The Ariel Helwani Show - Francis Ngannou, Jean Silva, PFL CEO John Martin in studio, Sebastian Fundora, news & notes

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Ariel Helwani starts today’s show with reaction to Most Valuable Promotions announcing the rest of its Netflix card, including some recognizable names and rising prospects, and reports of Manel Kape vs. Kyoji Horiguchi being booked for June (03:58). Featherweight contender Jean Silva is next, reacting to the UFC London main event, discussing whether it should be him or Movsar Evloev getting the next title shot, wanting to defend fellow Brazilian Jose Aldo’s legacy against Alexander Volkanovski, why Evloev can’t be trusted to headline the card, suggesting he’d leave the UFC if he he loses to Volkanovski, and more (36:19). PFL CEO John Martin is back in-studio, talking about the promotion’s debut in Madrid, the potential return of Cedric Doumbe, progress PFL is trying to make in the U.S. market, including negotiations for its next broadcast deal, conversations he’s had with Eddie Hearn, PFL parting ways with Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul, rooting for the success of Netflix’s first MMA card, being open to co-promotion, and more (1:14:55). Sebastian Fundora joins ahead of his WBC title fight against Keith Thurman, discussing his unconventional training methods, being motivated by the success of his sister Gabriela, his impressions of Zuffa Boxing so far, his love of pro wrestling, the future potential of his youngest sister, excitement in the 154-pound division, and more (2:05:21). The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join Ariel to cover recent news, including Golden Boy re-signing with DAZN, Katie Taylor once again teasing a Croke Park fight, Alistair Overeem’s comments about PEDs and testing, the Ali Revival Act passing through the U.S. House of Representatives, and more (2:26:26). Francis Ngannou is our final guest of the day, talking about his PFL departure, critics claiming he’s damaged his legacy, the recent wave of fighters — including Ronda Rousey — speaking about UFC’s pay and practices, Jon Jones deserving to be paid more than he was reportedly offered for the White House card, Tom Aspinall teaming up with Eddie Hearn, potentially fighting Jake Paul, and more (3:00:12). Ariel answers your Super Chats to end the show (3:53:58).

Lay and gentlemen, welcome to the air. On this Tuesday, March 3rd, 22nd. And 26, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be here on a lovely look outside. Look how beautiful it is. Spring has sprung, sort of, but we're getting there. The vibes are high, and the mood is tremendous, and everyone's very excited.

In fact, the boys in the back are off to Seattle. this evening. So they've got their bags packed. They're all ready to go. I'm happy just because of the fact that I'm not going. I hate being the guy like, oh, I got to rush out and leave the studio. Bags are packed. All disheveled, all anxious. No, no, no, no, no, I'm happy to be here. I'm very happy to be there. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for them. I'm happy to be here as well. I'm very happy to be. We'll send you a postcard. Please, please, many things. Direct flight, we got a direct or what? Yeah, come on. Only the best for the boys. Bizz? Nah, only the second best for the boys.

Okay, is there, you know, now how many tickets you get for corner men and hotel rooms? Interesting question. This is a big topic. Okay. Big topic of discussion on the interwebs this morning. We got a lot to get into today. Yesterday was a phenomenal day. Appreciate everyone who stopped by.

Still, still taken by Chanel Dyer. What a revelation. Love meeting these fighters who we've never met before, have them on the show, don't know much about him. I was talking to someone after the show. How much did you know about Chanel Dyer? Unless you're Pizzie Carroll. How much did you know about Chanel Dyer going into Saturday?

And how much did you know about her after Saturday? But then you tune into this program. And I know she's not the biggest name yet, but you will fall in love with her. You'll now be emotionally invested in her journey in her story. You'll want to watch her the next time. That, that to me is the magic of a program like this. That's why I love doing this show.

meeting these fighters, these new faces that come on the scene that have these grandiose dreams, these big aspirations. That's why I always laugh when people say, oh, too negative. Yeah, Chanel Da, was that negative? Was evil Baranovski? No, of course not. We're trying to introduce. We're trying to do the job that some people aren't doing these days.

And so that was a tremendous show. We've got another great one lined up for all of you today. At 1.30, we'll be joined by John Silva. obviously in the news. He was at the event on Saturday, sitting in the front, wants that title shot against Alex Volcanovsky, so we'll get into all of that and more.

John Martin, the CEO of PFL. They had a big show on Friday in Madrid. They have a big show on Saturday in Pittsburgh. The rare PFL versus UFC head-to-head showdown. UFC now in Paramount Plus, PFL still on ESPN. This one on ESPN linear, so I think it's ESPN too. Anyway, it's not just buried on the app, which is great for them, and we'll see how it all plays out as far as them going head to head.

There's also boxing on Amazon Prime. There's RAF on Fox Nation. Very busy Saturday, as we discussed yesterday. Looking forward to talking to John. He'll be joining us in studio, by the way, so that's going to be great. Sebastian Fondora, who's also fighting on Saturday against Keith Thurman, one of the great characters in boxing right now. The towering Inferno, if you've never seen him compete, he is a sight to behold. To me, he's must-see TV just because of his size, but also his skill as well.

So we'll talk to him. And then we'll talk to Francis and Ganu, Le Prater, who's obviously a part of the big Netflix MVP card, May 16th, and go with California, Intuit Dome. I mean, this is big-time stuff. And in fact, this is where I want to begin today. Let's get into it because this morning, at around 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time, we got some big breaking news regarding this card.

The entire fight card has been revealed. And there it is. Everyone very excited about this. Obviously, we knew about the top three fights. Ronda Rousey, Gina Carrano, Nathan Diaz, Mike Perry, Francis Sanganoo, Philippe. We knew those fights. What we didn't know was the rest of the card.

Now, some of these had already been reported out there, but nothing officially confirmed. And now we have it. Let's go back to that big-time graphic there for a moment. moment. Saladin Parnas versus Ken Cross. Saladin Parnaz, double champion in KSW. A lot of people very, very excited about him. A lot of people say that the Frenchman, Saladin, is one of the best non-UFC fighters in the world right now. One of the best fighters not attached to the UFC. KSW product will talk about him in a moment. A lot of people very high on Ken Cross as well.

It trains with the likes of Gina Corano, big-time American prospect. This is a nice. test for Parnas. So there you go. Seems like they know ball putting this fight on there. Junior Dos Santos against Robles Despine. Heavyweight scrap. More on that in a moment. Mohamed Makayev against the former one championship champion Adriano Morais? Not bad. Had his little feud with Demetrius Johnson. I don't think a lot of people saw that one coming. Lorenz Larkin versus Jason Jackson, fun fight. Also added to the card. And then you have names like Aline Pereira, the sister of one Alex Pereira, Chris Avila. Nagoyen is Sarukian, Armin Sarukian's cousin, so perhaps Armin will be involved.

Some other posters that we have here, we could show you them as well. They dropped all of these on Tuesday morning, this morning. There's Dos Santos versus Despan, the Cuban, going up against the Brazilian. Muhammad Mikhail against Adriana Marais. At 125, by the way, Lorenz Larkin, Jason Jackson, Albert Moriah. against McGowan, as I said, Aline Pereira against the Canadian, Masson Wong. That's a nice little thing.

Now, I will come on here and tell you, hey, this is a great card, this is a deep card. This is a card that I think touches all the different types of fans out there. The super hardcore fan, like the Kaposi's of the world, they're excited about Saladin Parnas. They're excited about Makayev versus Adriano Marais. They're excited about those types of fights, right? Then you've got the general, I don't know what you want to call them, casual MMA fan, UFC fan.

You surely know about Nate Diaz. You surely know about Mike Perry. You surely know about Junior Dos Santos and these types of guys, right? And then you have maybe the older fan, the laps fan, who remembers Gina Carano from 2009, who remembers Ronda Rousey from 2013, 14, 15. It is very hard right now with everyone who's tied up by the UFC and PFL. it is very hard to come out with a, what is it, a 10 fight card, nine fight card, no, it's more than that.

It's definitely more than that. 3, 7, 11. Chris Avila on there, he's the only one without an opponent, and I'm told that they're close to securing one for him. It's very hard to put together a card in which it seems like every fight has a story attached to it, a person that you know, a person that you're interested in, a person that captures your attention, and not use a UFC or PFL fighter.

Obviously, RAF, these other promotions, they could use that, but this is MMA, so UFC is just going to hand over their talent. I told you when this fight card was announced. It's not just going to be a two-fight card or a three-fight card, and I told you that what I was hearing was it was going to touch all the different types of fan bases, that there will be like some super-duper exciting, hardcore MMA fan type of prospect fights,

and then everything else in between. Don't take my word for it. You'll say I'm biased. You'll say I work for Netflix, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Pizzi, your thoughts on the card that was revealed today. This is everything I wanted. I wanted to see some prospects on the card. I think McCoyev v. Moroias is brilliant.

It's a hardcore MMI fight. Talk about McCoyev, I'd say the most hype prospect of all time in the sport. You know, when that lad was amateur, before he went pro, I had never seen so much interest in an amateur fighter. obviously what happened with the UFC. It's made him a bigger name, but the fights he's had since then have not been on big platforms

where it's must-see. This is a must-see fight. It's a real test. I love that, but you mentioned the main man, Saladin Pernasse. This is a hardcore's dream. If you don't know who Saladin-Pranas is. Okay, so I don't know if Americans know this,

but there's a very famous football player in the world. He's a French guy, and he is, he was once considered the greatest prospect in football. Now he's considered the best football player. in the world, Killian Mbapé of Real Madrid. When Saladin Parnasse, as an 18-year-old, signed for KSW, one of the greatest institutions of European publications, Le Kiep, called him the Killian Inbapé of MMA. He went to KSW.

He won the Featherweight title, the lightweight title. He attempted to win the welterweight title. This guy is an incredibly, he's trying to go after things, basically is what I'm trying to say. He has two losses on his record. One was a freak knockout. Hoyley was in that early phase with KSW. I think he ate a forearm and a freak exchange and went down. All the wins since then.

Then he went up to welterweight, tried to challenge the champion there. Lost that fight, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right back to where he is after there. And, you know, we see these events with Cedric Dune Bay in Paris. He's been having these kind of events with KSW in Paris at the same time. He's considered one of the jewels and the... crown of French MMA and honestly he's one of the most savvy guys outside of the cage as well. I can remember I attended Cedra Dumbay's fight with Bacchi in 2024 and Paris and there was all kinds of celebrities there. Like as we know, Dunei is a big, big deal. Like he is a headline guy across

the publications in France when he fights. And there was all these paparazzi in the foyer of this Acore arena where they had the events. I know you're a familiar way at Ariel from your Olympic adventure over there. And all of Vincent Cassell, all these. he's famous. Actors are coming in, famous rappers, Jibril Sisei, and the cameras are going off. The cameras went absolutely wild as Saladin Parnasse walked in there because he was a free agent at the time and the talk was that PFL were going to sign him. As the Cedric Duneway fight is going on, that's all the conversation on press row or about Saladin. In the end, he re-signs for KSW, and granted, that means that a lot of Americans probably don't see him. A lot of UK people probably

don't see him either, but he has signed one of the most lucrative deals outside of the UFC. Reports of the time suggest that he was getting. over half a million of fight and he's still on this contract now and I believe it escalates from fight to fight. Absolute to get this man on the card. Fair play to KSW who have allowed him to do this, I assume. And fair play to Stefan Aachen, all the boys on his team because I think this guy is must-see TV. If you want me to compare his style to someone's, I think I put him on my former famed prospect

list that arrived from Galermei Cruz. He did the Brazians. He did the Europeans. He was first on my list in 2019 and I give the assist to it a great. Alan Murphy for that one. But when I was watching him back then, it reminded me at Anderson Silva. He has changed his fight and soil a bit to deal with the various challenges that

come his way, but he is a sublime striker that is where he wants to fight. He will try and take this fight to Ken as long as they're standing, and he's very savvy on the ground too. So this is a real coup I feel for this Netflix card. Fucking hell. To quote the great Oban Elliott, now I'm even more excited

about all of this. Why does my microphone sound so weird, Frank, all of a sudden? He's also a pro boxer. He's also box professionally, I might add, on Stefan Hatchez's promotion. So he is a guy, he's still very, very young. The future's all ahead of him. And UFC were very interesting this guy, very, very interested. Everybody was interested. PFL, all these people, KSW kept them around, and he is one of their banner fighters,

like Phil DeFries. The Poles love him like one of their own. We've only seen that a few times. Khaled off DeFries, maybe Roberto Saldic, and Saladin Pernas. I'm so excited. about this. I'm so excited about this. I'm excited about Mokai of getting the opportunity to fight at 125 against Morais. That's a big time opportunity for him. Namo Fazil as well. Lien Pereira, obviously we know about her and her brother probably going to be involved as well. And before you

say, I'm not going to get into the bullshit. This is better than the White House. This is worse than the White House. I'm the guy who said White House was nine out of ten. I'm just excited about having something else to get excited about. Having a new potential player, having Netflix involved in MMA. If you are getting hung up on, is this better than that? You are missing the point. Netflix, MMA, massive. MVP getting in, massive, a different player. All of a sudden, if this gets some kind of traction, if this is somewhat successful, all of a sudden, we could look at a situation where the North American scene goes from like, it's a little bit better to, wait, we actually have maybe three players, and this will not only raise the UFC's game,

it will raise PFL's game as well, because they don't want to have wrong. roll over and die. Like, you come out with a card like this, and I know it's easy to come out, all the eggs in one basket, come out with a bang. Yeah, let's see if you could do it two, three, four times. I totally understand that. But you are a liar if you thought that the initial offering would look like this, because the initial commentary, especially from the people online, was, oh, this is the old timer

thing? Is it the old timer thing now? With Parnas, with Pereira, with Makayev? Is it the old timer thing now? Of course not. It's not the old timer thing. but you had to wait for the whole thing to play out. Rick, what do you think of it? I think that they've built a card that's suitable for everybody, right?

Like they've touched on every piece of this and they've got the recognizable names at the top as well as like throughout, right? You got JDS coming back. And then you've got some of the prospects that would be the type that you'd see, you know, coming into the UFC or the PFL or fighting for KSW or Cage Warriors. and so they've done the best possible job from, in my opinion, from my view of it, they've done the best possible job to put together a card for what was available to them, right? And they're playing with a limited number of options, and I think they did a pretty damn good job. Do you see? Yeah, I love it.

The last seven fights are tremendous. Obviously, the top three are the main draw with stars like Nate Diaz, Francis Ngano, Ronda Rousey, all that. But getting an undefeated prospect of Mohamed Mahe in a meaningful fight for the first time, and what feels like a while against the former one champion. You're signing Saladin Parnasse, a double champ over in KSW. You got Jason Jackson on this, a former Bellator champion, like guys who have been at the highest level in other promotions. So, I mean, I don't know how you can't be at least looking forward to this as an MMA fan.

It's going to be better than whatever Apex show the UFC is putting on that weekend without a shadow of a doubt. With all due respect to Arnold Allen, we love Arnold Allen. Love Malky Costa. Yeah. But come on, it's not even comfortable. Big time stuff. You don't have to pay for it. It's on Netflix.

Like, as an MMA fan, to your point as well, it provides competition. Maybe not long term, but at least for this weekend. Oh, and I'm thrilled for the likes of Saladin, for the likes of Mohamed McIv, for Adriana Marais, who haven't gotten a platform like this. McIve obviously wasn't the UFC, but Parnas certainly hasn't. Marais, very long time, you know, he did have those fights on Turner a few years back, feels like an eternity ago, and other fighters who are getting this type of platform. I'm fascinated to find out what the viewership numbers will look like because we've had a bit of a taste, right?

We know what Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson did. We know what Canello versus Crawford did. We know what Taylor versus Serrano three did. We know what Jake first. If we can even get into that vicinity of, I don't know, Jake versus AJ, we're talking 20, 30 million type of people. Like that would be insane for the sport. That would be by far the most watched card in the history of the sport. It would just be huge.

Love the fact that Netflix isn't just interested in the world of boxing. And they're doing all these fun things. They've got opening day tomorrow. But finally coming over to the MMA side is just super exciting. Here's Saladin Parnas reacting on Twitter or X to the news that he is joining this particular card. It's official. I'm signing with MVP. and I'll be making my debut in the United States

on Netflix's very first MMA card in history. Kid from Oberweil. I've worked every day to reach this level. After conquering Europe, now it's time to set out to conquer the world. I'll be ready. There he is.

Saladin's going to join us tomorrow on the program my first time talking to him. I'm very excited about, yeah, just his involvement and the fact that they got this done and Pizzi brought up a good point. The fact that these cards, at least for now, are one-offs. You can get these opportunities.

you can fight and then maybe go back. Now let's see. Let's see what the future is as far as this is concerned, as far as MVP is concerned with MMA and Netflix and all that stuff. But this is very exciting stuff. Something you said there, I think is a great point. How it could be 20, 30 million people watching this, how great that would be for the sport.

In a time that feels like everyone's kind of poo-pooing MMA, especially the UFC right now, just like the cards are shit and everything, if you can do a Hamzat Shemai of main event into the Netflix card, a month later do the White House car, and then potentially have Connor McGregor international fight week. That is a massive two-month span for the sport of MMA.

Gigantic. Gigantic. Not to mention whatever else is in between, but yes, those are top-tier huge events that I feel like we've all been sort of anxiously awaiting, right? Thinking about hoping for all that stuff for more. I did want to bring up one thing because I saw this in the aftermath of Nate's announcement. On Saturday, Dana White was asked about Nate signing, with this particular venture for the one-off deal.

And I had already told you that Nate did speak to the UFC and that there was interest in bringing him back. There was no specific fight talks attached to those talks. But I thought it was notable that they did speak because when he left, it wasn't on the best of terms and then he fights Jake Paul. And it seemed like at the time there was once a time where they were like, hey, you left.

God bless you. Good luck. Thanks for everything. And now the fact that they were interested in speaking, I thought was very, very notable. There were some reports that said, signing with MVP closed the door on him ever going back to the UFC?

I refuted that. I had not heard that. Here's what Dana had to say. Nate signed to fight under the Gina Carano Ronda. Have you had a conversation with him about bringing him back to the UFC before that all happened? Yeah, he came in and met with me a couple weeks

ago. We had a good time and I think Nate just got an offer he couldn't refuse. I haven't talked to him since then. but yeah, no, I'm happy for him. Does that now rule out him coming back to the UFC now that he's done that? Is he coming back?

Is that an issue for him to then come back to the UFC after that? I don't know. I mean, let him do his thing and then we'll, I mean, they'll see how the fight plays out and we'll see what happens. I don't think Dana's lying there. I think if Nate Diaz looks phenomenal and beats up Mike Perry and chokes him out, whatever,

I think the UFC would be interested in bringing him back. I don't see why this would close the door. you know, obviously Rhonda and Dana have one thinks, one assumes still a good relationship, but like they let her walk to the other side of the street. And so I don't think anyone's going to be banned.

I don't think anyone's going to, like you think Aline Pereira is going to be banned from signing with the UFC after this particular fight? No, that's not going to happen. But this is, uh, it, I totally agree with you, right? But does it, does it increase Nate's price in the marketplace, right?

Does this now, go. Nate Diaz has all this exposure. He's back in the public eye. Let's say he gets a big win over Mike Perry. When you now go back to the negotiating table with the UFC, are you now a more valuable commodity? 100%. Oh, yeah. 100%. That's why it's worth

the risk, right? You think you're going to win. You go there, look at what it did for AJ. You become a bigger star now if that's even possible. And now you have for more money. Why you would want to sign a long term deal at this stage of your life would be beyond me. The sport is

getting really interesting. The landscape is getting interesting. The media landscape is getting interesting. Why you would want to lock yourself up is beyond me. He has that ability. He has that freedom. But yeah, whatever they were talking about a few weeks ago before he signed would definitely change come May 17th, May 18th if he beats Mike Perry. I do want to bring up one thing though, because it seems like they're not just hitting singles right now. They're hitting doubles. They're hitting triples, they're hitting home runs on the boxing side and the MMA side. But it can't always be positive. And I did see one thing that I thought was a massive blunder and it makes me scratch my head. And I do wonder why he's taking this approach. I'm talking about Jake Paul. He was talking

to Sky Sports yesterday in anticipation of their big MVPW debut on April 5th in London. Ellie Scottney, Caroline Dubois, Terry Harper, et cetera, Chantal Cameron. It's a big show. It's a great show. It's on Easter Sunday. Pizza, you know, Sky Sports, loves to put on a big fight card on Easter Sunday after the football. And here's Jake Paul talking about Francis Ngano,

who is going to be fighting on his card on May 16th, and a big time fighting against Philippe Blends, who's one of the biggest stars on this card. Here is what Jake Paul had to say. Francis Ngano was talking a lot of smack. I think that's an easy fight for me. I think he's a terrible boxer.

And I maybe want to go back up to heavyweight and knock him out, like Joshua did and render him unconscious. And he knows I lasted longer than him against Joshua and didn't get put out. So I think he maybe wouldn't do the fight because I think deep down he would not want to get embarrassed. So to me, that's a fun one on the list. This is a massive, massive blunder. This is a massive blunder.

And I understand that it's awkward to be a active fighter and a promoter. But right now, Jake Paul is a promoter. He has no fights. I understand he's trying to plant a seed. The fighter part of his brain is taking over. You're trying to tell the public you need to watch on May 16th because you're going to see the lineal MMA heavyweight champion of the world. You're going to see one of the baddest men on the planet compete. You cannot be telling them that he's an awful boxer.

You cannot be telling them that he's afraid of you. What? Say that after the fight if you want. If you want to build. Francis is not fighting Jake between now and May 16th. He's not fighting him in June or July either. Why would you, as the face of this whole thing, and I obviously know Nikisa is very much involved as well, why would you as the face tell the world that this guy is afraid of you, that this guy is an awful boxer?

I know he's doing MMA, but like, this is just, this is demoting him, man. You have to understand, you are the promoter. You are the guy that is trying to prop these people up. Don't let your ego. Don't let the fighter side of your brain take over the promoter side. The promoter side is way too important right now. you're on the precipice of doing something great in two sports. Forget about that narrative.

Forget about that talk. You can address that after the fact. Address it at the post-fight press conference. But I saw this and I was like, this is one of your biggest names on the card. You're telling the world he's a bum. You're telling the world that he's afraid of you. You're telling the world that he can't fight,

that he can't box, that you can do what AJ did and worse to him. Didn't understand that. Didn't like that. Didn't get it. makes no sense. And I can't imagine anyone involved on the MVP side of thing

would be like, yeah, that's the way to build up interest in this. What? What are you doing? Someone needs to have a chat. I get it. It's the ego. It's the fighter.

I get that. But you need to check that guy at the door, that part of your brain at the door and allow the promoter side. You're there as a promoter. You're doing media for this show on April 5th

as a promoter. You have another show on April 17th. You're promoting that. Then you've got May 16th. You've got May 30th. promote these fighters. This is going to be your legacy now. This is going to be bigger than anything you did it in the ring.

If you're actually able to get this off the ground and make it a viable fight entity that is a success in both boxing and MMA, which as of right now, no one's done. UFC obviously trying to do it right now. But no one's actually done it. Not for nothing, but even ignore the idea, like totally agree with what you're saying. Even ignore that for one second, this is like bad promotion 101.

And Jake Paul is typically, and Nikisa and everybody involved in MVP are usually very sharp when it comes to this. Why shit on Francis to start? If you want to box him, build him the way you did AJ. He's a megastar. He's a Goliath. He's going to knock me out. He's supposed to

knock me out. But guess what? Unlike what happened with AJ, I'm going to upset the Apple Car. I'm going to knock him the fuck. That's how you sell that anyway. You don't sell that with like Francis is not a good boxer. Like that doesn't work even if you're looking ahead to that fight. So it doesn't work on multiple levels in my

opinion. Could not agree more. You're 100% right. This is what we said regarding Tommy Fury. All Tommy Fury said leading up to the Jake fight way back when was this guy's a bum. And then when he won the fight, he's crying like he had just won the heavyweight championship of the world. Promoting 101. Actually, Paul Heyman told me about this a long time ago. Build up your opponent so that when you beat them, it looks even better. You're now planting seeds in everyone's mind that, hey, you're the giant killer. You could do this. Not that, hey, I just beat a bum because you just spent the last two months. Telling. us this guy was a bump so you couldn't be more right. So on many levels, on many fronts, it's a blunder. He just did it with AJ successfully by the way. That sold the fight. He kept saying like this guy's Goliath, I'm going to slay him and it worked. Everybody wanted to see that.

What's that? I was like, how about he says all this, but he's like, I think Felipe Lans going to beat him. Have you seen this guy fight? Felipe Lens? This guy's got something. That's what we need him to promote right now. We need him to place a scene.

in the casual audiences mind that lends an active dog hair. Yeah, that would be one way to salvage it, 100%. I am seeing something here. Some breaking news. This is courtesy of Mike Vaughn or M.M.A. Junkie, or Mike Vaughn is M.A. junkie. All right, so we're getting big fights. We're getting big stages, big spotlights.

I don't know if Pt's seen this. Ptie, have you seen this? I have not seen this. Perfect, perfect. Take it down. Take it down. Take it down. Ptt.

Kiyogi Horaguchi Manel Cap Where's the perfect place? Where's the perfect place For this main event? Definitely, Javan. Give me a location. Saitama Superdome?

Yeah. Togena. Torena, Tokyo Dome. These are two separate entities. Tokyo Dome's Saitama Superina. But yes, you're right. Tokyo, Saitama, perfect place. Perfect place for it.

Where is it happening? G.C., tell Pizzi where it's happening. Oh. It's, I mean, it's the dream venue. It's the dream. Get your sweatshirt. It's perfect. It fits perfect.

Life. The Saitama Super Apex. Yeah. We're going to the desert, baby. Meta Apex. Cop Horiuchi, too. Fucking nailed it. Nailed it.

God, I love it. I love it. We're going to Japan. We're trying to break into this market. We got two stars right here. Cop a name. They fought last time in Japan. Horaguchi.

I got an even better idea. Yes. Let's put it at the. fucking apex. Meta apex. Six days after the White House card, by the way. So this is going to be the next thing. Imagine you were going to Japan. You could promote that on Paramount Plus on CBS.

You can use the White House card to promote it at the apex. Godly. Michael Venom Page's walkout song comes to mind immediately. That is a kick in the balls. Now this is according to my phone. I've not asked anyone about this, but I presume it's correct. This just happened right now. it takes the soul out of you, right?

Takes the piss is what it does. I mean, actually, though, like we get Eros Medich getting unbelievable finishes, getting on the mic and being like, I want to fight a UFC Serbia, we're going to Belgrade. You get these guys being like, Tokyo. If we're going back to Japan, I'm a bigger draw on Japan. And the UFC's just like, I got an even better idea.

There's a guy named Barrel La Pierna on Twitter, who just posted a picture. This is where Horaguchi and Cap first fought and it's like a zoomed out pick of them in Risen, massive, massive, massive, you know, crowd.

And now this is where they're actually going to fight again and it's at the freaking apex. What a time to be alive, boys. I just don't get it, man. I just don't get it. The parking lot's meant to be savage though, the new spaces.

Yeah, I heard that they've got new urinals and stuff. And, um... But they literally are taking the piss. right. No lines for the urinals either. No lines. That's more of the drawbacks.

They broke the merch record recently. Did you guys hear that? The Apex merch record? Yeah. Naina said like for Zufa Boxing 3, they broke the previous merch record for Zufa Boxing 2. Well, get ready. Like we're actually doing it. Like someone's coming for the record.

You know what I'm saying? Good for you. Someone's going for that record. Huge. By the way, we didn't bring this up yesterday. Why did he need an English translator for English questions over the weekend? I mean, that's classic, Dana

but what you do? Pizzi, ask a question ask a question right now and you'll be like, you'll be like,

I don't know, who's next for Chanel Dyer, right? You ask it in your accent. Go ahead. Dana, just who do you think's next

for Chanel Dyer? And then he'll look to, and you'll look to the Russian translator who does a great job next for Chanel Dyer who'd be next for Chanel Dyer? Ah, yeah,

the accent. In fairness, it wasn't Irish dude to ask that question. question. It was Lewis Thompson of Talksport. So I think his thick Northern Irish accent just I don't understand. How could that be? It's either you can hear or you can hear. And are the accents that thick? Not really. A heavy lean over too over the table. I will say his forearms look fucking beastly. Whatever pose he takes up when he's like this. He does the thing where he like,

he makes love to the microphone. And he's like, how many times do I have to tell you? and you could seem like, I'm going to break it because my, yeah, oh, wow, that was quick. Arms are looking fucking nice. Yeah, but it's even, it's even sometimes like, it's, it's even thicker. Like, it's like the grip is even tighter. Also, that face is a man who literally beating up babies. Who has no idea what the person is asking right now. He cannot hear that person for shit.

Dana, Mason Jones. Dan, can tell us about Mason Jones how great his fight was? What was that? Mason Jones, Dana. Now, how great was this fight? Kid made a lot of money. It's a great fight. It's great fight.

Set the tone. What did he say? Is Mofstar next for the title? I'm not even thinking about that, man. Yeah. Guy just fought. I'm still coming down from it. That always cracks me up, too.

It's like, what do you mean you're not thinking about that? What did that be what you thought? They don't even make the boys. Come on. How many times you need to hear it, man? Get back with the boys. It's like the same hits every time. We're locking ourselves.

We hung over to deal with these people tonight. Ha! They're going to lock themselves in a room. We're locking ourselves in the war room and we're hammering out Mosaouye versus Alexander Volta. Yeah. We need to, we need to, like, figure it all out, you know, first. We need to figure it all out.

We need to, you know. You would think they'd be like two, three steps ahead, right? If this guy wins, then we want to do this. But I guess they don't. I guess they don't do it like that. I did see a great, speaking of taking the piss, I saw a great video of Alex Volkanovsky. credit to Alex Volkanowski, by the way.

I mean, Alex Volcanovsky is truly the last of a dying breed because he's out there saying, like, no, give me the toughest guy. Here's what Alex Volcanovsky had to say about the Mofzar John Silva situation and also about the current matchmaking in the UFC. Got to say, tip my cap to the guy telling it like it is. Take a look. So we'll see what happens, see what the UFC says. I'm pretty sure they're on the same page.

They know I wanted Mouser the whole time because he's been number one contender the whole time. and I have fought other people to do the UFC a solid but now I feel like we're just taking the piss and then we're just going against what combat and martial arts has always been about some best, and that's what I've always thought UFC is about as well

but the best fight the best. We've always talked about you boxing and all that, not doing that, but UFC have and we always have let's not start changing that now, right? Like I want to fight the best because I won't, you know again, I'll fight for my family, that's always number one.

But legacy does play a big part. Fighting Movza is a tougher fight and is going to look way better on the resume and for my legacy than, to be honest, I'm Ron Murphy, even if Roe Murphy won. A Silva, a Lopez. Who else is it?

Al Jermaine Swelling is another guy that's right up there, a next champion and all that, but Moussa beat him, you know what I mean? So it just shows you that this guy is the guy and we'll make that happen. How great is that, PT? How great is that? First of all, the usage of taking the piss.

But also, this is the guy who's like, come on, man. Like, could we just, it's right there. Just make the freaking fight. I mean, come on. What are we doing here? I love that. You need everyone to start talking like that, honestly. He's the only one.

Other guys are like, yeah, you know, the UFC will tell me what to do. I don't pick the fights. This guy's like, no, come on, please. Can you just give me the, you know, the dude? It's great. You could actually kind of feel like he's a little bit frustrated, right? That's what I got from that. I think everyone's, right?

frustrated with this. Like, not knowing what any fight means, thinking that a guy like Evloa wins that fight. Whoever wins that fight naturally should have been the contender, but we have these questions. And I still do. Like, we're going to about to hear from John Silva. People love this guy. He's a ball of energy. He fights in a very fan-friendly way.

Who knows? Like, I personally, sorry, John, I think Evloa should get the shot. And I thought he should have got the shot when he beat Arnold Allen. I thought he should have got the shot when he beat Algeman Sterling. Alternatively, I thought. Larone Murphy. A thought Lorone Murphy took him, went ahead of him with the R&P go knockout, but this isn't what it is.

This used to be the stick that Dana White beat boxing with. They don't make the best fights, but that's where we are at now in 2026 with the OC. Here's Movesar taking to Twitter yet again. He's been on fire as of late. I don't know how he has all this time to be, to write, you know, all these tweets. Here he is talking about the haters, I do believe. I don't know.

Yep. There's a lot of hater talk right now from Mossar, which sounds somewhat familiar. But anyway, this is for all my haters. A couple of the opponents I beat had a lot to say about me and they weren't very nice. A couple of the others were respectful. Either way, love me or hate me, I'm going to be a champion and you will not. I'm only focused on winners. Lusers, stay focused on winners and you already lost.

I mean, I've never heard him speak like that. But maybe, you know, you get a little bit. Very mean girls. Yeah. Yeah. One last quick thing on this whole situation. Lorone Murphy did reveal that he tore his hip flexor in the fourth round of the fight on Saturday. Here he is.

Tor my hip flexor in round four back in no time getting a little bit of a freeze there. That doesn't seem very fun. So that's the story as far as Lorone Murphy is concerned. For now, though, let us say hello to our first guest of the day. And he's the man that we were just talking about. Lord John Silva, he was in attendance on Saturday. Wanted to get a front row seat has been making his very strong case to be next. Not Movstar, not the winner of that fight.

Let's see what he has to say about everything. And then some, he's kind enough to join us right here now. There he is. Hello, John. How are you? Good day. Obrigo. Hello, Jean.

Good day. Thank you. Ah, Falariel, all good. Ah, good day. Here is, yeah, yeah. Thank you for the convict. More than we're here. Let's get some point.

Thank you, Ariel, for having me. Good morning. As a matter of fact, for us this good afternoon out here. I'm really glad for the invitation. Thanks for having me here. And, of course, thank you to our friend Everton for helping us with the interpretation. Obrigaueuade, or maybe I should say, yeah, is it boa tarde? There it is.

There it. Okay, John, let me ask you, let's get into it. What were your thoughts on the fight on Saturday? The main event, you were there? You watched it. Mofsar Leron. What did you think of the fight and who do you think won the fight? And, Jean, what you say you said to me of the

Luton? You were there, you've seen the Moussaflouin. What you thought of this fight? Falaire for us. A good question. I, I liked to see the Evolive trying to see it in-pe trying to test it in-pe. I don't, I think it a point very strong because you tested in-peer-muff,

that, in my opinion, no, no, no, not there's much punch in the man,

not a guy that really a really, not I'm not quite, I think I'm

sure that I'm have been to be tested with other other guys, maybe

Zanodial, maybe Diego Lobes, have said in the man, not have used the

great, but I thought, I'm sure I've had found a, a,

the victory a contestable, for me, it had had been had been to be

a minimum impact, no minimum. But I think it was a good lot, not for a title shot eliminated, but a good lot of I think overall it was a good fight. I like to see the

fact that he tried the standing game. I don't think in my evaluation it didn't have much of a punch power there. I don't think he got that much merit to stand. Maybe he should have stuck to grappling. I think the

you know, maybe he could have used the testing, the standing with some other guys like Diego Lopje, for example. But overall, it was a good fight. I think personally, the victory could be contested. I think it was closer to a tie, but overall it was good. I agree with you. I thought it was 47-47. I thought he won three rounds to two, Mofsar, but with the point deduction, 47-47. I did see you tweet, and it seemed like in attendance, you imply that you were bored that you thought it was a boring fight there it is

would that be a fair thing to say that you thought it was a boring fight I'm I also I'm sorry to say that was a impact there but I saw that you put on the tweet that you thought that was a little monotona

the lute is that it is that you actually she thought she was monotona I I think I I thought it was it was difficult to get a grapple

of the level of Evolive, which is very good, but he never has been to get to finish a lot,

and, of he's trying to test it in a pair with a guy that not I'm dismercing, each one has

a certain my vision, and have tested the strike with a guy that, in my opinion,

not lot of the other the only the other he took was against Evoo Evoe, and the

Evoeve, still, still so he's done in-pe with him. So, for this

motive, I thought a lot of so he was a minute, he had trained

so deface of a and he didn't do that even with that my opinion,

had been had been a victory to Leramuff. So, yeah, it was quite boring

really, I think he shouldn't be trying that, you know, with this guy, I think overall

Murphy looked like he had just, you know, practiced on defending against, you know, takedown or something like that. Overall, I think the, the fight was quite boring, honestly. You had said before that you were invited by Dana White and Hunter Campbell to attend the event and that you would give them the contract, assigned contract to fight Alex Volcanovsky. Can you tell us more about this? Did they invite you in order for you to, you know,

to be announced as the next guy, what was the situation? What was the deal between you and them? You had said that there had a convict of Dana White, and more person there, that you participated in an event, and signed a contract for Volcanovesk. You can tell us about this? I was, yes.

I compared to a event in Las Vegas, and I conversed with Dana, as like the other athletes that are in videns. and he said he said to me to be to London to

see the Lernernerner so it was what I did, so through the convict of his

personally and I went to to see the the luta of them and well we

we talked about the cinturon obviously it was that was a thing was in

paltas but some an issue but were it was

was a was a was a great a Yes, I did attend an event back out in Las Vegas. Dana asked to speak to me and he invited me to go with him to London to watch the fight, Murphy's fight. And yeah, I definitely took the invitation.

Throughout the time we did obviously speak about the belt. That's a conversation that is, you know, that's a topic that's in my mind. and we did talk about it, but those conversations are still being kept privately for now. So as of right now, here we are three days later. Do you think that you are next in line to fight Alex Volcanovsky for the title? So, how are today, here, three days after, you think you are the next in line to dispute the centuron?

Yeah, let's primarily for this convict of the hunter for I could be able to watch

there's I think this desire for that I mean it's a a champion right?

It's visible the way it's a real level level to be a organization, right? It's very visible.

It's a guy who he's no me can't he has 11 or 10

or 10 luts canceled down the FC you imagine a

champion, having this type of kind of of a kind of a category

should be in the category in turn to the country because it's where all the world want to

get to get to the centuron. I have total certainty I have a form a complete

that the FCC needs. I'm I think the UFC not a a league

I think the FC today is a league was, but he also is a promoter of show, and no final

of all of all this, it will finalize the day in around the audience, in torno, the interest, the endrega, how many people

will be able to see? Today, I, particularly, I'd like, not signar a Maraunt to assist him

a lot of Voloet by the centuron. That's a great, a great, a great, a great,

because he not can't not to macho the Volcano so Volcanovisk, so Volcanovesk not would need to defend

the but then defend the so I'm so on the division of 666 kilos nobody

anyone anyone you know the sort of the performance into and the

order of the octogna to vend lute to say let's say

who really does what I do do you do do do I do,

I'm a great reality. So, no other name in a division that generates an other

event, from a paramount, than I, you know? It's me difficult to put about

about, about, about, about, about, about these things, of you,

to you, be the next to be a champion, and the because, you,

I, I, I, I, I, I, You can't like

of me or not. This is not move the factors. I have like,

I have 20 lutas like, I'm total, like, the

same thing, the Evovov has 20 luts, 20 lot of, 20, 20,

20, 20, 20, victories. This is a number absurd. It's a number

incredible, not to be able to be able, I'm to know, but you can't

put a merit sport for who not compete the sport. Like, he lute one one year,

you know, so I have this, this narrative in the UFC, understand. So, you know,

I have 20 luts, I'm, and finalize 15, this is a grand real. I don't

enter there to point to, I don't go to, like, to, to, the point,

you know, I'm going to know, and finalize, no import, it's, define who I'm so.

It's what fuck is to the fuck is to I want to I'm it's PN Pagos $250

million for FEC for a year, which is Panamonde Pagan R1 million for a

year for all because the numbers all because for account the engagement and I will

proportion to this I know of this I know I want to Volcano I was

I want to make a major the major the major the major I'm

want to the main I'm want to before, to say, to talk, to be brigar,

say in a porrada, that's not like a very old who's, that I'm trying to to be

a man, you know, to have a little, I think, I think, I believe, I think,

I'm really, this dispute of the trotons, because, I'm very sincere, we're being

never seen, ever seen, never seen, never seen, but for this, I need, that's,

that's, that's, the, great reality. So today, for so I'm in this big of this. It's more than

this, you know. Everton, God bless you. You got all that? That might have been the longest answer. God bless you. I can't wait to hear the answer here. So I think it's

really a dangerous game to let somebody like Mofstar. Mofsar, yeah. Mofsar to be a champion in the league because you got to think about it.

The whole thing revolves around the channel. The whole section there revolves around the champion. Like the fights is all about the champion who's going to have the next chance to be the champion. And out of, you know, all of these fights

he has, Movsars got like 10 or 11 cancellations, I think, at this point. And that that just wouldn't look good. You know what I'm saying? I think if you look at it, I actually do have all the components, the formula

for, you know, what a, you know, what a UFC champion should be. You know, this is more than just a fighting championship. This is a sports league. So, you know, whoever is there, whoever's in the front, whoever's in the lead, that person's got to be able to bring the viewership.

You've got to, you know, be able to promote the event. And I think, you know, it's partly about that. It's about audience interest. You have to really make sure that you're bringing this in. I don't think, you know, I personally wouldn't sign up for Paramount to, you know, just to watch a month's fight for the belt. I don't think nobody should do that because you just don't know what's going to happen. You know what I mean?

I mean, at the end of it, you talk about experience, talk about history, whatever it is, I'm the guy who actually brings it in. I'm the name out there. There's no other name that could do it as well as I could. You know, I give merit to all the guys who've been there, the guys who are there now, but, you know, push comes to shove. That's what it's got to be. You got to be able to bring the viewership. You know, the SPN used to bring $250 million to pay $250 for UFC.

Now Paramount is paying $1.1 million. You've got to make sure that that money is well spent. You've got to make sure that you're bringing the interest to the viewership. You generate that interest. and I think I can do that. And I think if I got Volcanovsky, you know, between everything that happens pre-fight until we get to the point of the fight, we are going to be the ones who actually bring that for the viewership.

I'm going to invite him Vokanovs to this conversation today, because I really, I love it, I respect the story that he construed in the sport. Who he represents, he doesn't represent it, he, he represents the sport, the UFC, all the other modalities.

I created this moment with him today, right to front to front, for I'm to understand one thing,

why he think he's that I don't me mean this lot of the internet, I'd want to know what he

actually, what he actually, what most me came to hear him to say, that's the last last the career

of his defending Kressas. Sinceram this is strange. It's not that the fans,

like, like, who, am he really really want him, I know that the guys

who love Volcanoves want to see. So, being sincere, if it was to divide the octagon with him, that's really, that point to the center, troc-a-gop,

without fugue, without marra. I want a lot style BMEF, style BMEF, the two going to front, trocaning Mourn,

like the Volcano that I knew when I saw when I were luttano, this is the that I want, you know, and,

and, this, this is a lot cost-in-a-mastra more for me, not just for me, but for Brazil, you know, if he wins the next a lot, he passes Josaldo. And for me, he not is a better than Josaldo.

This not is just personal, this is something that the Brazil sent, you know, and other thing, nobody can see this to happen. I honestly, not there's nobody

than anybody better than being said, being very serious. I'm not, I don't I'm not, I don't here to play secure. I'm here

to do the public what they they're and to do the country here to

do you know he's not for this way, the way, we're doing octagon and not for

this way, I'm going to talk more my name, even talk more my name, he see the idea of his idea

of his idea of doing the final lute of defending the quarter of In the fact that he not Merey to talk to my name is he

Because I really I'm really I'm going to be up to see in a porrada Even in my only deroged in the UFC I'll say with a bonus and even

cogiton to see the Luta of the year So, I'm I don't know what the Vauconovic I'm saying

Today, he's is going to be able to not I'm dismercing I'm saying that is what is what it

is what makes know you know, not want to you know I'm into I'm into I'm

I'm The idea It's true to It's going to It's going to But it's still It's still I understand

I want to take this moment here to actually pose this question to Volcanovsky Why does he think I don't deserve the fight

I mean he's He's talking about it out there But I just don't get it You know I really want to bring a real fight You know He's mentioned that

The fact that he wants to Go down on his last fight You know Avoiding takedons And down to his last fight

and I think that's just not good you know this whole fight would have an extra meaning for me and even for Brazil because if he wins he's going to pass Joseo Aldo and

I really don't think he's better than Joseo so you know nobody better to stop him than I you know I can actually defend that legacy for for Josealdo, for Brazil, and I really want to bring a real fight. I don't want to go to the octagon and just, you know, be running around or defending takedowns or things like that, but I want to

bring a real fight. I want to have some, some strikes and do all the work that actually makes it interesting, you know, right now, honestly, I don't want to, you know, badmouth him or anything, but he looks like an old man running around. I mean, I, I, I, I, know age is going to come for every one of us hasn't come from me yet here am for him so not to speak on on Alex's behalf but just based on what he said this morning and also after the fight on saturday it seems like his feeling is mofzar has won the most fights in a row 10 in a row and he's beaten the likes of al Jemaine sterling Diego Lopez um Arnold Allen etc you know some some big names and so that's why he feels like he deserves the shot next because he feels like

It should be a meritocracy. It should be who's the guy with the most wins in a row, et cetera, et cetera. What is your response to that? Based on just the sport aspect, not who's going to bring the most exciting fighter, who's the bigger name from a sporting aspect. It feels like he wants to keep it in line with how it's always been, which is this guy's won the most fights in a row against the best opponents. He should be next.

What is your response to that? I don't care here necessarily in the name of Alex, but what he said, ultimately was that he really really think it has to be to be in accord with what has been the guy that, in this case Moves-Arc, he gained the majority of the

lot of the lot of the Arnold Allen, all these guys there, so to see this series, to be he, to maintain this aspect of the league, to be to be who's, who's having,

has been the better the time, this is the proposal that he

has the thing to what you have to say about what you don't say when he's

when he was when he was doing the he was to have to the narrative

of his really sense being very sincere because because to go to go over

after he was because the Diego gave to him and the Diego

disputed the two times in my opinion he just not can't be a lot of

a lot of more easy for being more sincere and I think he's a couple he's able to know

the Avolove this is real but as as he's a champion of the he knows that the category

is the category par it's just just to look the numbers how many how's lots of

have been in UFC and how many how's many years he's he's

is bizarre. Evolive has had one the clutas canceled in the FC, you know, I'm saying, I'm saying, serious, I'm saying,

I'm saying no Vokanovski, and, especially most fans. Imagine, to promote Volcano and Evoev for two months.

And the guy out of the person's going to who will be to get? For me? So, because I don't

do this now without risk to canceling the Mane event, without a certain, you know,

just a lot of the fans will really start to see, man, you know,

but more a dispute the opportunity, something, a lot of a lot of a lot of to do you

do a lot of two caracas to say in a porrada, you know, I'm gonna, I'm, I'm pretty, man, I feel like, man, I feel like the first to start

in the professional I, I accompany the guy the way he'd lutable a guy who was a guy that's a

guy who he's going to end up his career he's going to he's going to do you

know, but he will test it is that he is what he he wants to he'll test his he?

He'll test it because he is he is thinking he he will he will do the law

he don't man I think I think not about it's about I think not about

I'm saying he in he not know about about he

He doesn't want to look to me. You know, because he not said this before? Just now? Like, because I

didn't know I didn't even much chance in the Ludo Diego to, to show. I committed a error,

the Diego capitalized in the same and then I was well, and the Diego capitalized in a same, he

was a bonus at night and a subject to be a little of the year. It's

serious that I still I still I still don't think that the Vok Canoves

is trying to to do a lot of 25 minutes defending a Kedda. Man, I respect much. Everything he created, what he's doing,

he created a legado. And he will simply finalize with defense of Kedars. For a favor, I think that Volcanovesk.

Himon, par with this, brother. If you think so fast in Admi as you were on the internet, come on a, po, we're saying a porrada, I and you,

I and you, I'm you, I'm, I and you I'll say one thing, if you win a D-M, I'll say to the F.C. You'll promise

this. But let's go let's say in a porrada. This is so good, as you said, that's so

can't be to end-in-Mid-M, but I'm, you who's going to end up, I'm, I'm, I'm not,

you're in my front, and you want, to be able defending the Keda? And,

other, you never called to F.C. And, because if you know, if you know,

will get the the and he's not going to summing with the centuron, not will not fight? That's the guy that I've seen in the TV, not really, I imagineable. I don't know what to say really about that, because he didn't use that same reasoning when he had to fight with Diego. You know, when Diego lost to evolve for a couple times, I just think you just got to really think about the whole category. if if mobsar wins the category just comes to a halt you know i've been i've been following him on the ufc for many many years and it's just it's just sad to see what it's come to i mean if you think about mobsar eleven's fight 11 fights canceled what is that going to do you know if this guy wins

wins the belt the belt's just going to go away there's not going to be any more fights so what is that due to anybody. I don't want us to spend like two months doing the promo for Volcanov and Mozart and then, you know, come to the week before and they had they have to call me in because he couldn't make it, you know, I mean, it's just he doesn't deserve it. You know, I really want to make this a real fight, you know, two ball guys striking. I was always a big fan of Okinov way back when um i just think you know it it's time for for me to get a got a shot at this uh you know i don't really think he's really doesn't want to fight me maybe you know that's what it is the fight that i lost to diego even though i lost that fight it's still you know up for possibly being like the

best fight of the year and he's he's afraid of facing me what does he want to do 25 minutes you know defending against takedowns. I just think, you know, my message to Volcanov, let's just stop all the BS. Let's, you know, think straight about it. Let's go in. Let's exchange some strikes. And I'll say more.

If you win, if Volcanov wins, I'll leave the UFC. That's what I'll say. I've been a fan, but you know what? now it's it's time for it and and I'm willing to face. Wow. I just want to ask you a couple more questions and then I'll let you go. Kevin Vachejos, you have a history with him. He's doing really well.

Is this someone that you're interested in the near future? Obviously you want to fight for the belt that you're interested in running it back with him and did you expect him to do so well after you fought him a couple years ago? Kevin Vachero, one last question here, I don't know if I'm in the name

right, Kevin Vachero, Vacheros. Vacheros. You have Vacheros, you want me to say it again? Sorry, yes. No problem, I know, it's been a lot. So obviously,

he's been doing very well since you beat him and he would like to fight you at some point. I know that you are interested in fighting for the belt in the immediate future. but is this someone that you would be interested in fighting again? And at the same time, curious if you thought he would turn out to be so good after fighting him a couple years ago.

So, since you got him, he has been, he has been a good disempenny. So I'd want to know if you have this possibility, there has some want to be with him and also a second question

here is if you could imagine that he would be so well, after the battle that you have been,

if you could imagine that he had had this ascension that he had been. I'm

a excellent athlete. I believe that the the end up the future of this

level of this, he will continue going to as same as I think I can

gain getting and so. And in future, I think we'll be stonob

so will defend the sunturn against him. It's a mollike, very good, very good. I think I think he will continue

up if the casemate of lute for continue this level, because there are some names in the middle that I think he doesn't pass, no. I honestly think Kevin is an excellent athlete. I think if the fight matches continue

to be at the level that they are, he's going to continue winning. If they continue to be good, he's going to continue winning. But I do see that in the future I could be I could be defending a belt against him. I mean, his is good at what he does. And I could definitely see that happening in the future. Okay.

And could you clear off? Yes, yes. Yes. I have one question for you. Please, please. Please. If you had to sign a Paramoid to assist this

if you were to sign, what's of the three would you? One question for you. So if we had Murphy, Volkanovsky, or Valuev and

Volkanowski or Jan and Volkanowski, which one of these fights which one of these fights would you sign up to see? Which would be the most exciting? You versus Volkinovsky would be the most exciting fight.

More impugent would be you against Volcanovesque, with certain today we have a guy that latched. When the world would think this?

Today we have a guy that is barking. One did the world think that would happen? Yeah, no. As far as pure entertainment, you are at the top of the list. There's no doubt about it.

I understand and respect what Volkanowski is saying because I think if you were someone who won ten in a row, you would want that type of respect from the champion. think he's he's handling it the right way but if we're talking pure entertainment here there's no debate to be had there's no debate your fights have always entertained even when you don't win the

fight like diego lopez it's a great fight it's one of the best fights of the year so it's a killer be killed mentality and i think that's why people like you and i don't have anything against you trying to campaign for your spot uh because you know it's your career and that's why i wanted you on the show to talk about that to give your side and to tell the world why you think you should be next and I think that you have laid it out quite well. So I have no doubt about that. Do you feel in your heart you're going to get it? Do you feel like the UFC is going to go with you next for Volcanovsky? What are you feeling right now? So in terms of entertainment, I think it would be a lot with him,

would be, without doubt, it would be the major entertainment that we could have. But I also, I also, I'd respect. Because if you were in this place, or if you had gained 10 luts, any one in this place, to gain

10 luts in the other, you would would be to have this respect

of who people to be the position of the being this space

to to you try to try this this dispute

by this but no final of the I

think all I think should have come to

this happen and what I I wanted to what you are

feeling in your heart there's a really going to this lot, will roll this

dispute for you? I'm sure of this. I'm going to do everything that you have to

do you do more more, I respect to both athletes. I'm Vovov,

Leav, Bokanovski, all the others, everyone who's this respect

but I'm the person, no, no, it's not important, you know,

Harial, like, why, the vocal novel that I said, he's

he don't, he, he, he, he, he, he, don't want to

come, he's, it's that, I'm, I'm the person, man,

he really, he really, he really, he really, he really Because I'll tell you I'll tell you one something

Ariel, the hour when I'm the time when I'm in going to look to the and say

I'm going to say a family, you know, I'm going to you know, I'm going to do you know,

I'm going to get this doubt in the head of Hunter and decide in who to do you

he, he, he, he, he, he, he, man, Hunter, who's a

champion, him, the champion I don't pick I think I am the next one. I'm certain of that. I'm going to do everything that I have to do and go beyond that, you know. I respect all of these athletes. Volkanowski, Monsar, all of them. I respect them. But the thing is, I just think he is, Volkanowski's trying to not fight me. And I, you know, that's, that's what it comes down to. I just think he's just trying to run from it. And I, I don't think that's, that's good, you know. And it's for that

reason that I believe that I'm the next guy. If he has the courage, truly, you know, if he's the best of all time, then, then that's me. He's got to fight me. I think this is the time for me to fight. for the belt. I'll be looking, you know, looking around if I'm, if I get to that position where I have the belt, you're not going to come to me and say, you know, what do you think about this fight? And I'm going to say, no, you want to do this fight? Yes. Next one. Yes. I'm always going to be up for it, uh, different from what might happen. Otherwise, uh, it's not going to be an easy fight. I don't think so. But I think this. But I think this. this would be the good one.

One last one for you, John. Can you tell us, can you clear the air for us? What happened between you and Mauricio Huffy? A lot of people went crazy that you unfollowed him. Is he no longer a part of the team? Is he no longer a part of fighting nerds? Are you no longer friends with him? And if so, why?

The last question here, why you've started to see the Mauricio Huffy? You are with some problem there? What? What happened? What did you? Tell me, what? I think that is this.

No, I don't need to explain much a lot of him, he's there, he's been talking to this point. Look, what cool. With Volcanoes, there's a guy who's not to fight with me? It's more easy for him, as he said that's going to win a dream. Let's go, in this.

But, in the house, I salute there. But, I'm a great athlete, man. It's a great athlete. I think phenomenal. With certainty, it's a major, the category of his, I have in certain. and I'm I'm just trying

for him and a family but it's good to be done to talk about this point

I'm very happy for him for all he's got to fight against a good

a lot of a lot good house so I'm so much so

very much so so it's funny that you touch on that point I don't

have much to explain on that but it's funny that you touch on that

because that's another name for Okanovsky to fight as

So I just think, you know, as far as Mauricio, I can say he's a good guy. I wish him happiness. You know, I'm happy for the fact that he's going to be on the White House card. You know, I wish him all the success. But that's really it. Okay. Well, thank you, John. He's a guy, he's against Mike Chandler, who is a wrestler sinister.

And I'm very anxious to see him showing that he not he can't show him in the penitimate his last one of his defeat of his death. He defends a guy he defends the guy he's not

he has an opportunity and he will have an opportunity now to show and you guys will see what the Molyst Roof is sinister, this a man is sinister

this mulek is sinister this man's the world to him but we're in a way we're in the chance to

fight Chandler and you know he's going to have the opportunity to show his take down defense which is it's amazing it's just something you know that's really you haven't seen much of somebody with

that kind of skills out there but you know in terms of me and him we're just in different paths now but i still wish him all the happiness thank you john i appreciate it very much good luck to you in getting the fight always a pleasure to talk to you and always appreciate your time so all the best to you We'll talk to you soon. And, oh, good a time. And thank you,

and congratulations to Everton, who did a great job translating all of that. Thank you both. Thank you, Jean. A pleasure to be with you here. And everything for you. A success.

Good time. Good time. And we're talking. Very good, thank you, very great, for me to bring here in this audience.

Incribes for the job that you always did and every way, better, better, I'm your fan. So,

So we're here, you can't be certain that my next I'm a contract on one to tell you that this would happen and happen. Thank you, Ariel, so much. Thank you for allowing me to have this space here, to reach this huge audience. Congratulations for the work

that you do that you've always done. It's always getting better and better. I'm a big fan of yours, and I always dreamed of being here, and rest assured, if I have that contract in my hand, I'll be right back here for us to talk about it. Can't wait. Thank you. Obedee gada, John. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

He got us. There he is. The one and only John Silva, Lord John Silva. Great stuff from him. Appreciate his time very much. One of a kind. And he's stating his case quite passionately. That's what I expect out of John Silva. We love his passion. We love the way in which he fights. And yeah, from an entertainment standpoint, hard to argue with the points that he is making. Let's see. Volk is saying what he's saying. We haven't heard 100% from the UFC. So let's see how it plays out. Okay, very excited to have our next guest in studio with us. Let's not waste any time. Let's say hello to the CEO of the Professional Fighters League,

the one and only John Martin is back. It's great to have him here. Hello, John. How are you? Sorry for keeping you waiting there. How are you? I see you. It's great to have you.

We're traveling all over the world. Quick little pit stop back home. Yes. On your way back to Pittsburgh. Yes. Pittsburgh, yeah. Pit stop, yes, before Pittsburgh. So great to have you.

I really appreciate it. So much to talk to you about as well. How was Madrid? Oh, that was great. It was really, really good. You know, it's part of what we're trying to do. We're still trying to go to new cities to underserved markets. We were fortunate enough, and I know Costello was here on your podcast yesterday to have Costello headline the show.

And Spanish, you know, Spanish champion successfully defend his title. His brother won. It was a big night for his family. So noisy crowd. So I'm pleased. I think it's another really, really successful event and then really excited to go to Pittsburgh for our first event in the U.S. Unique setting, that former bullfighting. It was fun.

It was a little remote. Okay, was it? Yeah, I mean, the parking wasn't great. Okay. But I have to tell you, walking in, even in the early fights, even compared to Dubai, which was a little bit of a subdued crowd. Okay. It was noisy. Okay.

It was really, really noisy. And like the French crowds, maybe. French crowds also were. Yeah. I would put this. up against what we had in Leone as well. Okay. I was not at the, the PFL in the past has also been in Paris, which was bigger crowd,

which also, I think we had Cedric fighting on that card and was really, really loud. But it was fun. It felt like you were at a European football match. And we had 15 Real Madrid players there. And not just any players. Billingham, Vinnie Jr., Tibo Cortois, there's Vinnie, like, these are some of the greatest players in the world. Yes.

I know you're a soccer guy. Juge, yeah. Did you get to meet them? A couple of them. I mean, look, I was busy doing my own thing. Of course. But we were really pleased for them to be there. And so we were happy with that.

I thought the event came off great on television. To me, my feeling is every time the PFL is overseas, in particular in Europe, it feels like a different promotion than the one we see here. Like the product, the energy feels different. I wonder if you agree with that. And B, how do you bring that here? How do you get that same energy that you seem to have in Europe over to the United States? Well, I'm glad you noticed that because I know. noticed that too when I came and I've been here just over a little six months but it of course it

felt different because in Europe they were putting on bigger events and they were showcasing a lot of the old Bellator you know champions and and and lead fighters and in the states they were doing the tournament and it felt more like a studio show and there wasn't much in terms of crowd there and you felt it I mean I was watching on TV and it didn't feel like that energy and so that's one of the things that I said you know if you want to run a global promoting motion, which that's what I was brought on to do. And I'm ambitious. I want to try to scale this thing to become more globally relevant and recognized, you know, by a lot more people, you have to make it in the U.S. You can't ignore the U.S. And yes, the U.S. has been a dominant player in the U.S.

And it's going to be a challenge for us. And it's not going to happen overnight. But my goal is to bring those same high-level caliber of fighters that have been fighting outside of the U.S., bring them inside the U.S. And so you'll see some of our best, you know, our champions and best fighters now, many for the first time fighting in the U.S. Like later this year we'll have U.S.M.S. fighting in the U.S., Dakota will fight in the U.S. will fight in the U.S.S. will be back fighting in the U.S. again. And, of course, we have Johnny Eblen fighting this weekend, and he's a U.S. fighter that, you know,

up until he lost to Costello, has been a dominant champion. So, you know, our biggest issue at the moment with PFL, I don't believe, is the quality of the fights and the cards that we can put together. It's the fact that our brand is still not well known, particularly here. We've made a lot more progress, and I think our brand awareness is much greater in Europe and even now in the UAE than it is here. So our challenge is going to be how do we amplify the brand here and, of course, you know, do it as quickly as we can. You did mention just moments ago, Cedric Dumbay, and just this morning I saw a Vival. video of him in French. Luckily, I know to speak French, where he says, because you're Canadian. I'm Canadian. That's right. He said, the knockouts are coming. I have big news to share. I have

exciting news to share. He's been conspicuous by his absence. And I would argue one of your biggest stars, is he referring to a PFL fight? No, I cannot jump in front of him and I don't want to do that. You're the boss. It's something different. No, but it's something different. Okay, okay, okay. But he's under contract with us. It's disappointing. I'm sorry. I want to take it up with him. I want to see him in the PFL. We do too. No, so we've been talking with him. Okay. And I'm actually really optimistic.

So, you know, he's, I don't know him from my past history, but I've gotten to know him now. He's back in the gym training. Okay. He may have fallen out of love with fighting for a little bit or so what I heard, you know, he was non-committal, but now I expect that he's going to be back. And I think this year he comes back at some point? I really hope so. Okay. But the T's not a PFL fight.

You can tell us that. Yes, I'll tell you that. Fair enough. Fair enough. All right. But I saw that too. Okay, you did. Yeah, I did.

I was like, what do? What is this? Yeah, because he mentioned knockouts. Yes. So is it a different type of fight? I'm all, that's it. He's not fighting with anybody else.

Okay, okay. Okay. So much to ask you about the last time we spoke, you had just started. Has it been going the way in which you thought? Has it been more challenging? How would you say the role has been last six months or so? I've learned a lot. And it's been fun.

This is hard. Yeah. It's not an easy business. And I'm not a person. Harder than you expected? No. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, we're still a startup.

I mean, in some respects, we're a seven-year startup, and I've changed so much from what it was just six months ago, that in some respects this is kind of PFL2.0, or maybe it's even 3.0, if you go back in the past history. So as me personally, I'm working 24-7. I'm having a lot of fun. I'm really excited now to be in the U.S. Because we've done a couple of events in Dubai,

and then Leon and now Madrid, and now happy to start. in the U.S. But we have over the next 10 weeks, I believe we have five events. So we're going to start to pick up the pace in terms of getting in front of more people. So this is what I'm here for. It's that part of the job that I'm really enjoying. But I'm also doing the other side, which is the business side. So we're, you know, we brought in a lot of new people. We've upgraded talent. We've revamped the way we do business. And everything is just happening all real time. The biggest story. One of the biggest stories in MMA this year for me is

the PFL's broadcast deal. We know it's up at the end of this year with ESPN. What can you tell us about how talks are going? Yeah, we're in discussions with multiple parties now. Okay. You're free and clear to talk to whoever you want. We're free and clear now to talk to people. You know, I expect that we're still going to be talking at ESPN. There was no deal to be done during the short exclusivity period.

And so I'm confident and excited. It's going to be a big piece of my business this year. But I'm going to be probably at this for a number of months. I anticipate that this is going to be a quick. So you think this will go down to the end? I don't know about the end, but I think the natural course of these things is this could be, I don't know, look at when the UFC signed there most recently. They were paramount was, I think, Q3. Yep.

It was August for. Yeah. So we'll probably, I'm guessing, we'll probably be in and around that area. And we're looking at different ways of approaching this. When you say different ways, what do you know that? Well, you know, in some respects, and I expect we'll probably talk about MVP and we're focused on doing. our thing at the moment, right? Investing in our fighter roster, we've got over 200 fighters under contract. And we're trying to build to make our fighters more well known. And, you know, with my media

background, some of the people I've brought in, like, I think there are new and fresh ways to really utilize technology and other ways to reach out to fans and engage them, possibly in ways that we haven't been able to do before. And so I'm really excited by that idea. And I'm trying to to build a combat sports ecosystem and not just a promotion. And that takes time. And I think our new, you know, lead owners, 8-8-5 and Nighthead are very supportive of what we're trying to do and they're long-term owners. And if we're successful, you know, I didn't come here to try to do something on the small side. I came here to do something that people look back over time and say like, wow, that was something. And the odds were stacked against them and they actually did it. So I'm

very respectful of what UFC has been able to do. Obviously, it's one of the reasons why I'm here because I was such a big fan of them for all those years. And like I said, time is not our friend. And we've got to ramp up the awareness of the PFL. But there's interesting ways to do that. And I think, you know, looking at investing in certain things that maybe people might not expect. So I, you know, it's just, it's going to take a while. I don't want people to judge us success or failure based on how Pittsburgh does alone, if that makes sense. But we've got, you know, we've got high aspirations, high motivation.

When you say combat ecosystem, what exactly do you mean by that? I'll leave it at that. That's that, okay. No, I think over time, I think careful investment in certain technology to, like when I was at Turner and I ran Turner, Turner Sports convinced me, we bought Bleacher Report. Yep. There are ancillary businesses, tangential businesses, there's investments in technology that we, we, I'm very, very interested in engaging fans in ways that, you know, it's been hard to do up until now.

Okay, okay. I did see a video over the weekend in which you were like, hey, you know, that White House card wasn't great. And I was like, oh, is John? Yeah, I saw that. And I was like, I didn't mean to. Okay. It felt like the gloves were off. Well, you know what?

Your interviews, you're very respectful and very, well, you know, I'm still, okay, so I'm very, open here. Like I don't have the gravitas in this game to sit there and say, you know, like, look, I'm the new guy. And I'm going to intend to prove myself over time. I think my comment was more along the lines of it was so hyped, possibly overhyped that I was expecting something like, I was when I saw it, I was like, oh, that's a good card. But it was been talked about now for months and months and months. It was a little underwhelming to me. But no disrespect to, you know, what you tried to poke the bear a little bit. Oh, no, no, no. No. No, no. That's Everybody wants me to try to poke.

Sure. Look, we have to stay focused on what we're doing, and we have to prove ourselves, and we have to increasingly be seen as, like, this is really a legitimate promotion. And I know we are already. And like you said, in the European fights and in the UAE fights, these are big events. I mean, they feel like UFC events. Now we have to do that in the U.S. And I think it's going to take a little bit of time to develop and grow.

But I don't know. I mean, look, you're the expert. I thought the card was great. I enjoyed it very much. There are little things that you guys are doing. I love the walkouts. They're a little different. Gino walking in back of the belt with the belt.

I love that. That's different. We don't see that in M.A. It's a very boxing like that. Yeah. So the more you can do that's different. If we can get rid of the uniforms. Imagine Costello walking out with some Spanish attire.

Like, why make them all look the same? Yeah, yeah. I know how I feel about the uniform. Yeah. Well, you know how I feel too. Yes. Can we get rid of them? We're working.

Can we do a deal? but let them be themselves. I feel very, very strongly that we need to do a better job of allowing these fighters to really express who they are. Yes. Because that's what the fans want. Yes. They want to know who they are. They want to be emotionally invested in them.

I don't know if I mentioned it on your show last time, but, you know, Tom, uh, Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy. Dan Hardy. Dan Harty. Who's phenomenal. He's terrific. Yes. You know, when I talked to him and I was talking about the uniforms, he was like, you know, I used to come out. I had the red mohawk.

I had the red band, Dan, at the red shorts, that's who I was. And then he was there for the first Reebok uniform deal. And he said it kind of stripped away a bit of his persona. So I want to encourage more expression of who these guys are. Because that's what makes the sport fun. Don't take the soul away from fighting. And I feel like some of that has been lost. But some of the walkouts have been better than the NFL's done in the past.

They have been 100%. Shows, even in venue experiences have been more exciting and better. It's pacing better. I will say, I love ESPN. I'm a big ESPN guy I used to work there. I did look at the app and I felt like it was a little bit buried there. I don't know if you were able to. More than Barry.

Buried. It was spring training baseball ahead. Yeah, yeah. That's not lost on me. How do you feel about that? I don't like it. Yeah. Look, I've said all along when, you know, we're talking multiple parties.

Whoever we end up with, it's critically important to me that we were the partner who believes in what we're doing wants to invest in that. I don't mean necessarily monetarily invest, but invest the time and effort with promotion and marketing and consistency of scheduling, whether it's on linear or a streamer. And it's been proven. I mean, the UFC does prove both with Fox and then with the SPN. If they do that, the value that promotion can grow exponentially in the UFC's case. And there's no reason why, even though we're not the industry leader, I don't believe the UFC is going to be a global monopolist in MMA. And I don't think, you know, I think there's room.

I mean, you tell me what would be bad for the industry. No, no. There needs to be competition. There has to be. The UFC needs competition. That's my point. It'll make them better. Yes.

And it's great for the fighters. Yes. So that's us, in my opinion. And so we have to find a partner who is also big enough that it can get us in front of more eyeballs. And that's what we're doing. Actually, internationally, we have a lot more distribution partners. We've got 25, 26 overall, globally.

We could be seen in 170 countries. But we were with the zone in a lot of areas in Europe before I got here. The decision was made before I arrived to end the zone relationship. But now we're in the process. We've been signing new agreements in many respects with broadcasters that are now putting us in front of infinitely more eyeballs than we were before. That's good for us. That's good for our brand. This is all by design and strategy.

We were with Movistar in Spain, which we just signed that deal recently. And this is a year where we need to prove ourselves in Spain. But they had, I think they had 35 people from the network on location in Spain to cover us, which was fantastic. So when you see that as far as ESPN is concerned, do you tell that to them? Do you express that? We're talking with them all the time. Do you feel like the futures with ESPN or likely not? I don't know.

And that's an honest answer. I mean, I'm not going to diss them. Yeah. And look, they're very, very premium sports broadcasting network. And but there are other, there are other platforms as well. And so, you know, they come around. Traditional, non-traditional streaming, linear, everything. Yeah.

Is it possible you'll be in multiple places? Possible. Possible. Okay. Right now. That's a great thing about our product, right? Is you can create it and make bespoke. Are you, are you, right now, is there a front runner?

No, I'm not going to. No, I'm not asking for the name, but is there one? Is there one that you're most excited about? We're still talking. We just recently came out of. Yeah. exclusivity period. So we're still in the process of talking and engaging. I know you don't want to poke the bear and whatnot, but Dana is very much invested in this boxing outfit that he's putting out.

And him and Eddie Hearn have been going back and forth. Is that kind of good for you? Like, hey, focus on those guys and we'll kind of do our thing here and maybe sneak up on you. Do you look at it that way? I like, you know, it's interesting. I'm learning even still more about myself. You know, I moved back to New York City from, from L.A. L.A. was wonderful. It's a beautiful place. Yes. I missed the chaos of New York City. I miss the action. I miss the action. and the energy. And now that I'm in this business, even compared to the business that I ran before, which is a massive company, I like the chaos of the fight game. And so, and I've gotten to know Eddie Hearn and we talk, and he's, he's extraordinary for the sport. He's an extraordinary.

What do you talk about? I'm not going to. Okay. It's like working or? Yeah. Well, I mean, lots of different things. Life and, you know, we're still learning about each other. Yeah, we chat. Okay, okay. Yeah. That's notable. I talk to all these guys. I don't talk to Dana. You know, I mean, it's good. I actually think it's good for me that Dana doesn't even know exist at the moment. Yes. He's never referenced you. No. No. That's good. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, this is totally fine. No text. No, hey, welcome to the show and nothing. No. Okay. Um, the anything is interesting because Eddie has hinted at, hey, maybe I might get into MMA. I'm aware of that. Okay. Would that be with you? I don't know. Okay. Okay. Because he just signed Tom Aspinall to represent him.

Look, I follow. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So anyway, though, that, you know, I think that what's interesting and And I think MVP is shining a light as well. I think all this is good for the sport. It's good for the fighters. And I think it's good for the fans. Have you sense that that apathy, that frustration, that malaise from the fans, that they don't feel like they're getting what they... Yeah. I mean, I read everything.

Yeah. And you feel that? Well, I don't feel anything different than what you feel. Sure. But you're the guy who can actually say, hey, come look at us, right? You may be feeling some sort of way here, maybe getting a little. little steel, whatever you may feel. Sure, and that's the part of being in a competitive business.

You know, I mean, I think, you know, I talk a lot to our fighters, and we want to know, are you happy with us and where do you want to go? And look, we've got a number of fighters who have gone out of their way to speak publicly about being really, really happy to be part of the PFO. Costello is one of them. Now, it's easy when you're the champ, right? Sure. But they have the ability to be like real stars, and we can look after.

them in ways that, you know, I think they're concerned that maybe the UFC won't. Taking a step back, we haven't talked since. Why did Don Davis leave? Oh, that was, you know, I mean, look, I think that was, that was not my decision. I think I came because of Don, and I'm still very fond of Don, and that was the decision that was made by, you know, Don and the new owners. And I think, you know, sometimes, I think they just felt like it was, it was time for a fresh start. Okay. And Peter Murray as well, so it's really like a whole new regime. And are they involved in any way, shape, or form? No.

That's it. Even from an ownership standpoint, an equity standpoint. They may have, I think, you know, I don't, our cap table is pretty big. Okay. So I don't know them, but not in any sort of a meaningful way. Do you feel as though, okay, there's been a lot of change. I know some have come and gone. Do you feel like the team is now said or are you still looking at some moves,

adding people as far, you know, because you're kind of like an owner taking over a new baseball team or a baseball operations guys. So you want to bring in your people that you trust? Do you feel like that transitional period is over? I think it's largely done. Okay. I think there's, look, we're always going to be looking for the best talent we can. We've added a couple of what I think are some super high quality people that from Turner, Turner Sports, Lenny Daniels who ran Turner Sports. I mean, I asked him. I asked him the other day. I said, how many Emmys have you won? He's like 31. Wow. I was like, okay. You know, people want to talk about, you know, production quality and Lenny did March Madness deal. He did the NBA deals.

Like, he knows sports inside and out. He did Bleacher Report. He's built franchises. He's built businesses. He convinced the NBA to host all of their digital properties when nobody thought that they would do that. They did NBA TV together. Lenny's here and he's working with me. We've got a marketing person from Turner who's now joined and she's fantastic. And so we've have a new head of commercial sponsorship and partnerships, and he's got extraordinary experience. So we're elevating the team, but we're a new team. It's kind of like you bring everybody in, you reintroduce and reintroduce everybody. And now everybody's off and they're trying to, you know, to generate their own position and lane and figure out where to go. But it's already better.

I mean, as you can imagine when I came in, you know, I still at Don, I still at Pete. And there's a little bit of, hey, John, you're the CEO, but everybody's still around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now there's nobody around. And the new owners, you know, 885 and Nighthead being the leads and Saudis, still a big owner, they've all been extremely supportive of me and what we're trying to do. And everybody's in alignment. We're all now rowing in the same boat.

Did you consider a rebrand, fresh start? Yeah, we still maybe considering it. Okay, it's still on the table. When will you make that decision? Soon. Is it in the works? Yeah. Okay.

Now when you say rebrand, like name change, logo change? Possibly. Okay, wow. Within 2026? Maybe. Wow. Okay. There's a lot happening here.

There is a lot happening. I think we want to signal that this really is a new era. A new era. Okay. So a total change. Wow. Okay. That's very interesting.

Another massive move recently was the parting of ways with Francis and Ganu. Can you tell us from your perspective why that decision was made? Yeah, he's on your show. Years later, yes. Yeah. So I didn't do that on purpose, by the way. No, no, no, it's just kind of worked out. I actually, look, and I'm not just saying this.

I actually have a lot of respect for Francis. You know, he joined way before my time. Yes. And I think it was at a time when PFO was ready to make some big swings. And I think it was at a moment in time where Don believed that that they were going to successfully pursue an aggressive pay-per-view model and that Francis would be a big headliner to generate pay-per-view. And it was also at a time.

time when I believe the Saudi investment was new. And there was a view that PFO would be putting on recurring events in Saudi with big site fees associated with that. And that's how that was going to, would be able to justify the cost of Francis. And they did one event and didn't really sell any pay-per-views. And then the support in terms of recurring big site fees from Saudi disappeared. So it was really a business. decision to move on from him at this point. But, you know, he also helped. It was instrumental in the launch of PFL Africa. And at the moment, he's still involved in that. So, oh, is he? Yeah. I didn't realize that. Yeah. Okay. We'll see. I'd love to talk to him about whether he wants to continue to do that or not,

but he's really respected there. And he's been, you know, he's been a real ambassador for that. So like I said, I mean, the fact that he's on the MVP card and he's going to get paid, he's making money, I'm happy for him. Did you part ways with him because of the MVP opportunity, or did you not know that that was sitting there when you parted ways? No. Because it happened like within a few days of each other. I'm aware of that. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, but you didn't know? No. Wow. So did he ask for his release or? I'm not going to get into the particulars and specifics. He had one fight left, right? Yeah. Yeah.

But it was a term that was coming to an end as well. So you kind of had to make that decision. Yes. You did, when I say you, PFL had a relationship with Jake Paul and Nikisipadarian, right? That came to an end. Also predated me. Predated you. It was a marketing arrangement, I think.

But there was a, there was a, Part of the contract was if Jake Paul fought MMA, he would do it with the PFO. But that contract ended. And so when you found out about this and the Netflix and the construction of the card, which was fully announced today, what did you think? Yeah, so it didn't surprise me. I expected it. Why not?

Okay. Why? Well, because Nekis's background in history and, you know, we have our ears to the ground. We know all the phone calls everybody's made. I know all the phone calls that were made. Okay, okay. Look, it's interesting because people keep asking me, is they are they a competitor? Are you upset? Are you worried? It's like, listen, we're doing our thing at the moment, and I respect what they're doing. And I think, and this is a much longer conversation than you would care to enter into on this. But there's an interesting bifurcation happening in the world of sport. Right now at the moment. You've got sort of what I would say that what people would more define is like classic sports. that's sort of what the PFL's doing, what the UFC's doing, is that you got your pipeline of fighters,

you got your younger fighters coming in, you got people fighting for championships. They're in the prime of their career. They've got their eyes set on the goal, which has become a world champion, and everybody's kind of at the prime of their career. And you could see that in other sports as well. But now you have, because of the world of celebrity and influencer and people that have achieved greatness and celebrity, you've got new and incremental operations. You've got new and incremental opportunities, opportunities that necessarily weren't there before, weren't necessarily there before, where people can actually continue to exercise their name, image, likeness, and monetize that, and still have an audience and fan base.

I mean, you're seeing this a little bit in the world of soccer, what everybody calls football. You've got Ballo League and Kings League, which, you know, you've got teams that are owned by influencers and content creators who are ex-football stars with P.K. being like one of the leader of Kings League. And that's really fun, and it's taking a new and innovative approach to the sport, and it's giving fans something that's new and different. And with MVP, I mean, what they've done with this card is they've put on fights of like some real big names. But people necessarily aren't in the prime of their career anymore, or, you know, Ronda, I guess, hasn't fought in 10 years and Gina Crono 17 years or something like that. And I think, you know, that's great.

And that's great that they can monetize that. We're in the process of managing a roster of over 200 fighters, and we've got people who are grinding through and fighting world championships. And so when I said earlier about a combat sports ecosystem, you know, we're exclusive to ESPN this year. Beginning in 2027, we're not exclusive to anybody. So I'm talking to Netflix. I mean, I know what they want.

I know them from my prior world. So we would like to have the flexibility to be able, there's nothing to stop us from being in arrangements or agreements with, with anybody who might be available. And so, you know, the ability to do what we're doing here, but then on the other side still be flexible enough or maintain an open mind on how do you monetize the world of combat sport in other ways, I think is an interesting option

for us possibly in the future. No certainty. But, and that's where, and I think almost fighting is a unique sport in that respect, because there's always a primal fascination that exists between human beings to say, hey, who do you think would win in a fight, you know, Ariel or John? Well, at this moment, I would put my money on you

because I'm an old man. Maybe not years ago, right? But that still exists. And, you know, for me, the idea of watching Mike Tyson one more time, you know, age 58, even though he's 58, it's Mike Tyson.

Like, he was a hero of mine, and he was ferocious. And I think fighting is almost unique in that respect that people would want to continue to see that. And so I think it's good for the sport. I think MVP is bringing incremental spotlight to that. I think, you know, Netflix is clearly the only platform on the planet right now that's willing to pay the kind of numbers for events like this. So the question is, is that

something that's sustainable or is that something, you know, that Netflix is going to change their mind or moving a different direction? But look, I have a lot of respect for Jake and for Nikis. I mean, Jake is a unique guy in that respect. I mean, he's a one-man wrecking crew in terms of marketing machine and being a fighter as well. So, yeah, I think it's good for the sport. And at this moment, if we could draft in and kind of ride the wave as the sport continues to grow, it's probably good for the PFL. It's great for MMA to have Netflix involved, obviously, right?

Oh, 100%. They were only doing boxing events. And they still love boxing. Of course. And I hope it continues. But I'd love to see them do opening day tomorrow, this is good for sports. Exactly.

Getting into live sports. I was always wondering, would they come over to MMA if they couldn't get a UFC deal? And so now for this event to just kind of come up is very exciting. But everything we've been told is it's a one-off for now. It's just a one-off. We'll see. I mean, I've been talking to them too. And I think they're really interested to see how May performs for MVP.

And I think they know they're the only game of town right now. Right. So they're going to do whatever they think is in their best interest. I actually hope May succeeds. It would be good for you. Could be. Because then they'll stick with the MMA business. Yeah.

Why not have more platforms interested in MMA? Gives more opportunity. More opportunity for fighters. It's good for everybody. What's interesting is they are kind of employing a boxing model right now where all these guys are just signing one-fight deals with them. That may change if they really get into it. So if you're a UFC fighter, let's say Nate Diaz, you can go back to the UFC for a

four, six, eight-fight deal or you can just do this one-off on the biggest platform in the world. We've never seen that in MMA before. So that's super interesting. That's a boxing model coming over to MMA. This changes everything. If it's recurring. Yes, if it's recurring. If it's a big success, I don't know.

After this, if Netflix decides this wasn't in their wheelhouse and they don't want to replicate it, then I don't know where it goes, right? Because then I don't see ESPN stepping up and doing that or Fox doing that or maybe, I'm talking to all these guys. So I hope it works. I really do. And I respect the card that they put together. And I think most people agree with you. What do you, what are you finding out about the landscape? I had Todd DeBiff in last week.

Oh, I love those conversations. My old friend. Yeah, when I was at Turner, I knew Todd. Of course. And he just signed that deal with Donald. I saw that. Earlier today, we find out about Golden Boy with DeZone. So DeZone is really, you know, conquering, boxing as they hope to do.

But I asked him, this question, I'll ask you, I said, okay, so for the past six months, you were out in the wilderness. You were talking to everyone, and you landed with DeZone. You're now just starting that journey. And I was getting worried as the months were taking away, top rank, top rank, this legacy brand doesn't have a TV deal. That's death. Like if you don't have distribution, you are dying in combat sports, in sports, period.

And so he was telling me about what he learned. I'm curious about what you're learning about the appetite for these, you know, streaming platforms and linear networks, old school networks. Are they into combat sports? Are they just into the big brands, the TKO brands, if you will? What are you learning thus far? Well, it depends on the platform. and the network, and that's what's making these, in some respects, these conversations more

complicated because it's not one size fits all. It's not like we're going out with a rate card and a format and it's like, okay, we'll send them out to eight platforms and just come on in with an RFP and bid. And then it's every one of them has different strategies. And it's really, really interesting. And whether it's, you know, a versant, which is a linear strategy, or Fox is a little bit of a hybrid or or Amazon, which is global, but they're they've got their own idea of what they want. So it means that we have to cater our own offering potentially to what their needs are. And listen, the landscape right now is a little tricky because if you're in the NFL business, you know, with the with the expectation that the NFL's coming back out again, I think everybody's

kind of like looking around to their left and the right and they're saying, how big is the number going to be and how much we left how much room do we have yes uh fortunately for somebody like us we're not that big of a number to be a meaningful piece to our business right um so most folks have said we're interested we like combat sports but let's let's get into it so we're we're getting into it but it's early days would you say that this is the most important stretch in the history of the company like you you need to get a big deal here this is a big deal for us yeah yeah yeah yeah This is a big deal for it. I know you've got a lot on your plate, but a lot of your attention must be on this, right?

I would imagine right now. Okay. I'm fascinated by this and I can't wait to see how it plays out. I think it's going to be huge. Now, this year... I'll let you know at the end. I appreciate it. Maybe you can let us know first and we can break the news right here.

It would be great. Regarding the number of events this year, you mentioned on the broadcast, I think it was 24. Well, 24 in total, that includes eight of our development lease. We've got four in the Middle East, Northern Africa. four on the continent of Africa. So that's eight. And then we're going to do 16 global. And of those 16 global,

I expect that nine, maybe 10, but nine will be in the U.S. and six or seven will be outside the U.S. So more in the U.S. Despite the success that you're having overseas. Interesting. We have to make it in the U.S. You have to.

That's quick thing. You can't just be, it can't be like 80% European, 20% here. I mean, maybe it can. I mean, if it turns out that the U.S. market doesn't have the appetite that I think it would have then certainly that doesn't mean the end of PFL it means we have to change focus and change direction

and could we be successful putting more emphasis outside yeah yeah I mean I think you know there are other I don't want to get too much into there's other streaming platforms you know could you go non-exclusive with a distribute I mean there are all of these things that I think we're gonna have to really have have a hard think session about But, I mean, I would say, and I'm not going to name who it is. I think there's only been one platform that I said we're not interested in combat sports. Interesting.

But otherwise. Well, screw them. If you're a sports platform and you want to have a meaningful sports business, you know, combat's a pretty important vertical. Yeah. And I'm not going to sit here and say, it's critical or whatever, because everybody has different strategy, but it's a pretty important vertical. Next year, like, do you like that number? Right now is PFL in the 24 or so? No, we could scale up.

I'd like to scale up. We have the ability, internally, to scale up. Not including the regional shows. You're talking about, like, the main ones. Yeah, global shows. What do you think is a good number for you guys? I don't know. We could, I mean, this year we'll do 16.

We could easily add another six. Okay. One every other month. Then we can scale up beyond that. I mean, there's no reason why, as long as we're getting paid. Sure. Our capability-wise, you know, to do as many shows over time as the UFC does. Sure, of course.

But we just have to be able, you know, right now we're just not, getting the revenue because we're not really recognized yet because our brand again, again, you know, comes back to the criticism, again, not my criticism, the criticism that everybody's talking about right now is that the UFC maybe not trying so hard as they did when they were selling pay-per-views. They don't have to. We have to, we don't have that luxury. So we have to really put on terrific shows and terrific rights. And that's what I intend to do every single one of our shows as you. We don't have as many shows as the UFC. But on every car, hard we want to have either a championship fight or fights that have meaningful, you know,

that have meaningful implications for, for championship, you know, for implications. Well, the way this week has played out, I think, has been brilliant. You get the champion fighting at 185 and now you've got like a mini tournament the next week. So the division is in focus. That was on purpose, right? You know, it's great. We've got, you know, three, more of this. Three really terrific middleweight fights within a few weeks. Yes. Because we got, as you said, we've got the two fights in Pittsburgh. Any one of those guys could. You could. You know, we've got, you know, fight for a championship. I did see you with Sakikibara over in Japan, legendary promoter, dating back to the pride. He's been an interesting person to get to know. Okay, so can you tell me

about those talks? We've had some discussions about whether it makes sense. You know, back in the day when Bellator was around. Yep. And Mike Hogan, who runs our fighter operations, has had a 20-plus-year relationship with Sakki-Gabara. And so he introduced the two of us. And we've been talking about the possibility of collaborating in the future, maybe doing co-promotions. I guess in the past, Taylor did some of that. Yes. And so, you know, I want, I want to be open-minded to anything. Because like I said, we're a challenge of brand.

We're kind of the underdog. So to be able to think out of the box a little bit about what could help Ryzen and what could help us. But obviously, he's a legend in the sport. It's terrific to get to know him. He was kind enough to come to one of our events. That market is, I don't want to say on fire, but has been resurrected in a really big way. It seemed dead for a minute.

Now they're drawing some big crowds. They're drawing big crowds again. We just actually signed a new agreement with you next. Okay. Over in Japan. At a pretty meaningful price increase. So I was very, very pleased to see that. And it seems like, yeah, but what, Ryzen is having some real success.

Is there a chance we see PFL in Japan this year? This year, no. Okay. PFLRisen shows there a chance this year? Not this year. Okay. We're our schedule is pretty much planned this year. Okay.

So it is pretty much planned. Yeah. Are there any events you can tell us about that we don't know about? Not yet. You did say Dakota fighting in the States. When will we see her again? She's almost fully healed. She's training again. And look, I think we'll see her in the summer. Okay. I think we'll see Usman in the summer. We'll see Nemcoff in the summer. And, you know, we've already got it. In my mind, I've already got what those matchups are.

Please tell us. All right. So, you know, Usman, I think, you know, I'd like to see him fight Arjikokin. Okay. By the way, Usband, doesn't he have one fight left? He has one fight left. Are you going to re-sign him before this last fight? We're going to be talking with him. I mean, I would love for him to resign with the PFL. He is happy here.

I mean, I think for him, the question is one more of legacy. It's just whether he feels like he has to have for his own fulfillment, you know, the need to go to UFC. Otherwise, I think we, you know, he's doing really, really well here. We've got a really good lightweight division. expect to continue to beef that up even more. So I'd love to keep him. I think it would be great. Would you like to sign him before this last fight

rather than have him go into free agency as the champion? Possibly. Okay. You know, Dakota feels like she still owes Denise Kiel holds a fight. She was supposed to fight Denise in Dubai, so that would probably be her first fight back? No. No.

But then Liz Karmouche is waiting, and that would be a title fight. It feels like we need to get the belt on Dakota because she's sort of the unofficial champion She's got to win. She's won enough. One enough. No, isn't she?

She's a world tournament winner. She's your face and some might argue that. She's one of the faces. Yeah, we've got to get her back in the cage. Yeah. I'm excited to do that. Okay, okay. And Nemcoff.

And then Nemcoff, you know, we have to sit down and talk. But I, you know, he's fought Corey Anderson twice. Yeah. You know, one was in no contest, but Corey was doing really well. And there was a headbutton. Yep. And then Nemcov beat him, but I know Corey and he don't really like. other that much and so that could be an interesting fight okay um and there's some there's some

other folks in the heavyweight division we don't have tremendous depth in the heavyweight division at the moment it's one thing we're kind of focusing on I know that's something they talk a lot about at the UFC as well um so you know we're so that's something I think could be could be interesting Chris Seiborke has been banging the drum for the super fight against Dakota yeah maybe meet in the middle I'd still like I'd still like that fight I'd like I mean the perfect world let's see if Dakota becomes comes champ. Okay. And then that super fight becomes even more important. I'd like to make that fight if we can make it. It would be tough with her moving down to 135, I would imagine, but it would, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cyborg, that is. And I don't, yeah, I mean, I've talked to both of them about it. There's both some interest in willingness. Okay. I know you were talking to Dakota on your show about it. Yes, yes, yes, yes. She didn't seem so interested if I'm being. Well, she's got other things she wants to do. She wants to be a champ. It's also negotiation, right? Yeah, of course. Yeah, you don't want to say. But, Chris, seems very interested. This is the one, and she seems happy with you guys. There was a time where it seemed like the relationship wasn't great when she came over from Bell Tor. Since I've been here, it seems happy. You know, she, she fought Leon. She, she had a really successful defense of her, of her belt, and she's been terrific. I'll ask you, and I don't know if there's a perfect

answer for this, how do we make the PFL cool in the sense that there are some promotions that the fans like, you know, they die for it, right? I always compare it to the AW pro wrestling fans who will do anything for that brand, who wear the merch, who love it. I've never felt like PFL had this. This predates you. It never felt like it was cool. I think part of the problem of the uniforms

and all this other nonsense, the tournament, just none of it was cool. How do you make it into a cool brand? I think it's in attitude and the way that, look, it's something I think a lot about. It's, you know, I think in the past PFL always thought the way it had to differentiate itself

from the UFC was in format. That's why they did the tournament. Tourmat was a novel concept. I don't think it worked. I don't think the majority, overwhelming majority of the fans thought it worked. Now I think it has to be in either the way we engage fans or the way that we just put on events. And I think you and I had a discussion once you said that back in Strike Force days, those events were super fun. Yeah.

And, you know, so we've got some ideas about how to bring some things that are different. And look, again, you can take some risks as a challenger brand that maybe when you're the leader, you don't have to. And why rock the boat? So there's some things that we may try and may fail or not. But look, you know, the biggest, and look, I would say it doesn't happen overnight, but we're starting to already tell stories better. We're putting a little bit more money into that, get people to know the fighters more. And, I mean, that did wonders to even reboot WWE when they just had their most recent leg of real growth outside of the U.S.

It was by putting, you know, different content on the fighters and distributing it in new places. our biggest hold back at the moment is lack of distribution. And the lack of distribution results in a lack of awareness. So as you're building a brand, it's a little bit of a chicken and an egg. Well, we've got a product. Now we've got to get the product in front of more people. We need to grow distribution. We've got to give people a reason to get excited about wanting to watch the PFL.

So we know that that's a challenge that we have to meet. The vignettes that you aired on Friday, like I know there's a company called, Richter sports that put them together. Yes. Beautiful stuff about Spain and the history and. Oh, thank you. I really enjoyed those a lot. I'm a sucker for that stuff.

I am too as a fan. Yes, you need that stuff. I think your broadcast team is great. I think Sean O'Connell doesn't get enough love and credit. As a former fighter turned play by play guy, that is very hard. Fighters become analysts. They don't become the lead play by play guy. He's done that very successfully.

Dan Hardy's great, Jimmy Smith. Like, there is something there. And, you know, I want to see it succeed. not because I'm rooting for you against them or them against you. It's good for the sport. It's good for the fighters. They need another place to go to negotiate with another outlet. This is all, I think, very healthy for the sport.

It was a little bit barren there for a while where it just felt like there was one brand. There needs to be not a de facto, a true number two. Do you know what I mean? Yes, I get it. PFL was a de facto number two, but I never felt for the last couple of years like they were a true number two. And we have to earn that. I think we have it with the quality of the fighter roster. So now we just have to execute.

Those changes that you were potentially talking about, would we see them come into effect this year or? We'll just stay TBD. The one I'm excited about, Patrick Habirora. Yes. I love this kid. Yeah, me too. Going back to Belgium in May, this is a- I appreciate you bringing him up.

He's pretty special. Yes, very special. These are the types of guys that you need to get before the UFC or any other promotion gets, right? Not viewed as like a cast off or anyone like that. Dakota was that Paul Hughes to a degree was that Patrick is exactly that. Completely agree. Cedric was. was that to a degree. I know he had his issues with UFC and he was a glory guy, but he was fresh to

you guys. We need to get Cedric back in there. Yeah, I'd love to see him. I think he's going to come back. Yeah, you think so? I do. He seems pretty serious now. So that's, I wish the knockout. Yes, then he was teasing. I wish that was about it. Yeah. All right. So Saturday's very interesting. Very rare head to head with the UFC. This hasn't happened in the past because historically you guys were on ESPN as were they. Right. ESPN 2 or ESPN linear? This one is 2. 2. Okay. They're going to be on Paramount Plus. Why should fans watch this event? Maybe dual screen action.

Why should they not just watch the UFC? Which, to be fair, is a very good card. I like their card a lot. I like yours too. Why should they also watch PFL Pittsburgh? You know, I made a comment also that got picked up. I'm a little surprised you didn't mention in last week, which I think we have some of the best middle weights in the world. You did.

I really believe that. My job here, John. Well, you know, I mean. No, it's good. A little shot is good. No, but I really believe that. I mean, I thought Costello, I mean, he, he was a beast.

He was a beast in the against Fabian. And Johnny Eblen was 16 and 0 and lost to Costello in the last nine seconds of their last fight. I mean, you put Johnny Eble in the UFC right now. He's top fighter. And he's fighting, you know, Brian Battle and, you know, also had a really good run in the UFC. And let's see how that happens. Let's see what happens there. But those guys are fantastic middleweight fighters.

And then you go to Dalton roster, Pittsburgh Boy, Local Boy. I love that when you have the local fighter in the city that you're fighting. And against Impa, Kasaga, I have a problem is pronouncing. No, you nailed it. You nailed it. But that's going to be an interesting fight. And so if you're interested in seeing like world-class middleweight guys that could easily be in the UFC, and it matters to them, like what happens in Pittsburgh is going to have title implications.

So I'm really excited about that because we're starting to put together cards that you can start to see a flow of the story. Yeah, 100%. And that's, I think that's, those are the events that I want to put on. There's a lot of USC events. Yeah. It's impossible for us to stay out of the way of all of them. So, you know.

Coincidentally, their main event is middleweight as well. Are you going to, are you going to be watching both like, you know, back of the day, I love pro wrestling. So like when WWE had a show in WCW, they would try to do something while they were in commercial break. Are you guys going to try to format the show that way or you just focus on your thing? At the moment, we're focused on it. Okay, okay.

Well, I love it. I love having all this stuff. There's a lot of actual fighting on Saturday. There's two MMA events. There's boxing as well on Amazon. There's RAF. I don't know how much you've been looking at them on Fox Nation. They're doing some interesting things.

They are typical, you know, MMA. But this is very good. So good luck. Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing how this particular broadcast story plays out. Please keep us posted. If you want us to break any news for you or, you know, drop any nuggets. We're happy to do that here.

No, I appreciate you having it on. This is always fun. And, uh, congrats on it. the neighborhood so yeah yeah not too far right a minute walk amazing uh congrats on on madrid it was a lot of fun i'm looking forward to seeing what the uh the pittsburgh crowd is like and what that show is like and then with all the big shows coming up i know you just announced the full card for chicago in april and belgium or may a lot all right thank you john all the best you good luck you guys check out pfl this saturday that's march 28th in pittsburgh there's the poster right over there

johnny eblin returning i sort of feel like if he wins he should be next and i like the In fact, that Costello said he thinks he should be next, but if Dalton or Impa do something special, they can usurp him as well. So a bit of a mini tournament, I feel like, right now, 185. So that's this Saturday. We'll say goodbye to John, take a quick break, be back with Sebastian Fondora,

who's also fighting on Saturday. Francis and Ghanu's told to come as well. Don't go anywhere. Daniel Carmier weighed in earlier this week. He thinks, right now, this might strike you was crazy. He thinks that the people who think that the Netflix card is better

and the Whitehouse card are absolutely insane. Do we have the video, please New York, Rick, our step-in producer for today? I think what they've done with this Carano-Rousie card is made a real place for people to fight outside of the UFC.

And I'm honest, competition's a good thing. It always is and always has been, and it always will be. And I love seeing guys have the ability to go out there and make some money. So, yeah, congratulations that's good i'm excited i'm actually excited you know hey but for people saying

compared to the white house card no chance guys come on the white house card is the best card uh of the year for sure and um it's better than that let's just be completely honest before we get into this ban i think we should have another view in this situation another ufc champion or ufc double champion henry sehuto he had his things to say about this Believe it or not. Mike Perry taking on Nate Diaz. Listen, Henry, you can say whatever you want, but this is starting to look like a UFC pay-per-view car.

This is a great part. I'll be quite frank with you, bro. Call me crazy what I'm about to say? I think this is just as good as the fucking white car, the UFC white car. Do I call you crazy? Do I call you crazy? No, I don't call you crazy.

No, I don't call you crazy. No, I don't call you crazy. Donald's in it. Nate Diaz is in it. Ronda Rousey is in it. I want to see. see from the start to finish the run of show how we run

this event, how we keep this going. And that's right there is where you're going to see if these guys have arrived or not. Because they've got the back. All right. Thank you very much to John Martin, the CEO of the Professional Fighters League for stopping by. Francis

and Ghanu is still to come. But let's turn our attention to another interesting, fascinating great event that's happening this Saturday at the MGM Grand. I love the MGM Grand. Pound for proud one of my favorite arenas in the world and definitely better than team mobile arena if you ask me the i think one of the most must-cTV fighters in combat sports right now is the man they call the towering inferno he is listed at six foot five he's the current wbc super welterweight

champion of the world he is 23 one and one with 15 knockouts he returns to action against the veteran the former wbc and wba world champion keith one time thurman 31 and 1, 23 knockouts. He left the sport, came back, and this is a big time opportunity for Sebastian Fondora, who is kind enough to join us right here and now this event airing on Amazon Prime. There he is.

Hello, Sebastian. How are you? Very good. How are you? I'm doing great. Great to have you on. By the way, I'm liking the new mustache. I feel like it's a little bit more pronounced right now. What is the inspiration behind this look? I don't know, growing up, maturing a little bit more, trying to show that I'm getting older, I guess.

I like that. Well, you are, but you're still very good. You're still very much in your prime. This matchup against Keith Thurman, a guy who's been around the sport for quite some time, would be a nice notch on your belt, so to speak. Was this the matchup that you were looking for? Was this the opponent that you were hoping for as you were planning your next move, or were you thinking about someone else? I wasn't thinking about anybody else, you know, it's just what the team came up with. I think every step we take together is a good step. So, you know, fighting a former champion. in and adding them to our resumes, definitely good for me. I did see the face-off that you guys had when this fight was officially announced,

and he was standing on a stair. I think, oh, was it a chair? Yeah, there it is. I mean, look at this right here. You're going to have this any time you face off with someone, but there is obviously quite a size difference here. Did you bring in guys who were around his size to emulate what you'll have to be dealing with on Saturday? Of course, of course.

It's like with the last fight or the fight before that week. have five there 510 fighting us fighting sparring the size wise is not really that kind of a deal where are you where are you training at these days

I'm in the mountains of California sometimes we're training Coachella so it just depends on the fight but we've been in the mountains this time is that Big Bear yes yes Big Bear the reason I asked this is I saw a video of some of your unique

training techniques if you will nothing about you is ordinary. Let's show the other one if we can, not this one, the other one. There's another video of him doing some training. Yeah, here we go. Like, you're wearing boots here. And this feels very, this feels very primitive. This feels very like, you know, like old school. Can you tell us, is this just for the videos, or is this, is this actually what you're doing and where you're doing it? No, actually, that's, we need that. A lot of people think that we do it for the videos or just for social media, but, you know, it's actually, what we need, you know, to survive in this type of terrain, you know, snow boots or combat boots.

It's not just for show it, to live that life. I saw you running on a treadmill wearing snow boots. Why would that be good for you? And it's not that it's good for me. That's not what I do it for. It's just we were around the snow. And as soon as you come out of snow, you have to go run the treadmill. So it's like, switching shoes, I'm just going to keep this on. Okay. You like being in that environment? You like when it feels like a little primitive? It helps you focus more, I feel. You have to, on what you have and make sure it works out.

Being city or being around people, you get a lot more distracted, so it's easier to not focus on the hardship. I did see another video, and it was the first one we played there, of this sort of obstacle course that you built. Can you tell us about this because this is also supremely unique? You did this by yourself and where is this? It's in our property. It's in our property. My father wanted to build it last year. In the summer, we did this fight and he just got it done.

He just had that idea of making a military-based military-grade obstacle course. And he just did it in a couple months. incredible and so like are you using this quite often and and if so how difficult is it to conquer this thing we do it every day we do it every day wow look at this do it every day and in the beginning it was pretty difficult but you know we have the condition we have the the strength to do all the obstacles it's just one of the obstacles are 40 feet in the air you know so now it's it's not the question of if you can do it or not it's just will your body respond will you walk on those steps and walk in practically in the sky.

And how do you react, how you react mentally? It's all good for the sport, I think. It's amazing. And part of the reason why your father, Freddie, named the WBC trainer of the year for perhaps these unconventional tactics, but what he's done with you. And your sister is killing it as well.

Do you feel motivated when she fights right before you and then you come up like, not necessarily like a sibling rivalry, but it's, hey, you know, anything you could do, I could do better. you knock people out, I'll knock people out as well. Absolutely, absolutely. The flag, very high, you know.

We're saying it now, too, it's not just me, but I think she's the best fighter right now in the world. But, you know, it's just watching her do her thing and then me having my own pay-per-view fight in MGM Grand. You know, it's just a lot of things are, all of these things were worked for but you know we're here now and now

it's time for us to just show off I guess. Yeah and reap the rewards I'm sure you're very proud of your belt and I'm sure you're proud of all the belts you've won there's a bit of a war right now as far as the belts are concerned Jayopataya just got stripped of the IBF there's Zufa boxing and whatnot how do you feel about this? How do you feel about the

old guard sort of being challenged by this new guard? It's interesting to see it's interesting to see that's for sure it's a different um different world right now with boxing but you know

I'm comfortable where I am at I think Zufa doing the own thing well probably it could be good boxing but we'll see how it turns out you know it's like the UFC and and

all those other MMA brands you know everybody knows UFC as the one I feel that's how I see I don't really know nothing about them me but I still UFC as the guys

you know so I feel with WBC WBO IBF WBA those are the guys right now so we'll see if they ever get challenged but as it right now I feel like it's going to change are you the kind of fighter the kind of person who watches the other shows like have you watched the ZUFA boxing

shows and if so what do you think of them to me I feel like it's too new okay it's too new and you'll hear about it, I would hear about it because I'm a fighter myself. I'm going to pay attention to boxing, but other than that, it's just that, you know, it's just Zufa. You hear the name Zufa, and that's all you hear about. I don't watch the shows. I don't want us to fight. I know the fighters fight on it, but, but again, I'm in boxing, so I know these things. Okay. Who's

Dark Fondora, by the way? And that's, I don't know, the Fondora were all black and went to a press conference and that's something they made up. Is that like your alter ego? Is that the heel, Sebastian, to steal a pro wrestling term? I know you're a pro wrestling fan, right? Oh, definitely, definitely. Maybe I'll go to a WrestleMania after my fight. Oh, hell yeah.

Who knows? Who knows? Who knows? Maybe if I have a little bit of me to talk a little bit, but for this fight, I feel like Thurman's doing enough for it. Yeah, does he get annoying? Does he get under your skin? No, no, definitely not. And I think that's because we know who Thurman is.

We know that Thurman's going to talk. So him coming in and doing his thing is just the usual, you know? Yeah. Are you watching wrestling now? Are you keeping up with it? Yeah, I saw, I forgot his name, but he's that big African guy. Obfemi. He's a slam, brook, that was pretty cool.

That was pretty cool. You liking WrestleMania? the way it's looking, are you keeping up with it? As of right now, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that Randy Orden's going to wrestle this guy, the American nightmare. Yes. Coit Rhodes.

I think that's going to be good. I think it's going to be good. He's going to be growing up because he used to be John Cena and, you know, John Cena was a superhero and him and Edge will just team up and kick his butt. But, you know, now he's a badass. And, you know, he is. He always been the badass, but, you know, He seems like he's that guy now.

So it's pretty exciting. I love your wrestling knowledge. Did you ever consider going down the wrestling path before boxing? You'd have a great look for wrestling. I never did. I never did. I never did. Honestly, I started getting back into wrestling again because of my little sister.

My little sister loves it, loves it, loves it, loves it. We yet to go watch it live, but, you know, one of these days we're definitely going to go. The sister that you're referring to, is that Gabriella? No, no, not even Gabriella. my little sister. Wow. Viola Fondora, the twisted sister.

That's the future of women's boxing. That's the future of boxing right there. How old is she? 11 years old. You'll see her in seven years. Wow. Okay. She is the future.

She's going to be better than you and Gabriela. She has to be. Why has to be? No pressure. Yeah. Why has to be? I think she has everything. You know,

she's watching us become champions, grow into unified champions, all these things. She has the stable. She has the team. She has everything. Everything is in her hand. It's all up to her, though.

But, but, you know, I feel like she has everything. And is she actively training at this age? Absolutely. Absolutely. She does everything. Okay. You broke up there, but I think you said that she has everything and she's doing everything, right? Absolutely.

Yep. Not sparring, though, yeah, right? No, she's sparring. I mean, not sparring, sparring, man, or sparring older people. But, you know, she's doing her thing. she's competing, she's getting all the credentials to become something great later on. A lot of drama at 154 pounds with Virgil and Boots, Zander Zayez now, maybe taking the Ortiz spot against Boots.

How do you feel about all the drama that's going on over there? It's exciting. It's exciting for 154 class. You know, we have our fight coming up this weekend and then some bigger fights, you know, And the belts are keep flip-flopping. We have a new IVF champion with Josh Kelly, and now Osias is unified. So it's exciting to me. By the end of the year,

I'm assuming you want multiple fights this year. Who would make the most sense for you next after this one? Of those names, anyone that you have? There's all kinds of names. There's all kinds of names. So whoever they give me, I'm ready for. Or what do you expect from Keith on Saturday? What type of fight are you expecting?

Well, what I expect, I expect Keith Derman back from when he fought Danny Garcia, you know, the best Keith Derman. Well, we see it's all up to him, but that's what I expect. But dark Fondora is coming. For sure, yeah. The dark side. I love it. Well, it's always great watching you compete and always great to have you on. So congratulations on all your success, Sebastian, and good luck this weekend.

Really looking forward to watching you fight. Like I said, you're must-see TV for me. given your skill set, the size, obviously, and I love the stash, I love the facial hair as well, so let's keep that, all right? I like this whole new look of yours. March 28th, live on Paperview, PBC Pay-Pervue on Amazon Prime.

Great stuff, and looking forward to it very much. Thank you, my friend, and all the best to you this weekend. Safe Travels to Las Vegas. Thank you, for having me. There he is. Sebastian Fondora, one of the must-see attractions in the world of boxing, 154 pounds, super welterweight champion for the WBC competing this weekend against.

the veteran, the former champ, Keith Thurman. He is 10 inches taller than Keith Thurman. And so that's why you saw the face off there was quite funny because Thurman standing on the chair. Look at this guy. What a family? Look at this. What's that movie? Vote for Pedro.

Can't believe it. Napoleon Dynamite. Doesn't he kind of have a vote for Pedro? Look to him? Or am I thinking of the uncle? Who's the uncle? Uncle Rico? It's a bit of an Uncle Rico.

Football over the mouth? Yeah. There's something going on with the brown suit. Is that Brown? I am constantly in awe of your references that stick with you and then the ones that don't, you know? Is there not a Rico type of look to him right now? Or maybe it's because he's got the mustache? The stash, the hair, the brown suit.

Doesn't Pedro wear a brown suit to the prom? I'm telling you. Well, is it Uncle Rico or is it Pedro? Oh, four. Pedro. Nah, I don't think he does. Yes, look. Oh.

I'm looking, man. Pedro, brown suit. Are you talking Uncle Rico back in high school? I used to you out to throw a pigskin a quarter mile? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Over the mountains. Over the mountains. I don't know. Anyway, he's a great talent, looking forward to seeing him in action. The faceoffs are always insane with him. With him, it's the best. Any takeaways from John Martin? What do you think?

I mean, I felt like he dropped a lot of, okay, PTY. tell us why he's like a statesman isn't he or something he could run for office this guy i mean well is he a politician then like you feel like no no i just feel like he's a very good face for the company i think he's very diplomatic i think part of don's uh kind of downfall was kind of going for the jugular of ufc when he didn't have the raw materials to and kind of announcing we're the co-leader and then us kind of saying well well show us then and then they never quite did whereas John is kind of saying, like, this is a seven-year startup. There's a lot of things that we have to do here.

We do have some great raw materials with the likes of Dakota. Obviously, Usman, Paul Hughes, he said in previous interviews, you know, Usman getting him signed again is of the utmost importance. He seems to recognize what the pillars of this company are right now. And honestly, he's a reason for me to be optimistic about where PFL are at. Because as he explained there, I fully agree that this. this is the most important year in the company's history. And they need to get a lot of things sorted.

I think I agree with you in terms of what they're doing in Europe. I've been at those events. Belfast, France, for instance, where monumental shows, you know, crowds at the UFC would be proud to have. So they do have things to work on there in terms of the US. I'm looking forward to see Pittsburgh. But I do think he is a very strong voice to lead the company. Rick, what do you think?

I always, look, we've had him in studio twice. Maybe I'm being naive, but I feel like the level of transparency he provides is, like, rare, right? Like, I don't get the sense that he's trying to pull the wool over eyes. And I certainly, like, you asked him about certain things that he felt like he had to keep closer to the vest, right? Like, the ending with Francis, he declined to kind of, like, go into the details on that. But he kind of answers all the questions. And he sits there and says it with a transparency that I can appreciate. Now, whether that, look, does that translate to the PFL roster?

improving and them having a foothold in the U.S. market and getting the broadcast deal that they want, not necessarily. But to Pizzi's point, there's an element of me trusting his leadership and thinking they could be successful because of it. Well, when I see him and speak to him, I feel like it's not one of those like, all sizzle, no steak. Yeah. I feel like it's just a lot stake, right? Like, you're not trying to be a showman. Yeah. But you do believe that this is the decision maker. You do believe this is the boss. Yeah. It tells you, he doesn't like the uniforms he's working on. I know it's not as simple as like they're out. He talks about the walkouts. He talks about a rebrand, which got me,

yeah, well, what is he talking about here about the growth? It is interesting. What do he say? I think he said nine or ten in America this year, six overseas. I wish it was the opposite, because I just like how the brand comes across overseas as opposed to the year, but I also understand that they have to be successful here. I did notice, I meant to bring this up yesterday. I don't know if you guys noticed it. It was way buried on the, ESPN app on Friday. Yeah, I was. You guys noticed, like, you had to...

Wait, you did mention that to him. No, no, I thought I was going to mention it yesterday when we were talking about it. But like, you had to scroll past a lot of nothing, like spring training baseball to get to PFL. Yeah, it was impossible to find. On a Friday afternoon, there shouldn't have been that much stuff ahead of it. And I kind of felt like that was a bit of a sign of where things are at right now. Like, if I were a betting man right now, given that and given his demeanor, I don't know if the

future is with ESPN for them. I ask one question. The focus on the US and that's the thing that that's a bit tricky to me. Who is their biggest US star? Okay. Because like a name three Europeans off the top of my head. Oh yeah. Dakota, Paul Hughes, Usman, Vadim.

Doom Bay. Doom Bay. Top five, right? Bensteinus is even a European. So top six now. Okay. Let me ask an important question, though. Patrick.

Oh, yeah. Patrick, Haberoyer is really fucking... Are the deals... Are the deals with... Are the deals with these broadcast partners being sold on the strength of an individual European talent, though? I'm convinced that it's still being negotiated. At this level, at what is happening in the current state of the game, I'm still convinced that the deals are being negotiated on the strength of, where do we think the PFL brand is and what's their potential?

how many content hours can they provide? I don't think that it's based on an individual European star. I don't think that that's the selling point. But if you are someone, let's say your Network X. Yeah. And you're like, hey, look at this product. And it's a red hot crowd in name of European city, Paris, and then it's a so-so crowd in Chicago.

Is that deal going to be more lucrative than their U.S. deal? Which deal? What do you mean? If we're talking about skewing the product toward a European audience and focusing it on the European demographic and then trying to get secure those rights. They sell more tickets there. They sell more tickets there. The crowds are bigger and the product just looks better and you have more. You have that. You can split it.

Yeah, well, it doesn't sound like it. Mainstream coverage as well. BBC is covering this stuff. Like it's like talks about. It comes across as a totally different promotion over there than it does here. Now, I'm not saying ignore. I'm not saying ignore. No, the broadcast money is more here.

That's why they're trying to do it here. Right. So it's just, I wouldn't change a thing. No, 100%. I don't have to worry about that. I'm just talking about as a consumer. I prefer watching their shows over there. That's fair.

I'm not thinking as John Martin right now. This goes all the way back to Bellator. Like, it's always been that. But you have to, if you want to make the big dollars, you have to invest in the U.S. market. And it doesn't matter if they have a U.S. star or not. Like, this is how you get the big dollars. It would be helpful, you think, though, in terms of a good.

Yeah, that's a good show. But a U.S. star would be helpful in terms of these broadcasts. Oh, that I agree with. Yeah, Sergio is headlining the Chicago show. He's Milwaukee guy. But, you know, Eblin was a former champion. But, yeah, I mean, the top six, you would say, would have to all be European. Not even like a Japanese or someone from South.

A lot of Russians as well. Yeah. Like in five of the eight men's weight classes, it's either the number one ranked guy is either Russian or the champion is Russian. There's not a lot of U.S. names out there. But I agree with you, Pizzi. Like if you can line it up that way, you do. But I don't know if it's available. The biggest deal they have is with Duboy.

Yeah. Yeah, wrote to Dubai. I saw it. Guys, let's talk some news and notes here. Speaking of the promoter wars, what about this from old Edward Hearn? Did you guys see this? Here's Eddie Hearn hitting the heavy bag and take a listen to what he says at the very end. Sound up, please.

The speed bag, what? Oh, the speed bag. Excuse me, not the heavy bag. That was yesterday. Okay, nice form, nice speed Oh, listen, listen Dana, I'm coming for you Uh-oh, uh-oh, can we go back to the beginning of that clip?

Do you know what I noticed there? There was something that I noticed that was very noticeable. No, okay, watch the left wrist. What is that? A whoop? What is that? It's about... It's so hard it falls off. It's about to fall off. It's coming. There it is.

I don't know, is that bad quality? Is he hitting so hard? What's going on over there with that? I thought Aspinel was selling those wolf tickets about this box and ability of Eddie Herons, honestly. It's like that last same mask that Aspinall, you know? He's leaning into it. He's leaning into it. I like it.

Golden Boy and DeZone. They have come to an agreement. Shout out to everyone involved. DeZone. DeZone now has top rank. There it is. It's everything. Golden Boy.

Queensberry. Match room. That's a pretty impressive stable right there. There has never been a stronger boxing stable on one network. Fair to say? Yeah, for sure, fair. I got that event pass thing as well. I'm delighted with those premium dollars.

How much? How much? All the paper views. Yeah. I kind of, get every paper views. Yeah, every paper view. It's fucking great.

25, how much? What was the currency? $5.5. Quidd. $25. Euro. I said snuts. Snots.

Is it 25 in addition to your DeZone monthly subscription? 25 all in me. What is it in the U.S. 45? Maybe I've got this completely wrong. I do think it's less over in the UK. I do think it's less. Not too much less, though. Yeah, the Zone Ultimate, 4999.

49 for us? You're a paper view of marketing. Wait a second, wait a second. 4999 a month? 4499. A month? Bargain. Yeah, for the ultimate.

That's too much. That's way too much. That is way too much. Pizzi's paying $2897, U.S. D. Snots? I'll give his money and use a VPN. Paying $29. 44.

It's just too much, man. It's just too much. I go back to my previous comments, right? The U.S. market. It's different. It's different over here. It's just too much. Yeah, but no one's fucking biased.

That's a different coverage. I would love to know the viewership numbers. I would love to know the U.S. ultimate subscribers. But you touched on the important thing here. Look, if you want to watch boxing, they are the platform. This is boxing. So if you are a boxing fan, you almost have to have that. Yeah.

They've got to put together the big fights. Maybe now they'll put together Ortiz boots. Probably not. But Zayas versus Boots is great. Gio Pataya guys is apparently launching some legal action against the IBF. this is the saga that just won't go away. Mick Francis, who's obviously a part of his team as well on the IBF stripping Jayaa Pataa. If they think we're just going to take this lying down, they're dreaming.

Absolutely will be launching legal action. He paid all the fees, by the way. He paid everything leading up to that fight. Jai's worked too hard for that title. He's bled for that title. He's broken bones for it. I saw a lot of comments yesterday on our page, people saying like, hey, man, this is what you signed up for. You knew exactly what you were getting into.

They don't want to be in business with these guys. But I do feel bad for them. You know, you work your way up, you pay the dues, you do everything, and then they just take the belt away. It's kind of shitty. Is it? All he wanted to pay was undisputed, you know. What do you mean, is it?

What are you talking about? Buoyer beware. What did you think was going to happen when you went to Zufo boxing? I don't have much. I know. It seemed like, what was our initial reaction? We're like, wait a second, undisputed. Yeah.

What are you talking about? It was, it was. He says it a lot. It's the big announcement he signs, and then he's talking about undisputed, and his representation is talking about undisputed. I'm just like, what is happening here? What, what conversation? And the promoter he signed with was like, nah, Zoufa belt is. Oh, no, no.

What combo did you have? We hate these guys, basically is what they said. He needs to send New York, Rick and to have a word. I'm sorry to mail. I'll tell you this. I would have had those details ironed out before I signed. I'll tell you that much. I know.

What were you thinking? Okay, whether the Zufa belt was the belt I'm fighting for or if I was going to unify these belts. I don't, I honestly don't understand. I don't understand what they thought. He may have thought, like, let me just get in here, take this money. It's a great deal and we'll figure it out. Great. Then who are you going, threatening legal action against?

You've decided those Zufa defenses, baby. Yeah. And know yourself. Meanwhile, David Benavita and Zerda are fighting in a big time, you know, Cinco de Mayo weekend card in Las Vegas. Pizzi, what about this piece of footage here over in Ireland at a place known as Croker? Who is it? It is the Patriot St. yourself. I mean, it feels like they continue to draw hints on us here, right?

That's Katie Taylor. That is Katie Taylor. And that's Croker, right? That is Crowe Park. That's the one. GC might be taking this in a couple of weeks' time. Do you can do a tour, G. GC where you walk around the roof of Crow Park.

Are we doing it together? Yeah, hold now. No, I've already done it. I'm not interested. I'll meet up with you's afterwards. But Pete's been saying to everything. I'll meet up which is afterwards. Ah, what?

Pete's usually a great host. No, I'm just kidding. He only said that for one thing. I also will say the caption of Katie Taylor's post, One Dream Remains. Dot, dot, dot, dot. Prayer hand emoji. I feel like they're really leaning into it.

I feel like they're... Everyone's on the singing off the same hym sheet as well in Ireland this time. I feel like there was a bit of a schism last time in terms of like a lot more people on the story of the GAA, A lot of people are kind of like enough of this bullshit. Let's just get it done. Come on. Let's go.

What's standing in the way here? This feels like way too much teasing if they're not going to deliver it, right? This would feel pretty rough if they did all this and then didn't do it. So I hope that everybody is the Eddie post. Yeah. Eddie post. Yeah. No, you know, like another thing as well.

Like this is one upsmanship as well for Eddie if he gets Crowe back over the line. We talked about this for a very long time. And they did not manage to get that done. Competition, right? competition. Look, the last time we was talking about this, the conversation was like, who's this cockney coming in here telling us, like, what the Irish state should be spending money on? Put your money on the table if you want an event in Crow Park because it costs, they reckon

it costs double the amount that it costs to put on an event in Wembley. So it's a significant amount of money. And the conversation now in Ireland, at least the last time I was kind of looking at the features in the mainstream press was, like, they're having that debate. like Katie, Katie Taylor is worth the state getting behind an event like this, you know? Like,

and that's a, that's a big conversation to be had, which could subsidize some of the expense for Match Room as well. I don't know where they're at with that, but, but my advice to Match Room was to do a financial report, a financial impact report. Hopefully they're taking my advice.

Okay, okay. Some can of piss. Go ahead, go ahead. Can you help me understand that? Why is it double? Why is it so difficult? I know it's difficult because we continue to talk about it being difficult and over the years people have tried. What makes it so expensive and so difficult?

The insurance costs are skyrocketed. Some, like the Irish Times report that this was because of the Regency Hotel shooting, a boxing shooting in 2016, where David Bourne was killed. It was an attempt of the life of Daniel Kinnon, who we know attempted to kind of remodel himself as a boxing power broker. You know, boxing really took a bad hit from all of that. But Gavin Casey, the best Irish Boxing Road, as far as I'm concerned, has kind of said, like, this was just the cost of doing business in Ireland as well. It was, you know, extortionate approaches to insure things. The same way, MMA, it's extortionate money to put on an MMO event. Some people tell me it's up to, you know, 40 grand for a regional event, which is crazy, which kind of kills off the regional scene to some extent. But boxing, very expensive. And then, so that's, that would be the insurance costs we're talking about in terms of three arena, Rick. This is an 80,000 Sierra Stadium in the middle of a residential area in north inner city, Dublin. So, There's all kinds of issues with curfews as well.

You are, when you walk out of Crowe Park, you're into terrorist streets. You know, like there's a residence association. The amount of security that has to happen within Dublin City Center to allow one of these things to go off. Like I've been to, you know, Gaelic football matches in Crow Park. The police presence is wild. And then that's on very early in the day. So you're talking about a nighttime event where people are pouring out onto the streets, you know, maybe midnight full of drink,

it's a recipe for disaster, to be honest, which is that they're going to need security detail up the yin-yang to make this thing come off. And again, Dublin is just a very, very expensive place to do any sort of business, which my friend, G.C. is going to find out in a couple weeks time.

Yeah. When you go? That's well said. How do you go, G.C.? Uh, take off April 5th? Take off April 4th, land April 5th. Am I in that Wednesday,

2.30 Kellogg's Skyline Tour at Croke Park? Okay. Wait, what's the one? thing he said he wouldn't do and me would meet you at you. You have to go to get his storehouse tour. Oh, he's been there. I was like, I'll pay for your ticket, man.

He's just like, he's like, I live there. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm bad. You're barred? Things happen, man. Is it because you went with Max Holloway a few years ago when he did that whole thing? Max O Holloway actually went to the James and Distillery. And I,

I, G.C., I'm not going to lie to you. I have a little pub room planned for me and you. And the Jameson distillery is right across the road. So we want to nip in there for an hour and do a tour. or I'm your Hockelberry. I love it. I love it. What a guy.

What a guy. Yeah, just been finalizing some plans. I'm really getting excited. Okay, okay. A lot of exciting things, including Mr. Andy Aspinall choking out, Frank Smith, the CEO of Matchroom Boxing.

Have you seen this guys? Here's Andy Aspinall sinking in the old rear naked here. What's happening here, Andy? There he is. You know, I think, Andy, right? Yeah, yeah. This is the way Andy's always drag. right like he always is a jumper on him or something like a sweatshirt, a jacket.

When I went over to the piece with Tom, I said, I better nip into the gym. Like paying my respects to Mr. Aspinel while I'm here. He won't be very happy. First time in my life I've ever seen him wearing a shorts and t-shirt. And Andy's 63 years of age. He doesn't know I've come in. I'm talking to, I'm talking to guys to try and get myself in there. I'm talking to Charlie.

I'm like, where is this place? Andy has no idea I'm walking about to walk in here. As I'm walking through the door, he is jumping through the air. and like slipping into a dars choke on someone and then rolling through. I look at his body afterwards. No joke. Like 20 odd scars on every like juncture of his body. His neck here.

His back all down his arms, all down his legs. I have no idea how that man can stand up. Never mind still do jujitsu. How old you? It's a marble to me. He's 63. Wow.

Wow. And he's rolling with pros. Like, and it's full on rounds. And he can, he tell me he can barely kneel down because his knees are that so damaged. You know how his body. got, he says like, all of this stuff happens with grappling.

Anyone who's grappling for a reason about the time will tell you, like, your body gets fucking destroyed by it. But this guy's damage to his body is holding pads for his gargantuan son, who was just booting the legs, arms off and with the old pads. That's where they had to get former champion of the world, low heavy, heavyweight champion in the world, steep Aint to hold these pads for Tom because Andy's just like, fuck this, mate, you're in enough money now, get someone else in.

Just as a quick aside, this, what is this, Fred Perry jumper that you've got on over there. It's some kind of look here. I like you. You're looking like Noel Gallagher or is it Liam Gallagher? One of the Gallagher's. Well, they're Irish, you know. Are they? Frank, why are you laughing?

That was very astute of you. Are they actually from Ireland? They claim Ireland now. Okay. They used to come out with the Union Jack guitars. Last tour, Aaron Gibra flag. And yeah, spent a lot of time in Ireland as well. Fantastic last. You know, there's lots of videos of

People just driving down country roads in the middle of Ireland, like not Dublin, nowhere near a big town. And they're just driving past and Liam Gallars out in some rural pub just sculling a point of Guinness. Like Liam, how are you? And he's like, oh, hello, come on in. And they all go on the session with him. Fantastic people. Liam is the Met City guy or is it Noel? Both.

They're both family of city fans. You don't need to talk about that. Were they both at the UFC or is it was it Liam? It's hard to. Just no. No. No. You fucking met members of this band before.

Yeah, yeah. Sally can wife. I said that's such a sad too. He knows it's too. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. Guys, everyone's back to training these days. Yuri Prakashka is fighting in less than a month

like three weeks. And look at this guy, this dad to be with this dad's strength. Deadlifting 561 pounds. Look at this guy. Don't hurt yourself, Yuri. That's impressive. For reps. Look at that.

Oh, my good. That is a beast right there. It looks like me in the gym. Ptty, tell them about me in the gym. Well, he actually exhausted the trainers. Yeah. He hasn't been back. They closed the place down, man.

That's what I've heard. That's what I've heard. I haven't been back because they close it down. Iliu Tuporia is obviously training for June 14th, alongside a very special training partner, his son. Look at this young man hitting the mitts. Look at this. Yo!

Like father like. son. I was impressed. I was impressed with the speed. I was impressed with the technique. I did mention to John Martin, Cedric Dubei. Here's the video. I'm a little disappointed with Cedric Dumepe. I mean, let me translate. You could play the video, put the volume down. I'll translate it in real time like Everton here, okay? This is what Cedric Dubei said in his Instagram story. You can play now. Go ahead. I've got a big knockout coming. You aren't ready. You guys are not ready. You are not ready.

It's impossible that you're ready. The chaos that I have is unbelievable. It's huge. It's mad. You have no idea what's about to happen. Keep it locked. Stay connected. It's coming.

Doesn't that sound like a fight? Unless he's doing another fight. But it's not a PFL fight. They need this guy back. He oozes charisma. He's so much fun. I enjoy him very much. Someone who is not coming back is Alistair Overim.

There's a great story up right now on Uncrown.com, the number one home and the number one unbiased home for all things, combat sports. A great story on Uncrown.com right here and now, written by one of the all-time best in the history of combat sports and boxing in particular. Tris Dixon, This is his uncrowned debut.

The title of the story is, Overeem is done fighting, but plans to be here a long time. Take a look at these quotes here from Ubereem. In the beginning of UFC and MMA, I should say there has been times that PDUs has been rampant. Yes, absolutely.

Let's just say that in my career, I've done what all the fighters at the time we're doing. Another slide here. It just became very clear that in the time of Ussada, then it was like eliminated, which again is UFC going mainstream. taking the necessary steps, adding a USADA into the mix, which eliminates PD usage.

So go back to that first one. Same dude in the first, the pictures? Well, it's hard to tell. And then the second one? I think it's the lighting that's different. Yeah. Go back to horseman.

The horse is uplit. Second. First. Uber to check. Second. No, I think it's just the lighting. I think it's a mask, too. I've always been in the post-usada era, to be fair.

Yeah. Never quite got that was him versus Brock. That was him versus Brock, which was unbelievable. Another quote here from Alster Overeem regarding fighter pay. Boxers are getting paid more than MMA fighters, right? That's a well-known fact. I'm not surprised. It's just a matter of time, right?

Like I knew I was underpaid, but on the other hand, not in a position to change that, to challenge that. Like post-fighting, quote, I think the sport structured that energy into discipline, into routines, into methods, and you're doing it for so long, so it kind of becomes you, right, it became me, and then the fight stopped all of a sudden. That's on Oncrown.com. There's also a great article right now on Oncrown.com by John Nash, who knows everything there is to know about the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act.

The title is the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act offers the worst of both boxing and MMA. And this is an article that I think is worth reading because he is the utmost expert. I think when it comes to this particular title, and wouldn't you know it? The Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act has passed the House. It is the first boxing legislation to pass the House in over a quarter century. This was just released, so I do believe it is breaking news, Frankie. Today, the United States House of Representatives passed by voice vote.

Congressman Brian Jacks, Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, the first boxing legislation to pass the House of Representatives in 26 years. How many representatives are in the House of Representatives, guys? I had to learn this when I became a U.S. citizen. I got no idea. I think it's like five something. Five, or four, six, three? Five, twelve.

It is five to twelve. Anyway, last year on July 23rd, 2000 and 25 congressman, Jack, introduced his landmark bipartisan legislation with Congresswoman Cherise Davids, which was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. The Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protection held a hearing on December 4th. We talked about that, featuring testimony from law. Ali, among others, January 21st, during a House Committee on Education and Workforce Markup, the Act was overwhelmingly approved by a bipartisan vote of 30 to 4. And now, scrolling, scrolling, and now it's passed. Does that mean, is it 100% through? No. I can't be an expert on everything. So where are we at now? Just the next step. How many more steps are there? It seems inevitable at this point.

That's way over my pay grade, but. Does it not seem inevitable? at this point? So why don't they just expedite this whole thing and put us out of our... Well, no. I mean, they have to follow the legal procedures. Yeah.

House representatives is 435, by the way. 435. Trick question, none of you got it. Oh, on, Ariel. Yeah, none of you got it. I did get it. I love it this guy's said 512 and then said none of yuck got in.

Yeah. The quiz man is no one up. I got to know that. All right, well, that's some kind of breaking news. I have better breaking news for all of you guys. Okay. Even more exciting than that. breaking news. Do we have any celebratory music, Frankie? Anything fun, anything happy, anything that

would... Any like a... The sex. No, no, not that one. I can find something. Nah, it's too late. We have just hit 400,000 subscribers on YouTube guys. Yeah. I don't know why I'm singing that song, but this is great...

Oh shit. I made the graphic. The whole gang is there. I made the graphic, baby. And of course, you're rigging that orange shirt. Would never. His signature orange shirt.

Never. Yeah, what was up with that? Never. Frankie with a bit of long hair. That little spoken wrong. Right? Yeah. Is that like a windbreaker?

I don't know what you're wearing there, Frank. You're looking greasy there, Frank. Yeah, I have to say. Got out to Oven. Love Oven? Yeah. That man loves that picture of me with the... We look good.

Oh, shit. Look at this little thing we got here. The orange shirt is tilting me. Were you guys posing? I'm playing for Netherlands. I've never once made that on a on a boys in the back. So where do you get that from? We like did a little photo shoot. You remember we did the photo shoot and we were like oh yeah we need those YouTube reaction. Now you look great. Oh my God. All right now let's do a crazy one. Yeah yeah yeah those are the worst. Yeah ones we never used. There's a bunch of faces there seven but there's a lot of other people behind

the scenes that helped us get here. Shout at the Pat. Spencer behind the scenes as well, of course, the team here, Andy, Jordan, Dano back there, the whole team here. We're not stopping at 400. When did we say 500? When did we say 500?

I said by end of 26. Are we, we're on the right track, right? Or do you think we've we can get there? We can get there. Sound a little less confident. Olympics really screwed us up. I was going to say Olympics. Yeah. That's a big fights coming up though. Yeah. Yeah. We had a big

summer last year. We did have a big summer. If you remember international fight week, the numbers were jumping around that time. That was Tom Aspinall, John Jones, the stand in the other. Shot Strick. Anybody big fighting international fight week this year? Hmm. Who's the check? Who is to check? Yeah, who's to check? Guys, I saw a story, by the way. Everyone's losing their mind. And, you know, we come here with the actual facts. People going crazy about the amount of plane tickets, the amount of hotel rooms that the, uh, the fighters are receiving from the UFC.

Do you know this story, guys? Have you heard about this? I think they've been seeing it coming out that they've reduced the number. Well, let me tell you this. As far as flights are concerned, this is what I'm told. The fighters get two and they get one hotel. This has been the case for a while now. Now, people can negotiate if you're a bigger name, this or that.

But it's always been one, yours, plus one. And there are terms there like, oh, it has to originate from the same. city like you can't be living in Philly and have someone over in Alaska coming over and then oh I need one for my girlfriend you know it has to be people who are related to the fight to your fight camp and whatnot for a main event fighter I was told you get you get fighter plus two and then okay here it is for the flights for your regular fighter this is what I was told I wrote it down but I wrote short hand for the flights it's fighter plus one hotel's just one now I'm not here to see

say that that's good. If you're a non-main event fighter, you've got usually three cornermen. That's one hotel room for four people. At the very least, at the worst case scenario, you should be getting two hotel rooms, right? Stick all the corner men together or at least go two-two. At the very least, by the way, more often than not, unless you're a champion, you're not even getting business class. So like if you're flying from East Coast to West Coast headlining, but you're not a champion,

but you're a headliner, you're still not getting business class unless you negotiate and do that that whole stuff. Main eventors, as far as flights are concerned, you get your own plus two more plane tickets. So that still doesn't cover all your cornermen because if you're a main eventor, you get four cornermen. At worst, three, usually. Most main eventors use four. So there's still two more that you have to pay for out of pocket.

You do get two hotel rooms if you're a main eventor. also told, a women's fighter gets one flight plus one and then two hotel rooms. So that obviously would eliminate some issues, you know, male coaches and whatnot. But everyone was going all crazy about this and I asked multiple managers and they said nothing has changed. This has been the system for quite some time. So everyone was trying to say that they're, you know, look, I think that there should be more hotel rooms. I think they should pay for all your flights. I think if you're fighting for the UFC,

and especially if you're a main event or you should be getting business class, think about how much it would cost them to just say, okay, if you're main eventing, you're getting business class. Like, what would that cost them for the year? Would that even cost a million dollars? Like if they said all the main adventurers,

no matter who you are, if you are headlining Apex, pay-per-view, fight night, you're getting business class. What does that cost them for the year? I don't know. What do you think they are a $20 billion dollar company or something? Come on.

$30 million for the kitchen scrap Yeah, there it is. Once I was leaving Melbourne, I saw Sergei Spivak sitting beside me in an economy on the way back from Melbourne, 12 hour flight to the boy. Yeah, he's sitting there. Did you get an autograph, a picture?

That's an honor. Yeah, I gave him one. You know what I mean? Are you shitting me? Leave me alone, though, after this. We're not talking again after this. Polarbearing captivity for 12 hours and you get to sit right next to him?

That's a fucking on. Polar bear captivity's a bar. I even have more granular details if you want. This is from the contract. Incidentals, okay? So this is what incidentals mean. One hotel or motel room. They even have motel room in there. Golly. Shout out. Jesus. Two round trip economy class airline tickets from the airport servicing fighters hometown to the bout location for use by and transportation of fighter and one of fighters' affiliates.

Four tickets to the bout and either $60 cash. per diem for fighter and one of fighters affiliates or at our discretion meal vouchers for three meals per day for fighter and one of fighters affiliates fighters affiliates fighters affiliates shall include but not be limited to manager agent trainer second sparring partner and other persons associated with fighter who are connected to the ballot so like i was saying not like a mom a sister a brother who have no connection to it It's tough Yeah

60 quits It sounds like This is a description of an accountant Going on a business trip to Orlando Okay, you got your $60 per beam every day The fuck you're gonna get with 60 quid in Las Vegas We'll put you up at the Radisson Inn Two bottles of water

Actually, though Beach A couple bottles of water I just asked Troy about that Remember Troy drank all the water one time Do you guys hear this story? No Troy's first time in Las Vegas

He drank all the water in the hotel thinking it was free. Oh, no. He racked up hundreds. Those are like $70 bottles of water for no reason. No, I think it was like legit like $253,300. Yeah, it was crazy. Speaking of Troy, can I? Rookie movie.

TST. Yeah, can I out TST? Yeah, go ahead. He's going to be in Seattle this weekend. Oh, hell yeah. You know, we talked, he's going, everything like that. He never asked me about where we're staying for the hotel. ever since that moment

I was like come week of he's gonna ask me to crash in my hotel room has it happened saying it all week got the text this morning today

hey man I'm gonna crash in the hotel room let him know right here live what's gonna happen I responded I said it's a single better man can't do it yes

cannot do it you have to do you have to fucking this is crazy what can't do we're in our thirties that's fucking illegal it is fucking illegal we're grown man

for Christ's sake okay now what was the response no response I probably be upset. How long ago was this? A couple hours at this point. You think he may pull the plug on the trip as a result? No, he's just going to point to the contract terms that say he's guaranteed a second hotel room.

203 p.m. So it's been about two hours, but about two hours. You know, look, it's, what are you? You can't be doing this shit. You just can't. And you know what it is, G.C.? Oh, no, Troy. He's told me before he doesn't just want to stay in your room.

You have to have a full itinerary for him for the week. It's a great point. You say that. He also was just like, I've done. no planning. I was like, well, don't worry, we got it covered. We got the plans. Also, when he says we, he means him. Because I also have done no planning.

I did, look, I did recon. I did a lot of good recon. I had some great people send me information. I then passed that along to G.C. Who has done fantastic planning. Is he staying at the shoot? No, no, that's coming after. That's it. That's exclusive. We don't

What kind of vibe are we expecting there? You know, they're going to this place called muckle shoot, PT. Boy. Promise land What vibe are we expected? Is it a casino? Is it a resort and casino? It's like a Tachi Palace type of thing?

It's the Pacific Northwest's premier casino and resort. It is a two-time gold medal award winner. We're staying at the greatest place. You can stay in all Pacific Northwest. Wow. My only concern is someone did hit us up and was like, hear a bunch of recommendations. Enjoy muckle shoot.

You know, I get the bit and everything, but don't stay too long. A lot of oxygen tanks, everything like that. I'm like, all right, chill on the muck, bro. It's going to be fantastic. I mean oxygen. What does that mean? Elderly gambler.

Oh, gotcha, got you. Compare this to Tachi Pallus is a level of disrespect that I don't know. I've never been to Tachi. This is an actual Pallus. Is it Foxwoods? Is it better? No, he's talking about Tachi? No, Tachie is not Foxwoods.

Oh, no, no, I'm talking about you guys. Oh, yeah, no, no. This is levels. There's levels to this. This is the Bellagio of the Pacific North. Oh, wow, wow. That's what it's been going. And you guys will be joining us.

us from said venue tomorrow tomorrow yeah oh yeah we got to go get in the we actually got to go get in the TSA line like right about yeah yeah yeah we're gonna make this flight we don't want to rascal i'm always jealous of the rascal people in the in the casinos you know what i mean they don't i might i might fuck around with that's that's that's rick i'll i'll go to bed the night before we drive into seattle at like nine o'clock i'll be like all right see you guys in the morning upright and early uh you know we'll drive into seattle and then i'll come down at eight a m you know to leave and then Rick will just slander over from the poker

tables and be like Ripping Sigs online. I ended up not sleeping. I just grinded out 17 hours at the poker table. He's absurd. He did it in Atlantic City. Wait, so what's the plan as far as the flight is concerned? Like separate quarters or are we sitting next to each other? Separate quarters, Rick is in... You're a comfort plus guy,

aren't you, G. I'm a big comfort plus, but we're not Flick's in business? He's ahead of me, that's all I know. Rick, I'll be looking at the back of his early hair. I am constantly in steerage. Let's not get twisted. I never... Who approved this? I'm not. I'm not. Pizzi, we're going to watch

Ireland after the show on Thursday. One of the finest established... We're brokering a deal with the Heartstone house here. I'm going up 18 people and it just keeps getting bigger. Everyone's like, oh, where are you going? Yeah, no, we'll go too. And I'm like, so I have to get there now at like 3pm for the game to be at 8 and just sit there

for 5 hours. I'm going to be blind drunk but a time of things. I heard Troy just texting me. He cancelled his plans. He's going to hang out with you wherever you're going. Blanchetown, tell them, you know.

You're full. I did look at the schedule, so the World Cup playoff is Thursday, and then if you win, you play Tuesday to punch your ticket, right? Yeah. That's accurate. And then I looked at it,

I was like, okay, so that's, I think Thursday is the 26th. And then Tuesday is March 31st. And then I looked at the text, and I was like, wait a second. PT told me he's unavailable on March 31st. I am.

I'm going away for Elaine's mother's birthday who wanted to go to the match this Thursday couldn't do that because she had to go to a Billy Joel tribute act and then she was like, do you know what would make my birthday because we're going to get through against the checks and if we beat the checks, if we went to go Kenny for my birthday

and we all watched the match together and I was like, well, gotta make a lady's dream come through. No, no. I mean, that's all I can do here. Is that going to be on? I'll sign pictures. Is that going to be on while we're on?

yeah it's going to be in the afternoon it's going to be on no no it's a Tuesday the big one the Tuesday yeah gotta get there first no of course we're gonna be in Kilkenny we'll be in rural

rural spot in Ireland watching this match so feel free to FaceTime me there and I'll see it'll just be me and you Rick's sticking off fuck what is this pool in here

oh Pete Frank you coming or what what is it summer Fridays around here or what I did check right availability. I did say Darryl. I am willing to ruin Elaine's mother's birthday.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most importantly, what's you think of the Billy Chol tribute band? Hasn't happened yet. That's tomorrow. She's going to, yeah. Tell her and joy. Give her my best. We've been working down in Allen down. Oh, yeah. And effective bees are all

closing down. She has a tribute act whenever she wants one, but obviously she wants to see this lad dressed up or whatever, fair enough. Well, thank you for that, PT. You appreciate it very much. and we'll check in with you tomorrow as well as the boys as they will join us from muckle shoot Seattle but now let's get to our last guest of the day and by far the biggest and I've been wanting to talk to him for a minute now as they say he's got some big plans he's returning to action on the 16th of May into it dome Englewood, California, Netflix, MVP, MMA.

You know the whole story by now, going up against Philippe Lins. He is the lineal MMA heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet, the pride of both Cameroon and France, Le Prédateur, Monsieur Francis and Ganoo. Kind enough to join us. Hey, Francis, how are you, my friend?

Good, and you are you. It's always great to have you on. It's always great to talk to you, and we have a lot to discuss this particular time, Francis. lot going on. I think it's been a while, yes. Yes. So let's get into it.

And your connection, you look crystal clear. You look amazing on the screen. What have you changed? What's different? Nothing. No. You sure. Maybe you upgrade your screen.

It's us. It's us. Okay. It's us. No problem. You know, we're moving up. We're moving up. We're Netflix now, Francis.

We're Netflix. Congratulations. And congratulations to you. I'd love to start at the beginning, though. can you tell us Francis why you parted ways with the PFL? What led to that decision when we found out on that Friday morning

you going in your separate way? Well, I didn't part away I think I have one fight left and I was hoping to have that fight since last year I've been asking for the fight but

they keep telling me they are working on it and until last January they said they couldn't make it on time so that's that's what happened but I wanted to fight

I've been asking for a fight for almost a year now did they give you a reason at any point as to why they weren't booking this fight well they keep saying they were working on it and at the same time a lot of things was changing in the PFR

and sometime it was so like even hard to know because I used to talk fight related used to be with Pete Mary and then things started change and then John came came around and you have to

the conversation has to basically start all over he has to pick up on things so kind of like slow the process down do you think that any part of the reason was due to money that they didn't want to pay you what you were owed? Well, the contract was there.

It's the same contract that we have a long time ago. So there wasn't a negotiation or something. The country, it was already, it was the existing contract that I was going to fight in. But the reason I asked that is maybe the new regime, the new bosses, you know, the likes of John Martin said, you know what, we don't, we didn't sign this deal. we don't like this deal, so we're just going to try to end it, or not give you a fight. Well, then they are the only one to, they are in a much better position to answer that question clearly.

That's fine, that's fine, yeah, and I get that. I'm wondering, was there an end to the contract? Is that why they made the decision? They had to give you the fight before this date or month kicked in. Yeah, there was the end in the contract. A sunset clause, basically. basically. No, not the sunset close.

There was the end in the contract. And was that coming up? Yeah, he was coming up. Okay. He was coming up. I mean, of course, I did give a lot of time since I was also, I mean, they requested a lot of time for the contract. And then for me, he was also good.

Like, I was also expecting, like, I could have some boxing fight at some point so things doesn't mix up so if they have time in case i have some boxing fight so they have time to readjust so yeah but he was coming up were you disappointed that it ended the way in which it did um disappointed i think disappointed is a big word but uh i would say i had like to to get to the end of that contract yeah and i didn't want it to let's say i didn't yeah i didn't want it to to end up that way. You know, basically after the, after the relationship that I had with the PFR,

we had a good relationship from the beginning all the way along. So I wanted it to finish in the better way. And I was even, and I would have even be open like to a new contract if that was the option on the table. But that was never discussed Unit guys never won't No no

No it was never discussed because like We need to finish this first There was a contract on the table That hasn't been executed Were there ever even talks like Oh potentially this guy on this state Like did it ever even get off the ground For this final fight or never?

On date no I know after Nemcov Nemcov Yes And then they said he could be, yeah, he could be him sometime, but didn't mention the date. Do you regret signing with them in 2023? No, absolutely no.

I think it was a good thing. It was the best decision. I mean, I didn't have a pressure on the contract. I had my freedom, which I always claim. And then to the end, you know, I didn't have. Yeah, we didn't come to a full term of a contract, but I didn't have to fight off the contract or something like that.

Didn't have to deal with all this nightmare. The announcement that you were parting ways that you were leaving was on a Friday, and then the announcement that you were joining the MVP MMA card on Netflix on May 16th was on a Monday and then we saw you at the press conference on Tuesday. Did they make that announcement,

in your opinion on the Friday to get ahead of that? Was it, did they make the decision? Because tell us your perspective. Well, I think they wanted to get ahead of story, which is what every organization would do. Because we get, we part away since January.

And yeah, it was since January. And then I think I wanted to, to also give them a better way, like to come up with something, because that was their decision to part way, not mine. But I was quite, I was also, I was a little surprised when they sent me that. I'm like, they should have at least turned me since I've been wholly done into these. You know? You didn't know that was coming out?

No, I didn't know. So how did you feel about it when you saw it all? bro you know at this point of time I'm not here to like um sure much about stuff

I just I just move on I wasn't it wasn't anything that I was I found it very little weird that after all this time they didn't even come back to me and say okay we're going to now announce it it was people they didn't even tell me

like I just people just send it to me I just saw it out there I wasn't aware at all. Wow. But at that point, on that Friday, you had already agreed with MVP to be on this card, right? Yeah. I mean, at that point, I've been talking with the MVP with Nicky's her for like two, three weeks. Okay. Okay. I spoke to John Martin and he told me of a PFL that you were a big part, obviously, of PFL Africa and you're still involved, and he would like to talk to you about remaining involved. Is that accurate? Are you still involved? And would you like to still be involved in PFL? Africa? Well, I think I would say like to be involved. You know, my my goal with the PFL Africa was to bring the sport in the continent and to launch that to give that

opportunity to people in the continent. So and then he was something very separated from my promotional agreement. So I think if there is a way, to keep that on. I would still be part of it because at the end of the day, that's like for me is a personal project. You know, I really want to see, I really want to see that grow. I really want to see the continent have his own thing, like develop his fighters.

To see all those fighters get, being enthusiastic about something locally, I think it's quite amazing. and then it's yeah I want to keep part of it I think we just need to establish

some conversation because the conversation here has been like a breach of tough you know when it was with

pied and done it was easy to communicate but now it's hard to even find who to communicate with Okay, so as far as PFL Africa, they haven't talked to you, you haven't had serious talks about you remaining involved or anything like that? No, no.

Could you tell us, all right, so now speaking of MVP, how were you approached? When did that start? You said about two or three weeks prior to the announcement, so maybe about a month or so ago. Nikisa calls you and says we have this opportunity? No, he asked me if I'm free. First, like, I heard a rumor like this. I'm like, yeah, I'm good. But he wouldn't just trust

what I was saying. So I put him with my lawyer and then he gives him some context. What I had heard, and I'd love for you to talk a little bit, and you did talk about it at the press conference, but we've gotten more information about it now, that the original plan was you versus Rico Verhoeven, correct?

Correct. Did you like that? Of course. Great fight. I mean, no disrespect to for flip, but I was very excited about the Rico fight. And then when I heard that he has signed to fight Usyk, I was little disappointed,

to be honest. So Rico said recently to Chil Sun and Ian Parker that he got offered more money to fight you than what he was being offered to fight Alexander Ussik, but he made a verbal agreement with Turkey. I heard that it's like multiple times more, that he was offered multiple times more to fight you, but he took the Ussik fight because he had already promised Turkey that he would do this.

Originally, it was with AJ. Did you hear the same? And if so, and even if not, are you surprised that he turned down more money to fight you? No, no, I don't know about the amounts. I don't know about numbers here. But I know that since maybe December or even before, he had a agreement, he has a verbal agreement

to fight in boxing, to fight potentially Yuzi or AJ somebody. So I knew that even when the Nekisa approached me, he said this is the thing. Nick Erico really like this, but he's in this position. And he was always

quite, he was always clear about it. Okay. So it wasn't a sick. How do you think he's going to do again, too sick? Well, I think it can do good. I don't have to watch to know exactly how it goes. Okay. But you think he has a chance?

Yeah, of course. He's a legit fighter. Yeah, I think he definitely has a chance. How do you feel about the fact that he's fighting for the WBC title, but when you fought Tyson, they wouldn't sanction it? Well,

I think at that time, so many people didn't believe on all this crossover. So I was basically like the first to be in that position. but they didn't they did sanction it though they made a special belt

but not the real bell they make a special berg yeah they did sanction it but this is for Ussick's belt even after that they ranked me yep yep I remember yeah so they did sanction it

but I think a lot of people were so septical didn't know where this were going and how it was going to be until they get there and saw that I'm like okay we think this is legit and then step in

So basically Basically we open the door We open the part to show that Okay, this is something that can happen And now it's no But at time they're like What is this? What the hell is this? When you found out that Rico was going to take that fight

And before you guys agreed on Philippe Lins Were there other heavyweight names discussed in between That were of interest to you? On top of my head, no He was on Friday and then I'll tell them to bring me something on Monday

to think slip on it so we get some rest because I wasn't like right away going to like start think of who I will fight and honestly like there wasn't so many it's not like the option was

so many out there it's hard to find fighter that are free from promotional agreement at this level. Were you aware, Philippe Lins? Did you know of him? Had you heard of him? Briefly, really quick.

I didn't know him that much. I didn't know much about his career until they bring it up. They brought it up. And obviously you were with him in California a couple of weeks ago. What did you make of him? Any sort of vibe from him? You got to spend time with him at the shoot the next day after the press conference. What did you think of?

him? What do I think of him? Yeah. What kind of vibe did you get from him? Well, what I saw, he's a, he's a great fighter. He's a good guy and then he's very excited, happy to be there. And like, I think he's mentally, he's mentally there. He's trying to push back. Yeah. Which I like that. As far as your recent tests in MMA, Henan Fahed. Searle Gan, etc. Where would you put him? Do you think that he is a sneaky good fighter that people are underestimating?

Do you think that he's a notch above, a notch below? Where would you put him? Well, he's a good fighter. He's a well-rounder fighter. That, I mean, the people judge, like, good fighter or not based on how they are known or based on their,

maybe the promotion that the fight of. which is usually, which is not how he works. Sometimes you get somebody in the gym. He's not even fighting in any of this promotion. And then you find, like, he's a very, very skill guy, very good guy. And then Fliplands is actually like the guy that went to all those promotions. So he's legit.

He is legit. Technically, he's legit. He doesn't have like, he doesn't come with one thing special, but he comes with everything on his arsenal. We're hearing a lot of things about MVP MMA. Could you tell us compared to what you were getting from PFL? How does this, this is a one fight deal, right? With them, it's just this one fight on May 16th, correct? Yeah, it's just a fight.

It's just a fight about agreement. There is not a promotional agreement. Right. How does this purse compare to the one that you were getting from the PFL? That doesn't matter. We are not sure to compare a person. Are you happy with it? Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't say yes.

I'm happy for the opportunity as well. Remember, this is like the first MBM fight that's going to be on Netflix. So I was more excited about that. That was like a big decision factor. Today they announced the entire card. I know you've been training. I don't know if you've seen it. But from what you've seen, you saw it here it is,

just in case. What do you think of this first card here? It's dark. It's dark. He's the biggest card so far. Unless they bring some magic, this is the biggest card of the year. Yeah.

So far. Even since we saw you, Nate and Mike being added, I know. Exactly. That's a huge. It's a card that is going to be very difficult to match it. Are you familiar with Saladin Palnas

from France? Yeah, I know him. I met with him. One, his manager reached out to me once. They want, when he wanted to start boxing, he wanted to do some boxing event in France and they will have like some challenge,

some difficulty. And then he reached out, we meet up trying to see if I could help. When the announcement came out that you were leaving the PFL and I know you talked about this a little bit but we haven't talked about it. You know everyone had to say on the

decision to leave the UFC, the legacy, all that stuff and I felt Francis, when I saw you on that Tuesday at the press conference I felt a different type of energy around you. Like I felt like and even in the interviews with people afterwards like there was like an intensity to you.

Like you were out to prove people wrong. I know you don't listen to what people say and you don't put stock into it and all this stuff. But I felt some sort of like edge to you. Do you know what I'm saying? Is that a fair way to describe how you're feeling right now? Uh, no. You know, I mean, I don't feel like I have to prove anything to anybody, you know, so I won't have edge with that. As I said, I just do what I have to do, and then I get, um, I get, uh, I get my peace of mind. I live with my little, in my little barber, and it's been working pretty good.

You know, like right now, even going out there, start to do interviews, stuff like that, it's not my staff. I just want to live my life. It's been good. You know, the decision. You mean which decision?

It's the best decision of my life. You know, and also, in case those people don't know, is a part of a legacy because I have done something that nobody have done before. Nobody could have to get in the position

that I am right now before. So I opened that door and I did it my own way. I was the first. So, I mean, what do you want me to prove?

If that's not enough proof and then I went out there being the first to take out the two, one of the two of the best boxer in the moment.

and now I'm the first in the opening the MMA event on Netflix what do you want me to explain brother? If somebody doesn't understand then he need no explanation What was interesting to me was seeing people managers, people in the business talk about like, ah you see it was a mistake

and I was thinking two boxing matches an MMA fight now the Netflix fight so this is four fights since leaving the UFC and I would imagine, I don't know how much you make. But just from what I hear, like, this amount of money is probably more than your whole entire MMA career prior to that. So what are we basing it off of? How could it be a mistake?

I don't understand how people are doing this. It's the narrative. People just follow the narrative. When I was there battling, when I was in a battle in the position back then, having all this pressure, all this threat, nobody think about, like, have a mistake. Then I get free, get in peace. and then he's a mistake. I don't understand.

If having peace and peace of mind and be in the best position that you ever think of is a mistake, well, then I love mistakes. I'm really looking for what to do so to make some mistake in the future. What was it like hearing Rhonda talk about these business choices and the state of the sport and all that stuff when you've been saying this stuff for the last few years, but to hear from her, you know, after all this, time, I was wondering what you thought of it. Well, I think not only Rwanda, but now in the moment, like, I see a lot of people battling

and then understanding it in the same position that I was understanding what I was dealing with at time, which is bring more, which is more excited because people get more aware of, like, the situation. Back then, I was alone. And I hope some, some could have understand our time, not like to join my fight,

but even for their own, for their own self. Because we are watching the landscape today, the situation that are going on today, is the same thing that I was, I've been saying all these years. And those people, they are facing the same situation, right?

But it's at least a good thing that people are aware of it. And that's why I'm trying to push back all this narrative because they want to spread out this narrative to scare other fighters that want to claim a better position for them, a better thing. You know, and that's why I... May have lost them. You know, I knew when I talked about the great internet connection

that I was... You jinxed it. Yeah, I always do that. I'm always so taken by it. And then I always jinxed it. but it is great. When it's up there, it's great. It looks great.

We'll reconnect with Francine Gano in a moment. Obviously, fighting on that May 16th card, we told you at the top of the show, the entire card, except for Chris Avila's opponent has been officially announced 11-fight card. Something for everyone, as we said. Saladin Parnas versus Kevin Kenny Cross

is going to be up there. Or Kenneth, if you want to call him by his birth name, and also Junior Dose. Santos versus Robles Despine, the Cuban who went over to the UFC, had a cup of coffee, obviously in karate combat. I believe that's the five-fight main card. Mohamed McAev is up there against Adriana Marais.

Let's go back to Francis. I believe he's back. Yeah, there he is. Hello, Francis. Yes. So we lost the connection there. You were saying that's why you're pushing back on the narrative. Yes, because there's planting some narrative out there to like,

scarecifer, some, some fighter must be like, oh, I don't want to leave. I'm not happy here, but I don't want to leave because they are afraid

of like what they have done to me or the narrative or that they have spread out there that apply put pressure on them, you know, but I just want to say like that at the end of the day, he doesn't matter,

you know, if somebody, some people are, good where they are that's not problem but if you're not good it's your right it's your full right for every single fighter whether it doesn't matter

the organization if you're not happy of where you are you are not happy and it's your right to get out of it you know like we are independent contractor so that does oblige you are not like an employee

that you have to sign up somewhere and work for multiple years you can sign up somewhere and then fight for, I don't know, one fight, two fight, whatever is the deal. And then move on, just decide to move on, to go somewhere else is your right. That's how the business is. Because you keep believing that, oh, I'm this, I'm that. But whenever somebody wants to cut you, you have no guarantee.

You know? So it's something that is very, he needs to. to be more spoken about and then when I saw Ronda talk about it yeah I was I was actually happy to see that a lot of people start to see and a lot of people would talk about it

and much people will understand Francis why do you think you could still hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Okay, why do you think so many fighters are afraid to speak up like you did to bet on themselves to take these chances.

Why do you feel like that is the case? Oh, because of oppression. Don't you see, since I left, don't you see what they're trying to do? All this blah, blah, blah, all the thing, like all the narrative trying to drive. The mission have always been like to destroy Francis, to damage Francis, you know.

By the way, have you, tell me about somebody that have left and then went out and be something. You know, basically as a champion. First of all, nobody has left as a champion. So they want to close that door, lock all this thing. I don't know if it's true. I haven't heard that even the sunset close doesn't longer exist.

I hope it is not true. You know, recently they signed, Zufa boxing signed Connor Bend to this one-fight $15 million deal. And Dana White was asked about it. and he said, why wouldn't you be happy if you're another fighter? Why wouldn't you be happy to see another fighter make a lot of money? Why wouldn't you be happy for them?

Why wouldn't you want to celebrate that? And can I just ask? I thought of you. They should be happy of making their own money. You know, happiness could also start from your own self. You also have to always be happy for people. Yes, it's good to be happy from seeing someone make money, but when you are making money too.

not when you're going broke, not where you are taking a fight, maybe with injury because you have 100 bucks in your bank account and trying to make a living provide for your family. Yes, when you see something like that, and then maybe you've been in the organization for all this year doing all this fight,

of course, you get peace. I would have get peace too. I didn't get peace about that. It didn't bother me because I was in the better position, right? That's no longer my problem. I don't have that kind of problem anymore. I thought of you when he said that,

because I remember when he announced at the press conference, Dana White did, that you were leaving the UFC. He didn't say, I'm happy for Francis, that he's going to go out there and make more money. When you sign with PFL, he didn't say, I'm happy for Francis, or you should be happy for Francis. When you signed to fight Tyson Fury, he did not say that. He said Francis didn't want the tough fights.

Francis didn't want the John Jones fight. And so there's a bit of HIPAA, there's some hypocrisy, I should say, some hypocrisy there. I wonder if you see this stuff and you feel the same way when you see it. Yeah, I mean, I would have still be happy for Conner Banks, even if they have gave him 30 million. Meanwhile, other people should have gained money too.

I mean, there are, what, hundreds of fighters that are out there fighting for the organization, making money for them, and then to be in the position that they feel like they are less of a fighter, less of an athlete, because like this guy just came around and they gave him this money, which is the amount that none of them I have never seen. It's like, it's frustrating. Eddie Hearn continues to say that when the UFC fighters start to see what the boxers in Zufa boxing are making, there's going to be a revolt. Do you think that's going to happen? That's going to, that's going to happen if people are, if, if, fighter are aware of the

of the situation if they don't still get trapped with this story because they are good of telling story of making narrative and then people get trapped into for example they will keep telling this guy that they are fighting for like the best event for these

for legacy or the blah blah blah John Jones came out and said they offered him 15 million to fight on the White House card he asked for 30 he was willing to go down, but once he said no to the 15, they said, all right, we're moving on. I know you spoke a little bit about it at the time, but we have new information now.

How do you feel about all of this, how it's played out with John, who at the time was trying to get the fight with you in 2020. You were trying to get the fight with him, but he was asking for money and they couldn't come to terms back then. Well, I would say I'm most, I know the tactic. I know the house tactic, so I'm more to believe what John John said. Yeah. When I see, I can understand, I can read between lines.

I know how he works out there. And I 100% believe that, I mean, maybe 95% or 98% believe on what Junjunson say. Do you think John Jones is right in this case? Does he deserve more than that, more than they were offering? Of course, John Jones deserves that. What are you talking about? John has been in this organization for how long? Junjun being a champion since he was 23, I think, I believe.

Yeah. What, 15 years or over 15 years, if there's somebody that deserves something nowadays, like just even to pay him tribute is Junjuns. Juniors needs to get paid maybe not only for the fight that he's fighting, but for what he have done for the sport, for where he have taken the sport to. Like, isn't the Junjuncton that they are out there brabying that he's a gold? man, if the goal is not respected, then who should be respected?

I worry if the goat is being treated like that. I truly worry if that's how they treat the goat, then those who are not the goats, I don't know, whatever they are, well, imagine what they are going through. You did mention earlier the Sunset Clause. Now the issue is he signs a long-term deal, I believe before the surreal fight, which was just two fights ago,

he'll never get out of that contract. He asks for his release, they're not going to release him, right? Why would they release him? No, no, no, no, no. He will not get out of that. I think the mistake was if he signed,

if he has signed that fight before that country, as the rumor said, before the Syrian gun fight, I think that was a mistake. And then he will most likely not get out. And never fight again as a result.

I don't know. It depends on what they are willing to do and what he's down to do, but potentially might not fight again. There's a lot of people that might not fight again. When I see the scenario, even with Tom Aspinner, I wonder if he will fight again. So I was just about to ask you,

when you see this scenario playing out, clearly Tom feels some sort of way. He's now linked up with Eddie Hearn to represent him. How do you feel about how this story is playing out? what do you mean like how do I film I don't I don't care how it's going out I think are you paying attention to it yeah yeah of course well I see one I see one guy out there holding his ground making moves I think partnering up with the 80 Hertz for him was a good was a good move that won't please the UFC but will be good for him you said just a moment ago you think maybe he might not fight again why do you think that well because i know um he started know his value and then he didn't know the business and then uh they don't like when things are like even even or maybe he just bites it out

and then tests the waters like you did he'd be he been saying that all this time around he's been saying that he want to box yeah and i don't know if he's not even that's the source of his problem or what is it, but he's been saying that all this time around, that have never been a secret. Is that, I know we're not there yet, but a matchup against someone like Tom, does that interest you? Come on, bro, you're going on too much, uh, hypotheticals. Yeah, too many hypotheticals.

Yeah, too many hypothetical. He's saying the contract. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, he's so far away, like something too far to think of. if he were free, then okay, you can even potentially think about it. Like, you don't even know the state of his contract or this or what. I don't go too far. I get it.

Yeah, it's a long process. I do think what you said earlier was very interesting. A few years ago, 2021, 2021, you were kind of on an island by yourself there. And even people, you know, I don't know if you saw Max Holloway say it recently. I want to make sure that you can hear me here. Can you hear me here or no? Yes, you can hear me, yeah? I can hear you.

Yeah, Max Holloway said recently, like, at the time where you were talking about getting more money and the John Jones stuff, and there was Derek Lewis saying, you know, hey, I'll take that fight for a million dollars. And that cuts the fighter's legs out when another fighter is saying, hey, I'll do this for even less. And so I feel like now at least there are more fighters who are speaking the same language that you were a few years ago. And so I wondered how you felt about it from a far scene. you have nothing to do with any of this, you're gone, you're doing your own thing, you seem to be very happy, but just seeing that more people are understanding

where you are coming from. Yeah, I mean, I'm very excited about that. I'm very excited to see that. I'm very happy to see that people start, some fighters start to understand the game, their value and the situation. Because at the end of the day,

it's not only about, like, it's not like joining my goal. It's even for their own self. I'm not happy because that do me any justice. I get my justice and then I'm out of it. But I'm happy that they get all this awareness and more fighter will get that.

You know, it's very tough sometime when you walk around. Like now, nowadays, I walk around. I don't think of something that could be a problem. Then you go in the gym, you see this guy, he's hurt, he's fighting he was fighting with like with injury and you'm like bro why do you do that your your your your rape you fight with a broken rip why do you do that say brother i have

hundred bucks in my in my account my wife was pregnant and then this then it's like he shook up like holy shit so this is what actually happened out there you know so that you kind of like have some empathy for for this situation. And then seeing a move that can potentially change something like that, for fighters, as a fighter, I mean, you can only be happy and excited about it. You did mention that you were free as of January from the PFL. Did you talk to the UFC about a return?

No. Did you reach out or your team reach out? Did anyone reach out? Were you interested in at least taking the temperature? We didn't talk. I mean, that was a, there's a talk that could be difficult. Yeah. But wish could still be done.

But we didn't. Okay. If the MVP opportunity on Netflix didn't come up, what do you think you would have been doing now? Like, who, where do you think you would have ended up? MMA, boxing, what were you thinking? Okay. So listen, this is the thing. Yeah.

And this one, what comes with the freedom? I'm not obliged to do anything. I can just sit and wait and see if something happened. If it happens, good. If it doesn't happen, it's still okay. I don't have that pressure anymore. I just want to do what I do because I like it, because I love it. But it's not like an obligation that I have to do.

I think I have done enough. And all what I'm doing now on is just going to be a bonus. If you never fight again, basically, you're set for life, right? Is that fair to say? I mean, I'm not thinking of like no fighting again. I think at some point I will fight. I don't know how long he would take,

but I will fight because I want to fight. Yeah, but I'm not worried about, like, a living. You're 39 now. Have you thought about how long you want to do this for? Well, I always say, like, the day that I wake up and then think about it or go to the gym and don't feel like, oh, don't get excited. that's a call. That's a call out. I move on to something else because I also have a lot of things that I can do after post-fighting career that I'm very excited to.

But that hasn't come yet. You don't feel that at all. No, no. I don't feel that. I get excited. I go to the gym and then I get excited. I'm into this. This is my thing. I love it. I feel that excitement. Let's do it. Francis, in November we spoke when Jake was looking for a replacement for Tank Davis and they reached out to you about fighting Jake

on that Netflix card in boxing he eventually went with AJ and you said you weren't all that interested in the offer and in fighting him how do you feel about being in business with MVP with Nikisa and Jake now what does that like for you?

Okay, but that didn't mean that I didn't like them or that I hate them or something right? I mean, if you have heard me, I always praise them for what they have done. I always praise Jake for what he has done, even for his career to come in from just being a YouTuber to become a legit boxer. Nowadays, because I speak of a film as a as a boxer, not as a YouTuber anymore, right?

So we get a long. we get a good conversation and get a good opportunity for everyone. He was a good opportunity even for me to be part on this card. So why wouldn't I be happy about? And then we always have a good relationship. Remember, even besides this, Nikisa always praised me and very respectful on everything. so I have no problem doing business with him. I'm even better yet.

I'm even happy or excited to do business with him. You do seem interested in fighting him now. What has changed? As I said, and I will say to you, first of all, I didn't believe, I didn't even believe that that was a fight. secondly I thought all the

blah blah blah that he's talking I think in me I have a little bit of it you know like I want to kick this guy ass like something well and you're talking about Jake right yeah

so I saw a clip yesterday of him speaking to Sky Sports and I found it to be very interesting because right now he's promoting your fight he's promoting the event on May 16th I wanted to play you the clip of him talking about you and get your reaction, okay? Okay. Here it is. Here's Jake Paul yesterday.

Francis Ngano was talking a lot of smack. I think that's an easy fight for me. I think he's a terrible boxer. And I maybe want to go back up to heavyweight and knock him out like Joshua did and render him unconscious. And he knows I lasted longer than him against Joshua and didn't get put out. So I think he maybe wouldn't do the fight Because I think deep down he would not want to get embarrassed So to me that's a fun one on the list

Terrible boxer easy fight Wouldn't want to take the fight He's your promoter right now For all intents of purposes Are you surprised to hear him speak About you like this? Let's just say he's been Jake Jake is just being Jake

I don't really know what to say about it it's been him that he have always been like that. Does it annoy you to hear him talk about you like this? No. I mean, uh, no like this particular one. I think what ignoring me was mostly back in November,

but I know it's just been J. Do you mean the tweets and stuff? In November? Like what about Yeah What annoyed you about that Or what bothered you about that? Well, because it was

You keep in pushy And say all this thing Like Which is the same thing That he's saying now Now I'm used to it But back then That was like

The first time He was coming out with it Are you Are you hoping Obviously all goes well May 16th And then the next fight Is against him

Is that what you want? If you have I what I won if it happened, okay. But would it be fair to say you're interested in it? In what? In like beating me up,

beating me up? In boxing him? No, no boxing him, kicking his ass. So would that mean you'd like to fight him in MMA? Why? Because I cannot kick his ass in somewhere else than rather than MMA. No, but you know, in boxing, boxing is limited. It's just two weapons. In MMA, you could do it, you could throw

him, you could slam him, you can knee him, you could do a lot more. I mean, literally you can kick his ass in MMA, you can't do that in boxing. Even in boxing, I can't kick his ass. Well, you can't actually kick in boxing. I think you'd get disqualified. Where, when they say kick somebody ass, it's a metaphor. He's not

actually a actually kick somebody else. Yes, I know. I was just wanting to know if you actually want to literally kick his ass, like beat him up. But I know what you mean. We're getting hung up on that way. So you are interested in this. One, two. Yes, it sounds like it.

Have you guys talked about it? You and MVP, you and Nikisa? No. No. Do you think this is going to be a thing that lasts, this MVP, MMA business? Do you think that they're going to do more than one show? We don't know. Nobody knows that.

They don't even, they don't know yet. Hopefully, he lasts. Hopefully, I think Netflix is the broadcast. hopefully they like this and then one more. Of course, therefore he will last and everybody will be happy. I think it's a goal for everyone. How many times do you want to fight this year?

No, I don't know. You haven't thought of that. You're just thinking about May 16. I have May 16 now. Last year I didn't fight. I have May 16 now. If I have some date in the future sometime this year, that would be great.

if not, we will see what on the line. Do you think before it's all said and done, we will see you box again? Possibly. Okay. It's about the opportunity, what shows up.

Sure. And I know you're back in Vegas, it's great to see you at Extreme Couture with Eric and Dewey and the team. And I saw you with Johnny Walker there and some new faces, right? You're working with some new guys over there? Yeah.

With Johnny Walker, Sergei, Spivak, all those guys. I'm a crown. Yeah. Sean Strickland? Yes. Do you work with him?

Smaller than you, right? Yeah, a little, a little bit. But I feel like he would give you some good rounds, Sean. He's a tough guy. Of course he's a tough guy. Yes. Are you excited about this, Francis? Are you, are you feel like a sense of enthusiasm about this opportunity?

About what? What's coming? Netflix, it's a big deal. many people are going to watch this. Of course. Of course I'm excited about it. Like, yes, didn't I just say that? Didn't I just talk about like, and this is the first one on Netflix. Yeah. So, and we're part of it. I mean, it's something that two months ago, nobody could have even think of. Imagine happen. And now it's happening like for real. In less than two months, it's about to go down. Two last questions. Do you have any idea? People are wondering, will there be sponsors?

Will it be no uniform? You can wear what you want? We haven't seen this in MMA. What can you tell us? What are you hearing as far as what you'll look like when you fight? No, we can have a, we can have sponsor. I think we just have to submit the sponsor so they can check. Okay, this is good. So now fighters can make even more money, right? Yeah. So you like the idea behind it all? Of course. You were a fighter first guy. You were the guy.

You were the guy saying you want your opponent to make two million. So I don't like that there are no sponsors. I don't like that there's uniform. I think that fighters should be able to make more money based on the platform that they're fighting on. Of course. Yeah. And that's something that we have out here. We explicitly talk about this case particularly.

Last question for you, Francis. You know, we talk a lot about the criticism, the critics. I would like to ask you, what would you like to say to the people who have backed you, the people who have stuck with you? We focus a lot on the critics, but we don't talk enough about your supporters. I'm sure you have many of them, whether they're in Cameroon, France, and you feel that support amidst the noise. What would you like to say to the people who continue to back you,

whether it's from the UFC to the boxing to PFL to now this? I don't, maybe you focus on the critics. I don't focus on the critics. I focus. When I ask you questions, it's a lot of criticism. Exactly. Exactly. But I don't want to ask you about that. I want to ask you about the people supporting you. Okay. Because me, I always speak about the people that support me. That's who I follow, you know, because that's the people that support me, you know, because that are the people that support me, whatever I do and whenever I do it. And I'm always grateful for the support. Those are the real supporter. Those are the court of my, those are the motivation. Like, sometimes when you, you. You train. Those are the one that you do one more round, one more step, not to let them down, right? Because you know they are there. When it doesn't work, they are there.

They support you. They send love, everything. Yes. I mean, I'm very grateful and I appreciate their support, as always. And we'll keep entertaining them and do my best for them, for my friends. well said and by the way Francis I don't know if you know this but you and them I'm only focus about them

okay the critics is you guys you you bring up too much critics I'm sorry which is not my business that why I don't like to talk about interview anymore because everybody critic they say this they say that who cares about I don't care I didn't ask you a lot about critics in this interview right it wasn't so bad

it was always about it's most no always no always but a lot about like what do you think about this guy. Sure, but that's not critics. Because you're a smart guy. You've been through it all,

so I was curious what your expertise had to say about all of this. I'm not an expert, though. It's just my opinion. No, but you've been there. You've lived through it. So that makes you an expert. I think so.

I think so. By the way, Francis, I wanted to tell you, you witnessed history a couple weeks ago. You got to see Ronda Rousey and I shake hands for the first time in 10 years backstage. You were the one. You were right there.

You witnessed it, right? Yeah, that was first time in 10 years. 10 years. Well, it was nice. Then that's a good history because I believe it's not the last time that you guys are shaking hand. I hope so. I think in the next eight weeks you guys are going to shake hands more than two times. I look forward to that.

And I look forward to shaking your hand again in person. It was great to be with you in person because it had been a while as well. Thank you as always, Francis. You're the man. We appreciate you. There it is. Francis Sangainu against Philippe Lins live on Netflix,

only on Netflix, Saturday, May 16th, Intuit Dome, which is a fantastic new arena in Inglewood, California. I can't wait for this, and I'm so happy that you're a part of it, Francis. Thank you for the time.

Good luck. Bon courage in training, and we'll see you very soon. Thank you, Ariel, and thank you to my fans, to those who you don't always ask me about them. Those will support me always and love me. Thank you, guys.

Oh, revoir. Thank you, Francis. Oh, there he is. The Predator himself, Francis Inganu. There it is.

There he is. There he is. Mr. Francis Ngano, May 16th, we've been talking a lot about this card. Tomorrow we'll have Saladin Parnas

and Mohamed Makhaiev on the show. So we'll get the Parnas side of the story about his American debut and Makaiv in by far the biggest

fight that he has had since leaving the UFC going up against Adriano Morais, the one championship former champion. The former one championship champion? Also on tomorrow's program, Dalton Rasta, who's going up against Impakasangenei on Saturday, March 28th, this Saturday in Pittsburgh, PFL Pittsburgh, and Oscar Delahoya, the Golden Boy, who, of course, just signed that deal with DeZone that was announced this morning.

So now it's Golden Boy, top rank, Queensberry, and Matchroom, all under the same umbrella. always great to talk to Mr. De La Jollaoya. I'm looking forward to having him on the program. On the Nose as well. Ariahawani.com is the place to be for all your on-the-nose questions. Lots to discuss. The boys will be joining us from the muck over in Seattle, Washington, just outside. So it's going to be a great day.

But before we go, we do have some super chats, Frankie. What are we got? What are we got? One or two or 17. Oh, wow. Okay. Covering my first MMA event in person at PFL Pittsburgh. What would you say?

is the biggest piece of advice you would offer someone new to the space. And do you suggest being Caged Side or a media room? Caged side? Say hello to as many people as possible. Shake their hand. Introduce yourself. Be professional. Be courteous.

Get there early. Get there well before the first fight. I'm talking an hour or two before the first fight. As soon as the door is open, you should be there. Dress professionally. No fighter merch. No, like, you know, sweats, like, you know, show up. jacket, shirt, pants, that type of thing.

Stay till the end. Don't ask for selfies. Think like a fan, act like a professional. And show up to the post-fight press conference, ask good questions, be ready to go, be well researched, enjoy. And yeah, be courteous, be kind, be respectful to the other journalists. I think you're going to have a great time. And I wish you all the best. I remember my first event.

What a time, what a time. What else, Frankie? What else? Did you hear Mason Jones called the Des Moines Iowa crowd the best in the world? He said it was louder than London and Paris. Yeah, let's ask Rick and G.C. about that. Guys, what do you have to say? What the head is this?

Yeah, well, wait, wait a second. Oh, wow. What the fuck is that? What the hell is this? That's a new one. Guys, what do you have to say? What do you have to say? I believe that they're en route.

Stuff. Yeah, yeah. You know what, Frankie? I missed them already. I'm feeling a little sad I'm feeling some FOMO I mean we're still here I know but I missed the whole family

Anyway yeah shout out to Des Moines Oh what else Frankie Boys in the back You must go to Dick's Burgers while in Washington Wow hey guys what do you think of Dick's burgers Oh wow Guys

What do you recommend What should we order if we go to Dix Just a burger Burger and the fries Oh what else Frank This one Coming in from Alberta Saturday for UFC Seattle, me and my homies

first UFC outside of Canada should be expect anything different. Is there anything we must do while there? So far, I got dinner at Space Needle, Mariners game, Aquarium, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Pike's Market. Love y'all. I have one. I would suggest the Boeing Museum.

I went. It was a lot of fun. Plain? The planes, yeah. Also, Capitol Hill. A couple of venues around there. You could check out. You know, it's where the grunge scene was. on the 90s.

First of all, shout out to this individual from Calgary, I think you said. Yeah, Alberta. Alberta, Canada, Alberta. Could be Edmonton, could be anywhere. Banff, Jasper. 279.99. That's incredible.

So thank you. Even in Canadian dollars, it's incredible. If only we had people on the show who were also going to Seattle, who we can maybe ask them what's on their itinerary. I think we could ask. Oh. Hey, guys.

What's on tap for this weekend? Museum of pop culture also very cool Okay Bruce Lee I believe Is buried just outside of Seattle Is Kirk Cobain? Yeah Kirk Cobain born in Seattle

He's born in Averdeen I love Seattle Great place, great place Seattle I'm a huge fan of the Pacific Northwest And hopefully it's a great scene over there It's been a minute Since I've been there of course You still have your subpop pen

That I brought you Mm-hmm mm-hmm Somewhere here What else, Frankie? Anybody going to PFL Pittsburgh besides me? Hello, well. Guys? The boys?

Are you guys? I think they would say yes. I think it would actually be like, I feel like we got to. Yeah. And it'd be like, I'm 100% going if you're going. That's what they would say. You know, can I say something right here and now? When GC, I should have said it when they were here, but GC joined the team in August of

2021. And Rick was still at ESPN. There were still two months before he joined us at Vox, all right? And you're still with me here, Frank, right? I'm not just talking to myself. Okay. And Rick's writing stopped cutting to us. I do appreciate them tuning in.

Anyway, so they're listening to me now. And I will be honest. So G.C. came in as like the new Rick, right? Because Rick was social media expert guru, extraordinary guy. And there was a part of me who sort of wondered like, will these guys get along? Will they be friends? Will they like each other? You know, G.C. coming in as the new Rick. Rick now moving on to another role. And now to see it evolve and blossom into this where they're taking cross-country trips together, I think sharing a room at a casino somewhere outside of Seattle, going to Des Moines, going to Philadelphia, going to Seattle. It warms my heart. And I'm glad that my fears were not realized. and I am also glad that my instincts were validated because I did think that they would be friends but you never know Frank.

You never know how these things play out. So I think it's a really nice thing to see come to fruition. What do you see? What do you think? You know, I think you're a matchmaker. Yeah. You got everyone together in this control room. We all get along, all of us.

It's a real, dare I say, bromance. Yes. I just want someone to look at me the way they look at each other. Yeah. Sammy says today is my... I never actually said what else, Frank, but it's fine. Go ahead. There are 17 of them.

Okay, go ahead. Sammy says, today is my 37th birthday. Unfortunately, my plans are canceled by having a good end to the day watching the area of Hwani show. Thank you for saving the day. There it is. We could have used this when we were celebrating our 400K subs. The birthday song.

Yeah. Sammy, we love you. Happy 37, great birthday. Oh, look at that. And we are sorry that your plans got canceled, but we are so delighted that you were able to join us live. It was a banger of a show. As per yuge, wish you the best.

Happiness, health, success, all those things and more. Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? Shout out to John's translator. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, Everton. Poor guy. John was going on and on and on and on.

He was very passionate. There was a part of me, like, ah, I wish I could, like, actually. speak this guy's language and fully understand, but Everton did a great job. You guys were telling me he was feverishly taking notes, right? He looked like a pro the entire time. He definitely was locked in.

I thought it was great. I think he was actually happy to do it. Yeah, no, he's a pro. Oh, what else, Ricky? What else? This super chat is to fun getting Dana an earpiece for post-fight pressers, so he doesn't need a translator from English to English. So good. Go sends go.

Oh, yeah, sense. Auto Senators. Yeah, that is funny. I don't understand. great point. Yeah. Maybe you just can't hear, but he can hear the guy translating who happens to be the Russian translator who helped us out with Peter Yan a few weeks ago. But I mean, you've been in those pressers. Like, how hard is it to hear? Not hard at all. But he does say that he has bad hearing, so cut the guy some slack. What else, Frank? Wouldn't that be a reason to have an earpiece?

Like one of those? Can I just say, like, objectively, it just looks like he's so annoyed to be there always. And like every question. Like, I've seen the clips of the old ones. You would have go to deal with, I have seen this. I'm too hung over to deal with these people tonight. That's the only impression I've gotten. I've never seen him like actively. Like, all right, you next.

Okay, another question. Let's hear it. It's always like, I'm smarter than you. You've been doing it for 26 years. Yeah, but you know, you're right. You're right. Ariel was literally advocating for the boxing model that we all hate. Truth is the UFC is the best for the fans.

When fighters get their way, the fans do not. Floyd versus Manny took 10 years too long because of it. Sorry, Angelo, no, I'm advocating for the fighters. I'm advocating for the fighters who put their lives on the line for your entertainment. So I know, like, it's fun for you to sit at home with your Buffalo Wild Wings and your little draft kings parlay. But I see what happens to these men and women when they reach 40 and they have nothing to show for their careers. So, yeah, I do want an open market for them. I don't care.

I honestly don't care if we don't get the greatest fight that you may think could be made. If that means that these guys are going to be locked up for the rest of their lives, let me tell you something. Let's just talk about these contracts for a second. If I'm a major league baseball player, an NHL player, a national basketball association player, if I'm one of these guys and I signed, I don't sign for the amount of games. Every other sports contract is for the amount of years. Three-year contract, four-year deal, five-year deal, whatever it is, right?

Ten-year deal, 12-year deal, Vladimir Guerrero. Okay, well, first. of all, there's free agency great. There's trades, great. You could be sold in football, great. I'm talking about, you know, world football, not American football. In our sport, in our sport, you sign per fight. And if you happen to get hurt, if you can't fight, if you can't agree on the right opponent, the clock does not tick. So if you sign an eight-fight deal like Alex Pere did, it's not, now they've gone rid of these sunset clauses. Sunset meaning it's going to end by a certain time. You know why they got rid of it? Because a

Francis Inganu. So it's not like, oh, I'm signing a contract March of 2026. This contract is for six fights. It's either six fights or it's going to be over March of 2029. No, it's done. If you don't make the walk six times, you're never going to be free, ever. Think about that. John Jones, I think has somewhere in the range of six fights left.

He will never get out of that contract. unless they want to release him. There's nothing he can do to get out of that contract unless they want to release him. That is a personal jail that he has signed up for. How could you be in favor of that? I'm all for honoring contracts. Your word is everything.

I'm a handshake guy. If I give you my word, I am living up to my word. These fighters sign contracts that have no end date. And so now Dustin Porier will never get to test the waters unless they release him because there's multiple fights, five, six fights left on that deal. How could you be in favor of that? So yeah, you may complain that it's the boxing model. No, boxing is, look, when there's a guy who comes in and is willing to pay boxers,

there are a million different issues with boxing. The purses got really high and there's, you know, drama between these promoters and the sanctioning bodies and the rankings and the number one contenders and the mandatories and all this other stuff. the only thing I advocate for is for fighters to get paid what they are worth to be taken care of, to have options, that's what I want. And I would argue, if you're not in favor of that,

you're not a real MMA fan. You're a selfish MMA fan. You don't truly care about these fighters. They may all be rock'em, sock, and robots like these little toys to you. But for me, they're human beings with families, with injuries, with bills, with mortgages, with health issues, all this stuff

that they need to take care of. And the window, as Dana White likes to say, is always so very small. But you listen to the bullshit that very, very, very rich people who are made for life, for generations, you listen to the bullshit that they spew to you and you believe it because, yeah, it makes sense and they say it with conviction. Let's see how many of them want to sign up for deals that lock them up for life. I wouldn't want to do it. If I signed a deal with Yahoo and it was not for years, but it's like, hey,

You've got to do X amount of shows, and it's a crazy number, and God forbid, I can't make those shows. I'm stuck there forever. Now, I'm not trying to say sign a deal and sit out, but guess what? You don't get paid if you don't fight. So why would any fighter sign a three-year deal? Let's say we went to the year model. Why would any fighter sign a three-year deal and sit out? They want to get paid, but they also want to advance their careers and move on.

And guess what? Things change, plans change, goals change. These guys can never see what else is out there. Jalen Brunson played for the Mavs, wanted to stick around. They didn't offer him a good deal. He moved on. He went to the New York Knicks. He's now an even bigger star. This is called free agency. Collectively bargain. You're the WNBA players. WMBA players get made fun of all the time. Oh, the league isn't good. They're not tough. They're this and that. These women stood together, fought for what they believed in, planted their flag into the ground and said, we are going to fight for our rights. We're going to show up at a WM. game wearing a t-shirt saying pay us what we're worth. They have bigger balls. They have greater courage than the toughest SOBs on the planet. Think about that. Think about that. These WMBA players that I'm sure fans like you make fun of who say you're not worth their time, they're not worth your time, they're not tough. It's whatever, it's girls playing basketball. They have more

courage and bigger Cahones than these tough SOBs because they stood up for what they believe in. And now look at what they're getting. Look at what the minimum pay jump to. 600,000. you're out of your mind. That's what I believe in. I don't believe in a boxing model. I think boxing is screwed up and splintered and a mess filled with politics. I believe in fighters getting treated right

and getting what they deserve. And you know what? Every single one of your favorite fighter out there agrees with me. They're just not in a position to talk about it. And I don't begrudge them for that. Don't get me wrong. They're in a tough spot.

But I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't talk about what I believe in and talk about what's right. And that, in my opinion, is right. what is right. It's not because I'm trying to take down this guy or that guy or this promoter or that promoter. No, it's what's right because I see what happens at the end when they're broken. They are broken with nothing left to show for it. That's what you want. That's what you want. You want what's happening over in Hawaii with the prodigy? Is that what you want? Get out of you.

What else, Frankie? What else? Is there any chance that Eric the Jackhammer Jackman don't the custom pink shorts. Wow. Is this happening? Did I miss it? possible. Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? PFL rebranding? Hear me out. What if they become the Global Fight League

and inherit a sick theme song? GFL was teasing something recently. That ain't happening. It's a great tune, and they should license it. But that is not happening. Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? All they have to do is drop the P and enter the G, but split the G.

Should we call them out? Oh, what else, Frankie? What else? Get Riyadhs easy to be involved, help to cover the cost of Katie Taylor event. deserves it. Yeah, they don't seem to be on the best of terms at the moment, and they haven't promoted many women's boxing events, but that would make a lot of sense. Eddie can afford it. Matrum can afford it. It's just a matter of, you know, the politics and all the stuff that PT spoke about. Hopefully they get it over the line this time. What else, Frankie? What else?

Had Jones and Pereira been made out for the White House, would it have been for an interim or for the undisputed title? Can't see Jones going for interim. Had Jones Pereira been made made for the White House, would it have been for an interim or for the undisputed title? Oh, uh, did it have to be for anything? I had not heard, so I'd be speculating. I had not heard if it was for interim, for undisputed, or anything like that. What else, Frankie? What else?

PFL's John Martin seems like a very laid back guy and likable. Surprised you didn't ask him about PFL Canadian Broadcast deal. Any update? I don't know. Canada is underserved fanbanks. You're surprised? I mean... Sorry, sorry.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah, it is. Where does the PFL air now? I mean, I don't know if you know this, but I don't live in Canada. That's not to say that I don't care about Canada, but it's just not top of mind for me. The big deal is the American deal. Yeah, I don't know. Aaron Bronsetter definitely knows.

TSN? Maybe? I'll get back to that. What else, Frankie? Since the White House card isn't officially sanctioned, not on their record,

little steroids be legal. No. ABC is overseeing it. It's going to be fine. And, of course, could you imagine if everyone's just juicing for that? Quite disrespectful.

Everyone shows up looking like super jacked. What else, Frankie? What else? Do local fighters get paid more for not flying? Hmm. No, because it's not like a thing.

It's just, you know, They're just paying, you know, for your accommodations, for your transportation. They're not taking it out of your purse. If you want more flights, they'll take it out of your purse. Believe it or not. What else? I mean, like, you've given per diems to just the people who are coming from out of state. Is he talking about per diem or is he talking about the flight?

I think it's like you got travel expenses paid, right? Why not give the locals some extra cash? Or maybe they do. That's how I'm reading that. Yeah, I'd be surprised. And lastly, Ariel, any WWE interviews before WrestleMania planned? It's been a while since you've talked with any WWE talent. Imagine Lesnar and Heyman or Ova or Roman and studio.

Oh, it would be great. It would be great. It would be great. Would it be nice if we could... Let's see. Let's see. Let us see. Let us see.

Let us see. Let us see. This is around the time where, like, Rick says, like, don't say anything. Well, I'm not Rick, so go ahead. Burn all the bridges, right? Burn all the bridges. What else, Frankie? What else? That was the last one.

A great day was had, but it is time to go. I actually have to speak to Syracuse University very soon. I thought we were going to be done at like 4.30. If only someone was in control, how long the show. The main thing is, yesterday I had to stay a little extra, and everyone left, and it made me sad. We had to queue up outside of the stage. studio to say goodbye and that was great but now I want you guys with me yeah I'm out of here I want to be in the trenches with you these guys couldn't leave fast enough oh my god

dan's gone andy I haven't seen her in an hour Dan's gone too yeah well Dan and Frank came to say goodbye the rest left me high and dry I mean you were a little busy I was you know I was doing stuff yeah they want to interrupt conspicuous by its absence though was the flon that you made. Okay, okay, wait. You said this earlier. Yes. And I was under the impression that Connor had taken you a plate because he brought his plates. All of us got some. In fact, in fact, when we were done, I was so excited. Like, the flam was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the day for me. And I was like, oh, I can't look fantastic. I'm sure, I've tried your cooking before. I'm sure it was going to be like a freaking nine out of ten at least.

The problem is the flon doesn't keep for very long once it came out of the fruit. And it was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't. I looked in both fridge. Like, there was nothing. So there was literally a tiny piece by the time I went to grab it. Who ate it? My husband.

I took it home. Wait. I understand that. But what about the rest? It was a massive thing. Hey, man. You want to stay in the studio all night? Golly.

Well, I hope he enjoyed it. I'll make you one. He could get it any time. These are facts. Very selfish, if you asked me. Sorry. Thank you. It was a nice thought.

Francis, John, Jean, and Sebastian. Thanks to you, thanks to that back to Marcy Thomas, this is a piece of bed here.