The Ariel Helwani Show - Francis Ngannou, Tatsuro Taira, Jalin Turner, Chris Duncan, On The Nose, more

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

Ariel Helwani begins the show by reviewing the latest war of words between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili after it first appeared they'd buried the hatchet (02:19).Francis Ngannou returns to talk about being approached to fight Jake Paul, his prediction for Paul’s fight against Anthony Joshua, his relationship and contract status with PFL, who he might fight next, Ciryl Gane’s eye-poke on Tom Aspinall, Alex Pereira’s chances against Jon Jones, and address Dana White’s claim that Ngannou put hands on him (16:50).Ariel hits some news and notes and answers a few questions (1:02:28), before welcoming Chris Duncan back to the show to discuss his thrilling UFC 323 win, feeling that Terrance McKinney fights scared, sacrifices he’s making to become a champion, Donald Cerrone being his favorite fighter, and more (1:30:16).Jalin Turner joins on the heels of his first-round finish of Edson Barboza to talk about sharing the cage with a legend, overcoming mental hurdles and personal tragedy to make it back to the UFC, plans in motion for a massive 2026, and more (2:03:59).Ariel answers On The Nose questions about champions of years past facing modern stars, timing for UFC’s White House card, and more (2:25:22).Tatsuro Taira stops by to recap his big win over Brandon Moreno, witnessing the injury to Alexandre Pantoja from cageside, believing he will fight champion Joshua Van next, being willing to fight Van anywhere but hoping for Japan, and more (2:58:31).Ariel does another round of On The Nose questions, before answering Super Chats to end the show (3:29:23).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Eria-Hawani Show. Back in your life! On this Wednesday, December 10th, 2000, and 25, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. I, in case you are wondering, am doing phenomenally well. I am so very happy to be here. I am in such a good mood on this Wednesday afternoon in New York City. And yes, it is very cold outside.

Still, it's not the night exchange. It's December. We're going to say, can you believe that weather? Yeah, it's December. Okay, we've all been around, you know, last like 35 or so years living, or more, 43 if you're me. I love when people, like, I'm celebrating the bills win, and they'll show a picture of my age, and they're like 43, I'm like, yeah, and...

Actually, the older I get, the crazier I get. What does the age have to do with anything? I don't know, I don't get it. Anyway, I'm in a great mood. You know why? The New York Knickerbockers punched their ticket to the NBA Cup quarterfinals. Actually, semifinals.

They wanted the quarterfinals yesterday against the Toronto Raptors. They punched their ticket to the semis. They're going to Vegas, boys. The Raptors were all feeling good about themselves, former champs 2019. This is big. This is big. You know, there's some deliberation whether or not we should be there, whether or not I have to go to see the celebration, the banner, the merch. I'm excited. I know it's the cool thing to crap on the NBA

Cup. Let me tell you something. NBA Cup tastes the fever, all right? We want the cup. We want the cup. I want the cup. So I'm very excited about that in case we were wondering. Another reason why I'm excited. Today's the Yahoo holiday party. And I was actually thinking about this. I've been in the workforce now since 2004, I think this is the first time that I've ever been invited to a holiday party in my life. And we all know that it was sort of like a late token invite. I wasn't really invited. I heard people talking about it. So it got a little bit weird there. But this is a big deal for me. Like I feel like I've sort of like graduated to a kind of a status. So I'm excited about it. I'm excited. We actually have two holiday parties this week.

And we had one last week, the uncrowned holiday party, which got really out of hand. Frank had to leave early was it was a little who me yeah it was a little you know you know people were saying things um HR yeah they're saying oh that's go that's a good that's a good and I remember that uh thankfully no video has emerged of that incident from yesterday so vibes are high uh for that reason uh we are inching closer to the end of the year a week from today we'll be going to Miami for Jake Joshua, and we announced yesterday, or maybe it was Monday. Was it Monday? Or yesterday? I don't know. Eight days from today, December 18th, live in the 305, kind of rhymes, evening time, location TBA, time 830. There's a new piece of information for you. Entrance fee, zero. Use your name zero.

password not required multiple guests big named guess not ready to announce them just yet but when you think of the 305 when you think of the fight scene when you think of Miami who do you think of who do you think of

who do you think of so there's your tip there's your little hint and it's going to be great everyone's going to be there the whole team's going to be there well actually except for on air Jordan but he's going to be back here

in HQ manning the station if you will and it's going to be great no entry fee okay so I need you all there I need as many of you there. Going to the Jake fight or not in the vicinity of the Kasea Center. So downtown, mark it on your calendar.

This is your save the date. We will be there on December 18th. Eight days from today. Can't wait. And then, of course, the fight on December 19th. So this is a lot to be excited about, my friends. And in addition to all of that, we have a super stack show for all of you today.

Five incredible guests. And first time ever, second on the nose of the week. yesterday. We crushed through the threads. Today we go back to the OG substack and there's a lot of questions waiting for us. Last I checked, 140. So I'll get to as many as possible. A couple comments in there as well. We'll do that later in the show. Back into the program, Tatsuro Taira is going to join us live from Okinawa. So it's like 6 a.m. over there when he's going to be joining us, which is incredible. Is he the number one contender in the flyweight division? Is he next for

the brand new champion, Joshua Van. Are they going to do this in Japan? What about his win over Brandon Moreno? What about the talk that it was in early stoppage? All that and more shall be discussed. Prior to that, we'll do some on the nose. Prior to that, we will speak to Jalen Turner, who had the big comeback fight, retired, came back, annihilated at San Barbosa, was great after. It seems like a change man, a new man. Lovely stuff from Jalen Turner as of late. We'll talk to him about that win at about three o'clock, 2.30, the pride of Scotland, the one and only Chris Bungard is going to be joining us. Did I say Chris Bungard? No, Chris Duncan. We had Bungard on the show last week. I was thinking of him because we just saw a picture of them together. Chris Duncan is

going to be joining us. The problem, who has become a big problem at 155 pounds, he beat Terrence McKinney in a crazy two minutes and 30 second fight that went back and forth. It was a lot of fun to watch it with my son because I was telling him like, look at these two guys, they're crazy. And then at one moment it was like, oh my God, the guy in the blue shorts is going to win. And then it was the other guy that's going to win. And then it was back to the other guy. And then it was back to the other guy. And then in the end, Chris Duncan wins via Anaconda Choke. Crazy, crazy fight. So that's at 2.30. The brand new UFC Bantamway champion, the pride of Russia, who was once champion before, who has now regained his title. The one and only,

Pejoriean, Mr. No Mercy himself, is going to join us at 2 p.m. And in about nine minutes time, Le Predator, the badest man on the planet, in some people's eyes, Francis Inganu will join us to talk about all the things that have been going on in his life as of late. Been a minute since we spoke to him, looking forward to that chat very much.

So buckle up, my friends. It's a great day to be alive and a great day to have a program, a great day to talk some combat sports. Five MMA guests on the program today. So for all you, you know, no, you know, you should be happy about that. Now, speaking of Peter Yan,

we have documented over the last couple of days the niceties between him and Marab Duwali Shvili. It appeared as though, despite the fact that he beat Yan did Duvali Shvili, 50 to 45, 49, 46, 48, 47, depending on who you may be, that there was, you know, some respect that was built in the battle. A nice little message there from Yan to Marab, quick recovery, see you.

I guess that's kind of like see you around, like see you soon, you know, that type of thing. See you know. A couple other nice tweets here between the two of them. We had a nice little, okay, that was like, you know, it was a subtle, it was a subtle little jab, but it seemed, you know, it seemed like a callback to a previous time. And it seemed like everything was, you know, taken in stride. question is what's going to happen in 2026 in 20206 hope you find a wife and kids I'm looking my friend you know this all seems very very nice seem like they were in a good spot even marab

appeared to be in good spirits seeing him here walking around the old jacuzzi yeah look at him hello anyone there yes nice little dip what's better than this look at this guy happy is. What does he say no about? I'm not quite sure, but he seems to be relaxing. Golly, I'd love to be in that jacuzzi right now.

Not with him, but like in a jacuzzi, I mean, like I'd just love to be, look how relaxed he looks. Look how happy he looks. You wouldn't hop in the cozy with Marab? I think I would.

I absolutely wouldn't you? Yeah. Get a little brew. What do they drink over there in Georgia? What's like their drink of choice? They got like a special like wine shot spirit thing. Okay. Orange wine as well?

So one would, you know, gather from all of this that everything's okay, right? Like they're friends. And then all of a sudden, Pyriyan lands back home in Russia. Look at this reception. That dude arrives as well with the karate combat belt. That dude, karate combat champ. Yes. His name?

Exactly. Not required. Look at this. Is that his wife and kid? kids? Look at it. Is that a son? Son's a legend. I think he is two boys. Look how happy they are. Okay, everything's good, everything good.

And then he's talking to the media. After the fight with Marab, you had friendly messages with him, the media says. Looks like you don't have a beef with him anymore. Marab, what messages? Could be my manager on social media. Syed is probably the one speaking with him. Oh, so would it be possible after a third fight you guys will train together? no no we won't be friends what what happened it was siott having a laugh i like siott so here's the thing

it's annoying when you're on social media and you know the manager is out there talking shit he was actually like speaking nice to marab he was being respectful he was being friendly he was being cordial anyway marab has clearly seen this footage he's caught wind of this and all of a sudden this morning, he throws a couple of tweets, Jan's way. First off, fans and friends, listen to this guy now, Peter Yan. Never believe a word he says. Just admitted he doesn't write his own social media. Said he had never said see you friend or said speedy recovery friend yesterday on Twitter wasn't him, quote unquote. How quickly he changes his mind. Thought he was humbled when I beat him in 23 and I was friendly toward him. Forget it now, liar, game on. He continues. Hey, Peter Yan,

you would be respectable if you really called me friend, but instead you chose these two as friends. Anatoly Malkin bet $50,000, never paid his bet like a real man. Mr. St. Patrick called out and cursed at my friend's mother. Then instead of taking me on like a man after I slapped his coward face, he made me pay fines and go to court. Yeah, you got some good friends there. I'm not sure what happened with the other guy, but it seems like things have changed rather quickly. So I'm curious to hear what Peter says about all of this.

But yesterday, you will recall, we did read a couple quotes from Marab saying that he received a call from the UFC saying that he is next. And then in a bit of a shocking twist, Rick was so pissed off. He was throwing things. He was like, this is crazy. These immediate rematches are getting out of hand. What the hell? WTF.

Look at him. I mean, I thought he was... He's destroyed. I thought he was like, you know, a part of the squad, you know? What squad? Mara? Yeah. I ride with Mara.

Everybody knows this. I'd like to see him get another win. That's okay, though. That's okay. Don't tell Reginald this. He's coming after. He knows where you live, by the way, Reginald. Yeah, he sold him to the house.

Yeah, exactly. You can take that house back if he wanted to. You could take it back in an instant. I was looking when you address Rick, it's almost as if he's like a high school or sneaking away. Yeah, what is happening? What is he doing? What could you possibly be doing right now? Are you literally playing during the show?

He's locked in. That's a problem. The phone is sideways, so I don't believe him. If that's happening, that's a problem. He's got this. Is the show that boring? It's not. This is the problem, not him walking down the street playing where we've had to help him dodge.

cars he's not playing magic the gathering during the show but it wouldn't shock i mean everything i've seen him talking to his wife he's he's feeding his baby playing magic the gathering one-handed walking down the street playing magic together okay by the way that's fine with me i thought you were gonna say i've seen him talk to his wife during the show do his errands get groceries i do anytime anytime he's out he's he's knocking off a couple errands he delegates all that to us so i'm over here slaving away stressing out four and a half hours mentally emotionally physically lost it after the program and you guys are just playing video games back there. My man.

We actually got a PlayStation 5 set up here in the corner as well. You just fucking run it up. Funk Harbor. 2K26? Where's the Panatoni that I bought for you guys? Right next to me. It's getting low actually. We need to restock on the game. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Talk about mailing it

in for the holiday season. That's it. Holiday party tonight. Let's do it. Let's see you take a swig. Do you get demonetize if that happens? Yeah, let's not risk it. risk it. Take a whiff. You guys toast it on air. Take a whiff. What's his great. Do you have to keep that... Oh, there it is. I see I bought that for the team. No one's even opened it.

No one's even opened it. Look at me. The man who buys it is the one that opens it. Thank you, Frankie. Thank you. Keep going. By the way, Frank, what is the significance of that tattoo? Star of David, no? Star of Javid. Is that a different one that I'm not familiar?

The Star of the Jesus? It's the one right next to the star of David. Frankie? Can you tell us, or is that too much intel? He said he can't do two things at once. He's not Rick. It's a hexagon, no? What is he doing? What's more important than explain? He's trying to open to the Panetone. Is it a fruitcake? We were getting into an argument about this earlier.

Is it not? It is. It is. I've only ever seen him in the grocery stores. I've never had one. I don't think that that's an actual Panetone, but I think it's in the spirit of Panetone. No, no, not fruit cake. It's like a bread. It's like a loaf that has like raisins in it. So it's not fruit cake. My favorite. I can't wait to break into it. It's like a fruity loaf. You know what I mean?

It also brought a sushi. Thank you for that. No. Sushi? Multiple sushi. I think sushi is plural. Yeah. Cats or cats?

Cats is. It's cats with a Z apostrophe S. Anyway, guys. I mean, I'm trying to educate you guys. I'm trying to make you worldly. I'm trying to. By the way, I'm not even. I'm not even a person who celebrates Christmas

and I'm giving you the Christmas treats. Yeah, I'm giving you. I'm going to go get Francis now. Could you imagine if you played that during the interview? Well, would be wrong with that? No. It doesn't go over well? I think actually he'd be.

It's almost like his catchphrase. Can you imagine if you're talking to him and you're like, oh. Stop. Stop it. I will admit, I woke up today saying, to myself, 30 million for the kitchen scrap. I was saying it to myself.

I walk around my house and it gets more cartoonishly Irish every time I say it. It's weird. It's the best. I don't know why I like it so much. And I don't even remember what the context was. You asked him about the 30 million for John Jones.

So he would take 30 million to get into a kitchen scrap? He said, I doubt they even offered the 30 million. Like 30 million for a kitchen scrap? I thought it was in reference to the 30 million that he was getting in like that Russian reality show I don't even Yeah

It was the Russian reality show And he got into a fight with a guy At the house And that's That's what he was referring to But what Why 30 million? No, that's not it

It's an expression It's an expression A kitchen scrap is an expression Or 30 million for the kitchen scrap is The expression is the kitchen scrap John Jones had been offered 30 million for the fight so he's saying he'll get 30 million to do a fight

and then it applied also to when he was saying he's on this reality show it's just a turn of phrase I'm still a little bit confused to be honest do we have our first guest yes you do okay all right he's probably thinking what have I signed up for

all right guys so still to come Peter Yan as I just said Tatsuro Tyra Chris Duncan looking forward to those chats very much also Jalen Turner but first, always a great privilege, pleasure, and honor to be speaking to this man. He is the predator. He is in some people's eyes the baddest man on the planet.

He is the one and only Francis Enganou, who is kind enough to join us on this Wednesday evening. There he is. Bonjour, Francis. Or no, I should say, I should say, bonsoir. Bonsoir. Yes, it's the oscar out here. Yes, how are you, my friend? I'm good.

I'm good. Life is good. well be grateful can complain remember you can get a lot worse that is true don't forget to be grateful when it's okay when it's calm amen amen my friend i i was hearing from people that uh you're quite slim these days like you're in fighting shape this is what i'm hearing well it's been a little while that i've been in shape you know i've been training things like since me. Wow.

I've been training things made. You know, have a different, trying different program, do some fitness program, you know, just to stay in shape, look good, and then,

you know, feel good. Okay, and so what are you training for? First of all, it's good to be in shape. It's healthy. Yes, of course.

Of course. Not necessarily to be for something. And secondly, I'm a professional athlete. So that's my job to be trained, to keep training, even if I don't have a bout soon. So when we spoke to you, it was like a couple months ago that we last spoke, and maybe a little bit more than that. And there were a few things that we talked about. So there's a lot to talk to you about. There's a lot to ask you about, but I kind of wanted to go in chronological order.

of the things that we talked about was your relationship with the PFL and you know some of the things that Don Davis had said and at the time you said you hadn't talked yet but shortly thereafter there was an event and I saw you at the event and I saw you with Don and I saw a scene in which it seemed like everyone was nice and friendly and all good so could you describe for us the state of the relationship with the PFL well um I think uh if I remember well even at that time I say I was very confused on that comment of Don Davis because that was little

not expressing the situation so that's why I was confused and afterward we get in a talk and it was all good yeah you cleared the air wasn't like me you cleared the air with him

yes I mean I'm trying to understand why he said such of things because we were basically on good terms there wasn't a point that we were like okay this and that and have a disagreement so it was all good yeah this is when he said that he was disappointed that you didn't come to the pfl africa event right and did he did he give you a reason did he explain himself and if so did you like the explanation are you okay with it well he has his own reason again and i also have my own reason not to go and

And not to mention, I was dealing with my own, with my own shit. Yeah. Okay. So now you guys, you think you're good? Do you talk now? Do you have open line of communication? Yes. I mean, I said that was a very isolated, isolated case who has nothing to do with something else, who wasn't related to anything else.

And then, you know, done, he's done. He said things how he comes, but. It wasn't that of a big deal. Since then, they've actually hired a new CEO, John Martin. Have you met him yet? Yeah, we met like three times. Okay. Yeah.

How was that? I saw him like three times, yes. Pretty good. It was a very friendly meeting. You know, I have to check a little bit. and looking forward to see what he's going to do as of right this moment have they offered you anything nope and i think that's the discussion that we're having

that's what i'm pressing out because i need that fight yes um they have a fight card this weekend in lion france uh and there's a heavyweight title on the line between uh henna fahara the guy who you just beat and vaidim nemcov it would seem as though the most natural thing would be for you to fight the winner especially if it's Nemcov

because you haven't fought him already are they saying anything like that No like by the way there were Nemcoff was the backoff of my fight against Serrera

and they even propose him as an option after but they didn't proceed with the conversation at some point. Are you going to be at this event? No. In France, no.

No, no. And so they haven't said to you, okay, we want you to fight the winner of this fight? No. At this point, is there anyone that interests you in the PFL roster? Well, anyone that can give me a fight? I think I'll be downfall. You just want to fight? I just want to fight.

It's been, what, a little over 11 months, a little over 13 months, one year and one month, and I need to fight. Sure. Even if it's Henan again, the guy that you beat? Let's see. Yeah. Well, it's not up to me, though, again. It's not up to me.

It's up to them. So let's see what's come out. in the midst of all this this news came out once the Jake Paul Tank Davis fight fell through that you had a conversation when Nikisa Baderian

asking if you'd want to fight this fight this Jake Paul fight you'd take the fight that eventually ended up being AJ versus Jake Paul could we get your side

of the story what was the conversation like and what was the offer that eventually you didn't you didn't accept no I mean

Nick I reached out and then let me was telling me that Giovante Davis is having some situation so it's not going to be in the fight anymore and they are looking for a replacement

and then they thought about me I'm like me how and you know I'm like yeah me to fight Jake Paul I'm like you know I was very confused like how come you go

how come you guys go from Jake Paul from Giovante Davis to me and he was quite confusing I didn't even believe that Did he ever even offer you amount of money to fight him? Let's say he was ready to pay

Okay I didn't talk money I personally didn't talk money but he was ready to pay. He said even if the money is right. Was it a good offer that you think he had for you? Which offer? I didn't tell you that he gave me an offer.

Okay, so he never even hinted that it would be in the ballpark of this fight or that fight. You had no idea if they wanted to pay you $5 or $50 million? They have an intention to pay me a good amount of money. Okay. And so why didn't you accept? First, I didn't, I don't know. It was so confusing. I didn't know what was going on.

And then afterward, I see the, after a couple days, I saw the AJ announcement. Then I'm like, okay. Then I'm curious to see it. I'm excited to see that fight, honestly. Are you surprised? Even now, like, huh? No, go ahead, go ahead. No, I say even right now it's quite surprising, right?

yeah so i was going to ask are you surprised that a j accepted the fight yeah but he has his he has his reason i'm sure he has his reason but again i'll see i'm very i'm looking forward to that fight are you surprised that jake went down the a j road and and eventually offered him a fight Are you surprised that he picked AJ to fight next? Exactly. I was surprised that he moved up to heavyweight.

Yeah. He's not going for less of a heavyweight. Like, that's why I wasn't even, I mean, I was very confused. Like, okay, what's happening? So I'm like, no, Jake asks for this. I'm like, who's Jake? once you found out that the fight was official was there any part of you that thought

maybe I should have taken it? No I think it's good to stay away and watch and see okay what do you think happens well fight they're going to step in the octagon that would be in the ring yes

what's going to happen no I know but who do you think wins what do you think actually happens in the fight I think AJ win I mean do you think otherwise I think there's a lot of people who think he's going to knock him out in the first round yeah I would say so

but what's exactly Jake Paul why exactly Jake Paul took that fight that's what I'm excited to see you know what is his strategy Do you think it's dangerous? Do you think it's foolish for his health to take a fight?

You've been in there with AJ. You know how good he is. Do you think it's foolish for him to take this fight? Not foolish, but again, I don't know the... I don't understand. He's the only one that can know the reason. And I'm sure they thought that true, right? He didn't just wake up out of the blue

and decide to pick AJ or me. or whatever. Just curious, Francis, for you, you've been in the fight game for a long time. One can make the argument that as of late, maybe in the last 10 years, from a skill standpoint and a resume standpoint, Jake Paul would have been your least accomplished opponent. I hate the word easy, but, you know, like, someone who's not really championship level right now,

considering who you fought as of late, right? AJ and Tyson and Steepay and all these guys, right? Surreal guy. and presumably they would pay you a lot of money to fight him why not just take that money take the easy money so to speak fight the lesser fighter and put some more money in your bank well um it wasn't about less um he wasn't about the money i think um i think he's about maybe from this fight he

he's proving that he's a uh he's that level of a fighter but i mean um i didn't just feel it i think uh i was i was looking or i mean i wasn't expecting that i didn't see that coming yeah that was like could you imagine like even if even if if you didn't hear from him from made already. Could you imagine like me I'm announcing you that, okay, I'm fighting Japan next. No, but I would have never expected Tank Davis versus Jake or

AJ versus Jake. None of this. No, no, Tank Davis versus Jake, I think that's made a lot of sense. Because, like, for example, that fight was quite balanced. Some people was Jake. Some people was Tank Davis.

You know, like, but this one, AJ versus Jake, I think besides the Jake team, nobody is really like, okay, Jake get this. Jake can pull this off. Again, maybe

he's going to surprise us. Maybe he's going to cement it itself in another level or pull up something. I don't know. Once they moved on, there was a back and forth like tweet storm, if you will, between the two of you. And some things were said from him to you,

you to him is it now personal between you two even at the press conference he was talking about you calling you dumb and all this stuff calling you a bad guy

is it now personal would you like to fight Jake after his fight against AJ because of the stuff that was said from him to you I would say no but in the other hand

because I really like Jake but in the other hand like this guy managed to get in your head to piss you off a little bit you are like a little bit yeah

and when you say you you mean your head right yeah like just to piss you off yeah yeah yeah I got you so you would like that yeah

maybe he's just to beat him off a little bit what if he loses if he loses to AJ do you still have that interest or would you only want to fight him if he wins well i think there's not i don't personally give a chance of him i mean there's

there's not a zero chance but he has a very less of a chance against aging okay so regardless you you'd want to fight him regardless next year well let's say if he survived that fight that means he has some he's at that level Okay. Do you think, do you think he crossed the line with any of the things that he said about you? What do you mean? You know, I have some of the tweets. He says that you're an actor, use your platform to speak on the youth of your country, posting a flag in. Instead of doing TMZ interviews like a con man. I sleep you in boxing. John Jones does in MMA, this stuff. My lane helped your lane. I spoke up for you over and over again. No more. Look at yourself in the mirror. God don't like ugly. all this stuff

well you have to understand Jake is very that's very Jake that's a very Jake type and then and most of this thing that he's saying

or all of the things that he's saying it's not based on nothing it's just him like trying to get to you because I remember Jake used to speak good about me the same Jake right yeah so

one last thing about this just to get a sense for your mindset so I want to clear it up because this is what has been said did you think that you were above the challenge is that why you didn't entertain the offer that it was sort of beneath you that it was sort of beneath you and your pedigree

and your skills and your resume to fight this type of fight was that the thinking yeah um Kind of, I think, wasn't the moment, and I think wasn't the kind of, yes. Okay. Honestly, I have that kind of. Okay.

Do you think, in retrospect, should you have at least listened to the offer and said, okay, if they offered you like a crazy amount of money, just take the fight? Or it's not about that for you? What do you say? Like, because you said it never got to the point where they made an actual offer. In retrospect, should you have listened to the offer? No, they made an offer. Okay, okay.

And was it on par with your other boxing matches? It was a very good offer, let's say that. Francis, why didn't you take the fight? You should have taken it. Why did you take it, Fossis? Why did you take it? No. No, okay.

You don't regret it? No. Okay. Okay, so then we go from that. In the midst of all of this, Francis, Dana White does an interview on a podcast called the Flagrin podcast with Andrew Schultz, and he speaks a lot about you in a very, you know, unsatisfactory way, in a very not nice way. You've seen these comments, I would imagine. Why, I'm in a surprise. So this time around, it wasn't just, oh, he's a bad guy.

he spoke about specific details, specific stories, instances where he claims you grabbed him or you grabbed Hunter Campbell, all this stuff. Can I get your response to this? Did any of this happen that he talked about on this podcast? Well, I think the best person to answer that question is in a way. You have to ask him whenever you have this chance, you ask him. Well, I won't have that chance anytime soon, but he has said it, right? So if I would ask him, he would say, yeah, I said it. That's my POV. The one that we haven't heard about this is you, right? So I would love your side of the story. You know, I kind of like, at some point, very ignoring to just have to be responsible of what people say. Basically, like, if they say this, then I'm out here going to basically defend

myself of what Deanna said or whomever. I think whatever he said, if he's in peace with, it's okay. But one might say that he's trying to, like, hurt your character, right? These aren't nice things to say about someone,

if not true. If not true. Again, why am I not surprise? Right. So you don't want to address any of it? No, I don't find it I don't find it important in it. I don't find it necessary

at some point he was but over time it's not anymore Okay, how did you get to that point to where maybe in the past you would want to respond but now you don't feel like you have to I don't know, maybe I'm getting home I really feel like I have less energy

for drama for staff Yeah, you know I just want to be a peace and people leave me alone, that's all. Do you think at some point you will be able to be left alone when it comes to Dana White, maybe even have a good relationship? Is this something that you would like? A handshake, hello, how are you, a cordial relationship? He should have been.

Yeah. We shouldn't have gone this way. Why do we get out all this way, first of all? Like, what's the purpose? How come do we get from where we were to where we are right now? In the other hand, I would just say it's quite disappointed the way that things went. That's all. Can I ask you point blank, did you ever put your hands on him?

On the Nile? Yeah. When then he must be the only person that I ever put my hand. well he said you and he said he said you did with him and hunter campbell where you grabbed his collar in his office that what he said right correct well i'm sure he has a lot of camera there so you would you would invite him to hey show the proof i'm not invite him to do anything I'm not in court. No, I know.

But you know, Francis, he's on a podcast. He's saying, hey, this guy's a bad guy. He put his arm. He put his hand on me. He did all this stuff. This is not a good person. That paints a picture of an ugly scene. And so if someone said that about me, I would feel probably the need to defend myself.

I didn't touch you. What are you talking about? You're trying to assassinate my character or something. And so that's why I was curious what your take on it was. Well, if any, if I, if, every time that somebody say something about you then you have to do that then it's going to be tough

as I said over time I just get tired of those stuff I really like I really like saw that and screw and screw and move okay I get past it I wasn't even

yeah I mean I shouldn't be thinking that you're going to ask me that I just leave but I'm long gone from that. Okay. I did see last week on, I think it was last week or two weeks ago on Instagram where you posted that like you're, you're very happy these days. Like you're in a good place. You know, you posted a picture of yourself. As, yeah, as I said, I focus on myself. You know, the more I get mature. I've been training, you know, working on my personal self, stay in my place. Like, I have to be remembered

so many time that hey you have to post something you have to keep your social media in life and all those stuff i'm like man i'm good just leave me in peace just leave me collect my peace and i feel honestly i feel pretty good you know uh life hasn't been quite easy lately so i need to reflect to to take a step back um deal with myself you know find my my uh my pace my space and then clear, clear the environment and then I think I'm in the good point of my life right now. And I don't want to let any negativity get in. Anybody can say or do whatever the one out there. I'm just inside my bubble here living my life, being happy, focusing on be happy. Hey, listen, I start doing a lot of stuff. Like I've been telling you,

about the fitness program, I do all this stuff, I do some meditation too. Okay, is that new? I was just going to ask you, are you doing new things to get to this point? Yeah, I mean, over time, like, a lot of things pile up, and then you have a lot of things to reflect on, and then you ended up being a meditation, basically, you have to put your mind on something and make a direction and, you know, self-speak. to yourself and do all the stuff and I'm good.

I was curious what you thought there was news recently that Rico Verhoeven left glory and is a free agent and my understanding is he's talked to the UFC but also has an interesting boxing offer on the table. We've talked about this after your last fight a few months ago. I was like, oh, this would be a fun fight.

You versus Rico. MMA champ. You've boxed glory kickboxing champ. Do you have any interest in fighting Rico now that he's a free man, he can do whatever he wants? Yeah, let's say if we get somebody to put a fight up for motor, why not? Okay, would you want that in boxing, kickboxing, MMA? What suit him best? I don't think he's, I don't think he has a chance in his standing.

chance in MMA, so maybe only boxing would be his own middle ground. Have there been any talks about that fight? No, no. Have there been any talks about any other boxing fight? Nope. What about Deontay? Not both interested, but nothing advanced yet. Are you frustrated about that?

because I felt like the last time we spoke I felt like you were very excited about the idea of another boxing match Yes but why should I be frustrated just because the fight is not I'm not having the fight that I won or didn't that I won

no I'm not I wish I wish but no I'm not frustrated As far as what you wish you could do next MMA or boxing which do you prefer At this point, anything that I get, but I think it's going to be MMA since I'm getting very close on the PFR contract, so they have to give me a fight.

Okay, when you say close, what do you mean by that? Close to the end? Yep. okay when is that soon okay you talked about

wanting to fight John Jones at the White House right did I say that there was some talk about that you said that would be the biggest fight on Twitter you had mentioned that yeah I mean

yes if that's if that could have happened right what I'm what I'm asking is obviously that would be a huge deal we know you've always wanted that fight would your PFL contract end before that event happened so that it would work out to where you could explore that as an option? Yes. Oh, my dear.

This is interesting stuff, Francis. What do you think is going to happen? Do they have to give you a fight? If I were you, I wouldn't be very that excited. Why? What do you mean? This is what we get excited about. This is our life.

And your life and the sport, and we want to see you in big fights. That's true, but that fight being so complicated. I know it's complicated, and I know it's probably a long shot at this point, but I think what's interesting is you could be a free man again. Yeah, okay. I will be. You will be okay. So you don't think you'll resign with PFL?

I mean, first I need to have a fight and then in order for that I need to have a clear view on a fight because I don't really intend to, I don't really want to stay out this long. Is that the reason why you're not fighting for the belt? Yes, but yes, if there is a fight, but yes, if there is a fight, why not? what do you mean by why not why not what no why not we sign with the pf okay okay but why aren't you fighting this weekend like they have a heavyweight title that they're instituting now why aren't you fighting vadeem nemcov

why don't you ask them i don't i don't know okay i just tell you that i didn't know i wasn't even aware of that fight uh until it get announced okay is that like would you have been able to fight this weekend were you available were you ready to go with the... I'm available. I just tell you

I've been training things made. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't make sense. Yeah. The only thing I could think of is... And I'm in a very good fight ship. I heard, I heard. But the only thing I could think of is

they know your contract is coming to an end and they don't want to have you fight for a belt with your contract coming... If you have one fight left and then you win the belt, now we're in a situation again where you're looking at the same circumstance that you dealt with when you were at the end of your UFC contract.

No one puts a belt on someone at the end of their run and contract. So that's why I was thinking maybe that's why you didn't get booked in this fight. I don't know. I have no idea about that. Is there a possibility that your contract runs out before you get that last fight? With the... There is the time. So, only they will know.

Okay. Are you getting anxious? Like, are you ready? Like, you seem like you're ready to go. I'm ready to go, but I'm not getting anxious. Okay. Yeah. That's fair.

I'm ready to go. Did you see the Tom Aspinall surreal gunfight? I did. What did you make of that the way it ended? Well, you was frustrating. I understand that. a lot of people weren't happy about it but I think he wasn't he wasn't I mean it is what it is he happened it was an accident and yeah and I saw that Tom get a lot of

criticism of like calling out the fight which I think he did he did where he did he took the right decision you know like uh when when you're fighting somebody like a lead striker like syrian gun you better be seen what is in front of you and if your vision is compromised especially with uh with with a finger uh with a finger or something yeah i think it was a right call he was a right decision and i understand that people who are frustrating that the fight didn't get through, but yeah, he wasn't his fault. Afterwards, Tom has come out and said Cyril is a dirty fighter, that he poked him in the eye multiple times,

that he does this, that he showed this clip of John Jones. You know Serreel, you train with him, but you also fought him. Do you think he's a dirty fighter? No, I would not say a dirty fighter. I think, like, he keep the distance. extend his hand, and then usually in MMA with a small globe, people that have the habit to extend their hand,

they are most likely to fuck somebody in their eye. It's not intentional. It's just how it is. Okay, so you don't consider him that. No. I mean, well, you can just take everything that somebody is saying out of frustration or something, no. Who do you think wins in the rematch? everybody anybody can win that fight yeah so it's just where whomever you pick even though

i will give it this slight advantage on the syrian side but anybody can win you know Alex Pereira wants to fight John Jones at heavyweight who do you think would win that yeah why why yeah do I really have to explain why I think John could win Alex Pereira

why you don't you don't think it's a close fight hmm let's say it's little they are a little close but on any

on any aspect of the fight John John is basically a head on everything okay it's not like there's a balance this way and that way so

the sum of it at the end make it a big chance from Jones because if you take like a grappling, wrestling, striking I think you still give John Winner on all those

level. John has confirmed that he turned down $30 million to fight Tom. Did that surprise you? No, if the fight I think it's comfortable enough to pick whatever you want to do.

Yeah, but he might not get that fight. It seems like they're mad at him. He may not get what? Because now he wants to fight on the White House card, but Dana White said he doesn't trust him to be on the White House card so he's not going to put him on there.

I don't know. I think the White House card is to fire away. A lot of things can happen. Sure. What's not far away is the PFL Africa finals, December 20th. Will you be there? Yeah, I'm planning too.

I'm planning too. Let's just see how the situation is going in Benin. but I was scheduled to go to the PFL Africa and when you said let's just see how the situation is going where in Benin that's the that's the the region that's where the fight yeah that's where the fight is going to take place and what do you mean by situation well they have some some little situation out there right now that they are dealing with

Oh, like a political situation? Like, you're talking about, okay, you think maybe the event might not happen? I think so far we've been confirmed that everything is under control and that the event will happen. But let's see. It's not everything is necessary yet. Now that it's kind of wrapping up, how do you feel about the state of business? PFL Africa.

What do I fear about? You know, it's coming to an end, right? These are the finals of PFL Africa. So now that you kind of have a sense for how it played out for the first year, how do you feel? Well, for the first year, he was good, it was pretty good. Of course, there is a lot of things to work on, a lot of improvement and also a lot of experience moving forward.

But for the first years, it was good. I was in Rwanda. I was in Rwanda, and there was a pretty good show there. And people were very excited about that. The country was very excited about the event. The arena was parked. And promise a good future. Yeah.

By the way, speaking of African fighters, have you seen this young man, Atiba Gautier? Yeah. Looks good, right? look sharp strong sorry very strong very strong reminds me of a young francis and ganu different weight class though yeah but so strong they can be strong at any way class have you spoken to him do you have a relationship with him no no no we haven't made okay i did see you with alster ovarim recently yeah we met in dubai yeah so you're friendly your buds we had we had it didn't it amazing

How was it? It was good. I mean, we actually had a great time, you know, talking about life, about stuff. It was good, sharing experiences. Amazing. Yeah. I'll let you go in a moment, Francis. But can I just ask bluntly, if it was up to you, can I ask the opponent, the sport, the month, the location?

Can you tell us what you want as clearly as possible? What I want? Yeah. I want two things. I would say two things. I would say John Jones and the only Wilder. Okay. That's very clear.

Wilder and boxing, John Jones and M.A. Absolutely. Do you feel confident that that can happen next year? Confident, no. But there's a chance that everything can happen. Sure. Yeah. I feel like the Wilder fight is easier to.

to make right now than the Jones fight? Absolutely. So how come there's no talks? It feels like this is the perfect time to make it. It's not, the timing is good for sure, but there's still a lot of elements to put into it. Did you see? Modern time.

Sure. Did you see Usik say he wanted to fight wilder? Yeah, I mean, What you can see right now is that in the landscape, boxing landscape, a heavyweight division, basically, there is kind of like a pause and nobody is really kind of like active. Right. And regarding John Jones, can I just ask? Because again, you know, we sit here for hours talking about this stuff, Francis. I know you're living your great life over there, but this is what we do. We have. We have a lot of time on our hands here to talk about you and your life and the heavyweight division. And so just so I understand, if you could tell us, when the PFL deal is over, is there going to be another whole year that you have to sit out again, like with the UFC?

Or could you sign with someone right away? Because we want to see you resume your career and be active. You know, that was a whole long, drawn out thing a couple years ago. That's what I want to do as well. No, but a couple years ago, remember, he was basically out of, I had any surgery, though. Sure. But they did have that period, right,

where they could, like, exclusively negotiate and then match, so it was that whole thing. Yeah, there was a period, but it wasn't also just about the period of negotiation. Okay. Yeah. But, no, we don't have that. Okay, that's good.

So true or false in the year 26, Francis Ngano versus John Jones happens True or false Yeah, no, that's the question for you You tell me true or false I don't have I don't have hands on it You know, okay

So I'm not a decision maker Would you be open to going back to the UFC If they're interested Would you be open to talking to them I know it's not as easy as just saying yes But like are you open to Reigniting that relationship at least talking about it.

Well, that's what I was doing before he fell off. Recently? No. I mean. Back, okay, before the PFL. Okay. Yes, that's what I was doing. No, no, I know that.

But I mean, now, once this deal is over, would you be interested in? I don't know. Wait until it's over. Okay, okay. Okay, okay. Because I think you had a good relationship with Hunter and some of the other people there, right? pretty much with everybody right yes okay

okay is there anything is there anything that I didn't ask you about that you would like to say about all the stuff that's been said over the last couple months regarding you no you're the one asking me for stuff no I know I know too much stuff you might say

yeah that I have moved on on most of them or forget. You've moved on. You're not worried about it. You've got a big smile. You seem to be very happy. Well, I am, man. Like, at the end of the day, you know,

with the past even this couple, what, a year and a half or two. Yeah. You have to reflect about yourself. What's the purpose of life? What are you looking for?

What do you take for in order for you to be happy. I remember when I was just looking for something for a food to eat. I remember when I was just looking for someplace to sleep and I was like, wow, that would be a dream. And then what happened when you have all that and then you still not happy? Like what exactly are you chasing? Why can you stop and then take a moment and be appreciative of whatever the life that you are having. Remember when you dream of all the thing that you have, you have now, the life that you have now, like, what did it take exactly to be happy? You know, you should just go out there, oh, I want these, chasing that, chasing at the end of the day. Is that making you,

is that the thing that are going to make you happy? Not necessarily, not if you skip, skipping skipping them and then move forward you know living the moment in full and I would imagine being active training competing makes you happy as well do you think we'll see you in the first half of 2026 do you think we'll see you fight you can see me any time if it's as I said I'm ready if it's in something pull up in January February I'll be I'm down Okay, well, that's soon. Yeah, so I stay ready. Okay, they have an event in February is their first event,

but I think it's pretty full at this point. But it's in Dubai, so maybe they can make it happen. I'm here. Okay. I have no problem traveling going anywhere. Okay. All right. Well, I hope that it works out.

It's great to talk to you. Great to have you on, Francis. Always great to have you and pick your brain a little bit. And let's see what happens next week. You're going to be there? Yeah, bring me a little bit. Where? Jake Paul, Anthony Joshua, maybe in the front row?

No. No. He's in America. I'm not in America. No, I know. I thought maybe you'd be there, say, you know. No. But I would have, if I was there, yeah.

You would have gone. I would like more like to see that closer. Yeah. Okay, let's see how it plays out. Let's see how it plays out. Thank you so much, Francis. All the best to you. best to you. Joyo Noelle.

Joyneuel, are you? Yes. And enjoy your time, enjoy your holiday season, and appreciate you always coming on. We appreciate it very much. Thank you. Have a good day. Same to you. A good night as well. There he is. The great Francis and Ganu, The Predator, kind enough to join us

to talk about a whole host of things that has been going on as of late. We can dissect those back into the show. Remember, second on the nose of the week going down, back end of the program. Ariahawand.com right now, 147 comments.

Golly! But we will get to them, I promise. A lot of stuff here. Coming up in a matter of moments, Peter Yan, the brand new UFC Bantamweight Champion is going to join us to talk about obviously the big win over Marab, the rematch that transpired this past weekend, UFC 323, the final UFC pay-per-view of 2025, the final UFC on ESPN pay-per-view,

the final UFC pay-per-view ever, or at least for the next seven years. Second to last event of 2025, obviously there's one this weekend. At the apex, Brandon Royval, Manel Cap. In fact, yesterday we were playing some sound of Mark Shapiro, president of TKO, talking about Zoufa boxing, and them holding their first event on January the 23rd, the day before the first event, which is January 24th in Las Vegas, no location yet, no fights yet. He also talked about the amount of events that will be airing on CBS as well as Paramount Plus. We were trying to figure out, like, okay, how many of these are actually going to be on linear TVs? Is it all going to be behind the subscription payball?

What is going on? He gave us some insight. Here's that sound. I mean, this deal calls for us to simulcast some of our premium content, either partially or in its entirety on CBS. So I think you could roughly expect half of our premium events, which are 12, one every month, if you include Abu Dhabi, there's 13, to have some semblance of CBS carrying our product, our properties,

our IP, our fighters, Dana White. to over 100 million homes, which should be really exciting and good for growth. And that's what we're trying to do. We're still a nascent sport. We haven't been around for 100 years like Major League Baseball or the NFL. We are 30 years old plus. So we still have a lot of educating to do when it comes to the sports fan on MMA, what that means, how the fights work, how you win, how you win a belt,

what the BMF Award Belt means, if you will. And we believe that, you know, given that we have 700 million fans strong globally, that it will draw more attention. And once you get a little taste of UFC, you're hooked, especially if you go to the event live and in person. The BMF Award Belt, interesting that that would be the one highlighted,

because I would say that's the least prestigious. What is more prestigious, being the BMF champion or the interim lightweight champion at this point? Would you rather, if it was up to you? G.C., what would you rather if it was... You got to go interim. Serious. I actually thought you were going to say BMF.

In being serious right now, it's interim, because that means you're getting the title shot next. I actually think the fans respect and sort of celebrate and admire the BMF more than the interim. That may be true, but you're not getting a shot at undisputed gold regardless if you have BMF. You might. With interim, you're almost guaranteed that spot. So, yeah, it's interesting that he highlighted that one. It might have just been top of mind, obviously, but some insight there, some insight into what we're going to be seeing.

We haven't gotten a full breakdown. You know, don't really know how many of the ZUFA events, Zufa boxing events are going to air on linear television. When I say linear television, that means actual CBS. So there's linear TV, which would be broadcast TV, would be CBS, like the big CBS, which is where that, you know, football game, Thanksgiving Day, and the NFL and CBS airs. Then there's cable TV, and they have CBS Sports Network, which has relatively low distribution. I think it's 30, 40 million homes.

Invicta's on there, coincidentally. And they've dabbled in, you know, other sports. There's college football on there, college basketball, stuff like that. And then there's the, you know, then there's the subscription app, P-plus, as they call it in the business, or Paramount Plus, which is, you know, it's without a doubt going to be the crux of this. whole thing. That's where it's going to, that's where they're going to make all their money back, putting it behind there, raise the prices. It's like the WWE on Peacock. They put all the PLEs over there, right? WW on ESPN, all the PLEs going over there. That's how you make the money back. By the way, no one told me this, but in Benin, there was a military coup. There was a short-lived

coo. Here is a report from two days ago over at the Associated Press. The short-lived coup in Benin left casualties on both sides of the government forces. And the soldiers, authorities said Monday as security forces intensified the search for the coup leader who was on the run. So I think that's what he was referring to. Anyone catch that when he said that? I looked it up as well attempted coup I didn't think it was needed to add anything No no no no of course of course

Hopefully everything is going well Hopefully everyone's safe and They can go on with their lives Yeah and have the event Most importantly right On December 20th I don't know if the event is at the forefront I don't think it's item number one

But maybe number two Two three Top five you know Tourism could be good at this time tourism people getting excited about you know an event france is coming to town uh which would be a big deal as well so yeah there's a lot happening all over the world there's a lot happening and uh not a lot of it gets uh highlighted why is that frank why does that happen why do some why do some regions get highlighted more than others why do you think frank

honestly don't know man oh thought you would as someone who you know spent a lot of time on red i thought you would have some insight into that. That's a very astute observation from you, sir. Okay. No one's helping me out here. Anyway, speaking of John Jones, he did a, I don't know if this is an interview or something, but we did see it on social media

where he spoke to a young man. This young man's name is, yeah, I was going to read it. We have it on the, yeah, there it is. Ose Abu now. Throughout my whole 20s, going home with a head. headache all the time from concussions. And now when that happens, I get really upset. I feel like I did

something wrong. Really try to protect that brain. He's speaking to someone here because after you get punched in the head enough times, your ability to see things coming goes away. So some insight there from John Jones, who I think is over in, oh, there's more. Okay. I've been teammates with guys who you couldn't hit, and then towards the end of their career, they couldn't stop. a jab. They just couldn't stop it. He's over in Thailand right now. Not a thousand percent sure as to why. But there's some good insight from a guy who has been around the game for a long time,

a guy who knows a thing or two about fighting. Another guy who knows a thing or two about fighting is Alex Volcanovsky, the Great. Alex the Great. Alexander the Great. He's been doing some media back home in Australia talking about the upcoming. coming fight, UFC 325, January 31st here in America. February 1st over in Sydney, he was asked about Moussar and Lerone getting skipped over for the Diego rematch.

Here's what he had to say. Were you kind of surprised that it wasn't Movsar or Murphy? Well, I called for Mavsar straight after the fight. Then I knew he was going to be fighting. Then he pulled out. I knew he was meant to maybe postpone and then he didn't take it. And I'm like, well, there goes your opportunity. So that wasn't long before I knew that that wouldn't happen.

That's the thing, man. I feel for him in a sense where I know he definitely deserved. That's why I called for him. But I totally understand how this game works. You can't be that guy. You've got to be the guy that's willing to fight anyone anywhere, put your hand up. Lorone did do that, Lorone did do that. Lorne Murphy, fought a guy, a short notice, in Pico, and got a massive finish.

So I thought it was going to be him in December. Then I knew the UFC were waiting for Jean-Silver and Diego. So I was like, oh, maybe it's going to be one of these. guys let's see what happens let's see if this is going to be a fun fight and it was and that's a that's where they went with it but um it don't matter uh we'll see what happens whether movzar and lorone fight somebody or each other prove themselves and then uh I'll fight them straight after so don't worry they won't miss their opportunity if they back themselves take on another fight then or wait whatever

whatever but I mean I don't think waiting's a good idea as I said take your opportunities just like Lopez did and then this is where where you'll be What's become very clear to me from all the stuff that Alex is saying is that he didn't necessarily agree with this decision. He's obviously going to fight whomever they tell him to fight. Pretty incredible that he said that he reached out to Mofsar when it seemed like they were going to fight. And he was campaigning for that fight. And then he was campaigning for the Lerone fight. I mean, it seems like Alex is very much a believer in meritocracy and, you know, all right, you're next. Let's do it. Not who will sell the most or who's the sexiest or biggest

name like, you're next, you're the guy right below me. You're the one who has the most wins in a row. You have the highest number or the lowest number near your name. Let's go. Let's dance. So he's being very diplomatic, but it also seems very clear that, and this is a guy who early on, before he got to where he is now and before he became a multiple time champion, he had to scratch and claw. He wasn't handed anything. They weren't booking fights to try to make him look good or get him into that title picture quicker than others. So I think he understands. that mentality he you know there was a time where people were like this guy's boring could you imagine that now with the cooking with vogue stuff with social media with how funny he is there was a time

where people thought vogue was boring that he had no personality there was too vanilla that he was too kind of you know just he was like an every man there was there was no edge there and and now he has really come into his own so i appreciate him saying these things i appreciate him looking out for others and ultimately you know he has to fight whomever they tell him to fight but i think he He's handling it very, very well. Earlier today, there was a press conference to officially announce the Shakur-Stevenson versus Tiofimo-Lopez fight, which is in fact taking place at the world's most famous arena. Madison Square Garden, the Mecca.

Man, what a fight. Probably the biggest fight involving two men at the top of the bill, because, of course, Tiofimo, Shakur, are two men. But back in July, we had Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano headlining. Back in 2012, we had them headlining as well. There have been some fights as of late, like Lomachenko fought here, Tiofimo, but like nothing like this. It has been a minute. It has been a minute.

Possibly, possibly, since A.J. versus Ruiz in 2019, you can make that case. And this is the face-off. Look at this. Oh, look at that. Any talking here? I'm seeing this for the first time. I didn't know if there was any talk. Okay, yeah, there's talking.

And they got the Ompalupa guy in the back there with the belt. You know it's a big deal when he's there. Oh, yeah. Oh, he's talking to Tio Senior. Yes, there he is. The takeover versus the pride of Brick City. Oh, I like all this talking. I like all this talking.

Oh, at the Mecca. It's about damn time We get big fights back at the Mecca New York City, baby Oh, he's got that ring belt right there Yeah Shakur moving up from 135 to 140 Oh, I love this

Great to see Shakur in some big fights And of course, both guys have ties to this region Shakur, Newark, Tefimo, New York Ah, this is going to be great Who's pulling up? Who's pulling up? Who's pulling up January 31st? Oh man, it's the same night as Volk versus?

Ah! What the hell? That was pretty bummed. Oh my God. I was pretty bummed. it actually just occurred to me. Yeah, we'd love to be there. Oh, my God.

Yeah, we'd love to be there, but can't. Man, man, man, man. Sick jackets, of course, got it. Yeah, that's nice. That is nice. What's we're talking about back there? Chatting with the guest. Oh, is he here?

No, no, no, no, just making sure everything's set up. No, but is Jan? Has he? Yon is not here yet. Oh, thanks. Appreciate it. Yeah, so there it is. Poster's out.

They got the MSG logo there, which I liked very much. And that's going to be on DeZone pay-per-view, I would imagine. Part of the new pass. How do you think the pass is going? It doesn't say pay-per-view, but I would imagine. See, a fight like this. Could you imagine if this fight wasn't on pay-per-view? I know you have to try to recoup the money, but, man.

Good to see the top-rank logo there. So they're somewhat alive and well. But yeah, man, let's stack this card. That is a tremendous. I love that fight. Winner gets Connor Ben. I would love to see that fight. I can't wait.

And it's actually not that far away. It's a little over a month away, a month and a half or so away. Incredible. In the city that never said. What a weekend? That's going to be. I know Nick's Blazers on the Friday,

so I'm trying to go to that game. My son likes Deniabdiya very much. And then Nick's Lakers on the Sunday. I thought it was back to back, but there's the Saturday slot open. So that is tremendous. That is tremendous. I love that.

Also tremendous is tremendous. is the announcement that WW Unreal season two is coming out. I saw this this morning, and I'm sure the wrestling community is losing their mind. WW Unreal Season 2 will be released on Netflix, on January 20th. Participants for the upcoming season include

Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Cody Rhodes, Ria Ripley, Pat McAfee, jelly roll, our truth, Eoske, Naomi, Chelsea Green, Penta, Lira, Valkyrie. I love it. I loved it. I liked it very much. I liked it very much. I liked it very much.

I was enjoying it. Of course, you know, there are parts where, like, is this a work? Is this a shoot? Is this a work that is being sort of like wrapped in a shoot? If you get what I'm saying? Are they kind of working us? Who knows? Who knows? I liked it. I liked it very much.

And I think it's cool that they're doing it in seasons. It's kind of like starting five. They did that with starting five. When did season one come out? It feels like it just came out a few months ago. It came out. Was it during the summer? Was it during like, was it June, July? May?

Yeah, July 29th. Okay. Yeah. So that it seems like based on the names involved that they shot it during the summertime because Jellyroll, of course, competed at SummerSlam. Who else was involved there? Our Truth, he was very much in the news back then. He got released, came back, so it would make a lot of sense to highlight those characters. Did you guys happen to see this new Tito Ortiz video?

New Tid Ortiz video? No, I haven't seen it. I was on to. Yeah, this one. this is nothing no i saw it this morning look at this right here what what what fuck i dropped that in so fast my hands were shaking what happened there he took nine gs bro what is this it's like a simulator for a fighter jet yeah he's taking g forces like what you would in a in a fighter jet so if you're sitting in a fighter jet that's what happens to you when you're like inclining very

fast yeah well you're they're also trained and then you know strapped in helmet so on. They know what they're doing. Each G is like normal gravity. Okay. Nine Gs would be nine times the amount of normal gravity. Okay.

And the face starts dragging and... Okay. So very similar to like if you just were to like jump in water and have all that water on top of it. Sure. But they're in the midst of like battle and this is happening to them? Well they're getting up to the battle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Climing. Sure, sure, sure. Maybe if you do a loop-de-loop. Or like an evasive maneuver. Yeah, evasive maneuver. So you don't want to pass. out during that, right?

And why did he do it, just to get the experience? Honestly, because the video came out like four years ago, I can't remember why. First you said eight years ago, now you're saying four years ago. I just stumbled upon it now, and surely the algorithm would only give me new stuff. Did you stumble upon it on stumbleupon.com?

Or way, way, is there a stumbleupon.com? By the way, is there a stumble upon.com? Oh, yeah, they used to be a big thing in like the 2000s and you would literally just click through, like, popular internet things. Oh, my God. It was pretty fun. Now it's called Reddit. Yeah, Reddit and Twitter is what it's called Right, right

The Internet Archive Okay, okay Let's see UFC legend Tito Ortiz Experience Fighter Judge In a centerfuge Successually reaching 9Gs Okay

This is the AI answer Let's see if we can get a Let's see if we can get a I'm seeing Three years ago on YouTube Alright so we're at least three years old Those did check I don't know why it popped up

I mean it's interesting I legit have never seen that before is this like a meme thing are people like dropping this into comments and stuff i'm sending jordan like what the meme that that people always share on on production this is the one that i mean ricks got it saved for sure somewhere and always that is an incredible face by the way we should go do a a g no i'm good i'm good stumble upon dot com nothing there ah shout to stumble upon then legend yeah this is the man wow that is incredible Yeah, oh, Rick actually has it up right now in his meme folder.

He actually has it? Two different faces, two different versions in the meme folder. So I dropped that in today and I'm like, yo, guys, let's talk about this. Yeah, let me tell you when I saved this. Not when it came out, but when I saved this, April 28, 2023. All right, it's not tough. Two and a half years. Seen this new video?

I was like, yeah, do you guys see this? Should we also talk about UFC 288 while we're at it? 288. That's just the pay-per-view that was happening. Oh, at that time? Oh, okay, yes. Who headlined that? 288 was Aljo Suhudo.

That's great. It's amazing how your brain is me from that previous period. I took the torch from 266. Yeah, you literally did. But I don't, there's a period probably between like 211 and 266 that is just blank for me. Yeah. And then the rest is blank. Yeah.

It's wild. I guess it's probably a product of being younger and then living and like breathing all this and it just kind of gets stored in your brain. And then at some point your brain just says, yeah, I'm good. Yeah, I think it's the living breathing. It's new to me. Yeah. Whereas like you've been doing this for years. It's fresh.

Also like doing the previews, doing the watch parties. It kind of becomes like ingrained in your head. Yep. No, 100%. All right. Well, I guess we're efforting, Peter Yan. Well, a big man on campus wins the belt. and now he uh he's late is that what happens you said we're offering we're affording who the

fuck is we yeah um maybe i'll grab a couple questions shall i do that before we get to our next guest christ duncan why not we've got a million here uh let's do it here we go time time it felt weird to do it again frank if i'm being honest uh oh from yesterday to today you mean yeah yeah what you got what you got okay what do i have what do i have um I saw something here earlier that I wanted to read, but now I can't see it. Here's triple double who says, I don't understand what Rick is thinking when words come out of his mouth. I can see G.C. just fuming. He said he was okay with Poetan getting an immediate rematch because it was close, but doesn't need to see the Marab rematch.

He literally had Marab winning the fight, and then two days later has the courage to say it wasn't even a close fight. What? I don't get it. Nobody's calling him out. Does he just talk because it sounds hip? My favorite part is... I'll address them one by one. Let's say it. Also, you had a very controversial Marab scorecard. He said it in the, he says it in the question. One was close and one was not. Like, you'd have to be a complete idiot like this person obviously is to not understand the difference between wanting to see something run back that was close versus not wanting to see something runback that was a one-sided affair. Secondarily, all I said was I'd be fine with an immediate rematch. If you're asking me my preference, I would rather see Marab get a win under

his belt before getting a rematch. Not something, not a hill I was ready to die. Okay, this guy's point, though, you did score for Maraub. Okay, now, addressing that part. You have Marab winning. Like John Wood, I thought Marab was the busier, more active fighter in those first three rounds. What did I say at the very end of the fight? I said, Jan 1, 4, or 5 definitively, I don't feel good about this scorecard. I do not think that that's how it's ultimately going to be. Round 1, everybody scored from Rob, so that's fine, right? Like, obviously, that's naturally fine. Rounds 2 and 3 were very close. I was off and acknowledged it. I said it on the day. No, I said it five seconds after the fight ended. I clearly had the wrong scorecard. So there's not

really much like there's not a debate about this you you are saying my scorecard was crazy i'm telling you my scorecard was crazy i agree with you i feel exactly the same way uh so ultimately like it all kind of falls apart when you're trying to pick pick this apart when everything you've said has been already addressed and also you acknowledged why your own point was absolutely stupid wanting to see a close fight run back is not the same as wanting to see something that you clearly you would have had Piotr Yan very far ahead of Marab right if you're asking this question

so why would you want to see it run back if he just mollywopped him like that doesn't make any sense so I don't know what to say to this person their critical thinking skills are not very high obviously and this is why I have a microphone and they don't one judge had it 4847

for Jan and everyone crapped on that guy you had it 4847 the opposite way yeah yeah can we talk about just like the level I've taken it to not only that I hit the 4946, but also before they read it, I was like, it's going to be 4946, 4946, and then one judge is going to have it 48, 47, nailed it.

Did it with the Wellmaker fight a couple weeks ago. I was chilling on the couch with my boy for the Ian Gary Blah, Muhammad fight also nailed that. I was like, yeah, it's going to be two 30, 27s, 129, 28. It's like, I've leveled up now to just nailing exactly how they're going to score cards, it will be it. I do want to ask,

does anybody feel like the first three rounds were not close? I will say, credit to Rick, those first three rounds, I was like, I was like, yo, I'll go. But I scored it 50 to 45 for Jan. And that's fine. To me, there's no debate over four and five, and the first three were close. That's how I felt.

If I have not watched it again, I am sure I would not score the first three for Marab again. Maybe the first, maybe even first and second. One judge had it that way. But I acknowledged that the moment the fight ended. I was like, this is not the correct scorecard. This is not how this will go. G.C., you're getting so good at this. You're the guy who's saying there's no way.

this is going to be unanimous, this is going to be a split decision. It's going to be a split. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this one's going to be a split. I love when people do that. Or when instead of it's going to be a split, they say, I felt like it should have been a split. It felt like it should have been a split. Because you can feel like it's going to be a split if you're like, ah, they're going to fuck this up somehow.

So say it should have been a split, that's the one. Or when there was absolutely zero chance of a 10-8 happening in a three-round fight or even a five-round fight. And they're just like, I think this is one is a draw. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's like, no. Now we're going to need a 10-8 or a 10-10 to get to the draw. I don't think we had either of those there. Here's give them what they want. Do we feel like I sufficiently address that? Yeah, sure, sure. Because I would like, maybe that person emails me all their scorecards. I want to see them. I want to see them, smart guy. I also will say, you know, we're not judges. Our score cards actually mean nothing. No, but. No, no, I take my scorecards very seriously and I don't appreciate that. G.C., can you blind rank these recreational outings? Yeah, I sure can.

Pickleball. This is out of five? I don't know how bad we're going to get, so I'm going to go four. Fishing? Three. Like a good fishing day. PRJ on the beach at sunset. Ooh.

Into the sunset night, fall, stars show up. You're sitting on the beach looking at eternity. We'll go one. Oh, wow. UFC PPP banger card. Fuck. That's a great one as well. We'll go two there.

I've never even been to a baby. No. Do you not look ahead a little bit? I got to start saving. I got to start saving my one slots better. I got to start saving my one slots. I read the film. Keep it together, man.

What is it? What is it? I already know what it is. I think you have it locked. indulging in Frank's mom's dump truck. Jesus. That's one. Everything has moved back one slot.

That's one. Got to Frank's mom's dumb. I really need to read these. You can't read them because it has to be blind, both to the giver and the taker. Oh, my gosh. That was a good laugh right there. That was a good laugh. A quick one or are we ready for our next guess?

Real quick. Steve Bouchemey says, did I hear you say kissing your sister on yesterday's show is some kind of saying, can you elaborate? You said it was, you said it way too nonchalantly and then moved on. We need the origin of the phrase. Have you guys never heard this term before?

I haven't. You have not? No. I also have not heard. Kiss your sister is a phrase primarily used in sports, especially American football, to describe a very close call or a near win that feels like a loss akin to the awkwardness

and lack of real satisfaction in its high game, quote unquote, kissing your sister, rather than a clear victory or defeat, often implying something almost happened, but not quite. It's also the title of some children's books like Kiss Your Sister, Rose Marie, about sibling jealousy and adjustment. What is the saying,

Kiss Your Mother's ass mean? No, I'm not sure about that one. Here's an interview where a guy says, a rugby player says it's a bit like kissing your sister. I don't remember in what context I used it does anyone remember but it's definitely a thing

it's definitely a thing okay just want to throw it yeah well there you go all right many more questions to come do not worry still to come Tatsuro Taira is going to join us Jalen Turner are going to join us but for now let us move along to our next guest

he was victorious on Saturday at UFC 323 an absolute frenetic fight the pace was unbelievable the action was unbelievable in the end he gets the win he's on a roll. We spoke to him a couple of months ago. He's on some kind of role. Flying that proud Scottish flag, he is the one and only Chris Duncan, who is kind enough to join us right here. Now, back on the program. There he is. Hello, Chris. How are you? Yeah, good, thank you. How are you really? Good to see you again.

Great to see you. Second week in a row for us speaking to a proud Scottishman. We had Chris Bungard in studio last week. an absolute legend yeah chris bungar's a good friend of mine and glad to see him on your show and getting the getting the the viewing he's always an exciting fighter an exciting guy so it's good to see the scottage on the up i love it yes he's some man for one man as they say as are you sure is he sure is uh i do have to ask by the way this this uh this method that you're using with the air pods this is one of the more unique ones that i've seen i mean the one on the left is hanging on for dear life over there. What do you have to do?

Like, lodge it in? Ariel, I've licked it on both sides and then I stuck it in my ear just to make sure it's stuck. Oh, my. Do you have to go through this like any time or do you use just like the big cans?

No, I just style it out with these bad boys make myself look terrible on screen. But I'm not in here for good looks, as you can imagine. You know, my face is pretty weathered over the years of MMA, but I'm past it now. I'm past it.

As you can see, my face is. all smashed up but definitely the air pods are a bit of a rough one for me even I can notice it myself I like it I respect it thank you for doing it what a fight man what a

freaking fight do you enjoy that are you happy about that or is there a part of you as a fighter who says like that was too much like we shouldn't get involved in fights like that it shouldn't be that kind of a fire fight I wasn't my fucking fault it hadn't he came at me

so to be to be honest aerial. Me and you both know that that was going to happen. Terence has beaten Slava, who guys beat me previously in the past. And if my MMA math is correct, that means I've got a win over Slava again.

So, like, you know, Teres McKinney is one of those guys who comes out with the machine guns armed and ready. I was ready for it. And as you know, in previous fights, I don't quit. So I knew it was going to come. but when it was going to come I don't know

I feel that Terran's sometimes fight scared but also can be very dangerous on one hand Terence has beaten very good guys in the division so I just had to have my wits about me and see to be totally honest with the area I tried to get hold of them

I tried to not get hit and try to not get hit with the knee but sometimes a good old Scottish saying that we say over here area was you've got to piss with the cock you've got So I had to piss with the cock I've got And just deal with it on the spot Okay, what would that mean?

Like, how would you use that in a phrase? Like, you've got to deal with the circumstances that are presented to you? Yeah, it's like, you've got to deal with the cars that you've been there. Yeah, okay. You've got to piss with the cock you've got. Wow. Would you say that's your mom? Would you say that's your mom?

No, no, definitely not. Okay, okay. But, you know, it's, we call it a little bit of slang or a little bit of curse words over here. But certainly on the night, you know, I didn't want to get involved in it, but I'm born and bred for this. And let's be honest, Ariel, you've been generalizing the UFC for many, many years now. And that's the type of thing that they like.

And that's why I'm saying to the UFC. And so here you are in a situation where you're going back and forth with him at any point, because it looked like at one point this was going to be super fast, and then it looked like he gained some momentum. At any point, are you dazed to the point where you're like, what the hell happened here? He's actually got me rocked. No, he didn't rock me at all at any point.

The knee, when it hit me, it hit me actually on the wrist. And I actually poked my own self in the eye. If you watch the video back, my eye was a bit dazed. And believe it or not, the knee to the stomach that he hit me with was the hardest shot that he hit me with. But I've learned from my mistakes. For instance, I fought Manuel Torres and make. Mexico and I was complacent in the exchanges and got caught and since then I've never

feel like that again. I'll never get caught out. I'll never get caught cold so I knew it was coming and I knew it was only going to last for at least around and well anybody who studies MMA and knows Terrence McKinney sorry knows that he has that in the first round and after that you know it's kind of it's kind of dead in the water so we did plan for that and we're looking to take him into the second and third round and finish him. You did say something interesting about him that I not quite heard before. You said that he fights scared at times. Why do you feel that way?

I don't want a bad mouth him at all here. I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way. But I've actually followed Terence McKinney for a long period of time now. And I've heard through the gyms and through different people that he doesn't train very hard. and he's a nightmare to train in the gym he doesn't like to drill he doesn't like to do the netty gritty and I actually found a video of him online

that had mentioned that they were wishing him happy birthday via the gym and they had said that he seems to put it up on the night he seems to manage to perform on the night and to be locked in a cage with myself that's the wrong person to be locked in the cage with on the night because I do all of that

I do all of the extra miles, I do all of the extra rounds. I am a very good learner. I'm a good student and I listen. And that filled me with absolute confidence when it came to the fight. And, you know, in the gym I'm in, as you will know, American top team. We don't have any guys that are in there. We have easy rounds. And it's just one of those things that I was just, I was ready for war and I was ready for everything.

When it came to fight night and, you know, that plays a part of it. into it. That filled me with a lot of confidence throughout the fight. I know there was some back and forth between you guys, a bit of a history, but it seemed afterwards you were speaking that there was respect and love and admiration, all that gone away?

Oh, Ariel, there was absolutely nothing. It was just like little tit for tat online. He said I missed weight for some reason. He'd said that I was due to my purse because the scale hadn't touched the thing. There was loads of small things.

but that's just I would maybe call it like being hungry obviously dieting that much and you know just the nervousness of the fight and all these sorts of things they kind of brought that on

it was just a little bit of selfish banter back and forth no ill will to each other and got mad respect for the guy and yeah I still feel that Terrence McKinney is one of the most dangerous guys in the division by the way speaking of eating calories

all that stuff is it true you weighed 188 on fight night yeah with 188 with my t-shirt and my pants on and my socks do you usually weigh that much yeah so that would probably be equivalent between 183 and 184 okay without my pants on so I'm usually walking in there anywhere between 180 and 185 depending on I cut a lot of weight aerial to be totally honest with you

in the back of my mind the next step for me would probably be London in March but I think I'm probably going to have to take a little bit of time off. I'm not too sure if I'll be able to make it. Maybe, I don't know if you know Kayla Harrison. We obviously know, Carol Harrison. She takes a little bit of time off between camps because of the crazy diet and that we do.

And I think I might have to do the same. Throughout this fight camp, I was a little bit behind. Eric Pena is my nutritionist. And he had me pretty low anyway, but me like the kind of person that I am I always do a little bit extra so I would do extra runs

and I would also cut calories when he hadn't asked me to just because I knew I felt I was a little bit behind and believe it or not I'm a personal trainer slash nutritionist myself back home so I cannot understand

how my rest of the metabolic rate works and how calories and macos work so I did a couple of days that I fasted or I did a couple of days I only ate about 1,200 calories just to try and catch up because I was a little bit behind and I cut 15 pounds

on Thursday through Friday and that's pretty much what I do every single fight camp believe it or not I cut 18 pounds in Paris when I won via guillotine and when I got the bonus and that's because I took the fight last minute

man that's it maybe you consider 170 no not just now I'm not going to I'm not going to fix what's not broken I am going to fix my diet and I am going to try and fix things

to try and keep my weight you asked a little bit lower like pre-camp I've not been eating too much since I've got home I haven't put too much way on believe it or not my weight has actually came down again since fight night because I've been kind of holding back on food

it's just a little bit of discipline I think you go through these stages of being in camp and you've been working so hard that you feel that you need the break and I think just to be professional and the short career that the UFC will give me I think I just need to be a little bit more stringent

with my calories and a bit more disciplined long term. What are some of the things you need to cut out in between camps? What are the problems? So to be honest with you milk would be one and so I worked out, you know, a pound or two pounds of body fat is around 3,500 calories and I worked out if I had 250 mils of milk, it's about 120 calories a day.

So over the period of time, over eight weeks, that was an extra two pounds I would lose, so I cut milk completely out of the diet. You know, calories are calories at the end of the day. So if you still log and track and trace all your calories It doesn't really matter what you eat in regards to calories You could eat McDonald's like Joshua Van But he just might not have the same appetite as that I do Or the physique that I do

It's all about personal preferences And also people's hunger and how people eat Because some people eat completely different Some people like a breakfast in the morning Some people don't So it's not so much certain types of foods. It's just more so the quantity. So how do you explain what's going on recently

because you've won four in a row, three of them via sub. And then prior to this stretch, your last submission was in your debut back in 2018. Where are all these submissions coming from? I couldn't tell you, to be totally honest with the aerial. I'm a very well-rounded fighter. I've been working on that since day one.

I think a lot of people respect the stand-up and maybe don't respect the ground game of myself all the guys at ATT know that a lot of guys put good money on me at ATT I'm sure of it but yeah I've just been getting better as a fighter since day one I wasn't naturally a grappler

I've had to work on it and that's been a part of being a good MMA fighter. If you're in the UFC, it's not just as simple and it is easy just to be a striker or a wrestler anymore. You need to have the best of both worlds. So to this

day, I'm working on every facet of my game. Striking, boxing, kickboxing, MMA, jiu-jitsu, and I'm just getting better every single day. And obviously the results are showing that. So right now, really interesting time in the division.

As you know, there's the lightweight title coming up. We don't know what's going on with Ilya. Patty versus Justin was announced a couple weeks ago. They had the face off on Fight Week last week. How do you feel about the state of things right now? I know there's a few steps more for you to get into that picture, but just looking at the top, it seems like it's a little bit convoluted at the moment.

Yeah, it seems a bit backwards at the moment, to be honest with you. Like, there's no, like, set rule to, like, how you get to the top 15, or there's no set rule of, like, how you stay in. and all that sort of thing. But I think deep down the side, I think if I just stay true to what I'm doing right now and keep winning and doing all these things and the UFC line them up and then I knock them down,

they can't turn me away from the top 15. It's going to happen eventually. I think two or three more fights, I'll get the top 15 shot. But as of now, Ariel, I don't know about you think, but it's probably better for my career to fight up to the top 15 rather than just hopping right into that right now.

there's time for me to grow I'm still young in the sport I've only been in the UFC four years and I'm getting better every single day and the gym I'm at an American top team I can't flag them enough for what they've done

a lot of people always say bad things about a big gym like that for whatever reason they say that you don't get the attention that you need it's been the best thing that's ever happened to be Ariel

I went over to that gym having everything back home Padman, strength and conditioning coaches, you name it, like one-to-one tuition. Then I went over to ATT and I just had to fall in line. And then what happens over time is the guys start to see you and respect you and understand that you're a good sharing partner.

And then what happens is coaches like Tiago Alves and Mike Brown, they all start to navigate towards you because they see that you're an asset to the team and then you become one of the team and then you get the attention that you need. and a lot of fighters are pretty selfish when it comes to the early doors of their career they think they need this, they need that.

But the best thing for me was live training with the best bodies in the world. And look at me now, I'm absolutely flying. So you mentioned in the Post-Fight press conference you've been away this year 30 weeks out of 52 and that's part of the reason why you want a bit of a break. And obviously a lot of that has to do with the fact that you're training in Florida, right?

But you have a child, right? you have one child right yeah no i have two children you have a daughter yeah i have a daughter who's four and i have a son who's about 18 months now i actually missed his first birthday unfortunately due to you know having to go away and i think i've fought uh jordan vchenick so he was he was one and i missed his birthday i also missed his gender reveal which was a bit of a pain oh dear yeah but we're on a bit of a cusp of my career now that this is uh this is is adamant that I'm putting in the work and providing for my family

and I'm very fortunate that I have a fiancé that's very understanding and she understands how short this career is and I said it to her as I won my fight and I was out of the back I just said without her running for back home I'm under these bright lights

of the UFC and winning and getting all this attention but she's just as an important role as I am back home because let's be honest, not many people would put up with what I've been going through the last, you know, 30 weeks being away from home, you know, not being there and, you know, my, my fiance having to do everything at home and hats off to her because I don't think I could do it. How do you deal with that, though,

like knowing on those days, I'm missing the birthday, I'm missing the gender reveal that, I mean, I can't imagine, I'll tell you, and this is not to make you feel, but like just my mentality why it strikes me, I have three children myself, and I always made a promise that I I would never miss a birthday because I feel like those things are very important, but I was able to work around it. You have to do your thing and I'm not judging you, but I just know that deep down I would have felt sad if I missed a birthday. I'm sure you do as well. So how do you deal with those emotions when it's happening? It's pretty difficult to be honest with the area. I really struggle with that. I do have friends. That's the wrong thing to say. I don't have any friends over there. I don't go out of my way to say, hey, guys, you want to go to the beach. You want to go to the cinema.

go to get coffee. I treat Miami and I treat American top team like work. And, you know, I feel extremely guilty missing all these sorts of things. And you know, the only thing that I can do is pray that, you know,

eventually it will pay off. And it is paying off. I've been able to allow my wife to stay at home and look after the kids full time and she doesn't have to go back to work. And I'm very fortunate that I'm able to take them on holidays and go to Disneyland. and all these sorts of things

I think in my mind I keep telling myself it might not feel like this when I say it but I'm kind of shuffling the days around

so say for instance I miss his birthday you know as soon as I got back the last time who went straight to Disneyland and that was kind of my birthday present

if you like you're going to remember as well you know the birthdays are a time of year and kids don't remember times they remember memories And I just want to make sure that they have memories that they remember that their dad, that their dad could take them to Disneyland and buy them all the gifts that they want.

100%. And you're doing a great job. And that probably gives you more motivation. Like this has to mean something, right? Like you're not going to do all this and sacrifice all of this and then not succeed, right? You probably use that as a bit of fuel. Yeah, I've got no plan B area. We're all in here.

is that pressure is that extra pressure yeah it's pressure but pressure makes diamonds and I perform under the light and I'm happy with that privilege it's an absolute privilege to have this pressure you know that's what makes people great

and we see a lot of good things happening to people who are under great pressure they make really fast and educated decisions and I enjoy the pressure I'm built for it is that part of the reason why maybe fighting in March. I know you said the weight and all that, but that would mean another trip back to Florida very soon. Yeah, it would be. That would be January. I need to have a sit down with my manager and have a talk. I'm just home. Literally got home yesterday or last night. I stayed in

Vegas for a couple of days just because the last time, you know, my face was all mangled up and all that sort of stuff. So I gave myself a couple of days to rest and recover. And I got home last night, jet lagged, haven't slept much and we're back on the interviews here today. Oh my, oh my. Probably the last thing you want to do right now. No, definitely not. This is good. I enjoy this year. It's an absolute privilege

to be on your show, so thank you very much for having me. No, of course, of course. Going back to that lightweight picture, if I can, who do you think wins? Paddy or Justin? I think Justin would win, but, you know, MM is such a hard thing to deal with. And I keep counting Paddy out. I say I'll never count Paddy out.

three beat Chandler, but Justin is also my favorite fighter, so I would always love to see him. All time? Not of all time. Donald Soroni is my favorite fighter of all time. Okay. So if Donald Serroney is watching this, he's my favorite fighter, and I would have an absolute pleasure to meet him one day. Why?

Why him? So when I was younger Ariel, I used to be kind of fat. My nickname was Podji. Oh, yes. So I put a sticker on my TV screen in my bedroom and that would remind me to do my press-ups, my sit-ups and my push-ups before my bed at night. So I turned on the TV and I seen the sticker.

And the first person who popped up on the TV screen was Donald Soroni, head kicking, Merleyn Gallard, on Spike TV. Wow. And I remember watching it and thinking, who is this guy? That's absolutely amazing. So I watched this fight and I researched Donald Soroni and Don Soroni's highlights and, you know, obviously seen that he was a cowboy. I was a shepherd back in the day, as you will know.

And I found a little bit of myself and him. And I really liked his fighting style. So yeah, that's why Donald Serroney is my favorite fire. I love it. You're the Scottish Donald Tarone. Yes. I'll take that any day of the week. And also as well, Ariel, I think Donald Serroney is a good human being. I see a lot of good things from him. And that's another reason. I always feel with it when it comes to fighters you don't need to be world champion to be somebody's favorite fighter I think Donald Seroni is like a prime example of that

so you know I always mentioned Donald we were talking about another fighter recently Dan Hooker where I said like I feel like he has reached that Donald Seroni status Derek Lewis is kind of in that territory as well where it's like fans don't really care if they win or lose they just always know when they're on the card a fun fight will be produced

and the wins and losses don't really you know, don't really change the way the fans feel about them or view them. And that's a special kind of fighter because now you're bigger than the wins and losses. But that also says that you're maybe not a championship fighter because you do have a few losses, but you give us a good time and so we're okay with it. Donald didn't win the belt. Derek didn't win the belt. Hooker hasn't won the belt yet.

If someone called you a Donald Soroni type of fighter, ultimately you love him and respect him, but I would imagine you want that belt, right? You don't want to be viewed as just the guy who produces fun fights. Of course, but believe it or not, we're in a sport where it's important to make fun fights and we've seen that just a boring fighter doesn't get the popularity that he needs. I feel like my personality and my traits would come out better. If somebody had said I was a Donald Soroni of the UFC or the Dan Hooker, I would take that with pride.

The fan's decision to make these things, you know, that's why I got nicknamed the problem. didn't get, I didn't get, I didn't get, say that's your name or I didn't make that my name. The people gave me the name the problem. So, um, the fans are the boss. That is fair. And by the way, I'm not trying to, um, disparage them or put them down, but there's just like a certain, you know, way that the fans view fighters and some fighters just want to be championship fighters and not really care about how they're viewed or if they're entertaining and whatnot. Um, one fighter that's kind of dealing with this to a degree right now is Armin Sarukian, where he's not getting that title shot.

even though he probably deserves it. How do you feel about what's happening with him? Oh, it's crazy, man. It's crazy. It's like, I don't know. Obviously, you've seen his performance. What an incredible performance. You know, I've trained alongside Armand at the gym, phenomenal fighter.

And it must be discouraging, you know, not to be getting a title show after performances like that. But similar to what I said to you before, if you stay true to your word and stay true to the game these shots will happen you know sometimes the stars need to align you know for instance Paddy and Justin get the interim belt right now the stars must have aligned

and the timeline must have aligned for them at the moment so I think Armand will be next and if Armin sits tight I think he'll be next in line oh wow okay so you think he'll still get a title shot even though there's an interim belt that's interesting yeah I think so I think just the way all working out right now. You know, like you see Islam's went up

and then Elias says he wants to go up to 1 7A. You know, there's all these crazy things that can happen and sometimes as well, you know, we talked about just there like your Donald Soroni's not being champion but still a lot of people love them. The UFC is such a big engine. I think they quite like to

throw a spanner in the works and say okay, we're just going to put Paddy and Justin on and then there's all this media outlet you're talking about. I'm talking about it, every MMA outlets talking about it, and the UFC just starts to go up and up and up and up.

And bad press is always good press. Yeah. Two degree, yes. Unless you're like doing like really criminal things and Yeah, yeah. That's not good. No, no, no. That is not good. By the way, Celtic or Rangers? My family's brought up with Celtic. I would say Celtic,

but I'm not a big, I'm not a big football fan. Okay. A lot of people bring religion and Kind of sectarian, isn't it? Do it. I'm not a fan of that. I love fighting, Ariel. If I want to fight somebody, I'll go fight them.

I won't use football as an excuse. That is true. Chris, the other Chris, he was going to slap me in the face when I was talking about Celtics last week, so I just wanted to make sure if it was as important to you. This time next year, where are you at?

What do you think? Another two fights, one, and ready to start hitting that top 15, regardless of who it is. like I say the UFC will line them up and I'll knock them down and make sure I'm putting on good performances

like I've been doing and learning from my mistakes I learned a lot as much as it was such a short fight two and a half minutes worth with terms I had made a lot of mistakes that we'd really thought

we'd ironed out and I think the moment got the better of me I just wanted to try and knock his head off when he came at me I was supposed to move and not get backed up to the fence but I kind of got carried away

I got the sleeping tablets ready too early you know last time we spoke you spoke about your you know your upbringing your story it's an unbelievable story

and you alluded to it a little bit when in the cage with Joe Rogan and so I feel like as you continue to win more people are starting to learn more about you and what you've been through

and had to overcome what is that like for you now that this like these very personal things are starting to become a lot more public and you are willingly sharing them but now you're starting to get probably a lot more notoriety around the world what is

it like how are you dealing with it yeah so this is kind of my own way of dealing with it aerial due to my mom not having any possessions i don't have many photos of my mom either i only have one possession that i said to you about i had her fingerprint and her wedding ring around my neck we have nothing from her you know and this is my way of putting out information and putting out things for her and these videos will be on YouTube for the passing of time so this is my way of shouting to her and telling her I love her and letting the community or the MMA world know that people like myself or like them go through things like this and there's always light at the end of the tunnel and there's always positive things to come out with something bad that was the

worst thing that ever happened to me in that moment but it has got easier and having a focus of MMA and be able to use that as an outlet has been an absolute privilege and out of something so traumatic I've gained something so strong and I believe she's still here with me to this day and that's why I carry her to the cage and I feel extremely strong and I speak to her on the daily basis or on the weekly basis and mainly in Fight Week when I'm dying in that hot that bath and that's on her but it's a good thing, Ariel, I'm starting to get over it. And, you know,

another thing I would like to mention as well, that they really hit home when I was away. My daughter is very outspoken now. She's four years old. And, you know, I remember he said to me, you know, do you ever feel worried that you're missing out on things back home? And on our own half,

on our own behalf, she had said to me when I was in Starbucks, she said she was proud to me. Wow. That was something that was not provoked or told. by my fiancé, and that's something that really hit home for me. I remember sitting in Starbucks, and someone grabbed a hold of my heartstrings and gave him a good old pool when I was in Starbucks.

The tears were running from my face, and I could just see everybody looking at me. But, you know, that's what makes it really worth it. And, you know, I said about my mum, I love talking about her now because it's my outlet. You just gave me chills, my friend. You're going to make me cry. That's phenomenal. Thank you. She should be proud.

Your family should be proud. Scotland should be proud. You're doing incredible things. You are, like I said, flying that flag very proudly. And, you know, the holiday season is coming up. And so I would urge everyone to go check out the problem store.com if they want to represent Chris Duncan. There it is. 10% off.

Merch sale extended to celebrate the win. There it is. So go support the boy. Yeah, look at that stuff. Look at you male modeling out there. You're looking fantastic. Look at these shots. I suppose I've not got airports in my ears there area

I look a bit better phenomenal I've also got on Friday the 12th if anybody in Scotland's watching this I'm having a little kind of celebratory day and rock and roll tattoos you do

in Scotland in Glasgow we're going to have a little bit of a meet and greet we're going to watch the fight we're going to have some food we're going to have some drinks there's no tickets or anything like that it's completely free I just want everybody to come and celebrate the win I just want Scotland behind me and I want to support Scotland. So if anybody's in Scotland on Friday the 12th at 7.30 p.m.

Please head over and I'm looking forward to meeting everybody that's going to be there. That is brilliant. I'd love to go to Scotland one day. I would love to be there. And you said this Friday where exactly? Rock and roll tattoo studio. It's one of my best sponsors I have. Amazing.

And that's in Glasgow. That's in Glasgow, yeah. And if you're ever in Scotland, Ariel, you can give me a message and I'll show you. show you all the most beautiful places in Scotland. I'll get you a bottle of buck fast or a bottle of whiskey, and then I'll show you around. Some haggis as well? Robert will get to the haggis.

Robert, I'll get you haggis. I appreciate it. Well, enjoy the holiday season, my friend. Congratulations on another tremendous fight. Very entertaining stuff. Well done. Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do in 2026.

Thanks, Ariel. I really appreciate you having me on. Thank you for your time. Of course. Anytime. There he is. The great Chris Duncan, the problem. And he is becoming a big problem at 155 pounds.

Like I said, he's won four in a row, three of them via submission. And he's rolling right now, 15 and 2, 32 years young, currently unranked, but slowly but surely getting into that mix and would be, I think, a shoe in for the UFC London card. But like you said, the weight cuts and the time away, trains in Florida, young family, all that stuff and more. perhaps it doesn't make sense at this time. All he has to do is keep on winning. But that would obviously be a big one for the locals and just a hop, skip and a jump away from Scotland

over in London. Matter of moments, we'll speak to another man who was victorious on Saturday. You know the story by now of Jalen Turner back in March. He retired very abruptly out of the blue, spoke to him shortly thereafter. He said he was good. He was at peace, and then a few months later we find out he's back, and we spoke to him about that.

But then the fight had to happen, and what a fight it was, what a performance it was. A TKO win in the first round against the veteran Etzen Barbosa. His 100% finish ratio has continued, which is incredible, 14 and 9 in MMA, but that was one of his most impressive wins. And he's had some impressive wins over the likes of King Green, Brad Riddell, Jamie Malarkey, Brock Weaver, just to name a few. was once a top 10 lightweight, and I would think, inching his way back. Twelve first round stoppages, five of which are in the UFC. And as you may recall, on Saturday, quite emotional afterwards. It was a great scene on his knees after the victory.

This man has been through a lot. He's been quite open about it. But appears to be in a really great place, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. That's very important when talking about his story. And, yeah, really great to see. One of the good guys in the game. It was very surprising when he called it a career, and really great to see him back. So that was a big win.

We'll talk to him in a matter of seconds, and then we'll get to more of your questions. And also, Tatsuro Taira, going to join us as well, another big victory. Very much a UFC 323-centric show back into the show here today. Let's go without further ado to the tarantula, the one and only Jalen Turner, standing by. Hello, my friend. Back in the same spot. We were talking to you in that same spot just a few weeks ago before the fight.

Now you did it, now you won. A few days later, after everything that transpired on Saturday, and by the way, congratulations. It was beautiful to see, how are you feeling about everything that happened last week in Vegas? I'm feeling really good. Everything aligned well. Everything worked out well.

She's feeling really blessed about it. And, you know, Edson was just a pleasure to share the Octagon with. He's a legend, so it was cool. once you got to Vegas and you went through the fight week motions and all the things that maybe at one time you thought you would never experience again were you emotional we saw you get emotional after the fight but like how are you feeling as you were back there doing everything all over again um everything honestly it just it felt so natural you know i've been there i've done it multiple times and it just felt like that's where i needed to be everything felt so smooth um it really felt like home. It's not one of those stories where like, you know, sometimes we've talked to fighters who had been released and they come back to the UFC and they say, man, I really miss this. I appreciate it more. You, you willingly walked away. But even so, did you feel like

you were appreciating all the small steps, the minutia a little bit more, maybe some stuff that you took for granted the first time around? I don't think anything was taken for granted. But But I felt like I got to notice that I was almost wasting an opportunity and I seen how hungry the guys in the gym around me were. You know, like my buddy, my buddy Dougie, Legion, he just got signed off of the consumer series, you know, seeing him grind in the gym like Jacob Rosales, Richie Miranda, you know, being around these guys in the gym. Like, Cub Swanson just reminded me of so much stuff. And, you know, I just got around hungry talent, and it really helped me a lot, too. That was something that I just looked back on, and I'm like, I didn't want to waste an opportunity as well. Was I okay with hanging it up and never coming back to that again, 100%?

But, you know, that definitely made me appreciate where I was and made me love the fact that I got to that point. And yeah, I further appreciated it. Very fun fight, very entertaining fight, relatively quick fight. You beat him in two minutes and 24 seconds. We saw the blood. We saw the action. It was vintage, I would say, and maybe even better than vintage, Jalen Turner. Overall, I would imagine very, very happy with the way in which things played out.

Is there anything you're not happy about as far as the performance? No, there's nothing I'm not happy about. But, you know, I just, you know, I do wish, like, maybe I would have, like, like subbed them or, you know, this, like, I don't know, grappled or something, just save some damage. But like I said, I'm a striker. He's a striker. We love striking. So, you know, it's just one of those things. But yeah, yeah. Is he, he's been around the game, obviously, for a while. Is he someone, as you were climbing the ladder that you thought about fighting? Was it somewhat of a goal, for lack of a better word, a dream of yours to fight someone like Edson Barbosa?

I didn't really have aspirations to fight him but I always watched him and admired his striking style and just admired his work I think honestly I aspired to fight Dan more than I ever aspired to fight Edson and it was just an honor

you know I feel like I feel like Edson was like a bit more of a legend in my heart you know Dan is definitely like the guy still you know like he's still relevant right now and it was honored to share the octagon with him as well but i was more looking forward to fighting dan than than edson but it was so much more honoring to fight edson in a sense okay by the way um something that i'm i'm always curious about with fighters and especially ones who are you know seemingly so nice and and calm and respectful and spiritual do you ever battle the idea of being so aggressive and violent and having to hurt someone um do you ever wrestle

internally with those with those feelings and how to combat that yeah yeah I went through that really heavily after I fought Dan actually when I seen him in the hospital because that's kind of where I started to like get curious about my faith and God and you know my my spiritual journey and walk and I felt so bad I felt so bad for him after after that fight because I went to the hospital with him and well I'm not with him but I seen in the hospital. And I was like, I'm good. I didn't even want to go to the hospital, but I just said, you know, my head hurts a little bit. And then as soon as I said that, the UFC's like, yeah, you got to go get your head scanned. And I'm like, I didn't mean like

my brain, like my face hurt. Like, you know, and they sent me there. But, you know, I seen him and I was like, dang, man. Like, he was like, he was pretty like, like, buffed up. He's good now. We all heal. But after that fight, I was like, dang, I felt really bad. And then then at the Bobby Green fight and that stoppage was you know so late and I was like man like I felt bad about Dan

then I feel bad about Bobby and then when I fight Marcono like I don't go for the kill because I'm just wrestling with all these feelings and all this stuff's going on I'm just like dang like I didn't know you know I didn't know how to feel but I do now understand

that it is okay to go in there and, you know, be violent in a sense, be savage because I'm not going in there to kill my opponent, but I'm going there with the passion and desire to do anything willing to get the victory. And, you know, God wants to see His creation do amazing things anyway. You know, it's not like I'm going out there because I hate anybody. Like, we all love what we do. We wouldn't do it if it wasn't for love. And that's like just another facet of how it deep love can be and how it can transfer and transfer over to multiple avenues and aspects of life. You know, mine is combat sports. The emotion that we saw immediately after the fight,

you on your knees, you were visibly emotional. What was that about? That was, I feel like I was just, it was such a relief of everything that I went through this year. You know, I really want to be super transparent about everything that I went through this year and how I hit rock bottom and you know a heartbreak rock bottom I've been in circumstances that I never thought I'd be in and all the hurt the pain the retirement you know feeling betrayals feeling so many things like I let so many people down it was just so much that I went through things with my daughter you know, family was messing up. Like, it was so much pain.

It was so much that I don't even know how I got through it besides understanding that it was through God, you know, because soon I hit that rock bottom and I went through all these hard times, I found out that he was a rock on the bottom. So now I'm building off of a solid foundation in Christ, and that was another thing. I had to go through a lot of that stuff because it made me tough

it made me strong and made me way more resilient so when I went back into fire into territory of combat that's why I was so much more relaxed and calm

and everything that I went through in the octagon I looked better than ever because of all the hardships that I went through like nothing was going to move me stop me, shake me

or make me feel scared or feel full fight like I felt like I was in there sparring like it was just so light to me. I don't mean to pry, but when you do say rock bottom and betrayal and all these things, I'm not sure where to go with that.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Can I ask you what you're referring to when you talk about this? I kind of don't want to go into detail about it, but it's just like, it's more of a feeling of, you know, a feeling I was battling. You know, I had falling out, I had a falling out with, you know, someone that was like, you know, in my life for some years. and, you know, I just kind of had to, like, just forgive them and, you know, understand their perspective of the situation and just be like, you know what, like, it's cool, you know, just fight camp stuff, you know, it's like, you know, it happens, but yeah, um, yeah, it just, yeah, that messed me up for a little bit, you know, and I was like, Derek, like, yeah. a couple of days ago on on Instagram you you posted some photos of your daughter you just mentioned

your daughter and it seemed like she went through some some health issues can I ask what she what she went through and how she's doing now most importantly yeah she one instance she she got attacked by a dog and then the other instance she got sick and didn't know and we didn't know what was going on um doctor didn't know that was pretty scary and um yeah both both incidents were like just really traumatizing and scary and uh really really heavy on on on the family and um uh yeah she's better she's she's a resilient kid um you know she's a smile a bundle of joy you know even through the hard the hardship she's she's still like oh she's like Jesus will help me help me like Jesus will help me I'm like cool

I'm like yeah you will you know and like um that was you know uh yeah going through that was like the hardest thing in my life I can imagine yeah not like feeling like I couldn't protect my child and uh feeling like I couldn't uh there was nothing I could do you know I was like dang It was like a really helpless feeling. And the only thing I knew to do in those moments was just pray. You know, I just started praying because that was like the best thing I could do. And, you know, she got better. She got like everything, everything just worked out.

Like God worked it all out. But, you know, like I said, after going through all these hardships this whole year, moving back to California from Florida and having all this stuff happen, it's just made me stronger. It made me so much stronger, and, you know, it made me really truly understand, like, God is with you through your hardships, and sometimes when you don't have any control over anything, you don't know what to do. That's the best thing to do is just put it in his hands. Just one other question about that. Do you think the sickness had anything to do with the dog attack? Months. It was months far in between. It was something separate. But they said it, they said it was strep throat. So that's what it caused all the health issues. She broke out and rashes. didn't know what was going on and yeah so that was what it was doing great now yeah she's doing

doing great like thank god she's doing great yeah amazing uh very very happy to hear that i thought also part of the reason was and and obviously this is much more important deeper but that was your first one in two years so just that feeling of being victorious i would imagine in addition to everything you've been through this year a bit of a weight lifted off your shoulders you know yes i yes a hundred percent that goes along with it, but I wasn't even thinking about that. In that moment, I was thinking about all the battles and all the ups and downs, all the heaviness that I went through just to be able to muster the courage and strength to go back into the octagon and, you know, truly not wanting to go back and then going back because literally God was like, go back. You need to

be here. I'm like, okay. Because like I said in my other interviews, I could go coach. I could have did so many other things and made a comfortable living. Didn't have to be in the light, didn't have to do any of these other things, to be in the UFC and still provide for my family. So it wasn't about that for me.

It wasn't like just financial. It wasn't any other motive besides, you know, being able to help more people with the platform that I have and telling the story of what guys got me through. you know it's been it's been a blessing and it's been it's been something like it's just really unexplainable and i never thought i'd be this person and never thought i'd be i'm the uncle that's the jesus freak now yeah you know uncle's gonna come talk about jesus and he you know you go sleep over his house you're gonna you know uh pray before bed and do all this extra steps everything

so that's that's me i love it i love it and it seems to be you know suiting you quite well. You, like I said, your smile is just radiating off the screen. You seem to be in such a peaceful and happy state. It's really, really great to see. I did notice you and Etzen speaking afterwards, and I think you guys prayed together afterwards, right? No, we didn't pray, but we just had good words.

You know, he, it was honor to show the octagon with him, and he was really happy that the Lord got to be glorified in the octagon that night. Like, that's what he wanted ultimately. regardless of the result and who it was through. And, yeah, he was really grateful about that. He was, man, he's such a good soul. I saw that you said that you sought the advice of Cub Swanson in trying to, you know, decide whether or not you'd come back or once you decided you were going to come back.

And he's one of the legends of the game, too. Can I ask how that went and why you went for Cub, why you reached out to Cub? I train at the same gym as him and I've known Cubs since I was like 19 years old you know he went out of amateur he came to like one of my amateur fights and that Joe Daddy Stevenson I put on and yeah we've been cool ever since I'm at train with him at Jackson Wink and you know he's local from California so yeah yeah we just talked you know I've been cool a cup for years and he you know he told me he was like yeah bro i know what it's like i know what it's like to go on a skid i know what it's like to not want to continue i know what it's like he's like you just

got a must show up to strength and um get one win that'll that'll change change the whole trajectory of everything and uh he reminded me like you know if you do come out of retirement and you and you go back into the octagon and you want to really do this again um all those old feelings and emotions and everything that made you want to stop is going to come back up again. So be ready, you know, battle that and push through that. When you start camp, like, have your mind right. And, yeah, he was a really, he was really positive voice in my ear, you know, and amongst others.

But, you know, like, as far as fighters went, like, he was really, really there. Because I was, like, in the gym day in and day out with him. And he got to see the progress of me mentally, like, not one to ever step back again to thinking about it, getting curious. and seeing the guys and helping the guys out and then, yeah, then getting a victory. How quickly do you want to return? Shoot.

I wanted to get on the January, the January card, but I think it's already filled, so hopefully, maybe February, March. Okay, so you're itching to get back in there. I want to be busy. I want to be busy this year. I want to fight this quarter, and then I want to fight, you know everybody's like hit or miss on the white house card i think that would be fun so i'd like to fight on that card and then see where that puts me or who the opponents are by the end of the

year and then um see if i take one more and then yeah that'll be my year god willing anyone come to mind as far as who makes sense next uh uh yeah i got a couple i got a couple of people who we thinking Who are you thinking, Jalen? Who are you thinking? Um, no, I'll save it. I'll save it. I'll save it. Why, you don't want to be viewed as calling someone out?

No, I don't know. No, I just, I need to pray about it. I need to really sit on it and see if it's going to be a game. Well, I talk to Sean Shelby about it briefly, and, you know, we'll see. Okay, all right. This will be your first Christmas. as a sort of like renewed Christian, right? I don't know if that's the best way to say it,

but I'm sure maybe this is going to be a bit of a more significant one for you than once in the past. Yeah, yeah, I believe so. It'll be a bit more significant. I think for me, the most significance is my son's birthday is so close to Christmas. So that's what I'm really like, you know, focusing on right now, giving him a good birthday. And then, yeah, the significance of Christmas is going to be good this year, too.

But I haven't, you know, I've been in camp, I haven't decorated, I haven't done anything. I did see you buy, didn't you get a new tarantula this week? Yeah. Look at this. Man, what number is this? I think, I think 17. 17. And are they all alive?

Yeah, they're all alive, yeah. And so where does that one go? Do you put it in like a big, I don't know, aquarium? something? Yeah, put it in a little enclosure, make it all nice for it. And do they all live together? No, they're all separate. I have one species that's communal, so there's three in that enclosure.

So I actually got to separate them because I'm planning on breeding them. So they don't, they generally don't breed in their colonies unless they're separated. That's at least what my buddy, my buddy, my buddy, my buddy, so, yeah. And so what would happen if you put them all together? Bad things? The strongest will survive. Okay, interesting. Wow, wow, wow.

And do you want more? Yeah, I always want more. Okay. And where are these little, like, enclosures around your house or outside? There, I got a few in my room, and I got a few in the living room. I need a big, I need a house. Yeah. Big house, yeah.

It was time to upgrade, so two more fights. Two more fights. and get a nice, to my winds, we get a nice house. Okay. And what do you feed them? Just curious? Crickets, mealworms, dubia roaches, you know, little stuff like that. Okay.

You buy those in stores, I would imagine? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I'm always at the reptiles. Oh, I love that. And your kids like them as well? Yeah, my kids love them. Yeah.

So my son has a ball python, and then they both have a leopard gecko. Golly, that is incredible. This love of reptiles. amazing. Well, you deserve it. You deserve to treat yourself. Well done. Congratulations. It's been really great checking in with you throughout the year. I know back in March, you were going through a tough time, but the most recent chat, and then this one, it's just great to see you in such a good spirit and form, and then to see the result on Saturday. It was really great as well. So, well done. Congratulations. Happy holidays. And thanks for coming back on and checking in with us and

looking forward to next year for you, Jalen. Yes, thank you so much. I can't wait either. Thank you. Happy holidays and may next year be one of the best years yet to come. Amen. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. There he is. Jalen Turner, the tarantula, who just added his 17th tarantula to his collection. Golly. What a guy. I tell you, he's some man for one man that, Jalen Turner. He's the man. Anyway, still to come to Tzuro, Tyra. I'm being told that we may not get Peter Yan today traveling and everything like that. But don't worry, we've always gotten them. We'll get them next week or in due time.

You know, I don't love when these things happen. I lament them and I go to bed and I start going like this and I start saying we're failures and we're never-woses. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I say. That's what I say. But we forge on. Shall we answer more questions? I'm looking forward to these questions.

I saw some good ones. Shall we do that, guys? Yes. Pete's he here? Yeah. I hate Pete. How are you, Pete? I'm doing good.

What are we doing? Pete, is that my... What the fuck's going on it? I like Pete. You don't like Pete? Does anyone call you Pete? My car's me, Pete, actually. My Mark calls me Pete, actually.

Okay. What's up with the internet today? I don't know. What is up with the internet today? It's a little scratchy, there I say. No. Looks good to me. I feel like, I feel like we need, who's the, who's the provider over there?

Who's the main provider, internet provider? Skoy, sky for me. Interesting. You get the internet from the sky. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, to the questions we go.

Sweet Dreams or Nightmare is asking if there's an update on the Jamal Hill Yowana drama. G.C., what do you have for us? Anything? Nothing that I have seen, but I am working to get Yowana's threads pulled up as we speak. Oh, there's a new? There's a new thread, or you're just seeing if there was a thread? I just wanted to check real quick to see if there was anything new on the old threads. Who is to check?

There is a new thread. Oh. It is not pertaining to this, though. One pickleball training a day is not enough. Okay, okay. Barry is asking if Rick was on mushrooms when he scored it 4847 for Marab. I think he's handling guest relations. Oh.

Peter, are you on? I hope. I hope he was. No? Here's an interesting one from, well, I'm not going to read his name. Why are you laughing? Just thought it was funny. He just came up for error, and he just wasn't sure what was going.

Oh, hi, Ariel. With the end of the ESPN era approaching, will Brett Okamoto have to work to get exclusives now? Not sure what to make of that. I don't know what he's talking about. Frank, do you know what he's talking about? Can you ask it again, please? No. Love and War asks, seeing you guys react to the McGregor Mike Tyson video had me laughing out loud.

I speak for all of us when we say this is our favorite part of the program. Guests are great, but please react to more current vids at its own segment. Absolutely hilarious. Thanks. Speaking of which, P.C., did you see the new Tito Ortiz video that came out? It's not a new video art. Ah, come on. But it's fun to react to it and pretend it's new.

I've legit never seen this video. I'll pretend that it's new. This is like Bohasino Depot's favorite video on the internet. I'm sorry. I'm not scrolling through his feed. Incessantly, like you guys, here he is. Look at this. Look at this, PC.

Look at this. Oh, wow. What's he doing here? What's he doing here? What is he doing? Oh, my God. What are a unique situation? Oh.

Is it Marlon Brando? Oh. The moment as he's coming out of the G's is insane. So good. We all need to do. do this. It feels almost like spiritual, dare I say. No, I think he just

like almost, I think he almost just like passes out. It reminds you of that Terrence Crawford video on that thing with his friend. When he's laughing, you know when the friend goes to sleep? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Grant Young. Ariel. How do the boys in the back react while you deliver a 10-7 sermon, like the one on

Usman last week? Do they stop what they're doing and listen in, or are they just not paying attention? Probably the latter. Is Frank you up in your ear? No. I'd like to imagine Andy's saying period after every bar you drop. Thanks for a great work. So how do you guys react? We look at each other, side eye a little bit, make sure you're comfortable still. And then once you start cooking, then we all get hyped up. We're like, hell yeah, this is why we're here. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Do it. Come on, Ariel. Fight for us. The little man. The voice of the voiceless. Here's Yikes who says we need to see a wiki

race between the team live on air. My money's on Frank to win. His knowledge, his ability to know ball, and his obsession with his mom's ass makes me a believer. See, they get me at the end there with that. I'm literally reading this. Here's my question. What is a wiki race? Do you know, Frank? Is that the one where you have to get it in the least amount of query? Clicks. Like, I saw someone did it. It was like going from a paint bucket Wikipedia page to biology to biology. To like Francis and Ghana. Okay.

So basically you say beforehand? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have a starting point. You have a destination and you can't type anything in. You have to click within the Wikipedia page and I think the limit is 10 and it's like how few clicks you can get into. I mean. It actually sounds kind of fun.

So basically you say to someone like, I want you to start on tarantulas and end up with Donald Trump. Yes. Yeah, yeah. What if there's no, what if there are no sequences within? 10 that will get you to that final one. Then you fail. Yeah, then you're just going to fail. I'm saying for everybody. What if there are, what if there is no web that connects

them? Everything goes back to biology, and then from biology you could get back to whatever person you're looking for. Yeah. Nice use of the word web there. Yeah. Yeah, I'm on the tarantula page. I don't know how we get there, but I think we could. There's, like, there's so many things lit up in blue. Oh, United States. Here we go. All right. That's one click. I'm already on United States. States. White House?

Come on. President Donald Trump, two clicks. To Rachel to Donald Trump. Two clicks. Wow, that was fucking incredible. That is incredible. Wow, I'm high on this. My first wiki race in the books.

That is unbelievable. All right, Pt, your turn. I want you to go from Guinness Beer. No? Why are you shaking your head? I don't really know what's happening. Pull it up. Let's do it.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay, here it is. Are you ready, Peece? Let me get up. Well, you just let me. Just get on the same page as GC for one second. And then I could do this.

On Wikipedia, right? Wikipedia. You have to type in Guinness beer. Guinness beer. It's not even fucking beer. Whatever. Just type in Guinness. Wiki on Google.

I'm on the Guinness. I'm on the Guinness. Okay, all right, right. Ready? Sidney Sweeney. Sydney Sweeney. Fuck, all right. Here we go, here we go.

It was advertising. Here we go. We get some music here, Frank. We're like, what kind of correlation can we make to... Okay. In training. I thought it was entertainment that would have been great fuck that would have she had to have started something with an Irish actor right so if you go from

I've gotten to the United States and Donald Trump down myself hey Jesus a herpes page James Bond has she been in any of those Titanic I think who's Christy Moore oh wait no Christy Martin hi there's I thought he had it I thought he had it mother Tom Crean this one is this one is tough man I can't believe how easy that tarantula one was. Johannesburg? What if you went from Donald Trump

to Apprentice, to NBC to a TV show to an actor that starred in euphoria that you could Hmm. Nothing? No?

I mean, we just have to get moving at some point. I'm now in Trump. Entertainment Resorts. I'm at World War I. Okay. Wow. We're going all the way there.

I don't know if that was the record. World War I. this was close to the Titanic. If I could get to the Titanic page, you would do this. I know. United States joined the Allied. Wait, wait. G.C.

What? She wasn't in Titanic. Ah. This is it. Should I jump to World War II? By the way, I bet you could go from Titanic to the movie to someone who was in the movie and get to her. That feels eras-wise, maybe not? I'm sure it will be mentioned in Titanic that there was a movie named Titanic,

and then there was someone in the cast that has been in a movie with her. All right, I've used one click. I'm on World War I'm going to keep you updated on this. You won. You're well done. Congratulations. Okay, here's another fun game that we can play.

PT was getting really upset there. Here's Kevin from Ottawa. One second. I'm just screening it first. I do know what Wikipedia is Frank. I do know what Wikipedia is Frank. Oh, yeah, what is it? Okay, Kevin from Ottawa.

Hey, Ariel, let's do another tit for tat, since you seem to enjoy the last one so much. In my opinion, the best two sets of champions were in late 2012, champs and the champs from before this weekend. You can either think of them at the time of their last fights in their respective eras. What's going on? Someone was calling me a very famous.

person was calling me and they were telling me, I'm sorry. And I was like, you want to come on. No one ever wants to come on when I say, I say, if I could have picked up the phone. I could have picked up the phone. And now they're saying, no, I'm not coming on. Second time this happens. Anyway, okay. So this guy is asking for 2012 champs versus this era of current champs. I've seen some people say, this era is the best, pound for pound, best, blah, blah, blah. Kane, he had just beaten JDS in their second fight the rematch or Tom

Tit for tat Rick Tit for tat Kane JDS Kane Tom Kane You agree with this pizza I'm keeping the tally here

Yeah Okay So just an update I've made it to the Academy I think Kane's legacy I would join Tom's at the wrong I don't think she's going to be on there I've gotten there in seven

Wait you got there in seven clicks You got to Sydney Sweeney I did I went from Guinness to the Guinness family to Trinity College to Paul Mascal to Saturday Night Live to a list of Saturday Night Live

episodes to Sydney Sweeney. Very good shit. Well done, well done. I mean, like honestly, this is a great time. Okay, so right now, this is a full episode. 2012 is beating now 1-0-0. John Jones had just beaten V-Tor

Alex Pereira. John Jones. Anderson Silva just beat Bonner at 205 but still or comes at Chimae. Really? At that point? You guys be the voter?

I'm just saying the legacy at that point. Come on, brother. Are we talking about a fight or are we not talking about a fight? Hang, what's going? Like, I'd be saying who is a better champion? You've got to keep up. I mean, like you're either on the treadmill with us, it's tit for tad. It's tit for tat.

Homsat beats Anderson Silva. It's tit for Ted. I'm still back in Wikipedia. The aforementioned 2012 is the tit. Now is the tab. Everyone knows tit for tat. Right now. We've been doing tit for dad for years.

For me, it's tit. It's tit for me, please. Okay. What do you got? What do you have? Ariel, what do you have? GSP. What was your vote on Silva?

I've not voted anything. Oh, okay. All that's great. We got to draw here. No, I want to know Rick is the one doing it. Yeah, yeah. GSP, he just beat Condit. Islam just beat JPM.

This is the hardest one, I think. I'm going to go GSP, but it's very hard. But I'm going to go GSP. All right, 3-1, 2012 right now. Benson-Henderson just beat Diaz. Ilya, just beat Charles. Yep. Joseo

just beat Mendez for the first time Volkanovsky just beat Wilcoe. Oh shit. Prime Aldo versus Volk is I'm going to go Aldo.

I'm going to go Aldo but I would like to see that. Or two tit. Dominic Cruz coming off of his two-year layoff or Henan Burrell. I guess you could pick your poison because it was an interim champ.

He just beat Uriah Faber. Murab. Actually, no. No. Why is this guy saying Murab? Jan. weird probably yon

i'll go yon i'll go yon DJ just beat benavides or pantote when did this guy write this how long he wrote it early I mean no it's impossible I put the post up on Monday he probably just copy pasted

or or joshua van I'm gonna go DJ okay so what's the old guys win for sure old guys win 5 3 yeah even if you yeah and that's with me giving away Silva to humza Like, yeah, the vets get that one for sure.

Matt Moe knows exactly what he's doing by asking me this, but I don't care. Sup, Ariel. I've heard you say you listen to Megan Kelly. Not so much these days, but anyway, what about Candace Owens? She has a gargatchewan following and does quite, yeah, no, she's batshit crazy and is a lunatic, and no, I do not consume her content. She is absolutely off her rocker. And quite weird and insane, and I don't understand anyone would, why anyone would want to consume. that content. Like, I get it. You left, right?

Ozzy Osborne. She's like insane. Do you know who she is? No. She's insane. So it up. What are some good last minute guaranteed winner Christmas presents? Anyone? Cash money. Cash money records.

Cash works, but like I feel like it needs to be specialized to the person you're getting it for. Something that they would want. No. Just give them money. Make him happy. For a kid, though? Yeah. For a kid, it's... Go buy yourself something nice kid.

It's got to be specialized. Here's 100. Go somewhere. For an adult, big success, like each, you know, my brother and their wives and my parents last year, got them... Did we lose kids? We just put... Pizzi went into the vortex. He's struggling today, huh?

Yeah, he's struggling. He's not a happy kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got him gift cards to Michelin Star Restaurants. in their respective cities, though. Cash, gift cards. Donna Carrey says, Ariel, based on everything we know so far

about the White House card, do you think there's a chance it could take place in the afternoon? As a European fan, that would be amazing for us. Curious if you see that as a realistic possibility. It's not a bad shot. I mean, it's taking place on a Sunday.

That we know, June 14th. Yeah, I could see it taking place in the afternoon. Might be a little hot. No, June, not that hot. Yeah. They haven't said anything, so I'd be totally guessing, but I could see it. Do you think it would be smarter for them to do it in the afternoon, or do it like seven? It has to be.

It's not going to be at 10 o'clock or even 9 o'clock, I would think, if it's going to be on CBS. Maybe a 6 o'clock, a 7 o'clock type of thing, like where they would put like the AFC championship game. What do you think? I think you go a little earlier, but not too early. You still want it to be a prime time. You don't want it to be at 1 o'clock. No, no, no, no. You want it to be prime time, but you don't want it to be too late either.

So, yeah, you try and thread the needle on that. Here's he can't keep getting away I'm here just to hate on Rick's takes Someone call him out please He can't keep getting away with this Thank you I've been told by the way I got a insider tip that

There's some people who are making like Dummy accounts and uploading their own stuff Who's saying this got to keep an eye out for this Some of the more trusted substance users Okay well I don't like this Yeah, I don't like this All right right People like that obviously

Okay here's Dave Ariel With the live odds being shown On the video board Octagon side Isn't this basically like having open scoring for the corners? Hmm. Did you guys happen to hear Joe Rogan say he likes open scoring on Saturday? Let's have them on to discuss. Yeah, that would be great.

I don't think the live odds are reflected. Oh, hey, PT. They're wrong all the time. Welcome back. What happened? Good. I don't know. How are we looking now?

Are you having a mayor? I'm not having a mayor. He's having a mayor. He's having a mare. I think it's Frank's fault again, to be honest. you. Yeah, no, I agree. Listen here. He came up to me before the show. He said, hey, man, I just, if you can lay off a little bit

on the jokes, I'm working, I'm having a hard time sleeping in a night, right? Didn't you say that, Frank? Be honest, now, be honest. He was telling me. Literally just mixed everything together that I tried to say to you. This is why I don't talk to you. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Pee, I saved this one for you. Hey, Mr. A.H, two quick ones.

Thoughts on Most Salas' comments on Saturday. What about this big controversy involving the Liverpool legend Mohamed Sala, who appears to be on the outs? What a difference a year makes for Liverpool. Last year, everyone was loving it. They couldn't have loved Arnie Schlott any better, right? I mean, he was their guy. He was the savior. They were all saying Yergen Klopp, who?

And now all of a sudden he's, what is he, public enemy number one over there in Liverpool. And he's benching. Mohamed Sala. Sala said his family came to town to see him play. I think it was Brighton. He doesn't get off the bench. He feels like he's been thrown under the bus. I think he didn't play in Champions League yesterday.

So what's going on with Moselle, in your opinion? You know, it's an old player and a new team. He's still very good, though, right? He's brilliant. So the situation really kind of, it became worse on Monday night football. Manchester United had a great win on Monday night. But Jamie Carriger, club legend, lays into Sala on Monday Night Football League. hardcore.

What does he say? What does he say? Yeah, he's a disgrace. Yeah. He is a disgrace. You know, his right back has been thrown under the bus ever since you've been playing for Liverpool. He was saying all this kind of stuff.

And, you know, people are picking sides now, Ariel. You're either Salah or your car. Or you could be slot too, I guess. But, you know, I didn't think we'd see this kind of upheaval in Liverpool after the Trent Alexander, Alexander Arnold. And, you know, they were all saying, it's because he left for free. Salah's done everything.

One of the greatest players in the history of the club. And honestly, it's sad to see some of the fans talk about Mo Salad the way they are now. It's very sad. He's probably going to go to Saudi in January now. They were talking about $100 million during the summer. They've paid probably $15 million to keep them there just for these few months from the summer to the end of the season.

Unceremonious end to one of the greatest careers in Liverpool history as far as I'm concerned. No way to treat a legend. in my opinion, A and B, I mean, they literally just won the Premier League last year. Last year. And he won every award, every award, every award. He is the reason why, you know, this guy, a transformative player is what I'd call him for Liverpool Football Club. How many leagues have they won in his lifetime before he came along?

Will I tell you? Tell me. Tell me, tell me. Zero, zero. Yeah. And now, what, too? Champions leagues, leagues, leagues, you know, talking about Ball and Door, golden boots. and now just thrown out like yesterday's chips, disgusting.

Yeah, I agree. It is disgusting. He also asks me about what I think of Nottingham Forest's performance this season. Look, it was a bit of a mare. Speaking of a mayor, beginning of the year, they get rid of Nuno, didn't agree. They bring in antipostocoglut, didn't love it, never felt like a good fit. But I'm all about Deich ball. Sean Deich has been great.

Now, I know the last couple performances haven't been great, but, you know, this is what I feared. Everyone was excited about Europa League, but I knew that there would be a trickle-down effect, and we would get, you know, we would go through some tough times in the Premier League. To me, Premier League more important. I know you want to win Europa to get the Champions League, but, like, I also don't want to get relegated.

We saw this last year with Tottenham. By the way, speaking of Tottenham, how great was that scene with Sunny yesterday? Did you guys see that? That was amazing. Sonny getting the beautiful ovation, and I just love the way he addresses everyone. Hello, everyone.

Sunny here. Like, he's just talking to them on the phone. it's amazing I hope you didn't forget about me he just seems like such a sweet man and then he says I'd love for you to come to LA like like he's inviting them over for dinner what a guy I miss him oh my god he's the man I love that guy great wind fields last night Jordan yeah yeah I mean if we could rack up a few more it really feel nice but you know we'll take them as we get them in the champions league by the way I don't know I know you want your openly listen I'm not talking smack you're in there

uh you were last place last year but you clearly they're They chose Europa League. They said, okay, let's win Europa League. And it worked to a degree, and they didn't get relegated. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. League run in, you're not going to want that Champions League, Jordan. Because guess what? Spores are not going to win the fucking Champions League.

All right? And they're going to have to play a lot of games in the fucking Champions League. And you're going to wish you weren't in it. Well, you know, I think we've already dropped out of the Carabelle and all the other cups. So we only have a couple extra games left. You know, it's not like we're making a pass the round of, what, 32? Wow, no faith, no faith. Here's Kitt's Corner, guys.

What's up, guys? I want everyone thoughts on the Jamal Hill-Jawanna situation, a 230-pound man threatening a 135-pound woman. How insecure can one person be? I don't know who's right. I don't know who's wrong. I'm not taking any sides and all of this. Here's the thing, here's the thing, here's the thing.

Very clearly, there was some kind of relationship in the past. And when I say relationship, I don't mean like a sexual relationship, but they're flirting. talking about. So there's something there. There's emotions involved. It feels like, it feels a lot deeper, at least from this vantage point, than, then we were first led to believe, right? I think at first people were like, why, why is Jamal Hill getting into an argument with Yoanna? And now it feels like there was something there in the past, right? Based on what Mr. G.C. told us yesterday. And I'm just reporting what, Joanna. I don't want to get into any kind of, you know,

Jamal have said. I wasn't there. A lot of he said, she said, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. So, Ariel, I plan on ordering the Halwani special pineapple and green olive pizza from Domino's tonight. That's exactly it. Oh, Jesus. And I have one question. Do you recommend using any dipping sauce with it?

If so, which one, absolutely none. You don't need it. Trust me on this. By the way, speaking of our good friend Abby Suban, Pizzi, he sent me a video of him and his son enjoying the Helwani special. They ordered it and he loved it. He said it was unbelievable, eye-opening, transformative. I'm telling you guys, don't knock it. And I'd consider that I'd be like a bit of a culinary expert as well, I'll say, you know.

It is really good. Him and Santino. You ended up riveting, Frankie? Yes, I did. He did. He did. The Flying Dutchman says, Hi, guys, happy holiday wishes from the Netherlands.

With Rico Verhoeven being a free agent, what do you think his next move should be? Sign with UFC, sign with PFL, misfits fight, mixed rules fight against Angano, clearly not being talked about. Boxing match against Joshua after he flattens Jake Paul, any other suggestions. I would just say this gentleman right here listed two of them that are on the table. I would just say there is something on the table for Rico, and I think he's weighing his options. I told you this when we did the breaking news. RICO versus Derek Lewis was on the table for that January 24th card, which would have been great now. Of course, Waldo Costa, no, Cortez Acosta got that fight, WCA.

But there's an opportunity on the table. So let's see how it all plays out. Let's see how it all plays out. It ain't misfits. I'll leave it at that. Good afternoon, Aaron, the gang from Big Money. I think many of us would like more explanation from Frank regarding the kiss due to the strange and awkward nature of the event as most people sleep on their backside. Was there a flip involved?

What was the reaction? How were the vibes the next morning? We need answers. Thanks, and go bills. Go bills. I feel like you addressed all of this. I did address it all. Okay.

In the same breath that I explained it. Yeah, yeah. He actually wasn't explaining it to us. He was attempting to justify it. Sure, sure, sure. There was no justification. And it did fail miserably. P.T.

Yeah. This man is for you. Oh, he's, no, wait, sorry. What am I reading here? This is, you know, as, as Rick said, there's some curveballs here. It's tough. Got to be careful. They're rigging the substack now. James Portland, Ola Ariel, Marab will still be your favorite.

No, not your favorite. Your fighter of the year? I don't think he should be punished for taking a fourth fight and staying tough. Well, we talked about this yesterday. have to tune in January 5th award show. I think we whittled it down to Marab. By the way, it's not...

Islam. We're the nominees. Josh Van is definitely in the... Josh Van. Or de Cortez-Ga-Cost. It's not a punishment. He lost a fight. Like, you have to acknowledge it. That doesn't mean that it erases

everything he did before, but you can't not acknowledge it. He lost to Piotr-Yon. You have to take that into consideration. 100%. He is He is in consideration. And usually, I will say, if you have a loss on your record in the calendar year you're not in consideration because there's enough people who go to no three no four no so I'm not no ball though you

can always find a way this is from Irish Lad lowest the highest which fighter has the best chance to become a three division champion all right Islam Ilya Connor Poetan Hamza let's just say of those one two three four five who is the best chance I mean it's a good question question. I don't think Islam's moving up to 185. Ilya wants to move up to 170, so I'll put him there. I don't think Connor is fighting for the belt anytime soon.

Poetan, maybe. Yeah, he'll be there. Well, Hamza only has one belt. So, I'm going to go Ilya or Poetan? Yeah. Yeah?

Yeah, I see the guys who already have the two belts and have been active lately. Islam, L.A. and Poetan. Derek Tide, hey, boys, I'm a long-time listener and first-time question asker. I reside in Saskatchewan, shout out, and the only thing I am as equally obsessed about, aside from MMA, is my Saskatchewan Rough Riders and the CFL. I'm curious, growing up in Montreal, were you ever a big fan of the Alouettes? I had a friend named Daniel Wolf who had season tickets, and we would go from time to time. I liked them.

Remember, when I was younger, the Alouettes weren't around. they were around in the 70s. Marve Levy actually was their coach. They left. Then when the CFL, do you guys remember there was a period where the CFL expanded

to the United States? Does anyone remember this? The FFL actually had some... Baltimore Stallions. Baltimore Stallions, who then became the Montreal Alouettes. So there was the Baltimore Stallions. There was the Shreveport Pirates,

I do believe. There was like the Sacramento gold miners. Was there in Las Vegas? I think Las Vegas was just XFL, the outlaws. Anyway, They had like three or four, and the stallions were actually the best. They had Tracy Hamm and Mike Pringle, who then became the Alouettes, and it was very exciting when the Alouettes came back.

And so I went to a bunch of games. Tommy Frazier was on the Alouettes for a moment as well. But I would never say that I was more of an Alist fan than a Bills fan. I mean, that's absolutely crazy. And no one in Canada, no one that I know in Canada is more of a CFL fan than an NFL fan. You appreciate it. You like it, but, you know, NFL is king. Matt Chawiwee's

Hi Ariel and crew Happy National Pastry Day to you all What is your favorite pastry? Mine's a cinnamon roll Hmm I like an Eclare We had some delicious cinnamon rolls today actually Yeah, I saw that

I also, you know what I really like? I really like an almond croissant That's a good one Almond croissant is fantastic Have you ever had a nice little almond croissant dip it in a coffee? I don't think I've done the dip, but I have it in almond cassal.

Tremendous. Chocolate chip cookies count as pastries? No. Pastery to me is like, it has to have a certain kind of like a dough, like a, you know, like what is that dough called? Like, you know, it's like a flaky dough. What?

That's a pastry. So like a rainbow cookie's not a pastry? No, no. That's a pastry. No, no. Pastry to me is a Claire. It's a croissant. Your favorite bread, yeah.

But we're talking about pastries. When I think of a cookie, I think of a cookie. I go to the AI overlords? No, generally that a cookie is not considered a pastry. Bro. Yeah, but a rainbow cookie is not a good. I'm French. Is it cake a pastry?

Yes. It depends what kind of cake. Wow. It's a lasagna cake. Also, a cookie should be a pastry, right? Like a black and white cookie is a pastry. No, a cookie is a cookie. How would a fuck, can a biscuit?

It's a biscuit. No. Is a biscuit a biscuit a pastry? A cookie is a fucking biscuit is what it is. What are you... Is a biscuit of peso typical? What is going on over there?

Just take... Your internet's struggling, my man. I thought of what the fuck is going on with that. Anyway, he actually has a question. Do you or the team see the seat next to Charles Olivera when they showed the fighters? It was Gina Carrano. She wasn't shown on the broadcast,

but interesting that she was supposed to be there. Thoughts. I did not see that. Did you guys notice that? No. No, I didn't notice that that name was there. No. Interesting.

Here's the Pied Piper of Newark. Ariel, could you please blind rank these mobile games? Just kidding. There's a dot, dot, dot. I didn't do the... I should have did the dramatic pause. Anyway, quick question. Dana said this next fight was a big one for Derek Lewis

with regards to the White House card. You don't think they'd give him a title fight if he won, right? Because personally, I feel like you could stick Derek on the White House card, win or lose. Is it possible, given the fact that I didn't even think of that. He said Trump loves Derek Lewis. Do you think if Derek Lewis wins he's going to fight for the belt? I don't know.

There's too much disarray at heavy room. Yeah. He still got to sort out Cyril and Tom. He also says P.S. Newark Rik's Marabian scorecard was even worse than the Ronda Rousey take. God, he's getting hammered for you, man. I went back the next day and just took a peek at it. And the comments were ruthless towards this man.

He did this. This is butter. So good. No one did it. It's a screenshot, P.C. It's so good. Here's Ali Frazier who says On a trip to New York

From the UK a couple years ago I went to visit the Biggie Muriel In Bedford Stuyveson in Brooklyn After the fact I was contacted by some friends Saying I shouldn't have gone there as a tourist Can G.C. or someone with knowledge of the BK advise me on if it was safe or not I feel like Frank would be the best one to weigh in on this.

Sorry, we're trying to get him on right now You're fine in Bedstine now Yeah, what are we talking about? Maybe not in the 90s, but it's a knife. All right. Should I go to more or should I? Yeah, you do one more.

Ryan Goss. Hey, Ariel, Ryan from Swansea Wales here. Something I've always wanted to ask if I ever met you in person, but I'll ask here instead. Once the career is all said and done, are there any milestones that you feel have to be reached to make it like you feel like you did everything? I know you've mentioned Highway to Halwani, but is there a certain interview, a certain appearance somewhere? Just wanted to know the motivations. Keep up the good work. Shout out to G.

to Frank's mom's ass. Why? Why? Why does he have to put that? We're actually in honor that I get a shout out alongside Frank's mom's ass. Why does that have to be there? And I'm not making this up. You can look it up for yourself. We go and look. There's no one ever writing. By the way, no. Search for Frank's mom. I swear to God. It's you every time. Man, there's so much. There's so much I want to do. I would have put Olympics up there. That was great. I've been very lucky NBA, Real Sports Olympics, getting to ESPN, the Fox era. but there's much more there's much more

World Cup would be great Super Bowl would be great why not why limit ourselves to just sports let's do as much as possible I would love

to do as much as possible all around the world of media so there's much to do here uncrown what we're growing

here what we're doing adding to the team growing the team bringing on more shows there's so much going on it's a very exciting

time the latest uncrown film by the way I said yesterday it's our second technically our third because let's put

Fight Feast the movie film movie. Let's put that in that category coming out a week from today by the way, 1 p.m. Eastern, December 17th, Wednesday, December 17th, 1 p.m. Eastern on Crown Film number three. I'll tell you more about that later. What's it about? We'll talk to you in a moment, PZ.

For now, let us go to our next guest. He was victorious on Saturday. He was Caged Side for the co-main event as well. What a run he's been on. What a year he's had. And he could very well be next. in line for the men's flyway title in the UFC. He's the one and only Tatsuro, Taira, who is kind enough to join us

from all the way over in beautiful Okinawa, Japan. There he is. Hello, Tatsuro. Hi. How are you? Good to see you, R. Good to see you, too. Can you see me?

Yes. Well, thank you so much. Arigato. Thank you're in Okinawa now, right? Yes, I'm in Okinawa now. And I think it's early in the morning over there. It's like six in the morning, right? Yes.

Oh my gosh. I'm sorry for making you wake up so early. Yeah, very good. Early wake up, I'm happy. Okay, okay. You are happy. Thank you. And I think we have an interpreter here as well just to help you out just in case, right?

Okay. Yes? Do we have him here? Yes, I'm here. Yes, I'm here. Ahraki, yes, thank you so much. So Tatsuro, congratulations on the win. Congratulations on your great performance.

I would imagine you are very happy with doing that, doing what you did to Brandon Moreno, a legend of former champion. Overall, could you tell us how you feel about what you did on Saturday? Yeah, um, um, I'll, um, I'll again know what I'll say to

yeah, uh, Saturday night, uh, I beat, uh, I'm happy, thank you! Yes. Amazing.

We're, I was trying to set you up for that. I was trying to set you up. Uh, what a performance, is that your favorite performance in the UFC? Yes. Uh,

my favorite performance. months, yeah, in the octagon, yeah. This was a very big fight, very important fight for you, big card, pay-per-view, all that stuff. Did you feel nervous before the fight? Big opponent, former champion, a lot at stake, did you feel nervous? Yeah, I feel not nervous, so just very excited. I love the show, everyone. Moreno, as you know, had never been stopped before in his career.

Was that something that you were saying to yourself that you want to be the first one to stop him in a fight? What did you? Now, no, no, from this yearnone, I've never been for this one, that's the one of the one to make me to make me and that, to make me, and then, you know, yes, uh, he never, uh,

Lost by finish. Yes, I told you before the fight, just... Machen Vettara, I was going to finish to do. Yeah, as I always said before the fight in interviews and etc. I really wanted that finish. By the way, this room that you're in is very cool. I like this room.

this with all these posters? This this is my room? Yes, it's my room. My room in Okinawa, I have a collection of

UFC poster. Amazing. My favorite room. Okay, I love it. It's all the cards that you fought on. Yes. And one day you're going to have... Yeah, one day you're going to have one with you fighting for the belt on there, on a poster, right?

You fighting for the belt? Yeah. Yes, they're excited. So, one day, big poster. I love it. I love it. And could I ask, you know, immediately after the fight, some people thought it was an early stoppage, and even Brandon, I think, thought it was an early stoppage.

What is your response to people who said that it was an early stoppage? stoppage I feel I feel I my my my

kind of body lock in body lock in the take down before he's kind of

kind of kind of So, pound also, um, he's a knee-wazer, when he went to ground-jord, he had not even I felt like he didn't, so, um,

um, yeah, doing, I think, I felt like, um, in my feeling, when I did that takedown,

the body lock and the takedown, I already kind of start feeling it, but especially when going into the ground, I felt that he was weak. He didn't feel so much. much power for him. So I think it was the right stoppage. I never thought it was so early.

Does that bother you that people are saying it's early? My other people are saying it's early? You know, what kind of, like, kind of kind of not, there's kind of not? I'm, well, I'm kind of, you know, I'm doing it, you're doing, I'm, uh, it's very, uh, I know, um, I don't know, I don't know,

After, I'll see it, ah, it's actually, it'll be and then, I got it, I got it, I got it, it was in the octagon. As I said, I really felt like he was weak, and I completely got that way, but I kind of do understand what people are saying.

After I checked the video, I did feel even myself that it was kind of early. Okay. Do you think that it will be warranted one day for you guys to fight again? fight again? Also, more than Morae to know some of

more than other I'm going to do you know, well, uh, I'm,

uh, I'm, uh, uh, are not but that time when

it's a , uh, uh, sort of might be a kind of but

now, now, now, I'm, uh, now, I'm, I'm sure

it's maybe one day, but I hope not now, I hope the next fight would be with the champ. Of course, of course.

After the fight, did you tell the UFC that you wanted to be cage-side for the title fight between Joshua Van and Pantosia, or did they tell you they wanted you to be cage-side? That's the next game of title line, did you, want you, to put them in there to put them? Yeah, uh, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah,

so the, uh, interview, like, the title match had been so that so that

uh, uh, staffs to, uh, uh, that's, uh,

that's, um, that's, um, that's, the, after the, after the,

after my fight and I started working on interviews and stuff, but then the title fight happened, so, I, I had to,

guys around me that I wanted to watch the fight and then Dana took me there. What was your reaction when you saw the injury that Alex Pantoja sustained? What kind of what kind of? I felt... We see your face there. I don't know. Yeah, it was very shock. So I can see. I don't like the injury.

Yes. I was wondering if, you know, the face that we saw there from you, if it was, you were shocked, sad, whatever, because of the injury or because maybe you thought this would mean that they would do a rematch and you wouldn't get a title shot right away because it seemed like they were setting it up for you to fight next and so I wasn't sure if that's what you were thinking. That's what you were thinking. That's what I'm just can't just okay that was, or

or more up to the other than I'm going to do this, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what was going to be I'm going to be able to. That moment, that person was simple to champion to be the champion to dojo

was the of the show there. So, from that, um, um, uh,

what, what I mean, it's called, um, the belt on the belt on the way, um,

this after is what will be that will be, maybe it might be a rematch it's not, or maybe thinking of time there. That moment, that face you showed us, that was simply

sympathizing to the injury, to the champ, the former champ. But after that, once Van got the belt and everything, I started thinking like, what's going to happen next and started thinking that way. Who did you think was going to win? or Pantosia?

What's the one of the first you are to want to do you? Yeah uh

um uh um uh uh the time the end of the

year before I'm going to I'm I'm but um that the band

was good so that so that kind of something something something something

fight week in it was I'm I always answered a Pantoja when asked but starting fight week and meeting Van and being together a lot

I started feeling like something special could happen to him were you in the locker room with him locker room was sure did she was? Locker room, that's the show you're not no, no, no, it's not the

knocker. Okay, you just saw him around. And so there are some people, as you know, who are criticizing Josh for the way he was celebrating because of the injury he wins and he was very happy. Do you think that's fair? Do you think it's okay to criticize him? Do you think it's warranted or do you think it's unfair? Yeah, it's okay. It's okay because he don't have control this time. Well, well, uh,

uh, well, he didn't so, well, champion, you're, uh,

uh, uh, so I'm, I'm, just I'm just nothing he can do. Um, but he got that belt.

He became the new champion, so he should celebrate, and I want to say congratulations to him. Do you think you will be the next man to fight for the flyway title? Do you think it's going to be you versus Josh Van next? Yes. Next? Hi.

Do, do so. I will fight Joshua upon next. Where will you fight him? Yeah. If Japan, I'm very, very, very happy, but anywhere, I can go to Timobo again. I can go U.S. wherever. uh so just i want to the i want to get the title yeah i think having this fight in japan would be gigantic i would love to see it uh i i love the japanese fight scene the history

of fighting in japan obviously pride and everything that's happening now is great and having a japanese born fighter fight for the belt to try to become the first Japanese champion in UFC history would be incredible so I would love to see it and it sounded like Dana White felt the same because at the press conference he said they were already looking into it have you heard anything more about this

do you think it's a possibility and if so when I don't know I'm going to make itna White also in myself said but it's to

something about something about about or it's going

or it's going to or it well yeah

yeah yeah uh well uh about can be

you know I might um that I'm in like

I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm don't go ahead

go ahead keep to keep yeah i did hear some words like april may i don't know if i'm allowed to say this okay okay okay hopefully that would be good yes and and where would you if it was up to you would it be saitama super arena is that the best place yeah uh satama super arena is good but I'm like

like I'm like like it's like it's like a new

place there there so I'm but I'm also hearing Saitama is under

reconstruction now so it should be somewhere different whichever place they find I'll be

happy Tokyo Tokyo don't maybe let's go let's go I love that I

I asked Joshua about this about this about defending his belt against you in Japan and he said you know I'm the champion you should come to my hometown you should come to Houston I shouldn't come to where you live

what is your response to that I'm this year I said yesterday I'm going to hear you know here Houston I'm going to do you're going to it's going to do you know yeah well Houston

well Houston well I'm going to I know That's really good, that's a champion of match, I'm a lot of a lot of us, I'm a lot of ushack I'm happy to go to Houston as well. That sounds nice.

Going to champ's home, I'm the contender, visiting. Nice. Can I ask, what do you think is a bigger fight in Japan? You fighting for the belt against Joshua Van or you versus Kioji Horoguchi? If you're going to do it, if you're going to get it?

Yeah, well, yeah, I think, well, um, yeah, well, yeah, well, yeah, well, I think, well, um, my, um, my, my, my, I think Kyoji is a very, uh, famous fighter in Japan, uh, this card is, uh, this card is, uh, is a very, a famous fighter in Japan. very fire in U.S.C., Japan. Yes. Yes. I mentioned that. I said I would love to see you versus Kiyoji in Japan. And then some people told me that the Japanese public wouldn't like to see two Japanese fighters fighting each other.

They would rather see you or him fighting for the belt against someone from another country. Is that true? or do you think they would love to see two Japanese fighters headline a card? You know what I'm talking about, if people don't know if you're both in the same country of players or the title line or something, I think we're going to be the idea, I've heard, I think we've got, I've got, I've got, I'm going to hear, I'm going to.

Well, so's Yeah, I mean, personally, I'm really, well, I don't really, I'm very, I'm not, but, but, but, um, yeah, uh,

yeah, I, uh, the, uh, , the, uh, , I'm, uh, I want to show me to show me to fight it. And that's Horiguchi's, if that was Horigiegson, to fight, and, um,

well, um, I'm, um, I'm going to, really, top to fight to fight, that's the question, what did you, um, personally, um,

I always feel like I want to fight a non-Japanese fighter as a preference. Um, but if that is about, uh, is about if that is a title fight I just doesn't matter of whoever that opponent is hopefully ban decks but if someday there's a title fight against Kyoji that'll be another exciting one as well so so again it doesn't matter whatever the fight is and hoping title be better yes you have to have in Japan by the way I loved your

suit that you wore on fight week beautiful suit and I understand it's a very special suit. It's very meaningful to you. Look at this suit here. This is nice. Why is you look great. You look amazing. Thank you so much. Why is it meaningful to you? This suit

about this suit to tell you. So, when I was when I get the Shoot a belt in Japan, so my coach gives the suit to the suits. So, well, coach has, well, coach is, this will be sure about three years ago over and I was starting, but this year ago, so I'm going to be able to get, I'm going to wishes yeah so this too as a good from from my coach mutzine so he he said when i got the

pseudo belt there's going to be more press conferences there's going to be opportunities for this so i need to give you this now and and it happened so i'm just so happy that i was able to wear that amazing i also saw a great photo of you having a nice uh celebratory sushi dinner after your fight you were I think it was a here it is how is the sushi this looks amazing wow unbelievable sushi my favorite food how is the sushi in Las Vegas

uh yeah I saw see more uh sushi is also my favorite food too uh

this is uh uh Sushi in Japanese airport. So, um, so, uh, when I was the first first to eat it,

so, um, the airport to the same time, I, just went to the sushi shop and I promised to myself once I get to Japan. Once I get to Japan, I'm going to run to that sushi place in Heneday Airport. Wow, so when you landed back home, you had food in the airport to celebrate. To get the time, in the airport, you got to be able to do you.

So, one day, uh, Las Vegas, uh, steak at a day, uh, steak at a I'm going to go back to Then, I was sushi and I went to I went to I had one day in Vegas I had steak there and took the flight and got back to Japan and had that sushi.

Is that in Narita Airport? Haneda Airport. Okay, where is that? Which city? In Tokyo. In Tokyo. Okay, okay, amazing, amazing. I also saw Tatsuro, I saw that you were featured in the Ryukyu Shimpo paper. I'm mispronouncing that for sure.

Is this, this, is this a big deal? Yes, my hometown, so. Amazing. Yes. Yes. So if you fight for the belt in Japan, you're, you're going to be very, very famous. A lot of people talking about you, writing about you, filming you, are you happy about that? Are you excited about that?

You want that? Yes, that's very excited. Amazing. And by the way, I know that you're trying to learn how to speak English more. I saw you say that, are you taking classes? Are you taking lessons? Yeah, I should study. English more. One day I can talk in the press conference, so I have to learn more.

You're doing great. You're doing great. And I wanted to ask you before I let you go, I've been to Japan once. It was amazing. And I loved the breakfast. We had to had soup, miso soup and sushi and stuff like that. What do you like to eat for breakfast? It was very traditional. We don't eat that type of stuff for breakfast in America. All this stuff is processed. Everything is so fresh and healthy over there, I feel like.

What do you like to eat? Like right now, after this interview, what are you going to have for breakfast? Yeah, I love the... breakfast with Japanese style, miso soup, and fish. So I like the Saba. Okay, amazing. Macro. Oh, a mackerel, okay.

You'll have that now for breakfast today? Grilled macro. Now, after interview, I have breakfast. Okay. You're going to have Saba? Yeah, I don't have now. Oh, okay. You have to forget it.

Maybe natto. What's natto? Mame is a cremate's fermented beans? It's fermented beans. Amazing, okay. I love the red bean cake and all that stuff. It's amazing. I love it.

There's a supermarket here next to our studio, a Japanese supermarket, and I get all the stuff. It's amazing. a great culture that you have and I would love to see you get a chance to fight back there I would love to see a chance for the UFC to come back they haven't been back since 2017

it's been a long time since before you were a pro fighter did you go to that fight by the way it was Yushin Okami against OSP I think it was did you go to it as a fan Japan?

Japan in the UFC Tai Kajai did you guys in 2017 Okami San was the main was the main day No, no, I didn't go to the event. No, I did not go to the event. Okay. Well, very soon you may be headlining the return to Japan. Last question, what happens?

Tatsuro Taira versus Josh Van. How does the fight play out? How does it end? Yeah, um, Yeah, you should. Ah, well, eh, um, when I, Joshua Van, uh, against me, uh, uh, uh, Joshua Van has really how much of the

lot of what are this game of this is not not there's

there I'm not I'm not on the on the line but

I'm there so so so so so so

that's how much you're that simple that that I'm

that's I'm curious, that's like, that's how that's how how much I'm trying to

the title match in the time I'm going to but finish I'm

finished I'm very curious, I think everyone's curious how good Joshua Van is going to be and how

what he has and all the bag of tricks that he could potentially have and he hasn't shown all that especially on this

one he couldn't show any of that I think it's similar to me that I have a lot of stuff that I haven't been able to show so I think we're going to be a very exciting one I'm very curious to see

what Josh are going to give it to me but five minutes five round I'm sure I'll be able to finish at one point okay sorry one more question would you like if all goes well against Josh do you think that your next fight

should be against Horoguchi or Pantosha do you think Pantosia deserves to fight for the belt when he comes back Cary to win and the other than the next

the other would do you know I'm I'm yeah well

Pantor from back from after you're that you're um

well so yeah um Pantor um Pantor to

do you know I'm I'm and then next to again

again again so there so we're there with Pantorja to

Yes, I think I fight once I get that belt, I think Pantoja will be back by the end and hopefully I get to fight Pantoja. And if I win against Pantoja, I hope someday I can go against Kioji as well. Do you know Kyoji? Are you friends? Do you have a relationship? Not friends, just communication. Got it. Okay, okay. Well, what a scene that would be? You win the belt on the microphone and you say to your entire country,

what do you say to them? I'm happy to go! Imagine that, right? Wouldn't that be amazing? Amazing. Thank you, Tatsuro. Thank you so much. Thank you for waking up early for us.

Congratulations and good luck. And we'll talk to you very soon. All the best to you. Thank you so much Thank you See you soon Yes all the best And thank you Iraqi for your help as well

Appreciate it very much There he is Tatsuro Taira Kind enough to wake up Very early in the morning I was looking at his clock It's at 6 a.m. And then it's at 6.25 Well now 27

I was feverishly writing to the team I was like Are you going to be ready to do that Frank No response Frank? Frank are you there No response Frank And then even you said What did you say Frank

You said you were born ready, and even as I teed you up, there was a delay that felt like it lasted six minutes. What happened? I do have to take a bit of responsibility here. I told Frank, I was like, he's probably going to tee that up later in the interview, so just be ready for it. And then right as you started teeing it up, I was asking me a question. What? I said it's about to happen. I actually had to restart my computer due to a update that I pushed off for too long.

We all know that here at Yahoo. So I was not seeing the slacks Okay But wait Was he not seeing them either? That I can't speak for That I can't speak for I'm trying to get him out of here

Then you started emoting with your hands I'm like which one's the teeth What does the word now mean to you? Yeah we also got to be fair about the time Okay now I'm like I wanted to know By the way

There's been a few times where I'm like Hey we need and then like someone's in the bathroom So I wanted to give you a little bit of leeway All right I also do one of the bathroom Yes, yes, yes. I just wanted to put in my PTO ahead of time UFC Japan. Oh, my God.

They announced that. You're there? I'm there. All right. I've already looked at some flights. He said April May. I'll come with. Please.

What a scene that would be? Actually, you go, throw me in the carry-on, just keep me up top. What was that, Frank? I'm happy to God! I think he liked that? Yeah, he definitely did. He's the man. I love Tatsuro.

He is the man. All right. A couple more questions. and then we'll call it a day. Leroy Jenkins, by the way, we're going back to On the Nose. On the nose. He said that he checked out

your Strava account, G.C. And that you've got wheels. Yeah, man. Yeah, I've taken a little bit of a break, but yeah, you know, sub 20 back in September. It's already been three months since that. Yeah, I've got to get back on it.

Sub 19 in 2026. Interesting one here from Persian Apothea. carry, he asks what my thoughts are on ring card girls and whether or not it's antiquated at this point. I don't really have, you know, strong thoughts. I will be honest, when you're watching a boxing event live, there are times where I'm like, what round is it? And then there they are. And you're like, oh, okay. So there's utility. It's the seventh round. You kind of forget in the middle. MMA, less so, three-round fight, kind of easy to follow along. But you get to the eighth, ninth. Sometimes it's not actually clear.

in the arena there have definitely been times especially because I'm so close I'm like what round oh yeah

there it is 8th does anyone have strong feelings on this anyone feel like it's antiquated or

passe or whatever the case is no opposite I think we need more all right I would like

at this point I would like to keep them gainfully employed traditional it's a tradition in the sport you know

yeah who am I the complaint you know here's Chris Rem who says permission to Frank

to drop permission for Frank to drop a y'all see them do whenever a guest has belts, trophies in their backdrop. No, man, the interview is about the guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not gonna...

Oh, so. Y'all see d'emdome. Hey, I had to hear that one like four or five times. Because he was editing it? I get to know what he was saying. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. That's what it sounds like.

By the way, Mac D says Panetone is an Italian dessert, of course. Yeah, we've housed that thing. We're like three-fourths of the way through. We saved the rest for you. He says it rears its ugly head around the holidays. My brothers and I hated it. I'll be honest, I hated it too.

Shut up, boo! My dad would bring it out. I'd be like, this is dry, it's flaky, the fruit isn't that great, but now I've kind of grown to love it. This is the first time I've had it. The words you just used to describe it are completely wrong. What did you eat? This is like moist and fluffy. But that is not Panetone what I just got you.

What is it? It's like the close. It looks like. It says Panetoni on the package. Does it really? Yeah. Oh, wow. Is this a rum cake?

It smells like alcohol. I'm fucking drunk right now. We're going to be violently ill later. He says you usually gift it to your enemies and yeah, that's what happened. It's a big joke in our family. You're supposed to eat it with coffee or break it up with water from a hose. Wait, sorry, when you say that's what happened, what are you for? What is that?

What does that mean exactly? Wow. Oh, here's a good one, guys. Here's a go. Anyway, love Panetoni, brings back good memories, nostalgic. John, I'm in a pickle, guys. I was thrilled to hear the crew would be coming to my backyard, the 305 Sobe, South Beezee, Miami, Florida. I was about to send G.C. a message and offer to be the good guy and be the food guide here and redeem his coffee blunder from his Miami-inspired fight fees.

I was going to offer the boys free uncrowned hair designs and beard sculptings. Yes, I'm a barber of over 20 years, although Paolo is probably better, seeing as how some of the crew has been duped into thinking a beard specialist is an actual thing. The problem, my oldest daughter is getting her bachelor's degree that same freaking day. What are the odds? My favorite crew will be in my city and I'm unavailable. Do I ruin the family dynamic and cause irreparable trauma by skipping the graduation, or will you be in town Wednesday or Friday to show you guys around, get Rick's mustache hairs off? his upper lip and eat some croquettes, I should say, and fresh stone crab. Well, I think this is a pretty easy one if you ask me. You tell your daughter, sorry about your damn luck, I'm going to hang

with the boys, right? I mean, does anyone not agree with me? No, you absolutely don't do that. Yeah, you go to the daughters. Go to the daughter's thing. Well, congratulations star. Clearly, you're a big fan. You should be there. A big fan would be there. Wow, that is not the type of guilt. at hard rock cafe or at hard rock cafe oh the bachelor's yeah hard rock oh wow all right this is the guy that will never miss a birthday he's like you better skip the graduation we appreciate you very much no uh congratulations to your daughter felicidad i always screw this one up so this guy's a beard specialist yeah no no no he's just a barber who knows how to trim a nice looking beard what was the coffee blunder yeah was it the coffee

What was the coffee blunder, Frank? The coffee blender? The coffee blunder on the Miami fight feast? No, I don't know. Was he, I don't know what he was talking about, but I do often keep the hair on my upper limb growing teeth. I've noticed that, I've noticed that, yeah. Shout out to him.

There's nothing like getting the beard trimmed when you have a little bit overlaying, and then it feels like you see your teeth again for the first time. Oh, yeah. Just trim that. NBD. Anyway, we do appreciate it. Wish you could be there. If plans change for whatever reason,

It gets postponed. Please come again. December 18. What's not the graduation? What? What time is graduation? It feels like it's a... By the way, it's a good shout.

I want to let you know, because I don't think I said the time yesterday. I also don't think you said the place. Yeah, that was something that you just threw out there. I didn't say the place. No, you said it. No one has said the place. He said it, and then you just go along with it,

and I'm just sitting here. Oh, okay. No, it's on me. 830 Eastern until around 10, 10, 10.30. We might do a meeting. greet afterwards two to three guests the boys will be there

the whole crew will be there you'll definitely not see Frank because he doesn't like to interact with people in public yeah so if you if the graduation's in like the day downtown we'll be near the Kasea Center so if that's good for you

who does a graduation on a Thursday that too by the way who does a graduation in December people who are graduating in the winter they do two graduations yeah I graduated in the winter that's a weird one

I thought you wait till May everyone does it in the spring Some of us need to work. Hey, to get moving, man. All right. Hopefully that graduation's early in the day, morning, afternoon. Mine was, some on that. Mine was early in the day.

Mine was in the morning. Yeah. Oh, here's a good one, guys. Joshua 95, and by the way, please, everyone come. No fee. Zero fee. I think it's the first time we do this, right? First time we do it for no fee.

Actually, the one in Vegas. What is the username and password, though? Not required and not required. Joshua 95, top 01% of listeners this year again. But, capital, BUT, I'm conflicted. 605 episodes watched, and I only watched the live stream videos. I chat GPT some numbers. The average video is four hours long.

Four hours times 605 is 2,420 hours. 2,420 hours divided by 24 is 100, 100 days listening time. I work 50 hours a week. Have a girlfriend and play football on golf, so I have no idea how I've managed this again. I love all the content you guys do, but if this were your numbers, would you be reconsidering some life choices? It's tough, peace and love. Absolutely not.

Do the math on the beginning again? What was the 600 number? 605 episodes, by the way. No, that's not possible. There's not 605 days in a year, so we weren't live 600 times. That's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point.

I know, like the math's like... Yeah, the math's not mathing. I think your life choices need to start with math lessons and beginning how to calculate that. Also, wasn't PT supposed to come back? What happened to him? He's going through it? All right.

I'm not even supposed to be here today. What is that? But yeah, no, 605 episodes is impossible. Frank, where did that one come from? It was used a few episodes ago. All right. Ariel, I hope all is well. A quick one.

What are you doing if your request to have someone on the show is met with a picture of the family jewels? Are you more intrigued to speak with them or absolutely disgusted? I would say, All right. I would probably take that as a no. I definitely would have put a bounty on that person's head, but, you know, I still can't really tell what's going on over there. Is it real? Is it not?

Here's our friend, Stefan, A.K. Stephen Lanzi. Shalom, Mariel. Your boy, Lanzi is no longer just a boy. I'm coming to you in search of some life advice. Last week, I proposed to my then girlfriend. Congratulations. Actually, let me pause for a second. Hopefully, congratulations. And she said yes. Oh, okay. What is that man? Oh, whoa, whoa, oh, good. Congratulations.

It's amazing. We're over the moon and can't wait. The only issue is she's from Northern England, and I'm from Central Alabama. Wow. What a pairing. Long term, we definitely want to be stateside, but as you may know, the immigration process is not quick. Despite us being able to see one another every six to eight weeks, we are beyond eager to

end the long distance. I'd love to know how you met, by the way. How did you meet someone from Northern England, and you're from Central Alabama? By the way, shout to you, most people would just probably say, I'm from Alabama, she's from England. But anyway, I'm 27, very close to my family, own my own house, have a solid career. However, with all the logistical headaches, it be, I'm considering a move across the pond to be with her while we sort out the visa process. Part of me says I'm young. I would never have another chance to experience life with her in her world in more than just small snippets.

Then there's the other part of me that says, don't choose the path with uprooted. twice and do long distance for a bit longer to get to our goal of building roots and starting a family. If you have the answer, by all means, please tell me. But my question is, how you think I should go about deliberating in the decision process? Help me, how many much love, Yaman Lansy. Oh, yeah, he's upgraded now to Yaman Lansy. P.S., we met in a van on the, wait, we met in a van to the night markets in Pouquet, a true. Oh, okay, okay, sorry, sorry. I thought he said, we met. They met in a van to the night market. in Pouquet, Thailand, a true love story.

Okay, that's how they met. I think you have to come to this conclusion together. I think that you, I think your heart is in the right place. I think the idea of living in England and understanding where she's from and getting to know that part of the world, if you are able to do it would be cool.

The question you have to ask yourself is, how long is the visa process? You need to get a good immigration lawyer. You need to get one who's going to be honest with you as far as the timeline. I'll never be precise and exact. But if they're saying a year or two, you have to decide, are you going to wait a year or two? Or are you just going to do a long-distance thing while you are still engaged, which is a bit of a pain.

If you want to get married right away, you want to have kids, you might have to move there. So I don't know if I could give you the answer here. I love England. So I have no problem. Like you were telling me someplace from like, I wouldn't want to live there. I would love to live there. Especially at your age, sure, no kids. Let's move to England.

But I don't know what you have going on here. So it is a tough one. But I think if you come to the conclusion together and there's no resentment, oh, you made me leave, you made me uproot, you made me do this or squash my dreams or put them on hold, I think you'll come to a good conclusion. I've not been faced with this one before. Of course, I did move, but we both kind of moved at the same time. And I'll be honest, my wife would have gone back to Montreal yesterday. Like she was here for a year. That was. was it. We never really had a big debate about whether or not to stay. I said I was staying and that was that. But I never gave an ultimatum because we were too like new into it. But I think she was so smitten by my presence that she was like, of course I'm staying, you know? One of those things. Okay, a couple more.

Jordan is asking if my son, this is weird, I made my return to listening, watching the AHA after a six-month break, why? Anyway, he said his biggest shock is that O-TN is now on a Tuesday. Well, Tuesday, Wednesday, you know, two O'Ts. The biggest shock is that Ariel's oldest son is still without a phone. What are we waiting for Ariel? I don't know. Every time I open my phone, I see another report that says, phones under 16, social media under 16, phones at bed, kitchen out of phones. I kind of feel like I'm doing the best thing possible here. You heard about Australia, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so I'm at peace. I just want to let you know. I'm at peace with the decision, and I'm going to drag it out as long as possible.

I have respected. Thank you. Here's an interesting one from Bunyak. Can we point out the pink elephant in the room and explain why P. P.C. Carol's Michael's, was not working on yesterday's episode from about the two hour and 33 minute onward mark. Can we break the fourth ball and tell us for this? Who is responsible for this, Frank? A lot of people were saying

on the Monday pod at that exact time code his mic stopped working. That it did. It definitely was not working. Yes, and? And it's been fixed and the reason that it stopped working

is unbeknownst to us. Like, we're cutting a four hour and change show while we're doing a meeting. Oh. I definitely, our QC process is lacking. Okay. And I appreciate you guys for letting us know. It's never a hindrance. Let us know.

We'll fix it. We're only human. And the technology is only technology, and it's not always the most reliable thing. Very diplomatic. Sounds like he's owning up to it. Cosmo Kramer asks what I thought of the World Cup draw. I thought it was ridiculous. Did you guys watch that?

It was way too long. It was convoluted. It was, I get it. I get it. It's a big deal. But there was a lot of pomp and circumstance. And it was just like a lot. Can we just get the results?

Like it may be like 25% of it. We don't need the whole freaking 200%. It was crazy. I'll say someone who didn't watch. Oh, I watched. I just got the results. I know. I know.

That's probably the thing to do. Just wait till like three. It was at 12. By the time they got to it, it was like two. And then you could just, yeah. Isn't it like? I'm liking that USA draw, though.

Isn't it like one of the largest sports broadcasts over the year? I mean, I was thinking of it. There's players from all over the world, like the best players in the world, right? Who are probably sitting there, regardless of the time of being like, okay, I want to find out who we're playing. I'm sure that there are some teams that got together. You know what I mean? I'm sure a lot of people are watching this madness. Like the village people are there and Trump is there and Stephen Carney.

Like, what is going on? It's a lot. It's a lot to happen. You aren't making the case, though, for why they want to extend it. Oh, 100%. Oh, 100%. No, they think we just have all day? I mean, come on.

Okay, just a couple more here. Another shout out to the Strava group. Shout out to the Strava group. Let's finish 2025 strong, baby. Yeah. One last one. Dom Bernetti Did you see

Laura Sanko's shovel upper cut D.C. The footwork looked great. Thoughts. I did not, but she's a former fighter, so. I saw it. She did see it. She looked nice, man. She laid that in. Came off at the angle, too. Mm-hmm. It looked good. She's fought for Invicta. Here's one more, Jamal 2020. What do you make

of these pre-fight press conferences? They're fine. They're fine. They're not so bad. They're fine, dude. you don't know if I don't know if you're imitating me there but no no no I'm like it just is what it is it's just it's just fine you just get a couple of moments I don't even know if we should call them press conferences anymore they're like it's a good point not a lot of news kind of comes out yeah and there's not a lot of like press into I mean there's a few questions do they do the fan thing anymore not really right sometimes occasionally they don't do

it all the time it's kind of the highlight of it is they come out and the fans go crazy for certain guys and the fighters seem to like that. They like that energy. I'll say like the energy is way better than boxing. When boxing does these... No, boxing is horrible. So that energy is fun. And there are moments where like, oh, in New York, they were amazing in New York at the theater. They were incredible. And I think the fans feed off that. And the fans who go to those seem to understand their assignment. And I think not allowing them to go up to the mic and berate fighters is the right thing to do, especially as they're cutting weight. They pop, they go nuts, they cheer, they chant. And then the, you know, the media asks a couple questions. They want to get it

clipped off. They want to be shown on the stream. Everyone goes home happy. Nothing much has said. And it's fine. I don't, I don't really get worked up over it. It's not like must, must see TV for me. It's not appointment viewing for me. You can see the clips online. You're going to see the clips online. They actually do a highlight video afterward. Like UFC, YouTube. channel does. It's just fine. It's fine. There's no countdown and embedded big. No. Thank you to everyone who sent in questions. Got through a lot

as many as possible. How many did we get through? Like, 30 something? 40. How about that? Can I go to 43? No. Let's go to Super Chats. Mike. Oh, go ahead. No, I was just going to say. What do we got? We've got a

we've got a holiday party to get to. We must have a meeting. Oh, yeah, that too. Mike's 9707, kitchen scrap was PT saying shows like tough always have kitchen scraps. Not an Irish saying, G.C., can I please hear you say it as Irish as you can? So great. Thirdly million for a kitchen scrap. It's not bad.

To be honest, it's more Irish sounding than his. That's how I thought Pizzi said it the first time. Terti million for the kitchen scrap. There's no way that's the first time. It can't possibly be. He's saying it almost as American as me. He's like 30 million for a kitchen scrap. I played it for you.

Play what I want to? No, I pled you the actual $30 million for the kitchen scrap. Hell yeah. It really is just the turdy. The turty is the best. It was how nonchalant he put it in there. He changes the pitch too. No, we're still not convinced that's the original one.

I still don't believe you. I still don't believe. I had him come over and look at it. You guys are delusional. It sounded more like what Connor's saying. What else? DR productions. It felt like there was energy in it.

There was a little more oomph. This one is like, it almost feels like this is not it. Like he did. to hear. He's like, I can't find it. 30 million for the kitchen scrap. Yeah, we all agree that that's not a. It's on 1015 and you were asking him about the 30 million for jobs.

1015. Not possible. Not possible. 30 million for a kitchen scrap has been in my life for much longer than two months. At least 10 years. What else, Frank? DR Productens, Aerell and the team regards from Tel Aviv. Now I feel that.

Hell yeah. Ariel and the team regards from Tel Aviv. Do you think press conferences are not as excited because of the lack of native English speakers? No. No. I think the fans get excited. I mean, I actually think the fans love them and they get pumped and they cheer and all this stuff. And I don't think they care. Like Islam isn't going to go on for like a five minute answer, but people love it. You know, they want to see them say their things. They want to see the faceoffs. They want to, it's like, it's not Jerry Springer, but like they know what they are there to do. And they want to see the fighters and they want to see the yelling and a couple moments here and there. And that's it. And everyone's happy. The jacuzzi thing seemed to have broken through this time. It's broken through. Like the other, I can't remember the last time something from press conference really, like, took hold. That at least had some kind of buzz around it.

Need to bring back the greats, you know? Like what? Colby Covington and the Revolution War outfit. Thankfully, we've chilled on some of that stuff. Seventh layer of hair. Yeah. It's like that. We've chilled on some of them.

Reignited at the press conferences. Me making funny of them as I had like three tongue twisters. in there. Like I said, we need to bring BRAC. What else? What else? What else? What else? What else? Frank? El Cerrito 94. What was that? I got confused for a second. Just want to give a shout out to the UFC media conference calls? Oh, yeah. It's funny that you say that. Was there anything better than UFC 223 Ferguson versus

Habib? You call yourself an ego, but you ain't got no wings. Someone posted a clip of when GSP retired. I guess it was from like a countdown or I don't know if it was an embedded or something and it was Dave Schaller former head of PR and Dana White and I forgot about those do you remember those calls

like thank you media for coming here please press one if you have a question they don't do those anymore I wonder why not well we talk about how the press conferences have lost some steam imagine not even being able to see them

and it's just on a phone I don't think we could sustain But there was some good stuff that came out of that. I mean, there were also good stuff that came out of the original press conferences, but those days are done, my friend. All right. Well, shout out to them. I enjoy those days.

Those were exciting. When you would press, you would do pound one, and then all of a sudden it would be like, Ariel Halwani from MMAfighting.com. Hey, guys, I just had a quick question. You'd be like, wow, here I am. It's big. What else, Frankie? What else?

Elmero Sergio says, screen on time for Magic Arena is at five hours. I'm going to get her back at my man. pool, Rick. Yeah, that's crazy. That was the guy who said he lost his girlfriend, I think. Is that right? Does anybody remember? You'll get her back.

I believe in you. Oh, what else, Frank? What up. Happy holidays, boys and gals. Lots of love from Down Under. This is the last super chat. Oh, no. What a name.

Oh, no. It's crazy. What? The name is her handful. The name is. Oh, no. The name is nuts. Take it off.

Get it out of me. How choosy Jordan is about which ones I should read and should and this passed the... You know what occurred to me, guys? You know what occurred to me? No, probably. Is it possible that tomorrow's BITB is the last one of the year?

Yeah, I think it's the last one. It certainly is. Yeah, and why is that? We'll be somewhere else next week. You don't have to say somewhere else. I've already said it. We'll be in Miami. 8.30 somewhere.

Yes, did you guys... No one has mentioned this. What, that it's the last BITB of the year? Yeah. We'll will mention it tomorrow. Okay, what are we doing? What are we doing? What's on tap?

We've got We've got a Sounds like you got a lot Apex 112 preview The main card Yaroslav Amasov making his UFC debut We'll also talk about PFL Leone Two title fights, vacant

titles Those belts got to get owners Pound for pound Finallies in honor of The finale of Boys in the Back for 2025 As well as the UFC Not PFL though Don't forget PFL Africa

September 20th If it happens. Any NBA Cup talk for the weekend? No. We will be. Yeah, no, no, no, no. That's trash. That's a trash story.

When is the last week? Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. Saturday is a big day. PFL Leon? Yeah. UFC. John Sina. You guys talking about that?

Retirement match? Probably should. The last time is now. Bring in someone, bringing someone to break it down for us, maybe. Make sure to leave us a voicemail. There is. And go to uncrown.com for all. of your coverage.

Incredible stuff about the one and only John Cena retirement match December 13th this Saturday from the, what is it? The MCI Center these days? What do they call it? No, it's the Verizon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's for the OGs right there.

The phone booth. All right, it is time to go. Much has happened this week. Much has been discussed. As far as the A.H. We've got a show on Monday, a show on Tuesday. We'll do the uncrowned film debut premiere on Wednesday. That will be it for Wednesday because we'll be in transit. I'll be hosting

the press conference for Jake Joshua Wednesday night. Then a show for you on Thursday if you're in Miami. You got to be there. So come and I'll have all the details for you on Monday. Who, when, where, why, how, all that stuff and more. We'll get Peter Yan. Don't worry. Don't like when that happens. But I guess there was a lot going on. We just showed the footage at the beginning of the day of him landing back home. So I would imagine a little bit of jet lag goes a long way, but it's all good. It's all good in the hood. He has always been very gracious with this time, and I'm sure we shall get him.

Apologies if you tuned in solely to hear from the new champ, but we will get him. I promise you, I promise you. Franz Sangano, thank you very much to him. Chris Duncan, tremendous. Jalen Turner. A lot of wholesomeness between Duncan, Turner, and Tatsuro. in different ways, but that's the way I feel about it. So thank you to all three of them.

Like we said, busy weekend coming up, final UFC for six weeks. So get it in. And they did officially announce, by the way, that Lance Gibson Jr. has officially signed, and he will, in fact, be fighting. I think it's the third father-son duo in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Proud Canadian as well. So shout out to Gibson. Good luck to him against King.

Green. Tomorrow, BITB, Friday, crack. You know the drill. Back tomorrow.