The Ariel Helwani Show - Emotional Dave Feldman in studio interview, Payton Talbott, Matt Hamill, Moses Itauma, On the Nose

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Ariel Hewani and The Boys In The Back answers all your questions in 2025's debut edition of On The Nose (14:13).Moses Itauma discusses his path as boxing's top heavyweight prospect, why he's confident he can break Mike Tyson's record, whether he regrets skipping the Olympic path, meeting Ariel in Paris, who he wants to fight next and more (01:04:21).BKFC President Dave Feldman shares unbelievable stories from his past and discusses KnuckleMania V, his relationship with Mike Perry, Conor McGregor's status and more in a must-watch in-studio interview (01:35:36).Payton Talbott discusses his UFC 311 fight against Raoni Barcelos, acting in a recent short film, drinking expired dog food, having dinner with Frank Ocean, his experience on a YouTube dating show and more (02:24:20).Matt Hamill discusses his incredible news of being able to hear for the first time due to powerful new hearing aid technology, the next generation of Hamills venturing into combat sports, his history with Jon Jones and more (02:53:07).EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/uncrowned Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ariel Hawani Show! The Ariel Hawani Show is back in your life! On this Wednesday, January 2000. And 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be here on a lovely, lovely, lovely Wednesday afternoon in New York City. And if I'm being honest, right off the bat, I do have to say I'm struggling a little bit right now.

What happened? Well, I don't know if you could see. How are these cameras? Your finger's got a splinter? Very pruney, very dry, and I'll explain why. Do you want to know why, Frank? Did you stay too long in the shower? It's worse.

It's actually worse than that. And so right before the show starts, you know, like to go to the bathroom because here I am sitting for four and a half hours, right? Or so, give or take. And who do I see in the bathroom is one GC. And we're both washing our hands. And much to my happiness, GC mentions, hey, happy to see some hand washing around these parts. I'm like, me? Who, me?

Really? Like, I'm Mr. Hand Washing. Like, you look up hand washing in the dictionary and you see my name or my face in any event we're there we're doing multiple pumps right gc we're multiple pumping we're washing we're talking about the flu season we're talking about pneumonia we're talking about strep we're talking about it all you know real great hand washing talk. We're still talking about it all post-washing. And some guy comes out like guns blazing, like Kramer circa 1997 Seinfeld, and barrels through the door and hits me as I have the paper to open the handle like this. I open the handle like this. He comes barreling through the door, thus making my hand, not the tissue paper, open the handle like this He comes barreling through the door Thus making my hand

Not the tissue paper Hit the handle I didn't notice the Paper in your hand to do that but Kramer-esque is exactly what it was He blew through Exploded out Jammed you in the corner you were like whoa

It like pressed you up against the wall Did he apologize? No it gets worse So then I'm like, well, that means I gotta go wash my hands, right? And GC's like... It literally just happened like two minutes ago. Yeah, GC's like, oh, see you later. I gotta go. What are you gonna do? Stand there and hold your hand while you wash

your hands? Be nice to him. Stand awkwardly in the bathroom? He liked the talk from the last washing. And I said, see you later. Have a great show, man. Also, I have to say, I'm like say i'm like rick just asked me like do you ever see people not wash their hands i'm like you know what happens i was here last friday i'm not gonna name any names story within a story i don't know the dude's name but i'm in the bathroom yeah i'm sitting in the stall you know taking care of business doing whatever that's neither here nor there Guy comes running in Vomits everywhere

And just keeps vomiting And keeps vomiting And didn't wash? No no no I had to run out at one point I eventually just had to run out You didn't wash If he didn't wash his hands That guy needed a shower

And maybe even an ambulance But yeah That was the sub story. Can we go back to the other one? Yes, yes. So I go back. No, no. It's a good story,

especially if you're enjoying your lunch or dinner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Please, welcome. I go back, start washing my hands again. Now, these are one of those like censored sinks.

So like it goes on, it goes off, it goes on, it goes off. Like my shirt is all wet now. I'm a mess because i'm going on off and and i'm seeing that there's two minutes before the show starts okay then what happens is i go back to the thingy to get the thing the tissue the tissue thingy to open the door well

guess what happens it's like jammed up in there i try to do it ever so slightly to get it to where i don't touch i touch so you have to wash again what is this this is like the board game operation yes and now you have to wash your hands again that's exactly what you know the bacteria can jump right that's exactly what it is so it gets better i go like this touch oh fuck now we're like literally 90 seconds away and it's a bit of a walk from here to the bathroom now Now we're complaining about the walk. At the same time as I go back

for my third wash, the guy who barreled through Yeah. No names comes out of the stall. We don't know his name. Did he say anything to you? He had a great

olive sweater on. Don't say it. Don't say it. Guess what? Guess what? Does he apologize? Wait a minute. You're El Hawani.

Shake your hand No worse worse No wash Oh they didn't wash wow Gets worse gets worse gets worse Stands there As I'm going for the third wash Hey so uh

You guys expanding your studio or what? And I'm like what? Meanwhile all I can think about is You know the sink's right there and you still haven't washed your hands. So I'm like, yo, you know, six feet. He's like, uh, you guys expanding your studio? I'm like, uh, no. And he's like, well, you know, I do work on this other thing, this and then.

Like, uh, we heard that you're expanding. I'm like, bro, can you wash your hands first for fuck's sake before you start asking me business questions as I'm on my third wash? Did you see this too? And you haven't washed once? No. I was like, I don't know what you're talking about man and i have a show to do and he's like oh because i'm like you're talking about this studio here no there's no expansion going on we've already built the damn thing we're good all right and then i had to run and so hence three washes pruney hands dry people aren't you know quick question though so when you got penned up by the door

and you realized you had to wash your hands again... Penned up is the... The door exploded, and this man came through like the cool way. I totally get that. It's completely inappropriate. I was about five feet back. I had a great view of it.

I just... I laughed through it all. Connor quoted you... All right, see you, man. Have a good show. Connor quoted you as saying, well, I guess I have to wash my hands again. I was curious if the guy heard you say that. Oh, yeah. He did.

He laughed. He actually laughed. He laughed and laughed at Ariel. Oh, wow. He's like, alright. Nerd! I'm not washing them once. Not only did he laugh, he then didn't wash himself! Yeah. I had the fiber last night, about to go do my business, and I ain't washing. Knowing how people in New York are, I thought he might

think that that was kind of, uh, you know. This is also definitely playing in the kitchen right now, and this guy is watching this and being shamed. I don't know how people in New York are. I thought he might think that that was kind of, you know. This is also definitely playing in the kitchen right now. And this guy is watching this. I don't care. The whole thing was ridiculous. And then on top of that, he starts asking me about the freaking studio. You're right. They put our show up in the little common area with closed captioning.

So someone might be watching this right now. And we might have exposed. Tom Aspinall is so embarrassed by this situation. Look at him. He knocked him over. He's face first. He's reading the closed captioning right now and he's like,

God, that guy sounds like a jerk. And then he sees the, he's wearing a nice olive sweater and he realized, ah, stop saying the sweater. Stop saying the color. It was a great sweater. What does that mean?

Actually, if he hadn't just erupted through the door like Vesuvius, I would have been like, oh, that's a great olive sweater. Instead, I could just stand there and laugh at the entire situation. Erupted like Vesuvius. I love it. PT, you think you're missing out.

You're actually missing out on nothing. There's nothing good happening here. I don't think you could be happier than having a conversation while washing your hands about potential illnesses you could catch for not washing your hands. That seems to be utopia for you. It's bliss. Yeah, You're right. When's Uncrowned Blanchardstown opening? We're working on that. We're expanding the studio. Once we finish expanding the studio, we're going to go over to Tyler. We're expanding the studio to Blanchardstown.

Speaking of bliss, my good friends over at NordVPN, they provide a bliss for all their customers. We love NordVPN and today's episode is presented by our good friends We love NordVPN. And today's episode is presented by our good friends over at NordVPN. Why use NordVPN? It's the fastest VPN in the world. No buffering or lagging while streaming and stops your ISP from throttling your bandwidth. Yes, NordVPN protects your private information like bank details, passwords, and online identity, including while you're traveling and using public Wi-Fi. We all do it.

Plus, one NordVPN account can be used on up to 10 devices. It's premium cybersecurity for the price of a cup of coffee per month. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash uncrowned. Again, nordvpn.com slash uncrowned. Again, NordVPN.com slash uncrowned. Our link will also give you four, count them, four extra months on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee.

Please support them because they support us. You know I use them. I've talked about my experiences overseas. They are the best and we appreciate them very much. Now, before we get into things, and yes, we're having a laugh and having a good time uh very very scary scenes out in los angeles right now we have a lot of friends and viewers and and colleagues who live out there our thoughts are with you please stay

safe uh this is this is straight out of a movie uh to be honest and it is extremely worrisome and scary so our thoughts are with you all right now And hopefully this ends in very short order So please, Los Angeles, be safe out there And hopefully it doesn't get worse Now, also want to mention that today's program Is a very eclectic one It's one that we're very excited about We have a little bit of something for everyone

Coming up at 2 o'clock We have my prospect of the year Yes, in case you missed The first annual Ariel and Ade Boxing Awards show Which premiered last night At 5pm Eastern Over on the DAZN Boxing YouTube channel Which you can now of course check out

After this program is over Yes, if you're watching live, don't go over there You can do it in about 3 or so hours Ade and I gave out our hardware and Moses Satama, the unanimous pick, not just from us, but from everyone. Prospect of the year, 11-0, 20 years young, had that brilliant first round knockout. Another one on the final card, the final major card of the year back on December the 21st in Riyadh.

He is someone that a lot of people think might be able to break Mike Tyson's record being the youngest heavyweight champion of all time in boxing. He is an absolute phenom. Again, 20 years young, and he's starching people in the first round. He'll join us for the very first time on this program. I'm looking forward to talking to him again because, of course, we all remember the time

that I saw him in Paris. In the middle of the night, LeBron was there, KD was there, Noah Lyles was there, Summer McIntosh was there. KD was there. Noah Lyles was there. Summer McIntosh was there. They were all there. Bob Costas was there. Every luminary was on the streets of Paris on this one particular night.

And from afar, who did I see but the young prince of boxing, the king himself, Moses Itai. I was going long thinking that the photo might come up for those. I was going long just kind of belaboring the point, thinking the photo might pop up. There it is. There we are on the streets of Paris, myself and Moses, King Moses. What a time. What a time.

Anyway, at 2.30, the founder, the man, the face of BKFC, Dave Feldman, going to be joining us in studio. He has a massive show coming up on January 25th in Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center. They're talking 17,000, 18,000. Insanity. Looking forward to having him in studio. Of course, that's the one headline by Eddie Alvarez versus Jeremy Stevens.

There's a lot to talk to him about. At 3.30, one of my favorites, Peyton Talbot, my pick for 2025 breakout fighter of the year. He'll be joining us to talk about his fight at UFC 311 in about 10 days' time against Joani Barcelos. Probably screwed that one up. How do you say it, GC? You're saying the Portuguese name's very good, the Brazilian name's right now. Carlos Brachos?

No, no, Barcelos. Oh, Jione Barcelos? Jione, Jione. There was once a time where I had to tell you how to say the names Now you're telling me how to say the names You remember we had to do that every time for the show in the early days And you were like, so who is this Chad Mendez

In any event He'll be joining us to talk about that And then we'll end things off with Matt the Hammer Hamill Who I haven't had on this show I think ever, of course I've talked to him many times over the years. The only man to defeat John Jones. He had some incredible news that he posted on social media recently. In case you missed the social media post, Matt Hamill, the first, and I do believe only, fully deaf fighter in the history of the

UFC. He was a part of the Ultimate fighter back in, I'm going to say 2006. It was tough three. He posted this on social media. I just got the most powerful digital hearing aids ever made for the first time in 41 years. I could finally hear my kids' voices, the sounds of people walking and laughing. I finally heard my mom's voice and she cried. I'm looking forward to hearing my brother's Pat's voice as well. I only hope he doesn't have a voice like a foghorn. This is awesome. Although I know it will take time to adapt to all of this. Happy New Year.

We'll talk to Matt Hamill about that at around four o'clock. On Wednesdays, we like to shoot though. And so let's get right into it, my friends. On the nose time. And, you know, I've been up quite early. I woke up at the crack of dawn to watch that boxing card down under Gold Coast, Jaya Pattaya, once again, proving that he is the freaking man at cruiserweight. And he absolutely starches David Njika in the fourth round. Look at that. That's the first knockdown and look at him go. This is the man who a couple

of years ago, Eddie Hearn said, Hey, Jake Paul, you want to fight a cruiserweight? I got one for you. Golly. Imagine if that would have happened and good to see David walk out of the ring. Jio Pattaya, Zerto Ramirez next. Look at the smile on Eddie's face. Fourth round knockout, IBF cruiserweight champ, hoping to unify the belts later on this year. And then Eddie's talking about the Usyk fight. I don't know if it'll ever happen. Usyk approaching 40, but golly, would that be interesting if he moved up to heavyweight? Usyk moving down to cruiserweight? I guess it could happen. He's not that big. But either or, it might actually be the second most interesting fight out there for Usyk at this point in his

career after of course the winner of Joseph Parker versus Daniel Dubois on the 22nd of February all right let's get into it friends shall we shall we absolutely yeah Hut Ariel WWE on Netflix I disliked a lot about it The biggest thing I hated was the advertisements All over the ring mats Same thing UFC did and it looks like shit all the time You go back and rewatch the fights a year or two later And you think

There was a movie called Woman King Looks like shit Crypto BS everywhere What the F is sweet sweat I don't want to know I hate it Obvious why they do it but come on I'll get into more negatives next time thoughts Love the show love the crew a lot of fun listening

Thank you PS Frank's Golden Globe slap joke was great You know sold it bad play What was the joke yeah Wouldn't you like to know I couldn't care less Honestly I couldn't care less I think it's weird That real American beer is one of them.

I feel like you look at the sponsors that are on there right now. There's Fortnite. Uh, there was Riyadh Season. There was maybe Prime. There was Netflix. It all kind of feels like, you know, blue chippy. And, uh, what the hell is Real American Beer? I like, I don't even know if that's a real thing.

Is it a real thing? I guess it is. Yeah. Um. Frank was slamming something last night after the show. Oh, okay.

I was there right now. Oh, wow. All right. Drinking on the job. It's very watery. Very, very American. What if they went the KSW route and had

like the ads on the On the wrestlers? On the wrestlers. I don't, you know, goldenpalace.com. It's been a while since we saw that sort of thing outside

of the world of KSW. I'm not really bothered. In fact, it almost makes it I actually like it, to be honest.com, it's been a while since we saw that sort of thing outside of the world of KSW. I'm not really bothered. In fact, it almost makes it – I actually like it, to be honest. It kind of makes it feel like real combat sports in a weird way because you associate it with boxing, with MMA. We are used to this. I know – you know, there was once a time way back in the day, WCW, you know, they would have the logo in the middle. Sometimes they would have a Snickers logo

for a big pay-per-view. Don't really care. I actually thought more people would be upset with the black canvas. That was new. They now have blue for SmackDown, black for Raw. I wonder if they brought the black out so that the actual sponsor logos would pop more. I don't know. But I thought people would be more bothered by that. Or even the referees having a different shirt, they changed those as well. They now have like a dark gray black shirt, which wasn't always the case.

But honestly, I really couldn't care less. And it does not bother me one iota. And I know back in the day, Vince used to say, ah, it's too cluttered. It cheapens the brand, whatever. TKO is about making money As they should be They're not doing this for charity And they see this blank canvas

Let's make some money No one bats an eye No one will even remember the old days in a few years By the way, speaking of making money The one thing that continues to make me laugh Is when they celebrate Like when The Rock was out there saying This is the highest gate Highest arena gate wwe history and everyone's like yeah you know you're just

celebrating that you paid a lot of money for those tickets right like there's not a ton to celebrate there but doesn't it also mean that like no empty seat like they sold every no no no i'm 100 with you area when i heard that i was just like it's just a dollar figure there's not more seats in the building there's still only 16,000 seats in there. You're celebrating paying more for it. Congratulations. You guys are a part of the biggest gate. I would be angry at that. It's a weird one.

If they would have said, this is the biggest crowd ever, obviously not the case. They're in an arena. Okay, that's cool. Like, oh, wow, 93,000. But all you're celebrating is the fact that you paid a shitload of money now you're seeing a common thread here with the ufc and wwe tko's come in and realize hey this stuff is popular let's just like the the crowds aren't getting bigger per se they're selling out as they were generally they're just charging more for these tickets and thus every time out there you're seeing,

we broke the record here, we broke the record here. This is our highest gate for a RAW, our highest gate for a PLE in America, our highest gate overseas, our highest gate for a fight night. It's just they just figured out that they can now charge more. And good on them. That's not a knock. I just think it's funny when the crowd cheers for these things. Anyway, Patrick McCrate, favorite segment of the week. Ariel, that Kane interview a knock. I just think it's funny when the crowd cheers for these things. Anyway, Patrick McCrate, favorite segment of the week.

Ariel, that Kane interview was amazing. When he was breaking down Aspinall, I couldn't get enough. My question, prime Kane versus Aspinall, who wins and why? And for those new fans, enlighten them on just how good Kane was. Kane was revolutionary because, and it was interesting hearing him talk about coaching younger fighters and saying that he focuses on the, the striking with them. This is a, this is an incredible collegiate wrestler. This is a, you know, an all American, this is a champion collegiate wrestler

from Arizona State University. He was unbelievable. And then he comes over and he develops in large part due to the work that, you know, that, that, that he had with the great coach Javier Mendez, he became a solid MMA striker as well. He was quick on his feet. He was big. He was strong. He had tremendous takedowns and takedown defense. He was the total package.

He really was. Now, he didn't love the interviews and the showmanship and all that stuff, but who cared about that back then? I mean, it didn't really matter. He was representing Mexico and America, the Mexican-American community as well. His family had a great backstory. He was just so quick and, you know, he would move like this and then you would see him change levels, either take you down, ground and pound, or knock you out with tremendous boxing. And yes, I agree. I thought his

breakdown was great. A lot of people were interested in it. And I hope I'm not breaking the fourth wall, but even Aspinall himself was touched. He was like, wow, you asked Kane about me and he knows who I am. That's how humble Aspinall is, which I thought was great. And I was like, well, you know, are you bothered that he, you know, said that Jones is going to beat you? And he's like, no, not at all. He doesn't care about that sort of thing, which is part of the reason why I love Aspinall. I just wish the best for Kane. His story is a hard one to process for any human being, especially a father. And he seems to be in a great spot. He seems to be in tremendous spirits. He seems to be at peace with everything. And I can't imagine being in that sort of state when you have your sentencing in, what, 2011, 2009, and the bond that we had. I would always see Kane. And one time I actually told him that I was a bit of a germaphobe. And so our running joke, and I referenced it at the beginning, was we would give each other a fist bump, but like an air fist bump. And that's why I did this at the beginning.

And he laughed. So, yeah, just great memories. And I's why I did this at the beginning. And he laughed. So yeah, just great memories. And I'm happy to see him in great spirits. I remember when, you know, the incident happened and he, you know, he was going through all of that. And it was literally three months after he was on the show again, he talked to us about the ayahuasca

and the kind of spot that he was in mentally and the good spirits that he was in. And it was just heartbreaking to see what had happened once you find out about the details. And so let's see how this all plays out. But I think everyone in the MMA community is, is pulling for him. And ultimately you're asking me Kane versus Aspinall.

The fans would win. That's my answer. Boo. Sorry. Who wins? Who wins? I got Kane. Yeah.

But, but no disrespect to Tom Aspinall. I think the best version of Kane probably beats any heavyweight who ever lived. He really has no weaknesses. He really has no flaws. You know the cardio is going to be there. The striking's there. The wrestling's there.

He can beat a big guy. He can beat a small guy. He's kind of flawless in his prime. Once the knees went, then it was like all bets are off. Francis Zagano is going to you if if that's the case but at his absolute best i might have kane as the the best who ever did it do you think he was okay with me saying that tom reminded me of a potential love child of one frank mir and himself i think he was okay with it but i will say that like as you said it the wheel started turning in my head, and I was thinking that he was thinking I'd whoop his ass.

I think that's what he was thinking. I freaking love that. That in his prime, he was thinking in his prime he would whoop his ass. Because he wasn't, like, immediately effusive, and then he starts to, like, kind of, like, stretch it out and be like, he's great, he's good, good you know yeah i kind of see it like he didn't like immediately go to like i love him and so i was like i think in his head he was now i'm just playing like psychoanalysts uh based on nothing but the the delay to me made me think he was thinking a he would whoop his ass or b what he kind of then ultimately said later in terms of like he thinks he's flawed in a certain way because his patterns are predictable um but yeah man kane at his at his apex was a bad mfr man

really bad dude uh kyle hey gc i'm interested in your thoughts on round robin parlay bets i don't think i've heard you bet one on the show Do you hate them or you just don't take them on The show because they are too hard to explain Yeah I don't hate them But yeah it's just too much To explain on the show It's essentially a parlay where you're taking Say you're taking four legs

But you're putting in multiple bets To where if only three legs hit Then a few bets will hit If only two legs hit Then that one bet will hit. It's a way to sort of cover yourself on the parlay, but you have to be putting in multiple bets. But sportsbooks now give you the option to where you can just round rob

in the selection. So it'll be like 10, 15, 20 bets at $10 a piece. It's just too complicated to like. Yeah, you already lost me. Yeah, yeah. The one that you do where it's like The points The point spread is probably about as complicated as I'll go

Alright Because that one is pretty simple when you find out the rules Death of Arthur Hey Ariel and crew I'm a member And I missed GC and Rick's live chat last month When are you guys doing another one So I can make plans to see it? A cheeky request. Tell Ant Devin to do a live members chat as well.

He is a ride in the chat every week. Gosh, we found Ant's one fan. That's amazing. That's Ant's account. That might be Ant. I don't know about this members chat that he's talking about, but sounds like a great idea. Great question because I will be doing one next Thursday

I will be doing a members only Live chat next Thursday Following the boys in the back So that is What would that be the 16th of January What do you mean You were like I don't know about this members chat thing Well no he's saying

Oh he wants Ant to host it Yes He's saying he wants wants ant to host it yes oh i thought he meant like an ant members chat oh jesus he's saying he saw our chat oh when's the next chat and give us an ant chat oh i thought he said i didn't see your chat when is the next one also actually exactly yeah that's what he said that's what he said that's what yes and pc's talking and i don't hear a word that he's saying i just see him like shooting guns what's happening pc you're just's talking and I don't hear a word that he's saying I just see him like shooting guns What's happening PT You're just like talking and shooting guns PT and the dots in the microphone

Is the number one rivalry in MMA What's going on what's happening How many Negronis do we have on that mic right now PT and the microphone That he has to adjust the dots on This is a feud You're right PT Frank's just getting a bit aggressive with me

And I kind of... I've got an itchy... It's still sitting at six. Why is it doing this? I don't know what to do. He keeps turning up the mic. I had to explain the dots are called Negronis. Leave five Negronis on the mic for me, not six. This never happened.

In the old job, Ariel, do you remember? The mic just stayed where it was. Something to do with it. What did you want to say when you were shooting the guns? Oh, yeah. I was just taking the piss out of you. Sorry. The moment's gone. Okay.

Fair enough. In any event, an ant chat. You were about to plug your chat, though. No, no. I said next Thursday, after the boys in the back, I'll be doing a chat. Look at that. And I thought that he was saying like a chat where everyone could talk together. But if he wants an Ant hosted chat

I mean you could put it up on the poll will more than three people show up? I don't know but I guess if you want it I feel like I feel like every chat room every chat room is an Ant's members chat at this point that is a great call

he's holding court over there I get an Ant call every week and it's like getting a chat you know what I mean Discussing various topics It's great I just get an ad podcast I don't pick up So I'll get an 8 minute voice note

It's great I do want to also mention If you are a member For the next 5 weeks You will get interviews From our live show Back in May At the NJPAC

In Newark, the night before UFC 302 We had Armin Cerukian Kayla Harrison Aljamain Sterling, Ally Quinta Alex Pereira, and the great Daniel Cormier All live up there with us For about 30 minutes And great chats which still hold up

Not a ton has happened to these individuals since And it's my last chat with DC on air. And it was a great look back. That was a bit of a longer one. And so every Saturday for the next five or so months, members only. These have never been seen before. We will post those on the channel. So if you're not a member, step up. Matt Moe. Well, speaking of stepping up, he's asking about a stepping down. Oh, I could get in trouble with this one. Sup, Ariel. Your thoughts on Justin Trudeau stepping down as Prime Minister of Canada.

Now, Frank, I consider you my moral compass when it comes to all things politics. Should I answer this question or not? You should answer it. Oh. Okay, wait. I heard someone just say no in the background over there no no that's from another issue that we have okay perfect uh yes he did step down he announced that he'd be uh stepping down and he would be allowing if i got

this correctly he would be allowing for a new leader for the uh the liberal party a new representative to uh step up because of the upcoming election, which we expect will happen in the next few months, between now and October. And so the thought process is, he is so unpopular at this point, they want someone else to be the representative. In Canada, much like I think in Ireland, unlike here in the United States, you vote for the party, not the individual. And so the liberal party thinks if we have someone else in this spot, we have a better chance of beating the conservatives. And the leader of that party is Pierre Poiliev. I have already said on this program that I like

Pierre a lot and I like what he stands for and what he believes in. And I have also, I think, alluded to the fact that I do not like Justin Trudeau for multiple reasons. Some personal, believe it or not, and some just political. And I actually will say that there was a time where I was a fan, in large part because Justin Trudeau is the son of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who is one of the most beloved prime ministers in the history of Canada. The airport in Montreal is named after Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who was in power in the late 70s and early 80s. And when his son came into power, he, you know, and he's been prime minister for, I think, off the top of my head, nine years, you know, he was a fresh-faced, young, good-looking guy, and he was bringing in a lot of

fresh, new, innovative ideas. And it's just been an absolute mess it's been an absolute mess uh dating back to the pandemic and since a myriad of reasons that i don't really need to get into here but i'm very happy to see him go and i say sayonara to him um i i will also say if you're a fight fan he once did a uh he once had a a celebrity sort of like charity boxing match there's actually a picture of him weighing in and i also do believe that he once sparred believe it or not vanderley silva a friendly spar but if you type in justin trudeau and vanderley silva there's some stuff out there as crazy as that sounds uh it's true so anyway not a fan not a fan sayonara and what a war raging on guys between canada and the u. US What is going to happen

Is Canada going to become the 51st state Do you guys see this stuff Financially annexed They're going to use economic force To take over Canada Where am I going to sit in this battle Are we going for Greenland too Oh everything but I mean obviously the Canadian one

Is near and dear to my heart Two perhaps of the greatest neighbors of all time who have lived in harmony for, you know, centuries. Are we finally reaching... Did South Park predict this way back when, in 1999? I think it's the Simpsons. No, South Park. Blame Canada.

Blame Canada. The Simpsons has like a newspaper, or was it Futurama? One of them shows a newspaper. Nah, the South Park one was the big one. The South Park movie was the first time that Canada was painted in such a negative light. And I remember playing

in the Maccabi games, the Pan Am Maccabi games, and I was sitting in the bus as I was representing Canada the summer that this film came out in 1999. And who else but the great Doug Gottlieb comes on the bus he was a member of the American team and he sees us all wearing the Canadian gear and he starts singing I kid you not blame Canada could you imagine you imagine the despair that we were in and then of course I brought up the fact that he was kicked out of Notre Dame for some like credit card fraud situation and i think he uh had some issues oh but listen you know uh

tit for tat eye for an eye um so anyway yeah it's a tense times tense times but i i think it's i think he's just winding everyone up if i'm being honest he of course i'm talking about 47 we doing a watch party for the inauguration what are we doing On the 20th I thought we were Doing a watch party Starting now We were gonna stream Every day Up until

I'm gonna be at Mar-a-Lago Ah yeah You know yourself Boots on the ground Aldo The way I see it Pro wrestling

Slash WWE Is for kids I used to be a huge fan When I was a kid Until I realized It was fake For me that was much worse than finding out santa claus wasn't real by the way he spelled santa claus c-l-a-u-s-e

like the santa claus yeah wow anyway uh i was such a big fan that one of my first fights in school was me doing the crippler crossface on a kid and making him cry i don't think i could ever get into it as an adult until I have a kid of my own who likes it. But am I right in assuming pro wrestling demographic is children under the age of 18? You are incorrect. Are you kidding me?

I mean, the Attitude Era was all about 18 to 34-year-old males in particular. That's when it got, you know, very R-rated. Now it's more PG-13. But I know a lot of people who are in their 30s 40s who are into it and again we don't have to get all into this and get all you know we also think this person doesn't know the answer to this question um maybe he's winding me up but here's the thing one more time yes we're all aware it's scripted in fact uh like never before has the WWE leaned so far into the fact that it's scripted. In fact, they even have a YouTube channel.

I'm always sending Rick videos from it called WWE Vault, where they show you the guys rehearsing their promos and vignettes backstage. The whole thing is scripted. We know all of this. And guess what? Some of your favorite shows and movies are scripted as well. What is the difference? Is the difference that it's happening in front of a live audience in an arena where they usually have, you know, non-scripted sports? Is it because you feel like they're trying to pull one over you? I don't get it. If you just say like, it's boring,

I'm not into it. I don't like the athleticism. I don't like the acting. Like, that's fine. I don't like Game of Thrones. I don't like anime. I don't like Pokemon. I don't like the athleticism I don't like the acting Like that's fine I don't like Game of Thrones I don't like anime I don't like Pokemon I don't like Dragon Ball Z But if you're telling me That your issue with it Is that it's scripted

Well so are all those other things So is my favorite TV show Seinfeld So is The Wonder Years So is Curb Your Enthusiasm So is Actually Curb is not scripted Yeah well you're right. I mean, just had to defend them there.

You get the point. It's loosely scripted, okay? It's improv. I mean, it's almost close to wrestling, to be honest. You know what? You're right. You're 100% right. I don't get it.

I don't get it. I think you touched on something, though, that makes a lot of sense there, which is that maybe the friction in this is that for many many decades pro wrestling and pro wrestlers did try to blur that line right they did try to maintain kayfabe and kind of say like oh it's not real and take that as an offense i do think we've moved into an era where like nobody is under that guys anymore the kayfabe stuff is is pretty much dead at this point nearly universally um but it's still i still don't understand why people are so concerned about other people's consumption of wrestling

rather than just their own. Who cares? I don't care who likes wrestling or doesn't like wrestling. We were talking about this off-air the other day, at least Connor and I were. It's changed from, oh, you know that's fake, to, oh, you know, I'm not really into this. But it's like everyone has to justify,

like, I'm not into wrestling. Very weird. But I think that's fake too. Oh, you know, I'm not really into this, but it's like everyone has to justify, like I'm not into this. It's very weird. But so I think that's the new like meme is making sure everyone knows that you're quote unquote not into it. But what was the last event before this, before the Raw on Netflix one? You told us to watch it.

Was it maybe on like Black Friday? I mean on WrestleMania, no? No, no, no, no. There was one you told us to watch in like November. Survivor Series. Survivor Series. And I turned it on and I was with one of my boys And like the whole time he just told me how like He'll never be a fan of wrestling

I'm just like I don't care this is what we're watching This is what's on And then like by the end of it he was like Alright like I get why people watch it but like I will never be a fan I'm just like I don't give a shit man I am not a fan either it's okay Do you think it's almost like a shame thing where it's like They actually do like it but they have to tell you

They don't like it I think they think it's just like so nerdy and like not their thing That they just couldn't fathom But if something if there's something that happens In my life and I don't like it I don't tell people I don't like Like I don't go around telling people that People are weird

I was trying to tell you a story about the pharmacy the other day and you were like I don't want to hear this I don't want to hear it don't go around telling people that. People are weird. I was trying to tell you a story about the pharmacy the other day, and you were like, I don't want to hear this. I don't want to hear it. Don't tell me this shit. I don't want to hear what you like or don't like. By the way, go on Netflix right now. Number one, Global is raw. Or the Squid Games.

Big Rick over here plays Magic the Gathering. I could never. I would never. He's not telling me every five minutes. It's weird. Oh, you don't even know What that is I'm just kidding Listen I agree

I think it's weird too When I went to my kids When I went to my kids Visiting day You motherfuckers You're just doing this on air Nah listen I went to my kids

Visiting day And we were looking In his bunk And then I'm like Whoa Like whose cards are these There was like Stacks of magic cards

He's like oh that's That's my counselor And then the counselor Walked in just as I was Kind of like sifting through And and I was like, ooh. This is weird. This is weird. This is a card. Shout out. That's a legend right there. Do you have a card?

You're really getting... When I was a kid, I did. Now I just play it online. I have cards? It's been a thing for decades? Decades. I've been playing since I was nine, and fuck you guys for caring. Yeah. No, but honestly, to that point, GC's not confronting me in the cafeteria every day being like,

I could never do it. Why is that specific to wrestling? Where is that from? I don't understand. Who knows? I'm tired of trying to understand where these people are coming from. All I'll say is they got to Netflix first, which is where everyone from the nfl to the nba

they all wanted to be there and and they have a consistent deal with netflix and it's worth billions of dollars and it's only going to make wrestling more popular and it's only better for everyone involved so if you don't want to watch it there's a gazillion other things out there just watch those things watch yeah watch silk stockings on usa network instead all right what's silk stockings that sounds a bit erotic i think it is and also i don't think Watch Silk Stockings on USA Network instead What's Silk Stockings? That sounds a bit erotic I think it is And also I don't think that probably airs anymore That's probably like a 20 year old

Silk Stockings They would put that on after Raw That's my point, this is from 20 years ago Shout out to Wizards of the Coast Who created Magic the Gathering I'm here I'm here I'm here

90210 is no longer on air Created Magic the Gathering. I'm here. You know, just... Yeah, no. I'm here. I'm here. Also, 90210 is no longer on air. That was a tremendous program, as was Dawson's Creek. I will also say, if not... Dawson's Creek was ass. These references are not aging you at all. Listen, if not for Monday Night Raw, as the great Paul Heyman once explained

in the first, first first First chapter of this program The MMA Hour at AOL Which was on this floor Maybe even in this corner of the floor Way back when If not for Vince McMahon saying Yeah I don't mind The first season of The Ultimate Fighter

Coming on at 11.05 After Monday Night Raw on Spike TV There maybe isn't A UFC or a Dana White or a Us or an Uncrowned or anything. That changed everything because all those fans stuck around after Monday Night Raw and said, ooh, what's this? And that's what absolutely changed the fortunes of the UFC. So proved to be a pretty monumental moment.

And, you know, You're an MMA fan Pretty much because of WWE Matt Chiwizi Yeah they're going to love that Hello all and welcome back A couple of quick fire questions for you both For you both different Oh they're both different

When is the first GFL fight going to be? April 4th Location TBD Kevin Lee said it yesterday And then number two When is the first GFL fight going to be? April 4th Location TBD Kevin Lee said it yesterday And then number two As I sit here feeding my second born son Who's nearly four months old

And was two months premature I ponder Do I have a different kind of bond with this child To his sibling who's turning three in a few weeks Do you Ariel and I think Rick Who I believe is the only other parent As is Frank and Andy as well Have a different kind of bond with each of your children? Absolutely. I mean, boys and girls are different. The ages are different. There are definite common bonds. Absolutely. But I have a different connection. I, you know, I, I mentioned my second son, Walter is very much like me and I see a ton of similarities between us. And then my first son is a little more laissez-faire and laid back. Um, but I have a ton of interest with him as well.

And then the, the bond with the daughter is, is completely different. So, um, yeah, I think that's, I think that's pretty natural. I think everyone is the same. I don't think that's something to be afraid of or ashamed of. Right, Rick? No, it's not. I hate – everybody wants to know this idea of like where they fit in your hierarchy. Am I your best friend? Am I your second best friend? Am I your third best friend? Every relationship is unique.

There's not this like – there's not this tiered structure. It just doesn't exist that way. And so, yes, your relationship is different with all these kids. It doesn't mean the love is here or here or here.'s it's just how it is but yeah they're they're individual humans my my two daughters i have two daughters and a son my two daughters could not be more different and so naturally how could my relationship be the same with with the two it's it's just completely different do you know how you know the bond has been solidified yesterday we're sitting at lunch and my apple watch goes off and i look at it and it says pimp daddy 69

would like to have access to your paper with this code and i show it to rick he's like who is it i'm like this is my kid is that really his name and i texted him and he was like yeah sorry dad i was trying to get a chess uh app i didn't realize it was 99 cents. It's tied to your PayPal account. I'm like, it's all good, PimpDaddy69. I see you. Wow. Now, did you ask him about the genesis of the username or did you drop it there? And this is the thing.

Because he's so much like me, I know what the genesis is. Like, it's irony. Okay, PimpDaddy whatever number. I don't think it is irony My first screen name On AOL Instant Messenger Was Huge Joint And I was like 12

I just picked it randomly And then I had friends At school say My mom says I can't talk to you online I'm like why? She's like your screen name I'm like what's wrong

With my screen name It wasn't until years later I'm like yeah That probably didn't look so hot Huge Joint is trying To message you right now Was the name Huge Joint Or like Huge Just Huge Joint Yes Okay so message you Was the name Huge Joint Or like

Just Huge Joint No wordplay or anything I had never smoked or been around it I was 12 and I'm just like Oh this is a funny name Put myself on an island I did I can't believe you got pimped at E16 That's a sought after name

In fact I'm going to pay him to get that screen in Frank wants it This is from WhoTheFuckIsWe That's a sought-after name. In fact, I'm going to pay him to get that screen in. Frank wants it. This is from WhoTheFuckIsWe. Bonjour and shalom, Ariel. Time to test your journalistic integrity once and for all. Although as a six-year weekly listener, I have the utmost faith. Agree or disagree?

Saying Josh Allen's start streak is still intact after simply one snap against the greatest football franchise of all time, New England is a bit ridiculous. No, absolutely not. What are you talking about? He could have played the entire game. He wanted to just go out there for the boys to show that, hey, despite the fact that I may have broken my left hand in week freaking one on route to becoming the NFL MVP, I'm going to waltz out there, take the snap, and then say, Mitch Trubisky, Mike White, enjoy the rest of your afternoon. And what a performance it was by my beloved Buffalo Bills, allowing the New England Patriots to win the game and thus drop from the first pick overall to the fourth pick overall, that loser franchise, and thus firing their coach. Not sure why. If it was because of the win or whatever.

I mean, it was just a master class from Sean McDermott and the boys. James Cook gets his record. Josh Allen gets his record. He's going to win the MVP. Anyone who says otherwise is just a plain old hater. We're looking good. We're feeling good. Heading in to what should be.

Should. I say should. I feel pretty good going into at least the divisional round, excuse me, wildcard round, I always get confused with the wildcard, super wildcard divisional round, first round, if we have to face the Ravens, I will admit, squeaky bum time, a little bit nervous, but we're heading into the first round of the playoffs, the super wildcard round, against one of the surprise playoff teams, the Broncos of Denver. And wouldn't you know it,

wouldn't you know it, our good friend, the myth, the man in the hat, the mayor of the nutmeg state, the one and only Chuck Mendenhall is a diehard, lifelong Broncos fan. Now, of course, he probably isn't that big of a fan anymore because he witnessed them win back-to-back Super Bowls and he kind of jumped off the bandwagon.

He can't do this to people. It's because they have such success. It does not mean. That would be me saying to you, hey, listen, Forrest Ackerman's second. He's won the European Cup. Calm down. No, it wasn't there. I didn't witness it.

So to me, it's all new. Relax, mate. It's old hat. I asked the man in the hat to come on today's program to debate me as to why he thinks his Broncos even have a chance to appear in some sort of dogfight to hang in there with the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern. And guess what, PT? Guess what? He's on right now. How's it going, Chuck? He declined.

He didn't want the smoke. He didn't want the smoke. But guess what he did? Guess what he did?'t want the smoke. But guess what he did? Guess what he did? Typical Bronco fan, guess what he did? He sent us this. This is amazing. All right, and we can accommodate all 53 wives and coaches?

Perfect. We'll see you in February. What's shaking, man? It's Chuck, your boy. I'm out here in the magical kingdom. Getting set for my Denver Broncos to be here in February. A little recon to send my boys out here. Tough draw, man.

I am sorry that we have to do this. I'm always about the Bills. This was a tough draw. I think the last time the Broncos played the Bills in the playoffs was the only time. 1991 AFC Championship. You guys got the better of us that time. But we're playing with house money this time. Young and hungry, baby. Young and hungry. We shouldn't even be here.

I think they set us at 5.5. Ten victories, baby. We'll see you on Sunday. Ah, look at this guy. This guy is walking around the match. I have a rule. Was that a Bo Nix jersey? That was a Bo Nix throwback style jersey. That's a

gem. It was only for the weekend, yes. I'm sorry, Chuck. You can't wear a jersey of someone who's younger than you, okay? I mean, that's a full pop. You can't do that. Where are your John Elway jerseys? Listen, he's not here to defend himself. You calm down. Jordan, clip all this off. Lame jersey roll. Lame jersey roll. Where's your Terrell Davis jersey?

Or a 19-year-old's jersey right now. I don't care. You wouldn't wear an Allen jersey? Hang on, it's Chuck away. Do I need to find someone for Friday now? This is a predicament. I used to have a friend that had a jersey rule similar to that, but it was he can't wear any jerseys because he can't wear another man's last name on his back.

Well, that's weird. It's just not that serious. No, that's weird. Is he a swinger? What does yours have to do with age? You can't wear the jersey of someone younger than you? No, that's weird, too. Look, I'm just trying to take shots. He says his team is going to be my team. Yeah, they might, man. Bo Nix is balling.

What is it? What is it? Seven and a half? Eight and a half? He said five and a half. I don't know if that's true. I feel like if it's only five and a half, they're begging him to take the bill. No, no, no.

I think he meant they had them listed at five and a half wins. Oh, okay. All right, and they got 10 wins on the season? So you're saying we're playing with the house's money, yeah. a special with the 17 game season you know i agree it'll be tricky when i really know what i mean they could keep uh they could force yeah just toward and long for the rest of the night stop it make make him go with his arm five minus 455 for the good defense good defense listen i i wanted the pittsburgh steelers because they were a fraud uh i didn't i didn't want the Bengals.

The Dolphins suck, but they know us very well, and they played us tough at home. I didn't really want them as well. And so the Broncos were probably the best choice. But I'm nervous as hell. I mean, the Ravens are obviously super tough. And then, of course, the Chiefs probably. You'll see them in the conference.

I don't know. I just won't freaking watch. I'm so excited. I'm going to have to wear my Lamar jersey tomorrow. If you wear your Lamar jersey. I have my Lamar jersey as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You wear the Lamar jersey too.

Fuck both of you. Where is this jersey? Is yours black? No, mine's purple. Oh, I got the purple one. Wear it this week. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'll wear it this week.

If you guys play, you know. Well, no. You know what makes more sense? Wear your Pennix jersey this week ahead of their playoff game. Oh, hey, Mom, Bailzo this year. Bailzo threw a big old tone down on that here today. Pennix is such a gamer. We were winning that game until he saw the Bucs won,

and then he was like, you know what? We need to actually lose this now so we'll get a higher draft pick. It was big brain shit from Pennix. Kirk Cousins is never doing that. Kirk Cousins is never doing that. Kirk Cousins is never doing that. He's way better than Cousins. He's unbelievable. I think he's class.

Lefty too. Lefty named Mike. Yeah, no, he's great. Let's get Mark Ramondi on. The Bill's here. He's going to win. He's going to fucking win. I think the Bills are going to win this year.

Honestly. You think they're going to win it all? Plus 600 right now to win the Super Bowl. Hey, real quick. That's what I did. Rick was trying to talk me into a Ravens plus 600. T.T., what's up with the candle behind you? It's

light. All right. Good to know. It's helped out. Yeah, I think it's doing... It's called winter punch. Oh, that's like a soccer bobblehead. I thought it was Justin Herbert. Okay, let me squeeze in a couple more here.

Joe, personally, my walkout of the year was Anthony Smith. Not all for good reasons. The raw motion pouring out got me like no other walkout this year. Any other walkouts where the backstory impacted how you felt watching it? I mean, it's a great chat, and it's an interesting one. It's sort of like PT went with Francis Ngannou for a promo sometimes, or like feel-good moment. Actually, with Francis Ngannou for a promo sometimes, or like feel good moment. Actually with Oban, I was thinking the same because it is drawing from a tragic moment in one's life, a tragedy that they're trying to overcome.

The Anthony Smith one was really hard to watch. I remember, was it Kat Zingano who was crying during her walkout when she fought Misha Tate? I think it was, if memory serves me correct. And she had been through a lot. There's been other people who have cried. Did Michelle Watterson ever cry? I don't know. There have definitely been other ones. And there have been ones that there's emotion attached and whatnot.

But yeah, that's a recent one. And it was tough and i i don't i don't disagree i will not argue against uh your call here uh bally bunion ariel have you seen dermot kennedy's tiny desk concert i have not i know you expressed how much you love those he's up there as one of the best in my opinion just an incredibly passionate performance. I love, love, love Tiny Desk. My favorite is the Juvenile One. Shout out to Action Bronson. His was tremendous as well. He does say, curious to hear Petey's take on Dermot,

as he is an Irish singer-songwriter, wondering how he is perceived over there in Ireland by the people and what Petey thinks about him, considering last show he said how artistic of an individual he was. Dermot Kennedy? I. Dermot Kennedy? I know Dermot Kennedy. He's a great singer. He actually lives in New York, as far as I know. Yeah, really popular over here.

Sells out massive venues. I haven't been to see him myself. I don't know any of his songs off the top of my head. All right. Well, there you have it. Stephen, glad to have you guys back. Looking forward to UFC London. Leon versus JDM is as yet not confirmed.

And Patty V, whoever, not confirmed. What if any news is out there on Patty and who will be facing? I have not heard. And yeah, I did mention the Leon JDM one, I think, last year, the end of the year. It looks like they're going in that direction. So let's see. Maybe we'll be out there for that

who knows you know a little little live show george don't rush saint pierre lord ariel for this week's social etiquette question of the week how do you get people to leave your house when the party is over i had some friends over on new year's day and we had a great time after midnight we opened up another bottle and continued the festivities but after 1 a.m passed i started to clean up and hint at being tired the fellas stay till 3 a.m but i don't know how to get them to leave what should i have done this is a great this is a great question gosh i want i want i want to draw upon a recent experience there's a there's a 0.01 chance they're listening so should i just say is that the beauty of yeah, recently we had people over and it was getting a little bit late.

Whispering doesn't help. Okay. Recently we had people over and it was getting a little bit late. And I also wanted to watch the Knicks-Thunder matchup on Friday evening. And so as we were just sitting around the table and it was, you know, we were talking and it was a great time. It was a lovely, lovely time. It was a Shabbos dinner, Frank. I just sort of, you know, meandered my way over

to the other room where the TV was and where my kids were enjoying this highly anticipated matchup between the Knicks and the Thunder, and I was hearing them react to things, but I could not watch said things. And so my cue was to just go over there and sit down and just enjoy

the game. Without saying anything. I just got up and walked there. It was a bit of an Irish goodbye, if you will. In your own home. Yeah. The classic... I think the classic move... You left your missus on the bed, didn't you? No, but they're good friends,

so I don't think they care. Who are her friends and yours? No, mutual. I think the classic is the cleanup. But some people just don't take that as a cue. You got to slap your knees and say, well. Yeah. Hit them with like the heavy like, ah. That's a good one, Frank.

That's what we do in the South. You just slap your knees. You go, well. That is a good one. If you have kids, I often use my daughter in this particular. You'll say like oh you really need to get you really need to get in the bath you need to take a shower right now you're filthy let me go up there and uh sort you all out i'll put some bubble and you kind of make

it into a thing so people are now thinking like okay it's it's time to get into the bed um you know the bedtime routine uh pt correct me if i'm wrong and i hope i'm not breaking the fourth wall didn't you have an incident recently where maybe some people close to you weren't? Should we not? Just call them cops. Taxi's outside. Taxi's gone.

It's paid for. I stay in a small apartment, you know, studio. Sometimes the studio with the living room is right next to it. Sometimes I'll just get in my bed and just lay there and be like, all right, lock the door on your way out. Appreciate you coming.

That's it. And the other room. That's pretty. Yeah, this is Frank. Well, I have some people over. No, I don't think too much longer. No. Yeah.

In fact, I think they're on their way out. Jesus. And then I come back out. Imagine that this. And I do the well. Well. And then slap him. I like the well. I do the well. Well. And then slap him. I like the well.

I like the well. I'm an all right guy. Ariel. All right. I think that's about it for tonight. Looks like we're out of beer. That is all. Ariel just fell asleep beside me.

I didn't do that. I was watching the basketball. I was like, oh, fucking hell. I was like, I'm going. Jesus Christ. Let's not play. I was like, oh, this game's over. Ariel woke back up.

It's the second quarter. You're still here, man? Yeah. It's the second quarter. I'm like, oh, this is a route. Ariel woke back up. You're still here, man? Yeah. It's the second quarter. I'm like, oh, this is a route. It's like 25 to 24. It was a route. 30 points, wasn't it?

Yeah, Mavericks. Skinny. Happy New Year, Ariel. Why do you think Dana hasn't pulled the plug on Zufa boxing? Or pulled the trigger, I should say. Maybe he's pulling the plug before he pulled the trigger. Seems like that would be a win-win for them. Is it even going to be called Zufa boxing?

Because Zufa isn't really a thing anymore, in any event. That way, UFC fighters can box and cross-promote with other promotions, and they're still involved, but not directly, as the UFC cheers to you and the boys in the back.

There's no way. That's a big leap he's gone for there, isn't it, that you can cross-promote? Yeah, no, that's silly. No way. Listen, crystal ball prediction, no intel's silly hey i listen crystal ball prediction no intel just like you know prediction i i think he does get something going in 25 and i wouldn't

be surprised if our good friend turkey i'll shake is involved how about that there it is um mr clean ariel let's talk about McGregor versus Paul, I have several questions Which Paul, by the way? I'm assuming Logan You can answer them quickly since there's a few What does this mean for McGregor's UFC contract? TBD, it's still so far-fetched You know, do they count it as one?

Do they not? Who the hell knows I assume the UFC will want to be compensated Yes, McGregor has been very open About having only two fights left on his UFC contract. Correct. Do you think this fight will count? It's TBD. Is the fight KO or bust for McGregor?

In other words, will decision victory be viewed as a loss? If McGregor wins, does he call out Jake Paul? If this fight happens for the reported 250 million purse, does McGregor ever fight in the UFC again? I mean, it's so speculative. Who the hell knows? I don't know. I don't think there's, from the hardcore fans, I don't see a lot of interest and it feels like there's a lot of roadblocks. Could it happen again? I went through it all. It's a real thing. Does it eventually happen? I don't know. Is it high atop my list of things

that I want to see from Conor in 2025? I'll be honest, no. I think there's more interest in Jake Paul versus Conor McGregor. I think that's a gigantic fight. Logan versus Conor, I don't see it as much. Will it do huge numbers? Will it be massive box office? Absolutely. But I think most MMA fans would agree with me when they say if Conor McGregor is fighting fighting in 2025 they would rather see him fight an mma fighter in an mma cage any interest in ksi nope it's seeming like that conor mcgregor is fighting in 2025 i would much rather him fight an mma fighter in an mma cage would i watch it would we cover it would we talk about it of course i'm not saying that we're you you know, we're going to boycott necessarily, but it's just, it just feels like we last saw him against Dustin Poirier. He broke his ankle. We've been talking about and promised to come back for years now.

It will feel very, I don't know, for lack of a better word, anticlimactic if it ends like this, you know. It'll feel the end of his MMA career, I think, if he boxes next, honestly. I mean, maybe he's just going to go down that path, you know, and if it ends like this, you know? He'll feel the end of his MMA career, I think, if he boxes next, honestly. I mean, maybe he's just going to go down that path, you know? And if it's just like-

I know, but for all the activity, like you're boxing now, you're getting whatever reported amount of millions you're getting. There's no way. I honestly don't believe, I don't know if he'll fight again as it is, but if he goes boxing, absolutely not. Yeah.

Like you are in that world then, you know? Mikey T, Sky Nicholson proclaimed on the DAZN card during the Shauna Brown fight last night that she wanted to fight one more time

before fighting for Undisputed. She wants Amanda Serrano next, but said she would take anyone they put in front of her. What is the likelihood that she gets the Serrano fight in 25? I mean,

I think they're going to try to do Serrano versus Katie Taylor, and then who knows what happened to Serrano then. I did see Eddie Hearn say on the same broadcast, shout out to Charlie Parsons making his hosting debut. I thought he did a great job along with Sky, and Eddie was up there, and he said that Tiara Brown looks to be the next opponent for Sky,

and they're looking to do it in March in Australia, and it seems like that's, uh, the move. Um, Ade brought up a great one yesterday, Alicia Baumgartner. If it's not Serrano and it's not Katie Taylor for her, it would be Alicia Baumgartner in my opinion, as far as like the biggest fight and the most interesting fight. Um, but she's making, she's making big leaps and she was, in my opinion, the runner up for female boxer boxer of the year behind Gabrielle Fandora, who won three fights, as did Sky, but she became the youngest undisputed champion of all time, so Fandora wins, but Sky had a great year and took a big step, if you ask me. Ariel, what is your favorite WWE, WWF, and WCW belts? The old, the winged eagle WWF belt from the Bret Hart era is a favorite of mine. The old school IC title is a favorite of mine.

The hardcore title was cool because it was just so unique. Didn't have the prestige, of course. Never was a huge fan of the WCW title slash the World Heavyweight title. Old school tag team titles. Liked them much better than the current ones. Never really loved the US title. Yeah, I would say the Winged Eagle, WWF,

the IC, the tag titles because it reminds me of the Hart Foundation and the Hardcore Belt. Agent Spooky, do you have any insight on what Joe Rogan recently said about Jon Jones? He says Jones is asking for 30 million and he thinks the UFC is going to give it to him. I mean, Jones was asking for big bucks when, you know, he was trying to fight Francine Gagneur. That was in the the works do i know if it's exactly 30 no am i surprised by that number no if you compare what the top heavyweights are getting in boxing that's actually quite cheap to be honest and uh and i think the ufc record if the ufc paid john jones 30

and and they paid tom aspinall five let's just say they're still going to make a massive profit off this fight from the gate to the pay-per-'s just say. They're still going to make a massive profit off this fight. From the gate to the pay-per-view to everything involved, they're still going to make a massive profit. So there's nothing really to worry about there. It would be a big number. It wouldn't be the biggest number. Conor has made more. Khabib has made a lot of money as well.

I don't know if it's quite 30, but I know the boys in the back are going to talk about that more tomorrow. And Kevin Lee alluded to it during our interview yesterday. Not a lot of guys are in that ballpark. A lot of boxers are in that ballpark who are way less accomplished than Jon Jones.

Jon deserves, in my opinion, more than 30 for this fight and for everything he's done in his career. Does he get it? I don't know. Should he get it? Yes. Should I keep going or do we have our next guest queued up? Okay. Hi, Ireland crew.

As we're all aware, Jon Jones will likely face Aspinall next. What isn't clear is if it will be his last fight. the perfect world who do you guys want Jones to fight as his last opponent before retiring to me there's well okay so he's giving us three options Aspinall Pereira and Ghanu other golly can I get Aspinall and Ghanu and then Pereira can I get that no chance that happens zero chance that happens. Zero chance that happens. But I would love to see it. In that order. Shay.

Hola, Ariel from London by way of Dairy Ireland. Quick fire. Jones. Three-pointer attempt was worse than Conor McGregor's first pitch attempt. No. Conor's went way off. Jones was bad. His form was horrendous.

But Conor's was worse in my opinion. Paul Hughes will fight in the UFC one day. Yes. Or, sorry, true. Okay, so I screwed up both. So, false and true. Poirier will get his last dance in Louisiana. I'll say true. Either one of Bilal or Paddy return to the show. I'll say true.

Paddy would be a return. Bilal would be a debut. Tom Aspinall overtakes steepay as the best heavyweight of all time true forest win a major title again true forest our magic frank actually had somewhere to be during the christmas party absolutely positively Absolutely, positively false. I believe you, Frank. That's fucking bullshit. God bless. God bless. Some great questions today.

We got through 19 of them. Perhaps we can squeeze in a couple on the back end. For now, though, very, very excited to say hello to our first guest of the day. An absolute phenom. Just yesterday, as we were handing out Our hardware For our boxing awards Our first annual Boxing awards He was the easiest

Choice of them all He is my 2024 prospect Of the year He could be your Breakout fighter Of the year By the end of 2025

He may in fact Be the male fighter Of the year He continues to impress He continues to Inspire And leave us With our mouths open

In awe of what he is doing At just 20 years young. He just turned 20, by the way, at the very end of December. So he's doing all this as a teenager. He just turned 20, 11-0, knocking everyone out. And we're talking about him in some big fights and potentially being the man to break Mike Tyson's record of being the youngest heavyweight champion of all time. Of course, I'm talking about the pride of England, the one and only Moses Itauma, kind enough to join us is he there there he is with a bit of a haircut hello moses you got a haircut i had to shave it off i got bored of the hair

oh my gosh when did this happen uh literally straight after my fight as soon as i landed um from saudi i went to a barber shop, got rid of the hair, and then flew out to Slovakia to spend Christmas with my family. I love it. By the way, happy birthday, happy holidays. You mentioned Slovakia. You're born in Slovakia, right?

Yeah, I was born there. I lived there until 2008, and then we moved. Me and my family moved to the UK, Chatham. Why did you move? There was a lot of reasons why. And I think the main reason was opportunities.

Like, if I was as good as a boxer as I am, but if I was in Slovakia, I wouldn't be here right now. Did you ever play hockey as a kid? I think that's a national sport in Slovakia, if I'm being honest. No, I didn't play hockey. You didn't, right? What is life like as a kid growing up in Slovakia?

I think they're very tough on the school. I don't really know i wasn't i wasn't i wasn't obviously i wasn't a kid growing up there obviously i moved in england to 2008 so when i was there i was only like three four years old i don't remember that you know what's crazy about this man you said 2008 and i'm like oh he was probably like i forget that you're 20 i forget that you're freaking 20 so when i think 2008 i'm like oh he was 14 yeah you're right you're you were you were young you probably don't remember much right if anything no i don't i don't remember i don't remember too much from slovakia i mean my brother's got a lot a lot more memory of it my eldest brother he was he was seven when he moved out of um slovakia and my mom just thought it'd be a wise idea to chuck him in an english school and he was just there seven years

old in like year two or something and uh he did not have a clue what's going on obviously as with me i can i never really had to learn another language. Sure. I just picked up both of the languages. So, yeah. Okay. So, I'm fascinated by this, Moses, because, you know, all those things I said about you, you've heard this. Everyone's talking about you being a phenom and there's a lot of, you know, lofty expectations being put on your shoulders, but you are so young. And I told this story yesterday, May of 2023, I go to Ireland to cover the Katie Taylor, Chantal Cameron fight, the first one. And I get in the cab and the cab driver asked me why I'm there for the boxing. And he doesn't want

to talk about that fight. He says, do you know the name Moses Itama? That is the future. That man is the future. Now, young man, that's may of 2023 you had just started your pro career you were like five months into your pro career and so then hearing more and talking to more people everyone's putting these you're the next guy you're you're after tyson and aj and all these dudes go away it's all on you how does a young man deal with all that you're just you're just a teenager how are you so grounded how are you so humble and down to earth when the entire world is putting these expectations on your shoulders well i don't really look at other people's expectations i haven't got anything to do with me like i know my skills i know my ability and i've got i've got i just gotta showcase it. And obviously I get asked this question a lot,

but I don't really know how to answer it. I guess I don't really listen to other people either applauding me or, or talking smack. Like I just, I kind of got a job to do and I do it. You don't read the comments. You don't listen to, you know, the pundits and all that stuff. You're able to block that out. I mean, I get, I get yeah in indies that's it i don't really and when i watch the fight back and people are talking obviously um i listen to that but to be fair i don't even have i don't even have instagram and any of that stuff on my phone anyway so wow i don't want to see it. Did you ever have it and take it away? Yeah, I did.

I did. But it just got too much. It just got too much. So I just took it all off anyway. But it's not anything special. It was just too many people too much too much attention i don't know i just i just prefer to be you know yeah but you understand that in its own right is very mature of you most teenagers don't have the the willpower to get rid of that stuff did someone say to you it would be in your best interest to do this or did you make those decisions on your own? No, you know, I was constantly on my phone.

And then I was just like, I'm in a restaurant with my whole family and everyone. I'm on Instagram, whatever. So I was just like, yeah, this has got too much. So I just deleted it. And I went, I literally just came back from Marrakesh yesterday. And I spent four days there and obviously being off social media while i was out there made me actually be enjoy being in the moment so i was like when i when i came back to england i downloaded instagram again and then i was on it for about

like an hour and not an hour maybe like half hour or something like that and then there was just all them all the all them opinions all them voices i just got sick of it so i deleted it again good man i love that good man um could i ask this journey how did it all start who introduced you to boxing um my so where where i'm from uh chatham there's a school called Greenacre Academy, and that's the school that me and my brothers went to. And Carol was in a class, who's my older brother. My older brother was in a class with two boxers or three boxers,

and they were talking about boxing, and he wanted to get involved in the talks and um he joined the gym and then uh two about two three months later i think he had his first fight then a couple months after that won his first national title and then he said why don't you do this and obviously i wasn't doing much so i said all right cool i want uh stroke by the gym gym my first couple sessions I was sick, I threw up I didn't like it, so I quit and then I went into playing football and then I just got bored of football

so I went back into boxing and now look I'm sitting here you know as all the stuff that I want as an amateur and a professional and we're nowhere near we're nowhere near even the middle Yeah. As all the stuff that I won as an amateur and a professional. And we're nowhere near even the middle.

And did your brother stick with it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. My brother's had, I think it's 12 professional fights. He took a year outside of the boxing, but he's back. He's got his new fight. It's March the 1st in Bournemouth. So, yeah, he's rolling the dice again. He's just had a little bit, so he took some time out. Okay.

When did you start to really feel like this could be a career, that you had a special gift? How soon into that training journey did you start to realize, like, oh, wow, this is what they're saying about me is different? It's after I spotted Lawrence Okoli, my trainer at the time. He messaged me saying that what you've done today was crazy, unbelievable. If you stick at it, you can be one of the greatest boxers to lift, heavyweight, sorry.

And then I was like, okay, I'm not bad. But at this point, I'm a two-time European gold medalist, two-time national champion. But I still didn't think I was like, you know, anything crazy. And then when I just went around the gyms and started sparring, obviously, Joshua, Dubois, Parker, Joe Joyce. I was like, OK, I'm actually all right. So, yeah, I'm here. When you were younger and in the ring with those guys, sparring them, did you find yourself getting nervous?

No. No, not really. Like, I've been boxing since I was nine years old, so it's like more than half my life. And, like, when I get in the ring with these guys, it's like they're in the same boat. Like, you know, it's nothing too crazy. You just got to hit them more times they hit you so um i mean i've got i've got a good team behind me so so i just put my trust in them

correct me if i'm wrong trying out for the olympics that wasn't part of the plan say that again uh to to try to represent team gb or even maybe team slovakia in the in the olympic games was that a part of your plan i was always going to try represent represent Team GB or even maybe Team Slovakia in the Olympic Games? Was that a part of your plan? I was always going to try to represent Team GB. But if I'll be honest, when I had my last amateur fight, I was like, I don't know if the amateurs is too much for me. I was just like, I need to spice it up a little bit. And honestly, I think i made the right decision

because i think i think if i had gone to olympics and then i turned professional and let's say i had my first fight i don't know like last month or so or two months ago i would be in a worse position than i am now like i went to a box on the biggest cards on the biggest stages to spar the likes of Joseph Parker Tyson Fury and all these guys and obviously earned a few quid I mean

I can't really complain if I had gone to the Olympics I wouldn't have had what I've got now obviously I've got the backing of Mac as well I've got a good team around me, I've got the backing of Mac as well. I've got a good team around me. I'm promoted by Frank Warren. Like I said, I've boxed out on the Riyadh cards three times now.

So, you know, I can't really complain. Why did you choose Frank Warren and the Queensbury team? I think if you were to talk about who looks after a fighter the best, I believe Frank Warren. I think Frank Warren done that. I think if you're going for the long-time game, I thought Queensborough was going to be the best. I'm enjoying it. I'm happy. for the long time game i thought i thought queensbury was going to be the best and i mean i'm enjoying it i'm happy yeah uh and of course you're managed also by his son uh francis right

so so it it it all makes sense yes sorry it makes it makes it easier as well because obviously where they have the father and son relationship yeah i'm always the first i'm always like if they if there's a show a big show on he's um because obviously he's got that relationship he can just easily like obviously sway if other managers was to go and propose a fight to him but he obviously he also works hard like obviously on the commercial stuff getting me getting me fights and sparring and etc. So like I said, I've got a good team around me and I'm happy. One of my favorite people in the boxing game, and I think one of the best trainers is Ben Davison, and you've been working with him as well.

How did that link up happen? With Ben, I left my old trainers and I was looking around for a new trainer. And I tried out a lot of trainers that are on the scene now. And Ben Davison was actually the last trainer I was trialling out. And then I remember when I walked through the doors, he had like two pages worth of things that I do right and what I do wrong. And then I was like, okay, I like this. And then obviously we started training, and then I just feel like everything that he was saying was a bit too much.

And then he showed me a video of me actually doing stuff in the fights that what he was talking about and then i was like okay again he was like it was like we know that you do this but we need to make you aware that you're doing this and i was like okay like i like this so you know i think we got we got we got think we got a good team, like I said. You mentioned you have the backing of Nike as well. One of my producers is a hardcore merch guy. He loves all the fight wear and stuff. He actually has a question for you.

Connor, why don't you ask Moses your question? You asked me, but I want you to ask him. Yeah, Moses, big fan, man. I got to know, where can I get one of these Nike tags? The Team Atama Nike tag. We got a picture of it. Where is it? Let me see this picture. Look at this. Where can I get one of these Nike tags? The Team Atama Nike tag. We got a picture of it. Where is it? Let me see this picture. Look at this. Where can I get one of these things, man? It's incredible.

Where can we get this? Where can we get this, Moses? You know what? I don't know. I don't know. What? We've been asked this question so many times. I think me and the team got to sit down and have a talk because

yous are not the first one asking these questions i mean they're incredible you got to start selling on that say that again i said they're incredible you got to start selling i mean we'll see we'll see the nike is playing they're splendid in fact i thought when you were kind of going like this i thought you'd be like you know what i'll put in a word i'll ship a few to the studio for you guys for the support and what do you hit us with you hit us with you don't know you don't know how to get them what are they one-on-one no it's not that it's it's uh it's just not that easy it's not that easy um i mean we've got we've got to sit down we We've got to sit down with the team. Because like I said, a lot of people have been asking about this. So we've got to sit down with the team.

What about December 21st, right before your birthday? You're in Riyadh, massive car, Tyson Fury, Alexander Usyk. You starched MC McKeon and you act like it's a walk in the park. And I saw an interview that you did afterwards. Here are the highlights. People thought this would be the big step up. I mean, you hardly broke a sweat if, in fact, you broke a sweat at all. And afterwards you said, like, I couldn't even celebrate.

I wasn't even that happy about it because everyone was telling me I was going to walk through this guy. Can you explain that mindset? I mean, I did say before the fight that I was like, if I know myself and if I know who I am, I should be able to breach redemption. So, I mean, that's what happened, really. It is no shock to me, really. Like I said, I did say beforehand, and then obviously I went out there and done it.

I just confirmed that I am who I think I am, you know? And so who are you right now? Like the heavyweight division is a fascinating place. I heard some talk of Filip Hergovich. I heard your manager, Francis, mention Pulev, and you were like, nah, let him retire. And so who are you right now in the pecking order, in your opinion? Well, who do I want to fight next well yeah

that's another way of asking the question but i just like you say you know who you are and so when i'll get to that question in a moment but when you watch those big dogs who fought in the main event and perhaps this is a silly question to some i don't think it's a silly question do you look at those guys right now and say i can hang with them maybe it'll take me some time to get there but i'm ready for those guys or not yet i've done i've done that interview this morning and that was and the interviewer said that um i'm getting better with these with these interviews like i'm coming out my show more and i i just simply said when i when you interview me i did it i'm not just waffling on here no it's gonna go back to the point i get it i get it when you interviewed me um two years ago i just turned professional and like the questions you was on you was able to ask me were only about my future

and when i talk about my future and what i think i can do, it's just going to sound like I'm bragging. So that's why I felt it was so hard answering questions and answering this, because it's like it's nothing that I can talk about. It's just stuff to talk about that I've already done. It's just what I'm going to do. And obviously, when I talk about what I'm going to do, it just sounds like I'm bragging. So with your question, it's like, what do I i see myself i see myself as the best in the world but that's gonna sound like i'm bragging but i know who i am and in two years time you're gonna be like okay cool now i'm now i see why he's so confident that's why like back then when i was doing the interviews that was, why is this kid so confident? And obviously now that I've showed a little bit,

people are starting to understand why I've got it. It makes total sense to me. In the next two years, people are going to see why I am confident. Have you and your team decided who you want next, who you will fight next? We've never, ever solid on an opponent like even Dempsey McKean the reason how he came about was we called out like 15 names and like not no one accepted the fight and then I hear Dempsey was talking about about me in the interview i got i got sent an interview where dempsey was talking about me and i was i sent it to my manager and i was like

right let's focus on this man here and let's make this fight happen and and then pulled a few strings together and that's and then that's the fight happened now we're we're doing the same thing we're gonna we're gonna call out a couple of names and who accept the fights accept the fights okay so let's let's call them out who are the names um i mean just justice hooney had a had a good win today yeah he can get it uh who left i mean i personally don't want to fight him because he's old but he has won a

version of the world title so I guess he can get it Hergovic he's a very

very well ranked contender which I would probably want in this position so he can get it

I mean Otto Wallin if he beats Derek Chisora he can probably get it I mean, Otto Wallin, if he beats Derek Chisora, Derek Chisora, he can probably get it. I mean, the list is endless. The fights that could be made

in heavyweights, they're good fights. Yes, and those are names, right? Those are like the guys before the guys at this point.

And so you are ready for those names. And so these are the stats for those scoring at home. Mike Tyson won his first world title at 20 years and 145 days old with a second round ko victory over trevor burbeck in november of 1986 i was four you were negative 30 uh you're currently 20 years old in 11 days okay as of as of today so

to break tyson's record do you know the date do you know the date that you have to get a belt? May, May the something, isn't it? Yeah, May 21st. That's my brother's birthday. Man, the stars. The stars have aligned. How confident are you that you can make this happen?

I mean, if you were to say how confident am I in beating the heavyweight champions of the world, I'm very confident. But in order the heavyweight champions in the world, I'm very confident but in order for me to achieve it, I need to be put in position to achieve it and

like if I get the shot then I'm taking it and I'm confident that I can do it, it's just whether I get the opportunity, obviously boxing now and boxing 30 years ago is different sports, obviously you've got a lot of stuff that you can't control Now, when boxing 30 years ago, it's different sports. Obviously, you've got a lot of stuff that you can't control.

And, like, I mean, my job is to knock people out. That's what I've been doing. So, as far as I know, I'm doing my job correct. And if the world title comes, it comes. By the way, your mates, like your non non-boxing friends do they gas you up do they do they try to like you know make your head so big are they are they supporting and traveling to your fights and while you're becoming a you know a world-renowned superstar um yeah yeah they you know what it is? See, since I turned professional, my circle has just shrunk massively. And there's only a fair few friends that I've got left.

I mean, I think most of the friends that I've got now are just in boxing. Got it. So I don't really have too many outside of it now. And I just spend more time with my brothers. And my brothers, they gas me up when I need to be gassed up. They definitely humble me when I need it as well. By the way, I don't know if you remember. Of course you remember what a night it was.

It was a hot August night in beautiful Paris, France. There were a ton of celebrities there. LeBron James was there. I saw him. Kevin Durant. Simone Biles. Everyone was on the streets of Paris, but from afar, a hundred yards or so away, I saw the future king of the heavyweight division from afar. And so I made a beeline through all the celebrities and there you were standing.

And I went up to you and I said, hello, are you Moses? I recognized you. I'm the one who came up to you, right? You had no idea who I was. You were like, who's this fanboy asking to take a photo but i wanted to say that i took a photo with the future king of the heavyweight division do you remember this night and why were you in paris were you there to check out the boxing no i was i was actually there to watch the olympics i mean paris is only a three-hour drive from where i live so um i mean i was like

why not i think i just boxed i I think I beat Marius Wack. And then the next day I brought a car and we drove to Paris. Yeah, I was, and then I think, yeah, you came up to me and I was like, I recognize, I recognize, I recognize the face. And then, and then we started speaking. And then obviously you told me your boxing knowledge and whatnot. And I was like, ah, okay. I i think do you know how i heard about you i think it was i used to watch rampage jackson ah i think he's hilarious yes um you used to interview it was funny about that and then obviously i've been following i do follow a lot obviously of

the ufc and and yeah and obviously, kind of kick stuff from there. Yeah. Are you a UFC fan? I would say, yeah, yeah. But only, like, I'm not a big UFC fan, but I like certain fighters. Like who? I mean, at the minute, I um i like hamza i like his uh i like his charisma like outside of the ring yeah i do like his charisma um but obviously you know

the rampage jackson's the um the john jones the the conor mcgregor's the khabib's and all them you know they're obviously i them you know obviously I love watching I love watching more of their stuff outside the ring as well you know the UFC I like to watch the UFC is embedded in it yeah yeah yeah they do a great job with that stuff

yeah they do a great job are you familiar with Tom Aspinall? I used to love him yeah I used to love him with that stuff. UFC Embedded. Yeah, they do a great job. Are you familiar with Tom Aspinall? Yeah, I used to love him. Yeah, he's from Manchester, Guyana. Yeah. Heavyweight. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's a... Yeah, I heard of him. I heard of him. I haven't watched his fights, but I've heard of him. Okay. I'm assuming you're going to watch Dubois Parker.

Who do you like in that fight? I fancy... I think I fancy Dubois. Okay. And then if he fights Usyk, do you think he has a chance to beat him in the rematch? Yeah. Oh, yeah? Really?

Yeah. I mean, like, obviously uzyk is very good it's undeniably very good and obviously what he's done and what you've achieved there's only two guys that that have done that um you gotta take your hat off but like he's not indestructible. The ball can bang. Do you think Usyk is around by the time you get up there? Is that a dream of yours? I hope so. It would be nice to share the ring with Usyk, even if it is foreign. Just to say that I've shared the ring with him. I like i've shared the ring with with with everyone that's on the scene now um i think the only one i'm really missing is music

do you have a dream fight no no really no um a dream fight was once Tyson Fury versus AJ if they fight this year. Who do you like in that one? The fans. Ah, that's a good one. That's a political answer right there. Well done. Who's your football club? Who do we support? I'm a gunner. I'm Arsenal. Oh, that's interesting. Did you happen to see who's tied with Arsenal in second place in the Premier League table? Did you happen to see that it was the tricky trees of Nottingham, the Nottingham Forest Cinderella squad? Did you happen to see that? Do you know what?

Although I'm an Arsenal fan, I don't really follow football too much. Of course. I went to watch the Arsenal v. Newcastle game yesterday, and I remember checking the Premier League table, and I saw Nottingham first. I'm like, what? I said, what are they doing up here? They're the Moses Atama of the Premier League.

They're shocking everyone. The young guns just coming through and taking all the old guys out. I don't know. I don't know i don't know if i should take offense to that you know you know what i'm saying they're they're moving up the ranks at a meteoric speed but yes i understand what you're saying uh very fun to watch you compete my friend and i'm wondering before i let you go when do you think we'll see you again any any any inclination any any talks mid-march. Mid-March is what I've been told.

In the UK? Yes, I believe so, yeah. Which part? Liverpool. Oh, interesting. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. Yeah, you're allowed. No one's watching.

It doesn't matter. And who do you think it is? Who do you think it is? We don't know yet. Literally, just before i jumped on this call um i was talking with my team to see um who the next victim is but we don't know we don't know yet i love the way you phrase that uh you're like a stone cold killer it's unbelievable and it blows me away how how how wise you are and how matureature you are it's really fun to watch So yeah it seems like you have great

People behind you keep your head on Straight don't let it by the way can i Just say before i let you go don't let Those uk you know media guys you know Don't let them kick you all right because I see the way they treat some of the Other sports stars over in the uk and i Don't like it they disrespect you guys

They take you guys for granted and so if You ever want you know if you ever want A fair shake you come to us over here Don't listen to those guys you know what i'm talking well we'll treat you right over here we'll treat you with respect and professionalism okay so keep doing your thing uh you'll break those records and i'm looking forward to that rise and we'll always have that night in paris moses you and i will always have that night that chat that we have on the streets oh there it is again what a time it was what a time it was uh but i do like the short hair by

the way i do think it suits you well thank you but i'm not gonna do it again to know what's funny um i've always wanted to go short and i was like i didn't i didn't want to go short because i was doing interviews i was boxing and whatever whatever and then obviously after my fight i was like okay cool i'm not gonna box for a couple months now is the time to do it so obviously when I cut it off I was like okay I don't really like it but you know I'm not doing interviews and then I get told right you're doing interviews next week I just shaved all my hair but you know it is what it is now it's fine you look great my man pretty much you know you got the whole world in your hand. That's right. Enjoy it all.

Well done. Congrats on the recent win and looking forward to a massive 2025 from you and the team. So well done. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's a pleasure. We'll have you on again soon, hopefully. There he is, the great Moses Itama, an absolute superstar.

If you're unfamiliar, get familiar because you are going to be hearing this name for many, many years to come. The stats are as follows. The 28th of December, he turned 20 years young. Born in 2004. He said that he moved in 2008. I was like, oh, wait, 2008. You must be 12. No, he was born four years before Tyson Fury's pro debut in 2008 just to Put it in perspective current WBO Intercontinental and WBA International heavyweight champion Seven career first round knockouts

Including that recent one over Dempsey McKeon went 4-0 in the Year 2024 as a 19 Year old and of course Was on that Riyadh card was a part of A couple of the Riyadh cards and made His debut less than two years Ago January 28th

2023 He's got about five months before He can actually break that Mike Tyson record maybe A little less than five months let's see if he Does it but it really doesn't matter as he Mentioned the boxing business is different If he can get a win over

A Hergovich in the year 2025 Otto Valin Those types of names golly he is well On his way don't know if he He gets to the likes of Usyk You know Fury Joshua whatever Dubois Parker but you know They may be pretty much done by the time

He gets up maybe not Dubois point is That's the new face of UK heavyweight boxing. He will carry the mantle, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. All right, great stuff from Big Moses. At 3.30, we're going to be joined by another super prospect, if you will, Peyton Talbot, Matt Hamill going to join us on the back end of that final interview of the day. For now, though, let us talk to a man who had a phenomenal 2024 his organization had a phenomenal 2024 as well and they are primed to have a massive

2025 let us talk to the founder the face the man el presidente of bkfc huge show coming up on the 25th of january in philadelphia is he here Feldman. Come on in, my friend. Great to see you. How you doing? Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. Oh, you brought some gifts. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Have a seat. Very kind of you. And is this the first time? Yeah. First time in studio.

First time in studio. First time I ever met you. Amazing. Amazing. I think they have your chair a little bit low. Do you want to raise it up there? I want you to look. We get the lighting on. Dave, there it is. your chair a little bit low Do you want to raise it up there? I want you to look And we get the lighting on Dave, there it is That's a little better Yeah Look at you, you're fit, huh?

A little bit Yeah You're obviously a former boxer as well Former boxer Thank you so much for coming in I'm glad to be here, man Thanks for having me Congratulations on a big 2024

Thank you Obviously we talked a couple times And a massive 2025 to come We're, if my math is correct, 17 days away from Philly, Wells Fargo. Now this is incredible to me because this is the Wells Fargo center,

home of the Flyers and the Sixers. Matchroom had two cards there over the past like six months, Boots Ennis, right? Philly boy. Uh, UFC had a show there,

UFC one-on-one. They had a fight night. As things currently stand, you're going to blow them out of the water as far as tickets sold, gate, all that, right? Yeah, UFC 101, they had a fight night. As things currently stand, you're going to blow them out of the water as far as tickets sold, gate, all that, right? Yeah, we will definitely 100% break the attendance record there. The gate looks like we're going to blow them out of the water there as well. It's fantastic. You know, Philly is a tough city, so you don't know whether they're going to support you or they're not. And they came out. I mean, we're almost 13,000 tickets now.

We're pacing for 17,800 tickets to completely sell out. Phenomenal, phenomenal start for the year for us. And you've had to open up sections, right? Like perhaps initially you didn't think it would do this well? We set it up for about 13,000 initially.

We just added 2,000 and then another 2,000. So we're at 17,000 set up now. And if we get to where we think we're going to go, we're going to open up the remaining 800 and have a packed house. And what do you think the gate will be, if you don't mind me asking? It looks like the gate's going to be a little over 2 million. Wow. Would that be your highest gate ever? Yes. Wow. And so do you think this is because of Eddie Alvarez, who's Philly's son, right?

Do you think this is because of the growth of BKFC? What do you attribute this incredible success to? I think it's because it's our home city, because it's Eddie Alvarez and our home city together, because a lot of people really supported BKFC, but they didn't get a chance to watch it live. We have a pretty big following back home, me and my brother. A lot of guys are on the team. We know a lot of people back there, and everybody was very excited about it. First day of ticket sales, I think we did a little over 3,000 on the opening day. I was like, wow, man, what a great start. They just came out, and the tickets are flying

now. It's humbling. It's beautiful, and it's unbelievablebling, it's beautiful, and it's unbelievable for us, and I love it. Do you live in Philadelphia? I do, right outside of Philadelphia. So when you say it's home,

it's a homey, but this will be your first event in Philadelphia. Yeah. Correct me if I'm wrong, the previous head of the commission wasn't a big fan. No. Now there's a new head

of the commission for Pennsylvania, and that's what opened the door. Yeah, Ed Kunkel is the new guy. Greg Serb was the past guy. He just said no for nine times. Nine times in a row. And then as soon as Ed Kunkel opened the door. Yeah, Ed Kunkel is the new guy. Greg Serv was the past guy. He just said no for nine times. Nine times in a row.

And then as soon as Ed Kunkel opened it up, literally got a date, have a great event here, Knuckle Mania, and it's going to sell out. It's going to break the combat sports record at the Wells Fargo Center. I mean, that's a pretty great way to start off the year. That must feel like validation, right? To the old guard?

It's funny because the old commissioners actually work in the year. That must feel like validation, right? To the old guard? It's funny because the old commissioner is actually working the event. He's going to be working the event. In what capacity? He's doing something to be an assistant with him. Oh, wow. He just wanted to come and he said he didn't think I wanted him to come. And I said, no, I definitely want you to come. I want you to come.

I want you to look around the arena and see what you missed for all these years. Yeah. You know, I hear these stories and it's so familiar to the UFC days when they were trying to get MMA legalized, right? It's the exact same thing. Old guard and then new blood comes in and that opens the door and then you get in and you're validated, right? Absolutely. We're seeing the same story play out. I mean, look, we've been in business for six years now. It took us, I'd say, four, four and a half years to get a little bit of respect.

And now people really are starting to respect the product, the process, the platform, the fighters, and everything else about it. The growth that we're having, you can't deny numbers, right? And the numbers are going through the roof. You recently did the deal with DAZN. Why did you pick DAZN? And are you happy with the deal as it stands right now? DAZN is a great partner for us. And we picked DAZN specifically because they had a huge boxing crowd.

And we had always a big MMA following. Yeah, yeah. So it was time for us to really reach over into the boxing crowd and get the boxing following to attach with the MMA following. And it's just, the numbers are really really doing very very well in the zone they're very happy and we're very happy why do you think that is why does it seem like MMA media MMA fighters like why does it seem like you guys are treated more like an MMA promotion right by proxy as opposed to boxing when in reality you're more like a boxing promotion than an MMA promotion I think just because we started off with a lot of MMA fighters.

Okay. And the MMA fan base was there and that's who attached to us first. Now we're getting a lot of interest from boxing and it's pretty crazy right now. What about the media? And not just like the actual like MMA slash boxing media. I'm sure you have a great media team behind you bernie's the man i love bernie your pr guy among your others as well when you're when people are starting to pitch you guys to get you know some mainstream media if you will non-fight media are

you getting a lot of pushback because i remember those stories from dana as well how no one wanted to cover them how the new york times would look away all the way we were yeah we're about we just had a forbes piece last week we got some pretty good stuff coming up too as well um a lot of documentaries that are interested in doing some things with us now so i think the tide has certainly changed it took a long time it took a lot of hard work it took a lot of just pushing people's faces and here we are is it surreal to be living in the moment that you probably dreamed of like man if only i could get the respect here if only if we living in the moment that you probably dreamed of? Like, man, if only I could get the respect here, if only if we could get in the door here, if only we could get a deal,

like a DAZN deal here, and now you're actually living it. Do you, do you find that surreal? Is that hard to process? It's, it's, um, it's definitely hard to process. It's, it's something that a lot of times I look at and I go, man, this is so this this is not easy I really I don't wish this on anybody like you have to have thick skin and you have to really have a goal and know exactly what you want to be able to do something like this this is not easy the nose that not finding the money the everybody trying to you know shut you down and and do different things to to kind of sabotage what you're doing so you have to be a special type of person to do this. And it's hard to live in the moment.

But I know on January 25th, I'm going to be inside the Wells Fargo Center where I saw the Sixers play, the Flyers play, concerts. I was at a Drake concert with my daughter and my wife about almost a year ago. And I just looked around and I said, babe, I'm going to sell this place out. Wow. She was like, I know you are, honey. And I was like, here we are. Like, I didn't really, we weren't legal then.

Yeah. I was like, wow, we're selling out the Wells Fargo Center. It's really a feather in our hat. And to all the hard work that our team put in, it's really unbelievable for us, man. I'm so, so happy about this one. This one is the best moment in our career. It's great to see, and I could feel it.

When you say sabotage, like people were sabotaged, what do you mean by that? They'll call commissions. They'll say, don't allow this kind of stuff. Really? Yeah, they'll call venues. Who's doing this? Different promotions. Really?

Different regulators. Some regulators that didn't want us in the past, they would call other regulators and say, don't regulate it, don't regulate them. Or I'm not going to let you in this state if, you know, different things like that just went on a lot. Like at the beginning, it was, it was really, really bad. It was bad. It was bad. Like if you, if you referee, like a couple of referees,

if you ref for them, you'll never ref in our state again. And a couple of our referees were like, well, I'm reffing with them. You know, loyalty is a hard thing to come by, and a couple of our guys are very, very loyal. And so at this juncture, how many states are you legal in? So I would rather reverse that and say we're only not legal in two that we're trying to get into right now. Interesting.

So there's not a lot that we're – there's a couple more that we're not're trying to get into right now. So there's not a lot that we're, that we're, there's a couple more that we're not really trying to get into why we're not going to do a show there right now. And I don't want to make them go through the whole process, do all the work, and then we can't even do a show there. So there's only two really right now that we're not legal in that, you know, hopefully, um, in the next year we're there and that's Nevada and New York. Okay. All right. Those are some big dogs. How confident are you that you can get those done in the next year? I mean, you know, numbers, I think numbers tell the story. And when we do what we're going to do January 25th, and what we've done for six years and just pushing the envelope

and doing these great shows and getting great numbers on viewership and creating tax revenue for the state, it's going to be hard for them to say no and so um okay so could i just ask just for the record how many are you actually legal in at this point i think we're actually legal and approved in 32 okay which is very significant it wasn't the case you know just a couple of years ago right not at all um and so i remember when the ufc hired mark ratner former nevadaic Commissioner, to come on. That was a huge move and maybe not a move that like the casual fan would understand how big it is.

But he helped them get into all these states, right, given his relationships and his knowledge. Do you have your version of Ratner doing this? We got kind of two guys that are really helping us. One is Adam Rohrbach. He's the former Athletic Commissioner of the Kansas State Athletic Commission. And Sean Wheelock, who is obviously commentary, but he was also, I think, the director of the MMA Rules and Regulations Committee for the ABC. So he knew a lot of commissioners, and they're both really pushing it for us, and we're getting great reception. Okay.

You mentioned— Um, you mentioned last year, just so you know, last year we actually got approved by the, uh, we have, um, what's it called? Bare knuckle. I, I think it's Wow. I got to work with Sean at the Tyson-Paul fight. And that was a great experience for the first time. You mentioned loyalty. And I heard you did an interview recently with MMA fighting. And you were asked about Conor McGregor, who's been a big part of your 2024. And quite frankly, I thought your answer was a great one. And not because it was like some PR answer, but it seemed like it came from the heart. And you were asked about Conor's, you know, the end of the year for him, obviously troublesome and a very difficult one with the civil trial and whatnot. And so what you were saying was essentially, I'm a loyal guy. And where I come from, you don't just drop someone in their lowest moment. You stick with them because he has stuck with us.

Sure. Is that a fair summation of how you feel? Look, whatever may have happened and, you know, whatever whatever the accusations was i'm not getting involved with that what i'm getting involved in is a guy that was with us our partner our friend was was kicked when he was down and we're not going to kick him when he was down we're going to help lift him back up and that's what we're trying to do because i believe that if you're with somebody you're with somebody a hundred times my dad is saying that you can't be 99 loyal you're either 100 or get out of here you can't be with someone 99 times in the hundredth time it goes wrong you turn your back on them you're with them all the time so if we're with

them we're taking the ride with them and we're going all the way with them uh did you get any sort of pushback did did anyone try to convince you otherwise i'm some sponsors push back a little bit but I mean When I explain it to them The way that I'm explaining it to you now You know They kind of held on to it And they understood what I was saying

Okay How Could I ask I mean you could Feel free to say Take a hike What percentage of the company Does he own

Take a hike Take a hike Okay Is that the He owns a He does own a fairly significant amount of the company. He really does. I mean, not, you know, he, he, he's a, he's a decent sized owner.

He has a good stake in this company. So for him to make this company grow, it would be very, very worthwhile for him. Yeah. And, and you could see it. Did you, did you think he would be this into it? Like his whole Twitter feed is, is, is bare knuckle stuff. Oh man, it's crazy, man. It's really unbelievable

the way what he's doing. It's fantastic. I thought that he was going to be into this, but I thought he was, so we have a guideline of what he has to do. Got it.

And he's over-delivered a hundred times. Right, right. Maybe a thousand times he really over-delivered. I mean, he's unbelievable partner, unbelievable guy

for us to be with unbelievable guy for the brand and you know we'll see what happens with his fighting career and hopefully one day he takes the gloves off yeah yeah and so the breakdown right now do you still own a piece of the company yeah of course he owns a piece yeah is triller still involved triller is they are still involved are they not going to be involved what's the status of the relationship with triller um i think that i i think that everything is going to work out with triller okay they have a new guy that's in charge of everything there they have a lot of money coming in and i'm actually um going to thailand on two taiwan sorry taiwan on tuesday to meet with the owner of the parent company oh

wow i think we're going to be funded to really take this thing off. Wow. Are there any other players involved as far as ownership investment? Yeah, actually, Fubo TV. Oh, really? They own a small percentage of us, and then there's some private investors.

Okay. All right. So you're in a good spot financially. In fact, you're predicting that you will be in the black this year, right? Yes. Wow. First time?

Yeah. Wow. Absolutely. How does that feel? Well, well you know it feels like the first event we did all these pa all these views everybody was watching us we were trending number one on twitter and i was like man we must have made a lot of money and found out a lot about piracy that night and we got robbed but it was but i was still we had millions of people watching i was like man because at first i projected profitability on fight number one. It didn't happen. But to project profitability right at the end of 2025

and into 2026, it explodes. Wow. Especially if we get these media deals that we're talking with now, some bigger media deals on some of the things that we're working on. And so when you say media deals, would that be in addition to the DAZN deal here in North America? Yes, absolutely. But it could also be with DAZN. Interesting. So we're going to – some other media companies are talking to us now, but we love the relationship with DAZN.

We're going to go back to them and see what they're doing. But you just did the DAZN deal, right? Wasn't it September it was announced? It was September, yeah. Yeah. So was it a four-month deal? No. How can you be in talks with more media to split up the deal?

Well, there's a certain amount of fights that we're doing. Got it. And there's also the big tournament that we're probably going to talk about that we're doing. And that's what we're looking at for a big media partner for that one. Okay. With the DAZN deal, is there any pay-per-view? Like the 25th, is that pay-per-view? It's not pay-per-view.

We're going to do it on pay-per-view, but we're not. But we have two pay-per-views a year with is there is that pay-per-view it's it's not pay-per-view we're going to do it on pay-per-view but we're not but we have two pay-per-views a year with the zone minimum two i thought maybe a knuckle mania which we're looking at the poster right here would be pay-per-view worthy why did you not go that route you know i just wanted to get more viewership on the zone smart for the product yeah that's really what i wanted to do okay i thought i thought it's more important for us right now to have more eyeballs and to have more revenue. Yeah, it makes total sense, especially as you say with piracy and whatnot. It's hard to control it now. It really is.

Okay, and so what about this tournament? You announced recently a $25 million tournament and is this accurate? You're having this idea and then you do an interview and you kind of throw it out there before it's all kind of set in stone and you're like, all right, 25 million, here we go. So we talked about it during the day and it was 10 million.

And I was like, it's just not enough. And I mean, it's a lot of money, but when you spread it around the right way, it's just not enough. 25 was a number. And, you know, I live like you jump off a building and you build a parachute on the way down. You just figure it out. And I did like you jump off a building and you build a parachute on the way down. You just figure it out. And I did that interview. I think it was with Sirius. And they asked me, what do you have planned for 2025?

And I said, we're going to launch this $25 million fight tournament. And they're like, $25 million fight tournament? And I'm like, man, I just said that. I really just said that. But we figured it out. So is it a done deal? It's a done deal. We're funded on it.

Wow. It's fantastic. Okay, so what is it? Everybody called. Everybody called after that event. Investors. Crazy. What is the breakdown?

What is the tournament? So it's going to be, we're going to do four major tryouts around the world. We're going to do one in the United States, one in Spain, I believe one in Australia and one in the Middle East. And then we're going to do these qualifying rounds. It's going to be a total of 10 events throughout nine to 10 months. We're scheduling that right now. It's going to start, the first fight's going to be around June. It's going to happen in the United States. It's going to happen in Spain. It's going to happen in the Middle East, Australia, and I forget the fifth country right now. Oh, we're working on the final right now. We had three countries bidding on it right now.

One of them is an African country. One of them is a European country and the United States. So we're working on that right now to see where the finals are going to be. But the real money comes down to the final eight. Obviously, everybody's getting paid for all their fights leading up to it, but the real money gets broken down in the final eight. The winner will walk away with 15 million. Wow. Okay. So the, the, the first 10 million gets dispersed.

How many fighters total you think? 64. 64. And, and is it true that the, the, the weight classes, like it's, it's a big range, right? What? I don't know. it's going to be. What is this, like open weight? So we're doing this.

We're going to put the call out for the applications next week, actually. When we just whispered it the first time, we got 10,000. We're anticipating about 20,000 real applications. We're putting a fee on it, and we're only putting a fee on it for one reason. We're going to refund it to them, or we're going to give them a grab bag. We're going to do something. We're not trying to make make money on it we just don't want to waste our time right there's going to be so many people coming in on this thing so we're anticipating 20 000 applications we're going to narrow it down to 64 and then we're going to do all the rounds and and so like it so the weight yeah the weight i it could be a lighter

weight which would be around 135 to 165. But that's a big gap. Yeah, it is. So could it be that a 35er fights a 65er? At the end only. Okay. At the end only. But I'm leaning towards more, I think it's going to be 175 to 275.

And the same thing is a 75er could fight a heavyweight in the finals only. Sure, sure. Or in the final eight yeah and uh that might be an issue with the commission though no no i got approval from almost every commission so far really yeah geez louise i did all my homework on this i didn't just throw it i i threw everything else out there but when i i knew we were going to talk and everybody was going to ask me questions i had i had to have my stuff done and yet almost every commission said we can do that but the same, let's do it towards the finals.

Got it. And will the big names on your roster be involved or is this more to find new talent? I think it's both. It's a combination of both. I couldn't alienate the guys that already fight for me, the guys that built this company. I can't alienate them. But I think we're going to build 8 to 10 to 12 to 24 who knows new stars out of this thing and i think that's really the whole the whole purpose of this thing is to build new stars and creates a spectacle it's a spectacle

sure and it's the world's baddest man who's the world's baddest man and listen i know people are going to say well you're not grappling you're not kicking you're not elbowing okay but you're fighting with bare knuckles and this is this is format that we're doing, and it's going to be the world's baddest man, and I think everybody in the world, not fight fans, everybody would want to know if that guy had the title, like if you, Ariel, were the world's baddest man, everybody would be like, yo, that's the world's baddest man, I want to take a picture with the world's baddest man, right? So it's just a cool thing that we're doing, the world's baddest man. 25 million, five continents, eight countries, ten events,

and we're going to cash out on this thing. And so that could be sold to someone other than DAZN? It could be, but I'm confident in our partnership with DAZN, and I'm confident they're going to pick it up. Okay. Now, so like, let's say, a Mike Perry, he could be involved if it fits, all right? Yeah. I mean, look, it would be a price reduction for him,

a purse reduction for him to fight in the- In the early rounds. In the opening rounds. So he's going to have to risk that. But yes. But then it could pay off on the back end. It could really pay off. Where do things stand with Mike?

He was on the show. He seemed unhappy. It seemed like he wanted to fight on this card in Philadelphia. Yeah, you know, I get it, but we didn't need him, meaning he's a high-priced fighter, and we didn't need that extra purse expense on this one, so we're going to do another one, a big show, the end of March, beginning of April.

We're working on it right now, and Mike will be back. Okay. Do you feel like it was a mistake to take the jake paul fight i i'm he he made money i think i think he made pretty good money yeah i think that he built up this this uh enigma of who he was with bare knuckle really like the world's baddest man like the the most violent person in the world right and to go over to boxing for the payday, at the end of the day, I think it was a mistake. I think it was okay.

Look, he made money. It was a different sport. I get it. And some things happened where he announced his own promotion during that fight week, which didn't make us very happy. So we were a little taken back by that, and that's why there's probably been a little pause, but we've talked, we've talked to his management team. We talked to Mike, he's been out to our events and he's coming back. Okay. So did you not know that he was going to announce Dirty Boxing that week?

I did not. Oh, wow. Okay. You would have appreciated the heads up. Of course. Do you, do you feel like it's competition? I don't. I just feel like the part of us allowing the Jake Paul fight to happen was getting promotion that fight week, right? Why else would we do it? Yeah.

We had nothing to win if we didn't do it that way. We weren't getting paid on it. So if we didn't get the promotion, we didn't have anything to win. But at the end of the day is, you know, people do different things. And Mike is a good person i like mike and and he helped build this company he did and he's coming back when you reach out to him and his team yo why didn't you give us the heads up what was their response oh we did but they didn't okay maybe maybe it was going so fast maybe they thought that they did yeah they didn't but it's cool man look

they're all they're all good guys i like them all But at the end of the day We just would have appreciated it Sure sure That's where The Connor you're fired thing Came from It didn't come from Getting beat by Jake Paul At all

It came from that That's where it came from If you go back to the tweets It seemed like he was Annoyed by the dirty boxing stuff Right And so When he

Did you know he was gonna tweet that No Okay Do you know anything Connor does No no So how do you How do you clean that up, for lack of a better word? I mean, at the end of the day, it just rode his course. Okay.

We had conversations and, you know, it is what it is. It's a fight game, man. Yeah. It's so volatile. So many things happen. So many people say things they shouldn't say at the wrong time or they do the wrong thing. It's the fight game, man. It's not an easy business to be in.

There's not a lot of great people in the fight game. There really, truly isn't. I was on social media and speaking of tweets and whatnot, and Connor's upset about the post-fight interviews and about some guys not getting the post-fight interviews, and he says that he's going to pull the DAZN deal. Now, I'm reading this,

and I like to think that I have a little bit of knowledge of how the fight game works in TV, and my first reaction is, I think BKFC produces the events, not DAZN. So it technically would be your call. I told him that afterwards when he pulled it down. Look, again, the thing you love about the guy is passion. Yeah. Passion is hell, but he's dead right.

You build the stars when you put the mic in front of their face, right? They have to fight good, but then you put the mic in front of their face. That's how you build the stars when you put the mic in front of their face right they have to fight good but then you put the mic in front of their face that's how you build them so that's you know i get his point but the end of the day is at that venue we had an early timeout we had to be out of there by 11 it was a 11 o'clock hard stop so we didn't have the time on on that show but it's definitely something we need to implement more because we want to hear from the fighters yeah no i mean look at his first fight 50 g's like that that put him on the rocket ship right and so he knows better than anyone um it's just kind of wild that he's watching you know a heart i think it was at the hard rock right and he's that locked in to where he's upset that a guy's not getting a post-fight interview i know like a lot of people you know text me said

look what he said look what he said look what he said and and i i calmed everything down but i was like this again this is great yeah this is unbelievable the guy's all over it right he's passionate about it how often do you get someone that passionate about something he's very passionate about this and that's why we love him as a partner um one of the big challenges i think that you have ahead of you if i may Is that I think early on And correct me If you feel otherwise People are like Alright this is fun And you know

We've talked Originally I was like Yeah this is a little And now I'm a huge fan And I've said multiple times If there's one promotion Outside of the UFC That I would

You know Invest in Buy stock in It's you guys I think what you guys Are doing compared to the others It's not even a question Who's on

You know this trajectory But there was a lot of These sort of like older guard that was coming over that we knew already they were established we're emotionally invested in them we know mike perry we know mvp we know luke rockhold eddie alvarez jeremy stevens even a paulie or an artem a page etc now the key is how do you build your own guys how do you build your own stars how does that happen because that to me is what's going to differentiate you guys from just like the place where older fighters go to retire or the place where people say, forget all that. I'm starting my career here, right?

Yeah, we're bringing a couple guys over from the WWE. They're going to work with storytelling, with character development. That's a big part of 25 is between 25 and 26 is really building their own stars. So I don't think we're going to run into that problem. We have a series called the Prospect Series. Then we have the Fight Night. Then we have the numbered shows. We have pay-per-view.

We have all these different levels that we can build these stars from. And that's really what we're going to do. We're giving them media training. We're doing everything that we can do possibly to make these guys stars. And I think that we're giving them a great platform to become a star. So I do feel very, very confident that by the end of 25, we have some of our own homebred stars. As a matter of fact, we have the highest grossing gate at the Hard Rock Casino ever with only BKFC stars.

Wow. No outside stars. The one in Hollywood, Florida? Yeah. Okay. That's a feather in our hat there as well. And I was just talking to someone About this

I was talking to someone A long time fighter Who's now more Kind of on the back end Of his career About the GFL And We were talking about

The GFL and the PFL And some of these Like newer promotions Right And I said All of them Haven't learned from history The one who did it best

Other than Dana and Lorenzo and Frank Was Scott Coker in my opinion Strikeforce era Because when you would go to those San Jose shows The undercard were just a bunch of local guys That no one ever heard of They sold 80% of the tickets

And then at the top you'd have some name guys But those weren't really moving the needle from a gate standpoint They weren't building the company Now this show that you have in Philly, to me, is a Strikeforce show. And I say that with great reverence, because it's all local guys that are selling the tickets, right? Yep, absolutely. Eddie at the top is a local guy, but a lot of

the maybe lesser-known fighters, you have put them on your undercard to help move the needle. Yep. When you promote, I promoted for a long time, so when you promote these local shows, you get guys that sell 200, 300 tickets, and that's like's like wow that's a home run i got guys that took 700 tickets 900 tickets 1500 tickets it's crazy so yes i think that that's such a recipe to our success is we do have a local-ish feel on the undercard of all our shows and then the main

event and some of the fight nights and some of the prospects are also local and the bigger shows they don't have to be the local guys because all the undercards selling the tickets for us and the thing that's so important about bkfc is and i hope that you're there january 25th because we're going to talk about i hope that you're there because when you see it live although you are have become a fan and we we really truly appreciate all the love that you've given us recently if you when you see it in person it's different at 10x yeah it's going to 10x 100 you see this thing in person it's game over there's no other combat sport better than this meaning more exciting more fan engaging keeps your attention the whole entire time than bare knuckle fighting championship i believe it uh my my guys back there Were like We need to go I don't know

If I could go But they want to go We can talk about that Why I think you're coming I'm going to put a bet Out there That Ariel Hawane

Will be at January I don't We'll see But you got A bunch of guys Back there Who really want to come And who love the product

As well We were talking about Philly and where you're from I have to ask you this question I've been dying this whole time to ask you this question I'm almost building up to it This morning I'm on my Peloton I like to do some of my research before the show

And I put your name in YouTube And I stumble upon a YouTube video That has probably like 600 views That's it This is the thumbnail Do you know this video? Rags to Riches, the incredible story of David

Feldman from underground fighting to BKFC by an account called League Alerts. 498 views. This was posted six months ago. Never saw that. David, I watched this video. This is a video narrated by a young man. He sounds young about your story. I'm

watching this and I'm like This story This is total BS So the first thing I wanted to do was Ask you if you knew Of that video You've never seen the video

And now I have to ask you And I'm gonna like Recap the story for you Because I had never Heard this before Okay So this is me doing A recap version

Of your upbringing Right Okay So I don't know How this young man has this I think he read it in a book But basically What he told me was and i hope you don't mind me bringing this up about your upbringing um you know you have a bit of a troubled relationship with your father your parents divorce at a young age right are you okay with me bringing this up

your parents divorce and your mom has a boyfriend. And there's a horrible incident that happens to your mother. Right. Is this accurate? Yes. I'm watching this video, David. This is like not even out of a movie. Like I can't even believe it. Are you uncomfortable with me bringing this up?

I mean, I'm always uncomfortable, but I'm not. It's my story. People need to know this. My story. Are you okay? I'm not uncomfortable. I get feelings, right? Sure.

My mom is my Your mother My idol My hero And everything that she went through When you're gonna get to the story And I'll tell after that I'd almost rather you tell the story

But if you want me to recap it Okay so this is what I gather I didn't Okay so I'm watching this And I'm like This has got to be Made up because it's so mind blowing In short

Your parents divorce And what I gather from the The interview or the video is that your mom is dating a guy who is very abusive towards her and um there's a horrible incident where eventually he he injures her to the point where she becomes a paraplegic quadriplegic quadriplegic excuse me and uh you do not know who this man is. You cannot find him. You have no sort of intel on him. Until you're working at a bar and you meet a girl who you eventually ask what her last name is. And it's the same last name as the man who injured.

Zachary. Yes. And I mean, that alone is absurd. And then she tells you where he lives. You go to his house. You get into an altercation. I apologize for going through so much of it so quickly and and you stop short of maybe shooting him yeah and then you clip his

achilles yeah where does this young where does this kid even find this information um i think it was in my rolling stone uh piece it's a it's an unbelievable story. Sorry, Ariel, man. My mom got, you know, she got thrown out of a car, run over. The guy took her to a cemetery, banged her head against the cemetery stone, put her back in the car and dropped her at our house, which put prints on her chest. And my mom could never walk again. I'm so sorry. It's a rough thing, man. But this is a woman that was a quadriplegic that couldn't move her hands or legs. And I had this painting in my office and she painted it with a paintbrush in her mouth.

And a lot of times I want to quit, right? This is hard. And I look at that and I'm like, man, how can I quit? She went through everything. But it was tough. And I finally, you know, it was something that must, I got so much childhood trauma from that, man. I my whole life up right and how old are you when this happens i was uh eight eight years old says six in the magazine but i was eight okay and i i

looked for the guy and i found him and one thing led to another and i said you know i did i clipped his achilles and i said you'll never walk again you know mfr and so he did because when when i told him who i was he turned white as a ghost and i knew it was him and he was like and i'm glad i didn't do anything more than that because i would have been in jail and but you know things like that happen and and i think that i look back on that and i think if i had to do it again 10 times i would have done the same exact thing i don't blame you it's your mother and and and your mother um based on what i i i learned from this like was really you know through the tough times with your father she was your rock right yeah You had an incredible relationship with her.

Absolutely. Why didn't you move with her when your parents divorced? She wasn't able to. They actually divorced after she was hurt. Oh, okay. My dad divorced her when she was hurt. I mean, they were separated, but they officially got divorced

and she couldn't take care of us. Is she still alive? No. Okay, when did she pass? 16 years ago. Okay, and is is she still alive no okay when did she pass uh 16 years ago okay and um is your father still alive no he passed uh about seven years ago he was the one that got you into fighting yeah he trained you and your seven world champions he was a professional fighter himself 23 and 2 with 19 knockouts good fighter look my father was a great man like he was great to everybody it's just me and

him didn't didn't have the best relationship but i mean he was a lot of people really love him they respect him you know he was a bad dude and he he gave his shirt off his back to people but you know me and him just but it is um he was just tough on you or you know yeah it was it was a lot to do with my mom okay okay and and and when you find out that your mom gets gets injured are you eight or do you only find out later like were you in contact with her yeah oh you were i remember seeing her it's like the one vision man i lost almost all my childhood memories but i see her in this going into this we were in the room and they did the mri machine and then then they had her strapped and they would turn her over.

And that's the one memory I have when she first got injured. And did she not, like, why did they? Listen, I don't want everybody feeling bad for my mom. No, I. This is crazy, but let me tell you a little more about my mom. My mom's paralyzed. Yeah. Crippled, can't do anything.

She's taking numbers and she's, you know, like booking numbers at the nursing home she's in. She's selling them shots of alcohol that she has in the back. She was a hustler, man. Like crippled. I mean, she couldn't move. And she's hustling stuff and making money. And that's where I got my hustle mentality from her and my dad, really. But she was, you know, she never let anything stop her at all.

It never stopped her. She just, she was supposed to live three years, and she ended up living 30. Wow. Did she try out for the Special Olympics? Not Special Olympics, Paralympics. Paralympics. Yes, of course. They had, yeah.

Yes, of course, Special, yes. My apologies. What sport? She was actually, it was doing obstacles with the uh it's it wasn't a lot of physical stuff but okay did she make the team no okay but she like this shows her spirit to even do this and then she graduated college after she got hurt she went all over the world she ended up in washington state she met a guy she married him. He kind of took care of her a little bit. Then they moved back up here to Philadelphia with us. And then she ended up dying and

story gets worse, Ariel. I found out that, you know, he actually put a pillow over her head. The boyfriend? The husband. The husband. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. How do you find that out? A little bit through the guy that did the autopsy told me that things weren't right, but he couldn't really rule it a homicide. And then when I saw the guy, I just knew something was wrong. I talked to her that day. She was perfect.

She was great. And she died that night. And I know why. Because he was just getting tired of taking care of her. It was tough. He was getting tired of it. But at the end of the day, that's not what you do. No, of course.

And I just broke his face open right on the street and I left. Holy shit. And how old are you? Hey, man, look. I'm not. If you didn't bring this up, I'm not bringing this up. No, I know, I know. I don't want sympathy, man.

I'm not doing that. No, but this is your story. It's my story. And this is, by the way, this is why people need to root for you. Yeah, man, and this is why I can never quit. I will never quit, man, because it's so easy to quit. Right. It's so hard to keep going.

It's so hard to make everything happen, man. And we've been through so many obstacles in this and all the obstacles through my life. Look, it messed me up, man. i'm being honest with you man i go to a therapist once or twice a week every week to the to this point because i'm you know i i have trauma and i'm trying to fix it and i think i'm getting a long way with it and i think i'm really becoming a way better husband um father person boss yeah colleague everything just but you know it took took work and nobody wants to do it and i know a lot of people out there shit on on um on therapy they're like you gotta be a real you know real puss or whatever if you got to go to therapy but i think when you go to therapy you don't even understand how hard it is it's

unbelievable you're you're bringing everything up for someone like me like i've been through a lot i could write i could really literally write a book maybe write two books maybe make a movie who knows yeah we'll see if bkfc gets to be super successful maybe even more super successful yeah i think that we got it to a point where nobody thought it would ever be 100 one million percent and and yes i think i mean i was watching that and I was like, oh, this is like someone just doing like some AI story to make you sound cool because it was so unbelievable. By the way, how old are you when you get the last name of the attacker?

I was 32. So it took from eight to 32. Yeah. Why didn't your mom rat him out? I think she lost her memory because she kept saying she didn't know who it was. She didn't know who it was. And then my dad gave us the name, but she kept saying she didn't know who it was. Wow.

And it's the woman that you meet at the bar has the same last name. Yeah. How is that possible? Is she a relative? Yeah. Yeah. Holy shit. That's like an angel coming. It was her niece. It was his niece? His niece. His Yeah. Holy shit. That's like an angel coming.

It was her niece. It was his niece? His niece. Holy shit. What are the chances? It was crazy because I was married, but I was going through, like, at the end of my marriage then, my first marriage. And I was like, man, this girl's cute. This girl's cute.

And I kept seeing her. It was a bar I owned, and she kept coming in. And then I ended up talking to her. And then I found out her last name, and then I didn't't say anything then it was a couple more times i saw her and then i'm like are you related to this guy and she's like yeah and i said you know talked a little more about it and she's like yeah i said i heard he doesn't live here anymore just like that and she's like no no no he lives right up the street i'm like where and she told me kind of where he lived and then i looked it up i had some friends that got me his address fucking hell man crazy man crazy you never know but that's what

i say like a lot of people will you know they'll talk shit on me they don't know me they don't know i got a story you might have a story you might have a story we all got stories right you don't know who's going through what in life. And, you know, it's what's their driving force, what makes them keep going, what makes them want to be the biggest thing in the world. I mean, I want to be the biggest and best thing that we can possibly be for that and for all the guys that helped us get here to where we are. I mean, you don't understand how hard this is. You really don't.

I know you're on that side of it. No, I am. On this side of it, it's death. I can't imagine. It's a death fight every day day but a death fight that's how you would categorize it it it's unbelievable how close are you to tapping out um not right now but just like over over this last you know seven eight years well you refer to it five six times really i quit i was like this is enough of this shit and then the next day i'm'm like, what are we doing? We're not doing it. We're doing this.

We're doing this. Look, you have to raise money all the time. You have to keep gas in the tank to keep it going. And at times, we ran out of gas. And we had to find the gasoline. And we always found it because we got a great product. And we got great people with us. And that's, I think, what's really important about it but um i think we're at we're at a point right now which i actually

talked to my uh my main guy his name's howard who who really helps me out and helps me raise a lot of my money and he called me like he's like what's up like when he does that to me he's like what's up i'm like oh man we got good news he's like we're about to break a wide open buddy boy we got this and i'm like wow this is awesome so he's got he's got some things lined up for us oh wow i can't imagine how that feels it's all we need and listen every business in the world needs money right we all need money to grow the business but we only need money now we did everything else we we gained acceptance we broke all the regulatory down we got everybody to really understand what we're doing we broke into mainstreamness a little bit right we got international we did everything we had to do now now we just need the gas to get to

the finish line wow um and and you know the connor deal that these are all like little steps along the way yeah that you probably never would have imagined right when you probably had like the Oh you know you know what I mean Like oh you know in the next five years The first thing that really kind of Happened was Like this type of experience I was sitting at my kitchen table

And I get this FaceTime call From a 305 number And I didn't know who it was And he texted me he goes yo pick up it's Shaq uh like Shaq's texting me I mean FaceTime and me and then I got on the phone with him and he said I want to come to the event I want to talk to you what a cool guy but that's where it all started with Shaq and then he told me years ago right yeah that was back in um right around the pandemic okay and then you know we just kept the the pedal on the metal

and conor mcgregor came in mike perry came in um paige van zandt was actually a real needle mover for us huge yeah not because she was the greatest fighter in the world but she's she can fight and a lot of people say oh she's she's not that great she fought very valiantly with us and she fought great and i just she was just at the hard rock event i asked her she's coming back and she said yeah i have to do one more there is one left on her deal right yeah so um but because you know she's a good looking woman and everybody said why why would she want to get punched with bare knuckles but it's like like they get so much more. So if Paige was to fight in, let's just say, Bellator at the time,

people would have said, she signed with Bellator. But when she signed with bare knuckle, they go, Paige is fighting bare knuckle? She's going to get hit with a bare knuckle? I had that reaction. So that was the first needle mover. And then so many other guys that we signed back then. And then Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov was a big one for us at that time. That was only our fifth event.

And then Mike Perry and then all these guys are signing with us now. And our viewership on FUBO, just so you know, our viewership, we have the 11th most watched program in FUBO sports history. Wow. And that's only under Ronaldo and Messi soccer matches. So we really have the number one all-time, most watched show on FUGO Sports. So our viewership is there. Our ticket sales are there.

It's just getting a little bit more mainstream, getting a little bit more people to believe in us. And I think we're two years away from being in an unbelievable spot. By the way, Robbie Lawler, Mike Perry, that's the one. That's got to be the one, right? He's sitting there. I saw him. Is it about getting the UFC approval?

Yeah, we're working on it. Are they going to let it? Does Robbie want to do it? Yeah. So it's just about that. Yeah. And when you say working on it, what does that entail? We're working on it with the UFC.

Man, that would be insane. Yeah. That's a sick fight, right? That's the same. I mean. Is it possible that would be the next one for Mike? Yeah. I'll know in two weeks.

Okay. And if it doesn't happen then, then it'll be someone else and then possibly him. But a lot of people are calling out Mike Perry now. And it was good because this is actually the good thing about the Jake Paul fight. Because now everybody wants to fight him. Yeah, that's a good point. But nobody wanted to fight him. Yeah, before.

Like they were scared to death of him. And now, but they're forgetting that this is still bare knuckle. It's not boxing. They're not going to box Mike Perry. Sure. They're going to fight Mike Perry. And that's the difference. Perry Till is one that I want to see.

But I don't know if it's going to happen, right? We're talking to him too. Oh, really? Jesus. You're talking to everyone. Talking to everyone. By the way, I got to imagine you coming up to Dana and being like, hey, you know, back and being like hey you know

back in the day you know didn't you didn't you have a lot of doors slammed in your face and he's like yeah your thing's not gonna work out you know that's got to be a motivating thing right it's great man you got right and then i met him i met him after the fact out of his office oh right right yes talk for a little bit did you remind him of that yeah okay and he and he did say he's like that's what people like we need. We need someone like that to light a fire under their ass. That's a good point. Incredible.

Yeah, man. That was a fire for sure. That was at the Rebel Casino in Atlantic City a long time ago. I jumped over the barricade and I just tapped him on the shoulder and I was like, yo, I want to talk to you about this bare knuckle thing I'm doing. He goes, yeah, I heard of it. He goes, get out of here. You'll never get it regulated. You'll never get it sanctioned.

It ain't going to work. And I was like, isn't that what they said to you? I'll see you at the top. And then I walked away and I'm like, I just said to Dana White, I'll see him at the top. Like this crazy. And listen, we're not competing with Dana White. Of course.

But some people are mentioning us as we could be the next UFC now. And I'm like, wow, man, what a come up. And now you're going to blow his gate out of the water. We're going to do it. Yeah. Amazing. Congratulations on everything. January 25th on DAZN.

Subscription only. No pay-per-view, which is tremendous. Love Ben Rothwell as well. Rowdy Beck on there. Taylor Starring. That's going to be a great one. Tremendous. And I adore the underground king, Eddie Alvarez, going up against Jeremy Stevensarring That's going to be a great one Tremendous And I adore

The underground king Eddie Alvarez Going up against Jeremy Stevens That's a great fight That face off was great That's great With them a couple of months ago

Or a couple of weeks ago Yeah I can't That was tremendous I can't wait to get that back The press conference on the 23rd That's right It's going to be nice I wish you guys the best

Good luck Thank you for coming in Thank you for having me Thanks for sharing some stuff It's nice to be here Yes Awesome You're welcome anytime

Alright cool We've come a long way Yeah we have We've come a long way Thank you for having me Thanks for sharing Some stuff It's nice to be here Yes Awesome You're welcome anytime Alright cool We've come a long way Yeah we have We've come a long way Thank you Ariel I mentioned Darren Till Darren Till crashed Our interview with

Anthony Taylor We'll replay that for you As I say goodbye to David And then we'll be back With Peyton Talbot In a couple minutes Don't go anywhere Alright well we didn't

Actually get to the Darren Till part But I can assure you He does crash the interview Like a minute after that Little exchange And so if you want to see that Go on the YouTube channel Didn't actually get to the Darren Till part But I can assure you he does crash the interview Like a minute after that little exchange And so if you want to see that Go on the YouTube channel

It's up there, you'll see it Darren Till crashes interview It's a great chat And they will be fighting on January 18th How about David Feldman? That's on January 25th It's a busy stretch coming up January 18th you got Misfits

25th you got BKFC And on January 25th It's a busy stretch coming up January 18th You got Misfits 25th You got BKFC And on January 18th As well In the evening You've got the UFC Making its debut At the Intuit Dome

In Inglewood Up to no good California Yes I said that That's the venue By the way That hosted the first

Raw on Netflix On Monday And you saw All the glitz and glamour If you were watching it It's a very impressive venue. And it's a great card. Headlined Islam Makhachev, Armin Tsurukian,

Murad Dawalishvili, Umar Namagomedov. Top to bottom, it's a great card. Yuri Prochaska against Jamal Hill. And you know we love each and every time Peyton Talbot is fighting. In fact, in our prediction show for 2025, I predicted, my bold prediction is that Peyton Talbot will be the breakout winner for 2025 as far as MMA is concerned. A bold prediction,

but he's fighting early. And I think if he fights three or so more times, he's in a tremendous spot around this time next year. And so without further ado, let us say hello to our old friend, the great Peyton Talbot. There he is. Hello, Peyton. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing, Ariel? If I wasn't such an avid watcher of your YouTube channel, I would be shocked by your current look because you have changed so much since we last spoke. And so we must, must, must start there, Peyton. What happened? I mean, what happened to the hair mean what happened to the hair what happened to the hair what did you what did you do to the hair it was so lovely not to say that this isn't lovely

but it was a shocking moment when we all got the clip of you i think sparring on a particular i mean look at that what a difference i'm sorry you're terrible what happened to the hair what happened i got rid of it. Clearly, yes. Hit him with a little change up, you know? You just were getting tired of it or what? Yeah, I don't know. I think it's just good to change it up a little bit. And it's just, I don't know, image is just a construct. Your hair is not who you are.

Okay. Do you like the new look? Yeah. I mean, it's nice. I just get to roll out of bed and not touch my hair. So I haven't felt that in a long time, which is really nice. But yeah, I don't know. Just things change. Your appearance changes. It's good to just like break that pattern of like how people see you because you just

recreate yourself. I love that. Are you going to, do you think you'll like cut it all the way down to this to grow it back or you think you're done with that look? I don't know. I'll grow it out eventually at some point. I love my long hair. So I'm sure I'll, I know winter was tough with it being short.

Like my head was really cold yeah so i don't think i can do that next winter you know um i'm very in touch with the the kids and the lingo as as we've discussed uh so what would you say your aura was your aura level was with the long hair and now your aura level with the short hair what's what would you say i'm just curious i don't know like how did that work so what would you say what number would it be ten thousand with the short hair negative ten thousand with the long or what do you say yeah yeah i'm in the negatives what am i gonna do i lost all my aura i'm not the same fighter i'm gonna get my butt kicked what am i gonna do uh but the the stash i think kind of evens things out yeah i just i literally just shaved it like today oh probably get rid of it you had a beard

i did yeah um it's growing fast now ariel i'm getting old look at you i don't like the thing it's like you get lazy for three days and she's there no it's good it's good by the way what's going on behind you over there with the screen? What are we looking at? Yeah, that's a Apix Twin warehouse project. So if you're bored and want something to listen to, it's a good one. What is this, a music video or is this just like a loop of images? Yeah, it's like a hour and a half set, I think. And then they just took shots of the audience and stuff and put AI editing software over it. So it's just fun to look at. How do you feel about AI?

I like it. I mean, it's kind of scary, but if you put it in the right hands, I think you can do some really powerful things. And I don't know. It's one of those things. There's like parts of it is,

are really scary. Um, and it's like you put power in the wrong hands anywhere and it's a scary thing. But if you put it in the right creative hands, I think, um, you can see what's behind me.

People create some really special stuff. You're just 26, but you, you, you strike me as a bit of an old soul and so there was a part of me that thought that you would say like nah i don't i don't i don't like that like give me give me an old school vhs tape a vcr and i could rock out with that normally i would say that but i mean i've been like researching it and like i've gotten into

like coding softwares for editing and stuff. And it's just like fascinating the amount you can like push certain parameters of a video and like just artistically, um, there's like endless possibilities. Okay. Um, you know, your YouTube channel is my favorite. I'm not trying to gas you up here, but it's legit. I mean, I watched the latest drop 40 something minutes. I watched the whole thing today. Uh, it's an incredible watch an incredible watch Here's a little taste of the Of the intro, I mean It's a real trip, as they Say, we've got all kinds of imagery

We have all kinds of, you know A lot of it kind of goes over my head, I'm not supposed To probably even know what some of this Stuff means, if we're being honest But look at this stuff, it's unbelievable It's a look into your mind There's a little bit of Spanish in there You spend some time in Mexico

You're speaking Spanish But then we get If I may, we get into the real meat and potatoes Of the video Which is like 40 something minutes You and your friend wearing a suit In Mexico And I do have to ask you, Peyton

Because here you are talking to your friend What's this young man's name in the suit Who always wears the suit That's William One of the three person team Me, William and Andres Shout out to William But are you sitting on a window ledge

On a chair on a window ledge Like if you move a couple inches Will you fall off the window there What is going on here Because it looks like there's nothing between you And the window ledge Yeah there's a pretty small little ledge there. If I fell, it wouldn't have been good.

But yeah, that was like my hotel room in Mexico. It was just like the ledge. Yeah, so it appears as though he's sitting in the balcony and you're sitting outside of the balcony. Yes, that is. I mean, that's just like a representation of our relationship. We're both, I don't know, William tends to stay on more of the safe side of like thrill seeking. And then I think I bring him the other way at times.

Very clearly. And I like that. I actually have a lot of friends, like most of my best friends are full of tattoos and are crazy. And they like to smoke and take drugs. And I think we get along because i'm more of i think i'm more william if you know what i'm saying i'm more kind of the the straight guy even though i aspire and and sort of like i i dream of being the guy who sits on the ledge you know what i mean and so i'm just wondering to make that decision you have so

much you know maybe it's an optical illusion but you have so much ahead of you i mean you know as as a person watching that i'm nervous on your behalf that you like are going to move and fall off the balcony no like was it you were worried about i was very worried in fact doesn't someone yell at you at some point to say like when are you going to wrap this up oh yeah the uh hotel workers were like you gotta get out like they said it in spanish i can't remember they told me to get down i was like you mean jump no oh jesus i mean if your management or the ufc saw that they'd be mortified do you think so i don't know you don't think so maybe it's part of the appeal my manager likes it. He loves that I do stuff like that.

I think maybe the UFC wouldn't like it as much, but I feel like it's one of those things where until you get hurt, that's when they start giving you strikes. As long as I'm okay and show up to my fight, then I don't think they're too concerned. Okay. Like, as long as you don't, like, punch a computer and, like,

mess up your knuckle or something, right? Yeah, yeah. Something really stupid like that yeah uh this stuff is great man i i really enjoy it uh it's uh it's so different than anything that's out there um and and this one was a particularly long one it was like four like i said it was like 40 something minutes right yeah this one was a little different too he wanted to kind of change it up because it was just like a kind of christmas new year special thing and usually we just put stuff out without a lot of context so we just wanted to go the other way and kind of like make people just like sit and listen um instead of just get like bombarded with like visual and like audio stimulation.

So, um, yeah, it was cool. We got to just like talk about stuff that we're passionate about, give some shout outs to like smaller artists that we really enjoy and use in the YouTube that, um,

I thought that was super cool. Just them being able to have a moment. What were you doing in Mexico? I was just, just messing around okay doing taking care of some business ariel okay all right i was investing oh in what just uh some some stuff down there there's there's a there's a whole world of creative endeavors down in Mexico. They're very artistic people. I'm just planting seeds. I get it.

Okay, yeah. You're investing in yourself. Yeah, always. Well, I saw you at the PI over there, and you did a whole interview in Spanish. I didn't know you were bilingual. I'm not very bilingual. I I mean you were rocking it over there yeah I learned a lot while I was down there um but I mean I think I did 90% of it in Spanish but I always took it in school so I have like a good base and then just being there in the culture

and like talking to people in Spanish every day it just it helps a lot but I think it's important like when you go down into a different country that speaks a different language to like fully immerse yourself and sometimes that means learning the language eating the food just doing all the things i think it's really important my favorite thing about that that video is that you're you're making a great attempt to speak in spanish and they're still hitting you with the subtitles in spanish i know a couple times they corrected like my plural yeah yeah past and present tense which is fine um and and so uh i i just if you don't mind i'm not trying to like parse through your whole interview but there were just a couple things that stood out

in particular one because uh i consider myself you know a loyal guy I have friends who I'm very close to And you mentioned at one point That your friends gave you A shot that was filled with A disgusting concoction that made you Throw up for two days and one of the things That was in there was expired Dog food and so my Reaction to that was like

I don't know if I'd be friends with those people anymore if they gave me that And so why did they give you this Drink and why did you drink it? I've dished it out just as much, Mario. I've done pretty much the same thing to them. But we were playing a game and one of the punishments I lost and one of the punishments was having to drink this drink that they all made. At times I hadn't lost and I was actually the one filling the drink.

So you got to drink it at that point. And you're throwing up for two days. Like you know you're going to inhale this thing and you're going to be sick. I didn't think it. Nobody had gotten sick. I was the first one that got sick. And I think it was because they put the expired dog food in there. So I was the first one that really got sick.

And then we kind of like stopped playing after that. Yeah. i didn't think i was gonna get sick when i drank it uh what else was in there oh i don't even know because i wasn't watching them the whole time but when i got sick i asked them like what was in there and that was one of the things we listed but there's all kinds of like spices and oils and i don't know dude there could have been like toenails oh like and all the things and will you do this again or does this end it like you getting sick does that end the particular game that you play with them no i mean that was when i was like 15 oh i haven't done it since then okay all right wow 15 geez louise um all right and these are still friends yeah yeah one of them is right on the couch over there oh okay do you do live with other people yeah i have uh two of my really close friends that i live with andres lives

with me on and off throughout the year and then um we just have some people in and out you've also been acting right like you dropped like several clips that are like it's a movie right that you're acting in um well yeah we we put out like a short film on youtube yeah where i mean it was supposed to just be like a small like two to five minute skit and then we just kept like adding more and more stuff that we wanted to do. But we filmed that over like four days. So I don't know. William did a phenomenal job. Digital Waste Studios did a great job with the soundtrack. They actually watched the whole thing from start to finish and just played along to it.

And that's where we got the soundtrack from. And then Andres did a phenomenal job with the cinematography and camera work so it's a super small team but um i thought it turned out really good given that we shot it over four days came up with it last second if we had time and like more energy i think we would have put a lot more stuff in it but yeah super impressive yeah is this something you want to do more of yeah i mean i don't really know about acting it's not that fun but um definitely more creating stuff and um yeah just putting stuff out there artistically that i like are you more passionate about that than fighting is is fighting a means to do more of that or are there like is it not fair to even compare the two no i think it's kind of the same thing like a performance is like something you put out there

and once it's out there it's there forever it's like it's just there for people to judge you can't really take a win or a loss back or how you looked um and then these things that i put out there it's the same thing like you're vulnerable at times and you spend time like crafting this thing and then you put it out into the public and then it's just like there forever for people to judge so i don't know i think they're the same thing but i like them for that reason it's like cool to look back on it and see you know how you looked when you were vulnerable in front of thousands of people. Some people have to like draw upon dark experiences and go to a dark place when they fight to bring out the rage and the anger, have some animosity, hate their opponent. Do you need that?

Do you go there? No, no, no. I mean, it's like a really cool thing that I get to do. I love, I love that I'm able to do it. I feel super fortunate. Um, it's just, I mean, I feel like it's probably all the emotions. It's excitement. It's love. Um, it's like power. And, um, there is like a little bit of like violent and dark emotion in there, but it's, it's just as, as dark as as you can go you can go the opposite way you know but if you if you eventually meet someone who is going to really come after you and poke you and try to make this personal do you think you will feel other emotions probably i'm not i'm not going to say that i'm only capable of feeling certain things you know like somebody can bring out anything in you um I, I hope that that does happen because that would just allow me to

understand myself better. Um, and that's, I don't know, that's kind of why I'm doing this. So yeah, it would, uh, probably give me some more answers to questions. When you say that's why I'm doing this. I mean, most people, prize say that's why i'm doing this i mean most people prize fighters would say i'm doing this to get paid ultimately to get famous to get paid to advance you're doing it to find out more about yourself yeah i mean i love the money and the pay is really nice but it's really cool being able to understand yourself through another person and i feel like that's the only way we really can understand ourselves if you sit in a box that's just white walls there's no difference between you and the walls so it's like there's not really much you can understand okay you know but if you put yourself

in a room with like three different people in the same room you can understand yourself through the contrast of those three people and i feel like there's no other easier way to do that than fighting because you're in direct contrast with someone it's like you versus them it's the most like clear way to define your ideals versus theirs so and and is that how you pit yourself up against your opponent because you're from different backgrounds different ideologies different people yeah a little bit um i mean it never goes that deep at times but at the very basic level it's just me versus them and through you know all the interactions of fighting you understand like who you are in a

really stressful scenario against this person that's just completely different do you try to like barcelos who you're fighting on january 18th do you try to learn about them who they are do you go that deep into them not so much their fighting style but like who they are internally yeah a little bit i don't know if that gives me an edge or anything i think it's just like interesting to me i'm gonna be in there with a guy for 15 minutes like trying to take his head off. So the least I can do is try to understand him and get the most out of the experience. You know,

when I'm in there, I think if you just go in there and you like, it's kind of a stranger fighting, I don't know if it's as interesting or fun for me, maybe personally, but yeah, it's, it shouldn't just be about winning or losing.

I think it's more than that. How do you feel about Barcelos? He's pretty fast and explosive. He's getting up there in age. My roommate just whispered something. Oh, what did he whisper? is he playing call of duty as well he said his editing skills suck a lot uh what did he hire somebody does he do videos i don't know he just like posts stuff on instagram my roommate hates him wow

he hates barcelos because of his editing skills, not because of like... No, no. Barcelos is cool. He's fine. He's a veteran. Much respect. But his editing skills suck. He's like 37 and still fighting and getting after it.

But he just doesn't like his videos. Okay. Wow. Does he try to make like, you know, avant-garde videos like you? No, I don't think so. I think it's just like training footage okay but as you could guess like my friends aren't super into that world so they probably just see it and they're just like like who's this guy with his weak ass training videos montages right

yeah uh no i get it i get it they're very critical they're they're they're they're art people they're creatives yeah mean, some of them are just degenerates, but. Or that. Yeah. Uh, would you say that some of them are maybe like, um, you know, they kind of look down on people who attempt to be creative. Um, the word is escaping me right now. Like someone who's like, uh, you know, they, they think they're almost like above the, the, you know, like they're, what's, what's the word, what's the word I'm above the, you know, like they're, what's the word? What's the word I'm looking for? When someone is.

Condescending? Yeah, towards someone who will attempt to make something great. Like, look at this. This is not, this doesn't even hold a candle to what we're putting out. Not really. I mean, I think they're, my friends are just pretty critical in general. Like, we've made fun of each other a lot growing up. And I think it's just like they

can smell when something isn't like genuine and i think you know if you're creating something and it's genuine and like it sucks then it's like that's cool dude you really committed to that and like although it's not that good i can respect you like putting yourself out there genuinely um but i guess when it's, they can smell it and they're like, that's when they point the finger. Uh, I heard you mentioned that you have friends around you who allow you to like bask in the limelight of all the good things that are coming your way, but also will humble you and will keep you grounded. And so do you feel, do you feel like a lot of good things are coming your way? Do you feel your star growing and how do you deal with that yeah i do i um it's just a lot of change it's like it's weird because you'll have

something you want to do in a month or two or you'll have this like vision and then things kind of change and then you're like how really worth it is that now um but the one thing that those friends have done is like consistently shown up for me regardless and i know that no matter like what happens with fighting or socially like they're always going to be there so it's really nice to have that like guaranteed stability um but it's cool i i've i've met a lot of really cool people and i made a lot of really cool connections that are priceless in my eyes. And in the future, when I'm done with fighting, I'll have all these different pawns that I can dip into.

What was it like hanging with Frank Ocean? Oh, it was cool. He's an interesting guy, super intelligent and like a very focused individual. But he's cool. Yeah. were you talking business or just hanging how did that come about we were just hanging we happen to be in the same city at the same time and then he reached out to me after my fight and like congratulated me and we've kind of gone back and forth online since then damn but yeah we just went and got some food. It's impressive, man.

Every time, every time we speak, it's like, Oh yeah, Tony Hawk and I were just chilling. Frank Ocean and I were just chilling. Is there, is there like a bucket list one?

Is there, is there one that you would love? Like if you could, if you can have dinner with someone tomorrow, no matter where they're from, any walk of life, any, any,

any, any period of time, who are you picking? Probably Sam Hyde. God, walk of life any any any any period of time who are you picking probably sam hyde god let me just google sam hyde real quick oh you're gonna google him oh who's sam hyde artist musician the ghost of kiev the ghost of kiev yes great movie no no he's got accused of being like the ghost of Kiev. And then that's how his like fame started. Oh, wow. This is who you're choosing. Why? If you watch like any of his satire for more than like 30 minutes, it's kind of self-explanatory. explanatory but he's just a like really intelligent person but he always spins his intelligence into a very schizophrenic and like degenerate way like i don't know do you know it's like yeah have you

seen the show fish tank no okay well it's the show that he created that pretty much is um it's like a show where he takes all these very strange people and puts them into a house it's like a social experiment and it's a genius like business design because the streamers can pay a certain amount and fund it essentially but then they can also um add to the challenges by like sending challenges for them to do and pretty much just interacting with them but it gives like yeah it's 24 7 live and it gives viewers a way to invest and interact with the show so that it's like constantly changing and i think that's like the new wave is like streaming and getting payers to like interact wow okay they're watching uh can you have you ever heard of the lovely feathers no okay i i didn't expect you to

hear uh of them lovely feathers were a great band that uh had two had two albums in the mid 2000s i think like 2006 2008 um full disclosure i i grew up with them and and i think the reason why i'm so fascinated um so fascinating you and your exploits is because I grew up with a lot of kids who were exactly like you, who made movies like you, who talk like you, who are interested in the same things,

believe it or not. And they were a band that I think, I think, maybe I'm wrong, you may laugh in my face, that were supremely quirky and right up your alley. And I say quirky in the best way possible. These were like some of my best friends, the Lovely Feathers.

If you could check them out, let me know if I'm right. Let me know if I'm totally off base here. They were super, super weird, but I listen to them all the time still to this day. I think they would be good. If you want to walk out to one of their songs next week, hey, that's on you. All I'm saying is, if you just check them out, let me know what you think

of them, alright? Yeah, I'm looking them up right now. I'll bookmark them. Alright, cool. You tell me what you think of them um and i'll let you go in a moment but i i wanted to ask you about this other video that i saw of you on like some kind of dating show with the full violence crew now this didn't seem very peyton talbot-esque if i'm being honest it didn't seem very peyton talbot-esque because everything you do is like is kind of the antithesis of fight or flight with you know six women who who convinced you to do this payton and and and uh but well just looking at your face right now i'm not sure how you feel about it in retrospect uh uh they convinced me to do it

it was kind of ambiguous at first it was just like hey we want to do just like this like special like dating show you just like meet six girls pick one five minute kind of thing 10 minute thing so i was like yeah sure i'm down they offered to pay me and then it ended up being like 35 minutes and you know yeah i'm sure you saw it and this one i actually didn't go to the to the end on if i'm being honest i didn't feel like this was a representative or a representation of the true peyton talbot yeah i mean i like women so that is definitely a thing but yeah i know but it just you didn't strike me as the dating show type of guy or maybe i'm wrong yeah i mean i just i didn't really know exactly what it was going to look like until like right before so i kind of committed to it and then it just happened

but i don't know at the very least met some people and me and jack had a good time so did you did you meet a uh a girlfriend like did you did you hook up with anyone like are they i don't know how long ago this was like your hair is different so no no okay you didn't find true love basically is what i'm trying to ask did not find true love all right i have that okay well you're still very young 26 um into a dome that's going to be fun right yeah i'm looking forward to that i don't even know what it looks like in there but um i heard it's huge yeah it's very excited that's like where a lot of my people are in LA. Englewood? Yeah, just the LA area.

Okay. And close to Mesa, Orange County. And after Barcelos, perhaps Andrew Tate? Yeah. That's the one you want. Yeah, let's get that going. You want that, huh? I'd take that.

I saw you said it's Tate and Goggins. Those are the guys on your hit list. Yeah, just a free-for-all. You versus both of them. Why do you hate Tate so much? Ah, man, he's just like the antithesis of me. Yeah, he is. It's like what I said in that video.

It just seems like somebody cheated on him when he was younger and now he like has this vendetta against women i feel like he takes himself super seriously and it's just like he's kind of a poison for masculine culture yeah well um i think a lot of people would agree uh it would be a great matchup for now we focus on barcelos it on Barcelos. It's always a pleasure. I genuinely enjoy these chats. I hope you do to some degree as well. I'm looking forward to your return on January 18th. Thanks for giving us some time.

And shout out to Tenori as well. Great people over there. Great stuff. Love that you're repping them. Will you have to take the nose ring out when you fight? Yeah, probably. Yeah? Unfortunately, yeah.

Yeah, shout out to tenori and reno academy of combat my gym love it uh thank you pain all the best to you good luck looking forward to it all right there he is the great pain talbot always a great chat with him uh and once again do yourself a favor go check out the youtube channel the youtube channel is unbelievable with all due respect to DJ, DJ has the best YouTube channel of retired fighters out there. He has the best of the current fighters out there,

in my opinion. The YouTube channel is fantastic. It really is. He returns to action on January 18th. Thank you very much to our good friends over at NordVPN for the love and support as always. One interview left, and it's one that I'm really looking forward to as well.

It has been a very long time since I last spoke to Matt the Hammer Hamill. He was a huge part of the UFC as they were exploding. Obviously, the Ultimate Fighter Season 5, that was the one that was um coached by ken shamrock and tito ortiz way back when i was at the finale believe it or not three-time ncaa division three national champion first ever deaf fighter to compete in the ufc way back when obviously had the uh the huge fight against michael bisping the only man to defeat Jon Jones till this day,

fought not only the likes of Jon Jones and Michael Bisping, but Rampage Jackson, Tito Ortiz, Rich Franklin, Alex Gustafson, Tiago Silva, Keith Jardim, Mark Munoz, Tim Boach, a who's who from the world of the light heavyweight division throughout his time in the UFC. And he popped up in the news over the break. He posted this on social media, which caught a lot of attention, including my attention, saying, I just got the most powerful

digital hearing aids ever made. For the first time in 41 years, I can finally hear my kids voices the sounds of people walking and laughing i finally heard my mom's voice and she cried i'm looking forward to hearing my brother's pat voice as well i only hope he doesn't have a voice like a foghorn this is awesome although i know it will take some time to adapt to all this happy new year that's incredible stuff and uh that kind of went viral and i know there's a lot of new fans out there who weren't watching when when matt was was active in

the ufc and and post ufc but uh i've had the opportunity to to interview him throughout his ufc career and i thought that this was an incredible incredible piece of news. And so I reached out to Matt Hamill via social media and he got back to me and we made this happen and he's about to come on the show. And part of him coming on the show obviously involves having an ASL interpreter, an official interpreter on the Zoom as well. So this will be a first for us and it will be the first time that he'll ever be on the program as well. And so it is a massive, massive honor and a great thrill and privilege to say hello once again and say hello for the first time in this show's history to the former UFC fighter, longtime competitor and tough three alum, the great Matt Hamill, who is kind enough to join us, and alongside Matthew, our interpreter today, who is helping us as well. Matt, great to see you. Thank you for doing this.

Oh, yeah. Thank you for having me here. I mean, it was an awesome opportunity. So it's been a long time. It has been a long time. And this news that came out warmed my heart and many others as well. It went everywhere. And so could you explain to us what you experienced, how you got this hearing aid to be able to hear your kids' voices and your family's voices for the first time? Yes, yes, really. When I was born, like, one or two years old, I had an old-fashioned box. Yeah, it's like an AM, FM radio with a beep, beep, beep, all that with a heavy box. Until when I was like, and you don't, I stopped wearing. I mean, if you say, how are you? If you send it to the box,

it's going to dangle, it's going to say, tap, tap, tap, tap. It's not really actually weird, a lot of that. So it's more like a, a more code, a lot of that.

And then I stopped wearing hearing aids until now. They go, the manager, agent, Hitler goes, Matt, there was a new model, the latest, most powerful hearing aids ever made. I'm like, okay, why not? I just tried it. So when I put this on, I'm like, wow. Then I started listening to my mom's voice.

I said, Mom, I could finally, the first time I could hear your voice. And she cried, she cried. Then I look at both of my kids. They just stand and look at it and were crying. Then I say, Dad. And I said, wow. They say, Dad, all the way.

And I'm like, oh, man. This is awesome. So it takes some time to adapt the sound. But everybody thought that I could hear everything, but it's not. I mean, so it's not like a field, for example. I mean, knowing Relift, Dynamo, but the hearing, the, but the head the actual word is different. So if you take them time to stop That is an incredible story and thank you for Sharing that with us Matt. Could I ask it? What is that feeling like the moment?

Can you even possibly put it into words what it is like hearing your kids voices for the first time at At your age now in your late 40s? Oh, man, it was true. I mean, it's more like, wow, it's real. I mean, I thought I'm in a dream, you know, I didn't think it was going to happen. But thanks to all the technology, they made the best unit. But I didn't expect to hear the sound at all, you know. But I'm hearing your voice, and then I'm saying, oh, that's Ariel's voice. So I would know from that time I see you around the UFC event,

so I would know it's your voice, and all that. So right now, it's just recording memories in the sound, but I'm just so in awe and thrilled with the sound. I feel like I don't want to take my hair down. And all that, I just keep it on, hear the birds chirping, hear people walking, knock on the door, and then sometimes kids were hiding in the corner. Dab, dab, dab, you know, that's what I had to watch. So all the echoes down, you know, that, so the kids were so happy, you know, that one.

But it's more like a language bear cry, you know, that. If there's someone out there who knows someone who could benefit from these hearing aids, where can they learn more about this? Where can they they can look into perhaps getting them? Well, there were a lot of people on it, but I went through the hearing aid company, but I won't tell more details about the company. My manager is working on it for the contract for a proposed order, trying to get that sponsored. And as I wanted to get that done, I was bled out. The name of the brand, the model, a lot of that was done.

But right now, they're still talking. Okay, fair enough. I have over a thousand emails and messages about the hearing aids, what brand they want. But I didn't even realize it was interesting because you want to get the power hearing. You have to get a big hearing aid, the headphones, all that. But they make it so small. Behind my ears, it's like, that was amazing, all of that. But I didn't think it that was amazing. A lot of that. But I didn't think it was going to happen. A lot of that.

I didn't believe, oh yeah, it's not going to work. It's not going to work. I've tried over like 50, 50, 50 hearing aids. None of them worked.

Until a couple of days ago, they proved me wrong. And I tried it. It was like, that's one, the best one for me. At this point in your life, did you, prior to this experience, did you just kind of, you know, come to the conclusion that you perhaps would never be able to hear your kids' voices? Like, is this all a surprise?

Is this all gravy for you that you were never really truly banking on? Yeah, it was unexpected. I think I will never hear the rest of my life. I will never hear the sound the rest of my life. Let me tell you something. I mean, everybody thought that I could hear and all that because the way I look at them all that, no, I'm really born deaf. I can't hear nothing.

Without hearing aids, I can't hear airplanes flying by. I mean, if a coach in the corner goes, hammer, put your hands up. I can't hear nothing. If there are 40,000, 50,000 people screaming, just scream, scream, I can't hear nothing. I just look at them. I give them thumbs up.

Yeah, all the sounds, just scream, scream. That's a good benefit for me because, I mean, I can focus easy. I don't get nervous. I mean, but the downfall is I can't hear the coach's recording for a lot of hours, so there's like problems of kind.

The bottom line is I'm just having what I have right now. And now I'm really thankful and grateful that he made it. The manufacturers are here today. So it was awesome. So obviously this is the first time that we're hearing from you in quite some time. And it's great to have you on the show. Could you give us an update, Matt?

What have you been up to? I understand two of your children are actively competing in wrestling these days which is amazing to see we saw a photo of you and your children and so can you give us an update as to where you're at in life right now yes yes yes i have been teaching um i'm an instructor for mma wrestling at Park Gym in Loving, Ohio. And I plus training. I have four fighting, including my nephew. He's going to fight February 15th in Newport, Kentucky.

And I'm spending time with the kids. Yeah, both kids are very active. They're wrestling and they're playing football and then they also do gymnastics. Well, my daughter is still in wrestling and she pulled up to middle school. If it's not, she's in sixth grade. And my son is still in wrestling. And then I still travel the U.S. and internationally doing the presentation and the seminary and I'm hosting the hand with that.

So my manager and I was working on book stuff. So I have been keeping myself up. Yeah. The both kids would love to go out, go sledding and achieving, uh, in the late nineties. A lot of that was done.

Of course. I'm just, um, a family guy. They'll love to take the kids kids around as much as I can. I love it. And I understand in October, you held the third annual Hammer Deaf Expo in Seattle, Washington. Could you tell me what the Hammer Deaf Expo is?

What is that all about? Well, I wanted a foundation for a proposed, a better deaf program. And not only for the deaf program, but for the handcap. And we have a booth around and we're going to have a cornhole tournament because many deaf kids, they haven't met famous celebrities. So I've been willing to meet everyone. I gave them the words of advice and courage and passion. There's a lot of kids that look up to me as a good role model.

And yeah, so we have all the activities, all that, but things are getting better and growing. And so I'm going to be back around to the state for the Hamlet Deaf Expo. So they also have a program that supports for the interpreting and for the deaf needs for the decision, not only for the sport, but the need for the school, for education, all that, that we're trying to combine and to make us support each other, all that. I also understand that there's a new Hamill on the scene.

I believe your nephew, Liam Hamill, is rising up the ranks, just scored a big knockout and is well on his way in his MMA career. Are you helping to train liam and and what do you think his his ceiling is there he is uh right there with you uh victorious recently uh do you think that he can make it to the ufc yeah yeah he's been working really hard i've been training with him the The more I've trained with him, the more my body becomes young. And I'm feeling like, oh, yeah, I want to get back in the fight or whatever.

But he keeps me steady acting. And he's undefeated. And so he's really young. He's 23 years old. It's getting better. So, yeah, he has a heavy hand. That's why they call him the next man, the hip man in Los Angeles. So he's getting a lot better.

But I told him he's doing one of these things, the big stuff he's doing. So I told him little by little, you know, he's going to do one thing at a time. You know, so there's no rush. So he's doing great. I saw a video of you training recently in sparring. Are you thinking of getting back in there? Well, well, apparently, you know, I was going to think about maybe one, one time, you know, if they ever retired or I don't know.

So, um, I would see how, how the flow just stay in a good shape a lot that way. And right now, I just don't want to sit down and doing nothing, but I just want to keep active and work on the shoes and wrestling and doing boxing. So I'll be doing a lot better. But the most important is my cardio. So if you're out of shape, then you're out of the business. Your name came up recently in the news when we found out that they were getting rid of the 12-6 elbow rule and of

course this is this is the matt hamill rule if you will because of your fight against john jones till this day all these years later uh some 14 and a half years later, you're still the only man to have a victory over Jon Jones. When you found out about them reversing this rule, which of course helped you beat Jon Jones on that day in December of 2009, what was your reaction? Well, I appreciate you bringing this up. I'm getting a lot of feedback. And I know that Sean Jones, which is no such a point, he's got the life to have one lost record. And he just wanted to be a clean undefeated. A lot of that was good.

But let me tell you something. When I fought Sean Jones, I mean, no other fighters ever took me down. So he was the first fighter ever took me down. So I had my arm caught on the canvas and broke my counter bone and landed back and he got in front of me and I wanted to get ready for escape.

I looked at him, my bones did not stick out of the skin but it just sticked out. I'm like, ah. He started pounding, pounding me. Then I'm like, oh, great. I only have one arm to beat. And I thought, don't. And then I was, oh, forget it.

Don't. Go ahead. Then I could see the blood came in my eyes, like that. It's not broken, but it's just with the skin, like that. But it wasn't my night. But if the one- record really bothered Jon Jones, I told him, let's have a rematch. I mean, I'm telling you something.

It's not going to be like Jay Paul or Mike Tyson. I respect you being blunt. I respect you being a broken bone. So let's have one last shot. You know, if Jon Jones wants to have a rematch with me, I'll be willing to do it to make him that fun but um I'll be prepared if that really happens I'm going to go to a proper training camp and then any someone who's trained better than me who's really great fighters like that so um

yeah that's my when I say so um but don't get me wrong. I wish him nothing but the best. So I have nothing to be bothered with Jon Jones, you know. But it would be a nice opportunity to have a rematch. We'll have that. As you know, Matt, he is the current UFC heavyweight champion. He has not lost since that fight. Are you sincere when you say that?

I mean, he's still active, right? You're sincere when you say you would, you would be interested in fighting him. And do you think you have a chance to beat him with all due respect? Oh, absolutely. To stick up for me, I'm like a stand on a line man, you know, I've been willing to go move up to heavyweight. So I will have to worry about kind of weight, you know. But it would be my first time to fight with a heavyweight.

And, yeah, so up to Dana White. If you want to do it, let's do it. So I'll be ready. He has said that he would like, and Dana as well, has said that they would like to reverse that loss, right, To turn it to when, because now the rule has been changed. How do you feel about that? Good. Well, we still have unfinished business, you know.

But Sean Jones wants to overturn the one loss. I didn't think it was going to happen, Lord's album, because all the past, you know, Lord's album, it definitely affected me and Lord's album. But the way Sean Jones mentioned my name, and again, and again, and again, for the last 12 years, Lord's album, like, come on, let's move on, move on.

But everybody on the right side goes, hey, man, you beat on. But he's, but everybody, I walk by, he goes, hey, man, you beat Sean Jones. He lost on you, lost on him. I'm like, oh, okay, but thank you, thank you. But I mean, I'm not like the kind of person to tell him that I beat Sean Jones or that. But it is what it is, you know. So there's nothing I can do about it.

Right. John Jones fight or not, is part of the motivation perhaps for you to fight one more time now that you have these hearing aids so that you can actually hear the crowd? I know you can't necessarily compete with them, but maybe for the walkout, is that something that comes to mind?

Does that motivate you? Well, really, I cannot have a device to hear this in the ring. You know, it will break a lot of that good. It would be nice. If I have a hearing aid on, I'm telling you, I have never heard a walk-on song. Wow. I mean, yeah. No, I mean, my own manager picked out this song, and I have no idea.

So he picked it out for me. But finally, by the year of today, I would like to pick out my own workout song. Before I get to the gate of hell, I would take my hands off. Then it's hammer time. And I get in the ring. My favorite workout song song with our simple man, you know Why is that? Because that's one that harmony it gives me

motivation, um it gives me are the echo sound because That way and it's down and the sound and the vibration, all the speakers, that's how I get my heart on fire. The rest of the song was okay. The second one was Rage Against the Machine. Remember, nowhere is only the vibration, the echo, and the sound.

The simple man and the Rage Against the Machine, that's what got my man and the laser guy's machine. That's what got my heart on fire. That's incredible. Could I just ask, other than obviously hearing your family's voices and whatnot, what's been the best byproduct of these new hearing aids? What's been the best thing that you have heard? Well, the best one is the first sound that I was hearing was from my mom. But I know it's not in the family.

But when I went to the gym, I hear a person at the bag. And I was like, what's that? Then I look around and I saw my nephew, Liam. He was hitting the bag and I didn't hear the sound. So the sound from hitting the bag, it felt like a real sound. So that was the first moment that I will never forget. And the person in the bag,

and I didn't think there was any sound, but really it does happen. When you hit the bag, all the sound is flowing. It comes to my body, it's into my ears. So that was one, the moment that was amazing. I love that. And in fact, you were an inspiration. You continue to be an inspiration, Matt. We actually have someone, we're live right now, and we have someone in our YouTube comments named Ryan Glunt, who wrote while this interview was playing, saying, Matt is the only reason I had 13 fights back in the day. He is deaf as well. He said he saw you on Tuff and said if he can do it, I can do it as well. And I'm sure you have heard a million stories like that of people who have said that you have inspired them and now with this new information, this new news, I'm sure you're getting a ton of those messages again, right? Yes, yeah, because, yes, yes, yes. I'm getting enormous support and because this hearing aid really changed my life. I mean, this is so amazing.

But let me tell you something. I've been traveling all over the world and I'm seeing many kids that look up to me and they have cochlear implants and they have a beatbox and hearing thoughts that was good but I see them don't they look like they have a low self-esteem but they need something like a positive influence so I'm telling you the one that I gave you some ways and then I'm trying to get a hush to touch it. And they got really motivated, just smiling. And a handcuff can achieve something. Because I have been around with a handcuff for many years.

And I don't really believe what other people say. But I have explained to each person, you can do it. Just push it down. don't give up, and follow your dream. Then four months later, they started messaging me, Hamill, this boy is involved in wrestling, this boy is involved in shell. They walk out on their own and they start socializing. Or they were like an introvert and they wanted isolating and they didn't want to be around because they were being bullied. Many people were being bullied in a lot of that group. So finally, I explained to them them everything changed. I'm hoping the hearing aid or the latest model

of the best is divine will give any person you need for their decision to hear will help, you know, because this is 2025, I believe in 2030, when it's done, we we have a better technology, even a smaller one, a smaller one, like a medical ear, just putting it on. Yeah, then baby will hear better. But who knows?

So right now, I'm just happy where I am right now. I love to hear it. And again, I would never, ever take it off. And I do want to, but I'm starting to hear it. I see it here in band and all that. And I mean, I still recognize your voice. I will never forget your voice. I love that. I love that, Matt.

And I am so happy for you. Truly, I am delighted for you. This is incredible news. It was an amazing thing to read during the holiday season. And I couldn't be happier for you and your family. So great to reconnect with you on this, uh, on this Wednesday and,

uh, glad to hear that you're doing great and, and very excited about the new member of the family who we may be talking about, uh, in the UFC someday doing great things. Your, your nephew,

Liam. So all the best continue being an inspiration. Uh, good luck to your, your kids as they embark on their wrestling journey. And thank you so much for doing this. It was a real pleasure. Oh, again, thank you so much.

I'm really enjoying to be on the show. And please keep it coming. And thank you so much for everything. And I'm really excited with the next many doors of opportunity. So thank you so much for everything. Thank you, Matt. And thank you to Matthew, our interpreter, who did a phenomenal job here, our first ASL interpreter on the program. Thank you to both of you.

All the best. And we'll talk to you soon, Matt. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. I love it. you so much. Oh, my. Woo! Bye-bye. I love it. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

There he is, Matt the Hammer Hamill. How great was that? I have not talked to Matt in many, many years, and that really warmed my heart. Felt like a very feel-good week here on the program. The Kane interview yesterday. Today is one of my favorite episodes since we've come back. The wide range of guests from Moses Itama to Dave Feldman and his story. Peyton is a hoot. He's an absolute hoot. And then, of course, Matt Hamill as well.

Go back and watch Tough Three. His feud with Bisping was a great one. His fight against Bisping was a great one as well. Uh, the, the Jones fight and he had a great run in the UFC. Um, one of two athletes that I've come across in my life, obviously I know him on somewhat of a personal level and, and, and he was an incredible story and an incredible person to cover when he was in the UFC, uh, who, who are deaf and who were able to defy the odds and become incredible athletes on the biggest stage possible. The first time I came across someone who was deaf, who was playing in the major leagues, so to speak, was back in 1993. There was a player on the Montreal Expos named Curtis Pride,

and this is an amazing moment. He gets called up in September. The Expos, my favorite baseball team, are involved in a pennant race with the Philadelphia Phillies. It's a Friday night in Montreal, never forget it, in September. Curtis Pride gets called up, and we had heard about him, that he was a great prospect, but he was also deaf. Huge game against the first-place Phillies, and I remember in his first at-bat, look it up, an incredible moment, one of my favorites ever as a kid,

in his first at-bat, he hits a double in a massive moment. It was maybe the sixth, seventh, or eighth inning of a huge series against the Phillies. He hits the double, and he's on second base. And one of the coaches, either the third base coach or the first base coach, has to tell him, go up to him and tell him to tip his cap because he hears nothing. He said afterwards that he felt the vibration of the stadium.

There it is right there. The coach had to tell him to tip his cap. I get chills talking about it. One of my favorite moments ever as a sports fan and certainly as a baseball fan. And I was just blown away by his courage and his talent. And then later, some, I don't know, 18 or so years later, I meet Matt Hamill and he continues to inspire so what a wonderful story and what a wonderful way to to end today's program that really warmed my heart what a day gents uh what a day what more where else do you get this we oh is there more ourselves oh i thought you were going

to tell me that there was more frank how about the fact that i came into the uh the control room this morning and i was like i saw this video about dave feldman but i don't think it's real i think it's like some you know ai thing and then you actually looked it up and told me like yeah you think it's real and it obviously ended up being 100 accurate i i was waiting at the edge of my seat to see how that was going to go down and the look on his face man like when we talked about the story and i read a little bit online like because it was so unbelievable the emotion was missing from it and then seeing it on his face it like made it all so real and

yeah it's crazy so it's been quite the emotional roller coaster today for sure yeah and there was there was more to it that he that he revealed as well. So I guess you guys are going to BKFC. Hell yeah. That's what it sounds like. You're going to be there as well, apparently. I'll be there no matter what. BKFC, Knuckle Mania 5. That's right.

That's a good point. That's a good point. They actually had a, you know, I forgot to send them in. They had a wrapped SUV out there that David Feldman showed up in. No way. Yeah, it was promoting Knuckle Mania 5. Did you get a picture of that? Yeah, I did get a picture of it, and I forgot to it to jordan for us on here i mean that's pretty damn amazing

he said he actually he brought up what's in the merch bag should we open it up yeah let's see man maybe there's like i don't know 10 million i need something to wear to knuckle mania 5 man knuckle mania is a great name by the way i know i want to get a knuckle shirt thinking about getting a knuckles from Sonic. Look at that hat. Yeah, this is Frank's newest hat. Oh, yeah, that's got Frank written all over it. Can you take it off your head before you get it on? A little water bottle.

We love a good water bottle. We love a good water bottle, and of course. Now, here's the thing. He did note, Rick was there. He's like, you know, you're a lot taller in person. I was like, yeah, most people say that. So most people, when they give me merch, they usually give me a medium people when they give me merch

They usually give me a medium or large They think I'm tiny they think I'm a flyweight I'm an XL sometimes I even venture to double X What do we got here Large you know it's not bad We have some other swag Everyone always thinks I'm tiny I'm pretty swole

But I will say before the interview Before he walked in with the swag He said there's different sizes I wonder Don't worry we'll take care of you I saw him in a dab In big Philly I was like thank you for telling your story

Can I get a ticket to BKFC please That's what you said We were actually talking about He didn't even say thank you for the story part He just said can I have tickets Yeah that was great So like if we get tickets We were actually talking about going to Knucklehead. He didn't even say the thank you for the story part. He just said, can I have tickets? Yeah, he just said tickets. Yeah, that was great. So if we get tickets, will they be like-

Where will they be at? Yeah. I actually- Will it be City by You? Frank no-sold it all day as we're talking about it. Me and Rick are salivating. We're like, where are we going to stay? How are we going to get there?

Frank says nothing the entire time. And then two hours later, I'm like, Frank, do you have any interest in going? These guys don't know how to invite people to anything. They're just like if you want to go. The part where Connor three times today went. Does anybody want to go to BKFC three times? That part? The man's a mumbler.

That's all I gotta say. We'll be there. We will be there. Mumbling. What is it? Isn't it that meme? We will be there no matter what. I'll be there no matter what You can say the same thing right You're always bragging about how close Philadelphia is Can I be honest with you guys This is a shoot

I wanted to go It's an hour and a half drive I literally WrestleMania week I went back and forth every day You remember that we went to Smackdown But here's the butt Hit us with the butt WrestleMania week, I went back and forth every day. You remember that. We went to SmackDown. We went. Oh, yeah. The Liberty Bell is in my backyard. Hit us with the butt. Literally in the middle of yesterday's program,

I get a flight receipt from my wife saying, I booked the trip. That's fucking bullshit. Literally on January. She booked the flight to Philadelphia. That's incredible. She booked the flight to Toronto to see her good friend Marlon on her birthday.

Yeah, so what does that have to do with you? What happens to my kids? They come to Knuckle Mania 5. Clara will love it. You know what? If they're invited, could you imagine I roll up to my kids? The babysitting pen for Knuckle Mania? Yeah.

And I said to her, I was like. They thought WWE was fake. Wait until they see Knuckle Mania 5. I said, like, you know it's Knucklemania 5, right? Like, you know this. You know this, Jack. It's on the calendar. It's on the family calendar.

Show her the interview from today and then have her explain why you can't go. Do they ID at the door? Like, can kids go to Knucklemania? Yeah. They sell youth t-shirts on the merch store. I'm sure kids can go. It's Philadelphia, man. It's Philadelphia, man.

It's not California. I brought a baby to a Bellator event. I wonder if there's actually like a... It's not Knuckle Mania. No, I know it's not. Ain't Knuckle Mania 5, baby. Ain't Knuckle Mania. This is the best promo for Knuckle Mania. We're going to get a picture with a Rocky statue.

Now I'm feeling jealous. Back to Wells Fargo. Hey, take my hat off your head, please. I'm going to be wearing that. I'm going to jealous Yeah Enjoy Wells Fargo Hey take my hat Off your head please Yeah I'm gonna be wearing that I'm gonna open up A Wells Fargo bank account

Just for the Just for the event Here's the Here's the thing That's so funny Frank is like Take your hat off Take that hat

My hat off your head There's no chance Frank goes to this Zero I can predict Better chance of me going Yeah better chance No no

I can predict The pull out now We were in Atlantic City last year Yeah, we split in one? I'm predicting the Frank pullout Right now, guaranteed You guys have one bet, I'll have the other Yeah, who cares, we're all family

Come on, man Let's get to the super chatters We got some super chatters, let me answer some of these Before we say goodbye This is from Cowboy Pigeon Hi Rick, are you okay with fans saying hi? You bumped me last night Exiting the train station emergency door

You were watching your phone, I was scared to say hi What the hell Rick? Are you that guy? Is this true? 100% I was playing magic, I'm sure of it And I'm very I mean, as you guys Anybody who's walked with me, I'm sure of it Wow And I'm very I mean as you guys Anybody who's walked with me I'm a New Yorker

I do not like look up It's called hyper attention I do not you know saunter I do not waste time Energy I am a direct beeline To where I need to go Be damned anything in my way I apologize profusely if I pinned you

Like that dude did to Ariel In the bathroom earlier Please next time do stop me And say hi But otherwise if you don't stop me I am going to continue moving forward Whether you're in my way or not That's just the New York way

That was quite the revelation when I read that I was You think this happened? Oh I'm sure it happened I'm certain I mean, that was quite the revelation when I read that. I was... But yes, definitely playing magic. You think this happened? You think this happened? Oh, I'm sure it happened. Oh, wow. I'm certain.

And I'm certain there's been many other victims of this in the past, but not many that also would recognize me and have known. So apologies. Next time, get out of the way or stop me and say, hey, are you New York record? They're in the chat right now saying it's 34th Street, and they're in all caps. I think they're just elated. Yes, that's my, that's, I get out

a pen to go, so. What about Frank just doxing you right now? 100% certain. It's in the chat. I was playing magic on my way to my Long Island Railroad train. Shout out to you. You're a legend. Slido says, GC, please speak on the

absolute banger that is Firasiam versus Mike Davis, the curtain jerker for the Izzy Imavov Saudi card. What a fight that'll be. Wow, shout out to Slido, man. Always sending in super chats. We appreciate that. Yeah, you know what? Mike Davis, Firasiam

for the Saudi card is what Steve Garcia versus Edson Barbosa is to the UFC Seattle card. If you've never watched a Mike Davis fight, they're incredible. Even when he doesn't get finishes, there are always wars. And like sneaky, Faraziam is like 6-2 or something in the UFC and Mike Davis is like 4-1.

Both guys on good runs. Salido knows ball, man. Salido knows ball. He does. How about this one from Jamal? Awkwardly quit job on Monday. Any stories of you quitting? knows ball man so you don't know well he does he does uh how about this one from jamal awkwardly quit job on monday any stories of you quitting um well i have a i have a pretty legendary one i worked for spike tv in september of 2007 uh i my first day was on a monday the following monday actually okay so monday tuesday we were in the office wednesday flew to Las Vegas to um to work quote unquote I put it in quotations on a card on a UFC card that was headlined by Dean Thomas versus Kenny Florian

and uh I was there this was a dream job I'm working in television home of the UFC Spike TV I wanted this so bad And I remember Okay, first day there, we're just kind of walking around Walking around, second day there, kind of walking around Third day, I asked my superior I'm like, so what exactly What exactly are we doing? Like, we're not really producing stuff

We're not really making things here And he says to me, I'll never forget He's like, we're just kind of here To make sure everything's okay And I was like, well, I didn't sign up for this, I can't just be here, I felt like I was in the way, I felt like I was taking up space, I remember sitting in the truck, that was a cool experience to see what happens with the commercial breaks, and the producers, the directors, you know, I never really sat in a live truck before before I got back to New York on that Monday So seven days later, I walked into my boss's office

Brian Diamond, the head of Spike Sports at the time And I said, I think I've made a big mistake This job isn't for me Now this is an absurd thing I tried for months to get this job But I'm the kind of person, if I don't feel it, I don't feel it And I don don't want to live life not feeling it. And so I said to him, I don't think this job is for me. I think I need to go. I'm sorry, this didn't work out, but I'm not the right fit. He told me I was making a huge mistake, that I would regret this forever, that I would never, ever,

ever bounce back, that I would never live this down And made me feel awful To be honest I stuck around for about a month and change Until they found someone to replace me And during that month, around a week or so After like just completely being the black sheep I remember going to Whole Foods Columbus Circle Calling my very good friend Aaron Cohen

And saying, hey I'm thinking of starting A website And going full on into Combat sports journalism. And I was going to interview MMA fighters and wrestlers and boxers. And I'm going to show people that I can interview fighters more so than anyone, better than anyone. And I would reach out to them via MySpace. And I would post an audio interview with a fighter every single morning at 8am. And I would give myself from October of 2007 to April of of 2008 to get noticed if it doesn't work out i'll go back to

tv production i've told this story before and and and that's what happened jerrypark.com and in a way it kind of hits me right now jerrypark.com was the precursor to uncrowned.com because for all the people who try to say like i know nothing about boxing or i don't like boxing go back to jerrypark.com because for all the people who try to say like i know nothing about boxing or i don't like boxing go back to jerrypark.com there's a ton of boxing content there for those that say the same about pro wrestling go there the the original dream was all three there was a thing called the fight network back in the day and they were covering all three very seriously and i thought that was the end all be all and that's why in november of 2007 two months into my or a month into my journey on jerrypark.com,

when John Pollock reached out to me to be on Mauro Ranallo's radio show, when they asked me to be a guest, I thought that I had reached the mountaintop. That was my Netflix. And so I come all the way back now. Now, of course, over time, first job I get is an MMA and I'm like, okay, there's a path here and I'm someone who has to go all in. But the goal was always, people like to use me talking about, I see this all the time like, oh, Dana White hates you, that's why you have to talk about boxing. You guys, just because you think your life and life in general needs to be just stick to one thing, that's not the way I'm

wired. The goal was always to come back. The goal was always to spread my wings. The goal was always to be more than just an MMA guy, more than a combat sports guy, more than a sports guy. Just because you can't understand that and wrap your head around that, don't saddle me with those low expectations. And so go back to Jerry. It's right there on the website. All that content is still there. It took some time. I spent a lot of time. I got to ESPN. I did the NBA thing a little bit. I got to do some other stuff, Olympic thing, birdwatching thing, this thing, that thing. And now here we are back doing the combat sports thing, among other things as well. So yeah, I mean, it was pretty awkward. I'm not going to lie. It was pretty awkward. But Jamal, don't let anyone tell you you're making a mistake. Don't let anyone tell you you're wasting your time. Follow your heart. And as I like to say to everyone, you only get one life. You only get one shot at this thing. If you're not feeling it, quit, move on. It might be tough. You might have to eat some shit sandwiches. I heard a great quote just yesterday about shit sandwiches,

about eating them and about life being just a bunch of them being served to you, but it's how you digest them, Frank. It's how you digest the shit sandwiches. I prefer not to eat a shit sandwich at all. It's a damn good quote. Shit sandwich is similar to fruit before or after dinner type thing. It's funny you say that I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast

I was eating I've been lately you know Canoodling with the staff And I was eating lunch With you guys which I enjoyed It's important to note that you're making a delineation Here because that would mean that previous to this You didn't

Well it was different I mean without getting into it It's different i get in it's late i'm sitting at my desk we were all very close to each other i could literally sit at my desk and eat and talk to you guys but now there's like a whole it's a whole we can't have food in the control room but you can eat while you're the point is i was eating with the boys and and and girls yesterday and i didn't want to note it because i didn't want to open this this of worms. But true or false, everyone's eating their lunch. It's a great time. I'm actually genuinely thinking to myself, wow, I really like these people. It's nice to hang out with them.

Everyone's done eating. And at the end of their meals, which are heavy meals, there's rice, there's salad, there's fish, there's all kinds of things. Rick breaks out an apple. And he starts cutting this apple. And the first thing that comes to mind is If I did this right now, I would be done I mean, the bloating The issues that I would have

The apple after the meal This is the most insane thing I've ever I thought this was apple at night I thought this was like you can't eat it at night You can't eat an apple, period? No, the fruit always has to come first As the first thing of a meal This feels like a placebo it at night. You can't eat an apple, period? No. The fruit always has to come first. As the first thing of a meal.

This feels like a placebo. No, it's empty. I'm telling you, man, it ain't placebo. Did you see him cut that up with a plastic knife? Yeah, it was wild. It ain't a placebo. If I have a piece of fruit of any kind after a meal, I am effed.

I don't understand. Effed. I don't understand. What? I don't understand. Ask Pina Helwani. Pina Helwani will tell you that you have all this food in your stomach, and when the fruit sits at the top, I always have this visual, she would tell me the fruit sits at the top, it rots, and thus you have indigestion.

This is what she told me when I was a kid, and I stuck to it. I know, I feel like because it's in your head, you automatically think it's going to happen. I'm terrified of it I had mandarins Bananas Apples All throughout the day

This morning right Two bananas Two mandarins Two apples I mean I was doing it all What's the cut off Like a cucumber Is all that

By the way I'm not saying this to Tomato a fruit or a vegetable We can find out By trying to get you To eat a tomato After you eat You can't eat my pizza

Unless you get the tomato Tomato's okay Because that's in a salad Is there a size of meal That has to be eaten What if it was like You ate some fruit And then some other fruit On top of it

Now What happens then Is it like That's a good point That's okay What if you just ate A shit ton of fruit salad No that's okay

Wait that's okay Well because it's just Fruit salad It's just all fruit I love this Image of like A sewer cap Of food And then the fruit just sits on top and rots. If I have like a meat sandwich, right, or a hamburger, or a lasagna, if I top that off with, you know. A couple blueberries?

A couple handfuls of blueberries? Okay, I have to know something. Fuck. Did somebody at some point in your life tell you that this would happen? Yes. Or did you just discover this? No. See, that eliminates it.

When he was a young kid, they sat him down and was just like, what are you hoping to get from Santa Claus? Not real. He was like, oh, I hope I get a bike. She's like, well, don't eat any fruit after your dinner or you're fucked. Not real. She said, I would feel some sort of way. I would feel some sort of way.

And she's like, yes, of course, it's rotting at the top of your stomach. I mean, I can call it right now. I love your mother. I don't think that's truly One of the nicest humans ever This is a fabrication I cannot look it up you know I actually went To the doctor the gastro last year and he was Just like I eat food

You know it sits on top of your stomach and then It rots and I was like validation I went to medical school for this one Fact this is crazy Listen Jews are known to have Sensitive stomachs That I know

I think you might just have an intolerance to fruit No, because I can eat a fruit And I tend to not have fruit Like post 10am Unless I'm on an empty stomach You never have fruit No, you know, a nice little banana in the morning okay mango things of that nature but like i can't if i have it now i'm kind of screwed what if the fruit is inside something what if what if it's in a dessert or no no what if like

what if it's like what if there's some apple i might want my favorite salad shout out chop my favorite salad has apple slices in it what if you ate a salad with apple in it Risky Very risky In fact if I have like a strawberry ice cream Risky as well No no but what if there were real strawberries On the ice cream

It's minimal What about the cherry on top of the whipped cream It's worse for you than Dairy flavored Fruit flavored dairy And by the way It's worse for you than dairy-flavored, fruit-flavored dairy? Yeah. And by the way, pay attention to those cherries on top of your ice cream because they have red dye in them.

That's bad news. Yeah, they're maraschino cherries. And the microwave gives you rays that'll kill you. Oh, we don't have a microwave. That's what I'm getting at. I'm starting to point it out. The dyes are actually bad for you. The dyes are horrible.

Don't get Jacqueline started on the dyes. They're illegal. Oh, we don't let our kids have the dyes. Yeah, that's smart. Do you let them have fruit? Yeah, they're fine with the fruit. I let my kids have a Shirley Temple and... You take out the cherry. No, all hell broke loose.

Ah, the Shirley Temple, the dyes. Oh, you got in trouble. I had a Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries over the break. That was just chock full of guys. You got the, while I was hanging out with my nieces and nephews, they're crushing it. And they're like, yo, Uncle C, you want a bowl?

I was just like, absolutely. I do. Uncle C. And then the five-year-old calls me bra. No Unc yet? No, no Unc yet. I get Unc. But I mean, I looked at the, I was like, what are in these bad boys?

I mean, mean laundry list ingredients It's like red 40, red 5, yellow 8 Blue, purple Just like a million types of dyes in there There's nothing I love more than reading A long list of dye colors Love it Or a restaurant with a C health code rating

Those are the two signs I know I'm being good that night We're laughing at each other Captain Crunch Crunch Berries are also elite, if we ever get into a cereal conversation. When I was younger, I would look at the back of a bag of Skittles and see red, seven, blue, three. I thought that was the number of the quantity. Oh, Jesus.

Are you serious? I love it. Frank's over there and he's like, there's not even a blue one. Where's the blue? I thought maybe you had to mix and match to get to the blue. I love it. Wow. I love it. Frank's over there and he's like, there's not even a blue one. Where's the blue? Maybe you have to mix and match to get to the blue. You know, it's a primary. I love it. Wow.

Well, on that note, great stuff. Great stuff had by all. New episode of the Boys in the Back tomorrow. What are we talking about? We're going to talk about, as you alluded to earlier in the show, if anybody was following along with us then, the Jon Jones $30 million story, the rumor, the proposed

amount that he would be asking for. We'll dive deep on that. We'll probably touch on a little bit of Dana White joining the board of Meta. Might be something that we dive into. We'll preview the first UFC card of the year. And we'll have our pound for pound as we always

do. So don't... What is the pound for pound? Banger out in the desert this weekend. That's definitely what we're going to talk about. Future bets for the year. Got two in two different divisions. Champs in 2025 bets. Pound for pound rankings as we look ahead

to the year that 2025 will be. Months. Power ranking months. And then the big, wait, you're ranking the months, the best months? Yeah. Pound for pound rankings, month. Like July 1. Yep.

Well, it's not July. Did you just reveal your pound for pound number one month? Oh, absolutely. I've always said this. July is the Saturday of the calendar. I like that. It's the only month no school. I like that. But maybe the Monday, you give Jordan a list and we can tear it apart again.

Sure. Happy to do that. Happy to do that and excited for the boys to be back, of course, to crack live on Friday. The big question, of course, don't tell me now. The big mystery is, will Juliana Pena be a part of the Parley Pals? We shall see. We shall see. You seem much more worried than us.

You know, things were said. Things were said. Not to us. Things were said over the holiday break Lines were drawn Dare I say, threats were made Frank, why did you threaten him? I just felt like we needed to, you know Get to the end of it

You know, I added a new item to our set here My kids used to collect wrestling toys When they were really into it in 2020, 2021. And one time we got the Hulk Hogan standing on the ring. Mini ring. From WrestleMania 3. I put Junior Dos Santos in it, but my wife was going to throw it out and I'm like are you crazy this is an incredible artifact and I mention this because

I do believe on Monday's program we're going to have Matt Cardona aka Zack Ryder who is a wrestling toy aficionado on the program of course one of the biggest stars on the indie wrestling scene and we can talk maybe about some of these wrestling toy artifacts which I do love i used to have a box of ljn toys that unfortunately

my lovely mother gave away ljn like the brand ljn what the like the little rainbow yeah yeah oh that's cool yeah what else did they make they made a lot of um they published a lot of nintendo entertainment system games there were like licensed movies they probably did a couple What else did they make? They published a lot of Nintendo Entertainment System games. There were licensed movies. They probably did a couple wrestling games. Yes. What's funny, though, is they're notorious for LG and games were the worst. But the toys were probably awesome.

The toys were fantastic. As was today's program. Thank you very much to all our guests, Dave Feldman, Peyton Talbot, Matt Hamill, and the great Moses Satama. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to them. Back on Thursday, same time, same place, same place. Peace. We're out of here.