The Ariel Helwani Show - Full reaction to Netflix’s MVP MMA debut; plus, Mike Perry, Herb Dean, Arnold Allen, Jason Jackson, weekend news & notes

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Ariel Helwani kicks off the show by recapping his time in Los Angeles, before the Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll join to give their own perspective on Netflix’s first MMA offering, including the card, the crowd, UFC announcing Conor McGregor’s return during the event, and more (06:50). Mike Perry is back to break down his massive win against Nate Diaz, then pivot to future plans, including talks of a Diaz rematch, potentially fighting Jorge Masvidal, and even a meeting down the line with Conor McGregor (1:01:54). Referee Herb Dean joins the show to discuss the controversial ending to Adriano Moraes win over Phumi Nkuta, Francis Ngannou’s vicious knockout of Philipe Lins, procedures followed by combat sports officials, new language proposed for assessing fouls, open scoring, and more (1:32:57). Arnold Allen returns on the heels of his hard-earned victory against Melky Costa to talk about the fight, traveling with his cat during fight week, some of his recent funny social media posts, and more (2:04:14). Jason Jackson makes his show debut, looking back at his lightning-fast knockout on the MVP MMA card, then discussing not getting a performance bonus, his early life in Jamaica, being open to fighting Cedric Doumbe, his truck he named “Clifford,” training with his son Jelani, and more (2:37:11). The Boys in the Back and Petesy Carroll rejoin Ariel to cover news and notes, including Conor McGregor’s return and the announcement timing, who Francis Ngannou should fight, Nate Diaz’s next move, Jon Jones wanting out of his UFC contract, and more (3:10:43). The show ends with your Super Chats (4:28:00).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Air Fondness Monday, May 2018, 2000. And 26, hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well, yes, it is not magic. We are here. We are back in our New York City studio. What a trip we had, what a trip we had in La La Land. What a time it was. man, I was saying around two weeks ago, I can't wait for May 17th.

And here we are May 18th. We survived it. A lot has happened. We've accomplished a lot. So proud of the team from City Winery to Los Angeles to then all the back end Netflix stuff. It was a crazy stretch. But a stretch that I feel like we will all think back on, look back on, reminisce about when we're old and gray. This is what we live for doing things like this, coming together as a team.

all swimming in the same direction, all fighting for the same common goal. It was so much fun. Honestly, so much fun. I want to give a big, big shout out to our friends. Our new friends over at the West Coast Creative Studio. They are now officially uncrowned HQ, L.A. You know, because we do have other West Coast operations that we like to partake in. Las Vegas that's coming up in July, et cetera, et cetera.

But they killed it for us. Shout out to Zeus and his whole team there. Thank you so very much for being so welcoming and accommodating. every single guest that came through. Man, I hope you guys liked it as much as we liked putting it on for you. It was an amazing, amazing time. And so we are back. It is so great.

It is so great. And Frank, I'm glad that you made it back in one piece. You know, I heard that you were burning both ends of the candle over there. Excuse me, I'm getting offended now. No, not at all.

Not at all. You killed it for us, Frank. You know, I don't want to give out MVP awards like Shea winning back to back. but everyone in their own right was an absolute stud, absolute MVP. It was amazing to be a part of. And we got a lot to talk about. And the vibes are amazing here in New York. It's 90-something degrees outside.

The Knicks are playing in the Easter Conference Finals. They're actually hosting game one and two. Someway somehow is the three seed. We got home court in the second round. Some way somehow in the Easter Conference final, we have the home court advantage as well. Some way somehow, Boston and the Trump. Detroit who talked, all that shit, all year long, are nowhere to be found.

And I'm delighted for New York's own New York Rick, who has declared that he is jumping off the Cleveland bandwagon, that he is going to be supporting our team, because that, of course, is his hometown. He's one of our own. He's one of our own. It's going to be amazing. We disposed of the Hawks earlier in the playoff run. Now we meet the Cavs, eight wins away from finally realizing our dream so I can stop watching

basketball forever and ever. I'm going to die a happy man. in a month and a half from now, I'm going to be a fan of the defending NBA Cup and NBA final champion. Yeah, that's not happening, not because the Cavs are going to beat the Knicks,

but the East is just food for the West. No, I'm telling you. This is the amateurs. Everyone's typed about my team versus your team, and so I thought maybe you just cross over. He's doing that thing, guys. You know he's doing that thing. He's doing that thing where he's like,

we don't have a chance. He's not selling. He's doing that thing. He's doing the reverse psychology day, oh, we have no chance, we have no chance, only to then say, told you so if they pull it off. Game one is massive.

We need to write the wrong of last year. I didn't say the Cavs have no chance against the Knicks. They definitely do. I predict the Knicks will win, but neither of us has a chance in hell against Wemba Yama and the Spurs. We beat them in the NBA Cup final. Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's when it really we beat their asses five months ago. A, yeah,

anything can happen. Meaningless one game series. Injury here. The East can't win. Stubtoe there. Let me tell you something. The vibe. The Champions League of Basketball? I mean, some have called it the F.A. Cup or even the milk cup of basketball. Whatever it is, we'll take that. It's all about trophies. Pizzi, what's the worst cup? That's what the East Finals is. Carabao. The Milk Cup is like a youth team coach. So that was a crazy crowd from the Llandia. The Western Conference Finals is God tier. Well, I can't wait. I can't wait for that Western Conference Final.

Hang on, did Rick not cross over? I thought that was breaking years. That was my reverse psychology on him. I was trying. I hope we'll have a little. Whoever wins the east, it's nuclear bomb versus coughing. Yes, that's correct. I'm saying this now. I'm saying this now. I'll definitely change my mind. I'll be very happy with the final appearance.

Yeah, I mean, and then we'll lose in like six or seven, and I'll be distraught. For sure. Seven, you'll be fucking hard problem. If you grab three off of them and then it goes to a game seven, yeah, you'll be fucking distraught. It'll be 1994 all over again, except now I see my mortality facing me in the square in the face. And I'm like, I'm never going to see. this ever again.

I'm thinking a little more 99 if I'm being honest. That's possible. I want my kids to see a finals birth. That seemed unimaginable five years ago pre-Jelan Brunson. Pete, you look phenomenal, let me just say. And I always feel like I have to comment on your appearance on the air. It's because I don't see you beforehand. Are you extra tanned or something?

What's going on? Or is the lighting different? What's happening here? Is it just the stash? Just showing up the way I show up. You know what I mean? The hair is different. the stash is fuller.

By the way, the amount of people, I kid you not, and I sent you an email. The amount of people that came up to me and said, A, I love the crack, and B, you're some can of piss, Helwani.

The amount of people that we have now gotten to speak in Blanche, I feel like, Blanche speak, if you will, really warms my heart. L.A. loves the crack. I even saw the lads got tagged in the guys picture

and he was like, great to meet you cans of pisses or something. That's how he came up to us, too. He was a guy. the boys in the back the cans of pisses that you are. I'm telling you. Yo, that dude's a fighter and he said next time he fights he wants his... Oh, this is the guy. I met him. I met him.

Yeah, Christian Degero. Yo, Christian Degero. This guy came... Did he have his hand in an arm in like a cast or something? Some A.O. shit. No, no. I actually can't remember. He did just fight and win, though. I met him at the open workout. Oh, yes, he did mention that.

And he told me he wants to be the first fighter to rep uncrowned. and I said, I'm in. I love the idea. How would you do that? I put a crown on the shorts or something. He's 1-0, made his pro debut, rear-naked choke in the second round. He's got on his Instagram page.

He's the future face of the fight game. Gentlemen, I am so excited about today's show, not because the Knicks are in the Eastern Conference Finals, because we have so much to talk about. We have so much to talk about. Golly, do we have a lot to talk about. And you know what's so unique about today's show? What's so unique about today's show is that

the four of us, and I'll kind of group G.C. and Eric together, and you'll understand why, have different perspectives on what transpired on Saturday night in Los Angeles, right? P.C., you were watching at home on Netflix. G.C. and Rick were in attendance, and I obviously was working the broadcast. So we all have very different perspectives. We didn't really talk about it beforehand. I want everyone to be honest, open, talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, and I want to get into it. I want to tell everyone who's going to be on today's program, and then we'll get into all. of that and more. There's so much to get into. Back end of the show, we are going to be joined by

Jason Jackson, who had an incredible win on Saturday against Jeff Creighton. This is a guy who was a former Belator Welchway champion. By the way, beat Yaroslav Amasov, had a run in the PFL, has a massive chip on his shoulder, the size of Jamaica, dare I say, had a great win. Came up to me before the fight saying, yo, man, why don't you invite me on your show? I said, Well, if all goes well, I'll have you on Monday. Here I am, man of my word, man of my word, he's on the program on Monday. At 3 o'clock, Arnold Allen, who had a phenomenal win over Melchie Cost on Saturday at the Apex, was great all week long, great in the fight, great in the aftermath.

He'll join us. Can't wait to talk to Arnold. You know we love Arnold around these parts. Prior to that, we're going to be joined by Herb Dean. I haven't had Herb Dean on the show in quite some time. Always a treat when you get a chance to talk to Herb or any referee out there. Obviously, he was involved in that Pumina Kuda fight. Obviously, he's been involved in some big fights.

I mean, last week he was involved in the Sean Strickland-Chamsat-Chamaya fight. He's one of, if not the most recognizable referees in the world, as far as MMA is concerned. It's a treat to be joined with him by him. He'll join us at 2.30.2 o'clock Mike Perry is going to join us to, of course, talk about his win over Nate Diaz. And so let us get into it, my friends. Let us get into it. There you have the four guests, and there you see bottom right. MVP MMA reaction.

And so, obviously the UFC had a show on Saturday, and we will get into that. And obviously, there was a big announcement on Saturday. What was that announcement? What was that? What was that? What was it? We'll get to that. We'll get to that.

Let's talk first about what transpired on Saturday at the Intuit Dome. I'll just say off the bat, and it echoes what I said in my little hotel post-fight reaction. On a personal note, I don't think I've ever had so much fun. Forget, I don't think. I know I've never had so much fun working an event in my life. I had a blast. And I know no one out there cares. I had an absolute blast.

I was so grateful and appreciative to be a part of it. I was so grateful and appreciative to work, to be honest, because, you know, those opportunities, they don't just fall from the sky. you can be on the sidelines for years and years. You can never get a call. You can work your ass off and things just don't break your way. To be involved in a massive, massive, massive production like that on the biggest streaming

platform in the world, globally streamed to the entire universe, 325 plus million subscribers, all that stuff and more, was just a huge deal. And so to even have like a minute of airtime was a huge deal. To be able to work more so than the previous fights where I'm not just doing the post-fight interviews, I'm also getting to contribute in other ways at the desk with Tyrone and L was just a huge, huge honor. So I just want to get that out of the way. So grateful, so appreciative. I'd love to do more, obviously. It's just a huge, huge honor. And everyone from the production team to, you know, the other talent, it's just so much fun to work on these shows. And I had never done that for MMA.

I've done it for boxing now a bunch of times, whether it was the Showtime events, DeZone, Netflix, Never done it for MMA. So even stepping foot into the cage for the first time was a really, really, really special feeling for me. Being around so many people that I recognized, you know, from the referees to the managers, to the coaches, like these are the people that I grew up with. And a lot of them I had not seen face to face in quite some time.

The week was just, it was magic. Yeah, it's hard to really describe because, you know, these things get, you know, they come fast and furious, they get taken away, they come back in your life. And, you know, I talked about the 10 years, Inglewood and UFC 199, almost to the date and all that. And I was emotional. I was emotional on Fight Day. I wasn't necessarily anxious.

I was emotional. And, you know, that's just life and getting older and whatnot. Like I said, hope to do more. Don't know if there will be more. Don't know if I'll get that opportunity. But loved every second of it. I was so, I'm usually the guy who leaves the show thinking I suck. I hate myself, all this stuff.

And this time I was like, wow. I'm so happy. That was so amazing. I think that's why I kissed Rampage. I was so happy. I just wanted to kiss someone. And, you know, where I come from my country, we kiss cheek to cheek. You know, different strokes for different folks.

I was sort of, you don't have to show it again, but yeah, sure, here it is. Nice little peck. Tried to hit him on the chin. He loved it. He said he was going to unfollow me. Didn't unfollow me yet. I asked him if he was proud of me, walked away. I was so happy.

I was just so happy to be a person. part of it. And just for the record, for everyone worried, I'll say it once and I'll say it a million other times, I do not get paid by MVP. I don't even know if I said MVP in any sort of like glowing term on Saturday. I know, I know some people are saying like, oh, you're acting like Max Kellerman out there. I'll be the first to say, all glazed Netflix all day long. I'll glaze the platform all day long. I used to call myself Shilwani when I was at ESPN. That's who pays us. That's who cuts our checks. There's a big difference between praising the platform, the network, whatever, and the promotion.

There's a massive difference. And if you don't understand that difference, you know, just think about it. We're media members. We work for a platform as opposed to a promoter. I've never taken a cent from them. I've never taken a hotel room, a taxi, an Uber, anything like that. The last time I did that was 2016, when it all blew up in my face with the UFC and I vowed to never do it again. And I've turned down multiple opportunities where the only on.

option was that? And I said, I can't do it. And so on Saturday, I was getting paid by Ever Wonder, look them up, who produced the event for Netflix. They produce other things for Netflix as well. The baseball coming up, the home run derby opening day, I make it very, very clear that I cannot get paid by a promoter. I will not get paid by a promoter. Obviously, everyone is working together. Obviously, I'm not completely naive in thinking like, oh, there's not some sort of like, you know, you're broadcasting an event that is being put on by a promoter. But I think that MMA fans sometimes get, you know, confused because the one way that we've been subjected to MMA in the past is that the promoter puts on the event.

I get that. But in other sports, MMA is the only sport, not even boxing does that for the most part. Unless it's like a smaller event or maybe it's like a regional show or something like that. NBA, if you're on ESPN doing the NBA or Amazon or CBS, NFL, Fox, NFL, et cetera, et cetera, if you're doing that, you're getting paid by the network, not the league, not the team, etc. So unless you're doing regional, that's a complete different thing. I'm talking about on the grandest of stages. So that's very important for me, and I feel the need to always, you know, back that up because I know it's unique. I understand that it's unique.

If you would have seen me or any other journalist on a UFC broadcast knowing that you have to work for the promoter, I'm not saying that's bad, by the way. That's just their system. You may want to raise some questions or have some eyebrows raised. In this particular case on Saturday night and all throughout the week, myself, Tyron, L. Morrow, Kenny, Sean Weillock, Sibley Skoles. I think I've gotten them all. If I missed one, I apologize.

All paid by the network or the production company who's putting on the event, producing the event for the network. All right, Pizzi, you watch from home. Your thoughts on Saturday night. I want to go to you first. Your thoughts on Saturday night from a live viewing perspective. Yeah, I thought it was a lot of fun. I was, you know, these events come along, new broadcast or all this kind of stuff.

And sometimes when you're watching it, they'll say a few bogie things where you're like, this is their first time doing that. I didn't notice that when Netflix, I thought it looked fantastic. You know, I see online a lot of people talking about the fights in, after the fact, but I think a lot of people knew this was more of a showcase. I felt like, you know, when you're looking at the fights on paper with Francis and Felipe Lins with Ronda and Gina. I think you kind of knew what way they were going to go and I see people acting shocked after the fact, I'm like, I don't really know what they thought

it was. The one thing I thought, the entrances, I thought that they call out the fighter and they just kind of had them standing there in the kind of gate. way out to the arena. I think they could build it a bit more if they don't have them on the screen during that moment. But I know these things are all being figured out. We'll look the music a bit louder on those entrants too. But I thought it was really, really good, a really fun event. And a promising thing, you know, it's, it's rare that we see such a gigantic event happen for someone's first event, massive names there. I had Netflix on the big screen. I had the UFC going on the iPad. I had a lot of fun watching it, man. I was really, really enjoying it. And I thought you did a

brilliant job. And I love seeing you do that stuff and I hope you do more of it. I appreciate that. Yeah, you know, I actually was in the arena on Friday and I saw the setup. I was like, okay, well, first time I get to go inside Intuit Dome. We'll talk about the intricacies of the Intuit Dome with G.C. and Rick who were in attendance. And I saw the black canvas and I was like, I don't know if I like the black canvas, if I'm being honest. I liked it. I liked the white. This is from my, from my vantage point, like looking at it, not through a screen, right? So the black canvas, I was like, I don't know about this black canvas. And is the cage too small?

Like we are subjected on a weekly basis to the same type of thing, a well-oiled machine that does MMA better than anyone has in the history of the freaking world. And so anytime there's something different or off, you're like, hmm. And then I watched it through the lens of the television on Saturday while like looking at the monitor. And I felt like there was something kind of cinematic about it. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if it was the type of cameras. I don't know if it was the lighting. I don't know if it was just so different.

But that's the main thing. The point is not to try to make this look like the UFC. You want to try to make it look different. That's always been my issue with PFL with the uniforms and whatnot. Don't come across as UFC light. Try to be so different to where you come across as something different. Obviously, it's the same sport. But hey, this is the place where X, Y, and Z happens.

This is the place where it looks a little bit different, where the entrances look like this, or the cage looks like that, or the lighting is like this or that. So I appreciate the big swing. I can understand why someone at home might be thrown off by the big swing because it's so different than what you're used to seeing each and every week. But to your point, it's really hard to come out of the gates and put on a show like that.

And all of a sudden start to be compared to the well-oiled machine that is putting on events week after week after week for the last 26 years, ZUFA, almost over a thousand events, if not more at this point, it's a completely different ballgame. And everyone's in their, you know, in my opinion, everyone's in their right to nitpick things. But I do think it's important to remember that you're comparing it to the establishment.

If someone comes in and does something, you know, for the first time, and you're comparing it to someone who's done something thousands of times, it's not necessarily apples to apples, but I get it. And you know what? I'm so happy that we could do that. I'm so happy that we have something to talk about

other than the same old, same old. Because, yeah, we'd be sitting here talking about Arnold Allen versus Melchie Costa, sure, but I haven't felt this type of chatter. I haven't seen this type of chatter to the comparison, the fighting, the arguing, really since, like, Strike Force, 2011, heavyweight Grand Prix? And I'd ever even felt it was anywhere near what we even saw on Saturday after the first event, after the first event. And we don't even know if there's going to be a second event.

But that felt nostalgic. That felt refreshing in its own right. Even though I thought some of the takes were absolutely absurd, and I'm like reading some of them. I'm like, are you being serious right now? What is going on here? But I just think the fact that we're able to even have these discussions is great. It's welcome.

Is that tribalism, Ariel? Do you feel like it is kind of, you often speak about strike force, the XC back in the day, where I felt there was that tribalism? Is this like on the UFC side? Is that what we're seeing a lot of people? It's something like that. Like, hey, don't come after what we have is beautiful. How dare you?

Leave it alone. Yeah, how dare you? I don't know. It's something, but it's amazing how everyone's nitpicking every single thing. from the length of the post-fight interviews to the pacing, to the amount of... Yo, I have to ask. I have to ask.

Please. Post-fight interviews, right? Tell me. You're sitting there, okay? And all of the fights end in the first round, are you like, oh, shit? This is going to add a significant at the time for what I have to do in this case.

I'm loving it. Here's the thing. First three fights, I didn't do a single post-fight interview because they all went the distance. And I think that there was some sort of... There was some sort of thought process like, hey, let's not temp fade here. This thing has to go out on the air to the world, because the prelims were on YouTube, and the numbers were insane. I think it peaked at like

330 or something like that, Ptsey. You were there, right? Over. More than that. Yeah, it was more than that. It was, I think it was upwards of 350 at the time. Just for context, because I asked, prelims for Tyson, Jake, had some names on there, like Shushu-Karrington and whatnot, Shadeja Green. That peaked at around 490, they said. That's their most. ever. Number two prior to Saturday was around 119 for AJ Jake. So for this, MMA on a, you know, on a YouTube page that typically shows boxing to get in that range was a huge success. And I even asked the guy that was talking to me about this, like, this is legit, right? 1,000% legit. You know, just had to ask because I'm sure there are people thinking, like,

is this juiced? I wouldn't even know how to do that. So I thought that was interesting. but the first three fights all went the distance, they said no post fight. And I was like, damn, I just want to like, you know, like you're a reliever to steal a baseball. Get your reps in. Yeah, I just want to like do something. I felt like the anticipation was building within me.

I wanted to do something. And then Jason Jackson's the first one that gets the quick finish and I get to go in there. They didn't want to go over because they want to go into Netflix clean and have that time. So I think there was like 30, 40 minutes extra by the end of the prelims to the start of the show,

better to be safe than sorry. Then the fights start happening on the main card, and they're all quick finishes. And as I said, you know, on my post-fight wrap-up from the hotel room, I'm being told like, hey, we've got time. It's different. Their requirements are different than a pay-per-view, different than another streaming platform.

They had their times when they wanted, you know, fighters to walk and whatnot. So in my, I'm not freestyling out there. I'm not just going rogue. They're saying, this is good. Keep it up. Francis and John are going back and forth. This guy's calling out this. Like, keep it up. Keep it up. So I'm just, I'm going until they tell me last question. That's the thing. I'm not freestyling out there just being like, this is my time to shine.

I'm good. And to be honest, I love asking questions. And I feel like my questions were pertinent. And so I'm having fun. I'm having the time of my life, Pizzi. I am having the time of my life standing there next to Francis, next to Mike, next to Nate. You know, John's up there. That scene. Like, I'm having the time of my life. my life. But I just want to make clear, I'm not freestyling out there. I'm having a great time. And dare I say, Barry H., I'm asking newsworthy questions that were then clipped off and people are talking about. And I don't think I wasted, you know, a bullet, so to speak. So that's that. I'm not worried at all. I'm thrilled that I'm getting a chance because when I did the boxing events on Netflix, because those fights go so long, there were, like, I remember I spoke to

Sugar Neeks after her first MVP, I got to ask her one question. And then I looked at, looked online and everyone's like, man, why didn't you let her talk more? Ellie Scottney as well when she won, because the fights were going so long, there was hardly any finishes. So the juxtaposition of one question, they don't even get a follow-up to now going like two, three minutes longer than your typical UFC post-fight was so much easier to do this, what I did on Saturday, because at least you could build up to something and you can ask other questions.

I also did want to note, I tried very hard coming in there as the MMA journalist officinado guy. I tried very hard. I hate when other promotions put on shows and pretend like other promotions don't exist. So I mentioned karate combat a bunch of times. I mentioned KSW. I mentioned bare knuckle. I mentioned the UFC.

I wanted to mention other organizations. I'm not trying to hide. I'm not being told what to say or what not to say. When do you hear that? I wanted to make a point to say, like, these guys are here for one fight. They may all be leaving after this fight. And they all came from other places.

And we know them because they did things in other places. And I thought that that was very important. It annoys me when they pretend like, he won three in a row in another organization. No, just say it. No one's going to click off and be like, what was that organization? I'm going to go watch that tonight instead. And so I tried to do that to show. I mentioned Shudo won championship at the press conference when talking about Adriano Marais.

I mentioned LFA, CFFC, all that stuff. I wanted to give those other organizations some shine to show that this sport is much bigger than just one organization. Now, let me ask G.C. and Rick, you guys were in attendance. Rick, I'll start with you. What did you think from a live event perspective? Now, worth noting, G.C. and Rick, we may have to change Rick's name to L.A. Rick now and G.C. to C.C., California, Connor, because it was a late-ariving show from the two of them, right?

I've made it pretty clear. It's Main Card Conner. Main Card Conner was also in Seattle for the UFC event. It was crazy. main card corner at the Netflix card. It's actually crazy you thought we would show up before the main car. I was like, hey guys, what do you think? How's it going? Oh, we're not there yet.

Wow, you didn't see the Adrian and Marais, Pumi and Kuda fight? Nah, we saw it. We saw it. On YouTube. Yeah. In the car. Yeah, man. It takes eight years to get everywhere in L.A.

We were a little bit busy doing things. Look, man, you know, we were getting content, all right? We were doing stuff for the channel. I got you. I got you. I got you. Overall, I enjoyed it, man. Yeah.

It was a fun, it was a fun car to go to. The Intuit Dome is absolutely beautiful. I mean, it was the halo board when you get in. It's just insane. The Intuit Dome was great. I thought the fights were fine. You know, I see a lot of people talking about like rigged. It was scripted.

It's just like, no, I think it was just selective matchmaking to lend to exciting results, which were most of those guys winning by knockout or by submission. But overall, I enjoyed it, man. I had a great time. I don't understand all of the anger surrounding this. Did it bother you that there was no one there? Well, it's funny you mention that. This is a joke, by the way.

Yeah, of course, obviously. Dave Meltzer is coming out and saying that according to Resseltics, there was 15,795 people in attendance. I got destroyed for saying it was like 70-ish percent full as the main card was starting. This is Perry Diaz, and I found this clip on likes I want to show. This dude, MMA Fu, zooms in. Now, you could see those lights are extremely deceiving. This happened at the Royal Rumble in Saudi

when there were the lights there and it looks like no one's there because the lights kind of, I guess, make the person look dark. I don't know what to tell you. I would say if it was empty. I would tell you if it was empty, I have no reason to lie.

I'm telling you, on my life, on my kid's life, by the time Ronda Rousey and Gina Carrano, I wish I took a video myself, were making the walk. The place was absolutely full. There were not even tarped off areas that's the upper deck right there

and that's before the main event. It was full. And so I don't know why there's, this thing, they'll be like, the place was empty. It wasn't empty. I don't know what to tell you. Was it empty for the, like, Chris Avala fight at the very beginning? Yeah, it was a late arriving crowd. But by the time the main card started, I would agree with the 75%, and then by the time the main event happened, it was, I don't know, 95, 98, I don't know if it was a pure salad. I don't know what a salad would be there. But the place was full. And those lights are extremely deceiving.

Intuit dome is beautiful. That screen is amazing. The way that wall is built. It's just two levels. it's just a really cool, the outdoor thing with the nets outside and all the jerseys from the state of California. All of it was very, it's a very cool arena but those lights are a little bit screwy. Those seat lights there?

I actually want to ask Jason Jackson, he didn't fight for very long, or even Mike Perry. I was wondering if the lights would bother the fighters because there's all these different lights happening right behind you as you're trying to fight another human being. But trust us when we tell you,

there were people there. It was not as empty. And I'll also say, I watched last night, and I understand why people said that. The lights are deceiving. Those lights, and those lights aren't MVP or Netflix. That's Intuit Dome.

That's their thing. They didn't install those things on every single seat. That would be absurd. That's an Intuit Dome thing, and they utilized it. Anyway, I guess you could shut it off, and maybe in retrospect they should have, but... That looks cool. They were using it for the show.

I mean, Robles to Spain is walking out, and it's like circling the arena in Cuban colors. Like, they were using it to add effects to the show. I don't think they care whether it looks like there's people there or not. I also don't understand this rhetoric like we would, why would we lie about who was there? I don't know. Rick, go ahead. You're in the pocket

bro. That's right. The only sell out a chill. Agree with everything that's already been said. The only thing I'd say, if I had a critique from the live viewership experience, the lulls between the fights

started to drag at times. Obviously, they have a TV product to be aware of, but there was quite a big gap between some of the fights. Now, you know, you get a decent shot on the broadcast of like, hey, it's 10 minutes till X, Y, Z walks out in the arena. We're not, you know, up to speed on that. So that was the only critique. But that happens at different events as well. It also, it lengthened as that main card went on. Yeah. Like when we got in there, it was just like, all right, here we go. We got J. Diaz versus Spain. Quick finish. All right, let's get Saladin out there.

Quick finish. Then you get like a little bit of a break, and then it's Francis. And then you get a long break before Diaz and then you get a long break before Ronda Rousey. I'm with Rick on like the Nate Diaz one. I was like, all right man, let's let's get Nate out here. Come on. Yeah, I look, for me it's hard to tell because like I'm running back and forth. And so there was one time where I think it was the Nate five. I was like, oh shit, this is starting. But again, my perspective is completely different. I could totally understand that. I think if every one of those fights like prior went to distance, it wouldn't have felt as long. You know what I mean? Like I don't think they have.

had it baked in regardless, I think it was just a matter of the fights being, you know, rather quick early into it. I didn't see a dull fight on the card. There were a couple of decisions, you know, like I said, I think the first three were decisions at the start. But once Jason Jackson got rolling, the action was kind of like fast and furious. And so again, it is important to remember, MMA was never really a thing for this company. it only became a thing because Ronda Rousey decided to, you know, not go with the UFC or it didn't work out with the UFC and come back and present them this fight.

And then they had to build a whole card surrounding it. And this is going to be one of the challenges if they decide to stay in MMA, which it sounds like they want to, are there enough fighters to be able to put on a consistent number of events? maybe not 43, but I don't know, one a month, one a quarter, whatever it is, are there enough fighters? You know, I think that they have some matchups here post this event. Do you do Robles versus Francis? I was going to suggest Namo versus Mike Perry, but I saw Namo Fiziel say afterwards that he has a contract to fight for the UFC or contender series after his win over

Jake Babian. Maybe there's a Perry Diaz rematch there. If they can convince Ronda to stick around, like Ronda versus Holly Holmes, right, there. Rhonda versus Holly Home is right there. Rhonda looked fantastic. Rhonda looked incredible. But the point is, this isn't 2011. This isn't 2009 when, you know, strike force takes over the elite XC contract and all these guys are available. This isn't the UFC taking over a strike force or an affliction and all these guys are available or even the pride guys. Like it doesn't exist. Just ask the PFL who have struggled to find names. They're trying to find names like Patrick Habi

Roar is fighting this weekend. Cedric Dumbay. They found Dakota Dichiva, but the list of those fighters is not very deep. It's a shallow pool outside of the UFC because the UFC has so many fighters on their contract, and they are the gold standard, and so many fighters want to fight for them. So that's going to be a big challenge. Can they do this consistently? But I would argue that they could probably make a greater impact off the bat than the impact that they made in boxing, because they could start, like, Pumi was like, let me fight for the first MVP flyway title,

said the same about the heavyweight title. You could start handing out belts today and no one in our sport would bat an eye because we are programmed to be like, okay, who's the promotional champion here as opposed to boxing where you have to do this and that, WBC, IBF, WBO and the rankings, and who's the number one contender and all that stuff. You can make that greater impact, especially because there's so little competition these days quicker, which has got to be something in my opinion that they're looking at right now. Rick, what do you want to say? I was going to say, I think it's viable. I think it's possible.

Once a month seems too much, right? Because one, the talent pool that you're pointing to. Two, it's a lot harder to make a big splash once a month, right? But once a quarter, you can make a big splash because you can put together a card that's going to be, have enough star power, enough name value. Quite frankly, like, it feels like an excuse to say that there's not enough talent out there. And I think that this is up to now managers to earn their money. If you're a manager of somebody who's competing in combat sports, particularly MMA,

this is your time to be able to negotiate what Francis and Ghana was able to negotiate, where it's, hey, I'm able to compete for this. Or even a better example, Mike Perry, right? Mike Perry has a relationship with BKFC. That's his home base for now. Obviously, we'll see what happens with his deal in the future. But throughout his tenure with BKFC, they allowed him opportunities to pursue big fights. He got to fight Jake Paul.

you got to do other things that were outside his BKFC contract. And so that's up to the managers to now figure out because I think in a world where this Netflix entity and MVP, if that's who Netflix continues to use as their promoter, exists, you should be somebody who's thinking about, I can have three fights with some other promotion, but I need to have the ability to just do these one-off fights for MVP or for Netflix or whoever is, you know, tied to Netflix at that time. And that's up to the managers. That's up to the managers to do because you're potentially leaving a lot of money on the table

if you're not thinking that way. And if other promotions are willing to play ball with you, as it seems that some of them are, that's the path to go. Let me also just say, like being in the back, getting that opportunity to be in the back and talking to a lot of these guys because I wanted to.

Coaches, managers, fighters, they were all very excited. Getting to have sponsors on the shorts. I forgot how much I missed the sponsors. I forgot how much I missed just, guys and gals being able to wear whatever the hell they wanted. You know, that's, that's, that's a, that's a part of the fight game that we don't get to see anymore in MMA. You get it in boxing, but I forgot, they all were like, we hope this last.

We hope that there's another place. Like, look, Namo gets this big win, and now it seems like the UFC's interested in him. You tell me the UFC doesn't want to be in the Saladin-Parnas business? They've wanted him, and now I'm sure they want him even more. Obviously, the top guys have their history with the UFC, but like, if I'm the UFC, you don't want to be in the mic. Perry business after Saturday. So having another place to do your thing and then to be able to negotiate with is massive. It's absolutely massive. Let me talk about the Ronda Rousey fight for a second because, again, this is, you know,

a byproduct of the sport just being newer and newer fans getting involved in the sport. You guys have to realize she's done this before. The idea that this fight was rigged is so completely absurd. Number one, no promoter would ever partake in that. Number two, no broadcaster would ever want to partake in that. And number three, it's not like she's never done this. It's not like, oh, my God, this person was a decision merchant. She's never done this before.

We've never seen her steamroll through an opponent in an arm bar with them. What the hell? She's done it time and time again. In fact, I think that was her 10th arm bar. She did it to Katzenegano in that same freaking city back in, what was it, 2015? We've seen her dispose of the likes of Alexis Davis. with a slam.

She's done this before. Did I feel unfulfilled afterwards? Absolutely. I wish that that fight at least went 60 seconds we could see a little bit of what Gina Carrano could do. Just throw some strikes.

Something. I mean, here it is. In case you missed it. She goes for the takedown, which was a little different. It didn't always work this. We never seen Rhonda do a takedown like that. Usually it would be like a slam

or a throw or something like that. Quick little guillotine in there, a quick ground and pound barrage and then it lights out. She's that damn good. She did this to some of the best women bat-to-white fighters in the world, time it again. Like that felt like a time machine. When they were standing in there about to fight, I was like, wow, is this a movie set?

What are we watching right here? Because I never thought I'd see Ronda Rousey walk out to Joan Jett. Never thought I'd see Gina Carrano walk out ever again. And I never thought I'd see them face off. And for her to do it like she has done so many times in the past, the first thing I didn't think was rigged. The first thing I was like, holy shit, she turned back the clock. and she turned back the clock against someone who was older who had to work very hard to lose a lot of weight.

I'm not suggesting that I ever thought that, you know, I think we all thought that Rhonda was the heavy favorite and should win that fight. Thought the fight was going to go a little bit longer than that, wish the fight went a little bit longer. My heart broke for Gina. I saw her in the hotel afterwards. She was devastated.

She worked all that, you know, that time and effort. She put all that time and effort into coming back and she didn't get to show anything. Talk to her coaches afterwards. They were crushed. Crush doesn't even put him mildly, but that's what happens when you face Ronda Rousey. My takeaway from that wasn't like, oh, wow, look at how quickly she disposed of genome. My takeaway from all of that was like, can we see more of that?

I would love to see more. I probably asked her that question 10 times last week, including afterwards, you're telling me right now, Pizzi, right now. Ronda Rousey against the best women's band-of-weight fighters in the world. She can't hang? She can't hang. That version of Ronda. She can hang for sure. like exactly what you're saying

this is textbook stuff really what she did there and the shots are just to open up the arms so Gina will react with her arms down arm bar like anyone who's watched MMA before can't seriously be like Rhonda Rousey and Mount is not like going to arm bar this person immediately like that is exactly what I thought

I think what you're saying that is the beauty of Rousey that is why she was compared to Tyson so much it's because things were happening in the blink of an eye and people would say I stayed up all night to watch this for you last in 20 seconds. Same with Tyson. That's the idea.

It is that appetite. You want to see more. What would she look like if she was against Holly home now? You know, she lost to Holly home before. Like that is a very appealing fight. But as I said on the crack on Friday, fair plate of Ronda for taking the most perfect

negotiation position that she can. I'm just not doing it again. So what are we going to do here? They're going to back up the truck and be like, come on one more against Holly. Holly fights for MVP. They don't even have to sign her. She's right there.

And it's a really intriguing. That is a really intriguing thing. Considering everything that happened. Oh my gosh. Like, I mean. People, obviously the fight was not fixed, rigged, whatever. People will find something to complain about, right? Like when Jake Paul and Mike Tyson are fighting, the complaint is this is, there's not enough action, right?

They're letting each other off the hook. Whatever. I think there's multiple complaints. If finished, yeah, whatever you're, whatever your slant on that is. He's 58 years old. Then. And. Just showed us his ass.

I wasn't complaining about that, Pete. And then with Ronda, it's too fast. Like, there's, at the end of the day, they can't worry about satisfying that. Quite frankly, if you thought Gina Karana was going to be competitive in that fight, you only have yourself to blame. Like, there's really no excuse for thinking that that wasn't a squash match. And I don't think, quite frankly, like,

I don't think anybody built it differently. Did anybody see anybody going like, this is going to be a battle of Titans? Like, did anybody see? Gina's live. Rick said there was smoke that came down before the Co-Main and Maine, like, hyping everyone up. And Rick pointed to it right as the fight was about to start. And he was like, before that smoke clears, Rhonda will be getting her hand-raced. We actually couldn't believe it.

At one point we looked, and Rhonda was only like a minus-450 favorite. I mean, this is a 44-year-old Gina Carrano. She was never at that level anyway, 17 years off. And then Rhonda Rousey, like, you talk about it. Like, her last three wins before the two-fight losing streak and the retirement and everything were in 34 seconds or less. Charmbard Katzengano in like 14 seconds. This isn't a shocking out. It was a crazy exchange.

You said a squash match. Most of these were. When Francis and Felipe Lenz were walking out, it was just like, good night, Felipe. Thanks for coming. Francis is here to knock him out. The only one I had a little bit of question on was Nate Diaz versus Mike Perry. And on boys in the back, we talked about it. I thought Mike Perry was going to come out on the gas.

Nate Diaz wasn't going to be able to hang. And he was just going to unload on him. And that's what ended up happening. Like, they were all pretty much predictable matchups in terms of the outcome of what they were going to be. And, like, it didn't really make it any less fun for me. Yeah, you know, when Affliction put on their two events, when Strike Force was doing their thing, that was one of the big complaints about those organizations. It's usually like an A-side that's a big favorite. And, you know, another, like, there weren't historically a lot of, Strike Force used to get killed for this all the time.

But what you would get were, like, crazy knockout. I lay real stuff, yes. And I'm not saying that they're trying for that every single time, but we'd be sitting here on Monday if the matchups all went 50 minutes and they were hug fest or, you know, like wrestle fest or whatever, and being like, wow, that was dull. That was, that was, I was sitting next to a lot of people who were watching MMA for the first time being like, holy shit, this is insane. This is nuts. Like, the Pumina Kuda fight, like, that's insane the way that ended. That can't happen in another form of combat sports. And so Ronda Rousey wins big, obviously, true or false, she fights again, guys.

True. True. Wow. Man. Too much money. I know. Assuming that she is. They have to make the offer. Pizzi said it perfectly.

She's already started the negotiations by saying I'm done. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I thought you guys were going to say false. No. If her saying this is the biggest payday of her life is accurate, no chance she walks away from another one.

Oh, and by the way, again, another negotiation. that there's a lot of new people, those payouts are not real. They're not fucking real. Rick, do you remember how many times I said this on the show? You think Saladipanianianranos is 70 grand. You get the yellow numbers. I used to go crazy in the MMA hour days about this.

Those payouts are not real. They are not real. Do you think those guys, every single one of them? At least it's, maybe the prelim guys were real. The top dogs, not for, I mean, like, there's no chances are real. By the way, to be very clear, when they are released for the UFC as well.

It's exactly the same. They are not real. They're going to come out with the Conor payouts. And it's going to say a million for him and like $75,000, $750,000. $750,000 for that. And everyone's going to be like, Connor made a million? No. It's never real.

They do this thing where it's like disclosed payout and then there's like another agreement. Trust me, it is not real. guys think that that that's not what she takes home fight again. Wow. Yeah. The Holly home fight, as you said, is right there. Like, why? For how... She wants that babies. That's great, but you could

you could wait a year, get all that money and then really take care of those babies in a much better way. We're literally beating up babies. No. Not beating up. Not those. Ariel, one of the best moments of the day was the same of Francis and John. As I'm watching, I'm

buzzing because you're in the take of it there. But what is going on in your headset when they're like John's up there and you're looking around in real time and you're going, he's up here. And it's a magic moment between these two dudes because obviously it's the fight. Everybody wanted. I don't think it's going to happen because Jones has obviously sewn up in that contract. But it was a great moment. What's going on for you?

Like are you being told go over here? Maybe John will say something up here. In that moment, to be honest, I wasn't told. I saw him cage side and I was sort of watching him watch Francis. And then I saw him leave. And then I saw him from the corner of my eyes. So initially, I was sort of looking for him, like, where did he go? And he was wearing a white t-shirt.

So, and that desk area was right in front of us. So I saw him, but the cameraman was blocking me. So that's why I was like, he's right there. He's right. Look behind him. And you know what I was reminded of? I was reminded of, I was reminded with Bisping Romero. Yes.

Oh, yes. Remember when Bisping was up there like this? It was a carbon copy moment. It was an amazing moment. Yeah. And if you go back and watch the interview, which I did yesterday, I never said, like, you know, he's next or anything like that. I just said, what do you want to say to him? He's here watching you fight.

He's sitting there with a smile on his face. What do you want to say to him? And then later in the chat, I said, he's contractually tied up. But this guy standing in back of you just disrespected you to your face yesterday at the way. And it's Jake Paul. So maybe you want to fight him next. So I wasn't saying, like, hopefully we can make this happen next. I'm not trying to sell wolf tickets here, but John Jones is in the building, which he rarely is for a non-UFC event when Francis is there.

Ghali, like, what are the chances? Obviously, we know he was paid to be there to be a part of the broadcast for some portion of time. Of course I'm going to ask him the question. Like, that's not instigating. That's journalism. I want to know what he thinks about John being there. And by the way, the person who asked Francis the question about Dana breaking the Connor news during his walkout, that was a good question. that was a good question.

Ain't that what journalism is? People were like, this guy should be ashamed of himself for banned, post-fight press conferences. This is so stupid. No, what did you think about the president of the UFC waiting until you walked out

to steal the shine away from you to announce Connor McGregor's return? I want to know how he feels about that. Now, Francis's answer is like, what do you want me to do about it? But like, all right, that's his answer. That's a very good question. And I think the question,

hey, what do you think of John or what do you want to say to John is a very fair question as well. I'm not trying to say that they're going to fight each other, they can't fight each other. It's not going to happen. It will never happen. There's no way that TKO is going to be like, yeah, let's work together. But I'll tell you what, if I'm Netflix on this Monday saying, all right, so we're in business with these guys. These guys, you know, we do WWE with them. Obviously, Ron, the U.S., Smackdown and the rest of the WW stuff, PLEs around the world. We do the odd boxing event with

them. AJ and Fury is probably going to be associated with them in some shit. shape, or form, obviously Fury Mahmood of, all that stuff, Canello Crawford. Did you really have to try to mess with our event? Like, we're partners. Are we not partners? You know what I mean? Did you have to try? Like, I wonder what the executives think on this Monday, or even in the moment, as Francis is walking out and Dana's running to IG Live, which I said, you know, like, it almost felt like, okay, the old Dana still's got his fastball. Like, he still cares. To me, if I'm MVP, if I'm Nikisa and Jake, I'm thinking like, oh, wow, this is a bit of a

moral victory. He's not doing this for a PFL event. He's not doing this for a one championship event or any other event. He's not doing this for a Bellator event of five years ago. That was not a coincidence. He did that exactly when Francis was walking out to steal some shine away from Francis. Now, I don't think that anyone said, oh my God, Conner's coming back, click, I'm not watching anymore. Let me just stare at my phone. Oh, and X. I thought it's promoter battle 101. I do wonder how the network feels about it, who may be the one entity out there that is bigger than TKO.

And if I were doing it, if I were trying to be as petty as the UFC in that moment, what I would have done was, hey, at 9 o'clock or something, we're making a big announcement, tune in. And I'm sure he gets paid by meta to do those IG lives, but I would have said tune into IG

or tune into Paramount Plus to get people to click over. That's what you ultimately wanted. You wanted people to stop watching the Netflix show. That's what you wanted. But you did it on IG Live in the most underwhelming way possible. That's what I would have done if I were them. I would have said at 9 o'clock, that's what they did in the old Monday Night War days.

That's what they said. Like, Bischoff would say, we're making an announcement or Vince would say we're making announcement at this time, tune in to the start of this segment or the top of the hour, et cetera. That's what I would have done. So it felt like they didn't quite execute as good as possible. But to me, that's just classic day. And I was debating with people earlier in the day.

Are they going to do it? Are they going to do it? I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. Did I not tell you all a million times that this was coming? Oh, you said it was going to be 24 hours. The fucking announcement who gives a shit. I told you from the beginning that it was going to be Connor versus Max,

170 pounds, five rounds, July 11th, international fight week. I told you. And it was right. And it did happen. And it is going to happen. And I said that from the beginning as well. Oh, yeah, it's never going to have. He's never going to fight again.

They're never going to announce a fight. Blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm not surprised that they waited a week to do it. And I'm not surprised that they waited during Francis's fight to do it. I am surprised that they waited during Francis's fight to do it. I am surprised that. they didn't tease the announcement, as they usually do. Don't they tease announcements all the time?

Later today, Dana White's going to make an announcement. Unless I missed it, the fact that they didn't do that felt like a miss because they were ultimately hoping for people to click off and tune into their shit. And in the end, you just dropped it. And I feel like everyone just kind of moved on with their lives. Come along with me here. What about just like waiting and not doing it on the same day? Wouldn't that be something if you just like had a big announcement and like,

made it feel big? Am I stupid? Maybe I'm stupid. What if you don't do that anymore, mate? It was just, it was pure pettiness. And I bet someone, I bet someone is going to call someone a TKO and be like, yo, like, to your point, Rick, did you have? Oh, we can't control Dana. You know, Dana's a renegade.

He does what he wants. He's a maverick. He's going to make that announcement. That's the easy out, right? He didn't do it on Paramount Plus. He didn't run his IG. He's a maverick. He just got excited.

He's a fighter. He wanted to stick it to Francis or to Jake and Nikisa. But come on. But isn't the way, truly, isn't the way to bury it, like, on Wednesday you announce it and just crush the news cycle or something? Like, it just feels like... I don't think a lot of thought was put into that. I don't think that this was the right play if you were trying to do that.

Wait, to bury what, though? Like, he means the build-up. So announce it during the press conference to, like, drown out all the three-fight. Yeah, maybe. Get days of Connor McGregor talk. I'm with you, Pizzi. Yeah, I prefer this. This is what we're here for.

so petty. It's so petty, but it's been a long time since he's had to be petty. It doesn't matter if it's effective or not. It does that. It's a McGregor fight. It's going to get talked about no matter what. People are going to go Gaga for it. They're like, McGregor's posting on Twitter now, and everything he puts is

nuclear. I'm seeing edits posted everywhere. People are hyped that Connor McGregor is best. All these things can be true three days before and three days after. I just don't think of an announcement. But then we won't have the contention. Contention, yeah, I don't know. I don't buy it. I don't think contentiousness. It doesn't...

Why do you do it then? Why did he do it then? Because I think he thought it was some kind of like master plan. It doesn't feel like a master plan. That's all we... That's what it is. That's the best of... So we're kind of arguing... We're all arguing different things here. I think we're all in agreement that he tried to mess with him. I think Rick is saying he failed

in the execution. Did it work? What did it have ever worked? I don't think... It's a fight announcement. Oh, he was titulated. If you did what Ariel said, if you did what Ariel said, it would have worked. If you said to people, we have a one-hour special coming up. It's going to be Dana White and these number of people sitting in studio. Tune in at 9 o'clock when that card is going on and come over to us. I guarantee there would have been people who did it. It was lazy and it was it was it was it was poorly executed.

You know what you do? We're going to have we're going to announce if I was them. We're going to announce the return of the biggest star, don't even say his name, the biggest star in the history of the sport at 10 p.m. Show started at 9, right? And we're going to have an exclusive interview with him. And it's going to be Joe Rogan talking to him. You don't think people would have crossed over? Okay, now we're talking. Yeah.

That's what I'm saying. Lazy. We're never going to do that. Okay, well, then why fucking do it? To your point, meta, he's paid by meta to do these announcements. It's clear. But you could have put a little... It's the fastball.

It's what I'm saying. It's like, you really want to fuck with them. You could have fucked with them. Yeah. I agree with you, Rick. Ultimately... What they used to do was put on a better show. Yes.

Now they didn't even give a fuck. Someone might have been there, been like, that was annoying, but ultimately no one's clicking off. So the thesis that I think we all have is it was much to do about nothing. It was much to do about nothing. No one shut off the show and it only gave Ronda, Nekisa, Jake, Francis Fauder to respond. Ultimately, for us who likes to play in the sandbox, it was all good. It was fun.

It was fun. I don't think anyone should feel personally offended by it because it was a sort of nothing burger. It's great. I can't wait. If I'm Francis Inganu, I feel better. These guys are still fucking thinking about me. Every time I'm out there, these guys are still thinking about me. 100%.

Shit. Just devil's advocate. You're one of Dana's mates. You're with him. You're sitting beside him. And they have the fights on. And he's like, well, I just fucking announce it. You're like, God, damn.

Guess who's fucking fighting on July 11? That's the best part is that they definitely were like cueing it up. And they're like, okay, he's walking. He's getting ready to walk. Filippe is in the cage now. All right. Go ahead and go live. Hit live.

And it's like, as soon as he did it, he was like, What's up everybody? So good. It was perfect timing. It was so good. Also, that would be bouncer. You said, no one should be personally offended. And I was like, man, who would be personally offended by this?

But the amount of people that were personally offended by this MDP card on Saturday, I could understand. What do you mean? How they would be personally offended by you? But for the opposite reason, right? Because I was talking about the people, the only people that I think would be annoyed by this, honestly, are the Netflix people who are like, did you really have to do that? Did you really try to mess with us? And we're partners in so many other things. But yes, the amount of people that were personally offended by just the mere presence of this card.

The attempt to put on something other than a UFC show was very, very funny. Credit to the UFC for building this fan base around this brand. It is incredible. There was once a term that we used to talk about on the UG and the Sherdog forums known as Zufa Zombies. And we hadn't heard that term in quite some time. Welcome back to the party, kids. The Zufa Zombies are back. I did mention John Jones, happy to say that the, the fences mending tour that is 2026 continues.

John and I had a nice little chat. I don't really feel like we need to talk about the chat, but I could tell you it was nice, it was cordial, it was positive. I think even a little voyeur over here got some footage of us chat. Look at us. He's happy. Are we shaking hands here? I'm not sure. We did at some point.

He's happy. There's physical twitch there, yes. There was some nice words. shared. You physically touching people was kind of the Yeah, you didn't kiss him on the name of the neck

on the neck? Listen. Ariel-on, what the fuck is this? Different approaches. I did see Kamar Usman but I don't think he wanted to talk to me

and I didn't really want to talk to him and so we just kept moving. But it was all good. It was all good. It felt like a cordial just decision on both of our parts not to talk to each other but it was fine.

I'm going to chalk that up. Save that one for 2027. We'll mend that fence. I mended fences with Barry Bonds guys. In 1997, I asked Barry Bonds to sign my baseball, and I gave him a Sharpie, and he was holding on to a blue pen,

and a pen, like a shitty pen. And I was like, hey, can you sign it in the sweet spot? He looks up in me, he goes, who's signing the autographs here, kid? I'll sign it where I want to. Horrible autograph. I see him at the event. We shake hands, big fan,

watch your stuff. You're doing your thing, kid. Take a picture with Barry Bonds. Are you kidding me? I'm chalking. At the end of the year, when we do the awards, and I want to have the whole list,

I'm putting Barry Bonds on that list. I got to see B-Spo. For Mending the Fences from 1997 for signing my ball in the wrong spoke. No, but what list? What portion of the awards is? The Mending Fences List. Okay. You're wrong to be zero.

You ever end the MOYSITLIST. You're there forever. You die on my shit list. Wow. No offense has ever made. James Tudan. Marchan Lynch and I mended fences. Wait, what was your beef on Marshaun Lynch?

How did the fence get unmended? He left the bills. He had a Hall of Fame career. I just said like, yo, Marshaun, you're the man. He's taking photos. You have a list like Steve Deschemy and Billy Madison where you just cross things out with Barry Bonds, kill Barry Bonds.

No. It's on my baseball with a blue pen. One of the highlights of the weekend, guys, King Velasquez. Just being around, Kane. What a soul, Kane. He's talking to me about the ayahuasca, about the Toad's Revenge, or what is that thing called that they take? Did you get some of Antia?

I didn't get any of it, but he, you have never met a more Zen-like human being than Kane Velasquez. He's sitting there. You know, people talk about raw dogging. We were on a one-hour, like, you know, like raw-dogging a plane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Pizza got his blue radar up.

We're up against the clock. This guy is sitting on the little van that we're in, in the van for an hour, never looks at his phone, is just sitting there like this. And like, hey, man, how are you doing? He's so great to see you. He's just soft-spoken, nice. Saw Katzenegano. That was incredible. Saw Mr. Carrano, Glenn Carrano, Gina's father, former Dallas Cowboy quarterback who had not seen in like, I don't know, 17 years, I guess.

Hang on what? Yeah, you didn't know. that. Did not know that. Gina's dad was a former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. You didn't know this? Glenn Carrano. No. That was Michael Irvin, buzz him with him too. He's like, oh, there's Michael Irvin, saw him there, saw

Levyon Bell, saw CM Punk. Haven't talked to CM Punk in quite some time in the front row. Called the Ronda thing perfectly. He read the script. He read the script. He read the script. Oh, yes. forgot you. He's got the script. Any invoids to like a new wayhouse for me from Michael. No, no.

We didn't get there. But he did enjoy the chat. He told me when I saw him, he didn't enjoy the chat. Guys, I'm at Carmen Elektra. I walked up to Carmen Elektra. Let me tell you something. In the 90s, I mean, easy, man. Who was, no, what was the pound for pound in the 90s?

It was her, it was, it was, Pam Anderson. It was, Jenny McCarthy. That was probably the pound for pound, right? Her and Dennis Rodman, Carmen Elektra, looking great. I don't know how old. Dave Navarra. How was Carmen Lecture now? Carmen?

Let me tell you about the 90s. Let me tell you about something. Me and you? 54. Wow. First time I'm meeting you, sir. Say she looks fantastic, does she? She's great.

What do we think of the hexagon? I'm fine with it. I mean... Love Big Mo. Big Mo, absolutely... Big Mo crushed. Crushed. That dude is amazing.

He is on a rocket show. When he does the promos and so, like, when he does the promos, the introses and he's like, welcome back and all that, it's great. I didn't. I have to say, I didn't love the hexagon. You didn't like. the hexagon. What would you have preferred circle? No, no, no, I didn't love branding it as, like, they enter the hexagon. Oh. Yeah. I just say, I wouldn't mention it that much. Just say cage. Just say cage. I thought you said, I thought what you were trying to say was, you didn't like the shape.

Yeah, was it small. It looked small, yeah. It felt like it was small. Yeah. Yeah, I just didn't love the, like, they enter the hexagon. Would you have preferred circle? No, just the word. I know, I know, but the hexagon. I don't know. Yeah, if we could have made it bigger, yeah, maybe circle. Yeah. But Bigmoe was doing such good entrance and then I would just go to the that one shot of the foyer to just kind of standing there. And then you wait for the music to hit. And it just didn't hit that hard at home. Well, the walkouts were very short.

I think they could, I think they could, I think they would change like a longer track. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fucking bad rap. Just be like, oh, fuck, here we go. And it's so loud. It was just like, maybe a whisper in the background.

I was like, ah. No, that's a great point. From a TV perspective, I was, I hate the ramp. Yeah. I hate when the elevator ramp. And so when I first saw it, I was like, I don't like, but I guess the ramp was on the ground. Right?

Yeah. The ramp was like level. And there was like the one shot where like Saladin is walking and you could at least high five. What I didn't like about the ramp in the strike force days was that they were above the crowd. It kind of reminded me of the WVE ramp, which is a shorter ramp, and they're on the ground. So I didn't hate that. But I know what you mean.

It was short. And I wonder, I don't know. I didn't ask this question. I wonder if it's because of the Intuit dome. Like the way that thing is structured, I don't think you can have hockey there, G. Because it's so like, did you see the way the seats go? they go so steep into the ground. Especially the wall, like the Clippers thing where it's like only Clippers fans can sit in that section.

Yeah, it was like a straight up mountain going up. Fascinating. And to it don't still the winter of the night. I had a feeling it would be. Oh, it's a great spot. Those lights are something else. And that screen, they don't have a scoreboard. It's just a circular screen all around.

Aero board. Yeah. There's much, much, much more. Hey, pizza, if you can come back in a couple hours, there's much, much, much, much, much more. Thank you. Appreciate that. to discuss as far as news and notes are concerned, and as far as the weekend is concerned. I mean, we just scratched the surface there giving our thoughts.

But I did want to have, in my opinion, one of the biggest winners of the night on the program. We had a chance to speak after the fight, but I had a few more questions, believe it or not. I didn't have enough time. I didn't have enough time. And so without further ado, let us speak to the one and only platinum Mike Perry. He was kind enough to join us on this Monday afternoon. Back home. Mike, what's up, dog?

Great to see you again. What's up, bro? It's good to be here, man. Yo, congrats, man. Thanks, bro. You know, it all came together. I put in a lot of work, and I'm grateful that it all worked out. What does it like to come home after a crazy week like that, all that attention, all that media, all that stuff?

Nate Diaz, Netflix, all that, and it's just back to reality. What is that feeling like? How do you come down from that high? Well, I got to keep. There's a couple things I still got to do, and then I also. have to like, you know, put put some things back together back home. Like, right before the trip, man, I lost my wallet somewhere. So I went on the trip with like cash and like my passport. I didn't have an idea. I didn't have credit cards. But then I found out like how to use a credit

card on my phone. And so now I got to order all my credit cards and order like I got to go get idea, I got to go to the DMV, I got to put some other stuff, I got some mail from the HOA, I got to do some landscaping, oh my goodness, I got to put my life back together. Is that how it usually goes, by the way? Does everything stop before a fight a week or two out, and then it all piles up afterwards and it hits you smack in the face? Or is this one a little bit more? A little bit, I guess, you know, I try. Yeah, we just, it's like some things are like, okay, we can push that. I don't have to worry about that right now.

Or I just got mail when I was away. And, you know, come home, open up all this big stack of mail. And it's like I got tons of bills and all this stuff. And people are hitting me up. Like my HOA knows I had, they must have know that I got some money. And they're like trying to hit me for things that don't matter or they don't. like that's not necessary it's like y'all ain't getting free money out of me by the way can ask you a crazy question maybe maybe i'm exposing myself what does h-o-a stand for homeowners association

oh okay i'm like what is h-o-a fuck i thought that was like a regular thing like the buildings in new york have like a h-o-a or no guys do they i don't know what is it no i don't know what that is They keep things like, you know, your shrubs got to be, like your... Oh, you live in like a gated community or some, like, you know, boogey. It's not a gator community because, like, those HOAs are like $4 to $700 a month or more for, like, gated communities. So, you know, I don't want to pay, like, when you're done paying your mortgage, you've still got to pay H-O-A fee, like, forever. And I didn't want to pay, like, $700. So I got a lower HOA neighborhood.

Okay, wow, wow, wow. Okay, you learned something new. By the way, regarding the wallet, just curious, this is always my biggest fear. I left my wallet one time in an airport. Always worried that someone's going to, like, use my credit card or something like that. Have you been able to track? Like, do you know if anyone actually has your wallet and your cards, or is it just somewhere? I have a memory of, like, dropping it somewhere in a tight corner somewhere.

We looked everywhere before the fight. I've checked like my accounts like maybe if if I dropped it somewhere that someone could have it. But then I was like I was freezing my cards. And then I'm like, oh my God, I have so many bills that are just like connected to these cards. I unfreeze them just so like my life can keep going while I was. If some homeless guys grabbing a four dollar beer while I'm, you know what I mean? like it's all good, but, you know, I got to get that adjustment fixed. I got to go to the car dealership and get my car, it's been in the shop.

I got to, you know, they had to hold it for like the whole week I was out there. So I got tons of stuff I got to do. I love this. I know, I know. That's what comes with the win. But I love this perspective because we just think of you guys as fighters and then not realize that you have actual real life things to take care of when you come back. I thought you owned the week, man.

Like, I first saw you on Sunday of last week, and I was worried that you were going to get frustrated. You know, he was late to the faceoffs and all that stuff. And you were just so calm. You and your team were just, like, playing. I don't remember now if it was ping pong or something. But, like, you were just the whole, even at the, even at the presser when Namo was coming after you, it just felt like you have come such a long way. And we've talked about this a million different ways. But to actually see it up close, I thought you owned the week.

I thought you really did an amazing job. Obviously, the win, like, alters the way you view a week in retrospect. But how did you feel about the whole week, the whole experience? This was such a big deal for so many reasons. What did you come away feeling? I came away feeling, like I said, about being, you know, the best welterweight 170-pound fighter. Like, you know, talking to Jake after the fight, it's like I fought him at 200 pounds, at 30. pounds makes a big difference. The fact that I came in in that shape and I did the diet for over 60 days

and got myself an incredible shape and I maintain the diet and exercise through traveling and being in California and change of scenery and maintaining that hold on my on my it's a structure like a diet is a big part of your structure when you're prepping for camp and you can can mess up so easily with like some salty food and stuff but I made the weight really good I felt really good fighting Nate's tough and like I watch in the fight back it's like he was hitting me with some jabs he split my face right here with the left hand I guess he heard his hand but like he heard it on my face or something and then yeah he had that judo throw but I I came out in a better position really with it and I went for some of the ground of pound

It's not like I just was like, oh, stand back up. Like, I went into his guard a little bit. I tried to play the game, and I would get a little tired sometimes trying to get past his legs and punch him. So then I'd be like, okay, get back up. Like, people are like, you know, there's lots of comments. Yeah, the comments are wild. Are you getting the comments too? Comments are all over the place.

But they were all over the place before the fight, too. So it's like, I don't even pick. attention to that stuff anymore. I just, uh, I mean, I read a lot of it and I'm grateful for this positive, supportive ones. They know I put a lot of work in and, um, I just, you know, I know I got a more dangerous fight ahead of me now. Um, and if it's, you know, some people are like, oh, I've seen enough. Give them Alex Pereira or Francis Inganu. Like, what? Okay, well, tell them to make one 70. Who's saying that? That's insane to say that.

I've seen a couple of those because I, you know, it was devastated. Yo, when you say you have a much bigger fight coming up, what's that? I'm just saying, like, the next one. Like, you don't go from this one to crap. Like, I have no need for 99% of these guys. And there's a couple fun ones people are talking about. Like what? What's like piquing your interest? Mosvidal.

Why him? Mosvido is a good fight because, I mean, but, you know, Nate was able to beat him in a boxing match. And then I got that fight, you know, and Kumaru was there that night. All respect to Kamarro, we were talking a little bit. I asked him if he's going to 185 or is one-sev, like, you know, I was like, you can still do 170. Um, uh, people were talking about UFC stuff and like who would be the fight. Like who's the top dog right now knocking everybody out as the nightmare. And, um, you know, if I've seen it in history where guys come in or come back into the UFC

and they get a, you know, top ranked fight. And I feel like I'm somebody in that category that fits the category. Like, you could bring me in, give me a top-ranked fight and, fuck, crush it. What interests you more of fighting against someone like Jorge, which would have to happen in the UFC, probably, unless they release him because he's contractually tied to them, or a Nate rematch? I just don't think Nate, I know he was hitting me a little bit, but, like, I don't know. I just didn't feel like he had anything for me. I mean, maybe the third round would have been different, but is he not going to cut again?

Like, I was literally even trying to hit him on the other side of his face. He was bleeding here, and I'm like, I'm trying to land the right hand on the other side, and he pulls away and you catch this side. And I was like shaking my head, no. like walking him down in the second round like oh my god look how much blood this is like there's no way this is going to continue but i can't do anything else but go forward and i'm going to try to land big shots and um you know it's just if if that's the job if that's the job if that's the big fight

that people want to make if they want to offer you me a fight, I say yes, you know what I mean? Because that's my gig, that's my job. And I shouldn't feel bad about it. Have they approached you about that yet? I mean, we was talking about it the night of the fight right after the fight because it's just so unfortunate. Like, I wasn't ecstatic about necessarily getting the win that way,

but like I know it was my damage from the nasty stuff I was throwing and like what shit like what was I supposed to do that's how I fight MMA I throw elbows and knees and it just makes sense to do that and why would I just box like I watched some of the fight I'm like come on Nate like hit me throw an elbow back like cut me too throw an elbow back and but um you know, I That's why I asked you that question, by the way, in the cage about sort of being robbed of the moment of winning via TKO. Everything you did led to the fight being stopped by his corner due to the cuts.

Like that wasn't a freak accident. That was all because of you. And so to me, it's the same. But just knowing you and knowing how fighters think, I was wondering if there was any part of you being like, bring him out for one more round so I can actually finish him emphatically if you wanted that head, so to speak. A little bit.

I believe that I was inching towards that. I mean, at the end, even that knee that I guess didn't really, he blocked it. He's savvy. He, like, blocked it with his shoulder. Maybe my favorite moment. Is it this moment right here? No, the kick to the face. Man, I did that kick.

It was like an invisible kick because the blood just pours from his head right after that happened. And you start laughing. Yeah, because I was trying. trying to land that and I thought it was silly. But I think, you know, I would have, if it gone to the third, because at the end of the second, even though that knee didn't necessarily land on his head, I was thinking last night that his arm has got to be sore today, taking that knee that was strong enough to knock him over. And when he went down, he wasn't in the best defending yourself position. He looked like he was ready for me to crawl over top and throw some quick ground

pound punches that probably would have got in there. And if it went to the third, I think I continue to do the same thing. Yeah, that's the way it was looking. Did you see Connor McGregor's tweet about the fight? Oh, I didn't. Here's what Connor McGregor said. He said, I see why Nate Diaz didn't take the fight, L.O.L. Anyway, here's to when I get my hands on you, you lanky, streak of piss trilogy and i gonna need my money and so it seems like he wasn't all that impressed with nate's performance well well damn why are you calling out nate why you don't want the winners i want the winners i want the guys who won their fights and um are coming off a big win or you know because i'm coming off a big win so i want you know a big fight that makes sense um like i said i saw some stuff uh

People were saying me and Mosvidal should make that fight. And I think he's a great fighter. He's had some of the best moments in the Octagon, big time fast, knockouts, stuff like that. He's a hard hitter. And, you know, the best against the best, like two East Coast street fighter style guys who are savvy and know how to cause damage. fight. I think Jorge would probably hit me back a little more than Nate was able to. But 170 pounds, dude, I make that weight like that. I put it back on. I only put on like 10 or 12. But I was just, I think I was in incredible shape. I think I could have gone five rounds,

but I just I don't necessarily pace myself. I just bring the fight. And so what about a potential future with MVP? This is now your second time fighting for them.

And obviously we don't really know if they're going to stick around. They keep saying they're going to stick around, but I think a lot of that hinges on whether or not Netflix is interested in airing. We don't know the viewership numbers yet. You're wearing the hat.

So it seems like you enjoyed it to some degree. Are you interested in seeing this through with them? Yeah, man. Let's go. The fight night was beautiful. The production. I actually thought the production was beautiful

and all the stuff. I actually seen some comments. They were like, oh, something should be better. But people just say literally whatever. They just say anything. It's ridiculous. They follow, they got like 12, or like one or two,

followers, they follow like 11,000 people. Like, come on, bro, that's a bot page or something. And like, you couldn't follow 11,000 pages if you just sat there following pages all day. And so these are the people leaving comments. They're not real. They're bots. And, you know, I just got to stay attached to real life. So whatever the real options are coming in, I should be getting some this week or some news of some. something. I do have a little down time. I can chill and obviously try to put my life back together and organize things to catch back up. And, you know, I'm a fighter and I said anyone anywhere, anytime. And I just got to be able to get back in the gym because that's the guy I want to get

in the ring as. The guy I was in the ring as on Saturday, I trained extremely. hard. I guess it helped to have such a famous opponent like Nate and someone who I was a fan of who I am a fan of. I mean, even after the fight, he still had moments. After taking a beating like that, he's hilarious and says things on the mic. It's like, damn, bro, he's a clever guy. And

I just, his shape before the fight, I'm like, he's got to be in good shape, right? And then during the fight is like, was he? Was he in shape? Because whatever. But I mean, I got to get back in the gym and put in all the hard work so that when I show up in the ring, I'm that guy who's prepared. I can take hits. I can hit you back.

I got energy to throw and grapple and wrestle. You know, so that's what I want. want to do. What did you make of Dana White announcing the Connor McGregor return as Francis and Ghanu was walking out? Yeah, I just see the media keep making a story out of that or something. It wasn't a coincidence. Come on, that's, I think that's really interesting. Okay. Well, they did it. And what did they do? I did it. I mean, that people were going to watch that anyways. I think the point is he's not doing things like that. when the PFL is on

or when Bellator was on, to me it's an indication that he wanted to screw around with it. And to me, like, that's not out of bounds, necessarily, like all's fair and love and fight promotion. I just thought he was just going to ignore it. Like, we don't even need to bother.

He jumped on IG Live to announce the return to the biggest star in the history of the sport is some sort of indication that it was on his mind and to do it during Francis's walkout of all people, come on, that's not a coincidence. I thought it was fun. If I'm Netflix, though, I'm not so amused. But everyone else, you know, this is fair game.

Yeah, the big dogs at Netflix, you know what I'm saying? It's different when worlds collide like that. I mean, Dana White has been in control of the game for quite some time. But I think I went out and showed that just because you're in the UFC doesn't mean that you necessarily are the best fighter in the world. There's always been this stigma with since Strike Force and Bellator. And there were some really good guys in those companies at the same time as there was a UFC champion. There was people saying this guy should fight this guy because those guys are the two best. And maybe like once or twice in history it really happened.

No? maybe? No, yeah, yeah, of course. Right. So, like, I'm kind of doing that. And we made noise. Let's see what the possible fight options are. I mean, Dana White talked about Nate Diaz saying,

let's see what happens in the fight. Well, okay, we saw what happened. I brought it. Nate is tough. It's unfortunate that he bleeds like that. but I think I can do that to anyone with the elbow upside their head. Hell yeah. And what a gash.

Can I ask, you know, like I saw a clip earlier today of Dustin Porreier on his show saying, like, Nate looked like dog shit. And, you know, they have a history as well. But I'm just wondering from your perspective, is enough being said about you, in your opinion? Well, that's what they do, right? They take it away from me and they make things about that guy. who was more famous. They'd rather talk about his stumble or the fact that he's just so tough that he could

stand there bleeding and seem to not care and try to do whatever he can. It's not that he looked like crap because he looked like, in my opinion, like he usually does. It's just I had the abilities to just dominate in that space. And it wasn't all domination. Like first round he was jabbing me away. He was landing some shit. Just because I was walking into it or walking through it.

Some of it was pushing me up. But I was setting my range and timing. So, you know, if they don't want to give me credit, it's just another, it's just another Mike Perry fight where they don't, you know, I don't necessarily always get the credit or I don't have a million followers. But that's fine because I'm going to keep working out hard. I show up to get that check on fight night and fight like I want to win and fight like I want to fight again, another big fight. You know, Mike, a few years ago, you and Connor faced off in BKFC, and it felt very far-fetched because it was BKFC and he's in the UFC and you're outside.

I feel like we've never been closer to that fight happening. And, you know, he has two fights left on his deal. He's coming back in July. and then there's one more. You're a free agent now. You just got a massive win. I feel like this is a real, real thing now. I feel like you versus Connor in the year 2027,

latest 2028 is a very, very real thing. What do you think? I like it. I like the sound of that, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for it. For sure. I'll just keep fighting when I get an opportunity or a matchup that makes sense.

Some of the offers that are going to come through, shot out FRM, they're going to do. good business with me and for me like they always have. And we're making waves as a big name in the fight game. Connor's going to fight Max Holloway. And then, you know, maybe I'll get another fight in the meantime. And then I'll win that next one.

And then maybe Connor will be ready to make his return and have that final UFC fight or whatever. Maybe it could be against me. maybe the UFC can make an offer or something. I don't know. But let's make it fun. Let's make it worth my while. Let's make it a name that makes sense. Like, I'm on the path to going up.

And anybody who doesn't want to believe in me or, like, kiss my ass. Like, I'm working my ass off. I look in crazy shape. I land hard, dangerous shots, nasty stuff. Mean, that was some of the meanest clinch work. we've seen in an MMA fight in recent times. It was amazing. No, you look phenomenal,

and I want to see more of you in this sport. That's why I said that to you, rather than doing the BKFC thing again. I know you have to leave, so I'm going to ask you three very quick questions and I'll let you go. You can even give me yes or no answers to save time, okay?

A lot of people are saying Nate should retire. He says no, but do you think he should retire? I'd like to see him fight someone else, maybe another lightweight that goes up to 170. Like, I don't think Nate was a real welterweight. Like, I always have been. Right. So, so I'd like to see him, you know, give him another fight.

And I don't know if it should be against me. But if that's what they want to call with, I'm not going to say no. The numbers that have been released as far as the payouts, is yours accurate? Mm. It's a good question. buddy. I said they're not. Well, it's all right.

I haven't gotten anything yet. That's right. Okay. Saladin Parnas said he wants to fight you. Any interest? Fizzle? You can just fizzle him out of your mind, bro. Who's that guy?

Oh. He's got a lot of work to do. That's the other guy. Saladin was the Frenchman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's... Oh, Saladin. I did see people talking about the Saladin fight.

he's had great success in his career so far he was a humble warrior he competed really well he did a good job is that the big name that I'm looking for it's not just a big name I also want a big challenge which is why I said Mos Fidel people know Moss Fidel is dangerous

and he's a huge name whatever offers and names come across my table i say yes when they come because if that's the offer i'm going to get that's what i'm going to get so i can fight anyone at 170 pounds i can beat anyone at 170 pounds run it you're the man mike thanks so much for doing this really really appreciate it congratulations see you guys thanks a lot have a great day there he is mike perry the platinum one what a guy and he was styling and profiling all week week. He rolled up in, I think it was a Rolls Royce, what was it on, on Way-in Day or press conference day? What is it? What the? You know it's a big-time car when the door

opens that way, right? What is that? A roly? Did they call them roll? Oh, did someone close that or did it close that? Oh, yeah. Did he drive that? I think that's an HOA. Do you guys know what an HOA is? Oh, absolutely. My dad is the HOA president in their neighborhood. Wait, what do he's scarfing on over there? You made a shock up because he's so upset that you didn't know. Connor, in the Slack Channel you wrote, bro, what? I didn't know what you were referring to.

Well, I sent it right when you were asking about the HOA. Bro, I'm not bringing this in real time. I'm right. I don't understand. That's not a thing in New York. I've never heard of an HOA. What is an HOA? Homeowners Association?

Yeah, clearly I learned that 20 minutes ago, but... I bet the neighborhood you currently live in. Does every state have this? Most neighborhoods, yeah Yeah, yeah All right A lot of people hate them though Because they cost a lot of money

And your pops is the president El president He fucking hates it Everyone everyone complains a lot All right well God bless him He's got HOAish Maybe you call your dad

Or is it by state I guess you can't like No no no bro It's by community It's by neighborhood It's done by the residents of the neighborhood I'd never heard of such a thing

This is crazy Did you think that Connor's dad Was the HOA president Of Georgia I don't know what to think All right I don't know He said president

You think he was president of the homeowners Homeowners Association Nationwide? Maybe That's how much respect to have for him Mr.

Burks Mike Perry here I got a I got to ask for a bit of an extension on my HOA payment Is that Is it like a mortgage?

No, it's like dues. You pay dues And like they keep up the neighborhood Like if you live in an apartment And you pay like It's like property taxes

But a separate thing It's like to keep the neighborhood presentable, you know, you can't let your grass get overgrown. You can't, like, you can't build certain things on your property. Okay. All right. I would argue in New York, it's almost as much as a mortgage sometimes, so. Okay. It's very expensive. It is very expensive. No, of course. It can be, yes. All right. Well, uh, you learn something new every day. And ask, ask Jacqueline if you all got it. No, I take care of these things. So if I don't know about it, She definitely doesn't know about it.

But I'm happy to learn something new. Later in the program, we're going to be joined by Jason Jackson, who also had a massive win, 22 seconds on the prelims. So I'm looking forward to that conversation. And Arnold Allen is going to join us in about 30 minutes time to talk about his big win over Melchie Costa. He looked phenomenal. In a matter of moments, what was that? I know.

In a matter of moments, we are going to be joined by our next guest. and he is one of the most famous, most recognizable, longest tenured referees in all of mixed martial arts. He's the great Herb Dean. It's been a while since I saw Herb, but it was great to see him on Saturday, saw Big John as well, saw Frank Trigg, saw Mike Beltran, saw Andy Foster.

It was great. You know, the last time I went to a PFL event at the theater in like, what was it, 22? I think it was 22 or 21? 21, 22, something like that. Last UFC event I went was in 2020. So even when I'm at the random boxing event, you don't see a lot of these people.

And it was just great. It warmed my heart. He was involved in a few fights on Saturday. Obviously, the most notable one was the Pumi and Kuta fight against Adriano Morais. I did post, by the way, the scorecards for, or the scorecard for that fight that was given to me by, Andy Foster of the California State Athletic Commission. And so in case you are wondering what the scores were heading into that final round, the third round, as you could see right here, Pumi was up, 2018, on two scorecards,

and it was 1919 on one. I'm trying to read the names. I can't read the names. They're too small for my eyes. I think I see a Daniel there. Oh, yeah. Oh, Derek Cleary, Daniel. Anyway, two 2018s.

So he was en route to winning, and then he made a crucial mistake and got subbed. And Herb was the guy there. He was also the referee for the Francis and Ganu fight, and, of course, many others. Last week, he was in Newark, referee for the main event for UFC 328, Hamza Chimaev versus Sean Strz.

So without further ado, great to be joined once again for the first time in a very long time by the inimitable Herb Dean, one of the very best in the history of the game. And he's kind enough to join us. Hey, Herb, how are you? Man, I'm really good. Thanks for that introduction, man. Of course. Yeah, it's been a while, man, yeah. It has been a while and appreciate your time. It's always a treat when we get to talk to a referee, a commissioner, anyone involved in the officiating side of thing. So thank you so much for the time. And it was great to see you and so many others on Saturday. Can we start talking about that for? fight because it was obviously a big one and it was fascinating to see how it all played out, the Pumi and Kuta versus Adriana Morai's fight. In the end, technical submission. Could you tell us what you saw there? Well, okay, so first of all, I believe I'm certain that the right decision was made. And what I saw was towards at the end, he was in, you know, he got caught in in a rear naked choke. You know, he was like palm to palm grip.

And man, you know, he was, he had, it was, I believe it was after the clapper. I believe the 10 second clapper. But, I mean, it was right at the end. And so, man, he was giving it and everything he's got because, you know, here's the opportunity. When I stopped the match, there was a second, not a second, there was a fraction of a second where he held on to the choke. and because of that hold on just a second I have a dog barking

no problem it's not even that loud by the way in case you're right okay yeah all right so a fraction of a second I mean just a fraction he held on and because of that I wasn't exactly sure it gave me some

you know I wanted to make sure I saw what happened and when things happened so I went and looked at a replay at that for that situation that's not the new replay we have for that situation. We've had the ability to do

that replay for a long time in the rules because it was a fight-indian situation. If you don't mind, this is a rare opportunity. Can we watch it with you? Can we watch the... Okay. Yeah. So we're going to play it full sound so you can hear the end. And then I was going to play it again.

No sound so you could talk us through it, okay? All right. All right, here we go. Here it is full sound, the end of that fight. Expending all the ready. Oh! He! Oh! By Marias immediately it takes the back.

Seconds left. I can choke. High drama. Nakuta survives. An incredible sequence. Okay, so here he is out. Now we're just going to play it without sound so you can speak over what you're seeing and what you're thinking in that moment if that's okay.

Rare treat. Okay. Here it comes in a matter of seconds. Oh, here you guys are actually watching it together. Right. But can we go to the beginning, guys? guys, just to the beginning of this clip. So here we go. All right, okay, so I see that he's going after the rear neck, and I'm like, man,

you don't got much time to get this, but he goes straight to it, has it locked in? Now, I'm thinking, right, as we're getting close to the end, I'm thinking about, okay, there you see him go out, but I'm thinking about the bell, that the bell's going to sound, and I'm going to have to fight hands. So my focus, usually in a situation like that where I'm thinking about somebody may go out for a rear naked choke, I have a bell. I have a a bit of a wider focus. I want to see the body because the hands and often the legs are what's going to give you your clue that someone's out, whereas looking at their face won't. But then, as it's time for me to stop the fight, of course, I'm looking at, you know, at his hands because,

you know, I'm trying to figure off which grips he has and what I might have to fight, you know, if he's not letting go instantly. So that's where my focus kind of shifted towards the hands. And I was, I saw what his body did, but I wasn't focused there. And since I had time, I wanted to make sure I got everything right and wanted to know when things happened, especially in relationship to the bail, I went out and to look at the replay. And definitely sure that he went unconscious before the bail, right, right, like a fraction of a second before the bail. Then I went and stopped the fight. He grasped for a fraction of a second, let go. And then we went and we had the time to look at things.

And, you know, I think that looking at it kind of made it seem odd, but I wanted to take my time since the fight was already over and make sure that I got all the information so I can make the right decision. Oh, yeah. I didn't think that was odd at all. I love to see you guys do that to try to make sure it's right. Could I ask, just to be clear, if he would have been in the choke, Bell goes, fights over, and clearly Adriana was holding on a little bit too long, and you determined that he only actually went out post Bell. you would have gone to the scorecards, right? Yes. And so ultimately what you were looking for in that moment was, did he go out before the bell or after the bell? Exactly.

What about the fact that Adriano didn't break when you were trying to get him to break? Did that make him more complicated? That made it a little bit more complicated just for the timing of it. I don't think that at that point in time, as far as I don't think it was egregious enough for me to disqualify him.

Okay. You know what I mean? Because I think when guys, you know, when you're going, each fight is the most important fight in your career. And you have seconds to lock something in. You know, who knows where he went. He's fighting for everything for his whole career

and he's giving it everything he's got. Sometimes it takes a second for someone to realize it's over. And so can I ask in that moment what you guys are looking at? Like that shot is really cool of you, Andy Foster, Mike Beltron. What are you guys looking at? Are you listening?

What's the breakdown? It's rare that we get to see that as well. Okay, well actually that was pretty funny That shot up I've seen some funny things on the internet I'm glad we could give you guys that material But what So what's really cool is that we have

Replay with the UFC And so they have a replay device Where we have control over it We have four different angles we can look at And we have some buttons that You know we can move things backward or forward by 15 seconds, one second or even frame by frame, and we also have a table.

So, and also we have a time running at that, too. So we're able to get a bit more information. Here, they were nice enough to run replay for us. If we request it, we had a headset and we could request it from the truck, and that's what was happening. But we didn't have as much control, so if we want to look at something again, and we didn't have time so we couldn't match it to how long this happened or when things were happening.

So that's why we spent a little bit more time than we wanted to looking at it. Okay, so overall, though, you're content, you're happy, you feel like the right call was made. Absolutely. Okay, controversial one. It's tough, right? You mentioned online. Do you go online? Do you look at this stuff?

Because I would imagine as a referee, you don't want to have anything in your head before or after your confidence. Like, you need to be a thousand percent sure of yourself. How often do you actually look online afterwards and see what the people are saying? I mean, I'm online sometimes, so I'm going to see whether I'm looking for it or not. Yeah. But I don't spend a lot of time. You know, I think what's useful for me is to talk to people who understand my job and do my job and the regulators who, you know, were there. So it's good for me to talk to those people, you know.

And if I could do anything better, if somebody gives me a suggestion from there, then that's something I definitely consider. you know what I mean? Or even if I just want to bounce things off. Because I constantly, everything I do, I'm constantly reviewing it to make sure that I'm, you know, doing the best job I can. You know, so those are the guys I talk to. It's the toughest job in sports, your specific job because it's so subjective. In boxing, it's not like that. It's not like that in the NBA or NFL.

And so I don't envy you guys. Do you guys speak after the event? Is there like a debriefing? I know Andy's big on like, you do speak on the night of the fight? On the night of the fight, we debriefing. We speak about things. The judge is actually in between each round. They, in between each fight, they talk about it while it's fresh.

Us, if something happens there, we talk about it right then, and then we debrief about it. And I spoke to Andy about it afterwards, and, you know, I spoke to John, you know, and, you know, there's a lot of different options. I mean, one option was just because it was, he did hold just a fraction of a second. I could have, some thought would have been, hey, you held a fraction of a second, you made things a little muddy, now it's your fault, so I'll just go to the scoring cards here.

But I want to get the right result, and I'm certain that we got it. Was anyone pushing for that? Well, I mean, I don't think people want to push too hard because it's my decision. Sure. Ultimately, it comes down to you, right? Yeah. Yeah.

By the way, what is it like having John back in the mix? We're talking about John McCarthy, of course. Oh, man, I always like talking to John, and it's great seeing him there as an official. And also, you know, that's one of the fun things about this thing is that, you know, that's my, those, we're longtime friends, you know, and these guys are our closest friends because if you think about it, on the weekends, we spend more time with these guys for, or on the weekends for the last, you know, over 20-something years, over 25 years, I've spent, you know, a lot of time with these guys.

Yeah. So it's always, I'm always happy to see John, you know, and, yeah, so. One other one, if I can, before we get to the actual news here, you were in the Francis fight as well. You were officiating the Francis fight against Philippe Lins. He backed off after landing another strike there, which is sometimes we've seen time and again fighters don't do that. Here's the sequence here. But you took a minute to assess the situation. What do you seem to ultimately call it off?

No, I definitely call it off. The thing about is we, that one was a hard one because we, I mean, believe it or not, we spent a lot of time looking at the way people fall and analyzing falls. And that fall, the way he fell wasn't a definitive out before you hit the ground type of a fall. I mean, obviously it was. You never know what's happening with people. But the way he fell, I definitely wanted to look at it. I was in a good position if Francis was advancing and he wasn't turning to defend to be able to tell him to, you know, to be able to push and put my hands. up, but I did take a second to look at him.

So on Saturday I saw... Because I was already in position. Right. On Saturday I saw Andy Foster, and he always keeps me abreast about the rules changes and the updates and whatnot, and he told me that there's a vote that is actually coming up tomorrow. He's the head of the Rules Committee about the language for assessing a foul, and then eventually if that passes, and he feels confident that it will, it will go to the ABC Conference later

in the year, and then they'll vote on it. That's typically how it goes. So could you tell us what's going to be discussed tomorrow? and why the need to change things? Yeah, yeah. Before I do that, one thing I want to tell you about is I do, there is a need for officials, for especially inspectors.

I do a referee course. Oh. Herbdeme.com. Check it out. I just did it. I had a great group that went through. And, yeah, we were wrapping it up. And then I think I have another one coming up in September.

Okay. And by the way, just as an aside, when you say there's a need, you feel like there's a shortage of talented officials these days? And if so, why? Well, I think that, I mean, at the higher level, there's, I mean, we have officials, but as far as in the amateur, sometimes I do amateur fights and I travel around the country, around the world, and I get there and there's just not enough hands. So there's oftentimes there's officials there, but there's not enough, oftentimes there's not enough inspectors there. And that's the base unit for making sure we have good results, you know what I mean? And inspectors are people who are maybe not. not have a lot of martial arts experience, but, you know, are organized and they can organize things from our side to make sure that, you know, that we get good results for

these guys and looking after them, you know? Okay, so back to the foul language and what's being voted on. What can you tell us? You have it there, right? Yep. You want me to read it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I, I mean, I wrote it, but I brought it. Okay, yeah.

So this is what Andy sent me. This is the new language for assessing a foul. The referee is the sole arbiter of the contest and is responsible for identifying and assessing all fouls. The referee has the authority to issue warnings, deduct points, or disqualify a contestant when appropriate. Additionally, the referee has the authority to adjust position, including returning contestants to a prior position or restarting in a neutral position when an illegal action has affected the course of the contest. In determining the appropriate penalty, the referee must evaluate the severity of the foul. factors to consider include the effect of the foul on the opponent, the frequency of the infractions, and the degree of fault whether the action was incidental, negligent, reckless, or deliberate.

Yeah, yeah, that sums it up. And so we had, we've had, so one thing this needed to be addressed for a long time. We had a way that was written that, for one, I think it took, it was confusing, and then also it took, it took, the referee was the sole arbiter except for in this situation. So you're saying you're the sole arbiter, but we're saying what you have to do, and there's like kind of a chain with, you know, if, then, must. And like, the way I taught it in my referee course,

there would be, I would teach it with like a flowchart so that people could, you know, figure out what they're supposed to do. And the thing about it is, one thing is that we've had that for a long time, and it's the thing that is most gained. So the grounded opponent was always game, but I always want to change this because it was, two rules that were actually being gained. It was the grounded opponent

and drawing the foul, and then when it was ruled as intentional, then things that happened like, and so the fighters have been gaming that for a long time. Matter of fact, Paul Buenatello gamed it in a UFC fight, and I told him, hey, no, you're playing games, I'm not going to

call that, and keep fighting. And so that's what we started calling it, playing the game. Paul Boatitello is really fun because he actually went through my referee course, so he's a referee now. Is he? I didn't know that. Yeah, so it's great. You know, no, we have a lot of officials who are former fighters. Vladimir Matryschenko has come through.

Wow. Yeah, there's, Chris Lieben is a great official. Frank Trigg. You saw him working the other night. Yep. You know, John Romero, who was a fighter and also the coach for the Marines' MMA team, he's like one of the, he's a really good official. He actually helps me teach my course, and we've been getting a lot of good guys from the military in.

So we're getting some good guys in here. But, okay, but yeah, before I went off on that tangent, the way the rule was set up, I mean, our fighters in our sport are smart, and they know, some of them know the rules, and there's room to game there. And so you don't want to have things like that where the referee's not the sole arbiter and there's room to gain. So I was curious about how you assess, you know, this thing has come up a lot with the likes of Tom Aspinall and other. intentional, unintentional, which would lead to either a no contest or a DQ. What are you looking for? Well, that's gone now. As a result of this, right?

Yeah, as a result of the new rule, that's gone. And so intention or unintentional, it was always hard to judge that because, I mean, I mean, you kind of set someone up to be a mind reader. Some people feel they're more capable of reading minds than others. I don't think I can read another line. I can barely read my dog's mind. I don't know what she's thinking, you know what I'm saying? So another person, you know, it's really hard.

And so who was the driving force behind changing this language? Was it you? Yeah, I wanted to make sure that we changed it. We brought it up a few times over the years. And Andy's like, yeah, we keep bringing this up. Let's get around to it. And so now, just to be like as crystal clear as possible, now it's just up to you to decide, you know, is this a foul that's worth, you know,

penalizing, right? Yeah, totally. So there's, you know, what we have in there is, you know, the referee has the authority to give warnings to deduct a point or point to risen and redistribute points. Also to adjust position. So sometimes somebody might commit an infraction. And I think, because, you know, us officials, we don't want to put our finger on the scale at all. You know, I mean, do you know the majority of what the, when something goes to the cards, the majority score, the majority score. Do you know what that is?

Of course, yes. Okay, the majority of the score of the results in most fights is a 29-28. Oh, got you. Okay, I thought you were asking what a majority decision is. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, no. So the majority of the fights, the score at the end of a fight is 29, 28. So when we take a point, we take the win and make it a draw for the majority of fights.

Yeah, and you don't want that. You too. Yeah. And so, I mean, I just, we, if that's the appropriate penalty, yeah. But if not, you know, we want to have levels and be able to make decision. And also, we can give warnings, we can give a hard warning where we're making sure we take a time out and make sure people know what's going on. But also, we can adjust position. Hey, if someone in superior position commits a foul, we can take them off, give them a hard warning, and take their position away.

And so that gives us a little bit of room there. What is your thought process now, especially if this passes, when to give the warning and when to take the point away? Because sometimes it feels like there are too many warnings that are assessed. I've often thrown out the idea like, should the warning just be in the locker room and then the moment the infraction happens, there's a point. I understand you don't want to change the course of the flight. But sometimes it seems like the cheater benefits because they just get a warning, but they

hit someone in the eye, or, you know, poke them in the eye or hit them. Well, there's so many different infractions, and so that's why it's in that the referee is, you know, needs to evaluate the seriousness of the foul, you know, before giving the penalty. So if we have a situation where someone grabs the fence and it doesn't even stop a takedown, I don't want to take a point for someone. Right, right. It didn't affect the fight at all. It's a natural reaction. You know what I mean? And then, so I don't want to.

And so I wouldn't want to take a point. I think that that would be now. I've changed the outcome of a fight for something that didn't have any effect on the fight. I want to see the best fighter. I want the conclusion to happen without my input, if possible. Let's say it does. Someone tries to take someone down and they hold on to the cage and now the takedown has been thwarted. Do you take a point away for that?

I mean, in the instructions, and my instructions, I always tell the fighters that if the, like, for example, someone spends a lot of energy, I call it, you know, burning matches. they burn a lot of their matches trying to lift and get a takedown. They've lifted a guy up. It was going to be a slam. And now the guy grabs the fence. He doesn't get slammed. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's something you could take a point for without warning. Yeah. It seems like sometimes it doesn't happen.

And so you feel bad for the fighter who is on the receiving end of that or is not benefiting from his moves coming to fruition and the other guy is just getting a warning. What about eye pokes? How do you feel about eye pox these days? Is there anything that can be done? Just to go back, it feels that sometimes it doesn't happen, but sometimes it does happen. Sure.

So we have a lot of different situations, and we have a lot of different officials we're talking about. So sometimes it happens, a point gets taken. We know something that maybe should have been a warning because it didn't affect the fight much at all. So we need to get more consistent on that with each other and continue to have more and better training, you know. How do you feel about eye pokes these days? Is there anything that can be done to stop those, or is that just a fact of the sport? I haven't done the numbers of it, but I don't think I've had a lot of eye pokes in my fights lately. I'm not suggesting that, by the way, just for the record.

No, no, I know. I know, but I'm just because we have done some things that try to change it. For one, we made a rule a while back, because eyepokes are a serious thing. We made a rule where the fingers pointing towards the eyes are a foul. So we make that rule and we can enforce that. So if someone's using their fingers and also, you know, and before that, I was enforcing that before that rule because I believe that, you know, the threat of a foul was helping people get out of situations or people are using the threat of a file to get advantage, you know?

That's the part that always kind of doesn't sit well with us when it seems like you do something to get out of a tough situation and just receive a warning rather than a, point being deducted. An idea that's been thrown out, Herb, I want to get your opinion on this, is like, if someone misses weight by an egregious amount to deduct a point going into the fight, would you be in favor of that, or is that too much? I'm in favor. I think other organizations have done that. Yeah. And I like that. You do like it. Yeah, I like it. You know, if that's what people are going to expect, yeah, someone gets an advantage.

You know what I mean? Especially on the lower level fight, you know, it makes a huge difference because some guys are trying to build up a record and if they're always missing weight, and then, you know, they have a financial, you know, punishment. But down there at the lower levels, the finances aren't that big of a deal. Some of these guys are, I mean, have money. They're just trying to build up a good record so they can get some opportunities. So I've seen people who kind of do that like consistently, you know, and I think it should be, I think it would be good if there's a penalty given from the beginning. How do you feel about open scoring? I'm not much of it.

I'm not a big fan of it, but I haven't seen it used that much. You know, the places where they are using it, I haven't been working, so. Why aren't you a fan? Well, I just not sure if it's going to be helpful, you know. Why do you like it? I like it because I feel like the fighters deserve to know was so much at stake where they stand

going into the final round. And, you know, if a fighter thinks he's up and he's not up, he may fight differently. And I understand that people say, like, oh, you might stall or you might coast or things like that. I don't understand what people say it takes away from the show. The and new or and still, that's nonsense. I feel like in every other sport, you know where you stand, going into the fourth quarter, you should know that in a fight. Yeah, well, I'm not married to it one way or the other, but I think that you're going to get a lot of fights where there's going to be some stalling and running and things like that. And maybe we just won't have as fun of a sport. But, um, that's

That's why, that's what I think, but who knows, maybe the opposite might happen, you know. Yeah. Sometimes we forget that you guys are human beings. And I'm just wondering, if you have a stretch where, like, there's sometimes where I do bad at my job and I start getting in my head and your confidence is down, do you ever feel like, oh, no, I'm overthinking, I'm trying to overcompensate for a controversy. Does that, you've been doing this long enough. I'm sure there's times where you're feeling on top of the world and other times where people are coming after you. How much of that comes into play when you're actually out there? Well, I try to keep it not coming to play. So, you know, of course those things happen. And it is someone who's, you know, have experience, you know, I mean, I have, you don't want that. And so, you know, I do have people I can talk to all. I bounce things off of.

And also, I, you know, I know, I do need to be in control of my emotions when I'm doing that and not bring anything in. And to be honest, the best way to have a good result, I noticed that I do best, when my house is in order, my mind is in order, when everything, when I don't have any clutter that I'm bringing in there. I have a lot of room to make good decisions, you know? Okay. Has there ever been a time where you thought, like, man, I probably should have sat this one out because it was too much going on?

Well, I try to make sure that that doesn't happen. Okay. Yeah. And, you know, the day when I show up to work, show up ready to work. I know you're a big supporter of California's MMA and boxer retirement fund. I saw you out there with Andy, with Rhonda recently. Can you tell us why you feel so strongly about this? Here's the photo, and there you are, and how much help this can actually provide to the fighters.

Man, I'm glad that you brought that up. I think, I mean, because the bottom line, I mean, we are fighters, I believe, are the best athletes on earth. There's very few people who actually can get in there and do that. And I don't think that it should be a sad story at the end of people's careers after they've given everything to try to make this work, you know. And so I think that it should be better outcomes for these guys because they don't get paid enough and maybe we can fix that. But here's something that we can do, the officials of what we can do on our side to try to make things better. You mentioned that you have a seminar coming up. I have it here.

I just want to get this right. There it is. There's where people can actually check it out and sign up, right? The website. And I do believe it's September 16th to the 18th over at Herbdeen.com. Yes, yes, exactly. I can't see it now. Something happened.

Oh, no problem. We just showed the website. So Herbdeen.com is where people can check that. Before I let you go, I did want to ask because I was being informed of this. So it seems like Pumi Nakuta's team is going to be filing an appeal. How do you feel about that? that about the decision there? Well, I think if they feel they should apply a file and appeal, they should.

You know, it's their right to do it. And, you know, it's a very serious thing. And people should fight for everything they can, you know, if they feel that that's the right thing to do. I'm not sure what I'm going to do in this situation. I'll just wait for the commission to tell me what they want for me. To the best of your knowledge. If they need anything from it.

Sure. To the best of your knowledge, has anyone ever appealed and it's been like a situation like this and has been overturned? It feels like it happens, the appeal happens, but the overturning doesn't usually happen. Well, I showed up and talked to overturn one of my decisions that I made because I made the wrong decision. Oh, wow, which one? Do you remember? Yeah, it was a long time ago. I'm trying to remember the fighter's names, but what had happened was the fighter through a combination and then part of the combination that it went and it became a fighting knee series

the and there was a knee involved and the fighter was on the ground and the knee thrown and I see the fighter's head snapped back from the knee and then part of the end we stopped the fight and there was a disqualification okay everybody was fine with it

the audience saw it they thought hey that was a foul and that you know it was a heavy foul and that was the right result as I'm walking out of the walking out of the arena Pat Militich is one of the analysts he's like hey Harrabah I think there's something you should see I want to show you something

and he shows me that the knee actually hit the guy's shoulder and arm and then the arm hit the head and knocked it back so it was more it was a body shot it wasn't a blow to the head oh wow everything looked like it right there in front of her no one saw it as any different but you know they have

they were replaying it and saw it slow motion. And so the fighter, he did appeal. And I did show up and I told what my, what I thought the situation was and that I did see the replay. And then I told what I thought should happen. Oh, wow. Okay. I'm going to look that up. That's really interesting. And it says a lot about you that you do that. One last thing, back to the assessing fouls, change of language. And again, it's being voted on tomorrow, the Rules Committee. Are no contest still a thing? Because in the in the little thing that I read, it says

the referee has the authority to issue warnings, deduct points, or disqualify a contest when appropriate. I don't see no contest mentioned here. Okay, so, you know, some people call it no contest, no decision. Some people even call it, no contest that were to technical draw. Okay. And so that's, so just to be clear on that, not always using that.

But I think that, yeah, no contest is something that could still happen. And that happens because the reason why that would happen was because of a result of a foul that causes a fight to end before the majority of the rounds are done. And what would that be? Like over a round and a half for a three-round fight? Well, so that's, you know, that's another thing. So there is some places, I believe, do have that a round and a half, but most places they would want for a three-round fight the second round to be concluded. And so unintentional, intentional is no longer there anymore? That's no longer.

Well, that would be, that still would be, that would be there, that wording is not there, but still the ability to say a foul. Let's say there is no fault in the foul. I don't think we'd want to disqualify someone. Got you. And so if there's a, if the majority of rounds had been completed, we would go to the scorecards. If the majority of the rounds had not been completed, then, you know, we would be no contest or no decision or technical draw. Understood. Thanks for doing this, Herb.

This was great. Really appreciate. Great insight. And it was great to have you back on and would love to do it again in the future. Okay. Thanks for having me. You're the man. There he is.

Herb Dean joining us. So great to get his insight. Love having the referees on. Really, really, really appreciate his time. Interesting stuff. We'll talk more about that fight later in the program. For now, though, let us talk to the man who is victorious in Las Vegas. Massive win for one of our own Arnold Allen.

What a performance against Melchie Costa sublime. Almost finished him in the opening moments of the fight as well. It looked fantastic, and he's kind of to join us. I do believe he's on vacation right now, so I don't want to take up too much of his time. Hello, Arnold. How are you, my friend? Congrats. How you doing?

This is amazing. You did great out there. This is a great win. Are you over the moon? Are you overjoyed? How are you feeling? Yeah, it was right. It was not bad. I'm a bit tired, though. I'm jet lag. Okay, I'm sorry. Are you regretting this? I told you you would regret it.

No, no, not at all. No, I'm just tired. I have a bit of like a chest thing going on, so a bit congested in my chest. Oh, yeah. It's been annoying for a few days, but it was all good. I saw you mention that at the Post-Fite press conference. What was going on? Just feeling sick all week? Yeah, just probably from like Wednesday. We coughed up loads of phlegm and just, yeah, it's all good. All good. How did you feel about the performance?

It was all right. I think I could have pushed a bit more, but I was just a bit concerned with how, like, if I was sick or not, or I didn't know how hard I could push. But yeah, I could definitely do more than I did. Yeah, I'm happy with the performance. It was nice. This one was, wait, was it this one? Yeah, this one. Yeah.

I think this is when I was being lazy on his back in the first and he threw that elbow coming right in the eye I was like, oh man As I mentioned I think first minute of the fight you dropped them Yeah, yeah, that was nice What'd you think in that moment?

Did you think you had him? Yeah, I thought I was going to walk away And it was done, but You know, I've seen him I don't know He's been in fights before He's kind of showed up and Not quit, but you know

he looked for the way out, but this one, I mean, he improves every time, and he improved a lot in this one as well. So, I mean, every time he fights, I've seen him, he looks better. And I think this was no exception. I think I just showed up. I was really on. And what was the difference this time,

when you say, like, you were really on? Was there something different about the lead-up as opposed to previous fights? No, I just, like, mentally, I didn't want to, I really didn't want to let it go to the decision. you know after getting you know having some tough close decisions in my career I really wanted to make a statement and take him out but uh he showed up and he was tough tough as hell and he kept coming and um he said he was going to knock me out in the second round

and i think obviously that ain't going to happen but like I figured once it didn't happen I thought it'd break three four and five I thought he'd give up on himself and uh you know he came much strong considering how you know the recent stretch has gone were you putting more pressure on your shoulders to not only win, but as you say, try to finish him, win emphatically. What were you feeling going into the fight? Yeah, definitely. I definitely felt the pressure to go out there and try and take him out.

You know the old story of like the veteran with the young guy coming through? I really want to squash all that and put myself back up there with the top dogs. But, you know, I did it right. I think I did it right. I think you did very well. I mean, the striking was very crisp. It was on point. I was, when I heard you, you know, talk about the chest and all that and heard your voice a little bit, I was wondering about the weight cut and everything like that.

But it seemed like you were okay overall, right? Yeah, weight cut was fine. Okay. Wake up. It was weird. My cat, like, hates everyone. And I did the weight cut in the room of her. And she is so, like, does not do touchy, touchy.

I woke up in the morning. She was like, she was laying on my chest like this, giving me headbutts. making like weird noises. And yeah, she woke me up about five to start the way cut. I thought that was quite funny. You brought the cat to Las Vegas. Yeah, yeah. She's like a, well, she's not always lucky because we have lost.

We've lost a few of her there, but she's part of the team. I love that. You mentioned in the Post-Five press conference that you have to, you know, you have to pay an arm and a leg to get her over there. What is that process like? Well, that's actually why I'm in Amsterdam, funny enough. why why because you you can't fly direct to the UK with your pet in um without putting her in the hold you know like under the plane and i don't do that so she sits with us but you can fly i could fly

i could fly to amsterdam with her like in the plane with you and then i take a ferry home like tomorrow i'll take or furs i'm going to take the wednesday i'm going to take the ferry home and uh yeah it's just because like we're an island the ravy stuff Oh my gosh This is what you were talking about about the January fight when you had a halacious trip home I didn't quite understand

why you had to do that this is true love right here Yeah yeah yeah It's all the cat I mean but the fact The fact that you guys go out of your way To do this just for the cat is amazing And I'm not trying to diminish her presence in your life

But most people would just say Let's keep her at home So we don't have to stop in Amsterdam Well it's more of a knock on effect Because I like my wife around Who kind of you know She runs the almighty brand and the YouTube and that. And then if my wife doesn't come, but who's going to do that?

If the cat doesn't come, then she can't come with us. So she won't leave the cat. The cat ain't stand home. That's a non-starter. She won't go unless the cat can come. Pretty much. There's pretty much it. Wow.

What about on vacation? The cat goes on holiday. The cat's been everywhere. He's been to everywhere. So you have to make sure the hotel is okay with it. Yeah, usually. Yeah, sometimes we sneak her in. Oh my gosh, this is amazing.

I didn't realize that she was like an actual fixture in the family and all the trips and all that. Oh, no, she's been everywhere. Like, she has been everywhere. Did she go to the apex too? She didn't go through the apex. Some people were asking me to bring her by law. But I say she hates everyone.

So I'm not going to bring her out. Let me show her. Let me see what she's doing. She's here. Where is she? There's she? What a little? life this cat. What's her name again? Fish. Fish. Oh, there was your wife right there. Hello.

Fish, that's right. What a legend that fish. What a shot it would have been had you won and they and they pant your wife in the crowd just sitting there with the cat, petting the cat? Yeah. That's hilarious. Like Dr. Eve? She's a, but fish is vicious, man. She's vicious. In what way? Like she will claw you and like scratch your eyes out If you get too close Yeah I used to play with a lot I put my face near a tent and she'd like go for your face Golly

Yeah no don't get too close How old? How old she's free? Yeah she's three Trafford would never do that Oh Trafford was a lover Trafford was a sweetheart Did they ever meet?

No no no She was I don't know she wasn't even born when he was alive. Okay, okay. Yeah. You know, some really annoying happen as well with the fight.

Tell me, tell me. In all my fights, I've been a medium. I've always worn medium. Okay. I've got a little lady hands. And this one, the week,

I tried the gloves on and I had to go for the largest that was so tight. And then we grabbed up whatever, we'd tamper the gloves, Tate helped us, sort them out. And then they still didn't fit. So then they had to get another pair

media was in and they fitted. I've got this really, like the cut into my hand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The gloves, like every time, every round, I was kind of trying to pull the thing out because it was digging into my wrist. But yeah, I've never... That's never happened.

I think the manufacturer must have, like, messed up the design or whatever they did, but yeah, they fucked me up. By the way, the hands looked a little swollen there. They're just a thumb. A bit of thumb. See that? You can't see it.

I don't just going to keep zooming in and out on me. Yeah, it's this new thing, like the stage something that they... I don't like it. Can you see the film? Yeah, I see it. It's a fat film. Does that usually happen? Not always.

Okay. Sometimes. I mentioned the Post-Fed a couple times. I liked how spicy you were in that. Yeah, it was fired up. Well, you were fired. First, you commented on the lack of media there. you seemed a little bit perturbed.

There was three people at the media figure. What the fuck is? Did you feel the disrespect? Yeah, a little bit, but I didn't really overthink it. Not until you mentioned it now. I'm like that kind of sucks. Well, no, you mentioned it at the thing, and I couldn't see how many people were there.

So I was curious, like, if it was just one guy asking you questions. Oh, there was free people. Okay. I would have been there, by the way, but I was working the other card. for the ops. No. Just trying to provide, you know. Just trying to.

And then you called out Ipswich Town. Finally. It's about time you call them out. Yeah. No, they share the post now, but, you know. It's not the same. Yeah, no, I don't get the same hometown love. Like I said, I've been in the Premier League for...

I love that. Over 10 years, right? So, you know, and I'm just every now and then get a mention. but it's what it is. It's crazy. I love Fabio Wardley, but... Oh, he's the man, yeah, he's the man. They treat him with so much love and respect,

and you get a repost, it's not right. Yeah, he's, no, he's sick, but... When I went for dinner with the executives of that, they're all old boys, and they're asking what I do, and I was like, I see, I see what this is. Ah, I see. You went out with the execs from Ipswich? Yeah, like, there was like a dinner,

recently i think they were finding up uh some sort of partnership sponsorship but then they realized it's like you know they have no logos on the shorts i'm a cage fire not a boxer uh yeah stuff like that have they ever brought you out onto the pitch the people like serenade you have you ever had that uh i did i did a half-time interview on the pitch okay um after i beat down hooker and um but yeah it wasn't for nothing because i have nothing to like talk about i had no fight coming up, I think. I just like a half-time interview. Yeah, you know, I see

like Ed Shearin, he doesn't show up for the whole season in the championship and all of a sudden he's getting to hug the players in the locker room when they get promoted. Where's Arnold in there? You should be in there. I know. I know. I saw that video, by the way, and I thought it was great, and then I saw the comments and everyone was crapping all over him.

Ed? They were saying he's a plastic fan. He only shows up when they get promoted. He moved away, though. He doesn't live, I think he lives in Nashville now. Oh, really? Wow. Okay. So I don't think he lives local. By the way, you mentioned the merch. I screwed this up. One second.

Stay right there, okay? One sec. I forgot to, I forgot to show this. Where did it go? Oh, here it is. Stay right there. Look what I got. In the mail. Yeah. Yeah, there it is. You're the man. Thank you, man.

It's some sure right here. I love the logo. Can I say what impressed me? Are there any left, by the way? Are there any left? Look, she just said this. Minimal, okay. Limited drop.

No, I have to give props to your misses. The packaging. You have, I wish I brought it. You have almighty packaging. Like this logo is on the actual packaging. Yeah, you know what the worst? That's next level, by the way. Well done.

We had that logo, and we have a union jack. we had like a union jack branded packaging and i told her because obviously maybe being canadian she doesn't get it and we have quite a lot like fans in ireland and they kept buying shirts so she kept sending the union jack package into ireland and then wondering why she was getting charges i was like stop sending the union jack to island she's like why why but yeah so yeah we went back to the default one yes that makes sense that would probably be smart uh saw an amazing photo of big pace at the, what was he at the gun range or something? What is going on over there with that gun that he was, what is this? This is the most absurd photo of all time, but also amazing.

He's out of control. I told, well, I forced him to get a shot off. I said, get your show off. Got to get your show off. He loved it. You go to that too? Yeah, I went down there. That was fun. That was on the weekend on a Sunday. We were trying to determine what kind of gun that was. Oh, I don't know nothing about guns. Did you shoot it as well? I didn't shoot that one I shot like some sort of some sort of like Gatlin gun thing

yeah is he a big gun guy he was into the western when I was a kid and like he's one of the he doesn't really tell you anything until he's there

and he's like oh yeah I love this gun what do you know about guns and he rules off everything he knows about it does he like Vegas is he a Vegas guy um

Is he, is my dad of Vegas guy? No. I say no, yeah, no, not really. God, not really. He's such a legend. He just cracks me up the sight of him. Yeah, he's losing it, but it's funny. Do they test you more because of your association with him?

Uh, no, I don't think I'm one of the guys to get, test a whole bunch. I thought I got tested more than, someone put a list out, and I could have swore of been tested more than that list had said, So I wasn't even on the top, like, it said four tests was the minimum that was on the list or something. Oh, wow. It's like, I'm sure I've had more than four in the last year, but I'm pretty sure, right? Yeah, like five, six. I don't know.

Okay. But you are top three stars in the UFC now, established. One of the big dogs. I think so. We've always thought so around here. It's a fact. Everyone knows it. How is it at the apex?

it was right to be fair you know what it's nice is that when they were announced to my name I could see like my family and my friends that they could actually hear and shouting it's kind of cool yeah I only thought Calvin there and Calvin had a ton of rich friends that were all there

and he explained to me that they he didn't actually know these guys he went on some sort of trip that they met him and so they all support him. But yeah, so it was actually nice to have some people there for once. I also saw that you said you want a monster sponsorship and you're holding out on trying it. So what do we have to do to make this happen?

I don't know. I just probably about six years ago. I just have these things. I get like OCDs sometimes. And I just said it like I'll, I can't, I will never be world champion if I drink monster before they sponsor me. So now either I have to become world champion, which I'm working on, or they have to sponsor me, or both, and then I can drink some monster.

And I used to love monster. I drink like three, four a day. I had a, I don't remember a problem. But I just, you know, I'd like to go back to just like a casual one every now and then. Yeah, so you're refusing. Even if it's like right in front of you on the dais or anything like that, you refuse. Yeah, and there's been about five years. Wow.

At least five years. Yeah. I appreciate that. We need to get Hans on the case. He's the guy who makes all those deals, right? I know. I need to get in touch. Do they sell them in the UK?

Yeah. Okay. On the monsters. They're not as good. We haven't got like the same ones. We've got a limited amount. I appreciate you holding out. I'm always curious about the context of some of your tweets.

I just want to ask you about two of them. On May 13th, you tweeted, you can't just milk any old cow. What's the... the reason behind you tweeting that in that moment? I think I was in Whole Foods at that point and I was just walking through the dairy section reading the milk options. It just popped into my head.

Okay. All right. I thought there was some sort of like symbolism there that you were trying to make an analogy. No, no, nothing to have it that deep. Okay. And what about May 7th? So six days prior, you said,

sorry, mate, that cheese ain't for sale. It's a very dairy, dairy mom. That was, I don't know. I think I remember I was talking to Jack, my manager about one of the fighters we had, and he won a fight in Italy. And they paid him in cheese. They paid the winner of the show like a wheel of cheese. I could just like that's insane.

Yeah, and it was funny because he couldn't even travel home with the cheese. because he couldn't travel the food or something. Yeah. So in that moment, do you remember like what prompts you to do that in that moment, tweet that in that moment?

I think it was like hours later. Like I was just sat there on the toilet and knocked in my head. I lied. I actually had a couple more. Who thought, this is May 3rd, who thought it was a good idea

to take away the supermarket deli? Used to love four hot chicken thighs for two pounds at Tesco pissed off now. Happy bank holiday guys. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, you used to go like the hot counter,

they'd have chicken fires. They had a big old Cumberland sausage. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's delicious. Now they got rid of the deli counter, and it's just all like, it's just got crappy meal deals now. It just pisses me off.

You still go to Tesco? Yeah, I haven't been in a while. I go up a class when I'm in camp. Oh, yeah. Marks, expenses or Waitrose. M&S. Oh, I don't know that second one. What is the second one you just said?

Waitrose. Waitrose. Yeah. That's high class. Yeah, high class. We're high class. And my wife is discussed, like she will find, like whatever the more expensive option there is, she will find it.

And so she's found, was it, Akado? Yeah, it's like an online order thing, mainly marks and expenses, but then they have some other stuff on there. She's recently discovered this. So grocery list is real expensive. I do have to say you have painted an expensive picture of your wife talking about the hotels and all the things you have to keep waiting. So I don't know how she feels about all of that. It seems like you're positioning her as someone who spends a lot of money. Well, she comes from her family with Italian. And you know Italians. They like the fancy stuff. And mom even said to me when I'm actually like, oh, you have to pay for it now.

And I said, well, what does that mean? I'm finding out. Yeah. Do they watch your fights, the in-laws? Yeah, they do, yeah. Yeah, they support you. They do, yeah. They go crazy.

Her mom is, her mom is the craziest. You know, like, you know them people, like, she doesn't necessarily know what she's watching. But she's one of those ones that's there, like, screaming, twist his dick sort of thing. Oh, yes, yes, okay. Just do whatever it takes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are they St. Leonhard Italians? No, Coz-St. Luke.

Oh, Coat St. Luke. Yeah, Coz-Stu. Okay. That's right next to where my wife grew up in Hampstead. Right. Okay, yeah, I know. I know where you are. You know this.

It's amazing. Small world. One more, one more. I saw MJ on a bus, not keen, I'll be honest. Is that Michael Jackson the movie? Yeah, I was running. I was running, like, my village. Oh, the actual, oh, the actual MJ?

No, no, no. I was running and I saw a double deck of bus and I had a big billboard. Oh. Michael Jackson on it. And I just, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not deep into the conspiracies, but I just feel like maybe it's inappropriate. Okay.

You know? Because of his checkered pass? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. And that was on April 28th, so I'm assuming half a month later you haven't broken, you haven't watched it. No, I ain't watched that shit, no.

No. I think the reviews are actually a little bit com si com sa. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, just. If they bring out a Jimmy Sauer documentary, like a movie of his life and they don't touch on the other shit, I'm not really interested. Who's that, Jimmy Sala? Jimmy Sable.

Oh, you never heard of Jimmy Sable? No. Is he a Brit? Yeah, like a piece of shit, like notorious Peterpole. Oh, really? Gosh. Louis Faroo did a load of documentaries with him and stuff like that, but yeah, it kind of before it was exposed and some stuff. Yeah, it was just a big, big thing.

Okay. Did you see Louis last doc on Netflix? Which one? The Manosphere. Yeah, yeah. yeah i did i haven't seen it how is it i i thought it's good it's like it's a bad thing with these guys isn't it right like young lads getting into it and i don't know but he does a good job of like letting you answer without even asking the question it just kind of like gives you the gives you the

court right okay and you don't like that no i like i like the way he does it okay oh he's a legend yeah one of the greatest of all time. I'll let you go in a second. You mentioned Mofsar, you mentioned Yair. For me, just curious, you'd like to get another one in this year, right? You've had two this year, which is great for you. You'd like one more? Definitely, yeah, definitely.

It's going to take a couple weeks to heal up. My shin's a little bit sore from trying to check kicks. But yeah, definitely, definitely, I mean, at least one more, you know. And anything fun that you're doing, Amsterdam while you're waiting for the ferry? I just went to some bakery. This is weird. I went to some bakery and what did we get?

We've got a cinnamon swole. I've got an almond croissant. Oh, I like the way you said that. What was the other one? What did you get? A chocolate croissant. But this site, a guy was in the corner and he just goes, Arnold?

Oh, yeah. And he's like, I have a picture. He's like really shocked. And I was like, yeah, of course, because. And then an older lady was in the line as well. And she recognized me. I was like, yeah, was she Dutch. I think she was dead.

Yeah, she was like, oh, could I have your photo also? I was like, you don't want my phone. She was like, yeah, we was watching the fights with my kids this weekend. We watched the fights. I'm going to send it to my son. That's crazy. That's so crazy. Wow. You are massive. You are top three.

Superstar in some random bakery in Amsterdam. Is it one of those bakeries with the extra stuff in it or is it on the... Oh, no, that's not for me. No. As soon as I say I'm coming to Amsterdam, everyone thinks I'm doing it. Some sort of stoner. I've never even touched the stuff. When you said that to me, I was like, oh, you know, on the way home, a quick little, you know, a quick little high. I thought that's what you were doing to celebrate.

I've never even... Never even tried it. Wow. In your life? Never, yeah, not once. In any way, shape, or form? No shape or form, never. You're the walking antithesis of your father.

Yeah. It's unbelievable. I know, I know. By the way, how long is that ferry? Well, it's about six hours. It's quite a long one. It's slow. It's like a slow plot.

You know, I'm trying to be respectful and resist the urge, but I'm dying to ask your wife what it's like to be married to you and live with you. Because I would imagine it's just hilarious. Yeah, it's hard to argue with someone when they just are constantly making jokes at you. Yeah. I can imagine it's a great time. It's like just those tweets, but in like walking, living, breathing form. Random thoughts all day.

You just have to nod and go about your day. That seems like a compliment, right? I think so, yeah. I think she, this is one that killed me the other day because she's in the suite at the Trump Hotel. What was it? Where did you order? Like, powers or, I don't know.

No, you ordered food. A steak. Yeah, she ordered like a steak. Oh, nice. The guy comes to the door. And I was in the other room. I think I was about doing my wake cut or something. And I was just screaming, like, there was something stuck in my butt in the bathroom.

And I could just hear her, like, so embarrassed talks as a guy like, thank you. He's stuck in my butt. He's in my butt. And the guy was like, what the fuck? Yeah, I thought that's fun. Yeah. Wow. Trump Hotel, huh?

Interesting for a Canadian to be staying at the Trump Hotel. Pet friendly. Ah, see? Welcome it. It's pet friendly. And I think the other option is like the four seasons, which is we're not there yet. you're getting there you're getting there you stay outside of the fighter hotel

because of the cat yeah usually I do not because of the cat just usually I stay with the team but I kind of over I over I overcrewed myself and there was too many people so I just stayed with my wife a week

and it's fine I've been having this thing where I don't really sleep very good on the night before the fight probably for a few years now and I was in the spare room sleeping And the cat never, she never sleeps near me. Never, like, she will not sleep on the bed with you. And I was struggling to sleep.

And then, like, she just scratched on my back and then just, like, nestled it next to me. I was like, huh, I slept great. Wow. Maybe she knew. Maybe she knew you needed some TLC. Yeah, she, like, slept on my back. I was like, I've had over three years, and she's never done that. That's, well, the cat loves you.

It's nice to see. After everything you've done for her, all the places. as you've taken her. A little snuggle doesn't hurt. Yeah, it goes a long way. It does. Delighted for you, Arnold. Thank you, as always. Appreciate you doing this while on your sejourn in beautiful Amsterdam. Thank you so much. Safe travels back home and again, congrats on the win. Thank you, babe. Appreciate it. Get it while you can. Limited left. Get it while you can. Get it while you can. That's amazing. What a shirt. You're the best. Thank you, Arnold. All the best. Take care. And thank you to Mrs. Arnold, Alan, as well.

amazing, amazing, amazing stuff. What a guy that Arnold Allen. Big win for him getting back on track has had a tough, tough road in the UFC. Never backs down from a fight. Doesn't pick and choose his opponents. In fact, that was running back and forth from the cage to the desk, all that stuff. And there was someone in the crowd. It wasn't GC or Rick.

It was someone else just watching the fights. And in the midst of the madness, I stopped and I said, what's going on? He was watching Arnold. It was main event time. He said, Arnold's up. Yeah, let's go Arnold. And not to suggest that I was rooting against Melky, but we do have a soft spot for Arnold around here,

and I was delighted to see him win. His last fight, of course, against John Silva back in January. So the last time Arnold Allen, by the way, didn't fight in 2025. Okay, so he fought twice and 24, but then once in 23, once in 22, excuse me, twice in 22, once in 21, once in 20,

twice in 19, once in 18, once in 17, once in 16, okay, twice in 16, once in 2015, three times, okay, the last time he fought three times in a year was 2014. M4TC 15, bad blood, he defeated Paul Cook in November of 2014. Actually, that was his last fight before getting to the UFC. Cage Warrior 71 defeated Gaetano Piero. and that was in August. And then in June of 2014, actually, hold up, hold up.

He fought four times in 2014. Wow. June of 2014, he lost in Cage Warriors and then April of 2014 he won in Cage Warriors. And then fought in December of 2013. So in the span of 12 months,

actually fought in October of 2030 and July. Early days, Arnold Allen was quite active. So let's see if he can get get, if he can get three in at least this year. In a matter of moments, we'll be joined by our last guest of the day, but we have a lot to get to on the back end. Still didn't talk a lot about the Connor return, other news and notes, all that stuff and more. But we are going to be joined by the ass-kicking machine Jason Jackson from Spanish Town, Jamaica, the former Belator Walterway champion, former Titan FC and Legacy Welterweight.

champion, has wins over the likes of Benson Henderson, Paul Daly, Douglas, and Diego Lima, Yaroslav Amasov, probably his most high profile win, Ray Cooper as well. But on Saturday, he had a massive win over Jeff Creighton, knocked him out in just 22 seconds of the first round. And I do believe I've topped my dome. He was my first post-fight interview. I saw Jason at the press conference on Thursday, and he called me out. He's like, like, yo man, when am I going to get on the show? And I said, well, let's do it after this one. And we have a reason to do it now.

So we're going to be joined by him. I didn't really go over the results. Brandon Jenkins beat Chris Avila via split decision, hard-fought win. Some people thought Chris won. I thought Brandon did enough. Alini Pereira defeated Jad Mason Wong via split decision as well. Cool to see, of course, Alex Glover, and Plinyo in her corner. She is, of course, the sister of Alex Pereira.

David McGowan defeated Albert Morales for unanimous decision. So first three fights of the night, no interviews because we were going long. Jason Jackson comes out and scores a vicious knockout in 22 seconds. And that was the first one that I got to do. Of course, then it was Adrian Omerice with the crazy technical sub against Pumi Nakuta. Pumi's going to join us in studio on Wednesday, get his side of the story. So looking forward to that. Namo Fasel beat Jake Babian in the second round.

Jake was great on the show last week, but Namo won via Anaconda Choke. And then it was the main card, Robelis Despine, knocking out Junior Dos Santos in vicious fashion. Saladin Parnas, knocking out Kenny Cross with a vicious body shot. Sorry about that, Frank. Francise and Ghanu, knocking out Philippe Lin. So it was strike force heavy artillery. I thought we were going to get a line for Morrow. Ho, ho, ho, who wants a KO for Christmas?

Mike Perry beat Nate Diaz in the second round. Then, of course, Ronorossi beating Gina Krono in the very, very first round. So every single fight on the main card went the distance. Excuse me, didn't go the distance, either first round or second round, four first round, one second round. In total, I think it was 22 minutes of action on the main card. Man, we're talking to now, one on the undercard, and it was an amazing performance. Like I just said, 22-second knockout, first stoppage of the night. What a big performance out of him.

Loved his energy before and after. I noted didn't crack a smile when he was in there. Let's see if he's smiling now. He's the pride of Spanish Town, Jamaica. Now, of course, residing here in the United States, training out of Florida. Jason Jackson on the program. Hello, Jason. How are you, my man?

How you doing, Eriani? Thank you for having me today. It's nice to see you. It's great to have you on. You called me out when I saw you. when I saw you on Thursday, you said, when are you going to have me on the show? And I told you I'd have you on. And here we are the Monday after your victory.

Yes, yes, it's a world. I've been longer to be on your show. Talk to you, for sure. Well, it's our honor to have you on. It's good to see you smiling, my friend, because I noted in the cage, there was no smiles to be had there after a vicious knockout like that. I was surprised because we often do see you smile. Well, you know, I'm back on the east side.

everything is better in Florida. You don't like Cali? Not as much as I love Florida. Yeah, no, I understand that. What a win, man. Were you expecting it to go that way? Were you feeling that you were going to be able to dispose of him rather quickly? Yes, absolutely, because this guy said I was going to rustle them.

And I was like, whatever I make of my mind, that's what I'm going to do. And I was planning on knocking him out. And I said it to Tyne Woodley that the promoter, is sleeping on me. I'm going to sleep this guy, showed him. Why did you feel like the promotion was sleeping on you? Well, I just, I didn't felt like one of the valuable players, but, you know, I was well appreciative of the time that was there, you know, the opportunity was given. But, like, you know, little small things like walking out, I didn't get an entry. And, you know, small little things that makes me feel like, you know, Jason Jackson, they kind of like, took it away.

way and I don't know what's the reason to it. Yeah, that was really fascinating. I don't think personally, just from my perspective, I didn't ask anyone specifically, but my perspective wasn't that you were trying to be disrespected or slighted. I think that they were worried about the prelims going long and bleeding into the main card, and so the first three fights went to distance, and they were trying to make up some time. That's what I felt, but you deserve that. Everyone deserves that moment.

Everyone deserves a post-fight interview and a walkout and all that stuff. And so I was curious how you felt about that. if you felt rushed at all. No, everybody else had to walk out. But, and then another thing, I didn't feel like I deserved to even be on the prelim in the first place. Because, like I said, my credential hold more weight than a lot of a fighter. And another thing, the bonus. Yes.

I felt like I deserved the bonus for sure. I went out there and showcased my skill. It wasn't like, I'm not sure like Francis, but we knew what he was going to do. The guy, he's like 30 pounds heavier than that. guy and they kind of struggled a little bit with the guy I didn't have no issue at all I went out there and put everything together like a martial artist should and I just felt like I wasn't even even recognized that you know when I did that was that the theme for you throughout the week were you were you not feeling the love throughout the week as well no I wasn't feeling the love at

all tell me why I felt like because I felt like my skill was and it wasn't I don't know for some reason, I just felt like once Lorenzo, I can fall out of the fight, then my fight, they didn't pay any attention, really. So it was like, basically it was just doing it for Lorenzo, like, I didn't, my skill didn't hold no weight.

Did you feel as though that sentiment translated into your performance? Did you feel like you took that, that sort of energy that you were feeling? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I felt disrespected. And so maybe, maybe it was a good thing in the end, because look at what we got from you.

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. You know, and I'm starting to love it. I'm thinking that's going to be the new media, you know what I'm saying? I'm not going to use music or anything, no distraction. I just focus on, hey, they're not going to give it to me, I'm going to go out and take it. Because my fault was on YouTube, you know what I'm saying? Because I was just more excited for the opportunity to even compete on Netflix. I told my whole family, everybody.

So come to find out that I wasn't, it was kind of a little disappointed, too. understand that. Can I ask, how did this opportunity even come about? How did you end up on this card? Well, my manager, Dave Martin, he put it together. So, you know, I understand it was a one-fight deal thing, you know what I'm saying? But I just felt like, I didn't felt like one of the volleyball player in the game. When you were offered Lorenz, did you like that fight? I've been, that was one of my dream fight. A few times we were supposed to fight at Bellator, but it just didn't happen. Okay, so you were probably a little bit bummed. when you found out he was off.

Exactly. And we actually spoke and he told me, you know, out of respect, he told me in person, like, hey, you know, if something happened, you know, health-wise, I don't know if he heard something, but he just wasn't going to show up. And I was appreciated he told him like a man. Were you familiar with your opponent,

the replacement, Jefferson Cradon? Well, I know he was a tough guy. You know, I seen him on the Ultimate Fighter. while I won a D.C. top pick. And I've seen him do a few fighting. In Bellator, he fought Joe Davidson. So I was a little bit familiar with him. It's not like he wasn't nobody.

It's just my skill set is higher than that. You know, I should be fighting even Mike Perry at Diaz. That's what my skill set kind of match up. Or even fighting for MVP title pretty much if they would have had a fighter, a title. Do you feel like now with this? performance on this stage, there were a lot of people watching on YouTube. So, and I know the stream has over two million views and all that stuff now, so it's not like no one saw it.

But I understand 100% where you're coming from. It's YouTube is not Netflix. Do you feel now like people are going to view you in that light? Like you're going to get the respect that you wanted? I'm not sure because from what I was kind of taking note, it was just more to the UFC fighters than what was getting all about. Was being like more treated like the valuable fighter. So maybe I need to go to the UFC and make a statement and then probably come back to MVP and show them I'm a valuable player because I wasn't, I didn't felt like I was treated like it. And I ain't been on a prelim card since forever.

I've been on main event, Bellator, PFL, championship fights. So for me to be in that position, I was like, wow, this is a disrespect. So we still don't know if they're going to truly stay in the world of MMA. They have said that they want to and we'll find out what the viewers. numbers are, if they come to you and say, we want you to stick around, what are you going to say? Absolutely. I would. Oh, okay.

I love to fight, and I enjoy fighting them, but the only thing, I just need some more respect on my name, so whoever I have to fight to show them, because I felt like that was like a Davey fight for me. So whoever they want to put in front of me and say, hey, you want to back up, everything you're saying, give me this guy. And all right, then cool. But I felt like that fight was a test because I went out and dispatched a guy. in a fashion that I haven't seen on the whole card.

And so if it was up to you, obviously someone in the UFC wouldn't come into play here. If MVP is like, all right, so who does make sense for you? Who, you know, of who would be available? Who would you say? I would say anyone that they have in mind. I would like a Mike Perry or Diaz. I don't think none of those guys are going to fight or even one of the guys them that actually fight on the card or wherever they feel is excited.

Like what Mike Perry said. Yeah. There was a, you know, there was a bunch of guys on that card that I think that would be very interesting for you. But yes, I understand fighting on the main card means a lot more than fighting on the prelims. Can I ask what happened with the PFL? Why did you part ways with them? Well, PFL, after the decision that I know I won with that, Gene, and I felt like

with some politics why they took that decision because I was coming to my last fight on my contract. So they just pulled the rug on it at my feet. And they tried to cut my paycheck and less than half. And I have a family to feed. And I was like, you know, that's not going to do nothing for me. You know what I'm saying? You guys have been good to me. And, you know, I just want to try something new. And we just part away, handshake deal. Okay. So you felt like they wanted him to win? Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Was that deflating? Was that disheartening?

Yeah, absolutely. It was, and then it was this not the first time, like, them pulling the rug from all need to use it as a leverage in negotiation because the fight in Ireland, they messed up on my visa big time. You know, and I got there late and I was a champion fight. So it was like, when I got there, it was like, I had to do a whole bunch of obligation that I traveled a big time different and everything, like three days before the fight I got there. Still had a fight, make, we didn't do everything. So it kind of stressed me out. So I felt like I haven't had a fair shot where I'm like, yo. So when I kind of part ways with PFL, I just felt lighter. And I was like, you know what?

I'm back to doing martial art for the love of it again without, you know, don't feel like somebody out of getting or something. And that fight was in June of last year. What took so long to get you back in there? They let my contract ran out. I had one more fight in my contract. They would not honor it. Really? And then they came back with a lesser deal

than what we already had in the contract. And so you didn't get paid for that last fight? I didn't get paid for the last fight. And were you asking to fight? Yes, I was begging the fight. And so you think it was deliberate to let it run out so that they didn't have to pay you? Yes. And then when they came back with the negotiation, they brought up how much they paid that gene and how much they paid me, basically.

Wow. And so you're just saying that you were healthy. You were ready to go. Yeah, I was healthy the whole time. Damn, you must have been frustrated. So I feel like that kind of came into play on Saturday, too. All of that frustration came out. Yeah, I've been sitting just waiting, I tell you, and watching even past opponent that I already started. even making a big name in the MMA world than I have. And I'm like, people just overlook at me. And I'm like, man, I just want to get my one little fair shot. And I'm always going to deliver.

Are you referring to Yaroslav Amasov, who you beat to become. Yes. Yeah, now he's in the UFC doing this thing. Yeah, and I'll do the same thing to him again if I get the opportunity. So when you see him doing his thing in the UFC, he fought on the previous week's card, UFC 328. He's getting some momentum now. How does that make you feel?

I feel like my future is bright. That's what I see. Okay. So you're confident. You're optimistic. Yep. I'm well optimistic about beating this guy again if it come down to it. And I mockish up any one of those guys,

the fact that the fans will count me out, and I'm going to be the only one that believes myself, I finish any one of those guys. Islam, you're talking about, 170 champ. champ. Yes, yes. You feel confident against them? Of course. Why? Let's see what I did to Yerislav. Yeah. He couldn't take me down that one bit. Did your team talk to the UFC when you were, you know, leaving the PFL before getting this opportunity?

Were there any talks? Well, it might be some talks. Now? Might be some talks, yeah. But what about before the MVP fight after you left PFL? I'm pretty sure I did. We did to have some talks, but they wanted to see me go out and get some type of win or something. And now they did. Now they did. What do you think about the show overall? The cage, I was wondering about the lighting on the seats and all that.

It was a quick fight for you. But I was just curious, what was your perspective from fighting on Saturday? You know, I love everything about it. show. And I just felt like if I could have been a little more involved, I'm saying I just felt like it would have been better. But the show was great overall if I was in there or not. And that's what I was a little more disappointed at the show was so great and I wasn't involved that much. Because I love the show. I'm not even going to lie. Like the whole crowd was sold out. The arena was sold out. And it was just so much stars that around. Yeah. So, you know, and the little, like I said, the little opportunity I had, I utilize it as much as possible that I could have even went over there and get to shake Jake Paul hand and so much I appreciate them for giving me this opportunity.

And, you know, that was grateful. So I'm not going to look at nothing bad. Like, you know what I'm saying? If they offer me something worth my while, I'm sticking around. But if I'm just going to get that, you know, a little, what they call it, peon, treat. then I might as well go somewhere because I'm not gonna I'm not in it to be a star I'm a fighter on martial artist I got into martial art because of the love I want to display that art that people say you know what this guy go out there you always put on

man you know what would be a great fight you versus Cedric Dumebe absolutely I'm ready for Cedric Dummy I'm ready for him right now why dummy because I I don't know why he just came attacking me because I didn't know who he was because I don't pay attention to martial art. I barely watch TV.

And they asked me like a simple question like who he was and I genuinely I didn't know who was. I was like, who is that? And then they remind me of the moment that he had. And I was like, oh yeah, I know who he is. I don't think that guy could beat me because he's not a martial artist. That would be a huge fight.

I love that fight. You know, I'm open for that FNVP winner put that one in play, get him out of retirement. That would be a good fight to bring him out of retirement. And, you know, I have so much fans from France because of Cedric Dunebae, so I'm pretty sure I got fans over there rooting for me to knock him out. And I could knock him out in kickboxing. I fight him in kick boxing too.

There's this thing online, and I'm wondering if you can talk about it. I want to be respectful about the code of the gym, but there's this thing online about you and Ian Gary. What can you tell us about this? No, it just sparring, you know, and stuff happens during training. How did this get out there? Well, I don't know. That's the same question.

It wasn't for me, so I don't know. I just knew it was out there and people kept asking me about it. And I was like, man, I don't even know. I don't know who released it or how I got out there. But it wasn't from my end. I'd stay that much. Do you think Ian can beat Islam? Yeah, I truly believe because of his skill set and he's going to fight, he's going to fight the game as in like touch and move, touch and move, touch and move.

And score and move. But if Islam get a hold of him, it might be a bad day for him. Okay, so you do give him props and think he has a chance. Absolutely, absolutely. One thing I know about Ian is belief, his fate. Yeah. You have a strong fate, and that's what got him through the game. And kid, he could fight.

Is it true that you got your nickname from a WWE segment with Kane and who is it, the Rock and Hulk Hogan, the ass kicking machine? Is that true? Exactly. The first time when Kane spoke. What is this? What is this? How did this come about?

So when Kane was just, you know, talking about, you know, the Kane and Knights and Team up with the boots of asses and I just thought about the big red machine and then I just put it all together right there. Were you a big WWE fan back then? Yeah, so in Jamaica coming up we only had two channels and you know, WW was one of them that, you know, as kid, Monday night, Trow, Saturday night, Saturday morning. So, you know, like coming up, coming to school in America, I wanted to do wrestling and career day. I told the kids them, they laughed at me. Wow.

Then one day I just know, I'm skimming through like the timeline. I was just on my auntie floor getting out of high school, sleeping. I was kind of homeless a little bit, living my car and stuff. And I saw Rampage and Chuck Adele the highlight of them going to fight. And that was it for me right there. That was my moment when I was like, I think I want to do an MMA because I kind of seen something behind the scene with wrestling that, you know, steroids kind of kill you and break down your body and all this stuff.

So I just, I saw a rampage and Chuck Goodell to celebrate in. And that's all I know I wanted to do. I just wanted to celebrate like them. The fire. And that's how I got into MMA. Did you have any background in martial arts at all before any of that? Well, I wrestled in high school. Wrestler is my first art, and that's what people forget.

They forgot it for a little bit because I kept knocking people out. And then in Bellator, I kind of tap back into my wrestling skill set because in the top 10, 8, 5 was just all top strikers. So I had to tap back into my wrestling skills to get through that. And then when I make to the top, it was more wrestlers. like Namon, Gracie, Yorislav, Logan, and all those guys.

So I was like, all right, cool. And I could just tap back into my boxing because I learned a little bit of boxing. I did a few boxing fight as well. In Jamaica? Here. Okay. In America, I came when I was 12.

Okay, okay. And why did you move? So when I was 12, like I said, I didn't know my father, and I came to America, and I met my dad for the first. first time and then lived there pretty much. How did you connect with him?

Well, I always knew him, but like I said, I never, I never seen, you know, because when he left Jamaica, I never seen him again, I never came back. Okay, and so you were able to track him down and have a relationship? Yeah, I mean, he never, he never gone nowhere, but we just reconnected. Amazing, amazing. And then you've stayed there ever since. Did you get to go back to Jamaica? All the time.

All the time. I'm planning on bringing martial art back to Jamaica and give back to the community and try to develop some of the youth program and give back however I can, even by just service. Yeah. I love that.

And we've seen some fighters go back, Leon Edwards, Al Jermaine Sterling. So Jamaica's got a nice little, you know, a nice little fight roster. Pretty much. Yeah, Rodney Brown. I see Rodney Brown. Of course, Rude Boy.

Yeah, yeah. Rood Boy doing some good stuff. I love that. By the way, what about Clifford? What can you tell us about Clifford? So, yeah, Clifford, the big red dog. That's my truck. So, you know, I paid $800 because I came off the Contender series.

I just kept running to Roadblock. Ultimate Fighter, this Black Zillion versus American Top Team. I was supposed to get signed, didn't get signed, and then I went back to the regional scene, one, the world title, like two world title, went to a contender series, and then I broke my leg, and I was just like, man,

at the point where I was just going to give up on fighting, and I didn't know what to do. I didn't develop no other skill set, but I knew how to climb trees from Jamaica and hustle and doing igla jobs type of thing. So the clifford was like $800 that I, I ended up buying it from somebody, but I didn't have the full $800 in 2018.

So the guy kind of asked him if I could pay it off because I had a tree job already scheduled. So when I went and got the tree job, I only had a machete. I didn't have no chain, so I didn't have nothing. And I went, got Clifford, and did the tree job, and then paid it off. And then after I paid off,

I went, got a little bucket, like a little tank, put it on the back of there. And I started washing, like, Gilbert Burns. and Michael Chandler and Kamar, what's my, I watched their car because, you know, they're big, they're the big man. And I would sell coconut because I would get coconut from cutting trees and all that stuff, the trash I would have to dispose of it. So I would just use them that. And the next thing I knew, I didn't have to fight for the money, you know, because the small league that was paying like $1,500 per fight. And working for a job, it was just taking up my time.

So I was like, man, I need to create a job. If I can't find one, I'm going to create one. And then I just create that little hustle right there. And Clifford, I had a car, like a Toyota I was making payment on, and I ended up got rid of it. It was like, man, why I keep a car that causing me, bringing me a bill? I need to keep one that's paying my bill. And that Ford Ranger never, I barely had to get oil changed or anything on.

That car had over at least 400,000 mile on it and it's going. Wow. So you still use it until this day? Still I used it till this day. Like it's parking my parking lot right now. That's amazing. That is amazing. I love that you call it Clifford, too.

That's incredible. Because Clifford was when I first came from Jamaica, and when I was in like 7th-6th grade, that was a cartoon that I used to watch all the time. Okay. Legendary. You know, I was like, yeah. Big red dog.

By the way, how long were you homeless for? You said you were sort of homeless there for a minute. So a little bit like when I was in the coming to like the end of my high school year. It's like, you know, end up was just sleeping my car and still going to school and, you know, making it happen. I still graduated high school. I was going to like at least four different school. in one day to graduate it because I spend I squander so much time

doing all the wrong thing in my early year on in school so I end up finding a job like basically hanging out with fair friend bad company not going to class skipping you know doing stuff that you don't want your kids to be doing till this day and I just end up

something going I mean like I guess something happened between my dad or something where, you know, something must happen financially to where, you know, we lost a place who was staying in, you know, one of my older brothers, something happened where he had to get sent back home to Jamaica and a bunch of stuff. But I just held the fate and just knowing that it's going to be better. And it seems to have become better. I know you still want to help a lot more, but I saw you wrestling with your son, Jalani.

So it seems like you're trying to give him a great life rooted. here he is, right? This is your son teaching him a little wrestling. Yeah, Geron, my boy. You know, I handpicked Jelani. What is what I meant like, I chose them because I told my wife, we're going to have a son. I'm going to name him Jelani. And he's going to, Jolani stand for strong and mighty. And, yeah, since the ultimate fight, I've been carrying him around,

having like five months in the car seat watching. And he's the term. He's a better version of me. Oh, I love that. Does he want to be a fighter too? Yeah, but I tell him, he need to be like, they ain't a white. Be the promoter. Be the promoter, yeah.

More money there. More money there. Yeah, fighters are pretty stupid, I think. They're stupid. Was he watching you on Saturday? Oh, yeah, he cried. He said we called me immediately backstage, and he was like, dad, I cry. I couldn't believe it because of everything that you've been through

and I know what you've been through. So to see you get that knockout, it was like, it was fulfilling for him. That must have felt amazing for you. Absolutely. He motivated me because, so I couldn't find no motivation. I was like, the same thing is you can't find something you created. And I created that. I created Jalana motivation. Just see him go out there and wrestled his first wrestling match.

And the kid was had way more experience than he did. The kid kind of dropped him on his head and knocked them out. And he was like, Dad, when I heard your voice, say, go, go, go, get up, get up, get up. I just woke up and just re-rustled him. I was like, man, with that up, boy. I love that. I love that.

And I love the shot you guys showed of you practicing. I believe it was a right hook that you landed on Saturday? And it was almost in the locker room. Left hook, excuse me. Yeah. And then it was almost the exact same thing in the fight. I think we have the clip. Yeah, here it is.

Boom. It's quick. So you can't blink, but man, that's a beautiful shot right there as well. So I knew I was going to get this guy. And the way I was going to get him is the fact that he liked to overextend. So I was like, if I could give him that space and take it away and close it, he's going to be in trouble. So, and then the thing is, he kept saying that I'm going to crotch-sniff him or whatever, I guess, wrestled him because my last fight with that, Gene, I wrestled.

He was going to wrestle him. So he was expecting that. So I felt like he was just anticipating after a little too much. It kind of made him nervous. And look what happened. Yeah, yeah, definitely made my night, and I'm ready to get back in there.

Well, congratulations. Enjoy the victory. Hopefully this leads to nothing but bigger and better and greater things for you. I'm sorry it took us a while to get you on the show, but I'm so happy to have you on. happy to have you on and really, really happy for what happened to you on Saturday and hope for much more of those nights to come. Absolutely. And I'm happy that you gave me the platform so my voice could be heard because I felt like that have been presented to me.

And I'm glad that I was able to find that courage to come up to you because I always see all your stuff and admire your work. Thank you. And, you know, I was glad to get that respond. And I'm humble to be on your show. I swear. I know. I appreciate that very much. Thank you so much, Jason.

All the best to you, and we'll talk to you soon. All right. Thank you so much, everyone. There he is. Jason Jackson. The ass-kicking machine. What a win now, 20 and 6. And, you know, between 2019 and 2022, he had a bunch of decision victories.

but this is now his four straight win via stoppage, quickest win of his career. His debut win was in April of 2012, and he won in 55 seconds. And so ultimately this is part of the reason why you want to have more promotions putting on events is so other people can have opportunities. And yes, I know there are other promotions out there,

but on the biggest of stages, Netflix main card or not, you're still getting an opportunity, you're still getting a spotlight, you know, shine on you, you're still getting people talking about you, you're still, you know, in the conversation at the press conferences, this is why it's good. I'll never, ever, ever understand why fans don't want competition.

I'll take that back. I understand because you probably want it all neat. You want everyone to fight under the same umbrella so that you could see all the big fights. I get that. But the truth is, there's not enough spots. And so fighters have to have other places to make money and to be able to build themselves and maybe eventually they fight each other. But for me, being in this sport long enough, the more spots, the better.

Boxing has a bunch of spots. If you're not fighting for matchroom, you're fighting for Queensberry. If you're not fighting for Queensberry, you're fighting for Boxer. If you're not fighting for boxer, you're fighting for top rank for Golden Boy. On and on it goes. We don't have that many opportunities in MMA for the fighters to actually make a living, to build themselves up. And I guarantee you, if there was competition, if there was a solid number two,

I guarantee you the UFC would put on a better product. I guarantee you they would up their game from a promotional standpoint. Again, look no further than WW and AEW. Look at what AEW did for WW. It would be so good for the sport, so very good for the sport. Just look at the tactics on Saturday. Even that small little thing, that's good for the sport. All of this is good for the sport.

And so I understand that there's a vocal group of people who want nothing to do with it, who think it's a sham, who think that the sport was set back. Explain to me how Ronda Rousey beating Gina Carrano in the same amount of time that she's beaten a whole bunch of other fighters set the sport back. Were they saying it set the sport back in 2015?

Or was it just because there was a big audience? You think Netflix wanted the fight to be so short? Fight goes into the second round. More people are tuning in. The longer fight goes, the bigger the audience. You think they wanted that. They didn't want that. But that's what happens. Ronda Rousey had not fought in 10 years. But let's not forget, Rhonda Rousey was still doing WW. She was still in tip-top shape. She wasn't sitting around. She didn't have to lose 100 pounds or anything like that. She was still an active athlete. Pro wrestlers are athletes. Competition, the fights. Yes, predetermined. I get that. But what she was doing was still very athletic. And so the notion, the notion. of her doing this is not absurd. It's to be expected.

Shut the fuck up and watch the fights. None of this set the sport back. It advanced the sport. The better PFL does, it advances the sport. When Belator went away, that set the sport back. When Strike Force went away, that set the sport back. When Pride went away, that set the sport back. Competition coming in and trying out of the things and working out the kinks.

Because there are going to be kinks when you start anything. We had kinks. First show here at the Yahoo Studios Did not look the same the next day. The show looked completely different. And it looks completely different a year and a half later. Speaking of which, I was told by our EIC, that stands for editor-in-chief, by the way, guys.

That's Shahina Shadi. Thanks. Appreciate that. Well, you know, a lot of initials being thrown around today. Yeah, no clue. Saturday ended up being the biggest MMA weekend for us on crown.com since we started in October of 2024. UFC 324, which featured anyone? Wow. What are we on right now?

We just had 328. 324 was the Paramount debut, was it not? Oh, yeah, Patty Pamela just engaged. Yeah, was a distant second. Now, we do have White House coming up, but we have Connor coming up. But still, pretty remarkable, right? No reports on the numbers just yet, right? I haven't really seen anything.

I've been locked in here, but has anyone reported that? Nothing yet. Nothing yet. Let's get into some news and notes, shall we? Let's talk about Connor McGregor, because we did mention that it was announced on Saturday during the Francis Walkout that Connor is coming back. In fact, a whole bunch of fights were released. My favorite thing of the video, we don't have the video.

think the IG live video, do we? I don't think so. But Dana was referring to everyone by their last name. My favorite is that he referred to Gable Stevenson as Stevenson and eventually said that Connor McGregor is coming back to fight Max Holloway. These are some of the notable fights that were officially announced. McGregor Holloway 2, now at Welterway, originally at Featherway. I wonder how many times a rematch has happened, two-way classes up in the history of the sport, or at least in the UFC. Benoit St. Deney against Patty Pimlet, co-mate event, which we all suspected. Corey Sanhagen versus Mario Battista, great fight at Bantamweight. Brandon Royville against Lonnie Kavanaugh, great fight at flyweight, Gable Steven versus

Alicia Ellison, and Robert Whitaker fighting at light heavyweight against Nikita Krillov. I think as far as international fight weeks, but more importantly, as far as Connor McGregor fight cards as of late, and I know that dates back to 2021 and 2020, this is actually one of the better ones, guys. Remember when he was fighting Dustin, when he was fighting Donald's 20? Those cards were rather weak. Like, to have someone of Patty's stature and BSD and like a Whitaker, who I think will be the feature prelim, whatever that means, Gable debuting, I actually think this is a really, really good card. Anyone disagree? Anyone underwhelms? That's a fantastic card. For instance, You're never going to get another title fight on a Connor card,

but you're going to get names like that. Great. All of these fights have high chance of being exciting. Yeah. Comain, BSD, Patty Pimler, are you kidding me? Corey Sandigan, Mario Batista's great. Brandon Royville versus Lonnie Kavanaugh. Yeah, I'm in.

Gable Steven should probably have a pretty spectacular debut. Give us the breakdown, the scouting report, Pizzi, on Alicia Ellison. haven't been able to get to that just yet. It's Elisha, no? Oh, it's Elisha, yeah, that's what I thought. I was trying to see if you guys... That was quick by you. That was quick by you.

The Snack Panther. Yeah. Oh, okay, so tell us. I didn't want to take P.T. Sean. You seem to know a lot about him. Well, obviously, if you know the history of Brando Perich's career, which I assume you all do, of course. He fell victim.

Elisha Ellison, that is, to Brando Perichich in his... UFC debut. Of course. Yeah, I mean, it was less than two minutes and he got knocked out. But obviously... Nothing gained. We all remember the spur roundstone win, and he can always hang his hat on that one. Yeah.

No, I think that was well put. Remember when Rick was like, what was the debut? Sergey Pavlovich, go ahead and give him Tom Asper. Yeah, Rick, are you upset? Yeah. Be nice. Why are we slow rolling this? I don't know.

You tell me. Let's give him Tom Aspen all off for it. You don't think... Best I can do is a lash Alice. Okay, you said this a while ago. Is there any chance they saw the spinning back kick? They said, you know what? No.

Let's take our time. No. As we showed in that Uncrowned Doc, shout out. Incredible. If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it. Go on. Coach is encouraged by it. Same way.

You see that he has a chin. Like, I would think the opposite. Some people, it is weird Some people are like, oh, look at this guy He's getting, you know, kicked in the head like that Yeah, that's the fucking nightmare for you. If you kick that guy in the head and he's still not down, you're done. He didn't get dropped, yeah.

You're done. Yeah. Worst case scenario. Coaches were excited by it, as was I. We're all in the same camp here. Man, let's give him Alexander Volkov right off rip. You don't think that... How about the snack pants?

How about this? Set a line for Volkov versus Steven right now. Yeah. What's the line for that fight by the Watson? I thought of. I would bet on Volkov if he was the underdog. Would he be the underdog? I don't know.

You are convinced he will not be. Yeah. Does the minus 1,800 on Elisha Ellison transferred to favorite over Vosso. Is that what it is? Yeah, of course. Yes, he would be a massive favorite. I want to know what the exact number was. Minus 1800, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He would be a massive favorite over the guy who got ragdled by Jalton Almeda, yes. Massive? Massive. Big favorite. Minus three. I look forward to my potential investment. I look, oh boy, that would be light it on fire.

Oh my gosh. Light it on fire. The man who has yet to make his UFC debut will take out the Olympic gold medalist who has yet to make his UFC debut would beat a guy whose deficiency is grappling. This time next year is Gable Steve's in a top five heavyweight.

It depends. I would have given him a much liver body. It's not a lot of, It's not up to me. They put him against a garbage man. Based on the first fight and how you think they're going to build him, will he be a top fiver? Look, Josh Hokit. I don't know how long it's going to take to get him a real fight.

Backtracking here, really. I'm not backtracking. I wanted him against a top 10, top five guy right off rip. Josh Hokka, what am I supposed to do? Well, if Gable wins in 14 seconds, slams him on his head. Then what? Is he fighting another guy who has no... I'm asking.

you, what do you foresee? I can't tell you that. I would have thought that they would have given him a more credible opponent. Everyone. They gave Bone Nickel two contender series fights. Yes, if you're asking me, do I think he has the talent for that? No doubt in my mind.

If you're asking me, is he going to get it? I don't know. Why would they give him this guy? I have no idea. I have no idea why they'd give him this guy. It's a waste of time. You're letting yourself down here, Rick. You're letting yourself down here, me.

Pizzi, what about him? am I supposed to do? I'm the matchmaker? What am I supposed to do, people? Just want you to do better, that's all. At what? Giving him fight? I can't. Lazy Gable Steven. I can't. Look at Josh Hokit. He got Curtis Hokka. He forced his. If you give him Curtis Blades.

Yeah, but he forced their hand. So I'm saying, you could sit here and say, all right, you're giving him, they're giving him. I don't want to say a cupcake fight. I don't think that's fair. But they're slow rolling him. No, you can say that. They're slow rolling him. Yeah. I would not have done that. But if he starches this guy in 20 seconds, they're going to fast. track him, I think. And so what you could have said,

to answer that question was... Two fights ago... Yes, he will be a top five because that's what I've been saying from the beginning. Josh Hokeet was fighting Denzel Freeman. You never said, by the way, Solid Fox. Every time you talked about how good he was

and how great he's going to be, you never said it depends on the matchmaking. You said definitively. You're asking me for a ranking. You're not asking me, well, I think he'll be future champion. You're beating up babies. You're asking me for a timeline.

I can't give you a timeline because they clearly don't have him on the same timeline I would have put him on, right? I thought he'd come in, beat a top guy. If Gabel Stephson got the fight that Josh Hokka got against Curtis Blades, I would say definitively, yes, he'll be a top five heavyweight. But he's not fighting Curtis Blades. He's fighting somebody I've never heard of.

I don't know what to tell you. Okay, let's go back to Connor for a second. Connor McGregor, that is. So they tweet out the announcement, they posted, all this stuff. Here are some reactionary tweets from one. Connor McGregor and Max Holloway. We can roll through these rather quickly. Here's Connor saying you're going to put respect on my mother effing name.

And this, of course, is from the Boston fight. Look how different they both look. A lot less tattoos and whatnot. I do believe Max has a response. Yes. Nah, Big Dog, you're going to put some respect on my name. Good comeback. Yeah.

And then Connor came back. said, well, actually, Max had a good promo, July 11th, return to the Max, which I thought was a very fun play on words. I'm going to son you, child, again. Wow. Yes. By the way, how are you feeling if you're Charles Olivera? You beat Max Holloway, and you don't get the bigger fight. Crazy, right? Man, Olivera must be going, like, what do I have to do here, Knight Diaz wanted to fight me? Yeah. Greg, want to fight me? Come on. But I get it.

Do you think Pizzi, if Max would have won the BMF, do you think they would have done this for the BMF title? Yeah. I do wonder, I do wonder, because Conner's got two fights. Does he want a title? I wonder if the same rules apply. Yeah, because, you know, they're very strict with the BMF, aren't they? It's weird.

It's weird. Anyway, I was just curious also, what was the reaction back home? I know it was like, what, 56 hours ago or so, maybe less? No, hasn't been 56? No, less. Less than 48. What was the reaction? Obviously, look, he was the biggest star in the world for the last few announcements. Like, it wasn't like that. I've had a lot of people reach out to me over the last day or so talking about it. On the blower.

The blowers been hopping, to be fair. You know, the usual things, like immediately as soon as this announced, even though most people in the orbit kind of knew the date and everything, but I feel like yesterday, I just woke up after, you know, I slept to like the afternoon, woke up and I just have all these messages, who's he training with? Who's this guy? And I was like, yeah, we're starting to feel like a McGregor camp now where we're, you know, surgically going through the camp.

Who's in there? Who's he sparring with? You're spire with these guys. Who are these guys? So we're looking forward to a couple of months of that in the Carroll household, of course. Oh, yes. So obviously the big story was that they made the announcement during the Francis walkout. I referred to this earlier, but I want to play the clip.

Francis was asked about this at the Post-Fight press conference on Saturday. Here's what he had to say. I don't know if you noticed during your walkout, Dana White went live on Instagram and announced Connor McGregor's return. Did you realize that or no? And how do you feel about it? And what the fuck do I have to do with that? I mean, so I should stop my walkout and look what is going on with?

No, well, people during the week were saying that he was going to announce it. I don't care, bro. Okay. Let's move on. Life goes on. I'm doing my stuff here. I'm doing good. I have no problem.

Everybody can do whatever he wants. What the head is? So the reporter, who I, again, I thought it was a very fair and good question. I would ask Francis that question if I was there. I think the word notice. So people were like, well, he's not going to notice when he's walking out. But I think what he meant was like, did you see after the fact that this happened? And I understand Francis's point as well.

also he could have said like, yeah, man, they're obsessed with me. He could have said a million different things, but he's like, yeah, I don't care. Does anyone think that it was a coincidence that it was during Francis's fight? Or do you think that was on purpose? No chance. That to me is like the ultimate hat tip to Francis, right? That they waited specifically for his walkout. Not Philippe Lins's walkout, not Saladin Parnasse's.

Not Rhonda and Gina. No. Francis I thought it was a compliment Jake and Akisa obviously addressed it as well and were asked about it

here's what they had to say When the Connor news was dropped by Dana White many saw that as a little too convenient in terms of timing with your event What was the exact timing

do you know during the Ingano fight so what do you say to many who saw that timing to be a little too convenient what happened so I was told it happened during Nanganos a walkout.

What happened? Dana tweeted, I mean, he went live to announce Hunter McGregor versus... Oh, the Cokehead is back. Nice. Yeah, that's cool, bro. Cool, yeah. Drop it during our event. Doesn't matter. That just shows how pressed they are.

Little insecure boys trying to piggyback off of our event and try to put some news over top of us. It's not going to work, buddy. On the flip side, I'm super excited that Connor is back. He's one of the most engaging characters in the sport. And I think it's good for the sport, right? And I've said this numerous times.

The biggest fight outside of Paul Tyson that can happen globally is Paul McGregor. And hopefully Connor is back. And hopefully these two run in boxing and MMA and we shatter records all over again. So welcome back, Connor. And thank you, Dana, for bringing him back during the Franciscanagan walkout. That's beautiful. You know, there is a world, like I said, Connor fights in July, and let's say he wins, and then there's one more fight, and I don't think they'll give him a cupcake there.

This time next year, he could be a free agent. Like, it is a little surreal to see. I don't know if people look at these things like we do. That word, Netflix, is a pretty freaking big deal, that word right there. It is, to me, the most powerful brand in all of broadcasting right now. And could you imagine Connor going there? Whether it's against Nate for the third time, which I still think that there'll be an audience for that

despite what happened on Saturday or the Jake fight or any other fight. He's Connor McGregor, but it all depends on what happens in these next two fights. Pete, what do you think? Sorry, was that GC that jumped in there? It was me. Okay. What do you think?

If he loses the next two, yeah. What's the demand? Oh, it's still astronomical. He's still Connor McGregor. but what I was going to ask is what's UFC's incentive to let him have that last fight without him resigning

as opposed to just doing what they typically do which is a prolonged and expanded window of just keeping a price and on the sidelines I mean he mentions all the time the window can't be that big the window can't be that big

why not because the contract was signed so long ago is that true well I don't know if I don't know if that's the case They do say we have to offer three fights a year. And so if there's only one fight to be offered, you can't wait forever to offer that fight, right?

The Sunset Clause thing, I don't think, is even a thing. Like, the timeline is not always built in anymore, right? Didn't they... Here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say. They had to restructure the deal because there's no pay-per-view anymore. I know that for a fact, right? That makes sense?

They had to restructure that deal. Do you think, Connor, being the businessman that he is and his team, we're going to restructure the deal but not cover their bases to the point where like, hey, you can't screw us on this last fight and keep us on ice. I feel like they are smart and savvy enough

to have laid it all out almost like two-fight plan, the season, as he'd like to call it back in the day, to where at some point he's going to be able to come back in short order and then truly for the first time, really, the first time since he became Connor's superstar, become a free agent.

If that's the case, then that's perfect and exactly what you'd want if you're Connor McGregor in his representation. So if that's accurate, then yeah. I mean, Connor McGregor is a free agent. Regardless of how these two fights go, I expect Max Holloway to beat him. I expect them to give him a killer in the second fight if he's able to finish that contract. Even with losses, no matter how it goes, Connor McGregor versus Jake Paul, if that's the fight. is massive. Connor McGregor versus Nate Diaz, if that's the fight, is massive. So, yeah, it doesn't

really matter how it goes. Honestly, with Nate Diaz, one after his performance on Saturday, if Connor McGregor lost the fight, it might even make it more intriguing because of where they're at in their careers. Yeah. It would be two fights, but yeah, I get your point. Talk of seasons and stuff, that season didn't happen the first time, obviously, because he suffered a horrific injury, but I think it's, there's so many people, right, I was talking about people getting on to me. There's so many people in that orbit, in the McGregor orbit, obviously, they're They're not training with him now, but they were like, it's still, it's still a long way to go before we get to this fight. And then the idea of them just tagging on another one in the next six months after that, I think that's, we're still a long way from that, you know?

I think we need to get this one out of way and see how he gets out of it because he has suffered with injuries over the last world. The Chandler fight being pulled off, obviously, the Porre fight, the idea that he's going to be back and then he's going to come back six months later. I think that's, it's wishful thinking at the moment, to be honest, based on what. what we've seen over the last few attempts of him putting together a run of fights. Like that just hasn't been able to happen. And that's where my doubt is with that, you know? I do understand what you're saying. I do think that the season talk was before Soroni and then the pandemic happened, not the injury.

I remember sitting with him before the Soroni fight and he talked about the seasons. I could be wrong about that, but that's neither here nor there. I also feel like this is the first time in a while that he's actually tried to come back. I know there's been some like whispers here or there, but it feels. felt from the beginning, and that's why I was so adamant that they would at least get the announcement out. Obviously, we don't know what's going to happen between now and the fight. A million things could happen, injuries, all kinds of stuff, in and out of the cage. But it felt like the first time in a while, not the first time, but in a while, that there was an

actual concerted effort to say, we're going to do this, we're going to come back. So let's see. Now, Ronda Rousey was asked about this as well. Her response was an interesting one. Here's what she had to say at the post-fight press conference. The very first moment this fight was announced. You were very outspoken against your old organization in the USC and Hunter Campbell. I don't know if you know, but it seems like there was a little bit of gamesmanship on their part tonight. They announced Connor and Max rematch during Francis Ngano's walkout.

What are your thoughts on that? I mean, it's kind of catty. But it also shows that, you know, that they see MVP MMA as a threat, that they would, you know, do it in that moment and spend, like, do it at that time. So I feel like it's also a compliment because it elevates MVP MMA and makes, they're declaring that they see us as a real rival. And I think that's such a compelling story. And now they're helping us tell it.

I kind of think that she had the best perspective there. They're not doing it if they don't care. And that has as much to do with the platform that they were on. They were just, obviously, we don't know the exact number, but a lot of people watching. And I think everyone involved should just take it as a compliment that they're doing that. Because it's been a while since they felt compelled to do something like that. I'm really curious to see how this all. There's so many, this is, we're getting, guys, we've had a bit of a, like, of a dull stretch.

I feel like business has picked. up in our sport, right? Summer's going to be booming, for sure. It's going to be great. From Humzat Strickland, going into last weekend, going into, you know, White House and everything that's going to come with that, Conner's return, let's see what happens with MVP. I also feel like, you know, I know it's not as sexy, but the PFL TV deal, I feel like John Martin was sitting right behind me.

John Martin and Mike Hogan were in the front row on Saturday. They have to be looking at that and being like, we need to up our game. whatever that means we're going to let these guys come in and just be number two de facto number two i feel like all of a sudden mma is a hell of a lot more interesting and have you have we got any more on this idea that the pfl would collaborate with mvp and let their fighters go on i saw paul hughes he was tweeting like i can imagine myself a fight in saladin panas one day i spoke to patrick habarora today for the website and i was asking him about it and he was obviously like yeah i'd love to do i just don't know if the pfl would be into it

it. And that's kind of where I'm sat with it as well. The guys that we'd really like to see on that MVP guard, the likes of Habirr or Hughes or Dakota, they're all the people they rely on to sell out these events. Surely they're not going to lend out those guys out to MVP where they could lose and then come back as a diminished product. No, no, no, they wouldn't. They do have a history of working together. So let's see. I mean, the fact that they were sitting right there in the front row I thought was interesting. And John has only been complimentary. But look, they've got a TV deal to secure. And so what if they don't secure?

I don't know. It's a very interesting thing. You mentioned that Paul Hughes tweet. Here is Paul Hughes tweeting about Saladin Parnaz. We do have that. Have a feeling I will cross paths. What's that? I just said, go on, Hughesy.

Oh, yes. With Saladin Paras in the next number of years. Paras, by the way, was, I guess someone tweeted about his pay, and he did weigh in on it, because he's someone who has talked about turning down. on UFC offers because he didn't think that it was worth his time. I called the banker

and he doesn't believe it either. Just another example of someone refuting those disclosed payouts. Pizzi, you've been on the Saladin train for quite some time. In fact, I think it was when? When was it?

2020. 2018. Golly. You wrote about him for MMA fighting to see your guy. I love the fact that he always comes out to California love and his American debut

is in California. To see your guy, I thought like there was pressure on him, right? We're all kind of saying this guy's the man, KSW, perform like that. That body shot was a thing of beauty. What did you think about how he came across this past week?

I thought he was one of the big stars, one of the big moments of the show. I think he's an incredible fighter. I think he, like this is why, the thing with the 70K, the reason why, well, not the reason why, he's obviously a brilliant fighter,

But one of the more interesting things about Saladin is how business savvy him and his team are Stefan Aachen, those guys. Like, there was pretty blatant reports, like, out there at the time when he signed that last KSW deal, that the fights, the payments were escalating up to nearly half a million. I mean, no KSW have been in that ballpark with figures before. They make a lot of money off their broadcast deal. The idea that this could be fighting for 70K, to me, was laughable. And obviously, he's underlined that too. but to have that U.S. debut, you mentioned it last week when I was talking about

getting the calls with Kenny Cross and people telling me like, oh, yeah, a boy could be in trouble here. I was like, well, this is very interesting. To see him come out, and look, we've seen that before where guys making a big moment of his career, a big debut in front of a new audience under a new planner. Everything can go wrong.

It pretty much went perfectly. He got the show off his wrestling defense. Cross was pursuing that very heavily at the start, and then just a brilliant strike in display. I thought he was excellent, and I think it's something they can really, really build on. in with this if they continue to do it if they I think they should always have this guy on because there's something special about him he has star potential there is talks of you know if these guys

keep this going that they could end up in Paris this guy is a huge deal he is one of the jewels in the crown of Parisian MMA and French MMA the same kind of shows we saw with Dune Bay in Paris the same kind of shows we saw with the UFC doing in Paris KSW are putting those events on in Paris too with him as the headliner I think he is massive I think he'll continue to grow. And it's just about putting challenges in front of him now. Like, there's so many untapped resources you can use in terms of the matchups. Because he's obviously been exclusively fighting in KSW since he's about 18.

There's so many guys out there for him to fight. Jason Jackson's there. Well, obviously, he's welterweight. But he's gone up there before. I just think it's going to be a very interesting subplot if they can keep this going with MVP, if they decide to keep the events going, that is. Did you catch me mention he's the Killingabap of MMA? I did.

And you see his smile when you said that? That was the nod to you. Yeah, that was Lekeep back in the day. That was Alan Murphy heavily involved the course. It was the big PR man for KSW back in the day. That was the headline in Lekeep, one of the most prestigious sports publications in Europe reporting on this guy back in 2018 as well. He's a huge deal and was delighted to see it.

Yeah, no, I thought he was phenomenal. He really was. I wish that he could speak just a little bit of English to connect with the people in America. He has a bit. He does. He just doesn't. He wasn't breaking it out. Yeah, yeah.

Man, you know, can I tell you something? Again, I've never done the post-fight interviews in the cage before. I was thinking of our guys, you know, like some of the dudes that we've had on the show over the years, the translators, Gus. Buski, Buski, Fabiano. Fabiano, thank you. Like, he is so freaking good at his job. I needed a little bit of help. Like, if you don't have someone that knows MMA and knows the words and the terminology, it's hard to get the conversation going.

Like, I really, my appreciation for those guys tenfold when we have them on the show, but in those moments where you're trying to ask like four or five questions, you really need someone who knows about the sport, knows about what you're talking about and asking about. It is very, very important. What about Robles? I thought Robles looked great. I think that that was, was Robles the favorite going into that fight? Massive, yeah. He was, yeah. Hard to see JDS get knocked out like that again.

Yeah, it was tough. I wouldn't be, I mean, again, we don't know what the pool is. We don't know if they're going to sign these guys. Robles versus Francis? Yeah, I'm down. I'm surprised. I don't hate that. I don't, you hate that.

You hate it. I just didn't, you know, completely different stratospheres in terms of, obviously. It's just who can you get up for Francis? Yeah. But I think they sold them because that happened, right? Like a heavyweight. are obviously all there. I think JDS is 42 in there.

He was an underdog, obviously. But I'm surprised by the amount of people who have not questioned that at all. He's just going to be, oh, well, they're going to do Francis and that, that's fine. And I'm like, oh, well, if everyone's cool with it, let's do it. But I think it would be a one-sided affair if I'm being honest. Yeah, I mean, his hands are down the whole time, but that's more of the Taekwondo stance. It's exciting to watch. He is, that shot was brutal.

I mean, he called for it afterwards. And obviously, Francis has some, uh, some, um, some big names in mind. He called for it afterwards. Easy fight to make. They have a relationship there. So let's see. Francis with the great knockout.

I'd rather see... Can I ask? Would you? All right. Yeah. I have another one. An M.MA? Either one.

Boxing M.MA. Man, I don't know. Jake did say, by the way, on Monday, he told us retirement. Later in the week, he talked about Canello 200 million. And then on Saturday, he said he was cleared. So it sounds like he's going to fight.

But, man, I actually spoke to his neurosurgeon at the Wayans and I asked him and he's like why, why does he need to do this? You get hit. You get hit again there and it breaks again

you're talking about a life of pain chronic pain. I don't, he's got so much money what's the point, but I've got a question. Yeah, go ahead. Rico for it

this weekend. That's the one. What about on the back end that Francis V Rico? Okay, so let me ask you if Ussick dominates Rico. Don't care.

Don't care. That was the original one. You know that, right? Like that was the original. Yeah. Yeah. Rico versus Francis, yes. Over Jake? Yes.

Yeah. Yes. Jake is... In M.A. Of course. Oh, M.M.A. Okay. I want to see Francis stay with MMA for a bit.

I want to see a couple more fights here. I want to see him do his thing. I still... Fuck around a bit. Do a hybrid fight. Kickbox and force round. M.A. second round.

Go, RICO versus... Go, Rico versus Francis in M. in MMA is supremely intriguing. I wish that was the next... I wish that was the one we saw on Saturday. I actually think it's less intriguing, because I think Francis takes him down and just does what he wants.

It's not much of a fight. Rico will get taken down by Francis and he will have nothing for him. Don't love that. You don't think Francis stands there? No. You think he takes him down? Nope.

What will be the point? You don't think this guy stands with the world? kickboxing champion. He's freaking Francis Ngano, man. He will do what it takes to win. He saw it in the Serogon fight. Drop toys and Fury lads, that's all I'm saying.

He also had a torn ACL in that fight. Yeah, but what about Hanon Ferreira? No, I know. He also ended up with Philippe Lens on the ground on Saturday as well. There would be no point to fighting, standing with Rico. Francis is freaking jacked, man. Holy shit. He looked like leaner than before, but more muscular.

I was like 19 rows back. those fucking back muscles were popping from where I was sitting. He's wearing that polymarket necklace there. It's like, right on his chest. Golly. Marshawn Lynch was there taking photographs. Marshaun Lynch was like Frank Sinatra, Syracica, 1971 out there. Like, he wasn't just taking photographs.

That's what I thought. He's like, he's actually like with the, like, multiple cameras and the gear and stuff. I saw him there. I'm like, is that that beast mode? That's pretty damn cool. I don't know how that happened, but it's pretty damn cool. He just like a Seattle former athlete thing. You got Marshawn, you got Randy Johnson.

and Kane Griffey all doing their thing with the photos. Yeah, what the hell? It's not a bad point. We should get Esther on to critique his work. Yeah. What did you guys think of Jake Paul talking smack to Francis at the Wayans? Love it. You liked it.

Yep. You know, I thought it was interesting. He was right there, so I wanted to see if he back it up on the broadcast. But he actually did, I thought he did the right thing on the broadcast that was about Francis. I still didn't like him doing it before, but it was less public. it was more of like a... Yeah, that's an interaction with them that it was captured on camera.

That wasn't on a broadcast. Yeah, talk your shit. I'm down for that. Francis did it in the post-fight interview. Francis Shataka. I thought Francis Shataki was good. Chale ripped them, but he always rips them. I'd rather see Rico and Francis be like,

yeah, we train together. No, no, no, no, no. And Jake Paul and Francis be like, I'm gonna son this kid. He's promoting him in this moment. He's promoting... No, no, I'm going back to what we were just talking about. In M.M.A?

I'd rather see RICO's... Rico's, you know, respectful, can't wait to fight Francis Inganu, what a challenge. Hang on, hang on. Jake Paul's jaw is getting broken again. Yeah, hang on. You're saying on a sporting level, it's more interest to see Jake Paul fight Francis Inano than it is Rico. On an entertainment level. In MMA, though?

By infinity. It's the same argument he just made. He could just take him down and hold him down. He could. So what's the difference? At least make the even build up fun. One's a world kickboxing champion. And one's a boxer.

Beatt's he comes down, man. I like it. No, I like this. I like this. Your two options are, your two options are Francis and Ghanu. By the way, I should say, as I said in the beginning, I was thinking boxing. But anyway, in MMA, I'd rather have a good build and the same outcome

than a boring-ass build and the same outcome. I'm sorry, like, that's just the reality. I'd rather see Jake Paul rile them up, and I'd rather see Francis do the I'm going to sun you shit. Rico is more live to me than Jake is. Neither is live. Hell yeah, he's.

Jake is not live in MMA. Of course, Rico. What are you talking about? Neither is live in MMA. Francis Nicarious. To be fair. It's a better, probably a business. It's a better business.

What is that job just now, Frankie? We need to boost the audio on those new ones, Frankie. They're so good, but I feel like they're a little subdued. This is so great. Thank you. Yeah. Do you know what that's from? Yeah, you sit down.

Travis Brack? I thought it was. What was that? I thought it was Travis Bracker. How's the buzz for... Anyway, can I show the clip? Let me show the clip of Jake Talking Trash for context in case someone may have missed it.

Here's Jake Paul talking trash to Francis at the Wayans on Friday. What did you dream of when Anthony slept? Oh, Friday? Yeah. No, screaming. Do you were having dreams on the campus there when you were unconscious?

That's crazy. Do you think they joke? About dreaming? You were dreaming when, Joshua knocked you out yeah because I just saw him running after you and you're running away all the time I didn't know if he was a fight no so yeah I know you're not a boxer so the the first rule of boxing is hit and don't get hit yeah use your footwork I'm not like a big clunky guy like you stuck in sand yeah let's find out your joe is okay I saw you say it's 100% ready and we're gonna find out

who the better boxer is let's do it welcome to the show buddy well thank you for I hope I make it clear Maybe I have to make it clear for me. Wow. Welcome to his show. Yeah. Let's do Rico instead for sure. Real heat? I feel like on Francis's side.

Yeah, I think Francis is not in the Jake Ball show. The way he was like, this guy doesn't make decisions. I think he's not too fun. What do you say, Pete? You hype for Jake Francis? Yeah, I wonder who's going to win. That's what keeps me up at night. Okay, in boxing, are you more compelled?

Yeah But I don't want that for MVP I don't want that for MVP MMA You know what I mean I'd rather I'd rather see Jake Francis Boxing than Rico Francis MVP MMA Yeah

A lot of acronyms on the show today Yeah There's a lot going on Okay more things more things What about speaking of Jake Paul What about Jake taking the blood From Nate's face And sort of like smearing it on his face

What is going on here? evolution of the BJ Penn This is wild right here Nate's like A bit of blush Golly You can't pay me enough to do that That's next level crazy

Did Connor have more than one tweet about Nate Or was it just that one? Because I'm seeing tweets here Plural Just the one, okay Nate Diaz was asked about his Fighting Future at the Post-Five press conference Here's what he had to say

What will the end of your career look like how will we how will we know when it's done you won't they should forever anyway and then people will be like you lost you should hang them up and like isn't this the most violent motherfucker who just knocked out fucking uh middleweight champion luke rocke old and jeremy steven and who the fuck did he just be any of us when he's the light weight champion forever and uh and then yeah and he's popping he's doing all the shit fighting everybody he's got fucking broken face and broke everybody's shit all over the place so uh you should hang him up i just fought the most violent motherfucker right there so uh maybe i just need to fucking run a little

harder next time i get the fucking job done uh if i fucking didn't then you should hang him up maybe i just don't fight the most violent maybe i just fight the second most violent people that's like maybe i'm done i'm retired Here's my gloves in the cage. And then they're like, I'm like, you should have just not fought the most violent out there alive, and he would have been okay. And then, the most violent, yeah.

And it's like, he hung him up, and then he was like, I'm like, I'll come back for an idea. I'm like, then you just cry in the cage and retire. And then you'll come back for me. I'm like, bro, you just made a cry baby speech about retirement, the ending of your movie. but I'll come back for nigh I'm like

Don't come back on economy Fight yourself I think he's talking about Dustin Poirier there At the end Why was he having trouble with the The lighter His fingers are all tape

Yeah He had a few great lines Throughout the week Shout out to Casey who shot that for us Good to have him back in the mix of course Excuse me I'm getting offended now Yeah that's a great line right there That was a great line

The retirements are stupid. He's right. Just either go away or don't. But if you're going to come back at the drop of a hat, what's the point? I don't know about it being forever, though. Forever is quite a long time. Forever is a long time. I thought he was talking about his imprint in combat sports.

No, I think the fighting. No, he means his career is just going to keep fighting forever. He can't do that. Yeah, I don't think that'd be good. What was that, Frank? I think he was talking about his career. Everything's under the breath today. Speak up.

Can you hear. Everything's under the breath. I'm like, what is that? What? And there might be a hearing, bro. Esther took some great photos. Shout out to Esther. Casey's better half.

Look at this shot right here. Wow. That is some shot. So what's the verdict on the black canvas? I like it. I like it. I'm down with the black canvas, not down with the hex. And again, you're saying that as a name or are you saying that as a shape?

It's a bit of both, but all. Ultimately, the name I just cannot stand the name. And I don't like branding it, the hexagon like UFC has branded the octagon. Can I tell you something? I hope I don't get in trouble for this. I was actually told to call it a cage. I think that's the move. So I think, why, did someone say that on the broadcast?

Big Moe every time he introduced them was they enter the hexagon tonight. Okay, I don't know if that was like, that might have just been him doing that. I don't know if there was a conscious, maybe I'm wrong decision. because I did mention the hexagon, and they were like, just call it a cage. Yeah, I think that's a good call. And that was from the broadcast, so maybe from the promoter side, it's different.

I don't know. Plus, they don't want to piss off the legendary hexagon fight league. Hell, I mean, of course. But that shot is great. That overhead shot there? Yeah, that looks fantastic. And honestly, the stills of the black canvas look pretty good.

It did look cinematic. I know it sounds like we're glazing. Just want something different. I mean, these parts we are glazing. a bit, but like the view of them walking out and it was like from under them was great for each of the last three main events. Need more sponsors on the canvas though. I mean, there's already quite a bit. Well, it's the same ones.

Well, can I pay $1,000 to get my name on the next one? Hell yeah. Amanda Nunes wasn't impressed. This is what she tweeted afterwards. Iroll. Ronda Rousey was asked about whether or not she achieved. what she needed to achieve, if that's truly it for her. Here's what you had to say.

After a while, it's like, why are you going to be impressed enough with yourself? And, yeah, achievement hoarding is, I think, a little bit of an issue just in our whole family. But I also have other things in my life that are giving me fulfillment now. I think when I was a bachelor's before, I kind of always needed that to, like,

I don't know, feel some kind of hole in my soul. but now my holes filled. Oh, man. That was my husband laughing loudness in the back right there. I didn't find him like, yeah. Yeah, you. I did see Travis as well. It was nice to see him and give him a fist bump afterwards.

Do you like that joke, PT? Pretty good, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's just a bit of blue. Here's Rhonda talking about her compensation. Did she actually make what they are saying she made? Obviously, so much of the talk building up to this one was on fighter compensation and just the revenue split. And then you had even told me that it was, you know, a goal of yours to set new standards, you know, for women's MMA and women's combat sports.

What can you say about your compensation for this fight? And the number came out from the California State Athletic Commission, but we don't know if that's, you know, all of it or a partial of it. What can you say about your compensation? My compensation? Well, I was compensated not just for my fighting services, you know. I also was promoting this event as well. So I think it's literally on the contract that I'm not supposed to tell people. But I'm very, you know, I'm very happy and very grateful.

And, you know, me and my husband are going to go house. shopping in Hawaii after this. Love it. So she seems happy. I don't know. The boys say she's coming back. What draws more? Her versus Holly or her versus Gina?

We don't know yet, but do you think her versus Holly because of the history and because of how good she looked can actually draw more? I think it might. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

With a comparative undercard with something similar to that, absolutely, I think. I think the, I think the ceiling is higher, but they'll have some work to do because I don't think that... Because it's the first one? This was the first one.

And the way it ended, I don't think that you're getting back some of those people that feel let down by it. I think that's so crazy. It's real. There's a lot of people that are... Is it real?

Is it real? Yeah, yeah. It's 100% real. So why wasn't it real when she did it to Katzengano? It was in the UFC. Because, yeah, it was in the UFC at a championship level. A lot of people were,

we're going into this already thinking this was a sham. That to me... I think you have to wait to see, right? You have to wait to see the numbers on a second event. Like, the reaction was poor to the main event. There's no doubt about that. But I don't think, honestly, like, you rehashed that head kick, all of the career spiral, I guess.

Afterwards, I think you can sell the shit out of that. I said it was unfulfilling. You know, I didn't feel like I got what I wanted out of it, but the way she looked, her intensity and the technique that we saw in 17 seconds, makes me want to see her more, not less.

Do you know what I mean? Like I'm not... Yes, but you are much more... I'm not turned off. Yeah. I'll say this. I don't know where she stands with Holly home,

but it would be interesting to see a different version of Rhonda for the second one as well, potentially. So that could be something to factor in. But I'm not discounting how many people went,

oh, Rhonda Rousey's coming back, saw that and then went, I don't need to see it again. Well, Nekisa was asked at the post-fight press conference, Nikisa Bedarian, of course, about the future of MVP MMA events. Here's what he had to say. In terms of what it's going to look like going forward,

it really depends on our output cadence and what we're trying to build. What I'm happy to say is tonight, Francis Nangano just became a headliner for another event, right? And he could fight the guy, you know, he could fight Big Boy, or he could fight Rico. If Rico does well against U.S. We have a rematch in the works with Mike Perry and Nate Diaz.

Makes a lot of sense. We want Gina Carrano back. We want Gina Carrano back. If Ronda doesn't want to have babies, we'll have her back too. So there's and, and one day, without a shadow of doubt, this man is going to enter the cage, the hexagon, and that's going to stop the world, right? Look at what's trending on X, formerly known as Twitter. Nate Diaz was number one. Connor was three, Jake was four.

Then it became Ronda Rousey number one, Nate Diaz number two, Jake Paul, number three, Connor, number five. So we have a special sauce here that we've created with this company and we're looking forward to see what fighters want to work with us and hopefully it's Netflix that continues to work with us on MMA.

That's a key thing right there. Netflix being involved changes everything. Five minutes ago, Gina Carrano posted on Twitter, this, this was one of the best rides of my life. I felt locked in fight. night, no fear just focused positive adrenaline. Love to my team. My heart is heavy. I wanted to throw battle win, but I kicked when I should have moved and was down and done. If I hadn't, she would have broken my arm as had begun to crackle. The disappointment of losing like that is very humbling.

Johnny Bones and Kane came up to me after the fight. They set my mind straight. John said, you haven't fought in 17 years. Do you know how big your balls have to be to get back in there after that long. Did you get some sort of record or something? Respect, end quote. That's exactly what I need to hear from the best to ever do it. I've been in a caloric deficit for a year. Training felt like swimming as hard as I could upstream. I can count on two hands the number of times I felt good training. It was physically the hardest thing I've ever done taking the weight off while turning back into an athlete. I felt like a science experiment losing 100 pounds. Every week the pressure of how to get that little bit off. I learned a little late how to do it healthier,

but trial by fire. The California State Athletic Commission is great and one of the strictest in the world. They weighed me a week and a half before the fight, extra tests and scans, multiple drug tests. We weighed in and they weighed us the night of the fight to make sure we complied with the rehydration rules, which I passed all easily. I needed to go through this fight to implement permanent lifestyle changes, and now I feel like this is just the beginning. I can't wait to see where I can push my body to go next. I'm so glad the world got to experience this version of Ronda Rousey. I found a beautiful woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and legend. I adore you, lady. We made history again. I hope most valuable promotions, MMA, and Netflix

continue on because they crushed it. Respect where respect is due. Nikisa, Jake Paul, was such a great experience. Thank you all for showing your support. It's because of you. We get to face our fears and live our dreams. With all my heart, thank you all. What a special person that Gina Crono always speaking from the heart. By the way, I did receive from the California's Day Athletic Commission. I haven't seen this. You know, they're one of the few commissions that actually weigh you in on way-in-day, but then also on fight night. And so I got all the weights, and there's actually some interesting stuff.

In case you're wondering, Gina weighed in at 141.4, and on fight night weighed in at 152. a couple of the interesting ones Pumi Nakuta weighed 130 on fight night he weighed 143.4 So he added 13 pounds In fact Adrian Amarais weighed in less than him He weighed in at 129 on weighing day And then on fight night was 138.4

Would you believe The biggest jump was Namo Fazil weighed in at one six 70.8. Fight night 198. 98th? Yeah. Fuck. That's wild, right? And he's like... That's crazy. He's lean. Jacked, but lean.

Fucking out. Francis gained 1.6 pounds. Nate Diaz weighed in at 168, fight night 184. Case you're wondering, Mike Perry, 169, fight night 181. Ronda Rousey, weighed in 142, fight night 143. I love this stuff.

Parnas, 154.8, fight night 169. Namo's opponent, Jake weighed in at 171, fight night 186. So he was 12 pounds more. Brandon Jenkins 164.2, 179.2. I find that stuff fascinating. Speaking of Nama Physio, I thought he was one of the stars of the week,

stole the show at the press conference. Great build with him and Jake gets the big win. Afterwards, he said that he had been signed by the U.S. UFC. I tried to verify if that's accurate. I have not heard back. But there was an issue between him and Armin Sarukian. Apparently he went up to Armin as he was walking back. We have some of the footage here. Here he is leaving. Happy as all hell. And here's Armin saying, hey brother, what's going on? Why are you talking shit? Look at the look on Armine's face. Front row. Why are you talking shit, bro? I don't know exactly what he was saying, to be honest. But now they're pulling him away. And here's Armin and the crew.

walking. Oh, fuck. That's a bullshit. With purpose. And here's the Kesa. This is like straight out of, what is that show? That movie, West Side Story, when the two groups come together? Nikisa's like, yo man, chill, chill, chill, chill.

No, no, this is not my fault. Jake's saying, yo, I wanted to see a scrap. Armin don't mess around. Armin does not mess around. Guys, okay, so we heard from, we heard from her. right? Can we watch this? Respect to Herb, one of the greatest of all time, obviously. I still feel like they got it wrong. We heard what he had to say. Can we watch the end of the Nakuta-Marice fight sound up and listen, number one, to the horn, and then look at how much longer he holds

on to the choke and look at like his body go limp after the fact, and look at the fact that Herb actually tries to get him to break and he doesn't break. Here it is. Expending all the red... Oh! From Marius immediately seconds left. Marius looking for the rear neck and get choked. High drama.

Nakutas survives. Are you telling me, like that's like one to two seconds. Is it not? It's impossible to say if he was out before the bell, though. And that's why they should have gone. to the scorecards in my opinion. I think that you have to air on the side. And look, look, look.

I feel like that replay is not in sync, to be honest. I thought he got screwed. He was not out at 459. I don't think he was out. And I think Herb jumped in there post-ding-ding-ding. And I think that he was already out. And I think that Adriano holding onto the choke is what got him out. I can't say that because I don't know if he was asleep before that, but I'm not sure.

It is a fact he held on, right? That's a fact. And it is the fact that he held on, okay, there's a couple facts. He held on post-ding ding-ding, correct? Sure, no doubt. And then he held on post-Hurb trying to break. Sure. For sure.

That doesn't have anything to do with the outcome, though. Yeah, because I think those things led to him actually being out. If he doesn't go limp like that. You see that, but how do you come to that conclusion? Well, let's watch it again one more. time if we can. Look at his legs. I actually feel like his legs are alive. No, this muscle spasms reaction. Go ahead, go ahead. There's no way you can make a determination like that. It's an insane sequence. He was going to win the fight and this guy has been scratching and

clawing. Go a little louder, Frank, if you can. He's fighting, he's fighting, he's fighting, he's fighting. Could be out right here. Could be out on the leg. He could totally be out. His eyes, he's going like this was he's squinting with his eyes. Yeah, it could have been out. But dude, if you are, if you are calling it to the scorecards in real time, then how can you determine by the replay that he was out when the horn was going on? Yes, that's a legitimate question to ask. Isn't the safe thing to do? Go with the call in the cage, which was to go to the scorecards?

Right, yes. And someone came up to me, I don't want to say who, but someone very, very, very high up there, part of the commission, I said, what do you think should happen here? This is before, and he said, I think he should go to the scorecards. And it didn't. And I was very surprised. I'm surprised that that was what they ultimately landed on because like you guys, I feel that it was too uncertain to be sure that he was out before the bell. But I definitely don't feel definitive in either direction. I feel like that's completely inconclusive.

There's no way to determine whether he was out or not out. I'd love to see that fight again. I just felt for Pumi because... Really good fight. A great fight. And I've said this a bunch of times, Ally Quinta was bigging him up. He's undefeated. He's not getting that opportunity in the UFC. And I felt like maybe he was just feeling, he would have won that fight. If he just coasts in the last 15 seconds, he's winning that fight, and now who knows where he's at. And he went for it, and he got caught. And then, I don't know, I, insane sequence. I can't remember a sequence quite like that. I don't know. I appreciate them looking at it. And there's very smart people there who have done this before looking at it. But from my vantage point, it seemed like he wasn't out when, went ding ding ding tough one

like truly at the buzzer and I didn't like that he held on I didn't like that he held on and didn't break that's where her infractions there yes but Herb had the chance to penalize him for those infractions that's not related to whether he was out before the bell or not that's a completely separate issue

what do you think PT I don't think he was too like he definitely held no doubt about it it's up to two seconds after the bell went but after I agree with what herbs said after he touched him it's like less than a second that he takes it off. Like, it's a fucking, you're, you're in a fight, you're choking someone. You're in a fight

where you need to choke him out at the bell, otherwise you lose. That's important. He's point-knuckle him there. He's completely rigid there. Like, it's, it's not an instantaneous thing sometimes. Yeah. So close. One of the weirdest endings.

Yeah, totally agree. I love that. Do it again. It was great to see Adrian. I've never seen him in person before, fight in person before. It was pretty cool. He's been in the game for so long. Kind of how I felt about Saladin when he was making his walk. I can't believe we were watching him live in person. I had to go over to Europe to do this before all this. Dodgy stream.

I mentioned my good friend for that. I mentioned my good friend Rampage Jackson was there crushing. The Rampage is walking all around town being filmed. Here he is with one of our own Dan Kenobio meeting Barry Bonds and it appears as though Rampage was unfamiliar?

With who Barry Bonds is? Pizzi, do you know who Barry Bonds is? Yes. Surely you've heard of him. Here's Rampage. I played combat sports. Guys had a bat in the glove. I still wasn't combat.

Anything that happened to them. You wake up with a good day and still have a bad day. Yeah, good. You're having to meet you, sir. It's good a see you. It's not in Vegas. Hey, yeah, okay, okay. I remember now.

Oh, yes, right. I remember. I don't remember. I don't remember shit That's the best home run hitter of all time I don't remember shit I don't know I don't watch sports

Barry Bonds bro He just told me He's 750 home runs I feel bad Bro my memory My memory really really bad Do we believe that Rampage Jackson doesn't know who Barry Bonds is

I feel like that's Yeah 100,000% Based on that I believe he's a crazy guy Love Rampage Wish I could kiss him on the lips right now Nah I'm kidding Relax everyone.

Do people not realize that like we have a friendship here? Like we mess around with each other. People look, who! Could you believe what he did? What is this guys? What is this?

I make out with my friends all the time. And by the way, when I see like friends and family back home, we do the double, sometimes triple cheek kiss. Get outside, all right? Yeah, what's wrong with rampage, man? A few points.

A few points on the lips on everyone. Yeah. I mean, we'd see when I own her in Ireland, we tossed a few back and yeah. Yeah. So y'all all doing this? Yeah, that's how we show love.

Oh, okay. I'm not in on this game, but all right. This is so great. There we go. At today's J.P. Morgan Global Tech. This is from Josh Nason of, I'll just read. Oh, yeah, of a wrestling observer, Media Communications Conference.

TKO's Mark Shapiro said the reason UFC passed on Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carrano was it, quote, was more of a stunt than a media. meaningful MMA event, and one he thought wasn't good for the sport after how it played out. Netflix wants big spectacle events, and they saw this as a big spectacle event. We're in the true MMA business on a meaningful, consistent basis. When we looked at this potential matchup, keep in mind there's a real art and skill to matchmaking. The answers he and Ari Emanuel got back from Dana White and Hunter Campbell were that this fight will be over in 20 seconds.

I don't believe a fight like that. Just the way it played out is really good for MMA, especially because, it's Netflix and such an incredible global audience that is going to sample depending on what comes up on the front page to go to that fight and think that's what MMA is. I don't believe is good for the sport long term. We saw it that way and decided to pass on it, taking nothing away from Rousey, her win or the viewers the broadcast got. The way Rousey tells it, Dana was interested in the fight. And if we are to believe that how he did speak about it at that press conference in December of 2024, that's something crazy came up. Remember that? We were all

deciding or trying to decide or trying to figure out what it was. It seemed like he was into it. Yeah, but it all, I mean, that would also track with maybe TKO as a group not being interested in it. He's saying that he spoke to Dana and Hunter and their answer was that fight will be over in 20 seconds. I mean, that would track with Hunter based on Rousey's. He's framing it as Dana wasn't interested in it as well, right? Yeah. I mean, they didn't do it for one reason or another. Yeah. But interesting shade there. TKO versus Netflix. How about it? Now, we did mention that John Jones was in attendance. You all saw him there. He did an interview with one of his PR ladies. Actually, his actual PR person, Denise White, legendary PR person who's been with him for a very long time, talking about the experience of being at the MVP event on Saturday. Here's what he had to say. Now, this is going to be a money question.

Everybody wants to know, John. Are you going to fight again? I don't know. I think getting out of my UFC contract is very, very possible. I need to find the right people who want to make change. Well, we all want to see you fight again. We really do. I feel like you're not finished in my eyes.

So we definitely want to see you fight again. but obviously there's some stuff behind the scenes that has to happen first. You know, I really wanted to box. Like, if I were going to try into just my hands and a combination of the country power, I think I would really surprise about it. I think I would like that. I would love the box. All right.

Did you guys hear that, MVP? He would love to box. Okay, so that was him talking about getting out of his UFC contract and fighting for MVP, I think, sort of. She said that in boxing. Here he is talking about his experience at the event. The MVP promotion was absolutely unbelievable. I think it was actually better than the UFC.

I've never been at such a promotion. I mean, they had the fog machines and TVs absolutely everywhere. Great fighters. I think half the audience came out to see Diaz win. Both of those guys are my personal friends, so it was good or sweet. What did you think about the take down by Rhonda so quickly with Gina? Rhonda did absolutely unbelievable. She did exactly how I thought she would do.

One in less than a minute, it was 17 seconds. And I predicted it. Her judo and her judo, she's put so many years into it. The other girls still, to this day, has the very part behind. You know, Rhonda told us on Monday of last week that I'm happy we had that conversation. if only because we got to speak about the end of her UFC career and she talked about why she was so emotional afterwards and the neurological issues and whatnot.

You do, again, this is part of the reason why I want to see her fight at least one more time because she looked so good. Now with all this time off, like you see her running it back, was she battling things? Was she not 100%? Certainly not in the Amanda Nunes fight. I think everyone would agree on that.

But even in the Hollyholm fight and certainly when she got kicked, it would be very interesting. But John's comments are supremely interesting as well because it seems like he does still want to get out of that contract. He even talked about it on the actual broadcast. Here he is talking about it on the actual broadcast, his desire to get out of the contract.

This is what he is saying, which I think is going to be very, very, very hard and fight someone like Francis and Ganu. I got to focus on trying to get out of my UFC contract. That's going to be the difficult part. This fight's going to happen. Doing it outside. I don't think Dana's interested in doing business with Francis.

So doing it with the business. MVP would probably be the only way to make it happen. If we can get out of my contract, that'd be great. Tonight he looked good, but he also fought against the guy that weighed like 220 pounds. That guy was afraid to engage with Francis. He definitely wasn't on the same kickboxing level as Frank Francis. I'm saying have Mekisa and have Netflix pick up the tab for the legal bill. There he goes going to cost to get you to make this fight.

How cool would that be? You know, heard it here first. I didn't even think of that idea. I wonder if they'd be interested in doing that. Tyron was giving him some contractual advice. But it seems, based on all of this, that John really wants to get out of his contract. Now, what they're doing to do that, if they're trying to do it, if they're actively trying to do it, if they can't even do it, if the UFC would even entertain it, seems a little bit tough to pull off. Why, like, the UFC's not going to let them leave.

They're just not. Do you think, do you think if, do you think if Netflix offered like 50 million? You know how AJ is a DeZone fighter, but he's fighting on Netflix. The zone's getting paid. Do you think there's a number that the UFC would accept to let John leave? You're saying to just buy him out of the contract completely or just for one fight? One fight. At that point, I think they'd just want him out of the contract, right?

Why? If he wins, now he goes back to them. If he loses. But if he wins. But if he loses. But I'm just saying, why would you let him go? Say, hey, give me $100 million. He'll fight for you.

What's the number? Yeah, I don't know, because you would be lending him to the competition. You're also making... Is it worth $100 million for $1.5? So I'm saying, I'm throwing out a number. What is the number? Like, there's clearly a number for DeZone. I know DeZone's not the UFC and all that stuff, but they let Katie fight on Netflix.

I don't think the UFC has that. Different dynamic. No, I know. But what I'm asking is, do you think there is a number? No. You think they won't give them up for anything? No. A nice, a hundo.

That's... Because the damage... The potential... potential damage to the business is bigger. Yeah. You don't... Oh, piss off John Moore. That's what they're going to do.

You don't let your competitor who's fledgling, right? They're just getting started up. Get somebody like John Jones. And, you know, I feel the same way about Connor. It's why I asked earlier, like, you know, how sure are we gets that second fight? Like, I don't think that you...

I think you do everything in your power to not let them get fighters like that, if you're the UFC. I don't think, yeah. To be clear, I don't think, but I was just wondering, is there a number? I don't think so. Do you think we ever see John Jones fight again? Yes.

It would be a shame, because he clearly wants to fight again. I guess if Alex Pereira wins? Fuck. Alex is John's right there. Then what about Tom? Not right. This is a business. What, Tom's going to take step-aside money?

No, Tom just fight somebody. Who's he fighting? Gable Stephson? No, stop. The next guy. Minus 500. This guy said no stop. He was calling for this fight like two months ago.

He's fighting. I don't know how much more clear I can be about this. I am not, let me just make sure. I know we went to L.A. I know everybody's recovering jet lag, all that stuff. I am not McManard. I know many people have said the two of us are very handsome gentlemen and I get that all the time. I am actually not Mick Maynard.

I do not make the fights. I cannot tell you what Gable Stevenson's next fight will be. clearly they don't have as high aspirations to push him as quickly as I would have. I can tell you his next fight is Elisha Allison. After that. And I'm wondering what your thought process was in making that matchup. That's what we're here for. Yeah, I don't know.

Look, I had a long night one night and a few drinks and that's the fight that I made. Me, Mick Maynard. I thought it was Rick Maynard this whole time. Oh, yeah. Rick Mayer. But no, I mean, Tom can get the winner. Stop it. Who are we even doing?

Winner of who right now? John. John versus Alex. John Alex. Or John can get the winner. Alex versus Tom. If Cyril wins. John's on the broadcast going, yeah, this is the best event ever.

It's way bad in the UFC events. You know what I mean? There are a million miles away from having John to fight the UFC right now. Yeah. He's closer to fighting in the UFC than is for Netflix. come back. Yeah. That's a $30 million for the kitchen scrap.

He did see Rampage backstage. They had a nice interaction. Remember, they fought at UFC 135, and I believe Rampage called some of his tactics a little bit dirty. Here's how that went down. Oh, shit. What's up? How's you all?

How's everything? Yeah, good to see you. It's crazy. Bro, we love it, bro. We have a. What up, chat? Hey, you know. Hey, hey, fuck these guys.

They be trying to throw you on the bus, man. Bro, they be making AI shit. They be trying to call you two-poke champ, bro. You know how I get down. A hundred percent I know. Yeah, I cheat. I can poke you on the eyes. I'll kick you on the balls.

I'll stump the knees. Oh, man. Yeah, my knees still fucked up from that. I know, I know. It's okay. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey. Hey, what happens in the cage?

Stay's in the cage. We had good times. I hope you guys enjoyed all the wonderful memories. Rep, they're going to take you to Japan. That's what he said. Oh, yeah. You haven't been there yet? I've never been.

Man, you're missing out. You got Japanese Tuesday, right? Fuck yeah. That's amazing. I got a bunch of them in Japan, too. That's amazing. I'm joking. All right, brother, good to see you.

All right, buddy see. All right, chat. Be nice to rampage. Good. Good try. Them over there. Never be nice to me. All right, chat.

You know, the vibes were great. And how about John with the lingo? Calling a chat? Yeah. John wasn't a good mood, huh? He wasn't a good mood, man. He was even talking to me. Yeah.

We were shooting this shit. I wish I could tell you what we talked about, but it was nice. No, you could tell us a little bit. I did slide in a, I did. I slid in a, yeah, you mind unblocking my boy, Rick? Yeah, what the fuck, thank you. I did. What do you say?

And by the way, I didn't even ask myself because he's blocked me too. His number one fan. I put you in front. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. If mine unblocking my boy, Rick? That's what he said. He's like, Rick Maynard?

What the fuck is that? He just gave my boy, Elish Ellison. Hell no. He said, fuck, Ray. Did he? Damn. All right, John. That Benedict Arnold.

Keep that same energy. What? That's what he said. That's what he said. Guys, there was some other action this weekend. Our friend Dave Allen. Tough one. A little bit sad.

Love Dave Allen. Everybody done of us. The Homer Simpson of boxing. Here he is. It looked great out there. Against Philip Hergevich. It's a tough. one. What's that beat?

He said he looked great out there. Yeah, who looked great out there? Well, no, he looked good, you know, before. He looked great until the fight started. Yes, yes, I meant like, Sveldt. Do they call him the Homer Simpson box? That's what he called himself. On the show. What are you talking about?

I was asking you, do they call him that? That's what he calls himself. I was unaware of this. Hence why I asked. He said it on the show. Yes, you know, sometimes I miss it. I don't get every single word that is uttered on the program. I apologize for missing this.

Which is why I asked, do they call him the Homer? It was also the YouTube title. It's okay, listen. Look, man, I don't watch the fucking breakout. I see it live. That was a tough one for Dave. Tough one for Dave. But I still feel like...

We still love him. Oh, love Dave Allen. I feel like he could be a stand-up comedian at this point. Mate, like, that's a thing. Like, I think he gets these opportunities and everybody just wants him to have that big night in the sun. Yeah. You know what?

Yeah. We all get cheated up. Do you know what? I think he's going to fucking do this night. And then obviously it didn't happen. But maybe the fish of all he was that night in the sun, you know? For now it was. Herkovich is a better fighter than Mahmoudov.

And so I was surprised he had one fight in between, but I was surprised that, you know, that they booked him in that one because that's a big step up. Rico Verhoeven is in Egypt. The fight is this weekend, guys. This one's like, it just creeped up on us, it seems like. It's actually happening. Alexander Usoc versus Rico Verhoeven. He's in Egypt.

He had a beautiful post about his late mother. Then and now, believe top left is his mother. Here he is. Same spot. He says, Dear Mom, here in Egypt, thinking about you with tears of my eyes, writing this because I miss you. I feel your presence. Thank you for being my guardian angel.

You and dad, better be watching next week, but I know you will, and you'll protect me. We'll see each other again. I love you. Rico's got the massive opportunity. I'm really curious to see what that setup is like. Front of those pyramids? Crazy.

I don't know if we could show the Anatolian Malkin versus Rogue-Rug-Rug, so let's just be safe and not show it. But Anatoly Malkin beat Rugg-Rug over the weekend in case you missed it. And then there was a brawl afterwards. It was crazy. Look it up online. And oh, by the way,

UFC is returning to Abu Dhabi on the 25th of July. They announced that this morning. No fights, right? I don't think they showed any fights. Guys, we do have breaking news, though, before we get to super chats. Multiple reports are stating that Colby Cumberton has retired. There it is. Retired. Now, this is on the website, and I do believe at least one outlet has posted Vox Media is reporting that Colby Cunnington has retired

that he's informed the UFC that he's retired what do you guys think that's it just like that? He'll be back just like that he hadn't fought in 18 months I mean he just did a rat? Yeah

I don't think he's retired from that no I don't think he's retired period. You don't think he's retired? No. You think he saw that show on Saturday? He's like, I want in? Doesn't work that way anyway. No.

Because they still have fights on the deal. Right? This is just a leverage play. He's retired, then he'll be back. We do this with everybody. Yeah. This is the Nate Diaz point. What's the point of all this shit? All right, fine.

So you're... I'm skeptical. You're skeptical. You're unimpressed by all this. I don't know. I don't know if I would say unimpressed. I thought it was a great

changing of the, you know, the little laurel to say retired by the UFC on their dot-com. Do you think that that's how people, like how do people find these things? This guy unfollowed that guy.

This guy is... There used to be that roster thing that had like the data coming to them. That dude went rogue. Yeah. I think the account got purchased and then the purchaser went rogue. Yeah.

Who's purchasing such an account? Like, somebody. Some dude. But, then wasn't there like a rival? Yeah, there was another one. There was UFC roster tracker and there was U.S.

Then came UFC roster watch. Which was the OG good one? I believe tracker. Okay. Keep my fucking name out your mouth? Um, I don't remember. RIP to that. Yeah.

RIP, man. You think he comes back? Yeah. You think he comes back to the UFC? Yeah. Wow. So you guys are just like, this is a nothing burger. Well, maybe not if he just keeps doing RAF, but

If he comes back to fight MMA, it will be for the U.S. No, I don't think he fights for the U.S.C. I think he's done with U.S. Yeah, I think he's retired. His change of pace, his change of tone, everything, I don't think he's coming back to the U.S. Let me see real quick. Colby, how old's Colby?

If Raff keeps paying... He's going to do Ravis? Last time he thought was UFC... The Tampa one. Oh, yeah, it was the Waukeemkeme... 38. Yeah. Jeez, that was December of...

24. That was the press conference where Dana said he's got something exciting. So he turned 38 in February. not that old Great is Colby Covington moment What was the high point of his career Beating Damien Moines in Brazil Was that?

Was that? And the promo? It was harm off. I think the high point of his career Was the RDA interim title win in Chicago When he showed up to the press conference With the bottle of water And it said RDA's tears on it Do you remember that?

What happened when he freaked out on Usman When they were doing like a two box interview? Oh, that was crazy He was like, I'm gonna kill you Marty Snusman Yeah, yeah, yeah That wasn't bad. It's the high point. He had some good lines.

The 245 fight was a great fight. Great fight. Yeah, yeah, yeah, very good fight. The first title fight was a great fight. What was that? The job writing fight. Yeah. But I thought the RDA, remember he beats RDA in Chicago,

sits out for a year because whatever happened, and then he took a short notice fight in Newark that was a card that was supposed to be in Moscow, and they moved it to Newark on a Saturday afternoon in August. And he beat Robbie Lawler. Do you remember that? and like just completely outworked Robbie Luller. And wasn't that the one that Camaro was at and then he's yelling at him?

Wasn't that that one? Believe so, yeah. Yeah. And then he had the back and forth with Tyrone Woodley. I think seven layers of hair is his best moment. Yeah, that's got to be a front. Seventh layer of hair.

He had a moment. I remember talking to him. Yes, this is the fight. I remember talking to him August of 2016 against Max Griffin, UFC 202, Nate Connor 2 and he's in the back

being like yo man no one pays attention this and that boom right after that fight he starts talking a little bit more he beats Brian Barbarina

beats Dung Young Kim beats Damien Maya and that was the explosion in Sao Paulo and then he gets the interim title fight remember he he actually said at that

Max Griffin like the press thing afterwards the scrum that they were considering releasing him two fights prior he had lost to warly elves what's so funny?

I'm watching the one when he starts screaming at the camera and he's like, you're dead, you're dead next time I see you Marty fake news. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was crazy. Yeah, you know, we made an attempt like earlier, like, than he is, you know,

when he fully turned, you know, with the Damien Moyer thing. He did make little attempts before and one of them was actually directed at Orleans's own Carl Pandred. And this was like 2015. and I can remember it went crazy in Ireland

but nowhere else because he said he was going to bury Carl Pendred like the English did the Irish and people went fucking mentally deleted it oh really?

Yeah, he deleted it back in the day people were fucking going crazy man so that was an attempt to feel and then later he became the call

we know yes do we have any super chats Mr. Frankie Superchats Petezie by the way

it's great to have you this portion of the show. Usually we don't get the honor, but there was just so much to get to, as you can see, an hour and a half since you returned. I just felt like it would be a little less fun without you. Have you booked your flights for Vegas just yet?

No, the executive producer hasn't been told me to me about that yet. Okay. Should probably get on that. Taking the show on the road again. And this time, I said there was a bit of a vote. I was like, no, we're not doing it without pizza. I'm done.

I'm done leaving. voting against it? They voted against it. No, no. I voted for Ben without the sleeves. I don't know if you saw that picture. I did see Ben without the sleeves. I'm just saying the you jumped the gun there. The vote could have been 7-0. I just said I want to let everyone know.

What was the vote then? What was the vote? I don't feel comfortable saying. Rick, what was the vote? Who's to check? I don't feel comfortable. Ariel was the only dissenter, but his vote actually is worth a lot more than ours. Shit. Everybody else was like, I don't want that guy around. It's just to the point that the vote is pointless.

Yeah. It's just stereo checking to see if we agree. It's just, hey, uh, thinking about this, thoughts, and then we weigh in and then he goes, uh, I'm just deciding. So hang on. You all said no, and he said no. And he said no. He said yes anyway. And then that was that. I said he's going to be very tuckered out after a 12 hour flight. I don't want to put that strain on it. Yeah. It's actually one, there's no direct objected dates. It's seven, eight hours. Then, where are you going to? Billy, New York? No, no. There's many options. Many, many, many options. I'm going through the executive register to contact me.

Yeah, no. I'm too big. I'm done doing these road trips without you. These field trips, these, it's, at what point did, like, your blood really start to boil? Was it the Dodger game? When was it? No, before that Santa Monica Pier.

Ah, that was the one, huh? Yeah. Even the coffee orders going in, piss me off. Oh, the coffee runs. You know, Winnie VA over here. They were alleged, yeah. Just walking the doggone, I'd like coffee. He was asking me.

Oh, yeah, I forgot you were in the, Tech chain of us all putting it in. Oh, yeah. Got out. Actually, the locals call it the Smonica Pier. You know, I've never heard that, but you said that. No, never been to L.A. I know, I'm just helping you out when you do go.

Oh, yeah. Where on the pier? SMP, if you're in a pinch. Never Santa Montica Pier. I loved it. G.C. is so intense right now, the seriousness. Especially the area that I was staying in, like I would walk up and down, up and down. I'm at my hotel.

It got shit reviews. It did. He called me one day. He was living. I'm not staying with those animals. No. He stayed like an hour away, bro. Oh, it was great.

Made forced Rick to drive him home after the Dodger game. Yeah, I mean, at least he can do. I got in the car the next day after he dropped you off and it was like, it was a bed in the car. Yeah, I couldn't take it anymore. This guy was snoozing. I'm just lucky to sit in the back seat. I was, driver? I wanted to.

Actually, that was, that was, Ariel's like, roll the window. I wanted to. Ariel does the Rick. you're fired if you don't drive me back to my hotel and Rick's like, the only way I'll do that is if you don't sit in the fucking backseat while you drive me. Just for the record I said multiple times, please

I do not want to live. I know, but you did the nah-na-na-na-na-na- Because people are going to be... That is such fucking bullshit. That is such... What is the difference? What do I care? What is the difference? I have to go back and forth the whole time. What's another trip? It's just going to be you sitting in the backseat not speaking to the driver. It actually would have been

easier because then I did have to talk a little bit until until I eventually trailed off. So you fell asleep, yeah. So I was The seat was Perpet was parallel to the floor. You know what's going to happen. People are actually

going to believe this bullshit just like they believe that I really wanted to kiss Rampage Jackson or I really wanted to go along. You did kiss him. It wasn't a desire. Nah. It's crazy.

I thought he's just having on here to talk about the Patti Donovan for you, I'm going to be honest. Yeah, what happened with Patty? Patti, right? You know, huge, big star over here.

He had the loss to, he had the loss to Crocker. Everyone's going, What's up? out of nowhere. Someone rings me on Thursday. He's like, oh,

what do you think of the Donovan fight? And I was like, what Donovan fight? Like he's fighting in Germany. He's an underdog. He's fighting Karinchikadian. And yeah, it's a very tough fight.

Stalled on the guy. Absolutely fantastic performance. Now, it was only majority decision. I thought he clearly won, but absolutely brilliant display. And now they have really lit the conversation about a potential trilogy fight

with Crocker happening on the mooted, the, the highly publicized potential Katie Taylor for you at Crow Park, which there's a lot of talk about it. It seems like it's happening, huh? People on the blow are like, it's happening, mate.

Why aren't you saying it's happening? September, right? I don't know what's happening. September? Late September, they're saying which week for October. Who's the opponent? I don't know, actually.

Then we're coming to you, Pita. You don't have to go anyway. Is it possible, by the way? Is it possible? Hear me out. Okay. That the fighter that holds two incredible opportunities

in the palm of her hand might be Holly Home. If Holly Home beat Stephanie Hahn on May 30th, I could see them making that as the retirement fight. I like that. And then she could fight Ronda Rousey. Seriously, I actually feel like that's the fight that Katie wants. Hall of Famer, 135, same weight, right? The reason she got it, she pursued professional boxing

is because she was watching Ronda Rousey and Holly Home. She set out at the first press conference she did when she went pro, was at it. Crazy. Like, yeah, be insane. All right. Super chats. I think we covered them all. Oh, okay, perfect.

Now, starting off with Jimmy, what's up? I want G.C. and Pizzi to have a show together, please. Oh, what the fuck? Yeah, what the hell? Go back. Go back. Go back. Go back. Jimmy, what's up? Jimmy, what's up? Fuck you.

Wow. The boy in the crack. Wow. I'll move to the Dublin. Already got a name. We already have a name. We already have a name. Let's roll it out.

We build the studio in the Dublin office. No, I'm actually starting uncrowned L.A. Love that. Wow, no pop, huh? No, I was processing it for a second. You impeachia. What is the final verdict on L.A.? I liked L.A. I fucked with a lot.

The vibe is nice. Wait, why do you say it like it's some sort of... Like, L.A.'s incredible. I adore L.A. I was with... Rick. Can we ask for it? I was with the Grinch the entire week. L.A. is the freaking best.

Anytime anything happened of relative inconvenience, which, by the way, relative inconveniences is New York's middle name. Sure. There's a freaking strike going on right now.

Inconvenience, Rick. He's trying to book the McGregor for you for fuck's sake. Yeah. And, yeah, Rick was like,

I fucking hate this place. Pizza's red. I know, I quite like it. I quite like it. Rick had to drive in and it took him like three hours

and he's sitting in his car and he's like, I love it here. Yeah. Well, Rick is the least. That would happen in LA too. Traffic moves.

It takes three hours. That would happen in L.A. It's not agro at all, though. He's very rarely angry. He hates L. That's just not my speed. Listen, man.

Like, you know, people don't have shit to do there, and it's, it's, we weren't on the ground 10 minutes, and Rick's like, I fucking hate this place. I just see people, I just see people, like,

standing off on the side, it's three o'clock in the afternoon. Go somewhere. Go to work. What the fuck are you doing out of time? Like, like, you don't walk around in New York City. No, because in New York,

they're walking fast to do somewhere. We landed he wants people to go to work. It's a Sunday. It was Mother's Day. You got shit to do. What did I say? I was like, there's kids parties.

What are you out? What are you doing over here? Doing nothing. Nah, man, it's the best. Walk up and down. Too slow. Get a $20 freaking smoothie. Shout to air wall.

Love it. Did you go? I went, yeah. It was nice as fuck. So good there. Class everything. So good. It was fantastic.

Hey, Pizzi, what's this breaking news here? PEP is leaving. You saw that? They leaked the video last week of them walking across the stadium with all the trophies out. It looked like a retirement video they were making. So the writing was on the wall. And, you know, all to play for a final game of the season.

Wow. See what happens. You know, I'm going to be in London, right? Yeah, yeah. Isn't it crazy, right, that Arson could win the league while I'm there? Spurs could be relegated. West Ham could be relegated. Like, what a buzz it's going to be in London.

What a mixture of emotions from north to east. So finally, you're going to the game and Spurs are playing tomorrow. if they win tomorrow. It means nothing. Are they confirmed? They stay up if they, like, basically if they get a point out with this game tomorrow.

That's what you want. I know you want the drama, but your poor dad, let him go there happy and not nervous. I know the, we want the drama. I want the drama. I don't know.

Beatles. He was always like, would it not be great if we went and there was something to play for me? He goes, no, I couldn't give a fuck man. Could not give it. Just let it be over.

Let it be over. I don't know. I don't know. What that drama, raw. I do. I do. Oh my God. I would, I would be, if I were him, like a long-time fan, you're going to be there. That sounds like a heart-wrenching experience. Let him have the win and then let it be a celebration when you guys go.

I won't want to go if there's not the play for. Yeah, right. There was not going to be anything to play for if this season didn't go to shit. What else, Frankie? What else? 24-inch dub says, I know we don't see eye-to-eye on sports teams, but you absolutely killed it on the broadcast. Des, Cage, everywhere. Loved the show. Thanks, 24-inch. I appreciate that. That might be the nicest thing anyone said to me this weekend.

I'm just joking, obviously. It is weird. You get a ton of shit, like last week with all the stuff with Strickland and all that. And then it was one of those weeks where I happened to be in front of a lot of people, right? Open workouts, press conference, weigh-ins, walking around the streets. Usually you just go home and you're kind of secluded. And the juxtaposition of my life online as opposed to in-person couldn't have been more different. When I went to the workouts, when I was doing all this stuff, it was love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. Open the app, hate, hate, love, love, love, love. Even, even like real life, love, love, love, love. Obviously, no one's going to text me hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. It's a weird thing. I think I chalk it up to a few things, probably a little bit of jealousy, probably a little bit of the fact that a lot of the people who are shitting on me started where we're already doing this thing called MMMA media.

when I came in and, you know, they see me there and they're like, well, fuck that guy. Why is he there? Oh, he's not a real journalist. Why is that? Because I'm getting paid by the broadcaster. So everyone who works for ESPN is on TV isn't a real media member or journalist? This idea is very, very weird to me, very backwards. Larry Merchant was very well respected.

Max Kellman, well respected, on HBO. Were they discredited because they were on those broadcasts? We need to start changing the way we view this. sort of thing. Not saying everyone has the same situation, but, and anyway, you know what, I don't give a fuck. You don't want to call me a journalist? Great. Who cares? I couldn't care less. Spell my name correctly. Call me entrepreneur. Call me founder of uncrowned. Call me the executive editor of uncrown. Call me whatever the fuck you want. Don't even call me by my name. I don't care. They think it's some kind of insult, this guy's a own real journalist. Who gives a

fuck? I don't care. I've got a degree from Syracuse University. Good enough for me. What else, Frank? What else? Gen 1BQ, are you guys surprised by Rondos disclosed pay? I was expecting much higher, and that's why UFC passed. Good pay, just expected more. Not true. False.

The pay. What's false? The numbers. Yeah. The answer to the question is, no, I'm not surprised because they always understate them. What I was just saying was like these numbers aren't true. Yeah, these numbers aren't true, so no, this is common. Yeah.

Why so pronounced for this one? What do you mean? I don't know. Why is there so much attention to it? Because the focus kept being Rhonda escalated the stakes by saying, I'm getting paid so much money, it's so much better, the UFC, this and that, and then the numbers come out and people don't really understand that those disclosed numbers are understated. And they're like, wait, that's how much she made more when she was at the UFC.

I got you. Without understanding that it's a different kind of arrangement. In fact, in that clip that we played earlier, she even talks about, like, not only was it the fighter pay, there was a promotional kind of aspect to the deal that she did with MVP as well. So, yeah. What else, Frank? What else? MMA monster. Ola, Ariel, did you see the New York Post report that Conner's team had been pushing for his Chandler fight to be three rounds?

I don't know who Eric Richter is, but interested in your thoughts. Well, I know who he is. I did not see that report, but I had never heard that. From the beginning, I was told five rounds. I had never heard that. Don't expect it to see a far round, to be fair. I'm just saying, I'd never heard them pushing for it. That would have been a weird look to do a main event and have it go three rounds.

You know, like have it be a three-round main event. No title on the line, but every main event is five rounds, no matter what? That would be weird. What else, Frankie? What else? Jake from Wendy City, how's it like working with Marrow game? Glad to see him doing well and doing play by play again. We need to see him back on the show soon, too.

Morrow's a legend. I love picking his brain. I love hanging with him. He's one of one. I thought Kenny Florey did an amazing job. I thought it was so great. I don't understand why he's not working for anyone consistently. I thought he was great with Morrow.

I thought the two-man booth was great. I don't think you always need a three-man booth. Morrow and Kenny, I thought, worked really well together. Like they had jokes, camaraderie. they were flowing. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm biased because I was with them

for a few days. I just would have said it was, you know, I wouldn't have gone on and on here if I didn't feel that way. I thought they were great. I really thought that Morrow and Kenny were a great team.

I want to hear more of them. And Morrow's just, you know, to be able to do MMA boxing, pro wrestling, kickboxing, any form of combat sport is truly remarkable.

There probably isn't another human being on the planet who could do that. I feel confident in saying that. voice adds prestige as well because we've known for so long you're going to bow for so long you hear it and it just feels like a warm

blanket or something really good what else Frank? Some good insight pizza Creative like Mike Ariel I just want to say congrats seeing you run from cage to both smiling ear to ear inspired me you are one of the last few

I see doing it for the love of the game in 26 in an era of mailing it an MVP MMA felt refreshing I appreciate that Mike I was on cloud 9 I loved it, and I don't usually say that. I usually actually leave those events feeling a little unfulfilled myself because I feel like I could do more. When you're sitting there for so long, just doing the post-fight interviews, like, I want to do more.

I don't want to do a 30-second hit and just sit there. You know what I mean? And I just loved working, you know, I felt like I could do even more. I was like, let me go to the locker room and interview people. Let me do whatever you need me to do. I want to do more. But again, I wasn't doing that on my own. I wasn't going rogue.

I wasn't freestyling. I was being told for various reasons they're planning. Yeah, keep going. This is good. Keep going. Everyone was happy. Had the time of my life, honestly. Had the time my life.

And I'm a pretty pessimistic person. I don't usually say that. Had the time of my life. What else, Frankie? What else? Acidka, stadium empty, pay exaggerated, staged main event. Hell yeah. The trifecta right there.

You know, we were just looking at that clip, the John Jones clip there. it really does look like there's no one there. I understand. But please believe me when I say it was full. It's those lights on the seats. I mean, this is crazy. Dave Milter was saying 15,800 people. That looks like all empty seats.

That does not look like there's a human being, right? Yes, you're right. And that's a problem. There have been enough people. Is it, though? There have been enough people who have been there who told everybody the reality. If at this point you are too dumb to understand what has happened,

I don't have much sympathy for you. Here's the thing. When the clippers are playing, it's not, the lighting isn't like that, right? And so this has not been an issue. I don't remember it being an issue when Raw was there.

Who's this an issue for it? Truly. Don't pretend like the takes weren't absolutely insane. This is my point. Who is this an issue for? No, no, no. But I'm just saying it's not a thing that we've made up. I saw a million times there was no one there.

I'm with you. I was sitting there. There's a million of them. Who gives a fuck? They're idiot. Your lips to God's ears. But I'm just saying you look at that and it actually does look empty. And I'm just saying that it wasn't empty.

Not that. I'm talking about the John Jones clip. That looks empty. But when you're sitting there and you're looking around, I remember at one point I was like, man, this place is freaking full because I'd seen all the pictures of the ticket master and not a da-da-da-da-da. What did Meltzer say? 15,000 or so? 15,800. Yeah.

Which I did the math on and it's 86% full. All right. So there you have. I put 70. And I was, I was shilling. Yeah, but you said 70 at the beginning of the night.

Yeah. So what else, Frankie? What else? Cdub. B3333. Does the thought come to mind of you potentially leaving more money on the table by not allowing yourself to be paid by the network?

Wait, but you are paid by the network. You're not paid by the promotion. What the fuck? Cdub, B, 3333. Do better, bro. No, no, no. I think what he's trying to say is don't take the opportunity. Yeah, don't get paid. Don't do it. Why? Are you out of your fucking mind? Let me tell you guys something right here and now.

I only get one shot at this life. You don't think I want to be on TV. You don't think I want to be on Netflix. You don't think I want to be on the biggest platforms in the world doing as many things as possible. I understand that you may want just, you know, this much in your life. Why the hell? So that some losers on Twitter don't criticize me. Some know-nothing, never-doers, don't critic. Who gives a fuck? I could not give two. shits. I am telling you, with all honesty, I'll post my freaking pay stuff for you if you want. I do not get paid by promoters. If you think that it's unethical to get paid by the broadcaster, I'm sorry, but I don't know what to tell you, but then everyone from Howard CoSell all the way on to Jim Lampley, all the way on to Mike Breen for ESPN and Joe Buck for ESPN and Greg

Gumbull and Brian Gumb. Are you out of your mind? What? Absolutely not. I will glit. I will gladly get paid by a network. There is no issue with that whatsoever. Trust me, I went to a school that broadcasted, you know, events for other teams. The Syracuse Crunch Games, you're not going to do that because, you know, there's a, there's a team that you're broadcast. Like, it's just, it's nonsensical. And so you think I'm going to take career advice from idiots online? I don't even know if they're real human beings. But that person is definitely real because he gave us $1.99 for us to roast him here. It's just dumb as fuck. I want to be 85 years old and have a whole bunch of experiences to tell my grandchildren about and to reminisce about.

And I only get a short, short chance to do it. And Lord knows, a lot of chances have been taken away from me, and that's fine. I don't cry over spilled milk. But I've spent enough Saturday nights at home being like, damn. You know? I had a fucking blast on Saturday, and I do not apologize for a second for having a blast or for being excited. Everyone has an issue with me saying it's a dawn of a new era. I didn't say it was the dawn of the MVP era. I said it was a dawn of a new era for Netflix to get involved in our sport. And all you people who fake the funk and pretend like you care about the sport are offended by that?

You're offended by Netflix getting into MMA. Are you out of your fucking mind? You'd be going Gaga if Netflix's gone in business with the UFC. But they dare to get into the sport, at least for one event for now. with someone else that that offends you and the notion of the biggest streaming platform in the world getting into MMA is like me saying that it's a massive deal

and it's a dawn of a new era offends you? Are you guys as dumb as you sound? It can't possibly be that dumb. Can't possibly be that dumb. Or is it just because I said it? Is it just because I said it? I don't know. Or maybe you're just not real human beings

and you partake in the UFC rankings and you're fake like all of them. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. What else, Frankie? What else? Zaid and Albi. Please be honest about. MVP. Ticket sales,

fuck being 30 pounds plus. Francis being 30 pounds plus. 17 seconds win, not feeling too authentic the pay. Trying to genuinely understand what I watch. Okay, keep that up there for a second. Please be honest by MVP. Ticket sales. All right. I mean,

Meltzer himself is reporting 15,000, so I don't know what that is. Francis being 30 pounds plus, yeah, there have been heavyweight fights where one heavyweight is bigger than the other. So what does that have to do? anything, including actual Francis fights. 17 seconds, yeah, we saw that many times before.

The pay, what about the pay? That it was good? That the, like, I don't know how to respond to these things. I really don't. Trying to genuinely understand what I watch. The only thing I could chalk it up to is you are new and you only watched one form of MMA. And I'm not trying to be the unc here being like, oh, back in my day.

But guys, the fight game is supposed to. to have multiple promoters. That's the beauty of the fight game. And then the beauty of being a consumer is saying, I like this or that. But it doesn't have to be that this is a fraud just because you don't like it. It's just an alternative. There's always going to be an alternative. AEW is the alternative to WW. WCW is the alternative to WWI and I went through all the other other, you know, boxing promoters and whatnot. It's not anything else. It's not a fraud. It's not fake. It's not phony. It's not this, that, and the other. And to compare it to a promoter that's been putting on events for 30-something years and has a 600 fighter roster. It's like, what are you

talking about? But can I be honest? I know it sounded a little bit frustrated. I think this is all great. I'm so happy that we please stick around so that we could at least have more to talk about. Give me all the crazy takes. Give me all the crazy takes. I'm jealous of the wrestling people who get to deal with the craziness. I could do it. I had a lane. I don't want people stepping onto my turf. I'm going to let me do the takes. You're right. you guys go back away. Could you imagine what our show would have been like if all we had to talk about today was

UFC Apex 325? Well, it could have been talking about a Connor McGregor announcement, but they did that in the middle of a huge card. What else, Frankie? What else? Remus says, loved your coverage this week in the Cage interviews desk, impressor, U, Rhonda, Nate, felt like

2012 again, pure nostalgia. More of this, please. What is Try? And thank you very much. What is Try? It says try 55. Not really sure. That would be the Turkish Lira. Yay.

We love our friends in Turkey. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate that very much. That's the other thing. Like one platform, everyone gets to see pretty damn cool. Anyways, what else, Frankie? What else?

Sitka, where's the most watched M&A event ever reports at? Poached UFC fighters and UFC B-Team broadcast? Damn. Jesus. I feel like this guy didn't like the event. It's so funny, B-team. Do we think we'll get numbers? By the way, Morrow never worked for the UFC.

We better get numbers. I think we will. I haven't asked, but I feel like we will. I think we will too. Yeah. What else, Frankie? D. Crump underscore golf. Thoughts on Jake sitting on a throne with his girl right by the cage.

You'd kill Dana if he did this. Be honest. That section there. It was like a little lounge area. It's a little lounge. They've had it for all the boxing events. Sometimes they've actually auditioned them. Not actually auditioned them.

Auction them. Yeah, not my thing. I wouldn't do that if I were in his position. Not my thing. But again, all this is a little bit different. Like even him standing behind me, I would see him. And then Mike would talk about him. You wouldn't see Dana do that either.

The rules don't apply the same to Jake and Dana. Do we not agree with that? Like, I don't hold Jake to the same. standards that I hold Dana. You kind of want them to be annoying, right? Like, that's the point. Yeah. I think Nikisa is much more of an avatar for a Dana than Jake is.

Was he sitting in there, too? Yeah. At some point, was he? I think I saw like Anderson Silver or someone in there. Bringing people. Yeah, I don't have much of an issue with it. I thought it was kind of, I don't know. Ultimately, the thing is, like, comparing a company that's four and a half years old

to a company that's 30-something years old is a weird thing because they are going to try to do things dramatically different, even to the point of upsetting people or being cringe or whatever, I'd be lying if I said, I pay, like, would I care if Dana did that? I don't know if I fucking would care if Dana did that. And he sits there with Trump and I couldn't care less about all that. Who the hell knows? If it bothered you, I get it. It didn't bother me. But I understand. I understand. What else, Frankie? What else? Morris, 2896, Gino, lack of defense in the ground, was sticking. Was sticking.

Maybe sickening? It all happened so fast. She did have her in the Gee team there for a couple seconds. No, she didn't. Ronda's really good. Yes. She's really good. I don't know how else to say it.

Rhonda could be a top anthem weight now, no doubt. Yeah, I actually asked that question. You reckon she's good at those iron bars? Yeah, you think once she got to mount that she was going to be able to get an arm bar from there? Those was tricky Shocked me I think she could be like a top three Bantamate right now

Let's look at the U.S.C. Bantamara. I would pay great money to see her fight a mangana or or Kayla Harrison It's an incredibly shallow division as well Her versus Giuliana Pena You're telling me that's not a competitive fight A fun fight?

Number one champion Kayla Harrison, right? Do I think Kayla would win that fight? Yes but would I be interested in seeing it? Absolutely. Number one, Giuliana Pena I think Ronda Rousey would be very viable to win that fight. I think she beat her yet.

Number two, Raquel Pennington. I think Ronda Rousey would be able to win that fight as well. Number three, Jocelyn Edwards. Like, all right, do I even need to continue to go down? Norma Dumont. No, that's my point, point, mate. Come on, let's not be silly here. If you thought Gina Carano was going to be competitive, I state again, that's on you.

That's not Netflix's fault. That's not Ronda Rousey's fault. What else, Frankie? What else? There were a few super chats asking about Nate allegedly defigating himself. What? They wanted your response. Are we just?

There was some conspiracy things that's why they called the fight. So is this a new version of Stoolgate? You know how much blood? What are people watching? Like what the fuck? The amount of takes of saying like this one, this is good. That's a fucking Craig. But where does this come from?

Is there a photo? There was like one picture of a. There's a stool and people are. Do you know there was blood on his back? Like it was coming. Yeah, there was blood coming down his back. Yes. So, yeah, maybe.

And blood droids like I go as a brownish. Yes. You know what I mean? These people are dumb. You've dealt with these rumors before, Pita. Every fucking day. Jeez. And I bleed a lot.

What else, Frankie? What else? What's your attitude, MMA? That's my dog, Ariel, on Netflix. Frank, you demand. Hey. I got much more of that sentiment than anything else in person, at least, which was nice. And, by the way, because again,

the boxing crowd is different than the, the MMA crowds. It was so nice seeing so many fans there. It really did feel great. So I appreciate all the love very, very, very much. What else? Frankie, what else? Chesite. If Messi and Rinaldo both

top their groups and keep advancing, they face each other in the quarters for potentially one of the biggest World Cup games in Kansas, July 11th, the same day as my Gregor and follow it. Better be during the day, Pete. What are we going to watch? We're going to be in Vegas.

We'll be at the pool together, having a Mai Tai. By the way, that game's going to be in Kansas? What does that mean? Like in terms of times we're talking? Oh, it'll be fine. Will it be during the day, though? It was so hot there. They might actually do it at night.

It's going to be like the same day as the event, no? Yeah, it'll be the same day, but they might wait until the evening. So he can't get liquored oplick. No, you can't. But what about the fact that Ronaldo Messi would be in Kansas? I think he means Kansas City. Yeah, that's fine. Come on.

What do you want it to be? In a better market than Kansas City? It's going to sell out anyway. I know, but it's just messy Ronaldo in Kansas City feels very underwhelming. Give it to me at SoFi or something. You're such a coastal elite now. Yeah. I hate Kansas City. What are you talking about?

Well, jeez. I mean, I hate their sports. Don't be willing to play. Nah, the people are fine. I don't like the cheese. They don't deserve to see that, is what you're saying. Yeah, Royals beat us in 2015. What else, Frankie? What else? Jay What?

2387. As a Pistons fans, just grateful considering we had the worst losing streak record just two seasons ago and Cade we trust Knicks versus Cavs will be fun I appreciate this perspective you should be grateful by the way

the team was awful two years ago Cade's great I don't think enough was made of the fact that Cade just had two collapsed lungs what a month and a half ago and he came back

Jalen Duren bad playoff they need more scores more shooters Nick's Cavs. Rick, what do you say? Nick's Cavs? Yeah. MSG, we pulling up, game one tomorrow?

Is this an invitation or is this bullshit? I just say, are we pulling up? Are we? I don't know. You tell me, are we pulling up? I don't got the plug. There you do. Just give me a five-star review on Uber and let's just move on with this.

What else, Frankie? What else? Shuny 6, amazing first M.A event for Netflix. Ariel has to be a staple Netflix shows from here on out. He was superb. Are UFC commentators tied with exclusivity contracts like the fighters? Or could they commentate a Netflix show? They could not.

What is MAD 200? That is... That's the Moroccan Dürham. Yo! Much love to Morocco. Saladin Panasfan right there. Hell yeah. Thank you, my friend.

I appreciate that very much. And it means a lot, but no, they can. I don't think that would be well received if they were going back and forth. What else, Frankie? He writes back. Also, Ariel, when will you make a... Quiz appearance. Ariel versus New York, Rick, would do amazing pay-per-view numbers. You know, we're in negotiations. They just haven't met my number yet, you know?

No, congratulations on, you know, winning the championship. Is that what that means? Oh, so am I the final boss? No, actually, Jose Young's final boss. I have a beatdown coming soon. Yeah, so we won. What else, Frankie? What else? The Gator 117, love that the full card replay is on Netflix. score one for Netflix. Oh! Yeah, we love Netflix here. I will...

Do I have my... No, I don't have my hat. I will gladly show for Netflix. No problem. No freaking problem. Call me Ariel Shilwani all day long when it comes to the networks. No problem.

That's how we feed our families. Are you kidding me? What do you want me to just sit here and be like, yes, peace and love, everyone on Twitter. Please give us $2 super chats. That's how we'll feed our families. Are you out of your mind?

What else, Frankie? What else? Plutch attitude, M.A. My son running around the house screaming Le Prattateur. Le Pratero. I had to go guttural. I had to go Alex terrible on that one. Like right here, Pizzi. Right here. You heard that, right? Felt it. Felt it. That's what it sounded like to me. What else, Frankie? What else? Hey, Schultz. Better back and forth, center versus Alcarat. This is a Rick's assessment on cable.

I think that's astute right there. These people are... No, he's a good guy. Senators fan. What's going on here? We were just taking the piss out of Rick, to be fair. He's a good guy. I like that guy.

What happened? Did something happen on Saturday where the overall IQ just dropped? That is possible, by the way. That is possible. I've always been this stupid. Was there an inciting incident where just everybody got dumber as a whole? No, no, no. That guy astute.

Everyone else, you're right about him. What else, Frankie? What else? The robot Wren. You kissed him on the chin, not cheek. to cheek. Yeah, because he moved. Head movement. I didn't even see chin. I saw nape of the neck right here.

I saw neck with the show. I was like, yo. Here. Yeah, yeah. He moved. I was going for the thing, and he moved. I was going for the on there, too. I've known you for 15 years. I've never seen that move executed. I'll be honest. Yeah, you know why? I was on such a high. Frankie, if you were in front of me, I would have kissed you on the lips.

Don't make promises. Actually, ironically, you say that. You're big on the Frank hugs. I love Frank. Oh, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. Yeah. What else, Frankie? What else? This is so great. Yes. What else? Vigilito 87. Petsy, why not ask the wife and move stateside?

Petsy? Not married. That's right. Also, not a chance. You told me whenever the plane enters Irish airspace, you start crying. I do, yeah. On a return flight home. I fucking love it, mine. Some can of it, I was fucking love it.

piss that every day or a week I fucking love billion from Ireland what else Frankie Lawrence AP were there any restrictions on how the outfits could look I was really looking forward to some creativity from the fighters I was

disappointed oh wow Jesus Jesus Christ I really don't know I saw some sponsors I thought it was cool I did not ask about restrictions golly This is all we can do here

Parnas came out with a cool like robe Yeah so even gone in both yeah yeah Robes on. I thought they were pretty cool. What else, Frankie? What else? Zero Dirty Dash U9V sent $49.99.

Well, just like that. Just like that. Just like that. Nothing to say. All right. Shout out. Thank you. What else, Frankie?

What else? K03N.770. Aerial kiss my neck. Just like that? Just like that, but only for $1.99. Also, what's up with that spelling? That's us. Not the actual kissing part.

What else? Frankie? What else? Ben dash XXXX. If there are future MVP MMA cards, would you want an expanded role within the company? I felt you added a lot of legitimacy to the product. Also, coincidentally, MVP having Angano on the roster is very reminiscent of pride having Fedor when they could have legitimately claimed that they had the best heavyweight

in MMAT. Isn't that fun? As far as the first question is concerned, no, I don't want to work for the company. I don't want to work for a promoter. Unless it's uncrown promotions. Should we start our own league? That would be fun. I want to work for Browell. I want to work for broadcasters. So yes. But to that point, though, I would assume that Netflix's, sorry, MVP's MMA cards will be the Netflix cards. You know what happens when you assume? Yeah, maybe not.

Netflix might say like, cool, that was great. Good luck, guys. And then MVP says, all right, let's look broadcast partner. They have to decide if they want to keep going. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. What else, Frankie? What else? Alexander Hurst, 1171, thought you and the gang nailed the MVP event and show throughout the week. Boys in the Back was absolute chaos. I think that's a compliment.

Showing some respect as best as I can. Cheers, chaps. Well, there's actual nice people out there. This is lovely. It was a great week. I loved it. It was one of my favorite weeks, you know, since we did all of this stuff. It was a grand old time.

It's great to hear it. It was great to hear it. What else, Frankie? What else? James Frye, S.D. Fucking epic work last week, crew. Bring on International Fight with Fire emoji. P.S. Rick.

slash G.C. Swan. Still on top of the AFL ladder. Love seeing the jersey in the control room. Fist emoji. That was the last super chat. Hell yeah, James. Up the swans. We got to get rid of Fremantle up there.

What's that? Oh, is that the name of the team? They're called Fremantle? That's who's tied with us, yeah. Where are they from? Sounds like a... Australia. Yeah.

Fremantle sounds like a production company. It's very late over there in Ireland for PTC, so we're going to wrap up the show now. We're past... Oh, you know? Don't use... Don't use... Yeah, no.

You know what this is like? Pttie, this is like when you're on the phone with someone, and they want to get to get it. off and they say, I'm going to let every phone call with you. I'm going to let you run now. I never say that. All right, man. I'm going to let you go. Yeah. You know that move? When people go, I'm going to let you run now. I'm like, no, no, no, no, you want it to run. Not me. No, Ariel goes deathly silent until you go, all right, see it. It's so crazy. Slander. Slander. Now, you know what? Those are some of my favorite super chats of all

time. Appreciate you guys. Appreciate you guys. Was it? What is the time you had in L.A. was it? the best time we've ever had in your look. LA was the second best work trip, Pizzi. Behind? You were also not at the first, which was in a last year. Last year. The first Vegas trip for Uncrown was fun. That was number three.

That was fun. Coincidentally, the one Pizzi was at. Dallas was a lot of fun. There's only been three trips. Dallas was I. Dallas was I. Dallas was a bit of a shit show, not going to lie. Dallas was. We were less kind of, my favorite part of Dallas is when I threw to you guys and you were holding the DeZone Mike flag.

That was fun. Remember that? Yeah, yeah. L.A. was great. One of my favorite moments of the L.A. trip. I like,

I don't know why. I like eating sushi by myself. After the winds, by the time we got back, it was 9.30, and I found a sushi place like a mile away, and I walked to it.

A little sketchy at times. Tremendous sushi. Walked back, and I was walking through like a little trail, and someone opened like a floodlight in my face, and I wasn't sure what it was.

And he's like, you effing punk, get that. F out of here. I was like, whoa, peace and love, peace and love. And then I walked back to my hotel and... This was your favorite memory? That was my favorite memory. That was my favorite memory. Eating sushi boy himself. We didn't get anything.

But it was a great time. We had an amazing time. Rack that music. Thank you very much, all our guests. Thanks to all of you. Thanks. Oh shit. Wait, Frank. Before we go. We rack that music. Tomorrow's show is a banger. Carlos Prakhes,

Ryan Garcia, in studio, and the long-awaited return of Maxwell Jacob Friedman, aka M.J.F. In studio, that's a banger of a show. If you think I'm talking all over again, you know yourself. Tomorrow's going to be a great show.

Did you fast forward? Now I'm all screwed up. Okay, the sushi was great. Bye. Back to my time. This is a piece. I'm out here.