to me because my grandma showed what it is to be a strong woman independently. And how just the grit that she had in her naturally, that giving up was not an option that if she wanted to do something, she was going to do it. And she showed me that as a young girl didn't show a lot of emotion either.

She was a hard body for sure. but her coming over to America, her learning a complete new place, culture, you know, shaped her into the woman that I looked up to. And so this is why that fight means so much to me and for it to be a representation of my Korean heritage and what it is to be a warrior and live through that. There she is. Your lovely grandmother. Yes, that's my grandma. I love her. She was born in Korea?

Yes. Okay. Yes. Grandpa was in the Army. Okay. Definitely came over to the States. And your mom was born? My mom.

Is your maternal grandmother? Yes, it is. Okay. Yes. Yeah. My mom's from Ohio. Not Ohio. No, Maryland.

They were born in Maryland. Okay. I had read, correct me if I'm wrong, that when you were younger, you would sometimes get really sad and, you know, cry to your mom because kids would pick on you because you had muscles. Oh yeah. Yeah. Why would you let them bother you? Because listen, you could beat them up. I can beat them up. But this is the thing. As a young girl, especially growing up where I grew up, you didn't see nobody that looked like me. Okay. You know, it was very rare. It was not common. So one, and being a black girl, then having muscles, that was like, yo, who is this? You know?

And so I didn't have the representation. I was the representation. And now when I look back hindsight, I'm like, you know, you were going through it to learn about yourself. And I thought girls weren't supposed to have muscles. That was like my idea. Like, I'm a girl. No, I was born with this physique. And, you know, if you would see pictures of my father, he was the same build. And it runs, maybe this is black genetics. You know, you know. And that's just what that looks like. And I embraced my body now. I embrace who I am, how God made me. And I would never not love who I am today. Part of the reason why I bring that up is immediately, going back to Caroline, when she's being asked about you at the Post-Five press conference, drug cheat. But you say that you've had this

physique, you've had these muscles dating back to when you were a little girl. And so does that drive you nuts? That's got to get under your skin, right? Honestly, it's one of those things I've learned that people are going to talk. If they can't say anything good about you and they don't have nothing else to say, what else can they say? Oh, she's a drug to you. Okay, heard that before. No, I know who I am. I know exactly what I went through in that whole ordeal too. So you can't tell me about me. You can't put my past up against me. I persevere through everything that I do. So you calling me that, baby, you're just mad because your body don't look like mine. You can do any amount of abs in the gym.

You're still not going to look like me. You feel like you were wrongfully accused. Absolutely. And so that's a label that kind of sticks to you and people run with it. And I see you going back before trolls are writing to you about it. Why do you do that? Why do you partake in that? I don't particularly partake in that because that conversation is already dead to me.

Okay. What I do talk about is that I am a natural athlete. My physique is what it is. And people die to have a body like me. maybe I'm going to be 60 years old looking fine as hell for real and so do you feel like maybe it comes from jealousy absolutely man listen there's jealousy there's envy it's like why her because baby it's in me not on me the confidence that I build the person that I am today you can't you can't knock me off my pivot I built this brick by brick I don't build no house on no sand it's built on

cement. It's built to last. This is about longevity, baby. Not no short upcomings. That's the difference. They ready to make a quick dollar, baby. My money long, the long way. By the way, with your promos and whatnot, I feel like you could be a WWE star as well. Definitely be a W. I'm a Diva for real. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever thought of that with your wrestling background too? Yes. You have thought about it. Yeah, funny story. Me and my sister and our friend growing up, we're big WB fans. We literally thought we were divas and we lit fireworks in the room to have our own walkout.

Wow. The pyros and everything? Listen, mom came in the room like, what's that smell? We had smart colors and shit. It was so funny. I was like, yeah. This is real deal. We're divas.

Who did you like? Tristadis. You know, like, oh, geez, John Cena. I actually went to a raw show in Toledo. I remember my dad surprised us with tickets to go. And it was, you know, every gym. or every kid's dream to go to one of those. Did you ever consider going down that path?

Oh, listen, it's in the works. In the works? Yeah. What does that mean? Conversations are being had. For real? Yes. As we speak.

As we speak. This is something you'd like to do. Yeah, you know, again, I don't turn no deal down. It only, if it makes sense. And when we talk about building a brand, we talk about bigger and better. I'm not just a fighter. I'm not just a boxer. I think that's why they're mad because they got it.

a box. I don't have the box. I love the box. I choose the box. And yeah, we're building something big. We're building a brand that is made to last. Like I said, baby, that's on solid rock. They reach out to you. You reach out to them? What's going on? Both. Both. Yes. Have you tested yourself in the ring? Have you tried out? Have you done anything? Not at the moment because I had been in camp and all those types of things. So yes, it has been talked about. Do you have any friends there that you've asked like, hey, what's... Yeah, my girl Jada. Oh, Jade Cargill.

Yes, fine as hell. She's got a pretty good physique as well. You see it. You see that word. It's hard to ignore it. Yeah. No, I love her. Just actually invited her to the fight, but they have... WrestleMania this weekend. WrestleMania is coming up.

So you're friends with her. Yes. Okay. So she was like, oh, I can't make it, but I'm supporting you. And I just let her know that she's killing it. And again, representation matters. I didn't see that growing up. And I love to see where she's at now in the space.

And, you know, we're doing it. Okay. Man. So it feels like everything's coming together for you, right? There was a period. No? No, I had to take a deep breath because it is. Okay.

It is. Is it hard to sort of digest? Is it hard to look around and be like, wow, it's all coming together? You know, no. I think after when the fight's over and everything, like that high comes down and I'm seeing the videos and the content. I just sit in it. And it just reminds me.

And also where I'm at right now currently, again, my dad's death anniversary would be this month. My grandma's birthday was just yesterday. April is special. And I've been healing mentally, physically, emotionally. And to be here on the spot, anybody could have given up. But there's no give up. faith as a muster seed to keep going, to keep growing. And you can't stop me. You can't stop my hustle, baby, because it's in me, like I said. And I feel like maybe a couple years ago,

there's some darkness around your career. You don't know where you're going to fight. You're fighting on smaller platforms. Was there a moment where you thought it wouldn't turn out this way, that it wouldn't come to fruition like this? A hundred percent. I can vividly remember, like, man, like I'm going to the gym. I'm driving two hours from Ohio and Michigan every day. I just know that something has to pay off. And I remember just pulling in my driveway crying. I'm like, gosh, like, what's next? Like, I'm doing the work.

Kid you not, two weeks later, I got a call to fight for the world title. Wow. Mm-hmm. And then later down the line, another call to fight. Michaela Mayer that was an ex-bix fight to make. So it was a blessing. Did you get nervous? No nerves.

You're the face of the show. You're on the billboard. you're on the posters, you're not getting nervous this week as we're... I'm not nervous, no. I'm ready. Like I told you, it's that Zen space. When you're prepared, you're prepared. And I can't see out the loud noise.

We've been here before. We've been in arenas like the O2 and the garden. You know, I've been at that stage. I know what it feels like to grab hold of that energy. That's what feeds me. And I cannot wait. I thought you meant we've been here before, but I wasn't at the O2 fight. You were.

I was at the MSG one. You were. And the Miami one. And this one on Friday. This is a big deal. ESPN, the return to ESPN for boxing. Yeah, you know, funny story. I remember I was telling myself, I want to be with ESPN.

I want to fight on ESPN. And, you know, boxing was boxing. And then, you know, top rank was gone and this to any other. Fast forward now, I'm fighting on ESPN. And I just remember talking about it. And now it's happening. So everything happens when you believe it, when you speak it out loud. and I am an example of what it is to believe.

There's power in the tongue, okay. We'll leave it at that. Very happy for you. Congratulations on all the success. Good luck on Friday. I know you have open workouts later today, right? That's at 5 Eastern. Where are they at?

They are at the victory boxing gym. Yes. Yeah, so make sure you tune in because... And fans, I think, could show up, right? No? Fans can show up. And tomorrow there's a press conference at the Palladium fans can show. up.

Two press conferences. There's the MMA fight press conference afterwards as well. Rhonda Rouse, C.G. Nicarano. Yes. It's going to be big. I do. Yeah. And it's going to be great.

Friday night. Get your tickets are live. Baby Day, $40. $40. At the theater. At the InfoSys Theater. At the Infoise Theater. And just to know, I became in, I fought there twice.

This is my third time. So becoming undisputed there to come back as a main event. As the, I would say still I'm undisputed because ain't nobody beat me from my belly. So coming back and we're bringing the main event energy because Bo got to go. Do Ray Mishin. You go to us up. All right.

All right. Well, thank you very much. Good luck to you, Alicia. I appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow at the press conference. We'll say goodbye to Alicia and we'll be back with Darren Till. Also, Powell Costa, Eddie Hernis. She said, Alex Terrible.

Don't go anywhere. Back on the program. That was the boys in the muckle shoot. Actually, that was their trip to Seattle. there's a great video blog or a vlog, as the kids like to say, of their trip to Seattle. And that's up on the channel. We posted that, I think it was last Thursday. So go check that out.

That was great stuff. Great stuff by the team. Great stuff by everyone involved. And great stuff from Alicia Baumgartner. She's got some kind of energy there, Frank. Intimidating. I want to run through a wall right now. I don't know who's going to be more intimidating.

Her or Alex Terrible, aka Alex. Sheikolai. You know my boy Alex Shikolai? You're so good at doing that, man. Yeah. She's fighting on Friday. Alex Shikolai, Alex Terrible, is fighting on May 6th. There's an event called Blood for Blood. I failed to mention this, I think, when I was going through the roster of guests on today's program. There's a program, an event called Blood for Blood, which is going down May 6, which is a Wednesday in Daytona Beach.

it's four bands, four bare knuckle fights. The main event is Alex Terrible against Cameron Delano, Russian Grizzly versus American Cowboy. He and his band are going to be playing at the beginning of the night

and the hope is that he's going to be playing after the fight as well. And it's this whole big like heavy metal festival at the speedway there and Daytona, I think some famous names are going to be playing there.

You know about this, Frank? I sure do. Guns and Roses, foo fighters. They're not really heavy metal, right? More like rock, hard rock. I don't think you saw the same flyer that I did. It was like Black Label Society. Okay.

Come on. I've actually never heard of them. You know, Zach Wilde, he used to play with Ozzy Osbourne. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he has his own band called Black Label Society. Crowbar is great. Malevolence is amazing. Yeah.

I kind of wish I was going. It's a Wednesday though, huh? It is a Wednesday. You need me here? Yeah. That's so like you. I will say though, this guy, go... Give me a fucking break.

No, I'm telling you, going through this guy's social media, like, can we just show people who's to come in about an hour's time on this program? Like, here's a video. Let's show a video of him with the chicken, raw chicken. He's biting raw chicken. And on the other end of the chicken is a tiger. An actual tiger. Biting the raw chicken.

And I think that the tiger hits him in the mouth over there, and he just plays it off. But look at the aftermath. Look at his face. Look at his tooth. Golly, this guy's crazy. Look at this tooth. Oh! That tiger's missing an eye.

What the? He's just chilling with the tiger. He's putting his hand in the tiger's mouth. He's continuing to eat. the raw chicken with the tiger. It's kind of gross, no? I mean, you could get salmonella from that. I think that's the least of the concerns in the moment, you know?

And what are they playing tug war with there? What is that? Oh, God, that is terrifying. Speaking of terrifying, he also likes to raise bears. And when I say raise, I don't mean, like, actually, like, raise them up to the sky like Simba. I'm talking like coddle them and oh look at this yeah that kind of is like somebody actually he feeds them and then he wrestles them on ice and then he rides them like a pony and then he feeds him a bottle and he kisses them and they share some milk and then they wrestle what this guy's crazy man

just listen to how he screams listen to him screaming can we show one of the screams That's not fake That's real What the hell This dude is terrified He had a bare knuckle fight In like some sort of haystacks Like like cage

Not a cage It was a pit It was like a haystacks pit Look at this. This was his last fight. Look at this setting. It's like, what is this? This is in Russia.

I think he was arrested before for speaking out, and then he showed up to court afterwards looking all beaten and bloody. This is real. This dude. This guy goes hard. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Not a bad chin, by the way. this is anyway this is the guy he also likes to wear these sort of like luchador masks I hope he brings the luchador mask in

it's kind of like a luchador mask yeah I think a luchador mask is a touch off you don't think what is that what is that called terrible mask

Alex terrible mask how much that I heard that Tom McFarland actually inspired him to make that mask yeah whoa what's up with that

is that the Duomo well FU2. What do you guys like better? That FU picture or the AJFU picture? AJFU picture is what I'm going to sit to every single hater out there. Because you know what's so great about the AJFU? It's like low-key FU. It's not like overt like Alex's FU. It's like, once you look right here, all right? Your eyes are up here. I need your eyes down here. You know what I mean? When you hit someone with the low FU, it's a whole different feeling in my opinion. It actually,

it hurts more. Do you know what I mean? There's a difference seeing this and this. Leaning back at your waist, that's like, that's the worst kind of F you, if you ask me. You know what I mean? Like, Frank, if you and I were in a fight

on the street and I go, that's like, you got too much aggression. I hit you with the low, like, yo man, I need your eyes down here. I need you to work to receive this FU. It is pretty bad. Yeah, this is my favorite F you. What's the one?

That's not a... That's like the Johnny Cash. That's a good one, too. I don't know if it's like, if he's like 0.5 on the lens, I don't know what's going on, but his hand looks ginormous. It looks like a 1990s commercial for something.

It's like a Spike Lee. Yeah. Yeah, it is weird when the object gets so close. It's like, I saw a picture of Alex Terrible's dog. Look how big the dog's head is. Dog's head. The dog's head is gigantic. You got this one?

We're getting it. We were all over the map there. But it actually all tied together in a nice way. The big man. No, not that one. That was with the big balls. Look at the big balls. But look at the one with the big head.

The first place you go on that one. You're like, look at the set on this guy. Look at that head. It's a big dog, man. No, no, no. Look at that head. The head is bigger than his torso. Because it's closer to the camera.

Audio only listeners. Look at the balls. Look at the head! Look at the head! Do you think that that's like the John Jones middle finger? Yes. I don't think so. It's not that close.

There's something about the John Jones, too? He almost looks like a video game character. It looks a little blurred out. Okay, okay. Let's rank the John Jones middle finger, the Alex terrible middle finger, AJ middle finger. Alex is terrible.

I feel like he's not flicking us off, you know? What? I know he's flicking us off, but it kind of feels like I used to do it with my parents would take pictures, Me and my brothers love flicking off the camera just to see if we could sneak it in. It feels like he's just kind of doing a pose. Let's see it again.

John Jones is like, fuck you, man. No, no, let's see Alex terrible. Alex terrible middle finger. And then Anthony Joshua was kind of like sneaking it in. He's actually like fuck y'all, man. Is like... Yeah, see, this just feels like a pose. This is like Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Yeah. Just kind of like, I'm posing. Fuck you. This John Jones is like, yo, fuck you. Relax, man. Hey, you need to relax yourself. That's the best. That is the best one.

So my ranking is A.J. John Alex. I go John, A.J. Alex. Wow. Frank? A.J. Alex, John. Wow. Okay. No one taking Alex won't. No.

Just about 60 minutes away from being. He's not in the building, is he? Not yet. Okay, thank God. But he's watching, I'm sure. No, hopefully not. Hopefully not. I think that you're a pretty much.

Prochaska wants to give Carlos Ulberg the middle finger after his comments yesterday. He actually landed back home in Czech Republic, hopefully all good with his partner, the baby, expected to come any day now. He did speak to reporters upon landing. He spoke to them in Czech. He landed in Czechia, by the way, it's known as these days. And this is what he had to say. I'm going to speak over the video because there's subtitles. And I want you guys to understand. I didn't give the performance that I wanted. I literally effed up. And mainly by at that moment when I saw a, a weak opponent or an injured opponent. I won't make any excuses

about some pity or compassion for him. I know that at that moment I then no longer worked at 100%. That then cost me. I want to eat this up here until the worst, until the worst.

And so that I can, with all these emotions, with this feeling, go further and go for go for that title again. because as I talked with the UFC management, they are open there towards all sorts of other alternatives, whether just some interesting fight, or just jump for the title shop.

I'm not saying yet, yet straight, nothing is confirmed yet. However, I know that after this performance, I will no longer be the same. I will no longer give these performances that I gave, and I believe that after this experience, I will be stronger than ever before, and I will bring that title to, to the Czech Republic.

I still think that at some point, before it's all said and done, he gets another crack at that belt. Who's the man holding that title? I don't know, but I feel like he'll get one more. I feel like he'll get one more. He's just so beloved.

People just love the guy. Shout to Erie, by the way. Going on social media afterwards, speaking to reporters upon landing, not hiding from this, which I think is, you know, pretty admirable. A lot of people would hide.

A lot of people would hide. A lot of people would hide. cover their face or not post anything, not want to talk about it. And I know some people don't like that he's bringing up the, I had mercy, I did this, I did that, but still, at least he's speaking. Which I think is impressive. Also impressive, by the way, is this tattoo that I saw? I saw a tattoo of John Jones on some geezer's leg. Actually, not his leg, his thigh. What is going on here? his pants down. What?

And then John's signing it? Oh, then he slapped it. This can't be real. This gentleman right here got that, wait a second, wait a second, let's just, let's just,

let's just take this all in. That is John Jones's face. That is a UFC title. Unclear if it's the light heavyweight or heavyweight. On some guys, what would you call that? Like, thigh,

slash. His whole leg from above the knee. I actually think it's pretty clear this is the heavyweight title based on how John looks. Fair. Fair. Fair. Fair. Fair.

It looks like the heavyweight title. Fair. Crazy work. It's also looking at the title like it's like a baby, like a newborn baby. Like his baby Jesus. Yeah. Like a burning heart. Wait a second.

It's incredible work though. Oh yeah. The tattoo itself is unbelievable. Like whomever. Fucking out. I almost feel bad for the artist. because I feel like people are probably going to clown the idea of the tattoo, but the actual work itself is phenomenal.

I just, what do you think compelled this guy to get a John Jones tattoo? And this is no knock on John. I wouldn't get anyone. I don't even wear another man's name on my back at this point if they're older than me. Excuse me, if I'm older than them. If they're older than me, I'm okay with it. Like, I'll wear a Ewing. I can't wear a Jalen Brunson.

Yeah, I don't subscribe to that. I don't agree with that. I just don't think it's that seriously. You're down with a tad on the leg. This is fucking, this is crazy. This is crazy. I don't speak. Side buttocks all the way down to knee.

I hope he's a married man. I hope he's a married man. Because if you got home with a woman and he took your pants off and that was there, that's tough. That's tough. This are the Alfie the Axeman. Oh my gosh. Don Davis. Don Davis.

Yeah, it's almost a relic at this point. You get stuck with a tattoo. Honestly, we have a category. for the Boys in the Back Awards, the Axeman Award, yeah, the worst tattoo of the year. This is definitely going to be a contender. What compels you to do this? This is for the rest of your life.

You dedicated your whole leg to John Jones. To John Jones. Why does he mean so much to you? Like, just get his t-shirt, man. Wear it every couple days. Brother, buy some sign gloves or something. I was actually thinking about getting one of Gable like this. Honestly, I was inspired a little bit.

So crazy. Yeah, I was actually saying to Frank just a few minutes ago. It was funny on the watch party. on Saturday night. Carlos Holberg knocks Yuri out with a torn ACL. One of the craziest moments, Rick is dead. Oh, well, congrats. Gable gets announced.

Something that we already kind of like we had a feeling was going to happen. Gable gets announced. Rick's like, oh my God, Gable to the UFC. Which we all knew. It was the most underwhelming announcement of all time. It was amazing that you had no reaction to one of the craziest knockouts of all time. I was reacting to Yeri. My reaction was to Yeri.

You were more disappointed. I'm shaking my head. I'm like, what the fuck? Yeah, yes. Like a disappointed father. Yes, my reaction was to Yeri. That clip that we showed where I'm shitting on Yeri, seconds later, I'm like, wait a minute, let me reset for a second. Carlos Oberg did something incredible here, but, you know.

You were so mad at the guy. He blew it. You know what, I got to say, Eugene's breakdown was actually precise. Of course he blew it because he had a compromised injured opponent standing in front of him. But Carlos did the perfect thing. Schelling up like this, drawing him in, and then nailing him with the left was the perfect thing. It was... Why are we pretending like Yuri ever keeps his hands up?

He never keeps his hands up. Regardless of the guy's injured in front of him or not. He never keeps his hands up. It's been the thing that has plagued him throughout his career. So him being sort of drawn in, not too different by the way. way, I know different circumstances, but not too different than when Izzy knocked out Alex Perra. He kind of drew him in thinking that he was hurt, thinking that he was, you know, he was done, he was shelling up, and then he blasted him. Something about CKB fighters in Miami. They're smart.

I mean, what have we always said about Alex Wolkenovsky as well? I know he's also freestyle fighter and all that, but they have high IQs. Yes, and of course, CKB in Miami. Alex, Izzy, now Carlos. But what he did was really, really smart. For him to have the presence of mind to do that with the situation that he was in, dealing with what he dealt with, luckily for him, his patented left hook,

the left hook is the one where most of the pressure goes on the lead leg, the left leg. So luckily for him, he didn't have to put as much pressure on that back leg, but still, to pull that off, to be able to stand. We've seen people, you know,

We've seen tons of torn ACLs, and we still don't know if it's exactly that, but we've seen some badass injuries where people are in pain on the ground crying. I feel for them. Everyone feels for them. This guy's actually in there fighting another human being and knocking them out. It's nothing short of amazing. Someone brought it up yesterday, and I couldn't agree more, and I'm mad at myself for not mentioning it yesterday.

It's reminiscent somewhat to the Melvin-Manhuff Robbie Lawler fight, which I've long said is my favorite knockout of all time, because Melvin was attacking the leg of Robbie Lawler, and his leg was going up like this. Every kick, and then he, of course, blasted him and knocked him out. Stakes weren't as high. Wasn't the main event, wasn't for a belt,

but it was reminiscent of that because of the leg being battered. In this case, Carlos injures the leg, not necessarily from a kick, just from, you know, movement in the fight, freak injury, et cetera, and is able to survive off top my head,

I don't know how long it was from the moment he injured his leg to the moment the fight ended. It was at 345. It was probably around 90 to 2 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 seconds to 2 minutes? No, 90 seconds to 2 minutes, yeah. So, all this nonsense,

all this issue goes. So anyway, I'm looking forward to talking to Alex Terrible. All to say, in studio three o'clock. Eddie Hearn at four o'clock. A lot to talk to him about. Paulo Costa coming up and Darren Till coming up as well. So stay tuned for all of that.

Yesterday, we did post over on Uncrowned, the new pound-for-pound rankings. No Carlos Elberg in these rankings. What do you guys have to say for yourself? No Carlos Elberg in these rankings? Just name names. Who's he better than here? He was in mine.

Oh, he was? Yep. Where? I think I had him 10th. Over Armin? My guy's on a 10-5 win streak. He's the champion. Over-armin?

It's a longer win streak than Armand. Armand's on like a 5-5 win streak right now. Level of competitions. Are you counting the wrestling matches? No. No. No. Wait, let me see the back end there, the bottom five?

You're not going to find a name. Don't bother. Marab is number nine. Come on. Let's not be silly here. Carlos Oldberg has work to do before he cracks this list. Islam 1, Ilya 2, Hamza 3, Pantosha 4, Vok 5, Jan 6, Aspinol 7, Pereira 8, Marab 9, Arm in 10. Just want to compare that for a second with the UFC pound for pound.

So, wait, keep it up there. Islam one, Islam one. Ilya two, Ilya two. Chimsa three, Chamsa three. Pantosia four for us, Volkanovsky four for them. Perrera five for us, Volcanovsky five for them. No, Volcanovsky five for us, Pereira five for them. Jan six for us, Jan six for them. Aspinol seven for us. Aspinol seven for them. Rob, eight for them, Pereira, eight for us. Marab, nine for us. Pantosia, nine for them. Joshua Van, 10, Armin, 10 for us. Interesting. They've got Carlos Selberg 15th, by the way. We don't go to 15.

They've got Armin 13, by the way. We also have our new heavyweight rankings out. I believe those have been up. updated very recently. Tommy A. Champ, Cyril, Volkov, Pavlovich, Waldo, Josh Hokit 5. Now, these aren't our rankings, by the way. These are the UFC rankings.

We don't do the divisional rankings. Just the pound for pound. Spivok 6, Blades tied for 6. Cuniav 8, Lewis 9, Antidellia. It is. It is a shallow heavyweight division. Holy smokes. Forget talent, just like draws.

How do you guys feel about Hokit 5? Hokeet already 5? Yeah, I mean, he beat... Herder's Blades. It was 5 or 4 when he beat him. Yeah. Makes sense to me. Hokeet 5.

Could you imagine Hoket being 5 this time last year? No. I didn't know who Hokeet was this time last year. I didn't get introduced him in the NFL? Didn't see him in the NFL. Didn't see him in the NFL. Knew about him at Fresno State, but for the football, not the wrestling. You didn't know about him?

No. Okay. But shout out to him. Yeah. Could have played with him in, College Fantasy football. Hell yeah. Wait, is that a thing?

Used to be. What happened? I got rid of it. Maybe coming back. Who knows? Light heavyweight rankings are out as well. Again, this courtesy of the UFC, Carlos Champ, Magomed 1, Pereira 2.

Wait a second. Wait a second. What is this? How could Pereira be 2 if he was the champion? What the? How could Pereira be two if he beat Uncle I? I have in the line? No, what are we talking?

Is this true? Why is he even still? Yeah, why is he there? Chavcott injured, you're out. Alex Pereira, vacate the title, leave the division, we'll keep you. Magumet won, Pereira 2, Yeri 3, Jan 4,

Round Tree 5, Jamal Hill 6, Paulo Costa 7, Merzikana of 8, Reyes 9, Bogdan Guzkov, 10. Yeah, this is a mess. Mainly for the Pereira. The rest is fine. If Pereira's going to be there, he has to be won. and he shouldn't really be there because he just vacated the title.

So technically he should be out, which would put Jan Blahovic at three. Yes. Whose recent run is as follows, a drawl against Guskov, a lost to Ulberg, a lost to Pereira, and a draw against Sankalaya. He has not won since May of 2022. He has not once, yeah. Four years. That's a mess. I think you can make a case for Paulo being above him.

And he fights Goosekoff. Yeah. Next month. A rematch from the draw. So if Goosegov wins, now we got Goosecov in the top three, top four at Light Heavyweight? Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight, bit of a mess. A bit. A gigantic mess.

Yeah. Stuff. I don't understand why Alex Perry would still be ranked. That makes no sense. I don't understand a lot of things when it comes to these rankings. And the champion may be out for quite some time as well. Yeah. Yeah, 205 stuff.

Imagine they do an interim title fight. I think there's a very good chance. It's Magomad against... Pablo? Yeah. Oh, man. By the way, we should say that Robert Whitaker appears to be a new name that's coming to this division.

So at least that's a welcome... Everybody welcome Robert the Reaper Whitaker. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, 205. Also, did you see when they introduced Jamal Hill? It's been a minute since we've seen Jamal Hill at a fight. Yeah.

Dreams, baby. They're still a player? They're still holding a grudge, right? Who? The fans, they were booing him. Disingenuous. I don't think it's a grudge. Why were they booing him?

What's there to boo? Ain't that what journalism is? Every fighter's got fans. Every fighter's got hate. Were you surprised that they booed him? Yeah. I love Jamal Hill. serious

yeah all right um I don't know if he likes you that's okay I'm used to one-way streets with these fighters yeah me too

I support Yuri that's true he hates me thinks I'm weird who else who else I support Jamal Hill he hates me bro it's all good

it's all good I know you were so hyped when he won the belt when Jamal Hill won the belt yeah I'm not remembering this correctly Were we doing watch parties back then Or has it been that long?

No, yeah, we were doing a watch party, U.S.C. 283 Against Brazil. It's shocking to me that you remember that. Yeah, in Brazil. It was a great one. It was a great one. Can you imagine Yuri was like, I thought about hitting Carlos in the leg

and then I had the image of Conner's saying, I love this man! He's like, I can't do it. It's dishonorable. That's why Yuri didn't go for the finish because he started cringing, thinking of me celebrating him winning. He was like, oh, fuck, I can't, I can't.

He knew what was coming. He knew that you were going to get the video reaction And we would have him on the show and we would show to him He didn't want to go through all of that A thousand percent I think that actually is the real reason All right, well We are killing some time here because we can't find Darren Till

Which is like, why do I keep booking this guy on the show Why do I keep accepting these bookings, you know Once we do find him, it's electric? Once we do find him, it's electric It's electric but it's annoying as fuck I'm going to call him on X that's sometimes how we'd like to communicate but he might be out of the country

it might be the middle of the night over there you know you could call people on X I got this new thing here you see this? No you see this Oh pop socket? Yeah I got this Yeah welcome to 2021 bro

Yeah man you're all right You know why music Because my hand's been hurting Yeah too much phone time Yeah way too much It supports the case Whoa what Nothing man I like your pop socket

You're saying the pop socket supports the case exactly what does that mean the case on the phone it'll support it and hold it up yeah no but i also don't want to hold the phone like this so you do that when you're laying in bed and you put the pops on this so it doesn't yeah it doesn't i'm trying to limit the laying in bed but yes doesn't fall on your face that's not going to help you man why

because you're going to use the phone more i used to have a pop socket back when they were in 20 years ago wait are they not in anymore no no no no pop sockets are out You're going to tell me next. You just got into skinny jeans or something? Can I break the fourth wall? I impressed Ariel earlier by taking a picture or something and then clicking the link. That blew my mind.

I'm like they've only been doing that for almost 10 years. No, no, no, no. You know what he did? He took a picture of something and there was a link on the picture, meaning there was text. Yeah, yeah, recognizes the text. And you can click on it. Yeah, well away. No, Chad.

I remember my first smart phone. Earlier, we discovered that Ariel has been on the visitor Wi-Fi for the last six months. Yes. Ariel, do you come home to your family? And you're like, are you really there? Are you real? I've never heard. The visitor Wi-Fi thing is just you guys not keeping me abreast of the coming and going to the office.

You're like, the Wi-Fi here fucking sucks, huh? It does suck. It's like, yeah, it's not great, man. Little did we know is because you were on the visitors. Yeah, I still am, by the way. I can figure it out. Point being, taking a picture of something that has text on it and then being able to click that picture, the link that you're taking a picture of

is the craziest thing I've ever heard. If you want to go a stuff further, you can search in your photos and type in text you're looking for and it'll recognize it on the picture and take you straight to that picture. Serious. Yes.

And it's like insanely good. If you took a picture of a newspaper, it could pick out one of the individual little tiny words if you typed it in. Jeez. I feel like I'm using my phone. I'm not using it to its full capabilities. We should get you some lessons.

Jewry on it. I'm just going to keep calling. I'm just going to keep boxing. bothering down here now. Now I'm video FaceTiming him. I can't call him, as you know. That ringtone sounds like waiting music. I think it's like nice background

music. I think the good folks over at Bear Knuckles should be worried about this. If he's not going to show up? If he's not going to come on the show, then maybe he's not going to show up to the fight. Well, he's not getting paid to do this. He's getting paid to do that.

These days, we've changed our stances, especially for the Liverpool Bullfighters, you know? We're shelling out big bucks. How do you think we get all these big names to the program? True, true, true, true. I saw him hitting Mitz, by the way. I saw I'm hitting Mitz with the, uh,

well, yeah, I was going to say the bare knuckle gloves, but there are no gloves. Look at this. It's not bad. Not bad, man. What's with the, uh, what's with the knee brace, though? Uh, you know, we all get older. Socks. Sox are atrocious, yeah, but that's all right.

We don't care. Why do I feel like we've been in this position before with them? Because we have. Yeah, several times. I know. Even mid-interview we lost. Maybe for our headline we should say we will attempt to have Darren Till.

I know. And I'm almost a thousand, actually, this one's on you guys. I'm almost a thousand percent sure I said, I'm never going to do this again. Why is it all knows? Because when I do. Not fucking no. You should, you guys should have said. Yeah.

Yeah. You said last time. Yeah, right, right. You know what I mean? I mean, you'll, you would definitely listen to it. Give me a fucking break. I would a thousand percent listen. I would a thousand percent listen.

It looks like Dan's got a bit of breaking news. What do we got, Danny? Breaking news? Oh, what? UFC 330! Oh, damn! Philadelphia, that's pretty fucking crazy. I don't know if they're getting a card, they're getting a pay-per-view?

They're getting a pay-per-view, 90 minutes away from us here. It's off the train. At the Xfinity Mobile Arena, formerly known as... Wells Fargo. Well, Fargo. Formerly known as... Wachovia Center? Yeah, shout out to Wachovia.

Yo. Actually, fuck Wachovia, if I'm being, if I'm already honest. Why? My dad works for Regions Bank down in the south. Shout out. Wachovia was their rival for a while. Yeah, fuck them. Yeah, I grew up in an anti-Wakovia household. Well, I think we're getting Islam over there.

Wow. Islam in Philly? Shout out. Cheesecakes on Maheshiv. All the BS aggregator pages are going to say that I'm going to say, oh, Ariahuani says, no, no, no, no, no. Dana himself said, well, first it was Ali who said, Islam's going to fight in July. No chance Islam fights in July and Connor McGregor fights in July. And so if Connor McGregor is remaining on that card and all signs are pointing to him being on that card,

all systems ago, they're still moving in that direction. No word on announcements or anything like that. There ain't no chance that Islam al-Chatshav is going to be on that card as well. So the next option would be the August numbered event. I hate that word numbered event. That term numbered event. I hate it. It just doesn't flow. It does not flow.

But anyway, that would make a lot of sense. And then Dana said, no, no, no, it's not July. It's going to be August. Oh, here's the press release. Yeah, first time in 15 years. You know it's crazy? UFC 133 was in Philly. Rashad Evans against Tito Ortiz

UFC 330 back in Philly Wait, what is this? UFC announced today I will turn to Philadelphia UFC president and CEO Dana White Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro

joined Pat McAfee a native of Pennsylvania on his show to make the announcement Wow, McAfee's everywhere So he's a Pennsylvania native? Pittsburgh. Yeah, true, true, true. He's more of like a Pittsburgh guy.

I know in my... head, I just associate him with Indy. Oh, right, right, no, he's very much a Pittsburgh guy. The soon-to-be-announced by car will be exclusively available on Paramount Plus. For the first time, 15 years, U.S.C. returns to Xfinity Mobile, Rashad Evans and Tito Ortiz. Last time they were there was 2019. What happened then?

Justin Gachie knocked out. It's in Barbosa. Pennsylvania, a huge year for Pennsylvania. Is McAfee quoted in here? No, he's not. Well, that's big. So I'll be in August. What was that, both of those?

June 14th. Yeah. Tito and Rashad and Gachi versus Barbosa. I was there too. I'm a Philly guy. You were at the 2019 one for ESPN, right? Sure was. Sick knockout.

And then you were at the 133 one, what? It's just a fan, man. And then 101 you were at as well. That's right. Holy shit. Three Philly events. I guess we know where I'll be in August. Gotta be there.

I wonder, are those... Are those all the Philly events? Chat. No, there's got to be some earlier. There's got to be some before that. But I'm on a nice little streak here. Chat, let me know. No, wait.

Philadelphia. Okay. That was it. This is the fourth ever Philadelphia event. Oh, shit. You've been to all three. I'll be there. Hell yeah.

Me and my boy Josh, Philly boy. Stay at his house. Let me see. You hear that, Josh? Coming over. Josh, I'm coming too. Tell him I'm to save a plate. Nerseltan.

Ruzabayev. Yes. Go? He has posted on there, on that post, Islam versus Jerry. He wrote Islam versus Jerry. G-E-R-R-Y. It's close enough, unless there's someone we don't know.

No, there's a guy named Jerry that he's fighting. He's just fighting some guy from Philly named Jerry. Man, Islam versus Ian Gary in Philly. Did not expect that. Sick. Yeah. Down.

Watch party from the arena? Watch party from... From the arena. Damn, that's ambitious. Watch party from the steps. Yo, I got it. Watch party from Shays. I knew it.

I knew that was going. I knew that she was going. I went to Chase a couple of weeks ago. Legend. I'm still dreaming about it. There's something about the bread, the cheese, and the meat. Yeah, that's what makes a Philly cheese steak. Yeah.

No, no, no, no. There's just something about cars. He's like, it's the wheels, the body of the car. Composition. The composition. I'm craving a work trip so we can finish dinner and how long it can be like, just need something. Just these are like to change the composition.

My kids say now, too. Dad, just something. something. Didn't your dad or uncle pass it down to you? My dad did. Yeah. That's the thing. This is, this is, this is the circle of life, guys. This is circle of life. All right, we've got some time to kill before Palacosta, who probably won't show up either. We were doing so well. We were doing so well. Any super chats, Frank, in the meantime? We have a couple. I know I hit you with this early, but we start off with GC. Will you be rocking any football jerseys ahead of the Summer World Cup? Wow. Crazy that you asked me this. I was

just looking at a ranking of the best World Cup jerseys. Look at it and I'm like I might get a Ivory Coast jersey. Maybe a, I think I saw the Netherlands got some good one. Oh, hell yeah. Maybe a Spain one. I've actually just booked the flight to Atlanta. I'm going to go to Spain versus Saudi Arabia. You're doing it?

Yeah, yeah, it's on a Sunday. You in Big Turk? Well, who I'll be supporting is, you know, Popo, but yeah. Why did you pick that match? Because it's in Atlanta. No, and that was the only one that you could go to? And it's on a weekend, yeah, yeah.

And it's more affordable. Spain is huge, but Saudi's list. Like, the tickets are only going for like 500. I think they'll go down more, too. Fernando Torres? Yeah, Laminia Mall. Of course. What day is that?

Sunday, June 21st. I'm thinking about going to one of the games in Jersey and MetLife. Yeah, me too. I'm in that England Panama game. That's the one. My kids will be in camp, but I just, I want to see those three lines in person. Let's go. Let's go.

Should we do it? Try and get the hook up for the ticks and just be like, yeah, I'll bring my son. And then you just show up? Yeah, I show up. Your son is 33 and bold? I really want to see those guys. I mean, imagine seeing Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham,

Phil Foden. I mean, it's just, it's a who's who. Morgan Gibbs White, of course. My guy, M.G. Dub. Yeah. I want to know what one I really want to go to is up at Gillette. France versus Norway. France versus Norway is incredible.

Erling Holland. There is France versus Senegal here. I did see that too, yeah. I think it was 2009. No, it was 2002. Senegal beat France in the first game 1-0, which was a huge shocker. First game of the O2 World Cup.

There's another one here. What's that first one here? At MetLife. There's another great one. There's another great one that I was eyeing. Oh, Brazil against... Morocco. Morocco.

People sleep on Morocco. Didn't they make the semis last time? They made the semis. They were a top 10th team. Yes. Also got some fire jerseys. I might get a Morocco jersey. Yes.

I was looking at the jerseys. The jerseys are top tier. There's some good. I got my son for his birthday. The Canada Way. Have you seen the Canada Way? We pulled it up right now. The Canada Way is phenomenal.

It's probably the coolest Canada jersey of all time. Canada Way, the black one. Oh, yeah. The black with like the white stuff all over it? Yeah, it looks a little like spray painty. I can't lie. Your red one is. sick too. The red is good, but the black is actually

super cool. They're both sick. Canada's playing Bosnia on June 12th. It would have been way cooler if it was Canada versus Italy. I mean, like... I can't lie. I got my eyes on a Moroccan jersey for sure. Yeah? They're not bad. Not bad kids. Scotland got some decent ones.

So all to say to this gentleman... Yeah, yeah, I will be. I'm going to buy a few for sure. I have to pass the Adidas store on my walk home. Oh, yeah. And they've been trying to... They've been pushing me to buy a couple kids. I wonder how many brands have World Cup jerseys. Nike Adidas. Puma.

Puma. That might be it. Three. Macron? No. They're not big enough. I think it might just be Nike, Adidas and Puma. Yeah.

And what else, Frankie? What else? Remus says, please, no more guest. We are here for Aero Hohani and the Boys in the Vats. Well, have good news for you. They're not showing up. So. I have high faith.

My faith in Palo. Yeah, no. I hope. What else, Frankie? What else? Jake from Wendy City says, any AJ Stiles memories now that he's semi-retired? Any A.J. Stiles' memories?

I don't understand. Oh, man. He was, okay, so he had a great feud with John Cena, but also back in the day, he had a few X-Division matches in TNA that were incredible. I mean, he kind of put TNA. He helped put TNA on the map. He was intracal in putting TNA on the map,

and it was the first time that I was introduced to him because, you know, TNA, they burst onto the scene. They have the weekly pay-per-views, which I used to order, and then they started to sign a lot of the known guys, the Kurt Angles of the world, and then some of the older, you know, the bookers and the Scott Steiner's and the Hogan's and the Bischoff's show up. AJ felt fresh.

Samojo was fresh as well. AJ felt fresh, felt like one of their own, didn't feel like a cast off or a retread, and X Division was different, it was fresh, and he helped put it on the map. So, yeah, he was incredible. Incredible hair, credible theme song in WW.

Yeah, I can't even sing it. I can't even attempt to sing it. But it was very good. And that's it. I hated his retirement match, felt like he went out with a whimper, felt like it should have, like they should have done that at Mania.

Let him stay. look around for three more months and do that in mania. I know you guys are sort of like half in. Mania doesn't feel like it. No, I forgot it was even half. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

It's a bit of a bummer. It just doesn't feel, I don't know what it is. Do you think it's that they're back in, I don't know, is it that they're back in Vegas? No, who cares? The matchups, the build. There's just something about it. that does not feel as big as it did.

They were lucky the last three years. Cody Roman, the Rock, Sina, last WrestleMania. And I think that Roman versus Punk is a fine headliner. It just feels like it got a little clunky along the way. I don't know. Anyways, anything else, Frank? In BUN 90, says Ariel in fiscal year 25, if UFC had 1.5 billion revenue and 851 million earnings before interest tax depreciation and

mortization. How much of that as a percentage should go to fighter pay? Oh, God. Um, well, so 1.5B in revenue, 851 in EBITA, 57% EBITA margins. I'm not smart enough to know this breakdown. All I know is that in the NBA and in the NFL, the players get 50%. So why can't the fighters get 50%. Now, now, no, no, no. NBA, they're playing 82 games. NFL, they're playing 17 games. Obviously, fighters aren't competing as much.

And so maybe it can't be as clean as that, but they should be getting more of the pie. Can I tell you something? Should I say this? Maybe I shouldn't say it. Say it. I heard something. I need to investigate further about the bonuses.

Here's what. Did Powell Costa get a bonus? No, he didn't, right? He's mad at Josh Hokit. Here's what I'd like to know. You know how we all kind of assumed that if you got a finish and a bonus, let's say you got a finish and you got a performance bonus, you walked away with 125, right?

That's what we all assumed. 100 for the performance, 25 for the finish. What I haven't explicitly asked is, is there a cap? Is it a 100K cap? I think we all assumed get the finish, get the performance, it's 125. I actually, I think, I need to double check this, but I think there might be a cap, which is a little bit surprising, right? I agree.

Thank you, Frank. I was just looking for some kind of. Yeah. What else, Frankie? What else? That's all we have for now. Okay. Get your super chats in.

Yes. Still to come. Alex Terrible in studio. Paulo Costa is going to join us as well. And Eddie Hearn. They wrapped up that press conference in London for the Rico Verhoeven versus Alexander Usik fight on May 23rd.

They did announce, by the way, we were talking yesterday regarding Tyson Fury and Arsumbeck Mahmoud. of, I saw this via Jedi Goodman, Netflix announced that five million people watched that fight live in the UK, which is not a bad number. I didn't see, I'm trying to look here, I didn't see whether or not they announced it being, or what the number was worldwide, but obviously there was heavy interest in the UK. It was very much a UK fight, and I think that they want, they obviously want the AJ fight on the back end with Fury at some point in the fall. Still unclear if they were planning on, you know, announcing it then and something changed along

the way. We're going to ask, we're going to ask Eddie about that. But five million in the UK watched that fight live, which I think is a pretty good number. I'd have to see, like, what did, so AJ versus Jake was overnight in the UK because it was happening in the evening in the United States. So obviously that live number won't be the same. And, well, I guess all the fights that have been in the, on Netflix have happened in the middle of the night in the UK.

So I'd have to see what that was, maybe with the plus one, meaning what it, what the number was with the next day viewing. I'm really curious to know what the, the worldwide number was for that show, because that was the first one of the Netflix. combat cards so far just boxing that's going to change in about a month that it was it was very much like an a side and a and a c side or a d side it wasn't two big names a j jay jay jay tyson kady amanda canello crawford and this was all about well it was all about tyson and then to a lesser degree connor ben but it really felt like the tyson fury show and the comeback fight and all that stuff and

so what does that translate into um and and and i think it's very healthy i think it's great that Netflix is getting into it like this. Again, this is the best thing to happen to combat sports, that they're not tied to one singular promoter, that they're willing to put on boxing and MMA events, that they're willing to not just put on super duper mega, mega, mega events, which is what we thought was going to be the case. And there's only so many of those. There's only so many Jake Paul, Mike Tyson. There's only so many Kennell Crawford type fights.

there's only so many Jake and AJ or Tyson and AJ. There's only so many of those. And so if they are willing, Tyson versus Mahmoudov is a top rank, ESPN, BT Sport, box office, ESPN plus, maybe pay-per-view type of fight. It's not a mega-fight. It's an HBO boxing, showtime boxing, main event, not behind a pay-per-view wall. For the most part. I know Tyson has gone to that point where he's probably a draw like that, but you get what I'm trying to say. That's good.

That they want to be in that type of business. That is very, very good. That's promising. Now, hopefully the numbers would justify it because it's not cheap to have a Tyson Fury fight on your air to get him out of retirement to do these sorts of things. But that's very promising. And so I think we could only hope that that would be the case in MMA as well. Could you imagine if MMA, excuse me, if Netflix, wants to be in the business of just putting on great and mega-MMA events.

I know that the whole landscape is different, and it's a lot harder to do that, and most of the guys and gals are tied up with the UFC, but that would be phenomenal for the sport. It would change the game. We've never seen something like that before. At the press conference on Saturday, Dana White was asked about the interest of, putting on a boxing match between him and Eddie Hearn.

And he confirmed that Turkey was interested in this, which doesn't necessarily surprise me. I feel, as Eddie has said on multiple occasions, he enjoys the shithousery, as he puts it. And so he said that he inquired about it, which is amazing. Here it is in case you missed it. Oh, we don't have this. Yes, I know, but I thought we had stuff from these. Okay. Well, we don't have that. Maybe we could get it for the people. We had it yesterday. Yeah, we can get it, man. All right. I appreciate that.

In the meantime, the UFC actually, they just released the UFC 330 poster already. Who's that guy? It's Jerry. It's just Jerry. So he's fighting. Who made that? Don't tell me you did that on AI. Because if you did it on AI, Frank is going to be very, very mad. Frank made it with claw.

Frank, did you make that with Claude? No, I didn't. Frank gets very upset when anyone even suggests AI, which I actually appreciate about Frank. Damn right. Shout out to you. Who did make that? Frank.

Oh, Frank. What? Here I am backing you. The call is from the house. What else as far as super chats do we have? Well, I'm glad you asked because we have three more super chats to read. Okay. Which guest has let you down the most ever?

Darren Till! All right. I mean, he did post my phone number online, so I should have just stuck to that. But anyway, yes. And then, Ariel, anything special plan for the 500,000 subs? I mean, we got a waste to go. Let's not get crazy here. This is probably what?

If we're being conservative, what, nine months away? Maybe a year? I don't know. I guess you can shoot up rather quickly, right? But no. Nothing really planned. Conservatively, I'd say, six to nine months. I don't know what the cadence is, but what are we going to do? Planet Ranger. I build channels that have had over a million, two million. So we've kind of been here before. We're trying to build it back up. Team trip to Ireland? That'd be sick. Now we're hoping that PTC is going to come over very, very, soon. So that would be nice. What's the last one?

The last one is just, would Carlos still have a leg if he fought Jones? I don't get it. All right, we'll await the clarification. All right. For now, though, let us go to the man who was victorious this past Saturday at UFC

327, moving back up to light heavyweight, phenomenal win, defeating the previously undefeated Merzacanov, Azamant, Merser of and then having a beautiful moment with the commander in chief, the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Here he is your friend in mind, Bohaschina, Paulo Costa. Hello, Paolo. How are you, my big friend?

I'm, I'm super good. How are you doing? I'm doing great. It's great to talk to you. Obrigo, parabenz, on the win. We're going to do the whole interview in Portuguese this time. Oh, hi. Amé, awesome.

Let's go. No, that's all I got. Is it a little wrong. Who's that? Captain Eric lurking behind you? Right here, right here. He's in person. There he is.

Mahshalom ha. Ah, Tadda, Tadah. Look at this guy speaking in Hebrew. Amazing. Well, Paolo, congratulations. You look so good out there, so strong. You must be delighted. You must be so happy to get this victory.

And a stoppage as well. Your first in a few fights. Yes. I feel great. Yeah, I'm going to lie. no issues but I think the next can be better because

I'm my body is adapting to light have weight if I fight on light have weight next I think this is going to be better because I'm a process of adapting yet you know I think I can be

faster and adapt to better for for light have weight but look with secret Jews right here, there is no chance to go wrong, to go fat, to go lazy, because the prayer sales just start and I drink a lot of Seekly sorry today to perform.

We've seen the whole thing, the whole evolution of the secret juice from the plastic bottle that you used to walk around with, to now this. It's amazing that you actually have it in your possession. What does it taste like? This tastes like young human food. And this tastes very well. This is a flavor from God. Look at that.

From the heaven. I didn't notice that the flavor, Paulo, is strawberry kiwi. but I feel like that's taking away from the secret. It should have had no ingredients on there. Of course, but we hide the most important secrets. Okay. What is that? I'm going to send for you, my friend.

I'm going to send bunch of them for you and your kids. They train, right? They train, yes. I told them that you won. They were so happy for you. Well, thank you for, thank you. I appreciate that. This is a version of secret juice energy drink

to drink before some workout. Okay. If you're going to train, drink that, and go do your session, wherever you're going to do. Every kind of exercise, this can be helpful. You know, if you're going to have a fight, a combat like I did, this is going to help you. If you're going to have a good night of love,

if you're a woman, this is going to help you. Okay. Secret juice for exercise, energy drink right here. Amazing, amazing. Well, congratulations. I think for using your platform here, I just want to say, just have three days of press sales. After that, I stop, I break the production a little bit.

But I just have three days more. Link on my bio on Instagram, if you want to have your secret juice, go now and pre-order. you use right. Other way. Yeah, there it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're sicker, just three days, guys.

So pre-order right now, pre-sales available, just three days, and after that, we're going to break. Okay, okay. Well, I'm sure it's going to fly off the shelves, as they say. What about the weight cut, Paolo? Did you even have to cut any weight for this fight? Yeah, I'm going to talk about it. Okay, yeah, sure, sure.

This is the very, secret presidential juice. Okay. It's blessed by the president. Yeah. Your new best friend. Yeah, no, yeah. Yes, I appreciate a lot

the word that he delivered to me and we have a good conversation over there. Tell me what you said. What did you say to him? I can, Mario. I am a man of many secrets. Okay. You know.

And this is, was confidential, top secret. But I ask, let me say what I can say over here. Well, we did hear him say that you're a very good looking man. Yeah, he said that. I appreciate that. I appreciate it.

I think, yeah. I agree with him. Of course. He's right. I would imagine that you agree with him. and a lot of people agree with you, but it was just amazing to hear him be so glowing about your looks and so complimentary.

Did it surprise you that he was so complimentary? That surprised me, yes, that surprised. I didn't expect he would say something like that, you know. But he's a very, very gentleman, very kind, very polite, and I think he's doing great. What about the handshake? It seems like he's got a very firm handshake, He brings you in there.

He's strong, man. He's strong. He's big, he's big, tall, he's strong. He's on good shape. Okay. Like Biden. Sure. Biden was bad.

He was falling every time. Trump was a wrestler. Oh, the captain said Trump was a wrestler. I didn't know. Yeah, neither did I. That's why. Okay. All right.

So he's got the grip. Were you nervous fighting in front of him? No. No. Did you even know he was there? You knew he was there? there, right? I knew. I saw him. I saw him, but I didn't pay attention because I was just focused on my thing, you know, and doing my job very well. I was 100% focused on my fight, my

performance. Are you disappointed he didn't ask for you to be on the White House card too, because it seems like he's a huge fan. I did hear him say, hey, invite him to the card. I heard him say to someone. I think it was Dana or Hunter said, invite him to the card. So is that happening at least? I don't know yet. Nobody told me anything about that yet. But I told him, I would like to be part of that if he's possible. He said, of course, of course.

Hey, then, put him on the car. He said then. Okay. By the way, what's going on with you and Josh Hokit? Man. What's going on? Yeah. You know, he did a great, a great fight.

Yes. I cannot lie. I cannot lie. I think that was one of the best halfway fight I ever seen in my life, one of the best, if not the best. He just ran into a big guy and he did his thing. But he got two bonus. He got my performance bonus. I performed better than him.

He got the fight of the night, but he got my bonus well. performance bonus. So he owe me 100K. And I'm going to get this 100K on one way or other. You know, I'm going to make him pay me that 100K. If they didn't pay me, he's going to pay my 100K. So we have a beef right now.

I have a problem. Big problem. 100,000 problems. Why do you feel like he took it away from you? Most would say it was one of the better performances on the card. Now, why? How? You know, because, look, he went two for two with the other guy. Curtis Blades.

Curtis Blades. He didn't did, he didn't make a master class, right? As if my mind was unmisted. Yeah. I masterclass that guy, the Russia guy, 16-0. He beat everybody. He wasn't defeated. And I finished the fight.

I beat him badly three rounds. I deserve the performance bonus, not hook. That's why he owe me 100K. And that's why you have a problem right now. I saw his tweet about you. What's the tweet? We showed it there, but I wanted to actually read it to you to get the official response from Paolo Costa. You said that you want to F him up.

He said, fight these nuts. But yes, of course, I got like 20% body fat, but don't get a twist in. My incredible Hoke juice is far superior than your secret juice. Yeah, his juice is based on sugar. My juice is based on power. His juice is found on cafeteria behind the cakes.

My juice is prejudicial. So my Jews make his strong in jacket and his juice makes him fat like that. He just state that. Yeah. He said that person by fat. So I propose

and I think it's much more than 20% I think it's around 35 I propose I propose we fight for this okay

well hawk juice against secret juice for BMF for big BMF big guys big BMF you know real one

no boring hugs no wake class we can do that and the winner takes all, take all the hype. This is my purpose. I hope it would be at 205 because I have to say, Paulo, you looked amazing at 205. Like you keep talking about middleweight.

No more middleweight. You're phenomenal at 205. Why would you consider depleting yourself to go back to 185? Because I have the secret juice, my friend. I can do whatever, whatever I want. I can move to middleweight. I have a weight or fight a half-weight fair guy like Hulk. Look at the rankings. We have the rankings here, Paulo. You see the rankings at light heavyweight?

It's wide open for you. And especially now with the champion being potentially out, look at this. You've got Magomed, Pereira, who's not even there anymore. I don't even know why he's in the rankings. Yeri, Jan, Khalil, Jamal, you. It's right there. You can be fighting. I could see a scenario, Paulo. If Carlos Elberg is out for about a year, we don't know the extent of his injury, but that's what people are high. hypothesizing. The division can't wait. The division can't. Let me finish. Captain Eric, I'm talking here, for God's sakes. Hollow versus Magelamed for the interim title.

What do you think? First of all, why I am number seven? I just beat the number six guy and number five guys. Yeah, seriously. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. These are ranks. I think the people who is making these ranks are all fat.

know nothing about, about fight. Doesn't make sense. Put me up on this rank. Put me in number three right now. Fight four. So, yeah, maybe, maybe a couple I have. I don't know. I don't care.

I don't care. I can't fight anybody. Yeah. Show me the rank, please. Okay, we're going to put it back up. We're going to put it back up right here for you. Here you go. What do you propose?

Yeah. Alex, not. Not even more in the behavior. So take him off. Yeah. So let's move everyone up, and that means you're six. Okay. Okay.

Why? Jamaha Hill is up on me. He comes from three losses. Yep. All these guys come from losses. You know, J. Per Haska, Calhulhuntry, you're right.

Mara Merle and Talaev. Young Blackovitz come from a draw. You know, why? It doesn't make sense. So what do you suggest? I suggest move me to number number one right now

and put anybody you want that's what I suggest this division can't wait anymore you know Carlos is out for one year I talked to him in the lobby yesterday

he told me he needed the surgery he's out do you think they should vacate you still there? Yeah I'm still here I was just processing Do you think that they should vacate, like take the belt away,

or do you think they should do interim title? Yes. Or nothing. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. There is more bureaucratic thing, so it's about the EFC. I just think I am the next fight.

And who would be against? Magomad? Does it ma'am. You like the Magomad idea? I'm talking, look, I'm talking, yes, yes. Okay. He's Russian, he's Russian, he's softball. It's okay.

Did it feel good to beat Mersikhanov to be the first guy to beat him? That must have felt good, right? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I feel, I feel good. I won that fight, you know, right? Yeah. I told you. You told me, yeah. Yeah. I want to fight him personally.

I ask for his name. I call his name. I told the UFC to give me him personally. I say, I won't beat this guy. Give me this guy because he's 16-0. We'll defeat him beat everybody. So I will put the first watch on his record. And I did that.

That's why I deserve what I'm saying I'm deserved. I feel like we're seeing, and it started last summer, direction of Paolo Costa. That's what I feel like we're seeing. Like it's all coming back together for you here. The Costa that we saw several years ago. Do you feel the same way?

I think, I think yes. Yeah, I feel the same way. I mean, I'm improving all my skills and, you know, and, yeah, I feel my better version right now. You told us after the win in July, the confidence not 100% back yet. Do you feel like it's back now? Yeah, I feel.

I feel it's 100% hit back. Okay. Wow. That's big news. That's big news. I like that. This is good, right? It's important.

That is very important. How quickly do you want to return? I can return next Saturday. Wow, that fast. No injuries, no nothing. I saw at the press conference you had your leg up there with the ice on your shin. So what's going on? Yeah.

This is swelling. This herd that you'll be. you know but i came boxing no problem but is it is it broken or is it just a bruise no no no no i don't think so i don't think it's broken i think just just bruise just swelling yeah you can see you want see sure oh wow wow wow okay i see it a little bit yeah yeah i kick like no tomorrow Did you like Miami fighting in Miami being in Miami? It's a beautiful place, right? Oh yes.

Miami's amazing. Miami's amazing. It's full of Latin, Chic Latinas. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tamara's right there. I heard her. Yeah, he's sick Latino as well. I feel like you fit in in Miami.

Everyone's very beautiful in Miami, like you. Yeah, man. This is because the mix of blood, you know, and race, we have a, yeah, we have this, this mix and race on blood and this, uh, caliente, you know, I mean it's, caliente, caliente, sangue, hot blood, yeah. So I feel home. I was very well received over here. It's close to Brazil, close, close, close, you know, to Central and South America, just seven hours and yeah it's great i have a friends over here nicky nick is over here right there hey niki

the whole crew's there they whole yeah we have a main main friends good friends good people over here miami rick a lot of people are saying you versus carlos would be the best looking fight in ufc history the two best looking male fighters ever going toe to toe do you agree with that uh yes i agree It would be something. Were you impressed with what he did? What? Were you impressed with what he did against Yiri? Oh, yes, I was, I was, it was.

He showed a lot hard, a lot hard. Heart. Heart. Yeah. Brave. Shocking, right? To have an injured leg like that and knock him out? Oh, yes.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He didn't give up. He keeps him the strong minds. said, this is something. This is something. Yeah. Of course, Jerry is a dumbass.

But Carlos did well. Why do you say that? Come on. His leg was totally poker compromise. Yeah. Yeah. He said that... It was easy. He said he showed mercy

and that was a mistake. Carlos' team says, no, that's not true. he's just making excuses. What do you say? Excuses, 100%. What should he have done? He should finish the guy. Kick the bag, you know, boxing,

mix her up, feints, and finish the fight. The fight was, you know, man, look, we are praying to finish all the guy. I learned that. You cannot have any kind of... hesitation or mercy we pay for that man that's it that's it it is a reason no we pay him to be the other guy badly you can't hesitate you can have any mercy you need to go there to

ban take our advantage that you want that you have so yeah if he have a mercy he's on a wrong sport. He should do other things. But you don't think that that was the case. You don't think that's what happened. I don't think so. I don't think so. But if there is, it's even worse.

Right. Isn't it amazing? Here we are living in a world where you're on a winning streak. You're back. The confidence is back. And a guy that you're always going to be linked to Carlos' teammate, Israel Desaenaa,

is on a big losing streak. And people are saying he should retire. It's crazy how life turns out, right? Yeah, it's crazy, Ariel. Yeah. The fight sports move so fast and this turn,

complementar around in just a few months. This is crazy. Yeah. Like Carmelal act very quickly on the sport. Do you think he should retire? Honestly, I would say yes.

Why? Because it's become even worse and worse for him. But you just said it turns very quickly. So why can it turn back? I don't think he has the willpower anymore. Really? Yeah. I don't think he is, yeah, he's 37 or 8, right?

Yeah. 337. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I'm looking from four, but I think it's a little bit. For my point of view, he should do that. But he need to think about how his boy respond as well, you know, and how much he won.

Because I think now they're going to put just. no guys guys not famous and tough guys to beat him does it make you sad to see that no I mean different okay is it true you have

I would like to be me be in him but we are in different position right now sure is it true you have one fight left on your contract oh yes I have just one yeah what do you think is going to happen it's a good question very good question

I think we're going to get a good money. What was that? Yeah. Tamaya said, the only thing that we know is that we're going to make a lot of money. As you should. I'm wondering, though, sometimes with one fight left, the UFC tries to sign a fighter to a new deal before they finished that last fight, or we've also seen fighters fight out the deal and then go test the market. What do you think will happen with you?

I don't know. I really don't know. I didn't talk with anybody from the FC yet. They want to, they already try to, they want to schedule a sit-down conversation. Okay. About, about, they want to renew, of course. Yeah, yeah.

We need to be very calm, very, very, very, very, foot in the ground. and not anticipate nothing, not do, because any deal is like a long deal, like six or five, seven, eight fights deal. That's why they want. So we need to be very, very minimalist. You don't want to, if I'm understanding you correctly, you don't want to sign for six, eight fights, you want shorter deal. This is always the best. Yeah, this is always the best.

But it depends if the amount of, if they do is very attractive, then things can change. But look, I was pissed off against, because, against them because the bonus. I really think I deserve that bonus is 100 K 100 K I don't I don't think Hulk deserves two bonus of performance as well and

when I felt injustice or unfair man this trigger inside inside me the worst feelings, the baddest feelings on my mind, on my heart. I become crazy. I want to, you know, I want smash. And I was like that. So I text, I text Dana about that. I hope and I trust Dana and Hunter, they're going to take care of me. They're going to, they're going to rethink about

that. I think they did a mistake. I think that was a mistake. Not giving me the bonus. But I, I'm confident they are fair and they're going to fix this on a good way and we're going to be good with this. I perform amazing man. Then I told me, I saw him on the walkway and say, man, you beat the 16-year-old Russian. He was very confident. You did amazing, credible. So he liked the performer. He knew that.

He knew that. Trump loved my fight. Loved my fight. He told me that. So why not give me the bonus, you know? I was peace with all this situation. But I confident they're going to fix this mistake. When you texted him, did he reply?

He didn't add. I texted last night. He just seen. Okay. He saw it. He saw. Okay. Interesting.

So now you're feeling, you said they want to sit with you. Right now, are you saying you're not interested in sitting? Is that what you're saying? You need some time? No, no, no, I am. I am. Of course. I want to hear.

Yeah. And you have a new manager now. You're also with Tiki as well? Tiki and Tamar, yeah Yeah, wow When did you link up with Tiki? Oh man, I think 22, 22.

Oh, that long? Yeah, four years. I didn't know that. Okay, so he's not a new manager. Okay, I thought maybe you hired him for this. Do you want to see what's out there for Paulo Costa? Do you want to test the market? Do you want to see, you know,

there's an interesting time out there in MMA, some new players, or are you wanting to stay in the UFC? What are you feeling right now? Look, I love UFC. I think they're doing amazing. And I think the market right now is on fire. I think Netflix came strong for this.

What is amazing for the sport? The sport, UFC mostly help the grow of the sport worldwide. And Netflix, is an unbelievable platform to spread out the sport. So I think these two together would be amazing, but they are not connected, they are not together, but they are not together on the same company, but they are connected.

Yeah. On some way. What is unbelievable good, I think this is, And I would say Netflix is doing some deals with MMA because the EFC did in the past a lot. Of course, yes. Right. So I think it's two hands and it's a win-win. Everybody's going to win.

So do you want to fight out your deal and see what's out there? Or are you open to whatever at this point? They sign you before the last fight. What are you feeling right now? Yeah. Beside my love to EFC, I take care of myself, my first. family. Yeah.

So I just have more, a few years. I feel on my prime right now. I'm 34. I'm going to make birthday this month in 10 days, nine days. So I'm feeling on my prime technically and physically, mentally as well. This is the moment. This is the moment that, you know, to do great things. Then I'd say that.

I agree with him. I think, Dana, for your word, he said, after this victory, Paul is ready to big things. And I agree. So I want to come fast quickly to these big things. I can wait. Okay. Well, let's see how it plays out. For now, enjoy the victory.

Always great to talk to you, Paulo. I urge everyone, go to your bio on Instagram. Yeah. Click on the link for the pre-sale. There it is. Get your secret juice now. Shout out to the whole team. Captain Eric Tamara, everyone.

Much love. Obriguado. Thank you brother. And I'm gonna, oh, you don't have that, but I'm gonna, yeah. I'm gonna, victory. Toast. Cheers. Cheers.

Thank you, guys. Thank you, very. Thank you. You're the man. Thank you so much. see you soon. I drink for you. Yeah, cheers. The juice is loose next. Light heavyweight champ of the world right here, secret juice. There he is. Paulo Costa. Thank you, Paula. Thank you guys. All the best. Palo Costa. Joining us there with the whole team by his side. What a guy.

What a guy that Paulo Costa. And one fight left. So an interesting story to pay attention to. All right. Let us continue. We've got another in studio guest. In about an hour's time will be joined by Eddie Hearn. to get to him, a lot to get to with him, a lot to speak to him about. But for now, I am very excited to say hello to our next guest. His birth name, I like to get the birth name. His birth name is Alexander Shikoli. I hope I'm getting that right. You know him most likely as Alex Terrible. He is the frontman for the metal band, Slaughter to prevail. They're playing tonight at Hammerstein Ballroom, but a major reason

why we are speaking to him today and having him in studios, because he has a huge fight coming up on May 6th at the Blood for Blood Show in Daytona Beach. He's a barrenuckle fighter as well. Massive M.MA fan. He's one in one as a barrenuckle fighter, but he's an absolutely fascinating individual. I can't wait

to speak to him. Let us welcome him into the studio right here and now. Here is Alex Terrible. Kind enough to join us. Hello, sir. How are you? Nice to meet you. Pleasure. That's for you.

Wow. This is for me. Yes. You're kidding. It's my spam mask. Wow. Yeah, I use it on stage. This is a huge honor.

Yeah, thank you. You actually wear this? Yeah. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do the yelling with this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you call?

I called it a luchador mask, but it's not a luchador mask. A grisly mask. A grizzly mask. Yeah. Is this real? No, it's a, no. It's a plastic.

Okay, okay. Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm going to put it right here, appreciate you gifting that to us. We'll have it in the studio here.

Thank you for having me. It's a great honor. You're a fascinating guy, I have to say. What's that? My English is so broken. Sorry about that. You're very interesting. Oh, okay.

Thank you. And what's very interesting to me is you have a show tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Correct. Most artists don't usually come on when they're about to perform. Like, what time is your show tonight? Around nine, and I have a meeting grid at five.

You don't mind? I don't mind. And actually, I'm training also at this run. And I'm just doing my best. I'm trying my best, you know. And you're balancing a lot. You just became a father, not that long ago? Yeah, yeah.

Congratulations. Thank you. He's five months. He's five months. Yeah. What's his name? Raynar. Raynar.

Where does that come from? I just love Scandinavian wives, you know, like all of these Viking styles and shit, you know, and I just, my wife picked the name. Look at this. Look at this. beautiful as this. Look at you. You're melting as a father. Yeah, literally. Oh man. I'm missing so much. Yeah. How does this change you as a person? I think I come down a lot.

You feel that way. Yeah, I feel this way. And right now, I have so much responsibility. And I need to like not going that crazy as I always do, you know, always go. And I just, want to be a perfect example for him, you know. I don't know. It's very difficult. It's very difficult and it's very interesting because it's a new experience. And it's a new challenge. And I love challenges.

Your definition of a perfect example may be different than mine. So what is your definition of being a perfect example for your son? It's a very difficult question, actually. But first thing first, I will teach him. You're a man and that means you have more responsibility on your shoulder because you have to protect people which is like weaker than you, you know, and you have to make your family in the keep your family in the good conditions, you know, take everything under your like shoulders, you know, under your control.

And it's a very big work, you know what I mean? And I want to take him into the gym as soon as possible so he can learn discipline. He can learn how hard he can work and go through his weaknesses and find about himself every. everything he can do because in stressful situations you can see who you really are, you know. I think this is very important for man. Do you want him to be a fighter as well?

No, no. If he wants to, I just want him being strong and can protect himself, his family, and know how to fight, at least, you know. Do you think your wife would agree that you've changed already? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. You're softer. I'm very softener right now.

I saw a video of you in the car saying, I'm so happy, life is so good, I hate touring. I hate touring. You're here touring. You're here doing a show. You're doing a show in Canada this weekend, right? Yeah, look at me. I'm so exhausted. I'm sorry for my looking. No, no, you look great. You look great. But you hate touring, but this is what has made you who you are. Exactly. So how do you balance that? Yeah. I'm trying to find another business model for the next years of touring, of performing. and all of this stuff. But right now I'm just burning out

because it's like too much for me. And I appreciate all my fans. I appreciate all my career. I achieve a lot, you know. But this lifestyle is just not for me. I'm like a person who love to spend time at home. I love to walk every day with my dog. I love to spend time with my family, with my wife.

And my career starts at home. I was doing the covers sitting in my room, like practicing my extreme vocals and stuff. And I just, I'm not a guy who loves this big, busy towns and stuff. I lived in the forest in Russia, very calm, you know, and I'm just very chill. Where do you live now? In Florida. Okay, so now you're here full time. Yes.

And so you're battling this juxtaposition where life is going well, your career is going well, you're probably experiencing everything that you dreamed of. Yeah. But all you want to do is stay home with your wife and son and your dog. Yeah, exactly. How long did this last? When did this start for you, this feeling? Actually, maybe six years ago or something like that.

Wow. Yeah, because I always wanted to be a rock star, but. I didn't understand what it is, you know, because people always want to be that guy or this guy or do this or do that, but they don't, they have no idea what exactly it is and what's the price you're going to pay. So it's just not for me. I'm not rock star at all. I don't like attention. I appreciate all my fans. I'm taking pictures with them. I try to speak with them, but I'm very introverted guy, very much. I hate attention. You say you're shy. Yeah. What's interesting is there's nothing about you that screams being shy. Yeah, I know.

Your look, your act, everything about you is the complete opposite of shy. Yeah, it's another side of me. On the stage, I'm just like, I'm not playing the role, but it's just another person. And when I walk off, I'm here, I'm back, you know? And you want to be kind of left alone probably, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah. How many days out of the year do you think you're touring?

Oh, this year it's very busy. We just finished the European tour in January and February. Then we have a gap, like two weeks gap or something. And then we, on this run, after that, we're going back to Europe in July. After that, we're going back to US. Wow. And after U.S. tour, in autumn, after autumn, we're going to go to Australia, I believe. And then after that, we're going to go to South America.

And so why do you do all of this if you don't like it? Because I gave my word. You know, I already signed up for this schedule. I was like, okay, we can do that. Why not? And right now, I'm burnt out. You feel burnt out? Very much.

But here's the thing, my friend, like doing what you do, and being burnt out, like it takes a lot of energy. So where does it come from the energy? Like tonight you have to perform in front of thousands of people and you're burnt out. You probably just want to go to bed

and hang out with your family. Nobody gives, sorry for my language, nobody gives a shit about your excuses. You have to do that. If you sign it up, you have to do that. Nobody gives shit about

what you face, you know? And I just do it because I need to do it, you know? And on this, run, we train a lot, we spa a lot, and after that I go to Meet and Grit and after that I perform. And on May 6th, I'm going to fight by a knuckle. And then after that fight, I will say, okay, that's my time to rest for a few weeks. And for the next runs, I will not train that hard.

So it's going to be much easier, you know. Do you take anything to be energetic? A lot of supplements. like vitamins like zinc vitamin B IVs you know sometimes iron because every time I do my blood test my iron is very low you know I don't know if you can talk about that but I was on TRT one year ago or something okay and it would not help me a lot and my hematocrit goes up very much you know it's like it was 57 or so so I stopped And to be honest, I feel much better without your team.

Really? Yeah. I don't know. What about PDs? Have you tried any of that? No, not yet, not yet. Not yet? I want to, I want to try it. Why? Because it helps me. Yeah.

It would help me, probably, because all fighters are using this stuff. You think so? I think so, I don't know. Do they test when you fight? I think so, yeah. I think they will test. In Russia, do they test? No. No, no, no, no.

I think BKFC will test me if they won't. I'm down. I don't know. I'm not taking it. anything, you know, which is like band in US. But I think a lot of fighters, like, using a lot of stuff. You can tell, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

So, so a musical act like yourself being tired, everyone would understand, you're traveling and whatnot. But on top of that, you're preparing for a fight. As you said, May 6th, Daytona, blood for blood, you're headlining. You've had two BK, excuse me, two bare knuckle fights. This is your first with BKFC, right? Yeah, technically three. Technically three.

So what is your record? So two, win, one loss. Which is the one that isn't on the record? I don't want to talk about that. Did that happen on the streets? No, it was in the gym. I've seen a lot of your interviews. You don't shy away from anything.

I've never heard you say I don't want to talk about something. No, I just don't want to get involved in the problems. I don't want problems. Was it unsanctioned or something? Yeah. Okay, but you won? Knockout? No, knockdown.

Knock down. Okay. Yeah. Why do you do this, though? To be honest, I don't know. I think I have metal problem. Because I have money, you know. I have a lot of money from music, and I have everything. I have houses in Russia.

I have houses in America already. I have cars. I have, like, beautiful family. I don't know why I need this. I'm not making any money from this fight. Not anything. Zero? Zero.

Literally zero. Literally zero. They're not paying you anything? I'm paying from my, out of my pocket for the fighters. For the rest, for this card here, you're paying for the fighters. Yeah, yeah. Why? So what's the point?

The rush? It's cool. You enjoy it? I don't know. It's sick. Like metal bands, a bare knuckle event like the same night. And you're going to play at the beginning of the night. Yeah.

And then hopefully at the end of the night too. What do you mean, hopefully? I'm going to know. I'm going to know. Fair enough. That's the plan, right? Yes. Golly. What does your wife say about this?

So she's very scared and disappointing because she said, like, you have a child now and you need to be more smarter with this. Yeah. I agree, actually. So I told her, at least this is the last fight. I'm fighting for free. The next fight, if they give me a good paycheck, maybe I'll think. You're a big deal. You can get paid. Why are you doing it for free? I don't know. Do you have a manager? Yeah.

I mean... We need to fire this manager. No, no, no, no. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. But you should never fight for free. Yeah. So it was...

He actually asked BKFC to get involved. And it's the blood for blood. It's our like a business, new business like model. And we invest a lot. And I am... one of the owner of this.

Okay, okay. And for me, it's just a business idea, you know. And I love good ideas. And for the good ideas, I can do it for free, you know. And these previous fights in Russia, two fights, they pay me, but it was like two grand or so. Okay. So it's like nothing. Maybe I pay for the flights and shit.

But for these two fights, I just wanted to test myself if I can do that because I love challenges as I said before. I'm not a fighter, you know. I'm just a musician who wants to fight, you know. Grew up a fight fan though. You'd watch UFC Pride. I've heard you talk about this. Yes, yes, yes. Was that your favorite? Like, MMA watching those fights or was it something else? Yeah, I start to watch Pride and it was brutal, more brutal than UFC right now. Could you watch Fyodor, Fyodor Emilienko? Fyodor and George Barnett. Yes, legend, of course. Yeah. He's a fan of our music.

Oh, yeah, he loves your music. Yes, yes, yes. We met him in L.A. And, of course, Alexander Wolkoff, he's going to fight on May 9, I believe, on the card. And I just like this attitude, you know, a warrior attitude. You have to challenge yourself. You have to fight, your fears, and you have to, like, do these. I don't know.

I don't know. And, yeah, I start to watch Pride. I start to watch UFC. I'm not a big fan But I just Love this like a hobby But when you were a kid Your dream was to be a rock star

Yes When I was like 14 years old I was in the military school And I grew up with rap music And club music And for us Like listen to rock music Is bad

They will kick you ass You know But then I met One guy And he showed me rock music And I was like Wow it's something else. It's like very aggressive.

And I start to want to have this extreme vocals. I start to work on this extreme vocals when I was 14. But when you say rock music, there's different levels of rock. Yes. What were you introduced to at 14? Very heavy. Very heavy. Very brutal heavy. What you do is called extreme vocals?

Extreme vocals, yeah. I have to say, I don't listen to extreme vocal music or people that do heavy metal. I'm not knocking it. It's just, you know, I listen to extreme vocals. you know, the Beatles. I'm not judging you. No, no. It gives me anxiety.

Exiety? Exactly. It feels like you're so upset up there. It makes sense because it's very low vibrations in music, but it gives me motivation to do something. I don't know. I was talking to my audio guy, Frank. He said, people listen to music, not always to be happy, not always to feel happy. Sometimes you want to feel down.

you of what do you want people to feel when they listen to your music? Motivation to becoming a better version of yourself. Fight your fears, no matter what. And go to gym, live some ways, you know. And if you have some problems in your life, you must know that it's not the end. You can fight it. You can stand and just be stronger, you know. Take this responsibility.

This will sound like a stupid question, so please don't judge me. But are there lyrics to your songs? Yes. Because it sounds like just a lot of yelling. Yeah, of course. It's extreme vocals. It's not for everybody. It's the genre, I would say my band and a few other bands

take this genre from underground and make it huge nowadays. Yeah. Because we're selling very good. Oh, you guys, I mean, much respect. And back in the days, it was like maybe 200 people, 300 people at the shows, you know, and it was so underground. Right now, we made it huge. And right now, people searching about this music, like style of music,

they find in the lyrics online and they listen to that, reading the lyrics, and they understand more, you know? It's just not for everybody, and it's very difficult to understand. Do you write the lyrics? Yeah. And I saw a video, an amazing video on your social media of a woman who is performing in sign language. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That has to feel incredible to see that, right?

That's crazy, actually. Yeah. I'm very emotional guy, and when I see people in the wheelchairs or people helping other people, which is like disabled people, I'll start to cry, actually. Like this right here, I saw a mosh pit with a guy in the wheelchair. Yeah. This is unbelievable. It's cool. It's just cool.

Is this considered a mosh pit? What is this? A wall or something? It's a mosh pit. And wall of death. Wall of death. So he was in the center of the wall of death, huge wall of death. And it's just hardcore.

I don't know. I like it. And for me, that's people, strong people. Because imagine if you're disabled and you still go to this concert, you still leave your life, like full life. You know what I mean? Because I was thinking, if I had some problems with my legs or anything, you know, I would say I would be at home and be depressed or something because it's a tough life. Every time you're waking up, you're like fighting.

You're fighting this. Literally, this is why these people inspired me and I respect them very much because they're strong. When did you realize? At what age did you realize that you had this gift? It's not a gift and it's not a talent. I work on it a lot, you know. I just have this CD player and I put the cassette on it or a CD. And I try to mimic another vocalist, you know, and I try to make this sound.

And for me, it took like maybe two or three years to achieve this low sound, low sound, the guttural, growl and back in the days it wasn't much information on the internet about this right now you can go to the internet learn about this everything literally and a lot of you can you can find a lot of like teachers like for extreme vocals back in the days and wasn't popular so i just tried to mimic copy another vocalist now you have a young child can you do it in the house with the baby around He's fine. He doesn't react to it. Nah.

He's smiling. What if he's sleeping? What if he's sleeping? No, no, no. I'm not screaming. Okay, okay. Your wife will be very upset. Yeah, of course.

It will beat me. You can't do that with him around. Would it be rude for me to ask you to do it? Would that be rude? Would you... Oh, are you able... Wow. That is wild.

When I see it on the phone, it feels fake. It feels fake, yeah. It sounds fake. You feel this vibration. What does that, like what do you feel like in the aftermath of doing that?

Nothing. Nothing? You could do it on command. Yeah, of course. And now you just did it for two seconds. Yeah. When you're performing, you're doing it for how long?

One hour, 20 minutes. Are you exhausted afterwards? When I move a lot and dancing and all this stuff, yeah, I spend in like, I have this, the hat rate belt, And I spent 1,500 kilo calories on the ones.

Wow. Yeah. And you go back to back? Yeah. Look at you here. This is you, you go with no microphone. Yeah, people love it. Yeah.

It goes viral every time. That's cool. You're the man. Thank you. Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's really impressive. Thank you. Thank you.

And so can you go back to back? Yeah. Like, how many shows can you do in a row before you're like truly burnt out? Your body can't do that every night, right? We did, I remember, we did 16 shows. In a row? In a row. Golly. It was like 2017.

We weren't that big. So you had to grind. Yeah. This is slaughter to prevail. Yes. When did the band start? 2014, I believe. Okay.

So this isn't like a fly-by-night thing. You've been working at this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We grind it. It was grinding a lot. Is it surreal to see what has become now? I'm living in the Matrix, virtually. What do you mean? What do you mean? Because I'm a guy from the small, small village from Russia called Bolshoi stock. It was like maybe 8,000 people in this village.

And all my surroundings in the jail or they die because of the drugs. And a lot of them, you know. Don't get me wrong. I still have friends from there. and they're doing great, but I'm here in New York talking to you. It's just unbelievable. And I have a lot of moments in my life, which is absolutely blow-minded, you know. I have a lot of people, like huge people from the cinema industry,

from the, like music industry, from the, like all of this business, who knows me, who respect me, who, like, want to chat with me and I've been in some crazy places and for me is just unreal you know because who am I I'm just the guy from the small village from Russia and I was grinding and I achieved everything just like I did it by myself like a lot of guys think that I have like rich parents or I have strong connection. But no, I just was grinding and that's it. And right now I'm living my best life. And this, this actually phenomenal. You grew up, my understanding is your parents divorced and your mom

married a guy who was a tough guy, right? A military guy. But your mom was very tough on you as well. Much tougher than that guy. And that partially led to you to maybe rebelling a little bit, taking drugs and things like that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when you were 19, I think you overdosed. Yeah. Five hours your heart was beating. Yes.

Like it felt like it was going to come out of your chest. Yes. You thought you were done. Yes. What did you take to lead to that? Oh, a lot of stuff. Oh, all in one shot. Yeah.

I don't want to talk about drugs. Okay, okay. Because I'm not taking any drugs. I'm not smoking. I'm not drinking because I don't need that. You used to do a lot. I used to do a lot. and I overdose and I just ask myself in this moment

what the hell I'm doing with my life, you know, I'm just wasting my life and I just asked for the second chance, you know. I'm not religious, but I'm believing God, but I'm not religious, you know what I mean? And of course I was speaking to the God and ask for a second chance, and after that, I completely changed myself. After that, I stopped to lie to myself, first of all.

I stopped to make any excuses. I start to feel sorry about myself, and I just take everything in my hands, you know? And... This is when you were 19? Yeah. Okay, that's a young age to come to this sort of epiphany. Yeah.

How long were you doing drugs for at that point? One year. Okay. And do you think you were really doing it because your mom was being so tough on you? I don't think so. I don't blame my mom. She's sweetheart, especially right now. She changed a lot.

And I'm not blaming anyone. I'm not blaming anything. But I think it's just my path. And I very appreciate that I have this life. I have this experience, you know, because without that, maybe I will not achieve all of this stuff. Maybe I will not, like, understand something. So I believe it was in right time, in the right place,

and everything happened with me. It should happen. Were you getting into fights a lot as a kid? Well, yeah, but I was scared to fight. I was scared literally, like, of everything, you know? And, like, I was in a military school, and of course we have a lot of fights there and of course I fought but after that I started to do like I started to go to the gym I was so skinny I started to lift weights to gain some muscles and I

start to go to MMA gym not that hard you know but maybe once a week nothing serious and learn about how you protect yourself and I start to like jump on the people on the street when I'm driving somebody like cut you off cut me off yeah I start to fight oh god yeah I was very like impulsive you know and the older I got the the more I understand that it's just stupid you know very stupid but right now I'm fighting only in the cage. Sure. Well, sort of in the cage, because I think your last fight that I saw, there was like a bunch of haystacks around you.

There was not a cage there. It was top dog. It was top dog. This is the most brutal burn knuckle organization in Russia. It was small, small circle. And I fought the owner of organization, Rig Beast. And he was the champion of another league. This guy right here.

Yes, yes, exactly. He broke my, like, no. nose, my nose, he broke all of my like bones around the nose. And my nose like, come on. Yeah. Look at that shot. Why do you do this? I don't know.

Is there a moment after this where you're like, I'm done? No. No, you like that. You enjoyed that. I enjoyed that and I lost by decision. And I was like, come on, I need revenge. You want revenge with this guy? Of course.

In that organization, do you think you lost by decision because he's the owner? I don't think so. Maybe, I don't know. I'm not blaming anyone. Sure, sure. I lost. I lost, you know. I'm not that guy who's like, oh, maybe I win or maybe they're wrong.

I don't care because I can knock him out and finish him. That's it. This is my goal. I need to make it 100% and nobody will complain. Why do you choose bare knuckle? Why not do MMA? At least have some gloves. I think with bare knuckle I have more like chances because

bare knuckle is very different from MMA and boxing. Lucky shot even if this guy very experienced I can cut him with lucky shot and cut his face or something and they will stop the fight for example you know and it's just fits me well because it's bloody and brutal like metal music, you know, I believe. So, bare knuckle is a, and it's a tough sport. It's very tough. Yes, no, no, it's extremely tough.

Correct me if I'm wrong. Before that fight, were you arrested? Yeah. Because you spoke out about the government? Yeah. What happened? To be honest, I don't want to talk about this. Wait a second, Alex.

I've been told you're one of the strongest, toughest guys on the planet. You've now given me three I don't want to talk about. I've seen all your interviews And you talk about everything Yes, because I think you've changed as a father now This is what's happened Exactly, exactly

We're seeing the father You're no longer Alex's terrible You're Alex good guy now Alex wonderful Yes, you're Alex wonderful You don't want to talk about anything No, because it's dangerous Not only for myself

But for my family No, okay, I understand that Yeah, but yeah, I got arrested And they can't put me in the jail If they wanted to But we have FESB. You guys have

FBI. FBI? FBI. FBI? Yes, yes, yes. We have FESB. Okay. So I spoke with one guy from FESB for four hours and he said, like, I can't put you in the jail right now if I want to. But we can ask why?

Because I, like, because of my stories and Instagram, I start to like run my mouth about political stuff and all this shit. and in Russia is very, very strict right now, very strict. And we have this conversation about like four hours we were speaking about everything. And after that conversation, he said, I'm literally your fan.

Can we take a picture? Come on. Yeah. And I was like, sick. And then after that, on the day when you have to go on this scale, like they measure you and all this way in yeah yeah yeah uh police uh brought me in the police station and they make me of this fine and they said and and and one of police officer he said i'm your fan i want to help you and i want to give you advice after that you have to like leave russia

and just don't go in back to russia in one year or so just chill yeah because When was this? How long ago? July, July 7, July 9 or something. Of 20, 25? Yeah. This past year. So you haven't been back? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Do you plan on going back? I want to. Yeah. I go back and force every time, you know, but after that situation, I'm a little bit scared, you know, because I have a kid. Yes, of course. And you have family still there? Are they okay? Yeah, yeah.

So did you actually sleep in jail? No, no, no. Okay, they just took you? And then you went to fight, and then did you show up? in court all messed up. Yeah. Golly. Yeah.

And actually, I fought with hemorrhoe in my ass as well. What? And after the fight, I cut it out. Cut it out? We have surgery, yeah. I have surgery. That's heavy battle right there. That's rock.

That fight was fucking tough. A lot going on. A lot of shit going on. Was it painful, the hemorrhoid? Oh, yeah. Golly. Sorry about that. No problem, no problem.

Holy smokes. Yeah, yeah. It was a good time. You classify that as a good time. You enjoy that sort of thing, the adversity. Yeah, yeah. And you know, I have a lot of situations like that in my life, but I start to forget everything because it's a lot of, like, situations.

Sure. And I think my dopamine system and all of these hormones just burn out, you know? Maybe, I guess. You're not afraid of taking risks and stuff. Like you're a risk seeker. Literally, I'm not afraid of anything because I almost die. And this is the scariest shit in your life. Where you can lose everything you have.

Everything you have. You can lose it right now. And after that, before that, I was scared of a lot of things. After that, I was like, that's nothing. I could die. Did you stop taking drugs after that? Yeah, yeah. Never again.

Never again. You stopped. Wow, okay. Yeah, yeah. I don't need that. I changed my mindset. It wasn't a big addiction or something. I just changed my mindset.

I was like, why do I need that? I don't need that. You know? For what? And so regarding like speaking up, have you stopped doing that as well? Yeah. No more politics. No more politics, please.

It's not worth it. Yeah, because when you run your mouse about anything you don't understand, you're looking like a clown. And of course, I have my own opinion. But at the same time, I have to understand I have a lot of followers and I'm taking this responsibility for each words I said.

You know what I mean? And of course, I'm having my own opinion about everything, especially about war. I think war is bad in general. Like right now, US trying to attack all of these countries and conflict between Russia and Ukraine and all this stuff.

Of course, I feel bad. I feel sad about everything. And especially because before this war kicked in, we finished our tour, Russian tour, and actually in Ukraine. And a few months after that, the war kicked in. I was like, how, you know? And I just stopped to talk about politics. because I'm not good in politics and I'm talking maybe wrong stuff,

but at the same time I have my own opinion. And in Russia, if you have your own opinion, it could be dangerous. Yeah, unfortunately. I love Russia. I love people from Russia, you know, but it's a hard time. I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about the tattoos. You have a lot of tattoos. How old were you when you got your first? 14.

14. How many would you say you have? Is it possible to even say? Like the whole torso, the sleeves, back not finished, something on the legs. But I would say right now, if I was clean, my body was clean, I would not do anything, any tattoo. Really? Why? Because for what? It's mental problems. You said it's for attention, right?

Well, I want attention, of course. Yeah. Yeah. But you regret it. I'm not regret. I'm not regret about anything in my life. He's just experience, you know. There were two tattoos that got you in some hot water, right?

Oh, yeah. The Black Sun. And then the Horse one? It's not the horse, but it's like a symbol that people equated it to the SS, right? The Rune. The Rune. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's on your foot?

Yeah, this run actually used not only in the Third Reich, Vikings. use this room and the black son used by Third Reich and is just a very like strong symbol and at the same time Third Reich used this symbol and of course people got triggered by these symbols like swastick or something and when I was 19 or 18 I almost died because of the drugs and then I found myself with the guys they love to fight we call it Okola football

like they they go to a football game like the hooligans hooligans yeah like the ultras the ultras yeah and

I have like three or four friends ultras friends and they were not racist they were not Nazi or something like that they were right wing guys

not radical but they love this like cultures, about ruins, about, like, symbols and stuff. And they helped me a lot to stand up again, like, go to gym, let's go work out, you know. Let's go just, this is your, like, literally the book for you about how you, like, esoteric, you know, how to achieve if you really want this or that, you know, like all of this magic, secrets, you know, spiritual and all this stuff.

And I start to learn that it's very interesting, like Castaneda, you know, Castaneda, like all of this stateism, how you call it, state season, all of these books. And I was like, okay, this actually very interesting, you know. And then I wanted to be a part of this culture. I want to be a part of something, you know, because it was very important for me like a teenager. And I did this Black Santa too, not because I'm just like a Nazi or right wing guy, just because I want to hang out with these guys and be a part of it. You know what I mean?

And as you became famous, people then saw this. Yeah. You got a lot of backlash for it. You've covered it up. Yeah, I covered it up because I was scared. And then after maybe one year or two years, I was like, okay, it was stupid. idea, you know, because it's very different culture. When you grew up in Russia at that time,

and you see all of this stuff, it's not like what people think about this. It's not what it is, like, actual is. You know what I mean? I don't know how to explain that. I don't know. Like, it's just people don't understand. The conditions I lived in, the people, the ideas, and they judge because of these symbols or of this rumors or something like that. And don't get me wrong.

I was stupid to get this tattoo, you know. And I'm not making any excuses. I pay my price and a lot of people thinking I'm Nazi steel. I'm still. Until this day. Huh? Till this day. Until this day, yeah.

I don't mind. I don't care, to be honest, because I cannot prove to anybody and I don't want to prove to anybody. I'm not a Nazi or something. But a lot of people think that I'm Nazi, a lot of, like, platforms, and a lot of bands and a lot of, like, managers and stuff

don't want to work with us because of the controversial. Okay, we will... built our own empire because I know I'm not Nazi. I'm not a bad guy, you know. I'm not ideal, you know, but I'm not a bad guy. There's also a picture that's brought up of you wearing the helmet, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was so stupid actually. And I posted it in my Instagram, you know. You didn't know. Or did you know? I know, I knew. Because I was silly, I was like stupid And I was a teenager and my friend at my friend's houses, his father collect all Soviet, all this Nazi things from the war.

And I was like, oh, it's basically maybe it's funny to take a picture with the gun and hat, Nazi head, and I posted it on my socials. It's just stupid. I don't know. It's just stupid. I don't know. But you don't regret anything. Huh?

You don't regret anything. life? I'm not regret anything in life. I'm just, I think this is experience and I think I made a lot of mistakes in my life. I'm not going to do this again, you know? Right now, I'm more like aware, and of course I'm like 32 years old. I think I'm smarter than I was 20, you know? And of course, I feel shame for something I've done in my life, but I'm not regretting. anything in my life because what's the point of regret what's the point I have to change something I have to do a better thing with myself first of all help myself and other people animals and all this stuff and of course as I said before I'm not a ideal guy you know

but regretting I don't know maybe it's a barrier a language barrier because no I understand what you're saying you know what you don't understand you you don't want to to harp on it, you don't want to lament it, you want to acknowledge that it wasn't the right thing and you want to learn from that, you want to evolve from that. Exactly. And I respect that. What about this here? What is this?

The scar, I gave it to yourself. Yes. How did you do that? Scalpel. I went to one girl, she's like making this scarification. I was like, I want this. Why did you do that? I don't know.

You don't know. Because of my image on the stage, I believe, I was like, I want to look like, you know this game, cyberpunk? Maybe. And you like just picking the character. Oh, okay. Do you wish you didn't do that? I don't mind.

Okay, you don't mind. Did it hurt? Oh, yeah. That must have killed. Nah, it's hurt. Yeah. Like hot, right? It burns you?

Yeah, yeah. Golly. Yeah. It's stupid. It's all image. Because I'm a rock star, you know. You are. Literally everything I, like, want to do, you know, because I have money and I'm not, like, I'm not working on somebody, you know.

I'm not depending on somebody. I'm not an officer like worker or anything. Like, if you have a normal job, of course, it's standing out. Yeah. No, it's not okay. It's not normal. But I'm an artist. I can do whatever the fuck I want.

Literally. I'm free. Why are you sharing raw chicken with a tiger, though? What's it? You're having a piece of raw chicken with a tiger. Yeah. This seems like a mistake. Nah.

Come on, look at this. This is crazy right here. Yeah. And he hit you, right? Yeah. He chipped your tooth. Yes. Is it fixed?

Yeah, I fix it. My biggest concern, honestly, is the raw chicken. You could get sick from that. Yeah, I know. Did you get sick? No. You didn't. But why are you doing this?

I love challenges. This tiger can eat you. It's brutal. Look at that guy. Look at that guy. Brutal, right? Is he missing a right eye? Oh, that's sick.

Is it sick? Or is it crazy? It's sick. This is why I do that. This is sick. Is that? If I was searching, scrolling my internet, I look at that. I was like, this is sick.

I want to do it. And you enjoy this? I enjoy this. Yeah. You don't think that's crazy? It is crazy. I'm not normal. But you're not scared in that moment.

No. No. No. Because you almost died? Yeah, I think so. But that's a tiger. That guy can eat you in a minute. Oh, yeah.

Less than a minute. Yeah, one minute percent. And is he trained? Yeah, of course. Or she? She. She? Yeah.

She trained, but at the same time, you never fucking know. Because it's the wild animal, you know. And if she doesn't love. And if she doesn't like something or you can do this, you can do that with the wild cats, especially wild cats. Yeah. It will fuck you up. Yes.

Yeah. Who's more dangerous, the wild cat or the bear? Female bear. This right here. Here you are having a nice day at the park with the bear. And now the bear grows up and you're wrestling the bear. And now you're riding the bear. It's sick, right?

And now you're coddling the bear. And sharing milk with the bear. This is craziness right here. That's sick. You're wrestling the bear. I'm playing with them. I'm not wrestling them. I'm not a wrestler.

I'm just hagging. And does the bear know that you're playing? Yeah, of course. The male bear is very chill. Female bear will fuck you up. That's male? Yeah, that's male. That's male.

And this guy, I pick him up. Come on. This guy? Yeah, this guy. How much does he weigh? You can't pick him up, right? About around like 700 pounds. You can't pick this guy up.

No, no, the baby. The baby one, the baby one. Do his claws hurt you? Oh, yeah. Why do you have to be shirtless? I mean, he's going to scratch you up. Because it looks brutal. Where is this?

In Russia? Yeah. So you're just out in the world, like, did you set that up or you just came across a bear? No, no, no. This bear is a tomb. His name is Tom. His name is Tom. He's very popular.

Not even in Russia. the whole world want to go and hang with this bear because he's very chill and I know this guy owner he's very good guy and when we um when we filmed this video Baba Yega we call this guy and ask him if we can do some photo shoots video shoots with his bear and he was like three years old he was a little bit a cub Yeah, not a cop. He was big already. Okay, okay, sorry. But after that, I just decided to visit him like once per year or something.

Oh, you're rolling him over. Yeah. He took my leg. That's good. Yeah. Nice take down defense here. He's good restaurant. Look at you, the sprawl.

By the way, they're telling me the young man that you're fighting on the 6th of May, he's a cowboy, right? Yeah. Cameron Delano. Yeah. We're live right now. They're telling me in the chat he's talking shit about you. No way. He's a nice guy.

Yes, it will be streamed. Y'all tune in, watch me knock out the bear. Okay, well, that's not too bad. Is he saying anything else, Frank? He wish. That's it. They're telling me my ear that he's talking, that's nice. He's a nice guy.

He's a nice guy. I'm a nice guy, but when we step in the ring, especially in the banduckle, we're not nice. I saw your face off. Your face off was intense. You went head to head with him there. That wasn't intense? No.

Not really. It was okay. Look at this face off right here. This is good stuff. You're getting under his hat. What are you feeling in that moment? Nothing. Nothing?

Nothing. No thoughts? No. What's he saying to you? I don't remember. You don't remember? No. At that moment, I want to step in the ring like now.

Yeah. You know, I want to finish it as soon as possible because I hate this, like, waiting. You have to train, you have to wait. I hate this. I want to fight now. You're training every day leading up to the fight. So you're balancing all of this.

You have sparring partners come to you? Yes. Yes, I have sparring partner, which is going to be on the card, Kratos. He's a bayonicle fighter. He's tough. He's heavyweight. He's gangster. He's Russian gangster, literally.

And everybody in Russia in bayonacle knows him. because he is a machine he've never been knocked out he fucking knocks out people he take punches he doesn't give a fuck he just go and and uh and uh i have uh wladimir shishkin wov shishkin he's a professional boxer he's very good on his uh footwork okay okay gives me a footwork and yeah and uh on the beginning of this tour um um um on the beginning of this tour um We have Jake Brutal Bosswick. He also fight in the KFC and he... He's on the car too, right?

Yeah, he's on the card, he's going to fight. And he was on tour for two weeks. And he gave me some experience as well. Do you get nervous before the fights? Yeah. Of course, you're nervous, but I don't... afraid already, you know? Of course you're nervous,

before you go to the stage, before you go to the fight. But it's not a big deal for me already, you know. What do you enjoy more now, fighting or performing? Fighting. Much more. If you could just do the fighting and hang out with the family, you'd be happy. I think so. Okay.

I can't wait for when your son is older. You're going to go to like the parent-teacher interviews at his school. Yeah. You're going to show up with this and this? That's going to be great. It's going to be weird. Yeah. Who's that guy?

Yeah, they're going to be amazing. I will not go to the school. Are you looking forward to fatherhood, like, of doing all the things? Yeah. It seems like you're really enjoying it. I'm excited. Yeah. You want to have many kids?

Yeah. Why not? I want a girl. I want a more boy. By the way, you get the girl. You'll be even softer. Yeah. Then you're going to melt.

Probably. That's what happens. Hopefully. I see it. I see it in your face. Hopefully. Hopefully. Yeah. I'm stoked. I'm very excited. Well, Alex wonderful. Great to meet you.

Great to meet you, really. It's a pleasure. I love meeting people. Look, you and I, we probably come from two very different places, but I love meeting people from different places with different ideologies, with different backgrounds. And we have a common bond that's fighting, but I love learning about other people who come from different places who maybe... Open-minded. Oh, always, always. And maybe on the surface, you look a certain way, but I think inside, you're very similar to a lot of people out there. You have feelings, you have thoughts, you have emotion,

and it's great to see that. And so I want to congratulate you on all your success, everything you've done. I've seen a lot of the fighters who follow you. Ria Ripley, the wrestler, her theme song reminds me of your kind of music. Have you ever heard her music? Oh, she's a big metal fan.

Yeah, she's incredible. Her song that she walks, I don't know what it is, but it reminds me of, like I feel like it was your song. You didn't do that for her, no, no, no, no, it feels like it was an inspiration. It's another metal band,

but you know them? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You need to, like, perform as she walks out, WrestleMania. What did that be cool? Oh, yeah, for sure. You're on the stage and she comes out.

I want to go to the, uh, W.E. WWE? They have WrestleMania this weekend in Las Vegas, though. I want to go in this industry. Oh, you want to wrestle? Yes. You'd be fantastic. I think so.

Yes. I have character. Absolutely. And you've got the look, too. Have you tried it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. You haven't done it yet.

Not yet. Where in Florida do you live? Orlando. Orlando. the headquarters. Really? Yes. That's where they have the performance center.

Really? In Orlando, yes. You need to go there. Okay, I will go. We'll hook you up. I'll check you. You're the man, Alex. And tonight, Hammerstein Ballroom, any tickets available or no?

Yes. Okay, so people can go check it out. And if they say they heard you on my show, maybe they get a handshake. Yeah. Or a rur. In their faith. What is the key, by the way? The key, this is the key for launching the nuclear weapon in Russia.

so the world in the safe place. I thought we were going politics free. The world in the safe place. Yes, amen. Thank you, my friend. All the best to you. Alex Terrible. Check him out tonight if you're in New York City.

We'll take a quick break. Eddie Hearn, our last guest of the day. Don't go anywhere. All right, that was our film with Cub Swanson. That was Alex Terrible, incredible stuff. What a fascinating guy. And I'm a fan. I'm a fan of how he conducts himself.

So that was really, really interesting. For now, though, let us be. move along to our last guest of the day. Very busy day for him. Appreciate him stopping by. He was at the press conference earlier today to formally kick off the road to May 23rd, Alexander Usick versus Rico Verhoeven. You know Eddie Hearn, kind enough to join us right here and now to talk about a lot of things. Can't wait for this. Hello, Eddie. How are you? This is a casual, Eddie. I appreciate this. Tie down. The work's done. You know, it is like 9, 10 p.m. here, you know? I thought I won the last one when I'm fired.

hours in front. Save the best for last, no? Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah. I'm glad you said that. Yeah, it made me feel better. And I know you had a very busy day, so I wanted to give us some padding, right? Would you have preferred to be earlier in the day? Probably, yeah, it may be a couple of hours earlier, but it's fine. I'm sorry. I'm happy to be here. Sorry, I've just realized how wonky my size is, sorry. No, I'm sorry. Should have dressed up for you, really. No, no, I like this look, because I feel like this is after hours. This is when, you know, like the freaks come at at night. This is when the truth comes out. So I appreciate that. Thank you so much for the time. Thanks for doing this. How was earlier today? How was the press conference? We saw the

face-off. What was the vibe like? Yeah, it was good, actually. First time I've kind of spent any time with Rico. He's a pretty cool guy. Huge. Hands like shovels. Very confident. Usick, cool as ever. Very funny. On point. Really good face-off. Great event. I mean, I feel like, you know, this fight is a fight that you're going to be watching and you will honestly think it's AI. This venue will be at the foot of the pyramids. And when I say the foot, I mean right up close. This isn't going to be like the pyramids are mild in the background.

This is going to be amongst them. And I think Rico's got a mountain to climb, to be honest with you. I mean, he's a very determined guy. He's a pound for pound number one. in his given sport, but he's fighting the pound number one in boxing. I think he's going to have to do something extraordinary to win the fight, but good luck to it, you know, and people thinking Ucic's coming, made me coming towards the end, I think it's going to be a very difficult challenge in the world of Rico, but a lovely man, a tough man, a huge

man, and it's going to be an interesting night, May 23rd. curious from an atmosphere standpoint obviously i think some lessons were learned last year in times square having a cool location isn't enough sometimes will there be fans are they going to open this up how will it look as far as the atmosphere there there will be a crowd there i mean obviously don't forget you know it is a very unique location it's not one that's going to be full up with thousands and thousands of fans but there will be a crowd um and i think you know i've seen all the drawings all the the the AI generated images, it looks spectacular. I mean, it really does.

Like nothing I've seen for. Times Square was cool, but this is different. I mean, this is one of the wonders of the world. And, you know, it's going to be a unique event. So, yeah, people in attendance, atmosphere excitement, and, yeah, something very different. Obviously, very stressful times in the Middle East right now. Is there a contingency plan in place if things get worse where you have to move the event? Not yet. I mean, at the moment, you know, we're keeping on top of that. You know, we was asked to promote the event on behalf of Ring Magazine and Turk Elisha. Shake. And it's obviously something that's being monitored, but not an immediate concern. And hoping when the event comes around, it won't be a concern at all. So all across it, but no plans to move the event at all at the moment.

How does this work? Match from being the promoter of this event. You weren't the promoter of the event on Saturday at Tottenham, which we'll talk about in a moment. And so what happens? They come to you and say, we want you to run this, we want you to promote this, and here's X amount of dollars to do so, even though these two fighters in the main event aren't your guys? Yeah, basically. I mean, you know, Saturday's event was a Netflix event. We've been promoting the last few Riyadh season and ring events. Obviously, December 27th in Riyadh, with Naya and Uwe, January 31st, with Shakur, Stevenson, Tia Fima Lopez. We also have a contract to promote the next ring fight in the U.S. as well. and we're promoting May 23rd in Egypt. So we've been doing that a while now for his excellency, and we love doing it. You know, we've got a great team of people. We like working with the seller guys, pretty seamless all round.

And I think we're trusted to do a good job. And I think we do it. You know, from our point of view, it's a bit different. We're not the actual owners or promoters of the event. We are, as I've said before, we're providing a service from our elite team to make sure that the event is run, to a standard as expected by his excellency in Ring magazine. So important business for the company, something different,

and something we've enjoyed now for, well, what is well over a year. You were in attendance on Saturday. Why were you in attendance? Well, a number of reasons. We had Justice Huny fighting on the undercard. We're in deep negotiations with Turkey-Elo-Shake for AJ to fight Tyson Fury. He was invited.

He wanted to watch Fury up close. Yeah, I just felt there is something given the situation that we're in that we should be at. And we should be in the conversation for. We had meetings at the venue with Turkey-Ele-Lashake and the Netflix executives about the fight. And, you know, as it draws closer, just felt there was an event that we should be at. Okay, so just working my way up, Justice Hooney, Saturday morning reports came out that there was an issue as far as his involvement on the, card with Spencer Brown, how did that get resolved? Yeah, I think the reports weren't entirely accurate, but essentially we have a multi-fight

agreement with Justice Honey. He fought on the card, and we didn't receive all the information that we needed to regarding his contract for the event. So, again, a lot of the reports were incorrect that we were trying to stop the fight. This wasn't the case at all. We were just simply reserving our rights and making sure that we were across the commercial contracts for the fight. And all good in the end? Yeah, I mean, obviously he got the win. It's still a bit of paperwork to resolve, but, you know, these events are pretty wild, to be

honest with you. Sometimes they're a little bit all over the place. I mean, we weren't promoting that event, so probably a little bit different to maybe what we're used to as well, but, you know, certainly we like the paperwork to be in order. What was it like for you to be in attendance watching Connor Ben and not being a part of his team, a part of his camp, promoting his kids? his fight. What was that like? I was watching you the whole time and trying to read your body language. I was wondering what was going on in your mind. I don't know what I felt really. It was a bit weird. I mean, I wasn't, you know, obviously, I guess subconsciously you want him to perform and do well and win, then you kind of realize, I mean, I'm used to screaming and shouting for

him. I've done it since he was 18 years old, done it for 10 years, over 10 years. So it was quite strange not, I guess, having that kind of emotion. You know, I was a bit, during the fight, I didn't feel sorry for him, obviously, but I wanted him to try and perform a little bit better because you could see the sort of, you could feel the crowd feedback and you could see him getting incredibly frustrated as well. So, yeah, I don't know. I didn't feel many emotions, if I'm honest with you.

I mean, it's quite strange that. Mr. Eubank plumped himself next to me. That was good fun, and I had AJ on the other side. So, you know, it was a frustrating night for Connor, obviously, but he got the win. What did you think of his performance? You said frustrating, but to expand on it, what did you think of how he looked? Yeah, I mean, I think the whole thing, really, you know, Regis obviously shouldn't have been in the ring. I think he probably pulled out the fight about four times and was kept in the fight.

And obviously, he said after the fight that he had, I think, four injuries and was petrified going into the ring. and I think Conner would be very disappointed not to get, have got him out of there. He was there for the taking. I don't think, I don't, I don't think Conner's as effective down there in that way. You know,

I think he didn't look like he had any power, any shots. And I think he looks a lot better and a lot stronger and more effective. I put 154 or even closer to 160. But, you know, a frustrating night, some bad cuts, but obviously an extremely lucrative one at the same time. Did Chris, Eubanks say anything to you throughout the fight? No, not really.

I congratulated him on the birth of his twins. I got a grunt out of that one. And when he said goodbye to AJ at the end of the night, I thought, I might get goodbye here. And I didn't. And then AJ said to him, oh, Chris, Eddie says goodbye as well. And he sort of gave me a fist pump and smirked. It was okay.

It was pretty cool, actually. I think when you go through things like that, we had two really good fun promotions, to be fair. And I don't think I'm his favorite cup of tea, but it was good fun. Did you run into Connor at all? Did you see him? No. Did you try to speak to him or no? No.

There's nothing to say, really. I mean, you know, it gets talked about all the time. And, you know, I was at the media press conference today. They were asking me loads of questions. about it still. It's kind of like never-ending, but I'm not really, you know, it is what it is. There's a few loose ends to tie up, but the teams across that. And, you know, it is what it is.

It's done and dusted. One last thing on him. I thought it was interesting that, well, I guess the media was just sort of saying what they're told, free agent now. Is he actually a free agent? Do you feel like he's a free agent? I think if you want to get sucked into the fact that someone would pay 15, million dollars for a 10 round fight where it's probably worth a million dollars and have no future

options no deal in place um you are probably the biggest idiot on the planet um but that is what was reported to us that was what we had to effectively match and now it's a case of making sure there's that disclosure in place to prove to us that that is the truth, of which we will be making sure it is the truth. And if it's not the truth, there'll be a major problem and we'll get to the bottom of if that is the truth or not. I would be astonished if it is, but that's what Zufu's lawyers told us. So like I said, we'll look at full disclosure on that to make sure there was no prior conversations, no prior agreements, or nothing in place at all that will suggest that this fight is anything else than a one-fight deal for $15 million for a 10-round

fight on an undercard with no future options. Did you see Dana White's video on Saturday promoting this fight? What, when he couldn't pronounce Regis' name? Progris, I think he called them. Progross. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was like, I was quite surprised that, you know, you'd make that unbelievable investment and not even turn up. I mean, obviously, I know he has his UFC event as well, but I didn't see any senior executives from Zuffer at the fire in the changing room. It's a pretty significant investment, isn't it? You must have some serious money if you're just willing to spunk 15 million up the wall in a 10-round fire and not even send anybody.

to sort of try and secure that deal post the one fight deal. Quite astonishing. They must be very confident that they can carry on that agreement. Were you surprised no one was there? Of course. But it doesn't matter, does it, if you already got him locked down. And so then the big one is, obviously, Tyson wins, and there's this big interaction afterwards.

And a lot has been said about it. You just said that there were meetings at the venue, with Turkey and the Netflix executives, was the thinking that it was going to be announced and that didn't happen? What actually did transpired? I think there's a difference between we're all moving forward to finalize the fight

and a fight being done and signed. And the first is where we are at the moment. It is absolutely our intention to try and close this deal with His Excellency. with Netflix, with everybody involved, but it's not done and it's not signed. And we have been here on a number of occasions before, not with his excellency involved and not with this amount of money where the fight has fallen through.

And, you know, we were asked to get into the ring and I asked AJ if you wanted to get in the ring and he said to me, I don't want to get in the ring and announce a fight that's not done. I feel like that's kind of not being fair and honest with the British public either and getting people excited. What if it doesn't happen? How many times have we done this before? So I said, no, I get it. So I told the guys we wouldn't be getting in the ring and they said,

okay, but he might shout something over the rope. He said, no problem. He can shout what he wants. And that's kind of where we got to. And I think on reflection, I think AJ did a pretty good job all around. I mean, it's quite easy at that point, Ariel, as you know, to just get in the ring. next thing you're in a ring announcing a fight that you haven't even signed for and this fight is the biggest fight in the history of British boxing. It's the biggest fight in boxing today and it's one of the biggest fights of all time.

I don't think it's something we should play around with and just be told to do that and do that until everything is in order in a place that we want it to be, especially given what AJ has gone for over the last couple of months. We need to make sure that everything's exactly right for us. And as I said, we're fully committed to making this fight, and I fully expect this fight to happen. But it will happen at our speed in the right way, and hopefully that won't be too long. I'll go one step further. I thought AJ looked phenomenal in that exchange. He looked unbothered. He called himself the landlord, the boss.

We showed the photo of him, not with the overt, aggressive FU, with the sort of low-key, like you've got to put your eyes down here and look at my FU. Yeah, I don't even see that one. Yeah. this one. Let's show him the other one. The other one is so damn good of the low F you because it's like, I don't even have enough respect for you to lift it up in your face. I thought

he looked phenomenal in that exchange. He couldn't have come out better. Yeah, and I was proud of him actually because when it gets stuck on you like that, it's quite easy to lose your rag and stand up and start beating your chest and get in the ring. But that's what they wanted really. And I thought

he played it perfectly well. He didn't sing to their tune. And to be honest with you, we've always been calling for this fight for years and years. And it's always been like, oh, you'll dance to my tune. You're a Dossa. I'm the champion. It should be 60, 40.

So it's actually quite nice to be called out. You know, and you hear things like Fury saying, if I can't get Anthony Joshua, I don't want another fight. Like, I might retire from boxing. So you fight me. And we shall oblige. I think there's very little doubt of that. But yeah, it was pretty cool how AJ played it.

And, you know, like I said, he's been through a lot, Ariel, you know. It's not just a case of going back into camp and signing a contract and getting on with it. Like, there's been obviously a lot going on in his life. And I think he's done remarkably well to get him back to this position, you know, almost physically ready to start a full camp. And I've got to say, he looks great. He sounds great. I think he has a real purpose going into this camp.

and I'm really excited and I have no doubt he'll beat Tyson Fury When the meeting concluded and you all want your separate ways before the fight Was there an understanding or deal in place to say hey we're going to have a face off here because there was a tweet that came out afterwards saying it was announced but that didn't exactly

you know comply with the video What was actually agreed to by the end? No, what I said to Turk Al-Shay and Gabe and the guys from Netflix was look you know AJ will make his decision during the fight I'm not going to sit here and tell you he's going to get in the ring let's see how he feels, let me talk to him.

This was before he even arrived at the venue. You know, we received the contract from these guys at the end of last week, which is being reviewed and going back to with our red line comments. So we're not, you know, whilst I hope the contract will be dealt with swiftly, it's just not done. And I think it just, you know, I think maybe a little bit of a lack of communication because I think his excellency is probably the kind of guy that says, it's done.

And I'm very confident he's right. But we still have to go through the process. And AJ will not sign an agreement that's 100% happy with. Was Turkey upset that he didn't get into the ring? I don't think so. No. And I think after the fact, I think he would have quite enjoyed the exchange. I mean, I thought it was quite dramatic.

I mean, you've got Turkey in there calling AJ out, calling me out. Make the fight. Will you accept? Get in the ring. And we're kind of just sitting there. You know, the whole stadium's watching AJ. and it was just, it was, it was, it was pretty wild, to be honest with you. There's a lot of pressure.

It felt like a standoff. Well, it was. It was like, you know, we're not, we're just not going to sing to your tune on this one. You know, we're going to do the right thing. We tell you now we want the fight, but we'll make sure that we get everything done properly. And in due time, AJ will be there to collect his rent. Incredible line, by the way. the issue is we're so close and we still hear one more fight before the big one can we get rid of

that one fight and just have how much longer do we have to wait the contract that we have been offered includes the one fight in july so we had a couple of discussions with with those guys about the possibility of going straight into the fight or a runout fight in july and then the fight in November. Our preference, to be fair, was as it always has been, to have that fight first. Okay. Now, again, going back to Ariel, Tyson's just done 12 rounds and a really good warm up with MacMoodov, we will likely do the same. And I think given the injuries that he suffered in that crash and given everything that's happened, that is the right thing for him to do. now people saying about Deonté Wilder

and I've said before in the media in the last couple of days we will take Deontay Wilder first and then fight Tyson Fury if that's what people want us to do and if that's a different deal to look at we'll look at that as well but I think the level of opposition that we're expected to fight in our run out it's probably the same kind of level as MacMoodov

and they don't want too much risk because it's what is at stake with AJ against Fury you know, but we have to do what's right for AJ as well, you know, and I think given the situation, I'll be honest, I would prefer the plan to stay the same, but, you know, we'll see what happens in discussions. Was the fight on Saturday Fury's one fight, or does he have another one fight before the November fight?

No, I don't know what his contract says, but, you know, he wanted a fight first, and we wanted a fight first. Okay. The big problem is, is our fight was supposed to take place in March. But unfortunately, that couldn't happen. So our fire is delayed by three or four months. That's the issue. Originally, the plan was we have our warm-up fire in March.

He has his in April, and then we fight in August. But because of the situation, ours is delayed by a couple of months. Have any names been discussed for that July fight? I know you said probably not a wilder type, and that makes a hell of a lot of sense. No? Yeah. No, no, not really. I mean, again, no one of serious note, if I'm honest, I think if that would be everyone's preference.

You know, the story is the comeback. The story is the return to the ring. But we would not go into that fight without having the Tyson Fury fight signed. Would that be an O2 type of arena or bigger? Again, yeah, wherever those guys wanted to stay in situations, including the Tyson Fury fight, we will take that fight where it. it's decided it will be. You know, I know there was some discussions about Croke Park.

If it was a summer fight, now we're looking at November. So, you know, Wembley has been discussed as well. But, you know, we'll be led by those guys. Can you explain how AJ can fight again on Netflix while he is still contractually tied to the zone, right? So how is this going to work out? It will be the same thing as the Jake Paul situation. Yeah.

I mean, ultimately, his fight in July is likely to land on the zone. Okay. And then the fight in November is likely. to land on Netflix. So again, a commercial agreement between all parties to make sure that DeZone, who are not just AJ's exclusive partner, they're our exclusive partner as well, are happy with the situation and the setup. We did it before. We got the Jake Paul fight over the line and we're pretty confident that we can do the same here. This contract that you received at the end of the week, is there a lot of work to be done or are we in a pretty good place?

We're in a pretty good place. I mean, obviously there's a red line to go back. It's a It's a big fight. We, you know, these guys move very quickly, you know, almost to the point that you could receive a contract and say, you know, we want it back tomorrow. But AJ is a meticulous guy, you know, he's got his own legal team as well that sit across stuff that will review it. We'll review it on his behalf of our legal team. And that's been done now and it will go back to the Saudis in the next sort of 2448 hours

for their comments. And again, you know, I think they're very keen to get it tied up. So there's nothing major in the red lines, but obviously things that have to be dealt with to make sure everyone's happy. Will TKO be involved in the fight? No. Are you surprised they got the Sky deal? No, not really. I mean, I think, you know, it's probably a good deal for Sky, really.

I think they don't have any boxing content. They've done a deal with MVP for a few number of shows. and then, you know, who else are going to, a Sky are going to go with? Matrim are with DeZone, Queensbury are with DeZone, boxer with BBC, you know,

they've got the women's boxing with MVP. I think it makes sense, you know, I think gives them a little bit of noise, but what we're seeing so far on Sky Sports was the Zuffer show from, I think, last weekend or the weekend before, and I think there's another one coming up. And then they plan to do something in June with Chris Billum Smith now.

But, you know, not exactly setting the world on fire. They've signed a couple of these names, CBS, Richardson Hitchens, Edgar Berlangard. These are types of fighters you were expecting them to sign. Yeah, I think, yeah, again, to me, it's not really the fighters. It's more the delivery of the shows and what the plan is. You know, I mean, they keep staying in the apex there. And every show that comes up is just so random. And I don't know.

Like the last one came up with zero promotion. I think they've got another one coming up with Shane Mosley Jr. Is it headlining or something like that? Yep. Again, like very little. Is the league thing even happening? You know, what is happening with the governing bodies? Obviously, Jayao Pottar lost his belt.

Richardson Hitchens has now had the mandatory called on him, which was ordered before he joins Zuffer anyway. is that going to be a thing? I don't know. You know, it just, you know, I say all the times. I've said it before, these guys are very powerful and smart, but I actually don't think they know what they're doing. But the more I look at it, I'm not sure there even is a strategy.

It's kind of like sign who you can sign and then go from there. I mean, let's be honest, either way, if it's part of a multi-fight deal or if it's a one-fight deal, which is very unlikely, the Conor Ben deal may go down as one of the worst pieces of business in I just can't understand the strategy there but you know I give them the benefit of the doubt that they are these super smart people and they have some kind of plan we are approaching five months in and I haven't seen anything yet that is remotely impressive but have you seen one Zuffer show so far How many have we had?

Six? Five, six, seven. Yes, maybe less than that. Yeah. At least five, I think. Four or five. Yeah, and this one's coming up six. Have you seen one impressive show so far?

Or anything impressive from Zuffaboxing. Well, Canelo Crawford, I thought, was a really impressive show. No, but let's be honest. I'm not even being a hater. Like, it's just, it's not, it's just, if I did those shows, I would get screamed out of town by fire fans. What is this? What is Eddie Hearn doing?

There's 150 people here in this room. And who are these people? What are these fights? So, yeah, I don't know. The longer it goes on, the more confused I am. But maybe it's part of this bigger plan. Maybe they're trying to lull us into a sense of security. And it's like, we don't think they really know what they're doing.

And then bang, they come out. and they really know what they're doing, but not so sure. As an aside, we had Shakur on yesterday. Could you imagine a world where Shakur being promoted by Eddie Hearn is fighting Conor Ben? What a scene that would be. Yeah, Conor Ben's not going to fight Shakur, but they'll do everything they can to make the Ryan Garcia fight, I think. You know, how big that fight is. It'd be interesting.

You know, it'd be interesting to see the Netflix numbers from the weekend. And interesting to see how many, so many folks. We lost them there real quick. And we were cooking with gas. Can't be his phone, right? Oh, okay, all right. A little technical difficulty. But we will get back to Eddie Hearn,

who is always a great chat and very insightful and very open and honest with his feelings, which I always very much appreciate. So we'll get back to that in a moment. Can't wait for tomorrow's show. Today's show has been another tremendous day. And yeah, by the way, this weekend, match him with another show, Molly McCann fighting on the card.

It's in Liverpool. Ben Whitaker is back as well. He is Must-C-TV. There you have it at the MNS Bank Arena. That's on Saturday, April 18th. So Saturday is a very busy day in the world of combat sports. that show. UFC has a show as well in

Winnipeg. Mike Milott against Gilbert Burns. Jasmine Jazz DeViscius on that card as well. Jazz divisius. Charles Jordane looks fantastic. I mean, golly, I saw his photos. He looks phenomenal. And, well, there's the

MVP card on Friday as well. WrestleMania two nights, as we discuss. He doesn't think that Connor Ben is to fight Shakur Stevenson. It does seem like they're moving in the direction of Connor Ben versus

Ryan Garcia, which I think would be a big fight. So let's reconnect with Eddie real quick here. They want to keep him too much longer. Okay, we lost you there, Eddie. Apologies for that. You cut me off. I don't know what happened there. The host ended the call.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it as well. Normally that's something that would happen. It would be my fault, but, you know. Whips will be cracked, I can assure you. By the way, Netflix announced today 5 million in the UK for Fury Mahmoudov. Good number, bad number in your opinion?

I've never seen it announced like that before, really. You know, like every other show is given a global number. So, but I would expect that, I mean, the bulk of that viewership would be in the UK, no? Yes. So you'd have to think that the number was less than 10 million, certainly. And it may even be less than 7 or 8.

and you know that that seems much less than the normal numbers from their boxing offering i don't know but just strange that a uk number was given i felt rather than a global number okay let's see if they come out i've been on the air for a few hours so i don't know if they came out with that but i don't think they have um just wanted to go back quickly to dana he did say this weekend that turkey actually reached out to him about booking you versus dana Did you receive a similar call? Not a real official offer, but Turkey's kind of asked me if I'll do it. And we've had conversations in an offer from misfits as well.

Oh, God. So, yeah, it's quite interesting. I mean, he's kind of got me a bit excited about it, to be honest with you. I mean, he called me out on the Pierce Morgan Show for a fire. I explained that I'm pretty useless. I've seen him spy. He looks quite decent. So I've got into a little bit of train.

I've started to think about it. I've started to visualize my ringwalk music. And I've started to get very excited by the money. And now he's kind of, he keeps calling me a pussy. But I'm like, well, let's see if I'm a pussy. And then he says, yeah, but we're both bums and we'll go on the start and I mean, you know it would this be. Gigantic. Huge. I mean, we would make 30 million each. So I'm all over it. So, you know, stick me in, put my name down, find me a pair of shorts, and I'll travel. So he called me out. I accept.

You're in. So basically what you're trying to say is who actually is the P word, right? That's what you're trying to say. What I'm trying to say, you put words in my mouth, Ariel. Let's find out who the real pussy is. Do you think he actually considers this? I mean, if he really thinks, like, I don't know, what does he think I'm an easy touch? I mean, I'm very limited, but I'll have a right go. I'll tell you, I'll get myself in good shape, and I'm a big lump, and I think I'll knock him out. But also, if I get knocked out and I make $30 million, it's not the saddest day in the world, and people would find it quite amusing. He said he saw your speedbag work, and he thought it was in slow motion. I thought that was a bit harsh

I thought I mean that's one of Look at that It's nice work I'd like to see him do that I'd like to see him do that I don't know about the facial expressions But I'd like to see him do that Look at that

I could do that on his head Looks very similar Just ping him all night Quite excited about it now I'm gonna go and hit the gym after this call You told us that there was a bit of a DM exchange Any more interactions between you two recently No

No No since the Tom Aspenon. I mean, yeah, I mean, no, on the Tom Aspen stuff,

I mean, I think there's, you know, at some point, it's going to be really interesting to see what plays out there, obviously, after the Pereira game fight.

Because Tom's going to be ordered to fight the winner. And, you know, I've had a lot of exchanges and discussions with Tom. He's made it quite clear of his position. And I think we're all completely aligned on what we want to do moving forward.

We're under contract to the UFC. We want to continue. Tom, Scott, some big announcements coming up. One of them there just become, you know, a presenter on Adzone boxing show. He's going to be really involved in the UIC against Rico, broadcast and build up as well. But more importantly, he's starting to get back into training. And I think he's excited at a potential return. And, you know, it's not a time for calling out what's right and wrong.

But I said to a reporter today, tell me the top five stars in the UFC right now. So I'd like to ask you the same question. I'm curious what that reporter said over at the boxing press conference. Well, I'd not heard of all of them. Okay. I'll say, yeah. I mean, he said, he said Islam. Yep, I agree.

Tom Aspinon. Okay. Pereira. Yep. Um, who else you're saying? Ilya Tuporia? Yes, he said him. Hamza Tshmaev?

Yes, and him. I think that was the five. Okay. And I was like, I mean... And obviously, Connor McGregor might be coming back in July. Yeah, but I did say to him active. Yeah, active. So, you know, I mean, I don't know.

I just feel like right now, I'll look at Tom Aspen and think, you are one of the biggest stars in the sport. And let's be honest, that heavyweight division is limited. and whoever wins out of Pereira and gain, the fight with you is huge, huge. So it's going to be an interesting discussion because I think they really need Tom to return. And I think he can provide them outstanding value, huge interest and big numbers, and we want to be respected in that fashion. Couldn't agree more with everything that you said. Have there been any talks about,

when they want them to return, et cetera, nothing. No, no conversations. He hasn't heard anything from them, nor have we. Only that, Tom's getting himself fit and healthy and ready for a return. And he's excited. You know, he feels great. I mean, he's excited to have some support and an army of people and an organization behind him fighting for him.

So, yeah, we're very excited. And the aim, you know, the aim is to, help the UFC in continuing to build the brand of Tom Aspinall. And inadvertently, that's going to benefit the organisation. We're going to make one of their champions an even bigger draw. We're going to make sure that he does bigger numbers. We're going to provide more value to you for him. So that when we come to the table, when we're talking about a new deal or whatever it is, I can show you the value that he is bringing to the organisation. And the reality is that Tom Aspinall versus Alex Pereira or the game rematch, he's a huge fight.

In fact, it's one of the biggest fights that can be made within the UFC. Or John Jones, by the way, who still used to say that... I mean, even better. Yeah. I was hoping to see him at the O2 event a couple of weeks ago in London. I thought he should have been front and center there. Which is a war, no, no, UFC. Oh, the UFC?

No, I think he was very surprised he never got an invite. he got a text from Dana at about 6pm on the day of the fight saying would you like to come tonight and he lives five hours away so that wasn't ideal but I just I just find it baffling that you can do an event in the UK and not invite the heavyweight world champion who is from the UK and I mean let's be honest it wasn't exactly a card full of huge names was it Tom Aspinall Beating in there would have would have been great for the event so you know but whether he was an afterfall or just they just forgot that he lived so far away from London who knows but yeah he would have gone for sure if he was invited I saw you mentioned recently other UFC fighters have reached out you've talked to them you also said that to us at the very beginning but some time has passed any names that you can discuss no but we've spoke to probably half a dozen UFC fighters. I don't think we want to go and start building a huge roster of UFC fighters. We are a

sports management company. We just signed the biggest star in rugby in Henry Pollock. We have another signing dropping this week as well. I do expect us to sign one more minimum, maybe two more UFC fighters. But again, not looking to become a UFC management organization, but there will definitely be additions to the team. Can you give us hints? British European champions, men, women. Okay, fair enough, fair enough. You have a show this weekend. We'll round third here, as they say in America,

meaning we're coming home. Show this weekend, Ben Whitaker, who's must-see TV, in my opinion. Molly McCann on the card as well in Liverpool? Yeah. This is good stuff. A really big run coming up. So Ben Whittaker fights, Suarez,

who's a big power puncher. This is a big moment for Ben, a big run, because if he's successful on Saturday, he'll go on the boots and his Zander Zayas card for his American debut. Wow. The Barclist, which will be huge for him. So he must win on Saturday. And then we're on a really big run.

After Ben Whittaker, we're in Las Vegas for Jarrell Miller against Perro, Eliminator for the World Heavyweight title. Then the Wednesday, the week after, we're in Melbourne. Sky Nicholson headlines. Jake Wiley as well, our brilliant heavyweight, Teramawana, Teramuana. Three days later, we're in Wolverhampton. on May 2nd for Connor Walker against Sam Eggington, which is sold out. Then we have a week off.

Then the weekend after that is Dave Allen against Philip Hergevich in the UK. Then the week after that, we're in Egypt, in the pyramids for Usik against Rico. And then May the 30th, we will announce a huge world championship fight in the US. And then the same night, Dmitri Bivor will fight as well. June the 6th will be Dawton Smith defending his world title against Puello. June the 13th will be the return of Bam Rodriguez, which we will announce this week. And June 27th, of course, the big one, Geron Ennis against Zanderzai. So a mad run coming up.

And that's all wedged between Ariel. Thursday and Friday, the 25th and 26th, the U.S. Masters Darts at Madison Square Garden. Oh, yes. Which you know we love around these parts. That was incredible, by the way. It's completely sold out now. We're going Thursday and Friday then. Oh, I like that.

England are playing on the Saturday in afternoon. Brilliant. And then Boots against Zander is that night on the 27th for Barclays. Wow. Yeah, England's playing over at MetLife. Golly, what a freaking weekend that is. That is tremendous stuff. You went through the whole list there.

So Whitaker, if he wins this, gets to fight on that car, which is tremendous. And I saw the seating chart, tickets flying, correct? Really going well. I think we're close to 10,000 now already. Wow. I think it was old 16, 17,000. And there's going to be a complete sellout of Barclis. really, really happy.

I mean, look, for me, this is the fight that turns boots into a superstar. You know, Zanda, you have to give him unbelievable credit. He's 23 years old. He's the unified world champion. He's fighting really like the boogeyman, or bogeyman, whatever you want to call it, of the division. He deserves massive respect. You've got huge Puerto Rican fan base. You've got thousands coming from Philadelphia as well.

For me, this is the fight of the year. And I'm really pleased to be holding it in New York. I love MSG. I like the Barclay Centre for this one. You know, I think it's going to be a great little crowd, great atmosphere and tickets of flying. And this is just top-ranked matchroom, de zone, no cellar involved, no ring.

Correct. Correct. Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, we're doing a lot of business now with top-rank, which is good. You know, this is the third fight we've done this year, and there's two more World Championship fights that we're negotiating for May and June.

So it's working well. I think, you know, the zone have been really smart. bringing all these promoters together. You know, you've got every big name fighter locked in to DeZone and, you know, that solidifies their position as the global home of boxing. Incredible as always, Eddie. Sorry for keeping you up. Sorry for putting you on last. But it was out of respect. Truly the best for last wanted to have some time to. It really was. It really was. But thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Congrats on today and all the great stuff

coming up. We appreciate it as always. Cheers. Take care. There he is, Eddie Hearn, the headman over at Matchroom Boxing, and of course, Matchroom and the Matchroom Talent Agency, a lot to get to with him. And he's always very, like I said, always very gracious with his time. What about him off the top of the dome going through that schedule? How many promoters in this game? I'm not naming names. I just want to know.

How many promoters do you think could go through their schedule between now and the end of June? Give me a fucking break. How many? I just want to know. I just want to know. I'm actually not. I don't know if. any, this is why I say

and it's not just about like what you say at the podium and all this stuff, how many could do that? I don't even know if I could do that and I cover the sport and go through the Ross. Maybe I could. Maybe I could go through like the upcoming slate of shows. But what about that nugget there? Ben Whitaker, if he wins on Saturday, is fighting June 25th. What about that weekend?

Thursday, Friday, darts at MSG, England, we were just talking about England and MetLife and then Boots Eyes, do we do like a whole four-day event? That's the dream right there. What a weekend. Are you kidding me? He just reminded me about the darts. I texted my boy that I go with.

Yeah, got to go to the darts. Could you imagine if you're flying over from the UK to the New York, New Jersey area, you could go to Darts at MSG Thursday Friday, you could watch England during the day and then boot Zias on Saturday night? Yeah, that's cool. With Ben Whitaker making his debut? 5 p.m. for England, Panama. That's cool and all, but I'm watching Dana White versus Eddie Hearn.

Let's see who's a pussy. That's what I want to see. That's a great sell right there. Yeah. Eddie really laid that one in. He knows I'll never accept it. So he just lays it on thing. But he does bring up a good point.

You continue to say I'm a pussy. I will fight you. I agree. So what makes me a pussy? Now, of course, Dana's going to say, oh, you were in your feelings, you were crying, this, that, and the other. But he's like, you're literally calling me that.

So let's see. I think, to Connor's point, I actually think it's Dana who's doing that. I think Dana's doing the, I know this is not going to happen. on pushing the envelope. I think Eddie would 100% would

do that. Not only that, he's doing the whole oh, we're old, we should open the card. Nobody wants to see that. Actually, a lot of people will see it.

He says they'll make 30 mil each. That does more than Tyson Fury versus Mahmoudov. I'll tell you that much. They're not supposed to be fighting. So seeing them fight would be insane. People would love it. Can you imagine the build?

Zufa boxing? Zuba boxing 12? Eddie said, give him a pair of George, still travel. Eddie Irm versus Dana White's Superboxy. Could you imagine if they did a face-off? Oh, it'd be next level.

Oh, my God. Well, they'd have to do a face-off, a face-off, a fight, everything. Imagine if one of them knocked them out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like a face-off. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm talking about, like, one of these at the table. Who's moderating that? Adela-Dipo.

Could you imagine? I know. Could you imagine? I've been, I've been very dismissive. I've been very dismissive of this fight, but when he laid it out like that I was like, is it possible? Probably not. Wait, them fighting? It's not possible. Dana doesn't actually want to do it. This

smells of the Elon Musk. No, I know. Mark Zuckerberg thing. Better chance of happening. Elon Musk versus Mark Zucker or Eddie Hearn versus. Eddie Hearn versus Dana, but not by much. Yeah. Neither are happening. I actually Man, I don't know, man. In each of these, there's

one person who wants to do it and one person If Turkey comes in there, it says 100 million each. Dana's not doing it. Don't think he's doing it? No. 100 million. Not too shab. This is an ego. Just like with the Zuckerberg and Musting, this is all ego.

Those guys, the money is irrelevant. For them to, Dana White does not want to get beat up by Eddie Hearn. I know, but Dana White, 100 million is still a lot of money. Like a guy like Elon and Zuck, it's nothing. Chump change. Yeah, Dana's not getting beat up by Eddie for any amount of money. Sort of like Alex terrible. Why is he doing this?

You know? Shut up. Wait, was that the one that he did? Oh. Yo. He actually sounds like a fucking bear. That's crazy. It actually sounds scarier like that.

Wait, is that the shirt? They gave you one? Hey, shut out. Go. We got some merch back here, all right? Oh, my God. You got your mask. We've got our merch.

The mask is next level. Oh, so when you ask, is it real. What were you referring to? Like, is it a real skull? Not only is it real. It's his mask, like his backup. It actually feels like a real skull. From the tour.

Oh, you think it's a real bone. That's what you're asking? Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. I mean, this dude is wrestling bears. I got a bridge to sell you. All right. What was the other one I fell for? Oh, yeah.

The freaking manager of the girl who got proposed to by a Hokit wants to do an interview. I have seen that content? I can't believe that you thought that that was real. I thought you were talking about something else. No. I wasn't here when we were reviewing that. Check this out. What is that?

Like a mini guitar too. They came with gifts, these guys? mention. Put this in the studio somewhere. Maybe the best team that's ever come out. They were so nice. They all wanted picks without wanting.

They were like, one of his team members was like, how can I get one of these mugs? I was like, you can fucking take it. You could have it, what about the one guy that came in with the overalls?

Oh, hell yeah. The one thing I was thinking of, like, we share this space with a lot of people, finance and suits and stuff. What were they saying about this crew? They ain't saying shit, because if you say something,

you're in big trouble. What are heads turning? The guy with the, With the overalls, like barely spoke English. No, I don't think he did. This dude was like, I think he was Russian, right? Yeah. Russian, jacked, full of tats, looks like Alex, but even more jacked,

wearing just overalls. Nothing, no T-shirt, no, nothing. No, no, just the overalls. I was like, I wanted to go in front of him. He was. I asked him, I was like, yo, man, are you the guy that was like, punched him in the stomach, punched him in the face? And he just, like, looked at me.

Like, he had no idea what I was saying. another guy with him was like, no, no, no, that was Bokita. And I was like, I'm sorry. Of course it was. Of course it was Bokita. Honestly, with the sweater on, Alex was kind of like the most wholesome looking of a moment. He was the most wholesome. Then he lifted up his shirt and I was like, oh, God, you forget. You forget. Yeah.

Bro, they were sending the invites that really you guys want to come to the night. I came back here. I was like, who's coming with? Who's coming with? Would you go? Everyone was like, no, no, no, I can't. I can't. Frank? You got a wrestling podcast to do. I was so tempted to say, hey, Frank in the back thinks your music's like a little.

too poppy, a little too main stream. Wow. I wish you did. Give me a fucking break. Hey, shout out to Alan Murphy, who hooked that up for us. What a fascinating dude. Shout out to Alan Murphy. What a fascinating dude. I love those interviews.

I genuinely love those interviews. I mean, there was nothing. I mean, there was obviously a little bit of fighting in there. But to me, it goes back to what I talked about with platforming and stuff like that. to me, show me someone who is the complete opposite of me, and I want to talk to that person. I want to understand you. I want to come to a place where it's like, actually, we have a lot in common. We may not have a lot in common on the surface, but we have a lot.

So what is your things in common with Alex Terrible? Well, first of all, he seems like a great dad. Fair point. Second of all, he seems like a thoughtful guy. Seems like an emotional guy. I mean, he was tearing up looking at the footage of the guy in the wheelchair. He loves fighting. You know, we've got a few things.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know. I could see you guys hanging out. He likes a fun night at the Hammerstein ballroom. They were looking at the pictures, Rick was saying, outside the Polaroids, and they're like, oh, Josh Barnett, let's go. A hundred percent. Like that's the one they pick out of the ball.

They said he went to the show in L.A. Yeah, yeah. Josh Barnett is exactly who their fan base is, and Josh has good taste. In fact, Josh has a blood sport event coming up later this week. Sounds like he's kind of trying to pilot like an MMA blood sport. Like a, like a... Who is? Alex Terrible.

MMA blood support. Yes, that event that's coming up. Oh, Blood for Blood. With BKFC. It's his event that is using the BKFC kind of like a rub for it. Yep, yep, yep, yep. No, I mean, look, he loves it. His manager spoke to me afterwards.

It's like, eh, it's not exactly free, you know? But... Well, as he said, it's his business. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Of course. He's investing. Yeah. That's May 6th in Daytona.

Josh Barnett has a show coming up later this week in Las Vegas. We may have a presence there. A lot of great indie shows. There's the Joey Janella show, the spring break show, a lot going on in Las Vegas for WrestleMania. And speaking of which, tomorrow on the program, we'll have C.J. Perry, formerly known as Lana from WWE, the wife of Miro, who is competing for the IC Belt this weekend. She wrote a column for us on Uncrown.com yesterday was posted. Great stuff, great insight, behind-the-scenes stuff. lessons learned from Brock Lesner, her take on the McAfee situation. I love hearing that sort of stuff and actually not quite the same type of, you know, take as we've seen online from the wrestling media.

So CJ was great, and she'll be joining us tomorrow on the program to preview WrestleMania, talk more about some of these thoughts. So I can't wait for that. That's tomorrow on the show and check out the article right now on uncrowned.com. Also tomorrow on the show, Platinum Perry, Mike Perry, in student. before he heads over to the palladium in Times Square to face off for the first time with Nathan Diaz, press conference tomorrow at 6 p.m. here in New York, open to the public. Ronda Gina going to be there, Mike Perry going to be there, Nate Diaz going to be there, Frances Ingano going to be there, Philippe Lynn's going to be there, I'm going to be there, I'll be hosting it. Mike Perry going to join

us tomorrow in studio before that press conference. I've been doing this show for almost 17 years now, 17 years, June of 2009, this June, two months' time will be 17 years. I've only had Gina Carano on the program. In some way, shape, or form, we were at the MMA hour, MMA fighting, Fight House Radio, ESPN, back to the MMA hour, now here with the AHA. I've only had her on once before, and that was on the ESPN version of the program in 2019 remote. Wasn't Zoom, might have been FaceTime. I think it was Skype. Anyway, tomorrow, for the very first time, we have Gina Carrano in studio.

And that's a big freaking deal. You know how much I respect Gina, how much she has meant to my career, how long I've been covering her. Now to have her in studio before this massive return fight is a gigantic, gigantic deal. And that's part of the reason why we're starting early. So again, tomorrow, 12 p.m. Eastern start, not one p.m. Eastern start. 12 p.m. Eastern. That's 5 p.m. BST over in the UK and Eda. And that's 9 a.m. Pacific. Obviously, everything will be up afterwards as well. But we'll start at 12. Gina in studio, Mike Perry in studio, C.J. Perry to break down WrestleMania. And then on the back end, we will have on the nose. The post will go up. I haven't had a chance to get it up just yet.

We'll have on the nose. And that will be with G.C. Rick and Pizzi, because I will have to leave to go to the press coverage. but we still wanted to do on the nose because so much has happened since we last did and on the nose we missed it two weeks ago we missed it last week so they didn't want to miss it

for three weeks straight and yeah a lot to be excited about so it appears as though I do have to say Darren Till, MIA nor to be found

nothing's changed we'll get him at some point maybe the move is not to promote him I don't know they don't want they stop chatting shit they say

yeah you know what Darren you stop chatting shit for we don't care no no we do care all right We don't like to promote and have people not show up. I'll try to call him one more time, but he's Darren Till.

Keep my fucking name out of your mom. Darren, enough, okay? Just show up when you agreed to something, which we booked this one like five days ago, to be honest, after the announcement that he had signed with BKFC. It's tough. It is tough. But nevertheless, we will get to him,

and hopefully you recognize that we are men and women of our word. Do we have any more super chats before we call it today, Frankie? We do. Peru's dream said that that music coming from your phone. All right. It's nice. With the UFC pushing more and more towards AI everything, how long before AI fights become a reality on peer review cards?

It sounds ridiculous, but it would solve a lot of Dana's issues. No, stop it. Listen, if that happens, I'm out. I just want to let you know I am out. If we're doing AI fights, which is essentially anime fights, I'm out. Not anime fights. It's a... We might as well throw up a UFC.

stream and just simulate the fights on there. I'm not here to be watching cartoons. No one's watching that shit. All right. No one is watching that shit. Also, shout out the Puru's Dreams. Fantastic artist online. They're not doing. Who? The guy who said this? Yeah, Puru's Dreams? Sick Instagram account.

Legend. Legend. I don't think the UFC goes that direction, but I do feel like that is probably the future, right? Get the fuck out of it. No way, man. What are you talking about? I feel like simulations like this are actually going to be the thing that people end up watching. No chance. No way.

Of sporting events? No way. No way. I think so. When I bet on Madden streams during the pandemic, people looked at me like I had issues. That's my point, though. That became a thing. Watch it.

Because we had nothing else. We had nothing else. No, but even the idea of Twitch, like watching people like streaming shit is now... Listen, they may do that as like a side thing. Like, oh, come watch. That ain't replacing the real fights. What would be the point of that? It would be predetermined.

No, only the people who made it, no. I think the AI stuff is kind of weird, like when the promos and all that. Wrestling's predetermined, but people still watch it? There's some, I could see. But we wouldn't watch these fights if they were already pre-due. I'm out. I'm out. Don't give them ideas. I'm done.

I think that's coming. This is a crazy take. This is a crazy take. Why is it crazy? Anyway, we're out in 20. We're out in 20. We ain't doing this as 6-year-olds. Who's watching wrestling?

It's predetermined? Wrestling is still real people doing stuff. It's not fucking AI-generated shit. I don't have that much hope in. Rick, this might be one of your worst things. This is one of the worst takes. How? How could you sit here in 2026 and say that? We're going to do a broadcast on what?

Like CBS Paramount Plus and it's going to be like UFC 383 and it's just all the like it might not be UFC right because then it's like there was an original brand there but I wouldn't be surprised if all of a sudden fake fights are popping out of yeah and it will get attention and it will be the UFC like it will never replace the is that what you're saying? Because if that's what you're saying yes, there's a bunch of weirdos out there doing a bunch of weird things, but it's not going to replace the real thing. Like, right now we get like the...

30, 40 years? The Snape versus Voldemort, like, uh, AI, UFC fights, but like, we're not going to get like a live UFC broadcast. People don't care about reality as much as I think you guys are thinking. Like, I don't think people care as much about the idea of, oh, I know that this is real. I don't think people care that much.

We're, we're caring less and less and less and less. I think movies you could make an argument for. What? Okay, so the... So now you get to movies. the next step after that is sports. There's no limit to how far we'll go. It's just how long it will take. Is that popcorn reel over there?

It's making me hungry. Right there, you're a shot. It's in my shot. Where? Skinny Pop. You could see that? Yes. What do you mean? It's barely noticeable in the shot.

What are you talking about? It's right in front of you. No, but it was like laying like this. It's staring in the face. Oh, sorry. The program screen that I'm looking at has a black bar that's like making it not... Thank you all for tuning in.

What else, Frank? What else? In BU 90 says, what robot fights instead of AI? Where is this coming from? Ari Emanuel has said he has discussed it with Elon Musk. I know where it's coming from. There was a guy on TikTok that I saw earlier today who basically said,

the UFC's use of the AI as the promos is going to lead to this? Not necessarily. Essentially what... It's like me trying to fight through the... yucophrize yesterday. No, what the argument that...

I was going to say, this is tough. The yucca fries were so good. Shout up Pio. And Doordash. Shout out to our friends at Doordash. What's going on? The thing that he was saying was basically, if you say, here's this promo,

and I'm acknowledging it's fake, the next inevitable step is almost like, here's the fights, and I will acknowledge that they're potentially fake. But they don't want to say that, right? So obviously, you don't want to have fake fights. You don't want to say it. You guys were just.

just saying how much you know you're you're rebelling against that and hating against that so by default they're kind of admitting that the AI is shit basically shut the fuck up and watch the fights and so this is where this is coming from like if if you're open to the idea of using this AI bullshit for your promos the the inevitable next step might be oh we'll use it for our fights as well and then if you're saying no I would never do that why would I do that why are you using the AI slot for your promos as well just make real promos so the USC is tacitly

implying that the promos are shit, they don't care about them either. You know what's interesting? I haven't noticed, and I don't watch it as closely, and WWE is filled with promos, especially on the road to wrestling media. I haven't noticed any AI in WWE. So clearly it is a UFC

thing at the moment where someone feels like this is a good use of their resources. But don't you think it will at some point? Like it feels inevitable. I mean, I mean, I guess everything is inevitable. Who would have thought we'd be? You know, I was, I was in Miami over the weekend,

and there were cars that were being driven by no one. Waymos? Yeah. Shout out. It's insanity. Yeah. It feels like we're living in the Jetsons. Yeah, miss the Will Smith Spaghetti days.

Yeah, I don't know what that. What is that? The early barometer for AI. Will Smith spaghetti? He was eating plates of spaghetti. And it was like, his hands were all deformed. The face was like warping. Why him?

I don't know. But now they do the comparisons between that video and what they can make now. And it's phenomenal? Yeah, motherfuckers eating spaghetti. We're getting fake fights at some point. Not soon, but sometime. I'm with Ariel. That'll be my bomb boy. Put my head in a floating tank at that point and just... What is this on Vice, Frank? WW's new hires expected to help integrate AI into the sports of the giant as

WW looks to remain cutting edge in sport. There it is. What else, Frank? What else? What else? Hibbert Turk 1840 says shout out my dad's chips. So fire. Boys in the back nose. Shout out.

Hit me a bag. Hey me a bag. Yo, I had one of those. I had the salt and vinegar one. Oh, there's fire. Barbecue. Phenomenal. Yeah, shout out to these guys.

Whoa. Small startup, right? Yes. His dad's chips. Local owned. Shout on to Brian. We're about. Frank, how do you feel about all this noise?

I forget their tri-state area somewhere. I forgot where they were. Shout out. Maybe Jersey. My dad's chips? My dad's chips. Amazing. Not your dad.

Yes, yes. Not your actual. Yes. That's my dad as well. This crunch packs so much power. No, it looks phenomenal. I'm starving here. What else, Frank?

What else? All I do is UFC. Ariel, we're on the same page. Or, excuse me, we're at the same age. I was a huge Brett fan. But the best there is, the best there was, the best there will ever be is sincerely Sean Michaels. Get out of here. This is Sean Michael's dock, I think, on, is it on Peacock?

Or is on Netflix? Something. Becoming Sean Michaels. I saw some clips. No. What are you talking about? It's not even a question. Brett Hart was...

Sean Michael seems like a really nice guy. He was on the show once. I like him. I see what he's doing with NXT. Shout to him. Brett is infinitely better than him and had an infinitely greater career and a greater impact on the business

than Sean Michaels. It's not even a question. Not even a question. This is very biased. Very biased. You may like him, but there is no bias when stating that Brett

had a greater impact on the business than Sean Michaels. his longevity wasn't the same especially as a headliner because of the injuries and everything that happened this dude revolutionized the game Sean Michaels was What, DX wasn't revolutionary?

Sean Michaels was a mid-carter Oh, this is bullshit that gyrated Now you're healing off I'm telling you This is bullshit Brett Hart To say that he's the best there is,

the best there was, best there ever will be isn't some like catchy He revolutionized Matt wrestling He was an excellent Executioner. What about, yeah, the excellence of execution? What about D.X, though?

What about D.STERA. What's the first match that ever got inducted into the WWE? And Brett. Because. Great match. Brett Hart. No, because of Stone Cold with the blood. Who's the only three-time Hall of Famer in WWE history?

Brett Hart. What is it? Him as a tag? Singles. And the match. Wow, that's pretty great. Where does Kevin Nash rank in all this? He's not bad.

That's a Kevin Nash. Diesel. You know, he was a legend in his own right. I'm not trying to diminish. Sean Michaels. You sure are. He said he was a mid-Carter. You just called Sean Michaels a mid-carter. There's a hierarchy. Yeah. When he was on the Rockers, he took a backseat

to Marty Genetti. What about when he was beaten Brett? Let me tell you what. Let me tell you what. Brett wasn't taking a backseat to the anvil. As great as the anvil was, may rest in peace. He was the leader of that faction. Genetti was the leader of the Rockers. And then he super kicked him through the barbershop window and

then went on a nice little run. A nice little run including going over on Brett. I mean, come on. going over on Brett. At the screw job? Yeah, he won. Get out of here. Won the match. One, two, three. Clean. He did win at WrestleMania 12, by the way, you should have said in the Iron Man match. So that's two. In which Vince McMahon said, the boyhood dream has come true, blah, blah, blah, and he came down.

Then DX. Yeah, DX was more Triple H and. Oh, get that. Was it not? China, Roadog. And Triple H for sure. Badass Billy Gunn. Shout out to Billy Gun and the Road Dog for sure.

New Age Outlaws. What else, Frank? What else? Aplexion of letter says, I think people are annoyed at Iliar Islam for the fight not happening. But the fans should be annoyed at the UFC for not paying either guy enough. Yeah, that's fine. You know, ultimately, can I tell you what? Maybe it's better that it's not happening at the White House.

Like, well, what, the event, the atmosphere might feel like a dud, like, let's have this in a raucous arena. Let's have it. MSG, if Islam fights in August, he ain't fighting in November, right? I mean, historically. So maybe he's fighting next year. But yeah, you know what? Do it in Spain. Now that I think about it,

maybe it's better that the White House card doesn't have the fights that we really want on it. Huh? Maybe that's better, because maybe it's going to be a... Maybe it's going to rain. Maybe there's going to be a monsoon. This is the most galaxy brain shit ever. What?

I'm just trying to convince myself... Oh, okay. As to why they didn't give us the fights that we wanted, John Jones, this guy, this guy. Maybe it's better to have it. It was in the question. They didn't pay them. Pay the money.

That's why we didn't get them. What else, Frank? What else? Leblanc, 8073 says a Bosnia jersey would look nice on all of you. They also sent a video for you to see. A video? All right. I am now being told by the producers that was incorrect. How could you send a video? He didn't.

Okay. Frank was just wildly incorrect. No, I ain't wearing no Bosnia jersey. And we're going to smack Bosnia down on the 12th of June, I think it is, or maybe the 13th. congratulations great story beat Italy amazing stuff great scenes but no

we weren't wearing no they did an interesting thing where anyone over the weekend anyone who showed up to a place that was announced

with an Italian jersey got a free Canada jersey you could exchange your Italian jersey your Italy jersey for a Canadian jersey which I thought was a fun little gimmick but no we ain't

we ain't supporting Bosnia here. Much love, peace of love, peace of love, but it's because, just in case I get clipped off here, it's because Bosnia is playing Canada in the first game of the World Cup and obviously, I'll actually want to be there. I told my kids I already ended the clip, so. Yeah, we're

fucked. Yeah, we're fucked. I think we have that clip Frank, do we have that clip? What is the clip? Oh, wait, which clip? There is no clip. Okay. What else, Frank? What else? Hey, Shultzzi says you see Ray Longo's rant about Yuri fight all time. I saw a clip, but I didn't watch it in its

entirety. Well, we have the video here for you to watch. Oh, do we? Yes. Serious? This time we actually did this. You know, it's all funny when the guy's preying up on Mount Olympus and standing on his bed drinking his own piss. But this is what happens, man. This is what happens. That poor guy was confused. I mean, like, mercy.

Mercy. Mercy. What the fuck? I mean, dude. you blew the fucking fight you said what's that the name you blew it you blew it you know the guy wants to come back now and say you fucking blew it holy shit you've got to be

that's incredible that's amazing stuff Ray Longo one of one OG legend tremendous I guess he agrees with Eugene Behrman he blew it what a guy what else Frankie and shout out to the Anakit and Florian podcast

what else Frankie what else that was the last one there's one more will ilia versus Islam ultimately happens was it the last one or not it just popped up oh will ilia and what ilia Islam does it happen

one to ten does it ever happen they won it on a scale of one to ten yeah oh I'll say it happens ten why not ten damn that's confident I have no reason to be confident like I'm way more confident that Connor I've been saying for

have I not been saying for a while that Connor's going to fight this here? I feel like I've been saying that. I'm way more confident that's going to happen. We thought that last year, though. I was confident. Are you more confident? Okay, more confident Pereira Jones or Ilya Islam? Illia Islam. Because both of them are still actively fighting. Pereira Jones. I think John wants it more than those other two guys and Alex is the easiest one to match up. Part of me doesn't want Pereira Jones because that means Tom gets screwed.

I don't think he deserves to be screwed because that means he's going to be sitting on the sidelines forever Well we don't know how long he's out He's training he's getting ready to go He's good He's good, all right Breaking news, he's good All right, I'll take it

Training If Alex loses to zero gone Did we get John Jones Alex Pereo? If Alex loses If he loses I think it takes some luster off Because I don't think the UFC wants to pay John what No we get surreal John too

Oh please God no No then we get get freaking John versus Tom. No, no, then we get John versus Tom. We get Cyril versus Tom. What about John versus Tom? I'm down. I don't think that one's happening.

No. What about Gable versus Josh Hokit versus what about just? What about Gable Stevens and John Jones tag team match versus Josh Oket? And Tom Aspinall. Yeah. Hockett and Asmel? The mega powers. The mega powers.

Yeah. Britain and UK. Yes. That would be incredible. Britain and USA team up. Yes. That would be nice. All right.

Finally, consonants in Val says, what happened to the world's MMA Awards? I was hoping you and uncrown would win both categories. You know what? I was told that they got annoyed of me winning year after year after year after year after year after year times 15 and they closed up shop.

No, I had heard. So historically, at the beginning, they did it in December, and then they did it in January, and then a couple times they did it in March, then they went back to December.

I was told that it was going to happen around the January card, the Paramount debut. Then I was told it was going to happen around the March card, the BMF title fight. And now I think it's not a good sign. So I don't know if it's a money thing. I don't know if it's an investment thing. I don't know if it's a venue thing. But I had asked around like, hey, by the way, what happened to the MMA Awards? Because they put out, remember they put out the nominees for the voting and all?

all that stuff. At the very least, can we find out if we want, you know? That would be nice. Just an email back that's like, just let us know. I want to say that I'm a 16 time. I wanted, I wanted the Rick Flair number, you know, 16 time. I mean, if you just say it, then who's to check? I guess, but it is weird, because you'd have to think that there is a result to the vote, right? Like, at the very least, but someone knows. Someone has the envelope. Someone knows. A bigger issue is not a good sign. Hopefully, I thought they provided a great service. And I have long said,

I thought that the journalist media stuff shouldn't have been involved in it because it's the Fighters Only Award. But I understand. And weirdly enough, those categories would get so much attention. I thought it was good for the fighters. They couldn't quite figure out the timing.

It has to be January to December and then it would bleed into other years. But it still was always fun, great memories. And I hope it can continue, and I hope that it will, you know, it will come back at some point. But, yeah, I asked around and I was told TBD, there were plans in January, plans in March, and obviously those months have come and gone. What's so funny?

Why are you guys laughing back there? Hey, we're not about to enjoy our job? No, I mean, you are. Are we done now? I mean, yeah. Jeez. Everyone's... Did you do anything to enhance that?

No, not at all. He actually sounded like that. He didn't sound like that in person. It's an unbelievable thing. I guess I could do it too if I worked on it. How does he do that on command? I felt it right in my throat. Maybe not the smartest thing to do.

Yeah, especially before. Wow. All right, guys. Time to go. It's been a great day. Do you think he's actually worn this? Yes, he's told you, I have worn these. Do you think we should sterilize it first?

No. I'll take it and wear it to our lives shows. Oh, wow, that's actually not a bad idea. Has there ever been a greater juxtaposition of personalities between this mask and me? Put the mask on and do the scream. Ooh! Is it open? Oh, it opens.

Yeah. Moves with the mouth. Yo! Da-da-da-da-da. The actual grizzly soul. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. I'm bringing this home to the kids. Honey, I'm home.

This is, yo, look at the back. It's really legit. Noah was inspired by Spawn. He's got a small head if this is actually one that he wore because it's very tight back here. Oh, I'm sure for storage, he tightens here. What were you saying about Spawn? It was inspired by Spawn from Todd McFarland.

Oh, yeah. Todd McFarlane did that Josh Allen action figure, right? On your dust? Yes, McFarland Toys. What a collection we have here, huh? We got this from my good friend. Do you remember? Yeah, of course. I remember, do you?

Yes. Harris Kavitch. Why are you laughing? Rick wasn't there for that one. I was not. Rick was on the beach. In any event, tomorrow's going to be great. Tomorrow's going to be a movie.

Show, press conferences. It's going to be fantastic. For now, though, we say goodbye. Thank you very much. Palo Costa, Eddie Hearn, Alicia Baumgarter, Alex Terrible, and you and that. Back to Raleigh, time, I see, that. Oh, different time in place.

That's all I say, peace. I'm out here.