The Ariel Helwani Show - HUGE Dana White Boxing Announcement, UFC 313 preview, Ilia Topuria & Jon Jones Updates, “Big” John Fisher, On The Nose, more

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

Ariel and the gang react to the breaking news of TKO and Turki Alalshikh partnering to create a new — and potentially revolutionary — boxing promotion (06:03).First Round Management's Malki Kawa checks in with the latest on star clients Jon Jones and Ilia Topuria, as well as Mike Perry's Dirty Boxing Championship and more (1:05:57)."Big" John Fisher, father of boxer Johnny Fisher and leader of the Romford Bull Army, discusses his viral fame, Johnny's career as a heavyweight contender, Chinese food and more (1:36:07).Ade Oladipo joins us in-studio to debate the latest in the boxing world and take on GC in a nail-biting Aviron challenge (2:02:32).Ariel answers all your latest On The Nose questions about UFC 313, the big boxing news, and much more (3:18:09).Join us on the bike: avironactive.com/uncrowned

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Errorio Hawaii Show! Back in your life! On this Wednesday, March 5th, 2000...and 25. Hello again everyone. I sure hope you're doing well welcome back to the program it's a somewhat gloomy Wednesday afternoon in New York City but once again so much to discuss and once again this is why we do a daily program whether it's me Monday Wednesday Tuesday of course it's the boys in the back on Thursday it's pizza on Friday there's I mean it feels like almost every day now It's me, Monday, Wednesday, Tuesday, of course. It's the boys in the back on Thursday.

It's pizza on Friday. There's, I mean, it feels like almost every day now, there's something huge, something gigantic happening in the world of combat sports. And that's where we find ourselves on this gloomy Wednesday afternoon in New York City. Some breaking news to start the day. We will get into that top of the show.

So sit tight. Many thoughts and into that top of the show, so sit tight. Many thoughts and some that aren't being shared somewhat surprisingly, I will get into all of it and more. Also on Wednesdays, we answer your questions, a lot of great ones. I took a peek earlier, arielhalwani.substack.com is where you can still ask said questions. We'll also get to the super chatters as well.

So stay tuned for that. At two o'clock, long time MMA manager, now also football agent, and recently announced CEO of the Dirty Boxing promotion, which of course is headed up by one Platinum Mike Perry, Malki Kawa of First Round Management. He's going to stop by to talk about why he took this job. I do believe he has some news about their second show.

And of course, he works with the likes of Ilya Taporyev and John Jones, you may have heard of them, two of the biggest names in the sport. He'll have some information on what's next for them. Earlier today, we got some intel on John Jones. We'll see if that meshes with what he's hearing and what he's doing and of course Ilya making big news two weeks ago now when he vacated that featherweight title to move up to 155 although we still don't know when his 155 pound, I was gonna say debut, but that is inaccurate when his next move will be.

Let's leave it at that. Big John Fischer is a legend. We've talked about him a lot on the show and I kind of feel like I was one of the first in North America to really, not kind of find him, but you know, talk about him. I think we showed some clips, certainly talked about it with the boys on the show.

He is the father of Johnny Fisher, the Rumford Bull, who had that very close fight against Dave Allen in late December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Anyway, he's a legend and he was on the Brits. And I was like, you know what, we need to have this guy on. The Brits are sort of the UK version of the Grammys I do believe and he's just become an absolute legend. He loves to order the Chinese, he loves to go to the Blue Orchid, he's a great character if you're unfamiliar just sit

tight you're gonna enjoy him very much. Following that we'll be joined by my good friend Ade Oladipo of Dazon and of TalkSport as well. We host a show together, which we did yesterday at the Palladium in Times Square. We host a show together on Dazon called Ariel and Adé. And we talk about all things boxing. And yesterday there was a lot to talk about following that press conference in Times Square

with Ryan Garcia and Rilly Romero, Devin Haney, Jose Ramirez, Tifima Lopez, and Arnold Barbosa Jr. So we recapped it all, talked about the weekend, and wouldn't you know it, there's a lot more to discuss with him on today's program so he'll join us in studio to talk about that and more as well. We will obviously talk about 313 which is coming up. I have some thoughts on what is at stake for not only Alex Pereira and the UFC as well. So stay tuned for what should be a very fun Wednesday here around these parts. I do want to give a big shout out to our good friends over at

Averon. They are the presenting sponsor of today's program. Averonactive.com slash Uncrowned is where you can learn more about what makes them so special. They have gamified workouts. They have made workouts fun. Just look at it. And if you've been following along, you know that we have a bit of an Averon challenge going on. I do believe that GC is now 2-0 or is it 3-0 against New York Rick? I believe it's 3-0. 3-0, yeah. Undefeated. Undefeated.

There it is. Undefeated. And a new challenge has been extended. It is not against one Sean Brady who has, he's pushed his challenge down the field. He's got a big, he's got a big date on... He ducked. He ducked. No, let's be serious. Yeah, you know, tomato-tomato. He's got a big date on... He ducked, he ducked. No, let's be serious. Yeah, you know, tomato, tomato.

He's got a big date on March 22nd against Leon Edwards. He has promised that he will return to the challenge. He will actually accept the challenge in April. We'll see. If he doesn't do that, then I think some questions shall be asked, but we will get into all of that and more back into the program.

But a race will be had on today's show. So stay tuned for that again. be asked but we will get into all that and more back into the program but a race will be had on today's show so stay tuned for that again avronactive.com slash uncrowned avron active.com slash uncrowned they just launched their new treadmill and they have gamified it and they have gamified the bikes and the rowers as well. And if you head over to that link, avaronactive.com slash uncrowned, you get an extra $50 off. Support them because they support us.

Thank you very much to our good friends, our Canadian friends over at avaronactive.com. All right, so start of the day, we get the announcement, we get the breaking news. Thank you very much. That we had been talking about, that we had been hinting, that we had been telling you was coming for quite some time. Shout out to the New York Times.

They were the first ones to really put pen to paper and say, hey, this is coming. And what I'm talking about is TKO, which of course is the parent company of the UFC, of WWE, of PBR, On Location, IMG, they're getting into boxing. And when they announced TKO, when they announced this conglomerate, if you will, we all figured that boxing was the third pillar. It was going to be MMA, it was going to be pro wrestling, and it had to have boxing. And I've told you about Nick Khan, who is the CEO of WWE, about his background in boxing

with the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach, HBO boxing with Lampley and Kellerman and Merchant, a huge boxing guy from Las Vegas. This seemed inevitable. And of course, Dana White has talked about his love of boxing and how boxing was his first entry into the world of combat sports. And he's been talking about Zufa boxing for a long time. And things really started to accelerate when they started talking to Turkey Al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia about joining forces to create a new boxing promotion, or as they're calling it a boxing league. And so it kept getting closer and closer and closer. And last week, the chief operating officer of TKO, Mark Shapiro, told investors on a

call that this was imminent, that there would be a $10 million investment from the Saudis to create this league, but it would be owned and operated by them. They would produce everything. They would head it up. They would run it. And it was happening. and operated by them. They would produce everything. They would head it up. They would run it. Um, and it was happening and it was not only going to happen as a league, but they would also put on four superfights. And we talked about this earlier in the week as well.

And, and Pizzi and the boys talked about it on, on Friday too. Well, today, this morning, we actually got the official announcement and we got some, uh, some sights and sounds as well in case you missed it. This is how Dana White and Turkey. Today, this morning, we actually got the official announcement and we got some sights and sounds as well. In case you missed it, this is how Dana White and Turkey announced the news. What's up guys? We have just done a deal to start a new boxing league with Turkey, who absolutely loves the

sport of boxing. I am very happy today. I give the flag of boxing to the best man who can handle it. He has a tough job now, but I am sure he will be delivering to the people and the fans the magnificent league and get boxing great again. The model is proven to deliver the fights that the fans want to see. The best will fight the best, and the fighters will continue to move up the rankings and become world champions. We will continue to make announcements on where you can watch and all

the rest of the details on the business as we get closer to the launch. I'll see you soon. Okay, so gigantic news and if you're wondering why we covered it, apparently the face of this new promotion is King Calum Walsh because the video was littered with King Calum Walsh footage but we don't want to get in trouble for showing said footage so we had to cover it up but obviously this is someone that they've been backing and there's of course going to be more more fighters in the stable and more names attached but important to remember King Calum Walsh. Now we will get more on him we'll talk more about him in a moment. Just a few other things to set the table. This is from a press release that came out at pretty much the same

time. There was an interesting quote in here from the aforementioned Mark Shapiro, the president and COO of TKO. This is a strategic opportunity to reimagine the sport of boxing globally. TKO has the deep expertise, promotional prowess, and long-standing relationships. His Excellency, Turkey Al-Sheikh and Sela share our passion and vision for evolving the current model. Together we can bring the sweet science back to its rightful place in the forefront of the sports ecosystem, the global sports ecosystem. Now they also went through a bit of a bullet point situation as to what we can expect. I'll run through that and then I'll get into why this is so massive. One,

excuse me, a highly structured system to develop new talent from around the world including athlete combines and academies, access for all boxers to the UFC Performance Institute, the world's leading combat sports performance center, research, rehabilitation, and nutrition center featuring locations in Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Shanghai. TKO's production, media, and promotional expertise to deliver both in arena experiences and top tier, state-of-the-art broadcasts to fans around the world. Now they haven't announced officially when it all kicks off. They haven't announced a media partner. They haven't announced any of those details or any fighters attached

to it. But let me explain to you all why this is so gigantic. First of all, that $10 million number, that's just a number. That's nothing. You get a big time deal with a TV partner, it's obviously worth a lot more than that. We know that Turkey and Saudi Arabia have endless funds, the deepest of pockets. We have never seen funds in pockets and a willingness to invest in the sport of boxing and in combat sports in particular. We've never seen a figure like this come around, witness the fact that they're putting on an event on May 2nd in Times Square. They're not even selling any tickets.

They're not gonna make any money off of this. Yeah, sure, there's the deal with the video game and whatnot, but come on. Putting on an event in Times Square, could you imagine what that costs? So forget about that $10 million number. This is a deal between Saudi Arabia aligning forces with TKO.

They already do business with the UFC. They already do business with WWE as well to completely change boxing. Make no mistake about it. It officially gets announced today, Wednesday, March 5th. We'll see when it actually kicks off when the first event is. Boxing as we know it is going to change. And this very, very powerful entity is going to change boxing as we know it.

What do I mean by that? What do I mean when I say boxing as we know it is going to change? Dana couldn't say it any clearer. People keep asking him about the model. They keep asking about like, what is it going to look like? Well, first of all, it's going to look nothing like these other boxing promotions. They are not going to adhere to the old standards set in boxing. What do I mean by that?

You know how they were fighting for the WBA title on Saturday at Barclays? They ain't fighting for no WBA. They ain't fighting for no WBC. They ain't fighting for no IBF, WBO, none of that. They're gonna create their own belt, their own rankings. They're not gonna adhere to any of it. And they're essentially gonna say,

what are you gonna do about it? what are you going to do about it? What are you guys going to do about it? You're going to do nothing. And while we do that as well, we're also going to try to get rid of the Muhammad Ali Act, which came into play in 2000, which is supposed to, you know, kind of protect the boxers, protect their rights, protect the ranking system, protect, you know, promotions from doing this. They're going to try to get rid of it as well. Now, even if they don't, it doesn't matter. It's sort of in a much smaller way.

It's sort of like these press conferences or these like mandatories that I keep talking about. And they say, well, this is how you always do it. This is how it's always been. And they're coming in and saying, to hell with that, why? Why do we have to do it? So when Dana White tells Ring Magazine, which is of course owned by Turkey, I'll shake,

I have the quote right over here, he was asked about it. And when he says things like, everyone knows the format, the best fight the best, you work your way up the rankings, and once somebody breaks into the top five, there is no question about who the best five guys are, you work your way up the rankings, and once somebody breaks into the top five, there is no question about who the best five guys are

in each weight class, they fight it out. And once somebody holds that belt, our belt, not the IBF's belt, not the WBC belt, not the WBA belt, WBO belt, our belt, whatever this is going to be called, TKO, probably not, that's probably the parent company, whatever it will be called. Who the hell knows? Not Zufa boxing, that's not a thing company whatever will be called who the

hell knows not Zufa boxing that's not a thing anymore Zufa is not a thing anymore but whatever it's going to be called that's going to be the belt so they'll have you know who knows how many divisions again they didn't say but there'll be a 140 pound TKO belt a 147 a 154 a 160 a 168 a 175 and on and on it goes once somebody holds that belt, you don't need three letters in front of the belt. You see what I'm saying? Whoever has the belt is the best in the world

in that weight class, it's a very simple model. Now, here's why it's going to start grassroots. You can get a King Callum Walsh, you could get a guy who's five and oh, three and oh, two and oh, four and oh, six and oh, you could get a guy to buy into that. A guy like Terrence Crawford, a guy like Canelo Alvarez, established guys like Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury

or Daniel Dubois, their brain works with, I'm the heavyweight champion of the world, WBC, IBF. That's how their brain works. They're gonna start grassroots, if you will, they'll start with the youngsters to reprogram how everyone thinks and to reprogram the brain to think that this is now the ultimate prize. This, for lack of a better term, the TKO belt is the ultimate prize. Forget about those antiquated old-timer belts, this is now the ultimate prize. Forget about those antiquated old-timer belts. This is now the ultimate prize. So it's going to take some time to come. I'm not saying that they're coming in and all of a sudden like matchroom, Queensberry, Golden Boy, top rank are just going to go poof or

WBC. They're not going to go poof, but they are going to attempt to reimagine as they've said it themselves, revolutionize the way boxing is structured. And so that's why, and they're not just, you know, a couple of jemokes off the street trying to do this. They are the strongest of power players. They have the influence, they have the backing, they have the funding to make this happen, to revolutionize it. Is it going to happen tomorrow?

No, but this is what they are going to do. And the boxing establishment, I can guarantee you to a degree, is not going to love it. Now, there's a ton who are going to love it. Obviously, if they already work for the entities, or if they're trying to remain in good standing, they'll be like, great, but I can tell you the old guard is going to be like, wait a second, this is not how it usually is. They're going to UFC-ify boxing. And that's gigantic. People have talked about trying to do it. People have talked about wanting to do it. They're actually going to go ahead and do it. We'll see how it turns out. Now remember, remember what he said on that call last week, Mark Shapiro. In addition to that, in addition to that league, as they're calling it, we're also going to be doing super fights.

Two this year, two next year. Massive fights. Don't be surprised if the first one is Canelo versus Crawford. And don't be surprised if that first one is on a platform like Netflix. And don't be surprised with top ranked leaving, this new league comes in and replaces top rank on ESPN and don't be surprised when they re-sign with ESPN which in some way shape or form I think they will a part of the deal is to bring in this league as well to be the boxing entity on ESPN. The guy who cut the deal for top rank to be

on ESPN was Nick Khan. No one knows those people better than him. When I got to ESPN, everyone was like, oh, you're a Nick Khan guy. He's your agent. He, for all intents and purposes, was the most powerful non-ESPN employee in the company, if you get what I'm saying. Represented them all. He could very easily cut this deal and say, you want UFC, you got to do a deal for this league. And by the way, ESPN would gladly do it. Why not? Why wouldn't you want the new shiny toy? Out with the old, in with the new. And so don't be surprised if they replace top rank on ESPN. Don't be surprised if the super fights happen

on an even bigger platform like Netflix. But now remember what I told you all about the Canelo thing with Jake Paul. Remember when I said TKO is behind this as well? They don't want Jake Paul fighting Canelo. They don't want Canelo to fight Jake Paul and then fight their guy. No way. We'll give you a fight in Riyadh. If that means leaving this deal and you could go get that deal. Um, you know, that three fight deal will make it now a four fight deal.

You fight William skull, you win that belt. And now the Terrence Crawford fight is even bigger. And that may be the first entry. And so you do the super fights. You do the massive fights with the Crawf Crawford fight is even bigger and that may be the first entry and so you do the super fights you do the massive fights with the Crawfords in the cannellos of the world you populate those cards with your TKO boxing guys and Then the TKO boxing guys go back and you put on X amount of events around the world King Callum Walsh type guys who let's be honest aren't exactly highly regarded super prospects in the sport. They've, they've, they've hitched their wagon to him.

He's done fine. I don't think he blew the doors off of the three arena in terms of ticket sales and gate and all that stuff, but those types of talent, you build them up and then eventually you get to the point where now you're creating your own stars. You're the best at production. The shows will be quicker.

It will not feel like the old guard, the Wayans will feel very sort of contained and, and structured like the UFC Wayans. The press conference is the same. You have Dana White who's, who's arguably the best promoter of the past 20, 30 years leading the charge. Like all the pieces are there. All the pieces are there.

You have Nick Khan who has all the relationships with the networks. You have the endless funds of, of Turkey and company, uh, Sela, who is the sort of like, you know, the sports entity under this public investment fund in Saudi Arabia. It's all right there. Boxing as we know it is going to change. This is seismic. This is massive. This is mammoth.

It is gigantic. And TKO just got a hell of a lot bigger and stronger. TKO, we're going to have to get to change. This is seismic. This is massive. This is mammoth. It is gigantic. And TKO just got a hell of a lot bigger and stronger. TKO, we all knew that they were coming to boxing. They're not just coming in alone. And what was interesting about that clip, Turkey says in the clip, he says, I'm now handing it off to Dana White. I'm not sure how 1000% accurate that is. Rietz season's still a thing. The Ring Magazine event's still a thing. Remember, Ben Eubank is a Ring Magazine event.

The May 2nd Times Square card is a Ring Magazine event. So those are still going to be a thing. He's not just like passing the baton now and moving along. But what he is doing is saying, we're in business with them. They're going to our deals, they're gonna be the home of this, especially in the United States. Dana White on First Take earlier today was talking about this needs to be an established thing, this needs to be an established entity in the United States. They're gonna get the deals with the massive media partners

and the money is gonna roll in and it's all gonna be intertwined and there's gonna be TKO group takeovers in random cities all over America where it's you know Smackdown on Friday and the UFC pay-per-view on Saturday and then an event on Sunday or God knows what permutation. Who the hell knows?

But they just got a hell of a lot more powerful in the combat sports world and they're not going to adhere. That's the big story. That's what I kept trying to allude to. They are not going to adhere to the old boxing rules and tropes. They're not. It's over. I'm not saying no one else is, but these guys are coming in for the first time in a long time and saying, Yeah, to hell with all that. Three letters, thank you, appreciate it. Why do we have to adhere to your rules?

Who are you, IBF? Who are you, WBC? Who are you, WBO? Now let's see, let's see what happens. Let's see what kind of pushback, let's see maybe they want to work with them in the end. But I could tell you right now, that is not the intention and they're telling it to you.

You don't need three letters in front of the belt. Well, I guess it depends on which three letters because if it's maybe TKO or some other permutation that they come up with, those three letters matter. They're referring to IBF, WBC, WBO, WBA, on and on it goes. Do you understand? Do you understand why this is so big? It's gigantic. It's a massive, massive piece of news. It's a massive moment in the sport. And look, we've been hearing it from Dana White for quite some time. He was going to get into boxing. And it became somewhat of a running joke, like when's it actually going to happen?

When's it actually going to happen? Well, now it's a thing. I think, I feel very confident that Canelo Crawford is a part of this conglomerate, that they'll be backing it. Does the league, if you will, and I hate that word, to me it's about promotion, but they keep calling it a league, and I think what they mean by that is the same way WWE is kind of a league, and UFC is kind of a league where it's all sort of contained, it's exclusive contracts. The model is going to be the same thing that they did with UFC. He is telling it to you. Listen to him when he tells you.

He tells you that when he bought the promotion with the Fertitta brothers in 2000, they had 12 contracts and they built up the names there. And all of a sudden they weren't, they weren't fighting for, you know, sanctioning body belts. They were fighting for their own belt. They built up the rankings, they built up the contenders, they built up the champions, the prospects, all that stuff and more, and they're going to try and do the exact same thing that they built up the contenders, they built up the champions, the prospects, all that stuff and more.

And they're going to try and do the exact same thing here with a massive, massive player behind them. Fascinating stuff. Fascinating times in the world of combat sports. And would it be great to have an outlet that covers all of this fairly and accurately and without me without bias. Thank you, Frank. The without bias part was important. Yeah. I think that was the most important you kind of know. No, it's okay. It's okay. Uh, gentlemen, what do you guys think of this? Any immediate reaction?

Any immediate thoughts? Anyone there? Oh, hey, PT. Nice hat. Tough loss last time. Yeah, I'm absolutely reeling from it to be honest with you. A lot of questions I have actually about this. Please. And I think we're all going to have a lot of questions for a very long time. The first bullet point you make, they made, sorry, about this kind of state of the art situation, combines, what I'd ask you is like, is that needed in boxing? Is that needed in combat sports?

Like most of the most compelling stories in, in combat sports are guys who are kind of outcasts. We're going through systems like this. It is something new, but is it needed in combat sports would be my first question. What do you, what do you think? When you say combat sports, do you really mean boxing? Yeah, well I mean MMA, combo, we haven't seen anything like this before

as far as I know, right? Oh, you're specifically talking, yeah, I don't know. I don't know how much of that is needed. That's stuff I kind of gloss over because it's like, I hate when we try to become like the NFL, I hate when we try to do that thing, drafts, leagues, standing, all that stuff. I think what they're trying to say is that it's

going to be a system where we're going to bring people up from the, the, they, they've got to get some great matchmakers. They've got a great gig, get some people at the grassroots level who are going to sign guys a out of the Olympics. You know how like matchroom and Queensberry and top rank get these guys, the Keishon Davises of the world.

They say, okay, come to us. You know, the Pat Browns of the world, they go to Matroom. Now you come to us. Now you come here. And they're gonna build them up that way. And so, yeah, will there be like a combine like you see on NFL Network

over the past week in Indianapolis? I don't know if it's exactly that, but what I think they're trying to tell you is, they're not looking to sign Necessarily Ryan Garcia Ryan Garcia is is a gazillionaire He doesn't need that he doesn't need that type of backing but they'll sign Ryan Garcia of ten years ago You know what I mean? Hmm it you mentioned that you know, they're gonna be outside of those main organizations the, the three letter ones that aren't TKO.

What we've seen in MMA is in Bellator, PFL, things like this, the one complaint that we often have about these promotions is, well, you're just doing the same thing as UFC, but you just aren't doing it as well. You don't have the same star power. When I'm listening to this, my first concern would be if I was this new boxing league. Now, now given that they will probably have better production because you have see absolutely salvage a production, but how will that not be the same thing as we've seen with PFL Bellator being basically an imitation of the UFC. If these other other organizations have these big names, we heard Keith Oedic talking about, uh, J and david's and how important he is the whole boxing world at the moment there are very few of these guys in boxing without those big names

how how can they compete with these big organizations because they'll be on the s p n because they'll have the backing because they'll build the stars up on these super fight cards and because they wanted to look like the ufc in because they want it to look like the UFC. In this case, they want it to look like a copycat because they think and they are accurate when they say this, their production is better. You look at some of those shows, Dana said it today on first take, they dragged for nine hours.

He's right. You let me be a hundred percent honest with you guys. This is, and maybe I shouldn't say this. They asked me to go to re-ed for the last card. They asked me to go to re-ed just a couple of weeks ago. And I asked them what my role was. And I said, I don't want to be a part of the problem.

I don't want to be part of the filler. Maybe this is stupid. Maybe I should shut up and take the money like everyone else. But I don't want to be a part of the problem. I don't want someone to be like, oh great, 30 minutes of talking. These broadcasts need need to evolve these press conferences need to evolve these weigh-ins need to evolve and so

They're going to evolve it and what are they going to do? They're going to steal the model They're going to steal the model that they've already established their own model So it's not technically stealing but you get copying the model and so And so it's, it's, it's okay in this regard. If it looks like the UFC, they're going to try to make it the exact, that model works, they know it's proven. And it also works not to deal with any third parties. And it also works when you don't have to let anyone produce the events. They're, they're kind of ahead of the game when it comes to all this stuff.

Now we're starting to see more sports entities want to produce their own things and all this stuff, like they've done it from the start. And so you have to say this stuff. Now we're starting to see more sports entities want to produce their own things and all this stuff, like they've done it from the start. And so you have to say fair play. This is, this is what the other entity, another entity in boxing will be like, okay, I'm going to sign a deal with TV company B and like you guys do it for us because that's how it's done in the NFL MLB and look what happens.

They maybe don't know, they don't have the right agenda, they don't have the right instincts when it comes to putting on a show. These guys do, they know exactly what to do. And so that's what Turkey is saying here, here's the baton, you go do it. Now you'll do it for these guys, but I'm sure their influence is gonna extend to the other stuff as well. I would be very surprised if that isn't the case. Final one for me. You have said for a long time, you know, that, well, you've, you've, you've thought that maybe Canelo Crawford could be one of these fights, one of these big four fights are speaking about in the press releases, et cetera.

What I'd ask you is, is the TKO belt on the line in that fight? If that is the case? No, I would be extremely surprised because like I said, those established guys, they have like, Kanell is fighting for the IBF title on May 3rd, technically May 4th in Riyadh. That if he wins, makes him undisputed champion again. And Crawford wants to become an undisputed champion. That needs to be on the line. But over time, slowly but surely, they are going to hope to move away from that thinking and that model.

And now all of a sudden, the richest prize in the business is this TKO belt. Just like the richest prize in the boxing business, excuse me, the MMA business, is the UFC belt. Just like the richest prize in the wrestling business is the WWE belt. It's the exact same thing. I've always said WWE and UFC are a lot more alike than UFC and boxing. Well, now they're going to try to enter boxing into that conversation and make it uniform. WWE, UFC, boxing, all playing by the same rules, all kind of structured the same way, all packaged the same way, and all in- house. I've never quite understood why Matchroom doesn't make a

Matchroom belt. Why doesn't Top Rank just make, why didn't they do this? I think it's because it's old guard. This is the way it's always been done. And I'm not for a second saying that Matchroom and Top Rank and Queensberry and Golden Boy and all these guys are going to go away and this is their death knell. But they've got serious competition now.

Especially when it comes to those up and com-comers, serious, serious competition. And if you're a young person and you're like, hey, you know, I want to be aligned with these guys and we'll see what the structure is economically and we'll see who's getting paid what and all that stuff. And you know what? I don't really care about this WBC nonsense or IBF nonsense. Give me that belt. I want to be a part of that.

I want to be a part of that history. It's going to get really interesting really fast. Any other questions, thoughts, concerns? Have I missed anything? No, you covered it very extensively. My major outstanding questions are things you already mentioned. Like how is this roster going to be completed, right? How do they build out what the fighter, the list of fighters that are competing with this promotion look like? How does the compensation work across these different things? Yeah, these are the big questions.

These are the remaining like huge questions. And we, we, we know that the, the powers combined of these forces coming together is going to be massive. That this is going to signify something. There, there will be a shift after this, whether it is ultimately like signify something. There will be a shift after this. Whether it is ultimately successful or not successful or all these things, that is so far in the future,

it will remain to be seen. I think we can say sitting right here right now, this is a moment. There will be something that will come of this. What ultimately the impact is, is just so far in the future, we can't see it. But all those things about how this is built out, how fighters are compensated, what the actual structure looks like down the line, what the, when Shapiro was talking about it, Mark Shapiro was talking about it from TKO, talking about Saudi group is going to put

in all the money, but the TKO group has possibility to gain stake as the relationship goes on. What does that stake look like? Now does TKO start putting in money as this thing potentially grows and becomes a new huge business for them? There's so much from this that can happen. You know, we talk about when Dana talks about slap fighting. Yeah.

How it feels like the old Dana. Yeah. You're about to see that guy again. Oh yeah. And it is a very interesting thing. I mean, like, UFC kind of runs itself at this point and they've got Hunter and everyone there. It's, it's a well, well, well oiled machine.

Slap is a thing and they've got some of the same people working on it, but it's, it's becoming its own thing. And, and, and now I wonder, I wonder how his pie gets broken up, like in terms of, it's a lot of stuff on his plate right now. And, and again, there's a ton of people behind the scenes, but he's just added a massive, massive thing. Now, Nick is going to be a huge part of it as well.

And, you know, WWE kind of runs itself too. And they have, you know, Paul Levesque and all those people, but they've added a behemoth. Now they haven't said, they haven't said how many events they're hoping to do. They talked about those four superfights, if you will. Yeah. But they haven't said how many events.

And by the way, now all of a sudden, does, does, does Alexander Usyk, Alex Pereira become a real thing? That's what I was wondering. The means are there. The means are there. It's right there. Maybe not even just Pereira,

but any of these guys on the UFC roster. Did Usyk, by the way, did, did Usyk know something? Yeah. It came out of nowhere. He might have. I mean, he was, we just saw him in Saudi Arabia at the fights. Mike, you know, when he did this media, had anyone

reached out to him to gauge his interest? Did he know? You know, now all of a sudden you start to think like these things are a lot easier to get done. Well, also you consider the fact that Usyk isn't exactly the call out type, right? In fact, even. It was so left field.

It was so left field and even more so to the point, the first thing he says is like, I'll face the winner of a title fight where I've already beaten Dubois. Like he's very much the next man up kind of guy. So then to randomly be like, yeah, by the way, the UFC champ over there, Alex Pereira, I'd like to fight him, does feel complete, like it took us all off guard.

Now, as you're saying this, maybe it made more sense than we thought. The thing I also think about, there's so many things I think about with this, but like is, if you are people who are fighting on the smaller shows that this promotion is doing and then seeing that like the bigger name stars can come in and out, right? Like let's say you do a one-off deal with Usyk to be on that mega tent pole show, but it's not necessarily like fighting under their umbrella for a long amount of time. You come together, you do that show, you do Alex Pereira versus Usyk, and then you separate business.

You wonder what the people who are under longer term contracts or doing separate deals think about this because there's going to be a differentiating of the product, a tiering of the product in a way that boxing isn't. Boxing is one-off show, you sign, maybe you're matched with a promotion, but they have a roster of fighters that they can give you. I think there's just going to be so many different like looks and ways that this all comes together. I think it's pretty easy though, because like those

cards will be populated with their fighters and then hopefully you tune in to watch Crawford Canelo and all of a sudden you see King Calum Walsh on there and you're like, I like that guy. And now I'm going to watch him on the regular thing, no different than a fight night, which leads to a pay per view, et cetera. What if you can't get a Canelo or a Crawford Canelo on there? And you're like, I like that guy. And now I'm going to watch him on the regular thing, no different than a fight night, which leads to a pay per view, et cetera.

What if you can't get a Canelo or a Crawford for multiple fights though? What if you can only get them for, Hey, we need you for this card. We're going to do the biggest fight possible, but now they're elsewhere in the meantime, right? I'm off fighting Jake. I'm not using Canelo.

I'm just saying Canelo Crawford because they're that tier, but like now I'm off fighting Jake Paul. Now I'm fighting for another promotion. I think it's fine. But also look at the deal Canelo just I'm just saying Canelo Crawford because they're that tier, but like now I'm off fighting Jake Paul, now I'm fighting for another promotion. I think it's fine, but also look at the deal Canelo just cut. He cut a four fight deal. Yeah, the money talks baby.

They're going to have a lot of advantages from a means perspective. They have all the money in the world. They have the guy who has the endless, endless funds. To the point that, and I was talking to somebody about this earlier, to the point that Canelo Alvarez said no to Jake Paul and Netflix. and that tells me everything I need to

know about how much money is going to be. He may end up on Netflix in the end. And then there you go and how exactly and how much support goes behind this like it is it is a treasure trove that they have they have a they have a war chest that they can dig into at any time and really make a lot of different things happen it's it's very fascinating. I see a super chatter here, which is relevant to the discussion, Frankie. Jake from Windy City?

Yeah, yeah. What kind of distribution do you see? I thought you were gonna read it yourself. No, this is your job. I don't wanna take your job. Also, what happened to the music? Super chats. I mean, if we're sticking to it, we're sticking to it. It's a super chats.

Oh, I know. But this is just one. The other one doesn't really fit. What kind of distribution do you see TKO Boxing on? Netflix, Prime Video, Sky Sports, ESPN? What do you lean towards? All of the above. Those are the players.

I don't know about Sky Sports, to be honest. I don't know if Jake is... Well, he says he's from Windy City, so that's a random one. But Netflix, Prime, ESPN, I would say are the big dogs right now. You know, there has been some talk of, uh, Warner Brothers, which is TNT TBS, cause they lost the NBA, so they have some funds, but

doesn't seem to be the play. Um, that makes a ton of sense. You, if I were to look in a crystal ball, the four super fights being on a Netflix and then the rest of the league being on ESPN, replacing top rank seems like it's right there. Yeah. Why do I say Netflix by the way?

Cause they have the relationship. WWE is on Netflix. They have it. So what are you thinking like massive ratings? You're thinking like the super fight cards go on Netflix, the normal fight nights on, on ESPN, ESPN plus. Yeah.

Netflix already saw what a big fight does on its platform, right? Oh yeah. They had the litmus test right there. It's right there. And then, you know, do they want to be in the fight night business per se? No, maybe not. But I tell you a great place for that, ESPN, which now all of a sudden is not in the boxing business as of August. And so that would make business as of August. And so that would make a ton of sense. But by the way, as you pointed out,

so an Amazon, like anybody who's doing regular live sports content, this is a great potential move for them. This is so intriguing in the right now for everything, like how it's going to form, where it's going to be broadcasted, what it's gonna look like when the production comes. And then it's also just so intriguing for the down the line of like what it could potentially become. Like is this

marriage between Turkey and TKO and Dana White like it's almost like are these the two most powerful men in combat sports getting together to try something? One million percent. Like it's just like the potential that they have. It's the most powerful man with the most powerful entity. It's crazy. In TKO, right? Yeah, yeah. In TKO. Like Shaheen and I were banding about, like, should we do a top 25 most powerful people in combat right now?

Like, that's right in our wheelhouse. Spoiler, and I think I've mentioned this, like Turkey's number one by far. Oh, for sure. There is no person that touches MMA, boxing, and wrestling. There is no person, and he is that guy, And he just so happens to be the guy with the, the greatest wallet. Right. And does it on the biggest scales.

Like he's getting Robert Whitaker to come fight in Saudi Arabia. He's getting the biggest boxing matches. He's getting these giant WWE events. Isn't Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia next year? Next year, 2026. Yeah. Crazy.

You can point to TKO executives that would have that same all three reach, but the, but the, the major issue with, with potentially putting them up there with Turkey in terms of status is that Turkey is footing the bill on the boxing one. He's ultimately who the buck stops with. And so he has the, the, he's, he's funding this, the boxing side of funding and then TKO, obviously they're still controlling that MMA part of it on their end, but yeah, he's number one pro wrestling.

You know, that's what I'm saying. So I'm saying, you know, I'm not saying that they're going to be a big deal. TKO, obviously they're still controlling that MMA part of it on their end, but yeah, he's number one. Not to mention pro wrestling. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's really the most powerful man who has, look, like

I've said in the past, when they got into golf, when they got into soccer slash football, they were viewed as disruptors, right? Yeah. Oh, they're taking Jordan Henderson away and they're bringing him to Saudi Arabia. They're taking Neymar away. They're taking Benzema away. They're maybe taking Mosala away.

What about these names, PC? What about them? Come on, give me some credit here, damn it. What about these damn names? I'm just rifling off. You're naming the biggest names in South Korea. They wouldn't dare take away Chrissy Wood. I tell you that much.

He would never. Anyway. Don't be yourself. Damn. But, but, but, and in golf, the same too. Phil Mickelson, this, that. But in boxing, in boxing, they were viewed as saviors, right? And so it was very smart for them to say, not to say that they've turned their back on, on, on football.

Ronaldo, of course, they were getting into the messy thing too. They were a part of it. Um, but in, in one, in one entity, you're viewed as a savior and now could you be a part of the entity that cleans up boxing, that fixes boxing for good? I mean, what's better than that? To steal terminology.

I think they use like making it great again, making boxing great again. I mean, but is it like this, this, this idea that they're making boxing great again, making boxing great again. I mean, but is it like this, this, this idea that they're making boxing great again to like, to get rid of the Ali act is to, you think would be a massively unpopular situation among the actual athletes in the sport. You know, this is something more than anyone.

This is a great boxers. I actually want to benefit from this. Yeah, it's a great point. For those that don't know, this is a quick, this is a quick Google search on, on the Ali act, but I just want to read very quickly. So what is the Ali act? It was, um, it was passed in 2000. It used to be known as the professional boxing safety act of 1996.

And the purpose is to reform an unfair and anticompetitive practice in boxing or practices in boxing to protect boxers from disreputable business practices, to ensure that referees and judges are certified and approved by the boxing commissions. All right, well we'll see about that. Key provisions require sanctioning organizations to file bylaws and a description of their policies, ratings criteria, and sanctioning fee schedule with the FTC, Federal Trade Commission. Requires that all referees and judges participating in a match are certified by those boxing commissions. Requires sanctioning fee schedule with the FTC, Federal Trade Commission, requires that all referees and judges participating in a match are certified by those boxing commissions, requires sanctioning organizations to disclose

additional information to state boxing commissions as requested, rankings, purses, all that stuff, protected, independent, unbiased. Now, if only they had someone in Washington who is an old dear friend that can help change these old laws. Who, me? Yeah. And so that's 100% at play. And by the way, there were entities in the past that wanted to bring something like the Muhammad Ali Act to MMA and and Zufa at the time spent millions upon millions of dollars to lobby against that and they died on the vine. MMA, FA and all this stuff and so if in fact they can be successful and R.E. Emanuel has talked about it to the likes of Pat McAfee, Mark Shapiro has talked about it on these investor calls and other places.

If they can be successful in getting rid of it, now the flood gates are open. Now they could really do it. Now I think they can, I think what they want to accomplish can be accomplished with this in play, still in place, still as a thing. But if it's not, sky is truly the limit. If there's something past the sky outer space.

Pti. Sorry, go ahead. I was just going to say, I would wonder honestly, if in the current environment that fighters would be able to collectively see the good in the Ali act, I wonder if with how much money is on the table, if you can play people against each other in the same way that to Ariel's point on the MMA side, nobody has been able to kind of

gather enough support for it. I do wonder if they'd even be that aware and able to recognize the potential implications of it going away. I do wonder. What are the biggest obstacles as far as you're concerned here? The way it seems to me listening to this today is like this was just an open door to come in and take the sport essentially. All you needed was two very powerful figures within the combat sports like guys to come in and take it. It doesn't seem to be any obstacles here as in from the

old guard, the matchrooms, we talked about all these other promotions. Like I fully agree with you and what you're saying. Like these guys are going to play ball to start because the golden goose is Turkey and they need to play ball with him. But surely somewhere down the line, if their idea is to build boxing, like, you know, build TKO into the, the UFC of boxing, which has been in court very recently over being a monopoly on the sport. Surely there's going to be some massive pushback at some stage. There's going to be pushback maybe from, like I said, the old guard from the, the sanctioning committees. There's also going to be pushback from some of the more established fighters who don't need this, right?

Like an Usyk doesn't need this. A, um, uh, an AJ doesn't need this. A fury doesn't need this. A Crawford and Canelo don't need this model because they're already making millions upon millions. But what about that, that next tier who haven't quite made it, you know, like what about a Shakur Stevenson or what about a Kishon Davis?

If, if he becomes a free agent? Those types of guys, right? That next tier who's just about to break through, but maybe aren't breaking through just yet, they want the promotional backing of a, you know, of a TKO and of a turkey as well, because now this is his baby. It's a very enticing thing. And by the way, don't just take it from me. Here's legendary hall of fame boxing promoter, Lou DiBella replying to a tweet of mine from earlier today. He tweeted this to me some 24 minutes ago, paradigm of existing boxing is falling and being redefined.

He might've meant failing there. Couldn't be more seismic. And I told you this entire shift in the model was coming. No surprise that Turkey aligns with Nick and Dana and the timing couldn't be better. Boxing people, we did this to ourselves. Sport couldn't have been more poorly governed. Those who don't get it, don't get it because they are without vision or dumb.

D-U-M-B all caps, which is one of the reasons the old house of cards is falling. This isn't evolution. It's revolution. And that's coming from old guard boxing promoter. Yeah, that's crazy. You know what I'm saying? Don't just take it from me.

I didn't even know that he tweeted this to me, but it's again, I feel like I've overused the word seismic this week, cause I was talking about it with regards to, uh, John Cena and all that, but I've overused the word seismic this week because I was talking about it with regards to John Cena and all that. But I did say that wasn't seismic. This is. This is revolutionary. And we're only four hours old. But if there was ever an entity and a person who can actually change boxing forever, it's these guys. And it's not going to happen tomorrow. It's not going to happen by the end of 2025,

but it is upon us. And I find it fascinating. I don't feel, I was talking to a boxing guy yesterday. I'm like, you know, this is coming, right? Why aren't you guys talking about this? They don't, they don't realize maybe because they don't know Dana, maybe because they don't know TKO,

they don't know Nick Khan. They certainly know Turkey by now, but I felt like they all missed it. It was all right there. And I still feel like they're missing it today. But I think we're all missing it, man. Like, I think we're all trying to get our heads around this. It's happening so quickly. You know, you mentioned Shakur Stevenson got like two million for his last fight. At what point does this become an obstacle for the UFC if TKO or some of these guys who you'd assume they want to bump if they're remaining undefeated and they're getting two million for the last fight you think they're going to come on 2.4 for the next one or whatever

and if the alley act is in place if everything in boxing is the way it stands they'll have to disclose these purses as we've mentioned the sport Sportico top 100 earners not a single MMA fighter there there's six boxers there obviously not the guys you're you've described it they'd be looking for I think anyway was the last place when I 82nd but do you think there is a moment that comes here when MMA fighters start looking at the purses of the TKO boxers and saying well what the fuck guys? Yeah. Well, yes. And, and it's like, I don't know what a Callum Walsh makes. So the majority of these guys are, are going to

be in that sort of ballpark, but it's a great point. It's a great point. If they do in fact see that, uh, look, we're about to talk to Maliki in 10 minutes. And one of the questions I'm going to ask him is about John Jones and Tom Aspinall and John Jones has a number and that number is a lot more akin to the, you know, the numbers

that we see. Deontay Wildermoney? What's that? Deontay Wildermoney? What was the Deontay number? 30. Yeah. It's a lot, it's a lot closer to that number.

Oh, you're talking about with Francis and all that. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot closer to that number than the number that, uh, you know, Pereira or Ankaliyev are going to make this weekend. You know what I'm saying? Obviously Pereira a lot more. And so, yes, this could be a thing that,

that happens, but come on, man, is, is there, is there a more tough, ruthless, no BS negotiator in this, in this, in this sport, in this, in this combat sports entity than Dana White, like, this is going to be fascinating. This is going to be fascinating to follow because I don't think they know what's going to hit them. I really don't. The friction between that is something I thought about what Pizzi mentioned in terms of the boxing versus MMA parts of the house. But also, you know, I think it's worth noting,

at least in, you know, maybe this will not ultimately be a thing, but I think it's worth noting when people this powerful come together, it's not always harmony, right? It's not always everybody's playing nice in the sandbox. That's right. Sometimes there can be power struggles.

Sometimes there can be people not liking how much sway one person has versus the other. So I think there's just so much here to play out that like what version of this that we're conceptualizing and thinking about now is not even going to be remotely in the ballpark of what it ultimately ends up being even a year from now. Um, Dana White and, uh, and Turkey were on the Pat McAfee show and Turkey on the Pat McAfee shows is tremendous. Today they were.

I didn't even see this. And, and, and, and they were asked I didn't even see this. Yes. And they were asked and Dana said about the first show, Dana said when it's time to announce, we have a massive fight. Turkey says maybe September 12th. Do you know what September 12th is? Canelo Crawford? Yes.

I'm telling you all, it's happening. I'm listening. I said it. I said it. You've been saying it for weeks. I said it's happening. I'm listening. I said it, I said it for weeks. I said it for weeks and, and, and, and, and the ones behind that whole, that whole Canelo, uh, MVP, Jake Paul thing, they were behind it as well.

This is all very personal. You know, about Nikita's background with the UFC and the CFO, CFO and Dana and Jake and all this stuff, they weren't going to let this guy fight Jake Paul and then fight Crawford. They weren't going to get him, you know, the potential of getting him, I don't know, hurt, whatever, embarrassed, who knows what would have

happened? I know Canelo's on a different level, obviously, but then, no, no, no, okay, okay, take this fight on, on, on May 3rd in Riyadh. But also give Jake Paul what he wants and a payday before that. Nah, we want it. We're not, we're a payday before that.

Nah, we want it. We're not letting him have that. No chance. Yeah. You think, look at Dana and look at those guys in like, in wrestling and MMA. Oh yeah, you could fight here first and then you come to us.

Yeah, no. No, no, no, you're coming to us first. Not happening. I also love Turkey, just like no nonsense, always ready to announce something. Dana's like, when the time comes, we'll make the announcement. Turkey's like, September 12th. The time is up, yeah.

We'll see you at Allegiance Day. Unlike when Dana White's capitulating about like, John Jones is going to fight this time and we're targeting this and maybe, and it starts at 100% and goes to this, Turkey has the means to make any kind of thing happen. If he says September, he has the means to go, okay, you people, you're going to do what you need to do.

I'm going to pay these people, and it's going to happen in September. That's his MO. He says it, and he makes it happen. Two questions I have. Yes, yes, yes. Do we think they use the Mighty Apex in the New TGO Boxing League?

Absolutely. By the way, that is now the new name for it. The Mighty Apex. I mean, Shapiro coined it. I need a T-shirt, the mighty apex. And then it's just a picture of a warehouse on the outside. Second, do we think they use uniforms as well? Completely stripped the boxers of their custom unis.

Perhaps for the league, perhaps for the league, but yeah. No way, no way Canelo and Crawford are walking out in TKO boxing. Turkey's whole thing is the pageantry. He's always kind of like been behind. Ah, yeah. No way, no way Canelo and Crawford are walking out in TKO box. Turkey's whole thing is the pageantry. He's always kind of like been behind. But again. But no, but listen, he said it in the thing. I'm passing it off to them.

Do you believe that? No, he's not. To a degree. To a degree? The league, yes. The league, yes. The league. The smaller shows.

The league, he will say, you guys have done it. Yes, yes. You guys, remember at the very beginning, I remember he did a sit down interview with Adé. And by the way, mark my words on this, Adé's gonna join us in an hour or so, and he's more like traditional boxing. He won't even quite get this,

unless he's listening to us right now. Cause they're all sort of in denial. They're all in denial. That's not a shot at him, by the way, but they're all like, nah, not gonna happen. Trust me, it's happening. It's all happening in front of me. Do you think it's denial or just ignorance?

Lack of understanding, yeah. I think it's ignorance. Maybe. I don't think it me. Do you think it's denial or just ignorance? Lack of understanding, yeah. I think it's ignorance. Maybe. I don't think it's denial. I think it's just a not under, like, the UFC model is so, as you've rightly pointed out many times in the lead up to this, UFC is a WWE structure, not a boxing structure. And so I would understand, and the Ali Act,

and all the reasons that it makes sense that the comparison does not make sense to boxing. I just think they're not aware of what this business model is and how it's gonna fundamentally kind of shift the boxing industry. I think it's more that than denial if I'm being honest. It might be denial from the sense that they think it can't happen to me, right?

It can't happen to me, we're all boxing. But you see from Lou DiBella, he sees it happening, he saw it happening and now it is happening. If anything, the fact that Turkey is putting this much faith into it and partnering up with Dana White should be a signal that it's probably something pretty serious that's going to have a shift in boxing. That might be the best call of them all, because think about it, if you were Turkey, right, and you were like,

we're starting a boxing thing, the number one person you're going to call is somebody who's in boxing, right? No. We called the UFC. We called Dana White, we called TKO, because they have the model that's going to work for this. And so that's an indictment on the boxing industry to a certain degree. Yes, but I still think his business dealings with Queensberry and Matt Shum and Golden Boy remain, but they now want to build their own thing. They want to build their own thing with their own stars and not need these guys. It remains as long as it's useful to

them. Then when it no longer becomes useful, it's my show. It's all my show. You asked about how much of Dana's pie is gonna be split. I'm guessing the vast, vast majority is toward this and all of a sudden. I think he's going to be passionate about it though. It's not like he's going to want to have most of his pie cut to this.

Obviously the Zufa boxing in the past and everything like that and UFC we've said several times, it's almost got no point where it's sort of running itself with with Hunter and everyone over there like it feels like he's going to to fully engage in this and really try to make this successful. Outside of PowerSlap's big like move off platform to another platform I don't think that business needs Dana White as the mouthpiece much anymore either. So I think, I think we're shifting drastically toward Dana White boxing. Listen, Monster Energy and Bud Light, like they ain't sponsoring this if Dana isn't involved. Yeah, you do a video from an office.

Yeah, but it's. What's up guys? This is in his, as he would always say, like in his DNA, like this is who he is. He has been talking about boxing for as long as we've seen him on camera. He's always talked about boxing. He's always compared MMA to boxing

and why the UFC works and the boxing model doesn't work. This has been, this has been 20 something years in the making at this point. And that's not an exaggeration. He has always said at some point he wanted to get in. And so now here we are, here we are. Now I'm curious, I don't even think they potentially know the answer to this question.

You talk about these four mega fights. I wonder because there's only so many guys out there that would fit the bill or they'll work with a, if it means a Fury, AJ, something. But I wonder what that ends up being and how big because Dana's out there saying like everyone's a target. Everyone's available. Um, Crawford has a great relationship with TKO. He's done stuff with WWE.

He trains at the performance center. I just, I just wonder how big they go. Um, you know, Dana doesn't like the stadium shows, but it sounds like this, this event is going to be at, uh, Allegiant Stadium. So who would've thought to kick it off, man. Who would have thought by the way that, that, that the UFC and TKO's first entry into, into Allegiant stadium business, I guess they did summer slam there, but that was pre TKO would be at Allegiant stadium for a boxing match between Terrence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez.

Just a wild time. It really is insane. You like how he still started with what's up guys? Did he do it? Did he say that? That's how he opened up the video with her. It's a thing. It's a gimmick.

Was this always the trade off do you think? Do you think Trump come into these events this whole time? And I know Dana White would never say it. I know they're good friends otherwise, but do you think that somewhere in the back, this was always a trade off? This amendments to the Ali act, which is seems to be something they're talking about an awful lot how long do you think about this this has been in discussion Trump

showing up at these UFC events and gets massive popularity is adored when he shows up at these things how long is Dana Whipen considering this amendments to the Ali act or TKO as Mark Shapiro put it I I don't think he was there and I don't think their relationship is based off of trying to get back on. Transaction? No I don't think so. I was gonna say if that's the case this dude's playing playing chess out here. That would be some high level shit. It certainly doesn't hurt. You have to assume it was not very specific in that way like we're gonna pile up and demolish this specific Aliyah but you do have to understand the accumulation of power

that is happening. Makes it a possibility. Makes anything a possibility. This is why Turkey is so ultimately so successful. He has power through, through the money, through the means. And so he's able to do what he needs to do by accumulating by, uh, this TKO forming and

having the influence that WWE and UFC combined can have. Now you open up the door to Netflix. Now you open up the door to Netflix. Now you open up the door to do these deals with Saudi Arabia. Now you have a kinship with President Trump. There are all these things that can happen by that accumulation of power

that all things become possible. Not just this one, like, we did this for this specific reason. It's everything. It's anything. Craziness. Craziness. This King Calamari orange white and green custom venom shorts are gonna be sick oh yeah you think that I'm gonna do it like Venoms out at this point it

could be like everlast yeah it's gonna be a yellow green maybe a black and white everlast shorts PT can we just talk about the absurdity of this like groundbreaking landmark announcement being littered with King Callum Walsh B-roll footage? There were literally ringing people when he fought like in Dublin, like begging people to go to this one. Do you want 15 tickets? You know, it's like it was crazy.

So look, fair play to him. Like, you know, Fairfooks Call column, you know, I think he's a talented guy. And the thing that happened when they came over here in Ireland with that boxing event, the thing that I was most blown away by was even the boxing media seemed to be learning about who this guy was, you know, the, the Irish boxing media, well established for decades and decades, they were even like, and a lot of guys I think would be. Top of the charts

in terms of Irish boxing journalism. They weren't even at this event. So, very interesting. Look, it's a great spot for him to be in. If he's being the guy that they're going to blueprint this off, like, look, look what we did with Callum Walsh. We're going to continue to do that. That's a great spot for him to be in. And you know, nothing, you can't criticize him for being in this, but you know what I mean? So fair play, I guess. This is, I'm, I'm, I'm asking a massive question right before our next guest is about to jump on,

but maybe in a word or two, is there, we've been kind of waxing poetic and glowingly talking about all this. Is there any chance it falls on its, on its face? Is there any chance? There's always a chance. Yeah. To me, the only way that happens is if Turkey all this, is there any chance it falls on its face? Is there any chance? There's always a chance, yeah.

To me, the only way that happens is if Turkey and that group, that fund. Have a falling out? Gets into a TIF with them or gets bored of it and says, ah, you know what, we're actually gonna do it over here, we'll do it differently. New opportunity arises and they can kind of separate

and do it separately. I don't think resources are gonna be an issue. I don't think resources are going to be an issue. I don't think the way that the UFC is able to operate is going to be an issue. I don't think the Ali Act is going to be an issue to your point. I think they can do it even with that established. What if interest is an issue? What if it's just

kind of like top ranked fight nights that not a ton of people are watching? But the big events are still going to be by them and featuring the biggest names in boxing. So they've got the hack. They've got the hack. By the way, a great call from our good friend, Jedi Goodman, who notes that September 12th, which is the date that, uh, Turkey mentioned is

actually a Friday. And so are you looking at a situation where it's September 12th at a Legion and September 13th? Noche UFC, maybe not at the sphere cause we haven't heard much, but you know, a massive UFC the next day. Now we're cooking. I could next day. Now we're cooking. I could see that.

Now we're cooking. And a massive WWE event on the Sunday. The pockets are going to be empty if you're in Vegas after that one. Hell. If you don't lose it at the table, you lose it paying for those three events. Geez Louise, on a Friday. Sounds like an uncrowned weekend. A good friend of ours, Jochen on Instagram told me,

you know how I always talk about the Venn diagram, the middle part, the intersection. Yeah, that's John Venn. He says that that section needs to be called the Uncrowned section. Oh. It's right there. We're gonna own it?

Well, I mean, it's us. We're the only ones. We're the only ones covering all three entities fairly, without bias, no deals, with all due respect to our good friends, our old friends at ESPN, but they're in business with these people. They can't do it unbiased, in an unbiased fashion,

unbiasedly, what's the word I'm looking for? You get what I'm trying to say, right? You're doing great, mate. Yeah, we have great grammar here too. We're the only ones, visionaries,head of the game. We started it. No one believed. By the way, the real story today is uncrowned. Here we go.

That's the real story. You're all missing it. That's the real story. SBJ. That's the real story. Wall Street Journal is uncrowned. That's the real story. Yes.

Is our, is our guest here? We're adjusting. It looks like they just popped story. Yes. Is our guest here? Yeah, it looks like they just popped in. All right. Oh, yes. But that is the real story. Make no mistake about it. Pizzi, can you join us on the back end for On the Nose?

I didn't expect this to go so long, but. Yeah, what time is that? Wow, sounds like he's busy. Sounds like he's busy. It sounds like actually, a mysterious Frank cut your head off and says that we can't. Pete, when you learn how to mute your mic, we'll talk.

Wow. Oh, she's been done. Yeah, once that. All right, Pete, I guess you're talking. All right, see you later. Enjoy the rest of your show. Enjoy the rest of your night, man. I guess we'll talk to you later.

Catch Pete C on The Crack on Friday. He'll take you home as we head into UFC 313 weekend, which has 313 kind of flown under the radar a little bit. It feels like it a little bit, but I don't know, man. It's anytime Alex Pereira is fighting, I'm pretty. Yeah, you guys will get us hyped and we'll answer. There's a bunch of 313 ask questions. I actually have a hot take regarding 313 and what is at stake. This came after a conversation that I had with my pal, JD Bunkus of Roger Sportsnet 590 AM radio in Toronto. So we'll get to that on the backend. Still to come, our good friend, another good friend.

We have a lot of good friends. Adiel O'Dipo will join us in about an hour in studio. We'll talk much more about all of this. So stay tuned for that. I'm curious to hear from the old boxing guard, so to speak. And prior to that, we'll be joined by the legendary Big John Fisher. We'll talk a little Chinese on this Wednesday, in addition to other things. In a matter of moments though, we are going to be joined by long, long time

We are going to be joined by long, long time MMA manager, football agent, and now CEO of Dirty Boxing. Dirty Boxing of course is the promotion that was launched in July headed up by one Platinum Mike Perry and his guy who has been by his side for quite some time as far as representation is concerned, Malki Kawa, of course, alongside his brother Abe Kawa, they've been in this business for as long as I have, obviously on the management side of things with the likes of John Jones and Jorge Masvidal and Joel Romero and very recently, Iliad Ziporia and on and on it goes. Anthony Pettis back in the day. So many big names, so many stars, so many champions, current champions, former champions,

all that stuff and more. We found out on Friday that he is going to add CEO, Chief Executive Officer to his resume of Dirty Boxing Championship. In case you're not familiar with DBX as they call it, we have some footage from their first show. Their first show was in November. Five ounce gloves, spinning backfists, Superman punches and elbows allowed, no grappling or submissions, but ground and pound on a downed opponent is allowed, there's no split decision.

Instead, another round will take place to determine a winner. Remember this? They held it in some sort of like smoker type warehouse venue in Florida. smoker type warehouse venue in Florida. And I believe he also has some information on their their second event which is planned for the next couple months or within the next couple months here in the year 2025. And so without further ado let us say hello to the aforementioned Malik Kawa, longtime MMA manager, football agent, and now CEO of Dirty Boxing. Yes, there he is, my old friend, long time. Yes sir, how you been? I've been great, how are you?

I can't complain brother, thank God, everything is wonderful. Yo, what a time, we have a lot to talk to you about, but for the past hour plus, we were just talking about this TKO boxing situation, did you see this today, with Dana and Nick Khan getting involved with Turkey? Just as someone who's been in the business for so long, it sounds very clearly like they're going to try to make a league like the UFC for boxing, not have the sanctioning bodies and all this stuff.

Do you think this will be successful? Absolutely. I mean, listen, you got to think about it, right? You've got the money and you've got the know-how and you're putting it together And you got the desire right you got the guys that want to do it and I think yeah By the way, I just want you to know I know that this was coming for a while They've always talked about doing boxing there was a time when when Lorenzo was around Dana would wear the Zuffa boxing shirts And they don't They finally found the the the right partner to do it with, I feel.

Yeah. So this is going to be very interesting. But do you think, by the way, just as someone who's been in the MMA business for so long, not as much the boxing, traditional boxing business, do you think that the boxing establishment will stiff arm them, we'll say, no, you're not gonna revolutionize sport, or basically, you know what? You don't even have a choice. We're coming and there's nothing you can do about it. You know, I don't know, this is an interesting one, because I thought about it yesterday, right? So the funny thing is, right, there is I have a couple of boxers, really popular young boxers that I'm working with right now.

Okay. And I was excited to take them through the traditional boxing model. And I thought about it, right? Like, I'm gonna call Dana and through the traditional boxing model. And I thought about it, right? Like I'm going to call Dana and be like, Dana, listen, I got these two kids, you got to sign them. Like they're right off the rip. Immediately, he'll have two young guys that they can build up and stuff. But then I thought about it, right? What if these guys become Floyd Mayweather, right? Like, does it make sense to go this way or that

way? I start to figure out what they're doing. But I believe that if you're in the business of boxing, you're probably going to stiff arm them and you're going to probably try your best to stop them from getting in the end in your way. I mean, you have to write. Yeah. You know, I don't know. It's no different than if a new manager popped up and was like, you know, I'm going to try to sign these guys. You got to go get them away. You know what I mean? So fascinating time. Also fascinating in your world because on Friday, we found out that, uh, you are now the CEO of dirty boxing championship,

which we first learned about in July of last year. Um, Mike Perry leading the charge, his promotion. And, and obviously you guys were helping him out. First round management. You've been with him for so many years and you had this first sort of like invite only event in, uh, in November. Why take this on? You've got a lot going on, you're in the world of fighting, you're in the world of football, doing big things, you've got the management company, CEO of this promotion, that seems like a big job. Why do this? It's actually, that's actually a great question. I'm gonna just, you know, it's such a great

question to ask. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. But that was actually a great question. I'll tell you why. Because first off, this is the promotion that we found it You know what I mean together with Mike and so I was always involved in it and so um the first show you know had a lot of things to it that was great and a lot of things to it that wasn't and I just you know the group as a whole just felt like hey you need to jump in here and kind of take this going forward the reason why I did it to answer your question is because I really actually believe in it. I just think it's different.

It's not boxing, it's not MMA. It's not bare knuckle boxing, right? So it has its own little thing to it. And man, after the feedback from the first event, even potential, you know, streaming partners and things of that nature, we just get so much good feedback that this is something And after the feedback from the first event, even potential streaming partners and things of that nature, we just get so much good feedback that this is something that I really wanna take on

and do, it's just that, you know, I gotta do it, hey. I gotta do it, Eric. Okay, so what about your other duties? Does this mean you're walking away from something else? No, at all. It just means that now, instead of me getting to go out to eat lunch, I eat it at

my desk in 10 minutes and I, you know, got to keep, you know, since I've become the CEO of Dirty Boxing, I've lost six pounds. So by the time I get to the actual fight, I'm gonna lose another 30 and I'll be back in my promoter style. Yeah. I should be, but no, I'm not gonna walk with you on the phone with the head coach, or they're going over some stuff with a client and I'm literally, we're at the top of our lungs, but then they know it got good. After I'm done with you, I've got to do something else with some fighters and then I got to go to DBX and it's just kind of been one of those things. I've just been taking it all on as it comes.

So I won't step away from any of my duties. The good news about DBX is that I've hired a lot of people, good people around me. So it's kind of like, here's the direction, here's where we're going, go do it, and then they can kind of go handle it. It's not like taking too much time, but it is one of those things where it needs proper direction.

And that's kind of what I've been bringing to this thing. Alright, so first show was in November, when's the second show? This is the first show. Oh, this is the first show. Right,, so first show was in November, when's the second show? This is the first show. Oh, this is the first show. Right, remember the first show was just a test pilot, and everybody went crazy over it. Okay.

And so the second one, but everyone's calling the second one, is really this is DBX1, we're calling this DBX1. Okay. This is the one that's gonna come out, this is where, look, we're live on YouTube, okay? Okay. And I turned down, so you know, I turned down two offers now

to stream it and to have a streaming partner multi, you know, fight deal with different streaming partners that were paying and I turned it down. I didn't like the way the deal looked. And I didn't think it was the right deal for the company. Right. So I'm going to do it. And it's crazy because you hear me say we're going to be on YouTube. Most fights when they start off and don't get streaming deals go on YouTube. And then you hear Dana just also announced that Slap was going on YouTube and it was powered by VeChain and all that. So we kind of have the same, a lot of the same stuff going on.

And so we had some streaming partners that came to us and we just, we turned them down. We're not ready for that yet. We don't want that yet. I don't want to say we don't want it. It's just not where the deal is not where I need it to be, nor is what they're looking for where I need it to be. And we're going to do it on YouTube. So we want everyone. So the first one, I was testing it. I wanted to see what we had. Do I actually have a product? The answer is yes. Is it exciting? 4- four ounce gloves, man. Four ounce boxing gloves.

Not really, you know, the gloves that kind of curve your fingers down, that stop you from the eye pokes. So four ounce gloves, okay, padded, right? So you're not bare knuckle. That just got approved. One of the changes that we have to make. So now it's four ounce gloves. Alki, your internet's coming in and out.

Super excited. The internet's coming in and out in the middle of the changes that we have to make. So now it's four on five. Super excited. Your internet's coming in and out. The internet's coming in and out in the middle of the announcement. That's always been a staple of the FRM interviews from the office. The internet has always been a little bit dodgy. I'm now remembering this. Is there anything we could do? Because I don't want your,

it's every minute you're getting cut up here. I want to be able to understand what you're saying. I don't know if there's something I'm doing here that's wrong. Let's reconnect with him if we can. Maybe we can guide him through it, go on LTE or, is that cool guys? Absolutely.

I just want to be able to officially understand and I'm sending something to you guys as well. I sent it to Jordan regarding this announcement that he is attempting to make. But we'll reconnect with him in a moment. DBX is what they're calling in. And I guess DBX 1, the first one was this pilot event, which again, it felt like it was in some sort of warehouse

smoker type of environment. And I'm curious if they're going to stick with that look because I kind of dug it. It kind of felt old school in a weird way. And I guess now it's four ounce gloves, as he said, not five ounces. But the footage was great. And the first show by the way, wasn't even live. Like you couldn't watch it anywhere, unless you were there.

And they had, you know, they had big names there, luminaries, famous fighters, John Jones was there, et cetera. But there was nowhere to watch it, which initially, I think a lot of people were thinking like, oh, this seems a little bit weird. This seems funny. Why, why would you not make it available to the world? And then it kind of created this sort of, I don't know,

mystique surrounding it. But good to know that that's not the plan moving forward, that you'll be able to watch it, and it sounds like you'll be able to watch it live on YouTube. All right That that was a stable that was a stable or a staple I should say a staple of the the FRM interviews back in the day with Jorge Masvidal I remember in the in the office old-time fans will remember this in the office and there was like a Webcam it was like 19. I think it was like 1996 97 like one of those Logitech's Logitech still thing I think I don't mean to hate on Logitech Logitech's still a thing, I think. I don't mean to hate on Logitech. Logitech's the GOAT! Is it? I think so. They're the number one? I mean, they've been around a long time. They get their hand in too many pots these days.

Ah! Sounds like someone we were just talking about. Let's go back to Malki and see if the internet has improved. Oh! This is better. Is it working out? Is it way better now? It's infinitely better. Okay, so you were setting up DBX-1. All right, so like I was saying, so I don't know what part we got caught off on, but the first fight was a private event, so we don't call that DBX-1.

That was just a private show just to test the product. And believe it or not, Ariel, we only invited like 350 people and almost a thousand showed up unexpected, unannounced, found out about it and came. We did no marketing. We did zero announcements. We didn't do anything towards it. We just wanted to see what we had.

And it kind of took a mind of its own and just took off. And so we had eight fights on that show. Five of them were KOs. Here we now go into DBX1, okay? We've reduced the glove size from five ounces to four ounces. We just got that approved. So that's gonna be a new thing now that we're, you know,

releasing for this one. And we've got, instead of, you know, eight fights, 12 fights, and we're live, you know what I'm saying? March 22nd on YouTube, you know what I mean? At the hangar in Coconut Grove, we're the very first combat sports company to ever be there, and they've had a lot of companies trying to get there, but this is a beautiful,

beautiful location, beautiful, beautiful location. Okay, and who's on the card? You know who's on it. Am I supposed to tell you that? Yeah, I think so. Well, listen, we're gonna bring back El Cubano, you know what I mean, your buddy, Diddy Boxing. The man. Joel.

Joel Olmero, he's coming back. He's gonna be in the main event again. And then, you know, it's crazy because I'm trying my best not to do this like UFC fighter versus this guy or that guy type of thing. We've just got a lot of young guys coming up on this card. I even got a Canadian for you, Ariel. Oh, thank you.

A kid named Cody. I got a Cody Travanochek. This kid was the number one ranked band of weight in Canada, in MMA, who is down to come do it, which is the best thing about it. He's going to come down. He's going to fight at 145. We're working through the fight card now as we speak, but I literally have like, it's stacked, bro. Top to bottom, it's stacked. You got young guys coming in to fight. You got Joel Romero.

You've got Maurice Green. You've got, you know, look, you've got a Miami legend in Ulysses Diaz, who's, you know, another guy that's a boxer that, you know, 14 on one or something to that effect. And he's coming in here now. He's going to fight. I mean, you just got, it's, it's, you know another guy that's a boxer that you know 14 on one or something out of fact and he's coming in here now he's gonna fight i mean you just got it's it's you know for the for our very first show you got some name quality and you got a lot of young guns coming up and uh romero who's he fighting you know that's the thing i got a guy for him i don't announce it yet because i i i just i the thing is that here's the thing You know, I mean part of this whole dirty boxing thing for us has been to To kind of like Make you guys kind of figure it out, right?

Like the first one everybody was like, oh who's the main event or who's not but you know what effort? It's Ariel. So he's finding a guy named Ross Hilton. Okay, I thought you can say it was me. I was like what? Nah, I mean, I would never fire when they're you all come to my office every week and beats me up for no reason. So I know what that feels like. I don't wish it on nobody. Okay. But we want a guy, this guy, Roz Hilton, you know, good fighter and he just stepped up to the plate and he's looking to fight you over Romero.

He was like, dude, give me your Romero. I'm like, are you crazy? He's like, no, I want you over Romero. So we want to give it to him. You know, we got to kill this. We got kids on there like Mike Breeden, you know what I mean? Another good fighter, you know what I'm saying? Maurice Green, he's going to fight Rakeem Cleveland.

I mean, it's just, you've got a nice, pretty nice card, a lot of heavyweights. And at one point, dude, we were looking at doing like, Jarsinha Rosenstreich versus, you know what I'm saying? So and so and so and so. But then, you know, we started signing. There's no funny thing about it, right? So being a manager, you know, these guys want to fight in certain locations. So then we turn around and they come out of this location, you know, one promotion and

it's like, come fight with us if you want. We can give you this fight in certain locations. So then we turn around and they come out of this location, you know, one promotion and it's like, come fight with us if you want. It can give you this fight in the meanwhile. And then, hey, glory called. So we're going to sign them over here. Hey, PFL called. So we're going to sign them over there. So it's wild that our card kind of depends on, you know what I mean? You follow me? Like what we're doing as far as, you know, we got this opportunity versus that opportunity. But we put together a card that's like so off the chain, it doesn't, you know, when we announce the whole thing, you guys are going to be impressed with it. But the main event is going to be Old Mero again, and he's going to fight Rod Silton, and that's going to be in Coconut Grove March 22nd, you know what I mean, at the hangar.

Okay. Can I ask about the look? I talked about the look of the, like the pilot show, It looked kind of like a smoker in a in a warehouse Are you gonna stick with that look or was it just for that one? No, we're gonna stick with that type of look our idea. Um, Ariel is to give you guys a Smaller venue, okay less people way more exclusive There if we get a thousand people for this event, you know I mean that would be probably like the target number

We don't I don't think we're selling more tickets than that I might I could be wrong right from what they told me it'll mean I told myself I don't want to go to two thousand three thousand four thousand. I wanted to be very very tight Very very small our venues might get bigger might not But I don't know that it'll ever get to like a full arena even if we could do it, right? You saw a big KFC. I'm super proud of BKFC So they went and did a 20,000 seat arena and in Philadelphia, and they sold it out.

I don't know that I'll ever do that. Maybe I will at some point, I don't know that I want to, right? So our thing is more of an intimate, more closer to the ring, VIP type of treatment, bottle service, food. It's a whole different type of fight experience live. Right, right, it's a whole different type of like fight experience live. Right, right.

It's completely different. So think 1936, speak easy, you go down to New York Alley, you're knocking on a door and then you walk in and you got this like upscale lounge type of thing. But there's fights and that's kind of what we're doing. I dig it. You mentioned some of your fighters there. I'd be remiss if I don't ask you about some of them. What is going on with Ilya Toporya? Two weeks ago we find out he's no longer the featherweight champion and he's moving up to 155 and then

we all assume it's going to be against Issam but then Dana White says, it may not be against Issam. We haven't heard anything new since. You're his guy. I remember your brother calling me in, you calling me up saying, we got the guy. We got the next Conor. We got the guy from Spain. I remember this before he even came into you calling me up saying, we got the guy, we got the next Conor, we got the guy from Spain. I remember this before he even came into the UFC. And so tell me, what is happening? Well, I still think that he's the next guy. I think he is the next Conor.

I think that, you know what I mean? That's kind of part of like, you know, what he's doing. You come into the UFC, you get to a title fight within, you know, six fights. You go beat arguably the greatest featherweight to ever fight at featherweight. And then by the way, all respect to Volkonovsky because he was a hell of a champion and he went up and fought at 155. And Ilya challenged him, knocked him out. No one at 45 had ever done that to him, if I'm not mistaken.

Then you go fight Max Holloway, who no one's ever done that to him ever, right? Ever, no matter who it is that to him ever, right? Ever, no matter who it is in any weight class, never knocked him out or even I think, am I right when I say not even, yes, didn't even like knock him down? Is that accurate? Like no one ever knocked Max out? Okay. So then he knocks him out.

And the truth is, is that the weight cut is hard for him. And it was, you know, look, you know, when you've been in this business for as long as we've been in it, right, you kind of learn certain things and the longevity of fighters, especially at the highest level, when you talk about being a champion, you're talking about a guy who has to fight the Wocanowskis, you know what I mean, the Charles's, the Olivera, the, I'm sorry, the Islam's, the Max's, you know, you're talking about finding the best guys in the world. So if you're cutting all that weight and what you're basically also doing is taking years off your fighting life. And so this guy's looking at

longevity, he's looking at the fact that it's almost, you know, a 50 pound cut every time, it's time to move up to 155. I'm confident that Islam will accept it. I'm confident that we'll be fighting for that belt, but it's really not on us, it's on them. You know what I'm saying that Islam will accept it. I'm confident that we'll be fighting for that belt, but it's really not on us It's on them You know what I'm saying? That's kind of where we're at with it if that makes sense Is it is it up to Islam at this point like meaning does the UFC agree? With him fighting for the belt in his first fight at 155 now I mean look, let me ask you this question. You know me now for Tony. I've been in this for 20 years, right?

Yeah, do you really think that we make moves without like trying to like, you know, you know me, I'm trying to like be ahead of it when it's time to do something and no, we don't just jump from here to there without like having the conversations and certain things. So no one told us that we couldn't fight for the title. And to this day, no one has said that you're not fighting for the title. So I'll leave it there. I'll leave it there out of respect to everybody else on the other side and what they're trying to do or not do. You know what I mean? But nothing has been said.

No one's told me, no, this is not happening. Let me just put it to you like that. Got it. Yeah. Well, I said, go ahead. Go ahead. No, go ahead. There's no chance that LeTaporia is vacating his belt without a title fight in his next fight.

Well I don't know if it even makes sense for them as a promotion to allow him to fight anybody else when he's a champion and if we're being honest, this is probably the biggest fight you can make right now outside of Bones versus Aspen. So I don't know if there's another fight out there that's bigger than this fight, unless there's something that I'm not you know aware of

Arrow you'd know better than me, you know I'm saying but but this is the biggest fight you can make and then you know I think here's what the fear is for a lot of people is that what if he does be this love, right? Then you're talking about this is the biggest star in the sport at that point in a long long time You know what I mean in a long long time I don't mean like like any of these other guys are on stars But I'm talking about this guy it will start to reach that stratosphere that Connor got to, especially if he wins by KO. Especially if he wins by KO,

cause this guy's got that Mike Tyson-esque thing to him. And if he continues to fight this way, I just don't know how we're not looking at, you know what I mean? The same type of thing that's Connor McGregor. Funny you mentioned Bones versus Aspen. All day and away it was on first take today. And he was asked about that fight.

When we will see John, he said this summer. Your thoughts. Maybe, I don't know. You gotta talk to Abraham about that one. I'm gonna defer to him. Ah, come on. I'm gonna defer to Abe. Come on, I know you're back.

You're back there, dude. No, listen, no, no, no. Abe's actually right here in front of me. Bring him on, bring him on. No, no, no, Abe's. Come on, Abe. No, no, no, no, no. I've never known you to be shy.

Ariel, listen to me. Let's just put it to you like this, right? We sit in negotiations all day long and we talk about things all day long, right? And I think that everybody wants, everybody that's involved in anything to do with any of this stuff, wants all these fights to happen. Right?

I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Do you think it happens? all these fights to happen, right? I'll just leave it at that. Okay, do you think it happens? I think that it depends on certain things and whether or not everyone will want to make those certain things happen.

And if the answer to everybody else is yes, those certain things happen, then yes, the fight will happen. That's all I'll say to that. I'll just leave it at that. I don't wanna, you know what I mean? You know how this is, they get upset when you start talking about it

and I'd rather just leave it alone as opposed to adding fire to it because you know if I mess around and say the wrong Thing then the wrong person takes it the wrong. You're not scared. You know, no, you know, you know, I'm not scared But I'm not but you want it to happen, right? So I don't want to mess anything up I want to go into to the media and discuss anything that I don't need to discuss. That's all I'm saying In other words, you got to pay the cost to see the boss. Who's the boss? Bones. He is the boss. That's right. He is the boss. I mean let me tell you something you know I gotta give him a lot of credit too

because you know I mean we've known Bones since he was 20 years old yeah and man the guy that he's become now is completely different than the guy he was when he was 20 years old you know I mean so mean so in what way I'm very proud of him And I'm very proud of the the position that he takes the stances He takes the way that he conducts his business and the way that he operates It's just it's been a it's been a pleasure to watch but a pleasure to be a part of it's been a pleasure to see So I can't you know, I mean I can't say anything other than you know, he's the best in the world You know, I take it personal when people don't have him won in the pound for pound rankings.

I think that while he's active as a fighter, he should be number one. I think out of respect to what he's done, he's had the toughest strength of schedule that I think anybody in the history of the sport has had, especially as a champion. He's had the longevity as a champion that no one else has had. I think whatever he's active, whether that means once a, especially as a champion, he's had the longevity as a champion that no one else has had. And I think whatever he's active, whether that means once a year or twice a year, he should be considered the number one fighter

in the world pound for pound. No disrespect to anybody else. I think all the guys that get that type of recognition deserve it, you know what I mean? They're good fighters in their own rank. But man, I don't know how anyone can tell me that that guy is not only the greatest of all time, but the number one fighter pound for pound in the world.

Well, if Dana's prediction is true, and it does happen this summer, we could be staring at a summer where Ilja fights Islam and Jones fights Aspenal. What a time for first round management. What a time, dude. What a blessing. Isn't that crazy?

And isn't that crazy? They told you that I was, you know, what's funny about this is that all the MMA agents, all the MMA agents tell the clients Well, he's a football agent and all the football agents tell my football clients. He's an MMA agent. Oh, wow Yeah, it's just it's just it's weird to me, bro You know what? The one thing I will tell you area was that like I think that when you do good business the thing just comes back

Around right and a lot of people talk a lot of different things I just I just don't come on here comes back around, right? And a lot of people talk a lot of different things. I just don't come on here anymore like that, right? Like I'm not, you remember back in the day, somebody would say something, and I'd put him in the show right now, I gotta talk about it, right? Okay, you notice I don't do that anymore.

I don't call you, I just do good business, stay quiet, we stay in our lane. We're still gonna get you paid more than everybody else. I don't care if that's football or MMA, we're gonna do our job, we're gonna go in there, we're gonna fight, and we're gonna keep good relationships, and we're gonna do good business. It just is what it is.

And that's kind of where we're at now at this age and at this stage of our careers and lives. And we've got other guys too that are coming up that are really, really good fighters, that little by little, that when they start to get there, you guys, you know this Cody kid I'm talking to from Canada? Yeah, yeah.

He's one of the best fighters in the world. He's the number one or number two ranked bantamweight in the country, in the world right now, overall, and I think he's number one in Canada or something to that effect. He'll probably end up on the contender series at some point or straight into the UFC, but that kid can fight. And he's a stud, and we've got a lot like him

that are coming up that are on their way. The next like, Ilya Topolia type stuff. And I'm excited to bring that to everybody. By the way, tougher to navigate from a business representation standpoint, NFL or combat sports, MMA, which one's tougher? Which one's trickier? So trickier is NFL because there's a lot of like

components to these deals, right? So you got salary cap, you got the way they do the numbers. You guys see deals that show five years, $100 million at an average of 20 a year, it's not really 20 a year. There's math that goes to a lot of this stuff. In MMA, it's kind of interesting, right? A lot of it is just, okay, here's, well, I shouldn't say it's easy, it's not easier.

The contracts, when they're done, it's kind of like, here's the numbers and then you've got to kind of work the numbers. But there is other stuff that goes into it, like trying to figure out what pay-per-views are, you know, whether you should take this fight or not in that fight. So a lot of analytics. But in football, you have all of that and on top of it, you know what I mean, just the way that the system is set up. So there's a lot of trickiness to it when you're negotiating these contracts.

But ultimately, it's the same thing. People always ask me, which one do you prefer? I like the structure of the NFL, I love the fighter. Okay, that makes sense. And by the way, you're not just building up great athletes, building up a nice stable of managers and agents. Shout out to Jose Diaz, shout out to Primo. Primo Kawa as well.

I mean, it's a whole new slew of youngsters coming up through the ranks. Yeah, dude, and they're phenomenal. Like when you look at Jose Diaz, right? How, let me put it to you like this. This is the difference between, I think, myself and a lot of other of these agents, right? So you see all the young guys that come through

with all the little agents in their little t-shirts and all that stuff, and here comes Jose. And I go to a UFC fight. Now, mind you, I'm an OG in this thing, right, Ariel? At this point right now, from all the major agencies out there, I've been in this game longer than every last one of them. I've had more champions, I've represented multiple champions

multiple times in my career, I've been doing it for a long time. And I'm the only one that came from the football world that actually succeeded in football, right? When the ones that have their licensing there never really did. That being said, right? The proudest moment for me was when Ilya won that belt

and I'm walking through the back and I'm watching Jose, or I call Chi Chi, little Chi Chi, is going back there and he's legitimately high-fiving and hugging all these people that I just don't know. And then all the people that do know me are, hey, Mark, how you doing? Jose, come here. Let me give you a hug.

Oh my God. I'm so... And when you hear people that I've done business with for 15, 20 years tell me what a great guy he is and how great of an agent he is, that to me is the best thing I could do is just show the young generation how to do it. And so the fact that he's been able to go out there and build a nice little stable of guys for himself and that he does this business at the highest level of like ethics and honesty to me is, bro, it's unbelievable. Now Primo Kawa, also known as Malky Kawa, because we're named after our grandfather,

you know what I mean? It's also, but you you gotta expect it, bro. Like if your name is Malky Cowell, well, you better go out there and do some stuff. You know what I mean? And I'm proud of him. He just got Austin Vandenford in the UFC after years of trying.

And he's taking over Paige Van Zandt for me. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be with you. I love Primo. So you know how that shit goes. You know what I mean? Dealing with the girls is the best and primo has this way of whoever Thinks that I'm too hyped up or too loud and obnoxious. They love primo So you can't you can't be primo and then listen, bro

You still forgetting that the one guy that really makes all this stuff go around the MMA world is my guy Abe. Yeah The other better than me Edison. They're all better than me. Adison, they're all better than me. They're all legitimately learned from me and then they all went and did it and they do it better than me. That's the truth. The way they take care of the clients and all that stuff,

you know what I mean? I couldn't be prouder of every one of them. It's a family business, that's what we do. And then now, you gotta look, listen, DBX, we're gonna bring you the same quality stuff. Abraham, Primo, they're all involved. Cheech, they're every last one of them involved. My guy. Abraham, Primo, they're all involved. Cheech, they're all involved. Every last one of them involved.

My guy AJ, he's the matchmaker, all involved. I mean, look, bro, let me tell you something. We hired UFC producers to come produce the show. I hope you show up to the show. I hope you come. We're inviting all the media to come. We're inviting all the streamers to come. We're inviting all the...

Listen, a lot of celebrities are going to be there, including your boy Bones. You know what I mean? So any of you media guys want to get a interview with uh With the champ then you better, you know better be there and have your little recording device ready Maybe he'll give you an interview. I don't know maybe maybe maybe yes Make the trip come down there pay, you know some money to get in and then maybe you might just get a might just get an interview, you know, I mean, so But no, dude, I mean, you mean, honestly, we're trying to,

I think we stamped our names in this business, you know what I'm saying, a long time ago, and we'll continue as a family to do a good job for all these kids. It's our responsibility to make sure this generation of fighter understands what it really is to be a professional athlete and a professional fighter in this climate.

Saturday, March 22nd, DBX One, headlined by Yoel Romero at the hangar at the Regatta Harbor in South Florida. Looking forward to it. Great to have you back on, Malki. Congrats on all the success, and don't be a stranger, all right? Anytime, come back on.

Well, dude, listen, I mean, that's on you. Have your shady producers hit me and then call me and tell me, hey, get on this, and you start asking me questions about something else, you know? All right. So it's always a pleasure no I listen to Ariel honestly God bless you too man because I know how how tough some things have gotten for you over the years and how much you've been able to

take you know I mean certain situations and turn them into a real real positive one instance watch you have your own platform and your own stuff going all that stuff dude I can't I can't say anything but good things about you and to all those new guys that are watching this. I just want you guys to know that Ariel used to be that little nerdy reporter that would be in all the little shows grinding to get to where he's got today.

And he doesn't even come to the shows anymore. And I think to me, that's like, no dude, but listen, you know what I mean? People get mad at me for not going to the shows all the time, but you know what I mean? It's tough, right? Like you got Friday this, Saturday that, Sunday that, and it's like, I'm all over the place,

especially during football season. So I'm proud of you, dude, because you've done your thing. And so anytime you want me on, you know I'm here. All right, much love. God bless you. Don't try to kick me off, bro. No, I mean.

Stay on another Thursday. We got a guest waiting. We've gone five minutes over because of your bad internet. We love you, good luck. Looking forward to it it March 22nd There he is the one and only Maki Kawa One of the great talkers one of the great great businessmen and managers in the sport. All right, let's move along to our next guest

I'm so excited to have him on I've been wanting to have this this this fine fine gentleman this unbelievable talent on the program and Then you know I sort of felt like I was one of the first in North America to to recognize his brilliance and then he got so big that I felt like he got too big for us. I first came across him when I was like wait a second is this is this Johnny Fisher's dad? Why am I why am I so captivated by him just ordering Chinese food? Why is this so damn entertaining? If you have never seen it this is one of the earlier clips. Take a look at this.

You okay? Is that you, Richard? I'm good too, I'm how you? I'm all good, thank you. So can I order a takeaway please? We'll come and collect. I could either shreddy chicken charm in, plain charm in, a special fried rice, an egg fried rice, sweet and sour chicken balls, spicy pork, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style,

shredded chili beef, salt and chili king prawn, mini pancake mini pancake rolls sesame prawn on toast a curry sauce and chips please yeah no problem we should see you then cheers mate bye Baaaaaahhhh shhhhhhh Don't tell me that's not captivating don't tell me that's not enthralling and entertaining and then all of a sudden fast-forward several years this past weekend I see him at the Brits, very prestigious award show in the UK. Take a look. What an absolute legend. It's an honor to say hello to the one and only the incomparable, the often imitated,

never duplicated Big John Fischer. There he is, Big John. I'm a little starstruck. This is incredible. How are you, sir? I'm all good, Ariel. I'm starstruck as well, because I've been a big fan of yours.

We both have, myself and Johnny, for a good few years now. So thank you very much for having me on. You're an absolute legend, and it's so great to see what you have become and how popular and famous you have become. And I know sometimes you get a little stick, they say for overusing the word surreal, but your life must feel surreal, does it not? Listen, I get a lot of stick for quite a lot of things, so using the word surreal doesn't bother

me. But yeah, it is surreal. I'm just a normal man, normal family man from like East London, in London, like on the Essex borders now we live. And it's crazy what's happened to me the last few years, but I am just that normal man. So anyone can say what they want, bring it on, I don't care. When and how did it all start for you, Big John? As you say, about three years ago, my middle son Henry just used to put videos of me

on the internet, eating Chinese, ordering Chinese, and a few of them went really big. And then it just sort of blew up. I started doing nightclub appearances for students, throwing form crackers out and chicken balls to the crowd. And it's just gone from strength to strength, and thankfully and hopefully people still find it amusing or captivating, as you say, in a way.

So, long match, continue. Enthralling, entertaining as well. Your day job, what is it? Well, I had a cheese firm for like 20 odd years, one family business, still got the cheese firm, but I don't work on it physically anymore, but it's still there. Listen, we've had a lot of stress and strains

from business and work. So I'm still working now, but it's just a little bit easier. I've got a nightclub appearance, believe work. So I'm still working now, but it's just a little bit easier. I've got a nightclub appearance, believe it or not, tonight in Brighton, which is on the south coast of England. I've got to be there for 1 a.m. in the morning. So after we do this, I'll have a couple of hours sleep and I'll drive down there.

Okay, so like the cheese business, are you not a part of it, actively working on it, because you've become so famous doing this other stuff? Yeah, I used to do nightclub appearances and that, and then just get straight back in my van two, three o'clock in the morning and go and deliver cheese. But thankfully now, I'm earning enough money,

not to have to do that physically, go out in the van and do things, but it's still there. The cheese company's still there. My main surprise sort of took over the customers. So I've still got a hand in it, but not day to day. And so when you make a nightclub appearance, what is that? Like what is going on there? What does that entail?

I go in the DJ booth, just say hello to everyone, get in and go through my array of international bosses who wants a burger, things like that. And then we do a meet and greet so people come up and have a queue and have a photo with me and I have a chat with everybody. I did one in Hong Kong on the way to Australia a couple of months ago and the queue was three hours long. I was in Hong Kong in a bar for three hours saying hello

and taking photos with people. So it's all over the world, Ariel. And I'm very grateful, very thankful because we're humble people. And for people to wanna come out and say hello to me, it is surreal. So, but long that continues, great. And hopefully, become the New York very soon,

because I haven't been to New York yet, and we've got a lot of Bosch. My followers are called Bosch soldiers. Mine and Johnny's followers are Bosch soldiers. So there's a lot of Bosch soldiers in New York, Boston, Chicago. So I've got to get out to that part of America. Oh, yes.

And how did the whole Bosch thing start as well? That's kind of your sign off, right? You always say it at the end. Where did that originate from? Listen, a lot of people say Bosch. He's been going for like 50, 60 years, as long as I can remember growing up. Comedians used to say it. And then just in one video, I just said, Bosch! And didn't think nothing of it, didn't say it again.

And then I had thousands and thousands of messages. Why are you not saying Bosch? We love the way you say Bosch. And then I sort of done international Boschies so it spread around the world. And I've just become known for saying that as well. I think people like the way I say it. It's a little bit of energy, a little bit of fun.

So again, long may that continue as well. My favorite, by the way, is when you say Le Bosch. I like the French one. Listen, that was a great moment. We was in the middle of France on our way down to the south of France. It was 100 degrees. I was with my family and someone just put a camera in my face and it just come to me. I was so happy, nice feeling. I just went, Le Bosch! And that sort of took off instantly. So a lot of what we do, you're not looking for anything.

It's just happened naturally. So again, I think it's the best way to be. I'm just a normal bloke, as I said, normal man and a family man. And everything I do is to put food on the table, roof over our head for the family. Perhaps this is a question best for your wife, Charlotte, your children, Johnny, Henry, William, Hedy,

am I missing one? Johnny, Hedy, Henry, William, that's it, four children, three boys, one girl. Well done. What do they think of their old man? What does your wife think of all of this? She's sitting opposite me now. She keeps me, my feet on the ground, don't worry, What do they think of their old man? What does your wife think of all this? Is this? She's sitting opposite me now.

She keeps me, my feet on the ground. Don't worry. So I have plenty of photos with young women. And she goes, oh, you was enjoying that too much. Your eyes were enjoying it too much. But listen, she's good. She knows I'm living in the living. I do travel the world.

I try and take her whenever I can. But obviously we've got a daughter who's 16 at school. So she can't come everywhere. But they keep my feet on the ground. Don't worry if I ever say anything and I think I'm getting a bit too big for my boots I'm quickly brought down to earth So don't worry about that as far as your son's fighting career is concerned Johnny Fisher the Rumford Bull himself How involved are you with him? Do you manage him? Do you help work on his career? Obviously you help promote him as well Eddie Eddie Hurn is his promoter. But like how involved in the business of Johnny Fisher are you?

I'm involved in the business of being a dad and helping selling tickets. He's got a massive following and his following and my following go like hand in glove. So I stay out of the business side. I stay out of the training side because I am a dad. There's nothing worse than an interfering dad. But I am there for, you know, if he needs my help, I can give him dad advice. But he's got a trainer, Mark Tibbs and Jimmy Tibbs, very good, one of the best. He's got one of the best promoters, if not the best, and he's got good managers. So I'm there as a dad, just purely dad advice, but I do help promote

and that is what I'm good at, so that's what I'll stick to doing. Did you used to be a fighter? I had 10 amateur fights, believe it or not, when I was a lot fitter. I did used to look like Johnny back in the day, until the Chinese took hold. But yeah, I had 10 amateur fights.

I think boxing or any combat sport is the best thing any young man or woman can do. It teaches you discipline, self-respect, and it teaches you that there are people out there that can do things for you. So it stops you being a bully. So we put all our children into boxing, but Johnny is the one that truly loved it. So you know, he's the one that stuck at it. By the way, in late December, we last saw Johnny a tough fight against Dave Allen.

And I was hearing rumblings as recently as yesterday that the fight announcement regarding your son is imminent, that we might be getting something in the next day or two, a potential rematch against Dave Allen. Is this accurate? Well, listen, we fought in B today. Johnny's got fight news. All I can say is I can't jump the gun before Matt's remote his own.

But Johnny's got a press conference on Friday and Dave Allen's got a press conference on Friday. Okay. So we'll see if they're both at the same press conference on Friday. The haters came out of the woodwork following that fight. What was that like for you to hear a lot of people and now start to, you know, criticize your son?

Listen, I'm used to the hate with being overweight. A lot of people have had that all my life or not all my life ever since I've been on socials. But with Johnny, you know, when I saw that night, it was a tough fight. He had a blood clot on his ear from round three and he got through the fight. The doctors were amazed. He got to the last bell, but that's because of the size of his heart. He has got a tremendous heart and he showed a lot of character and for people to have a go at him you know just just admire what the man's done don't have a go at him it was a close fight we watched it back we analyzed the fight with his team his trainers and he did win the fight he won the fight by one round and that was without us being through, you know, special glasses

or whatever you want to call it. He won the fight but it was a tough fight. So if anyone said it was a draw or they thought Dave won by a round, not got a problem with that. There was a lot of histrionics, robbery, robbery, robbery. It wasn't a robbery. So I'll stand my ground and I'll stand Johnny's ground when I think anyone's taking liberties because I'm a normal man as I said to you So I will I will stand up as a normal dad But Johnny showed a lot of character a lot of guts that night And he did very very well to get through the fight had no balance from around three or four onwards. He couldn't stand up That's why I had to keep leaning in so credit to him for that. It was a great fight It was a great fight by the way, so that's why a lot of people want to see it again

By the way, are you in Gareth A Davies? Okay now I've known Gareth for a long time And I saw there was a little friction after the fight everything patched up No, not at all. I won't patch it up. I'm just a bloke Darryl. I come from an area Where you stand by what your friends you stick with your friends? I thought he was a friend He's done. He's been through our house a couple of times. He's done things in our house that will stay between us. And for him to act the way he acted, I didn't appreciate it.

So once the snake shows its true skin or its true colors, it never changes. So he can stay where he is. Okay, fair enough. It was cool though, before the flight, Turkey, I'll shake saying to your son, where's your dad, right? Something to that effect.

Again, the word surreal. Turkey, the man who's sort of saved boxing, put a lot of good fights on, for him to be asking where I am was very surreal. So we use that word. That's why I like the word surreal, because it fits. It's a beautiful word. Yes.

You're gonna be the special guest referee for the sausage and cider festival starting in May. Is that accurate? Yeah, sausage eating contest. They're big festivals. There's loads of them all over the UK. I'm going to 10 of them. So I'm judging the sausage eating competition.

I might do a little bit of sausage eating myself. Can't beat a good sausage. What is like the most random event that someone asked you to show up to? I asked to get to a lot of stag do's to surprise people and the stags are tied to chairs and they think a stripper's coming in. And they take the blindfold off and it's me standing there with bags of Chinese. I've done that in my bar in France, in the center of London. Um, so that's probably when people think they're getting a stripper and they take the blindfold off and they get me.

But so far everyone's been delighted to see me. So there's some shocking people out there. Oh, what a, what a compliment. And how, how would someone even go about hiring you to do something like this? Normally people, um people message me on Instagram at it's big John one or in my bio is an email they can email and I've still got a few stag do's coming up in Ireland one in Germany I've got one in France I did a couple in Spain I do like I do like the stag do's they're very good I

do like surprising people and a lot of the stag do's, they're very good. So I do like surprising people. And a lot of the stag do's that I've been to remain good friends with the actual stag and a few of the people that were there. So I do like to make friends. I'm a jovial person. And once you're my friend, you're my friend. So it's good to meet lots of new people. You're on Cameo, you've got the YouTube channel,

you've got the merch, obviously Instagram, TikTok. This is a real business. This is, this thing that people laugh about is a true blue business. Well, the Chinese sit down. If you're ever over in London, we'd love to have you on that. What an honor.

People share a Chinese in our house, me and Johnny, we film it. And it's not like a normal podcast. We just talk about a range of things, play a few games. The merch, my son Henry organizes. He earns out of that. It's not like a normal podcast, we just talk about a range of things, play a few games. The merch, my son Henry organizes, he earns out of that, good luck to him, he's doing very well with that, so it's good to see. And obviously Johnny is part of it with us, but the most important thing is Johnny's boxing,

Johnny's career. So it's good that I can earn a living as well doing what I'm doing, but Johnny is the most important one because he's the one that gets in a ring and gets punched and I respect any boxers Any combat fighters that do that for a living sure take our art of to him? You know what we're here in the United States. We're here in New York, and if you're ever in New York Hopefully we'll be able to see you if not over in in London But I'm familiar with the Brits and so I'm wondering when you got that call to do that bit over there, was that kind of like the apex of it all?

Was that the coolest thing that has come of this so far? Let me tell you a little story. I'm at the Brits and I did my bit about five to 10 at night. So it's quite late, was there all day. And I kept getting asked, come and have a folk with this one, come and have a folk with that one. But I just wanted to sit down, relax,

and get my line right that I had to do. So I'm not there to follow people or have photos with people. I was enjoying what I was doing. And when I had that call, yeah, it was very, very strange. Because as I say, I'm a normal person, normal dad. And Jack Whitehall was very, very friendly. He was a gentleman on the day. And I'm just glad I nailed it, didn't stutter or stir, and I didn't repeat any of the order.

So I got it bang on. So I was quite happy with myself. So if I happen to be patrolling the streets of Rumford, and I happen to stumble upon the Blue Orchid, I do believe it's called, the world famous now Blue Orchid, thanks to you and your family. There she is, right?

Is that it? It is, unbelievable place, unbelievable place. It's a family restaurant. We've been going there, me and my wife, since one was going out of each other before we had kids. Same family, still runs the Blue Orchid. Ray and his two sons, Richard and Daniel. And I don't get any monetary gain

for promoting the Blue Orchid. I just love promoting it because they're wonderful people and it is wonderful, wonderful food. I've been lucky enough to eat in all the fancy restaurants around the world, Chinese. This is the best Chinese anyone will ever have. And people come from all over the world now to eat there. That's it.

That was a couple of weeks ago. They're brilliant people. They must absolutely love you. What would you suggest as a first timer, what absolutely love you. What would you suggest as a first-timer? What's the order? What would you suggest that I order to get a true taste of it all? The true taste of the Blue Orchid, they do a set menu called the B2. You sit down, you have mixed hors d'oeuvres, which is spicy pork, their own special recipe, sesame prawns on toast, mini spring rolls, chicken satay and crispy seaweed.

Then you get crispy aromatic duck with all the trimmings. Then you have your mains, the special fried rice, chicken charming, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style, shredded chili beef, plain mixed veg. And then on the side always order some chicken balls and chips. And then after that, you get banana and apple fritters

with ice cream, with caramel sauce, and then a coffee. It is a wonderful, wonderful meal. Look at that menu. Yeah, there's the Blue Walkers menu. Look at that. I mean, it's just- They're great people.

They're great people there, Ariel. They're some of the best people we've met. So, good luck to them. They deserve everything that's coming to them now because they've struggled through the last 50-odd years. And thankfully, they're getting a little bit of a little bit of fame and fortune. Yes I would love to go there one day. I'm so hungry. Listen when you're in London you've got to come. Okay. So you posted on your

on your Instagram one time like what the order was I'm putting you on the spot here but I have it in front of me here the oh don't put it don't get rid of it get rid of it there it is I want to know I want to know if you know it off the top of your head. There's nothing in front of you right now. There's no- No, nothing. Listen, if this is Saturday Night Chinese, I would have plain charming, shredded chicken charming, special fried rice, egg fried rice, spicy pork with a barbecue rib, sweet and sour chicken balls, sweet and sour chicken on Kong style, shredded chili beef, beef with black bean sauce, beef with onions, chips, prawn crackers, curry sauce.

And we might go for a Singapore rice noodle and it all depends with John is with us if we get another couple of other dishes as well. But it's pretty much the same week in week out. And you make me feel hungry now. Even talking about it. So every Saturday for a couple of days. Is it every Saturday? Every Saturday and sometimes on a Friday.

Wow. And what about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? What are you eating on those? Like what's the other vice that you have as far as food? Well, Charlotte's sitting opposite me now. She does a bit of cooking. She's not the best, but she tries. She's just give me a big, she's just give me a dirty look.

But she does like to burn food. That's probably why I put weight on her and I eat out a lot. I like fish and chips. We're blessed around here. We've got fish and chips, chariots, fish and chip shop. And we've got some good Indian restaurants, some good curry houses as we call them, where we live in Giddyapark.

So if it's not Chinese, it'd even be fish and chips or curry. Yes. Is it not accurate that Charlotte, your wife, and I heard you give her a shout out when you did the bit on the Brits, so she has to be thrilled with that. Do you want to see her?

Yeah, let's see her, let's see her. Come on, Charlotte, don't be shy. I'm not ready to be. Yeah, look. But just sit there, there she is. Hello, Charlotte, how are you? She probably can't see me because we're full screen. Put me on there for a minute. There she is, hello, Charlotte, how are you? Hello, nice't see me because we're full screen. Put me on there for a minute.

There she is. Hello Charlotte, how are you? Hello, nice to meet you. Nice to see you. What do you think of your husband becoming this international superstar? Oh, I'm very proud of him. He's worked very hard for 30 years on the family business,

which is at its ups and many downs, but no, I'm proud of him. It's great. I've got a trophy wife, haven't I? Look, she looks gorgeous standing there. Cooked dinner. Yeah. And did you have- I was looking at her.

Does she have her own spring rolls? The Charlotte spring rolls? Are those on the menu? Mini, she always says every time, mini spring rolls. She loves mini spring rolls. So that's why I put that little bit at the end. I love it. Every time, if I'm ordering on the phone.

Forget some, cause you're ordering- I don't forget them. I never forget them. Never forget them. What a... Thanks Charlotte. Yes. Fantastic. Nice to meet you, Charlotte. Nice to meet you. I feel like the move, John, I'm not trying to take away business from the Blue Orchard,

but is the move for you to open your own restaurant? Listen, a few people have said that, a few people have... But I think, you know, could I open a Chinese restaurant? I'm not Chinese, so I don't really think that that would fit. Could I go in business with somebody? Yes, probably. But if I had a restaurant area, I'd want to be there as well. So people could see me and we could talk.

And I think that'd be a big pull. But at the moment, I'm traveling around quite a lot. So perhaps a restaurant in a year or two time when I stopped traveling around so much, that could be the next step, yes. I do see sometimes you responding to the haters talking about your health and whatnot. That is, I think that is a fair question.

What do you do to try to remain as healthy as possible? Listen, I've been fit and healthy all my life. Thank God, touch wood. I used to box, I used to be a sportsman in many ways. So it's probably helped me now, I've put weight on. But we do a lot of walking, we've got free dogs, I'm a member of the gym, we do swimming. But I have got to get a bit healthier.

You can always get a bit healthier. I'm not here advocating unhealthy lifestyles. It's just I do enjoy my food. I'm 51 now. So I've just got to make sure I counteract with eating a bit of food, with being a bit more active. And I know I've got to be a bit more active than what I have been, but we'll start tomorrow.

Okay, yes. By the way, yesterday International Pancake Day, lemon and sugar is your order. Lemon on a pancake? Lemon and sugar's got to be done. You put the lemon over it then the sugar roll it up more lemon more sugar It is the best My thing strange for you over there in America. Yeah, but for us in England lemon and sugar is the is the main thing And you know, especially for me and which football club do we do we support over there? Is there a rum for a team?

This and this we got wrong for do they're like amateur team. My son Henry used to play for him So big shout out to Rumford, but our local sort of big team around here there's two we've got West Ham United and Laten Orient who I used to play for as a schoolboy and we go and watch a little while They're doing okay at the moment Laten Orient, but West Ham my good friend Steve Potts He's the under 23s manager there and his son Freddy Potts is a player. He's on loan at Portsmouth. So West Ham are our local team, but William actually supports Spurs. So William is a Tottenham Hotspur fan.

Okay, I think Latin-Orient were the ones that kind of went toe-to-toe with Man City recently, right? Yeah, they did. They lost, I think, in the last minute or so so, but they were winning for a long while in that game. But they're a good local club, got a good fan base, good people running the club. So we've been fortunate to go over there a couple of times. It's just getting time aerial, you know, I haven't got the time really to support the team on a regular basis. And I wouldn't be like other people making out they support the team. No, plastic. Just tap into the fan base, yeah. It is what it is, you know what?

I'm more of a rugby man than a football man. I love my rugby. Okay. I love supporting England rugby, do a bit with England rugby. I just think rugby players, you know, they're unbelievable what they do each week, week in, week out, physical demands on the body.

And I just love the honesty of the game. I think football's lost a little bit of that at the moment, but rugby players have got that honesty and integrity still when they play. So you've got the appearance tonight at the nightclub on a Wednesday night, by the way, in Brighton. Yeah, student nights, student night. Ah, fun.

Well, give us a couple more in the coming weeks and months, places that you'll be. Well, we'll be in the French Alps in a few weeks in front of 2,000 students. I'm taking Charlotte there. I'm taking a whole family there. We've got a nice lodge right in the middle of the French Alps.

When I was just come back from Dubai, I've done a couple of appearances in Dubai. I've just had a month in Australia and I'm going back to Australia in about three weeks time. So Australia is big for me. It's a massive following over there. So, and Hong Kong, gonna be going back to Hong Kong as well. I've just recently been to Hong Kong.

Unbelievable. And we're just talking now. Yeah, I've got to come to New York, Boston and Chicago though because a lot of people keep asking me, I'm gonna make sure I get to New York. Never been to New York and it's one of my aims. Yeah, I know, you have to go. By the way, one last one, Hong Kong style.

When you say that, I love the way you say it. What does that mean, Hong Kong style? It's like chicken or pork or lamb or beef, and it's sort of fried in the sauce and the sauce sort of becomes sticky. Not quite Kung Po sticky, but it sort of comes part of the chicken, if you know what I mean, with a little light crispy batter,

but you can't even notice the batter after time. And it comes with like pineapple, peppers, and some onion, and it's all mixed up. It's very nice. Wow, you're making me so hungry. It's a delight to follow you and your family, and I wish you guys nothing but the best, all the success and love in the world,

and don't listen to the haters, and I know they're few and far between. Sometimes they could be a vocal minority, but there's a lot of people who get great joy out of your zest for life. You have a joie de vivre that's really a lot of fun to follow. We've been a big fan of yours for a long while. I appreciate what you do. And listen, appreciate people following me. It is crazy. Even the haters, you know, a lot of the time I go back at the haters and nine times out of ten they'll end up being my friend and I'll be friends with them. It's always good to talk, you know. A lot of people do things when they're online. We've all done it. We've all said things

online that we shouldn't say. And when you actually call people up on it, they realize, oh, perhaps I haven't been right there. So even the haters are welcome to keep hating because hopefully I can change a couple of their minds. Much love, Big John. All the best to you. Thank you, Ariel. Continued success. Thank you for coming on. Hopefully we'll be able to speak to you

in the very near future and enjoy Chinese together. Hopefully I'll be in New York soon, but when you're in London, definitely having the Chinese with us. It's a date. Thank you so much. All the best to you. Cheers, my friend.

Take care. Thank you. There he is. The man himself. The Bosch master, the one and only the food consultant, the leader of the Rumford bull army, the husband to Charlotte. How lovely is Charlotte? Wow. That was great. Uh, the one and only big John Fisher.

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Thank you very much to Averon for their support. Averonactive.com slash uncrowned in about an hour's time. We shall answer your questions on the nose. ArielHawani.substack.com is the place to send in said questions. But my friends, we're still, we're still digesting. We're still thinking about, we're still dissecting in our minds. The big announcement earlier today from TKO from Dana White, Nick Khan, and of course, Turkey, I'll shake.

And when I told my friend Ade El-Odipo to come join us in studio because he's in town for the press conference yesterday. And of course, the Canelo press conference on Thursday here in New York City. Didn't know what was happening this morning, but how fortuitous for us. And so without further ado, let us say hello to one half of the critically acclaimed Ariel and Ade show on the zone, the one and only Ade Oladipo. Look at this guy. This is like your second home.

This is, yeah. Have a seat. I don't even have to do the whole thing. Do you know how crazy this is? Come, come, please, please. The commitment I have to you in this show, Liverpool are playing PSG right now. Champions League is on right now. And I like no no no we got to talk some boxing

Ah, yeah, yeah, we've got to talk some boxing because it's gone crazy the world of box dude. It's gone crazy I'm actually really by the way. What is the score? No, no, it's just I okay And don't tell the viewers because I don't want them to click off. No, no, no stay Make sure you make sure you stay because this is very this conversation. We're about to have right now is Incredible. Well, what timing though? Right right because when I asked you to come on I thought we'll talk more about you bank Ben and we will press conference yesterday We will canella we will but this morning we wake up to this news which we knew was coming We knew was coming, but we didn't know was coming today

No And and I said I was saying to the guys that I wonder if you will have the same reaction as I did My reaction in short which I've said on the show. This is gigantic. This is seismic. This is game-changing They're going to change boxing as we know it interesting when you and I can explain why okay when you heard about this Did you feel the same way? What was your reaction? It wasn't that initially it It grew to become that as sort of the next sort of 10 minutes and then the minutes passed and the minutes passed. Okay, what does this mean? And then I started to kind of listen to the language used, especially

by Turkey when he said crush, we're going to crush all the other promotions. Like, whoa, yeah, but what one second the promotions you've been working with as in Queensbury and Matrimon, Golda Boy and Top Rank, like what does that mean? I find it interesting. I find it puzzling. What's puzzling? What does it mean? Does it mean, does it almost mean kind of what PBC tried to do where they would try to create a PBC belt and they tried to sign every single fight

and they very well nearly exceeded in doing so? Does this mean that he's trying to literally take over the sport of boxing? So all the fighters, all of them are in this league. Do fighters immediately start jumping ship and signing to him? Cause to be fair, we're in a world of boxing now where no fighter has an eight fight contract anymore. Most fighters are kind of fight by fight contracts. I mean, does Shakur Stevenson, who's only got one fight left with Matrim, after that fight, does he go and join his TKO promotions? What does it mean for Eddie? What does it mean for Frank? Are they now on the phone with each other now saying, okay, we're not accepting this. We have to fight back. Right, right, right. Or do they jump in bed with it?

I find the whole thing. There's certainly a lot of questions. There is. But here's, here's what I know for sure. Okay. What I know for sure is they're going to put on these four mega events over the next two years and the first one could very well be Canelo Crawford. And so now we get a little more insight as to why they were fighting so hard to not have Canelo fight Jake Paul.

There's a history there with the TKO guys and Jake Paul and Nikkisa Baderian. No, no, no, you're not going to go fight Jake Paul and then fight for us. 100%. We'll add another fight to the deal. You'll fight, no, you're not going to go fight Jake Paul and then fight for us. 100%. We'll add another fight to the deal. You'll fight William Skull, May 3rd in Riyadh, and then you'll fight for us at Legion Stadium.

That will be maybe like their first entry. But in addition to that, they're going to have this promotion, this league as they're calling it, where they're going to sign fighters kind of from the ground up. You know, the, the Keyshawn Davis's post Olympics, the Pat Brown's post Olympics. Okay, so you think that's what they're going to do? Yes, I know that the, the Keyshawn Davis is post Olympics, the Pat Brown post Olympics.

Do you think that's what they're going to do? Yes. I know that they're going to do. So you don't think they're signing established fighters? It's a mix, but you know how they keep promoting this guy, uh, King Calum Walsh, which the boxing like establishment says,

like this guy ain't really the man. Right. But those are the types of guys that they're going to sign, try to build up. They'll populate the mega cards with these guys and hope that if you're tuning in to watch Canelo Crawford, perhaps on a Netflix and you happen to see a King Callum Walsh fight, then you'll follow him to the league. But now here's where it gets seismic.

That's just an idea. That's a concept like PVC. This is where it gets seismic. They're not playing with WBC and IBF and IBO and WBA and WBO. They're not playing with these guys anymore. Dana said it himself, our belts don't have the three letters attached to it. Now, it'll be their three letters, whatever this promotion is TKO, whatever, whatever name. Are they banking on the fact that the fighters won't want to win these titles?

Yes. I just don't see how fighters, I don't agree with it. This is what I don't see our fighters. Don't care about that. I feel like if you get them from the ground up, if you get them from their entry into the world of pro boxing and you're shaking hands with Dana White, with Turkey, with Nick Khan, and they're like, we're gonna make you into a star.

Just look at what we did with those guys in MMA. They didn't need sanctioning bodies. We're gonna do the same thing here. He keeps saying it. Everyone keeps asking me what the model is. It's the same model. It's the same model that they use in pro wrestling, which is one league, one belt. What's the richest prize in pro wrestling? The WWE Heavyweight Championship. What's the richest prize in UFC? The UFC X Division title, right? And what's going to be the richest prize in their boxing world? This. Now, is this going to happen overnight? No, is Eddie and Frank going to just like lay down their arms

and be like, sure guys, come in. No, no, no, it's not going to happen. And I could imagine the sanctioning bodies almost like teaming up with the promoters and being like, we have to stop this from happening. But they're going to try to get there isn't a sort of like Ali act in the UK, right? No, there isn't anything like that.

Yeah, they're going to try to get rid of that. And if they're successful, great. And if they're not, they're going to try to get, there isn't a sort of like Ali act in the UK, right? No. There isn't anything like that. Yeah. They're gonna try to get rid of that. And if they're successful, great. And if they're not, it's still gonna be what they're gonna try to do. This is gigantic. Dana's always talked about getting into boxing

and that was gonna be big. But when you think about TKO as an entity, teaming up with Turkey to do this, who has endless funds, pockets as deep as anything. It's a game changer. The biggest kickback here is, A, trying to sign the fighters, because I get what you mean about signing fighters

from the bottom up, right? It's easier, as opposed to maybe getting the established ones, which again, will cost a lot more than the fighters coming up. But I can't see how, even if you do, say you sign an Olympian coming through right now, right? From Paris Olympic, you sign an Olympian. Their dream is still to become a world champion.

I don't believe that their dream is just about money. I do believe their dream is still to become a world champion. I think it's an old dream. No, no, no. Now to be clear, you're not going to convince an AJ or an Usyk or a Crawford. And when I say Crawford, I don't mean like Crawford's going to maybe fight on this card for them, but he's not going to like completely leave that dream.

He wants to be on dispute a champion at 168. You're not going to convince the old guard. Are you trying to say you think, and by the way, we're talking in 10 years time, right? Yeah, yeah. You think that that will happen where fighters won't care about the traditional four governing wards? Yes. Yes.

And they are going to convince them that this is an old way of thinking, this is an archaic way of thinking. Just look. Look how successful the UFC is. No, but there was nothing for the UFC. So it's easy to kind of say, okay, these are the questions that the fighters should say, but this is what they're going to tell them. I know the pitch is this. Look at what we did with the UFC. So it's easy to kind of say, okay, these are the questions that the fighters should say, but this is what they're gonna tell them. I know the pitch is this, look at what we did with the UFC,

look at what the WWE is. We don't need anyone else. We don't need to have these, we don't need someone to come in and tell us what we're gonna do with our belt. Like, oh, Usyk Fury, and then we're gonna take that IBF belt away because the IBF said so.

This is why you and your language surprised me when you said seismic. This is what you mean by seismic. Yeah. We're not gonna listen to these guys. The government bodies are gone. In their world. In their world.

They're gonna occupy, they're gonna. Well no, they're gone then. They're gone. They're gone in their world. And I think that world is the future of boxing. Then they're gone. Well, Eddie could still work with them. Frank could still work with them.

Oscar could still work with them. And I would imagine that those But then it gets even more Fractured the waters get a bit more cloudy and muddy. No, they're gonna say over there then there is a world champion Mmm, and the WBC or the WB ever given him a belt, but then TK have a world champion over here Yeah, I mean are these world champions gonna make it they're gonna say they're gonna say the water is nice here It's nicer over here. They're gonna say they're gonna say the water is nice here. It's nicer over here They're gonna say that those belts mean nothing They're gonna say those belts are like the way they talk about the PFL belt or the one

Championship belt or the pride belt back in the day or the elitist C strike force our belts mean something They are our belts our rankings I think you're not the best history And this is why I like the comparison that you make between one FC and pride the UFC Although pride has been around a long time, UFC was still the first. So UFC has that history. The TK will never have the history of a WBA which has been around since, I don't know, it's 104 years old.

It won't have that. So you'd always be able to sell the history and look at the champions. The names that are attached to those belts being the biggest names of the sport, like you're saying, okay, you can be like Muhammad Ali, you can be Floyd Mayweather, even the kids coming through the Olympics that weren't even born when these guys were fighting will know of these guys. So you'll always be able to sell them that history. I think it's been a good, I think it's a great wake up call for these governing bodies. I think the governing bodies have been trash for years. I think the way in which they rule in terms of someone

just jumping up the ladder, so to speak, when that person's automatically fighting, all of a sudden they're number two ranked. They weren't even in the rankings. The sanctioning fees that fighters have to pay, the interim belts, the international belts. It's crap. This is what they're gonna sell them on.

This is all crap and you don't have to deal with any of it. And you're gonna come train at the Performance Center and we're gonna get you the best promotion and we're gonna put you on these weekends you know September 12th. Turkey said September 12th today on the Pat McAfee show. Sorry, sorry. Kinda let slip, I don't think he was there. Yeah, Turkey does whatever the hell he wants. September 12th is a Friday. Is it possible they're gonna do a Friday Canelo Crawford and then a Saturday UFC 3 whatever it will be 21?

Like you know and they're to promote them on UFC. I mean, we even see King Callum and I keep talking about him because it was so funny in that, in that video with the announcement, all the B-roll footages of King Callum, watch his face. Isn't that crazy? Because they don't have a lot of fight footage, boxing footage, but what they did with him is they pick a guy who

they think, okay, we could build them up. He's Irish. He's got to look, he's got to style, whatever. And they're going to try to find those guys and they're going to populate these mega cards with those guys and then hope that they then find the next parents, et cetera. You know, you know, you know, again, with the language use, and I can only go with what's been said or what's been written, that there seems to be this suggestion that Dana White

is the guy to fix boxing. like he's the best promoter. Yeah, and I'm like, as good as what Dana White's done with the UFC, there is no way on earth that Dana White's a better boxing promoter than Freddie or Frank. It's just, sorry, Eddie or Frank. I'm just not accepting it. Just because, and I go on What Have You Done For Me, lately, your history, and Eddie and Frank have put on

the biggest shows in the world. It's like the same way I wouldn't say Eddie and Frank are bigger than Bob Aron. I can only go with the history and Dana White's history in terms of boxing promotion is null and void. Well, it's nonexistent. Yeah, null and void. But he's going to say I'm the best combat sports promoter. I don't know. And so if I did it there, I could do it here.

I don't think he's even that anymore. I think he was that. I think there was a time when he's ceiling was through the roof. I mean, I mean, you, look, you watch MMA way more than I do, even sort of in terms of seeing the best fight, the best in UFC doesn't happen anymore. We don't see it as much as we used to. No, the, the, the, the business model has changed. Yeah. He always used to say that we would never turn into boxing. It will never be just like a top heavy card.

It will never just be like, oh, it's a thousand percent. But guess what? The biggest star in the sport is the UFC. There is only one combat sports entity on the planet if we're gonna exclude WWE from this If we aren't they could be included where they say the UFC is coming to town for either a fight night or 312 And they're selling out. It doesn't matter who's on the card It's the match you can't do that top rank can't do that if golden boy says we're coming to Southern, California Everyone's like yeah and with who if matrim says we're coming to Southern California, everyone's like, yeah, and with who? If Matrim says we're coming to London, the O2,

yeah, and with who? Okay, and you're on the other thinking, because I'm not, but TKO can say they're coming to town and everyone gets excited like it's the UFC. It will take some time, it will take some time, but yes, he is going to back. Now, it's gonna take some time. Look, they did the Callum Walsh fight in Ireland.

We just had my friend Pizion in Dublin. He's like, they were giving out tickets. And he was there to promote it. Like he actually made the trip. And so it's not just Fete a Compli that it's like, hey, we're open for business. But with their funding, with their promotional skills, with their production as well, let's be honest. He was doing an interview earlier. Steven A. Smith won? Yeah. First take. He said his son went to the Barclays Center this past weekend and the production was great. And he's right. It's not great. It wasn't.

It drags. He jokes that people are doing podcasts in between the fights and stuff like that. They put on the best sort of like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, right? Some of these shows drag. Some of these shows, the way we talk about the weigh-in sometimes Tank Davis showed up, I think an hour and a half

late to the weigh-ins. They would never allow that. It's, it's ruling with an iron fist. It hasn't helped itself in this situation. But there's so much wrong with the sport that someone's come in and said, okay, we can clean it up very quickly. And Turkey's done that.

And it's almost allowed someone to come in the door because there are so many problems. And because there are problems that it seemed like couldn't be fixed. And all of a sudden someone's come in and said, okay, we can fix it. This is what we can do. We can give you the biggest fights. And fans have gone, yay. And what Turkey does sudden someone's come in and said, okay, we can fix it. This is what we can do. We can give you the biggest fights and fans have gone,

yay. And what Turkey does have and what he does so well is Eddie, Eddie and Frank are both good at it, but Turkey has this relationship with fighters where he speaks to them. He calls them when, when everyone goes together for Riyadh season, he sits down with them personally. So you can only imagine if he's trying to sign these fighters and he knows what deals are on. He knows exactly how many fights they've got left in their deal. It's just a conversation of do you want to come over? And they're like yeah look at the way you treated us in Saudi, look at the money we're getting, we're coming over. My concern is and I think I always had this concern when one giant controls a sport like the way UFC has over the years is fighter pay. Yeah,

that's been the biggest problem for UFC fighters, right? And it's something that's now that it's come out and everyone now speaks about it. It's all well and good, this TKO thing, but let's just say, let's just fast forward 20 years and it's the only promotion, right? And it's killing it. And there are no more, or there are small ones.

Fighters are gonna lose out on this because the pay that fighters get, because, well, go there then. If you don't like us, go over there where you know you're not gonna get paid anything we're gonna get paid crumbs you're gonna have to stay here because this is where all the money is I wonder if they're gonna have to change that a little bit like like Dana White at the helm you know a guy he sips some tea says this a guy who enters the UFC gets 10 and 10 what What is, no, like a low level guy,

like what does a curtain jerker get on a match room card? He's probably not getting more than 10 and 10. And when I say 10 and 10, I say 10 to win. No, you are correct, 10,000, 10,000 to show 10,000 to win. You're right. Which is a BS model as well. That model doesn't exist in boxing. And you're right.

They're probably gonna get four or 5,000. But their jump to go past 10 and 10 is just like that. Where by in the UFC, I mean someone could be literally 10 and 10 or 20 and 20. But eight or nine fights. Look what does Johnny Fisher get? Oh, I don't wanna talk about a man's pocket, but Johnny Fischer's way higher than that.

We're talking good strong six figures. Oh okay, all right. Well Johnny Fischer in the UFC ain't making that. There you go. Right. There you go. Like what, yeah, like some, it's tough, you know, by the way, don't listen to me.

Don't listen to me. In the middle of the show, we had Lou DiBella, you know, Lou DiBella, Hall of Fame boxing promoter, tweet at me regarding this. And he's been, you know, a little kind of like getting over boxing and it seems like there's some hard feelings, but he's been in the game for decades.

This is what he tweeted to me. We could take a look at it right over here in a matter of moments. That's me on camera. Hello, everyone. Sorry, not right now. Not right now. We can't do it. Sorry, guys.

Okay. Not everyone back here. Tell me, tell me. What are they on break over there? What's going on? They're cooking. They're cooking. They're cooking.

Okay. Here is the, uh, here's yeah, thanks. Uh, maybe Frank can pull it up. Okay. This is the tweet. I'll read it to you. I have it in front of me. Paradigm of existing boxing is failing and being redefined.

Couldn't be more seismic. And I told you this entire shift in the model was coming. No surprise that Turkey aligns with Nick and Dana. And the timing couldn't be better. Boxing people, we did this to ourselves. Sport couldn't have been more poorly governed. Those who don't get it, don't get it because they are without vision or dumb,

which is one of the reasons the old house of cards is falling. This isn't evolution, it's revolution. This is what he wrote to me. That's interesting. And you know, I think that relates more to boxing over here in America. Like once HBO kind of waved the white flag and said, okay, we're not losing any more money in this sport.

And they decided to walk away. I was like, oh HBO I grew up with HBO Yeah, and then when Showtime did exactly the same thing. I was like, okay, what's going on and top-ranked still with ESPN It obviously comes to an end in a few months. I'm like, okay, this is this is mega over here It's not so much the case in the UK I know sky sports still show at TNT to an extent with Queensbury and obviously that's coming to an end. That's coming to an end. But I always feel like if Queensbury wanted to stay, they could have stayed with TNT. So in the UK, it's still quite big. There are stadium fights that shows every single week over here. And I mean, me and you spoke about what's going on with fights in New York that we haven't seen a big fight at MSG since

Serrano Taylor. So over here in America, I feel like boxing's almost destroyed itself. We don't, the stars don't fight and the stars that do fight don't talk. PBC seemed to have signed everyone at one stage and those fighters seem to have made so much money for doing nothing and then giving us one fight a year. Boxing killed itself over here. And it became over the last couple of years years a sport just in Europe, where it felt like everything was happening in Europe if it wasn't Canelo or Gervonta. So I kind of agree with Lou,

but I think Lou's referring to boxing in America as opposed to boxing worldwide. That is a good point. I've talked about it all the time. I can't believe midday on TalkSport, the network you work for. You guys are talking boxing. It's football and then boxing.

It's crazy to me. And it's sometimes not even like high level. No, no, we'll get anyone on. And it'll do great numbers. Like you guys are talking about, and I know Dillion White is a big deal, but like he gets injured. You guys are talking about it. Like we would talk about. It makes it back ages.

Yes. In the UK it's like, Dillion White's out. Yeah. Where over here, I'm trying to think of who. There would be no one. Comparison with Dillion White. Crawford doesn't get talked about on any radio station. This is the point.

So it's killed itself over here for years. And maybe it does need cleaning up for years and maybe it does need cleaning up. Honestly maybe it doesn't need cleaning up. So he said to that point, Dana White did, that we're gonna start here, we're gonna start in America, we have to fix it here and if we can establish ourselves here then we'll be a thing just like the UFC was right? They were a thing here and then it expanded. My question to you is what do you think? You know some of these people well and obviously this is most fair to ask them,

but since we're here and having this conversation, what do you think Eddie and Frank, and these guys know about this, like they knew it was kind of the worst kept secret, but like all this being said now, how do you think they feel about all of this? Do you know how many times I thought Frank Warren was done from boxing?

The amount of time I was like, oh, Frank ain't surviving this one. Like, impossible, and he always does. He always finds a way. Frank's been doing this boxing thing longer than me and you've been alive. And Eddie Hearn, through his dad, has been involved in boxing for as long as well.

I almost feel like they are, right now, with their thinking caps thinking, this is almost a declaration of war. Do they feel that way? Because let's be honest, the guy in the middle is still bankrolling a lot of stuff. This is why I think he changed their business. This is why I find it very strange. And again, I go back to the word crush. Yeah. Cause that's the one that kind of stood out in bright lights. When I heard, when I saw the word crush, I was like, are you referring

to matchroom in Queensbury? Was there not, I actually fought a couple of years ago, I'll show you at least when Turkey sort of came to the fore, that was a conversation about him buying Matrim in Queensbury. And that obviously didn't seem to happen. So I just find the language interesting. But if you're Eddie and Frank, I think it's business as usual. I think the idea of this TKO promotions and what it's going to be will only be that in a decade. Where we think of it as it now runs boxing, I don't think it's going to be as quick as people think. No, no, I think it's going to take time. I think Eddie and Frank just think, okay, we just do our thing like we've been doing. And if

they invite us over for Riyadh season events, or if they want to use us, fine. But for now, we're okay because we are well established. I think that to a degree, but you have to admit like Turkey changed their business, right? Dramatically. He changed their business dramatically. They're putting on these. I don't know if that's true. You know, and he was at the press conference yesterday. He had no fighters on the card. You know, when you say change the business, I look at Eddie and Frank prior to Turkey's involvement and I still see stadium fights. I still see sold out arenas.

I still see fights that did enormous pay-per-view numbers without the presence of Sort of Saudi involved obviously Saudi involvement helped incredibly I wouldn't say hasn't but I grew up where your friend Karl Frotch had 80 plus thousand at Wembley AJ's had Significant stadium fights doing millions of pay-per-views prior to that in stadiums not arena Stadiums for our American viewers that this guy was doing 90 to 80,000 back to back to back to back, Tyson Fury stadiums. So they've always had stars and they've always done big numbers. So I don't know if it changed their companies to that extent.

It's helped and it definitely gave them a push, but I almost think prior to that, they were always big players in boxing. My prediction is if asked, I'll probably say this is a sign that boxing is on fire. The business is booming. Everyone wants to get involved. Okay, how concerned do you think both of them? I don't think concern. Because obviously they would have known about this. Maybe even prior to them joining up with Riazis and they would have known about this information. I don't think they're concerned, but obviously they perk up and they say,

okay, this is interesting. And, and I ultimately wonder, they're not going to say anything negative Turkey, they need Turkey. And, uh, I wonder two things. Does this league, not the mega fights, but the league, do they play ball with others? Or do they say like, you're fighting for us and only us? Probably that. And also do these guys here, the old guards say like, nah, nah, don't worry. IBF, WBA, WBC, like we got you.

We're like, we're still going to be, and they all work together to kind of shun and stiff arm this entity and this vision here, because the ones that I think should be sweating right now are the sanctioning bodies. Yeah. They're the one. Oh, a hundred percent. I mean, the sanction and fees alone. Why do people even, I bring up IBF all hundred percent because I mean the sanctioning fees alone. Why do people even I?

Bring up IVF all the time because they seem to be the ones that like really like are yeah sticking to their guns Their rules why does anyone have to listen to them? Is it just because of the history attached to these belts? Like why doesn't matchroom just create their own belt? No, why doesn't top rank create their own belt? Why doesn't Queensbury do that because it doesn't have the history and the fighters won't care So if I is necessarily won't care about that But I will agree with you to the extent of why does everyone care about what the IBF's like? I'm with you on that. Why do they care about what they say, right? I just throw the belt away right like we've seen fires in the past. Okay, I don't know

I'm not panics action if he's goodbye, but I've always I understand why young fight is coming up Who chased a dream of Olympic gold in a world title I get where they kind of have the love for the Organizations because it must be exciting to just win that belt but the guys that have won it several times like Canelo Why does he care right what they do in fact can have those kind of dances to his own tune? I mean, I come in the last time he had a mandatory he kind of does what he wants to do So I don't understand why the old guard even care But I can understand why the new guard who are desperate to become world champions

I was actually thinking of Shakur Stevenson on the way here. I was thinking he's a freeweight world champion Does he care or is it now just money? Does he care about winning another belt? Does he care about becoming under? I don't think he does I could see a Shakur joining forces with 100% He's like actually that he's the one he's the this is yeah he's the perfect a boots yeah those guys that are heavy yes all of those guys that literally have no real promotional contracts many ones and have done what they wanted to do I almost feel like everyone actually on that a day is yesterday everyone on that top table I think could sign hmm I mean everyone Ryan we knows always had issues with Oscar and Bernard

and he seems okay now, but I think him. T.F. Ema Lopez, I mean, he can't stop tweeting nonsense about top rank. He's ready to go whenever they are. So I feel like everyone on that top table could be your first sign in for TKO promotions. By the way, top rank leaving ESPN, we talk about, I would not be shocked.

As I said, the UFC deal. I didn't even think of. Yes. The UFC deal is coming to an end. You want to do business with us still, you got to take this too. And, and I don't think ESPN will be upset about that. Why wouldn't they want the new shiny toy? Top rank old guard will get your new promotion. It's backed by Turkey. Dana's involved.

Nick Khan's involved. It's, uh, it's done in August. It like, they could slide right in there. Right. So, so they do the new deal with, I wouldn it's done in August. It like, they could slide right in there. Right. So, so they do the new deal with, I wouldn't, the way I feel all this is going is UFC does a deal with Netflix and ESPN and, and the major shows go on

Netflix and the, the fight nights and maybe some other pay-per-views go on ESPN and they figure it out. And then this boxing league, ESPN shows, and then the four mega events on Netflix. It just feels like it's right there. Amazon might be a player, but if I'm UFC- I find it all weird with regards to the broadcasters. Obviously that's a conversation

that no one's really touched on. Because again, you just mentioned that there is a potential and I believe it will happen, that Crawford and Kenan are fighting on Netflix. It just seems to make sense. All roads lead to that. If I'm DeZone, I'm like one second, we had Crawford on our last fight and we're doing Canelo in his next fight. We don't get Crawford-Canelo? It almost seems like they're getting crumbs of whatever's left for them,

which I find crazy. So if you're DeZone in this and you're seeing... How does it play out for them? I don't know. I mean there was an investment recently. This is why I keep, I keep trying to tell the audience and I know it's kind of a, you know, it's an MMA audience to a degree, but we're expanding, we're evolving on crown. But you've seen all this play out with the UFC. Telling them from- From the jump.

Yes. But they was like, oh, Ariel, what does Ariel know about boxing? Well, you know now. Yeah. Thank you for that. No, no, no, no, no. That's not to me. I appreciate that. That's Yeah, thank you for that. That's not a thank you for not saying that to me. I appreciate that. That's very kind of you. Okay, let's put a pin in this

because I do want to talk about yesterday. I don't, I want to continue to talk about it. Oh, you want to keep going? I'm joking. We'll come back, we'll come back. But I wanted to ask you because we did our show yesterday after the press conference and then all the fighters left and then we found out where they went.

They did a whole bunch of face-offs in Times Square. Some amazing scenes like and it almost just like crystallized all of it like these guys are actually going to be fighting in Times Square with Like the lights and the video boards behind them Let's let's react to some of the face-offs if we can unless unless Andy tells me we can oh we can Here's a Barbosa and Tia Fimo who kind of stole the show Yeah, that's that's the main event for me it's at least the people's main event because the other guys don't have heat. They used to have heat. And look, credit to Barbosa, who, again, we were at his fight, what, a year and a half ago when I thought we lost to Sean McComb and Sean can't get a fight and here is Barbosa.

Less than a year ago. 10 months ago. Wow, look what he's done in 10 months. That's crazy. But he's like, okay, this is my time to shine. I've been wanting you, Tio, for ages. And Tio's a character, you know the way I feel about Tio. He's a bit of a character as well. I think this is a fantastic matchup. And again, you've got people in Times Square

that have no idea what's going on. And they're stopping by like, so who's this guy with no top? And dungarees and a hat. What's going on here? And I think it's such a good idea. Okay, what a look that was. Then we move along to the, the chief support.

Is it the chief support? Is it the co-main event? I don't know. Chief support. What do you think is the difference by the way, chief support or co-main? Like what's, what's bigger? Co-main sounds better.

Co-main's bigger, chief support is like for a fight night. It's the second to last, but it's not quite. I've always said a co-main is a co-main and not a chief support. If the main event falls through this could slide up I like that. Yes, that's things and this poor chief support is almost the case of you are definitely second Yes, no doubt about it Everyone knows you're not the big guys where you look at this card and I mean all free could be chief support

Yes, right all coming event. Well free to try main event. Yeah, I think Dougie tried to say that yesterday But he's a try main event when I tried to say all co-main, but then he said this is the main. I was like, ah, come on. No, that doesn't work. Here we have Devin Haney and Jose Ramirez, a bit of a subdued face off. Subdued? They need to kind of, okay, they need to do something here with this. Because even the crowd, did you hear the last one? The crowd will kind of get involved.

Where's the crowd? Yeah, I don't know what happened. Okay, they're kind of there. Maybe they went up like maybe they went first fans a bit higher Okay, maybe I think this is a goal So how did Bernard get the honor of being in the middle Eddie left in there? He left it is like Oscar here I don't promote any of these fights. What did you make of Devon? By the way, he seemed he just kind of seemed He's always sort of reserved in subdued, but he just I was expecting fireworks He's up there with Ryan Garcia, the guy who beat him,

and then got popped, and then the lawsuit, and there was nothing. There was nothing there. I think Devin's been through a lot since that fight. Yeah. Honestly, I mean, I think you mentioned he's had a baby, but I think he's been through a lot. I think the heat that he got from Ryan fans is insane.

Honestly, and I think it can drain you. And I've seen him try and respond to a few, and I might just stop responding because Ryan fans are just, they're unlike anything I've ever seen in a sport of boxing. So I almost feel like he's drained. And that's why I think when we did our show yesterday and I said, you asked me who am I most concerned for?

It was Devin, because I don't know where Devin is mentally, but Devin will be ready. I think come fight time, he'll be ready. He knows, you know what it is? The carrot being dangled in front of all their faces is so scary, but it's also so rewarding. So I think he knows the carrot being dangled is millions. Ryan Garcia might be in is one of the most famous and certainly in America, like top five most recognizable names as far as boxing is concerned. Give me your five, give me

your five. I mean honestly, dude he might be number one. I was just gonna say. Dude, he might be. You will hate me for saying this, but Jake Paul might be number one. He is. If you go up to any sort of person and say, name me a boxer, does Jake Paul count? That might be the question. Now, if we're gonna remove him from the equation,

Ryan, Tank, Terrence, I'm talking Americans, right? Oh, okay, sorry. Oh, I guess Canelo probably counts. Yeah. That's it. And who would be five? Kevin. No way. No way.

Oh wow. Geez. Tyson. Okay. Do you want to say Walter? No, Tyson Fury. Oh, you even know he's not American? You just told me. Well, Canelo's not American either. Okay. Okay. I thought you meant American based. Yeah. Yeah. No, as far as recognizable.

Anyway, here's Ryan Garcia. And this was a solid one. Nah, yeah, this is good. This is good. It's really Romero to. Can I be honest with you? Yeah. And I don't I think I've got a word this correctly, because obviously what he was going through last year was I was talking about depression and mental health and everything.

I don't want to see wild Ryan back. Yeah. Like, oh, you want to dial it up. If Ryan was 100 percent wild last year, can I get 30? Because that was one kind of refreshing. No, that was a little much. I need 30. I need 30. Okay, forget the drinking and all the other stuff he was doing. I just need a 30% I need a bit more. But honestly, that press conference when I heard the name, this is gonna be crazy. Because obviously, I did you bank then the week before and I thinking this is gonna be crazy. Cause obviously I did Eubank Ben the week before and I was thinking, this is Eubank Ben, but with four other guys that don't like each other,

they all speak and, yeah. It was a little flat, but I feel like he is working very hard to correct the mistakes of the past year. I think that's a dangerous thing. You know, like in any sport, I almost feel like the crazy in some people is what makes them.

And again, it's almost like trying to rein in John Jones. You almost have to accept the bad and the good with John. That's just what it's been. And for years, we tried to hide that bad from John, but that's just who he is. And almost for like with Ryan, you might have to accept the bad. That's just who the guy is.

He's a wild character. But it went too far. No, it went too far. There was racist stuff in there. There was awful, awful stuff. I think if we're trying to get the best Ryan almost feel like you can't let that side completely vanish because it's part of you. You need to control it but you can't let it vanish. So we were talking about the the risk of having them fight because the the big fight to make of course is is Garcia versus Haney too and they're fighting two other guys and they

should beat those guys, but you know, things happen. Look at this past weekend. Tank had a plan, ends up a draw. You break a hand, you slip, you turn an ankle, you tear an ACL, who the hell knows, right? And so it's a risky game. And so we were talking about this on our show yesterday,

and there's our mutual friend, Tony Bellew, weighing in. Did you see his tweet? No, I didn't. You didn't see his tweet? I didn't, what did he say? You don't check Twitter. No, no, what did he say? He weighed in on our discussion.

Here's Tony Bellew. Good points, but let's all just be honest. These are fights both should win. The opponents on hand here have both lost to lesser men. It's smart matchmaking and a great show, but they're both fully expected to be winning, in my opinion. Great job, by the way, you two.

Hey, well done. Okay, I get it. But it's got a point. Of course. Yeah. But again, you could still break a hand in a match against someone that you can still get chinned. Yes. But ultimately you can still get chinned. Or you could end up being a draw or you could slip or you could get grease in your eye. Who knows what could happen. And both of these guys have been out of the ring for a year. By the time this rolls around, it would be like 13 months. So they're not fresh. They're moving up to a weight class and yes, so are their opponents, but they're moving up to a weight class, which both of them are not natural at, you know, they're

140 pounders really. I find it very risky. Honestly, I find it very, very risky for both. And you know, it's funny because there's obviously a lot of conversation about the biggest fight up there is Ryan versus Devon. I almost started to believe the biggest fight up there is Ryan versus Tio Fimo. I think Tio Fimo has almost, he's almost emerged from this. It's like, oh, you think I'm- Yes, but there's a history there with Devon. There's a whole story there. There is, there is, I guess. Yeah, but Tio's just sliding his way in as like, I'm the guy here, everyone. He was the best at the presser. He was great.

And I think he's been an idiot with some of the stuff he said, but it seems to somehow made him even more popular, which annoys me, but I don't know. I think there's a lot, cause didn't they say like, if Ryan wins and Devin wins, Ryan and Devin fight each other, then the winner fights Tio. I'm like, you can't plan like this. What's this planning that you have?

I think what they want, correct me if I'm wrong, Ryan wins, Devin wins, they fight. wins boots wins and they fight oh wow that's right you know that I mean that's pretty damn good yes there's a lot of ifs there and buts and maybe my boy Stan Jonas he's about to shock the world too you see again I don't like when they plan these things two three fights in advance because something goes awry either a loss or an injury and I you know, the worst thing as well about all of this. And this is where everyone's got to be a bit careful. When you plan, boxing fans already think judges take bribes.

This is just a conspiracy theory. They do not trust judges whatsoever. And when a fight's close, they all say, well, obviously he was going to win because that's planned with that. So they've got to be very careful with that type of matchmaking. I disagree with what Oscar said to us yesterday, which was he's like, no, this isn't, this isn't how you build fights. You're coming off a knockout loss.

You got to fight someone else. No, again, that's old school thinking. TKO promotions. UFC, you lose that fight. You're right back in there, right? Straight back in. Straight back in. Is he gets knocked out by Alex Pera. There ain't no tune up fight.

Nope. Back into the fray. Straight back in. Connor Nate Diaz. What? You choked me out? Okay, let's go again. Same weight class. Yes. You got a strike. Agreed. Honestly, I don't understand why they're not going straight at it. It kind of baffles me. It's the easiest win ever.

So I said when that fight, I said, I remember saying if this fight happens again, because of the controversy, it's a million pay per view, but it's not that necessarily the Saudis care too much about that, but it's a massive fight. And it's maybe too big for Times Square. That's, that is an arena. That's actually an arena sold out. I know you Americans care so much about gate. It does the gate. It does a massive gate as well, doesn't it? So yeah, but look, we're getting big fights regardless. We're getting big fights. Oh my God, what a stretch.

You've got U-Bank Ben on the 26th, this card on the second, Canelo on the third, maybe Inouye on the fourth as well. And this Crawford Canelo stuff in September and a whole bunch of other stuff. I wanna ask you about something, because I just mentioned Alex Brera. As you said that very quickly,

I am a bit concerned about all those, because all those are pay-per-view. And I think if you're the zone right now, and hopefully they watch and listen, I almost feel like, if you're a fight fighter, you can only afford one, do you decide which one? Or do the zone at this point in time,

maybe put a package deal together, where you pay for something. Well, they've been making them pretty cheap, right? Like 1999, I mean, a UFC pay-per-view is 74, 79. You could get three for the price of one. And I guess they appeal to different markets. Yes. You know, not many fight fans across the board

watch everything. So maybe they just pick and choose which one they want to watch. What I'm curious about is, I said on the show a couple of weeks ago, and you're a big MMA fan as well. You've been following, watching for a long time, covering as well. I said that following, watching for a long time, covering as well.

I said that the UFC has a star problem. That the biggest star on the sport is the UFC and Dana White, right? And that's by design. That's not a mistake. But you started talking about these larger than life characters in boxing, right? Right now, who's larger than life? Kanell is larger than life.

AJ's. Fury's larger than life. There's so many. Fury, Garcia's in that conversation. Pacoli's emerged. Like there's Joseph Parker. People are coming up. Better be a Bibl. Maybe not in America, but on a worldwide scale, right? And I'm starting to think like, man, listen, I'm not going to get into the argument. Eddie said it on the show that like boxing is harder than MMA. The MMA business here is on fire.

The UFC business in particular, their deal with ESPN is going to be gigantic. Their pay per view is big. Their gates are big. These are all ways to measure success. But do you agree with that assessment as someone who follows both, knows both very well, interacts with the stars of here has interacted with the

stars of there. Does the UFC in your, have a star problem? Do they not have big enough names? It's not even a question. It's not even a question. It's not even a question. And how does that make you feel like? How do you how do you feel about that as someone who's attracted to the larger than life characters, who talks to them, who interacts with them?

It surprises me because over the years, I've always felt like if star A vanishes or disappears, the UFC quickly find star B they're replaced so quickly you know you can go back to the Chuck Liddell TOTs time and then who's gonna replace them all of a sudden BJ Penn and a GSP emerge and but now I'm like where are they and I think the biggest star is a guy that doesn't speak English I love him don't be wrong I think he's fantastic Pereira doesn't maybe need to speak English, but he's their biggest star. But even he's been willed out so much by the UFC. He seems to be fighting more frequently. By the way, he loses on Saturday to a guy named

Magomed Ankalev. It's not great. That's such a scary matchup and I'm surprised they've made it just because Ankalev is a wrestler and you feel like he could just keep him on that floor for 25. Then what are you looking at? You're looking at a promotion that doesn't have Connor fighting actively these days. Sean O'Malley, who was supposed to be the next guy is probably going to fight for the belt in June, but that's not a gimme fight against Marab. Pereira just lost.

Is he just lost? Who knows how long he has left? Like who are your guys? Now I was on a radio show earlier today with my friend JD bunkus Roger Sportsnet and and he has been banging this drum for a long time there are no stars they have a big star problem and I would always say but for the first time I was like no no no you are right but I don't think on a Monday morning the UFC wakes up if Pereira loses on Saturday Dana White Hunter Campbell the boss is and says oh my god

this guy's falling. No, you know why they don't? And this is the problem between fans and businesses. Businesses look at numbers, fans look at the names. So I'm guessing the UFC model will be, Oh, one second, let's look at the numbers though, dude. Yeah. And all they care about is numbers. That's it. There are guys with computers that will say, yeah, but this did, this did. Whereas fans like, okay, no, no, but where's the star? Who can relate to?

So I don't think they care as much as we think they do. Do they maybe not care on Monday, but they should care about what it will become in a year or two? You have to have stars. At some point, this stance, which I believe in now, which is the UFC is the biggest star, at some point that fizzles out. By the way, you're not killing the UFC,

and I don't know if this is a direct relationship to no stars, but the Apex is killing me. Oh my God. Dude, and no, but that could almost be the reason as to why there is no stars as well. I know it's well, eventually if you, you know, if you're good enough, you go from the Apex to a numbered event, but like the Apex is just ruining people. But to the point where I don't even watch what goes on. I don't even watch the fights at the A is just ruining people. That's the point where I don't even watch what goes on. I don't even watch the fights at the apex anymore.

Yes. So sometimes you get really good performances at the apex because you see the highlights, oh, who's this dude? But you're not invested in watching at the apex. Like the apex for me was just for COVID. It's pandemic. All of a sudden data is like,

no, no, it saves us a lot of money. Let's keep it in house. It's ruined the UFC. Yes. It feels like McDonald's. It feels like everything is just carbon copy. They're all wearing the same thing. A lot of the fights are happening in the same place.

Nothing's sticking out. And that to me, again, right now is not a problem because they're flying. But in a year from now, if you're left with an organization that doesn't have any stars, what's so interesting about this, I was talking to a manager about this yesterday and he was saying to me and he was complaining about this, and I said, I don't know how to come to terms

with the fact that the sport has never been more popular in America, younger kids have never been more into it, my nephews who are in their teens who are in high school are asking me about mid-level guys, I'm like, I can't even believe you know who these people are, and yet I feel like there's this lack of, of star issue. And I don't know how to explain. It's never been more popular.

Kids are loving it. It's not just like a 34 year old male sport anymore. And yet if they only knew what it was six, seven, eight years ago, could you imagine in the, in the era of, of GSP and then Connor and Anderson Silva and all these guys, what would it be? Like maybe they just don't know better. Maybe they just don't know

and it's this nice new thing that they love. Even after them, we still had, I mean, Kobe Covington's crazy, but at least he tried to create his own thing, right? And that little beef with Kamaru. We had those guys at least, you know, we had Jorge Mazver, we had people that are like, okay, you maybe weren't as big as Connor as GSP,

but you've filtered out and you were still big. And the female side of things, I think, is horrendous, dude. Like, dude, honestly, it's- What do you mean, what do you mean? I'm a big defender of women's MMA, but I see a lot of people aren't on the same- The lack of stars on the female side of it. I don't even know what to say.

It's horrendous. Is it a star thing or a talent thing in your opinion? Are you one of those? No, no, no, no, they're super talented. Okay, okay. No, no, no, no, they're super talented. But there are some who say they're not. You watched it, no, no, no,

there's still some talent there. I mean, it's- There's just no luck. Shang Wei Li? Yeah, yeah, and her and Shevchenko are gonna look like they might, but there's such a size difference. Yeah, yeah.

I think it's too big. So again, it's almost like we're trying to force two stars that really shouldn't be fighting because there's not a weight category for them, I think, to get on. But it is cyclical a bit, right? All combat sports, boxing may be flying high and then there's a heavyweight division. Not to the extent of the drop in the UFC. Not to the extent. And then you don't get Aspen or John Jones.

Are you less interested? Yeah. You are? Yeah. Because I would still put myself down as a casual UFC fan. I mean, I watch most paper, sorry, than pay per view events, but I'm like, where the star, like this Aspen or John Jones thing. Yeah, tell me about it.

Like, dude, if this was the UFC five years, that fight's done. Five years ago, I feel like we're getting that fight. It's happening, there's no- Do you know why we're not? We're not getting that fight because A, John is asking for a lot of money, which he deserves. He's not out of bounds.

What kind of, give me a number, rough rough I know you won't know exact pocket numbers but what give me a rough number. What was that Deontay Wilder number? What did he get 20 million? 23. Is that right? 23. Okay cool so so why can't he get that? They don't need to make it there's no pressure on them they sold the pay-per-view business DSPN at least for now it could change at the end of this year. But what I mean by that is... No, but then you make Aspinal a star. Yeah, but...

If Aspinal beats John... It's all bought and paid for. There's no pressure on them anymore. And that's the problem. This is the problem. Aspinal's not a star because he can't make the fight. They were desperate to make these fights. They had... Conor Khabib, you gotta make that fight. Are you kidding? You have to do everything in your power to move mountains to make that fight.

John and Ghana. Went away. And I could see it now now John asked for a lot of money you could see the press conference right now where he'll sit up there and be like yeah we couldn't make it happen he was asking for too much Aspinall is the new champ right like can you not see that press conference that UFC fighters and I say UFC because again that's the big boy organization they must see the numbers that some of these boxes are making and we're talking mid-tier, lower level boxes. I'm talking that far in these Riyadh season cards. And obviously the numbers are rumored,

but they must hear or see the rumored numbers and think, well, what's going on here? What the hell is going on? I really don't know if they do. They don't look at, by the way, I've been talking about this for years. The UFC is about to sign a multi-billion dollar TV deal. Do they look at the NBA and say,

hey, those guys are getting 50% of that deal? Again, and this kind of goes back to the- They're getting 0%. And this goes back to the top of the discussion that we started with today. When one organization is running the roost, they can literally do whatever they want. And that's my fear with TKO promotions.

Look, it was early and we're just sort of throwing things out here, but you will get to a stage where we can pay you what you want because there's no other organization that's gonna pay you. So this is it and whatever. This is it and whatever. Don't know.

Can I ask you- You can ask me a thousand, I don't wanna go. Okay, you're having a good time. Yeah, I'm staying forever. This isn't like when you're on with Simon Jordan and Jim White, I mean, they don't let you get I ask you? You can ask me a thousand, I don't wanna go. Okay, you're having a good time. Yeah, I'm staying forever. This isn't like when you're on with Simon Jordan and Jim White, I mean, they don't let you get you a word in edgewise. And not only that, but they try and stitch me up with stuff.

Yeah, oh yeah, all caps, ade, band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, craziness. What about you, Bank Ben? Yeah. Like, what about the, like, I wanna be there. I wanna feel this. Dude, the buzz is incredible.

They love me in Tottenham. Dude, the buzz is incredible. You know, I think I said this to Eddie on stage at the second presser. The first presser we had fans, I don't know why we didn't have the second presser. Oh yeah, weird. Another thing they need to change.

Yeah, the fans. Big time, let them in, let them in. But at the second presser, the amount of media. Oh yeah. And I remember telling Eddie, I can always tell when this is big just by the amount of media that turn up. And was it legit media?

Sorry, I'm not putting down boxing, but like the mainstream media. All the written sheets, it was all those. This is big. This feels big because you've got, they've almost ticked the box for three generations. You've got people older than me that know their dads, that is tuning in because of the names.

Then you've got my generation that know both the dads and the sons. Then you've got the lower generation that don't even know their dads. Sorry, who are Nigel, Ben, and Chris Eubank? So they literally have three generations of fans all biting to see this fight. It's Tyson Paul-esque, don't laugh.

But in the way that that kind of like hit different generations, Yeah, yeah, okay. You know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean. There were the parents my age. The only difference is there was no hatred between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.

Apart from the slap when he stepped on his toes. No, this is obviously a lot more legitimate. Yeah. These guys, they don't like each other. They don't, they're so different. Did you do a face to face? No. We did the one.

I did the one, because I knew as soon as the X slap happened, I was like, oh my God, that means we're gonna not do the face off. And then they kind of said, okay, we're gonna do the one, because I knew as soon as the X-slap happened, I was like, Oh my God, that means we're going to not do the face off. And then they kind of said, okay, we're going to do the one and we're going to kind of stitch it together. So I asked Connor a question and I asked the same question to Chris. So they're not. So did you get Chris? No. Oh, you never got him. He never showed up. Yeah, he did show up. So what happened? He's like, I'm doing it. I was like, what do you mean? You saw him right there like this. Yeah. I

was like, okay, cause they said, okay, at a five minutes Chris is coming. So I'm doing it. Is that what you mean? You saw him? Right there, like this. Yeah. I was like, okay, cause they said, okay, Adde, five minutes, Chris is coming. So I'm like, here we go. Yeah. You know, I've done Connor already. And they said, Adde, Connor one was, I was like, okay, Chris came and he was quite casual. He's always dressed up, all designers.

Yeah, I love it. It was quite casual. And he was like, what's going on? And I was like, oh yeah, you're going to speak to Adde? And I was like, what's up, Chris? And he's like, yeah, what's up? Um, a bit of a heat there. And he was like, yeah, I'm doing this.

I was like, what? He said, no one told me about it. I was like, someone has definitely told you about this. I'm not having that. No one told you about a face-off when you know this is how it works. This isn't your first rodeo. And then he's like, I'm not dressed for it.

And I looked at him and I was like, what do you mean you're not dressed for it? He's like, I'm not dressed for it, I'm not doing it. So was like, what do you mean you're not dressed for it? He's like, I'm not dressed for it, I'm not doing it. So his manager went to one side and I was like, and this was a big deal. They spent thousands on this place. Oh yeah, it looked great. It looked great.

And I was like, he's gonna do it, surely he's gonna do it. And they're like, you know, he's not doing it. So he didn't do it. Do you think it was because of what he was wearing? I think he's got such an ego where it could be. I think everything with him has gotta be like, the beard's gotta be fantastic and everything's gotta be good. The way he walks with so much is exactly like his beard. I think everything with him has got to be like, Beard's got to be fantastic and everything's got to be good.

The way he walks with so much is exactly like his dad. I can't get enough of him. I think he is. Last week was amazing. I'm so upset he's 35. Ah, yeah. Because you know when you just said sort of the faces of world boxing,

I don't know if his ability would have got him there, but I do think just him being him, I think he could have been a star anywhere in the world. There's something like he would crush anyone at a press conference. Oh my God. And no one good luck to anyone. He annihilated Eddie. It was him against us. I felt like I was team match. Get control. Get control. He's telling you what to do. What do I do? Yeah. Oh my God. He was so great. And then it's his voice. It's his cadence. It's the way he speaks, like the slow methodical way is, I couldn't get enough.

Dude, you know, is one of the first ones, and this is what I guess where, and this is not digging out Dougie Fish or anything, but we're quite different. Whereas I would never interrupt the fight. I don't go. Yeah, you gotta let him talk. So I was like, when he went and he was like,

I was like, in my ear, I'm thinking they're trying to tell me, and I was like, no, I and he was like, I was like, in my ear, I'm thinking they're trying to tell me like, and I was like, no, I'm letting him, this is gold, I don't wanna do anything. And he was just 10-7 everyone. Like literally everyone, even 10-7 Ben Chalam. And he's training Rodney Davis, like, Rodney, I told you not to say this, I was like, he just,

ah, he's gold, he's gold. Do you think come fight week, it's gonna be gigantic? I think this is gonna be, unless they make AJ Fury, which I still have and harbor hopes about, I think this is gonna be the biggest fight, I'm gonna say the biggest fight in the world this year in terms of just numbers, but I do think- But it means, you know what it means very little here.

I know, you know, I said that to someone yesterday, the press, I said- Chris Eubank walks down the street here, I don't know. I said, has it come over? No, no. But it's the same thing with, I was watching all those, I was thinking about that as well yesterday, because as much as we say these guys are big stars,

there is only a handful of stars that can cross across each pond and be known. Like Devin Haney walks in London, he's not getting any notice. Tifimo, literally no one would know who. Ryan, people might say, is that Ryan? But even then, it's very little. So it's the same, it's just football over there,

football, football, football, football. And they might know a few NBA stars, because they're taller, he. So it's the same. It's just football over there. Football, football, football, football. And they might know a few NBA stars because they're taller. You might be playing in the NBA. It's the same. Did you see Buddy Hield yesterday? Dude, I saw Buddy Hield. Where?

What a random tweet from you. I didn't know if you went to the game. No, no, no. How did you even know who Buddy Hield was? Oh, come on. Come on. You don't know who Buddy Hield is. One of the best free point shooters in NBA.

Oh my God. And obviously I'm a big golden state warriors. Are you? Yeah, I am. Obviously. The last decade. Oh, wow. Okay.

Sorry. What? Forrest. I'm not bandwagon. What have they won? Bandwagon. But yeah, I'm definitely. So he walked into the restaurant.

Oh, wow. I was like, my God, that's, I was like, how tall is this guy? Cause you know, he looks about, cause Steph looks about five, seven. He looks about six foot by the heel. I was like, my God, he's the same height as AJ. He was the same height as AJ. Honestly, it would always shock me this.

This tweet is so true. I mean it by the way. By just how big they look in person. Zion Williamson, I think Wade, did you see Wade's response to it? Wade said he would never get over the fact him seeing Zion Williamson next to Inganu and realizing that Williamson was bigger than Inganu.

Like LeBron. LeBron is like a heavyweight that has to cut to make 265. Crazy. But on the court, yeah. It's so big. Did you say anything to him? Yeah, I said, buddy.

Did you really? Where were you? Some Chinese restaurant, which was very booby. You and Big John? No, no, no. Actually, I could, buddy. Did you really? Where were you? Some Chinese restaurant, which was very bougie. You and Big John? No, no, no. Actually, I could have been. But I didn't realize how fancy it was. Oh.

All superstar cars outside. Was it Mr. Chow? I don't know what it was called. That's a super famous. Is it? It might have been that, because it was very fancy. Who'd you go with? There was a lot of ballers.

Thanks for the call. You said that you were busy. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know you were going to fancy Chinese restaurants. I didn't know you were. to fancy, fancy Chinese restaurants. I didn't know until the bill came. I was like, what is this, we all did this. Were you with some executive?

Chris Glanville, if you desire. They could pay for that. They did pay, I didn't enter my pocket whatsoever. Yeah, buddy, it was enormous. I did see, you fancy yourself some sort of athletic influencer type. I did see you on the streets of New York doing like pull ups. Look at the form in this. That is, look at the form. That's actually incredible. It is impressive.

If you didn't know you'd think someone's pushing my legs up. That's how good the form looks. I can't do one of those. Dude, it was easy. I was like, how many have we done? 20? I think I've done like 25 or something. Two things I love. Number one, I love that you knew just by my setup that the video was coming. Yeah, I knew it was coming. You knew it. And number two, I couldn't help but wonder,

but like, you know how dirty that bar is? When I dropped down, I looked at my hands. I was like, my hands have changed color. It was disgraceful. I would never do that. No, it was disgraceful, but they challenged me. They're like, Addy, can you jump up and do two? I was like, two, I'll give you 20.

And they're like, wait, wait, I was like, one second. Yeah, easy work. See, this is the difference between you and I. I big you up, I build you up. I give you props upon props. Anyone says anything negative? Anyone says anything negative? I stop them in their tracks.

And then again, it's like- Here we go, go on, play the tape. No, no, no, we're not even playing it we're not even bothering with that we're just showing the picture because yesterday we couldn't show the picture you know him in flat earth him and him and him and the guy who stabbed me in the back do we have it God yeah there look how happy you are look how happy you are why are you so happy in this present this guy's trying to ruin me.

This was actually, he's not trying. No one can ruin you. You're untouchable. But this was the bit when he said he would fight Jake Paul and it would be for charity. And I looked at him and said, what are you talking about charity? He's like, I said it already.

I said, all right, say it again then. He said, I've said it already. I said, say it again then. And he just couldn't say it again. Why do these fighters always lie about charity? I know, because then they think it's impossible to go back on that. Like you can't hit them, you can't criticize them,

you can't knock them down if it's for charity. Oh, it's for charity. Well, I did, because I was like, you're lying. You're not doing this for charity. And he wants the fight. He is, I don't care what he says, camera, this camera, he is desperate for this fight. I would say desperate to fight Jake Paul.

I don't, Karl's rich. Karl's made a lot of money in his career. He's not like he's poor, but obviously he wouldn't win another five million. I think he just wants to beat him up. I think he just wants to show that he's still got it. And I think Karl needs to be concerned because he's not had a proper fight since George Groves,

which was a decade ago. So I don't know. You know what's so crazy about the Karl Frosch thing for me? Like I remember the super six. I remember all that stuff. And like, so to hear him insult me, like I'm some, and I never, like really never said anything. All I said was literally what you said.

Stop lying. You want the fight. That's it. And then he wanted this whole thing. I think you said a bit more. I think you said something. I think you said, nobody knows who he is. And you know, to a fighter and don't, Agree or disagree. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no You know, obviously with him, his thing is 80,000 Hall of Famer, all that kind of stuff.

So for him, and by the way, obviously, look, most of the times when he walks around in the UK, which is most of the time, he's known by everyone. So when he hears that no one would know who he is in America, I think it hurts him. Cause he had a couple of decent fights over here. Decent fights. He fought at Boardwalk Hall twice. He fought Jermaine Taylor. And then he fought once at a nightclub in California.

See, see, this is the problem. See, this is your issue. Literally, in three venues. Why don't you just let it go? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I always think of that Frank Warren drop. You know that Frank Warren drop? No. Who gives a flying fuck about Carl Frock or what he's got to say? There's anybody really interested.

Why does Frank keep calling him Crock? What an operation. Okay, speaking of athletics, you know, we have a great sponsor here on the program Averon. Are you familiar with the Averon? I do. I was about to say it's competitions name. No, no, no. Don't talk about the competition. But obviously it's Avron Active. Can I get one? Oh, we can work on that. Say, say it again. Averon. Can I get one? Yes, we're going to work on it. Averonactive.com.

But we have our guy in the back, GC, Connor, who's been killing everyone. He's been doing a 60 second challenge against New York Rick. You know New York Rick, Eric, who you've been in contact with. And then all of a sudden, he started to insult the good people of Long Island. And we have a producer on our show named Honor Jordan, who hails from Long Island, who has now challenged him. And this is in the interim because Sean Brady, the UFC welterweight contender

who was fighting Leon Edwards in London, actually was the first one to be challenged by him. He went from New York Rick to Sean Brady, who's a performance center champion when it comes to the bike challenge. And so we have this whole thing. Anyway, in case you missed the back Here it is here it is here's the back story

On Air Jordan, you know, I keep hearing stuff about Long Island out there So yeah, that keeps up ever, you know get on the bike and represent your your trash ass little city of Long Island Did we just develop a rivalry? I'm ready whenever you are, Jordan. It's been developing, Eric, since last... Off the couch! Literally, I'm playing nice during fight feasts, but the whole time, Connor's just... You were stewing?

Talking so much shit. Oh my god. I'll come straight off the couch and work your ass Jordan whenever I'll do it for all the anti Long Island people out there. I don't want to mess up your precious fight or sorry bike ride with So you think you're gonna win and you're gonna fight and I steal the race from you Oh, so you want Brady you can go against Brady GC so everyone knows that he's Georgia nothing compared to long Work in my life. I'll give you a 10 second head start. What do you want Jordan? So here's the thing I'd a there's been a lot of tension back there on the program, a lot of tension between the production team and this has been simmering.

And so we thought we'd have the challenge right now. What? We watch it. Yeah. You and I watch it. I thought you were gonna try and tell me to, okay, cause I'm not ready for that. You're not ready?

To challenge? No, no, no, it's gonna be Jordan. It's gonna be me and you watching. Outside? Yes, no, we're gonna watch it from here. Okay, go ahead. Guys, are you there? There they are.

Hello gents, how are you? Look at Jordan, he's become a boy in the back. Yes, he's all the way in the back. Jordan, is this your on-air debut? I was on Fight Piece. No, on the age show, on the age show. It's kind of surreal to see you in this spot right here. I can hear his heart beating from here.

Can I be honest with you? Jordan looks a bit nervous. Jordan looks nervous. Jordan looks a bit nervous. This is just my face. You talked a big game there. This is pure rage and anger. He looks a bit nervous. I can't lie. Jordan, you're doing the all of Long Island. This is for, you know, he talked a lot of trash. Good. This is for Mariah Carey. This is for, you know, Billy Crystal. Make sure it's for everyone when you disappoint them. This is for the greatest musician of all time, fricking Billy Joel.

I mean, like, the disrespect is unbelievable. I'm gonna get out there, and I'm just gonna leave him in my dust. He's gonna be eating my shorts at the end of this. Okay, that's the fire. Disappointment's gonna taste that much sweeter. I can't wait. Okay, now you mentioned something, GC.

You said a 10-second head start. Is that an official? No, no, no, no. They say no. They say no. I actually wanted to go five minutes. I wanted 10 ten minutes I wanted to really show the domination they demand just a minute first who's up first I'll go first Challenger always goes first okay Challenger up first there he is oh look at this three and oh I guess oh no

give us a tale the tape out of you do. I don't know if Jordan's taller. I don't know if that's a fact. Oh, interesting. You know like WW where they lie about the height. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He lied about his height to make himself feel better. I don't think he's 6'2". He's got the three in one! Oh, I love it.

I like this. Shout out to Avron. There's the bike. It's a beaut. This is so much pressure. Wait, has everyone been drug tested here? No, no. we let it go. No, no, forget about it. I was actually working with Lance Armstrong. Okay, so what are you doing? Set the stage for us here, Jordan. By the way, this bike cannot be easier to work.

I'm going in, set up a profile competition. We're going head to head here, one minute, and we're just gonna- I was ready for five. Oh my God, this is incredible. Get that resistance up. Crank that resistance up, man. Set a number.

This is incredible. The tension. 60 seconds, right? 60 seconds. Give me something to beat here, Jordan. And so the number to look at is the output. Rick thought this was difficult. Right in the middle over there.

You see that three? Just getting started. So it's the one with the highest number. So he has to push, but the mistake that New York Rick made last time Push Jordan pull too hard to her long Island. And so he fizzled out Gc what did you get? What did you get? What's your high? High is like 26 Wow, by the way is Jordan going really slow or he's on 150 resistance right now

Why are you doing this? Why are you going so high through the mud right now his legs are completely stopped? Get to crank down the resistance Jordan what a massive mental error All that shit talking and he does something like this he's back sure what's going on time fuck Jordan I think you're at 10 seconds 10. Yeah, we're at 16 I think you're at 10 seconds 10. Yes, we're at 16 This is Jordan push the cake walk. Come on. John get the 20 get to 20. Oh And that's time

This is what you did for the people of Long Island, this was your representation Everything I've ever said about Long Island is true. Billy Joel. Jordan. Holy shit. How much money did you waste on that t-shirt? Just like that, one minute you just threw away the usefulness of that t-shirt. All right, head over there. Head over there, GC.

Let's see, I mean, I think he might be able to smoke him in like 25 seconds. I think he'll do it in 20 seconds. Yeah. 20 seconds, he'll get up there. Golly, Jordan talked a big game. He showed the shirt. It's the t-shirt, dude. He had it made. He's like Mariah Carey, Billy Joel. He's like, oh my God. Have you Golly, Jordan talked a big game. He showed the shirt. He had it made. He's like Mariah Carey, Billy Jars.

Oh my God. Have you ever been on one of those? No. You've been on the other bikes? Yes. The other bikes are fun, but this one, what's great about the Avron. My hands are tingling.

Oh really? You want some of that smoke? The competitive juices are running through me right now. Wait a second, wait a second. No, no, no, no. Okay, we'll put it, look at this guy. Look at this. He is, yeah, he's in shape.

He's in shape. He can tell you that Eva runs marathons for breakfast. Do you run marathons? Not for breakfast, but I have run a marathon. See, there you go, I knew it. Probably like avocado and toast dude, right? Are you an avocado and toast dude? Oh man, one of my favorite meals.

You're speaking so much better. I knew it. Goes to the gym every morning. Okay, what is the prediction as far as how long it will take you to beat the 18? I think I can probably do it in 40 seconds. OK, wow, really? I thought less. We're going to log out. We're going to go to my profile.

Look at that big smiling face. Look at this production. I mean, you can't lie. I mean, Averon is it? Yeah, Averon. Yeah, they must be paying by box. Well, there we go. Fantastic. No one's ever done anything like this. It's fantastic. Here we go. Okay, five second little head start there. The official...

What was it? 18? 18. It needed to be 20. I'm trying to find Jordan's thing. It doesn't matter. Just beat the 18. All right. That's all I need to know. Here we go for all the marbles. Yeah, he's going to do it.

Sean Brady's probably watching as we speak. All right. I just have to beat 18 resistance. Yeah. Three, two, and we're off. He starts standing. The Georgia start. He really is going to. Oh, my God. he's already at three.

He's dominating me already. This is embarrassing. Ten seconds in, he's already at seven. I'm already at nine. Ten. That is a Georgia peach. He's at twenty seconds and he's got six more to go, five more to go now.

This is impressive. Is he gonna stop? You've got really strong legs in it. Is he gonna stop at 19 or go the full 60? 19, 35 seconds, get to 19. Yeah, there it is. I got worked, I got worked. Jordan, what happened? The rematch will happen.

I'll get in shape after the summer, we'll be good. Easy work. Let's just set a number here real quick. Oh no. So something like- No, no, ease off. Ease off. Ease off Connor.

I have an idea. I have an idea. Ease off. No, no, no, fuck it. Connor, he wants that boat. He wants that boat. I don't know how to do it. No, no, no.

Oh, you gotta do it. No, you gotta do it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Connor, he said that his hands were tingling. I trained legs. I trained legs. Do you challenge? He just did it. I trained legs today, you challenge? He just did it trained legs today

So my legs are weak Connor. Do you challenge out it right now? Anyone yes What to do what do you mean know what to do you really have to pedal know what to press Let's ask the chat get on the bike chat. I'm good on the the bike. Should he do it? They're all saying you should do it. They're they're all saying you're a coward. They're all saying he's a coward. It's not working right now Wow, this is cowardly Wow hamstring just gone bitch you just went on Brady not the only duck guys He just said he just said his hamstring just gone. This bitch just went. John Brady, not the only duck. Guys, he just said his hamstring just went. He literally just pulled a Michael Johnson

against Donovan Bailey circa 1996. Oh, he's going out there. He's going out there. I don't believe it. He's walking out there. Yes, now they're all saying it. They're a little bit, oh, they're calling him a duck. They're calling him a coward.

Do it, Addey. Addey afraid. He's about to get smoked. Connor, are you okay? Do you have anything left in the tank though? I'm not gonna lie, the legs are a little bit jelly, but I mean, we never stepped down from a cat to a monkey. I want him to go first.

Let him go first. Yeah, yeah, give Connor a rest time. Yes, yes, yes. Let him set the standard and you blow right through him. We'll see what he gets. I mean, did y'all see Jordan? Like, can we go back? Yeah, we saw him. Don't worry, we saw him. We'll get a part two. I mean, did y'all see Jordan? I mean, go back. Yeah, we saw me.

Don't worry, we saw me. We'll get a part two. Very good chance Adde doesn't know how to get there. You know, he's only been here once before, so we might have to go grab him. Jordan had a real belief that he was gonna beat me. He actually thought he was gonna beat me. Oh my God, they're calling Adde a duck.

He is, where is he? It's all ducks in the chat right now. Oh my God, Adde. They're killing you. They're killing you. They're killing you. What kind of pants was he rocking? He was wearing like jeans, but they were a little baggy. So I think he'll be okay.

All right, we got some behind the scenes people going to find him right now. Oh my God, he is really lost. He stormed out of here and he probably made a right turn into Yahoo Finance. He's probably on the Yahoo Finance show right now. I actually think he's doing some pushups outside to look a little swole for the bike.

This is early MMA days. I'm taking two fights in one night. Yeah, this is a one night tournament. They're currently, I'm seeing a minus 20,000 for GC. I'm seeing a minus 450. Look, Adi just did like 25 pull-ups last night. He's in unbelievable shape. I've already done it once.

Something they're saying that he's in his car, that he left, that he actually left. He's gone. By the way, this is a two-minute walk. Where could he possibly be? Where did he go? I think he might be hiding in the bathroom. Yeah, he left the building.

He just walked out. It's over. I mean, is that a 10? This is like that fight where they fell out of the ring. Oh Has he emerged? You see him? Oh What do you think he's doing he's probably he's either gone in the bathroom or doing a Walking out. I keep expecting it to be him At some point it's almost like you have to count him out like old school pro wrestling yeah there he is

he's in he's in great shape he's in look at those Python go right here all they do is press go. Addy, can you hear me? I can hear you, Ariel. Oh my God. Okay. They were micing him up. Mic his ass up. I can hear you.

Addy, how do you feel? I'm a bit nervous. I don't like this. Oh, I love it. But I'm gonna do something here. My trousers are too tight. His trousers are too tight. But no excuse. No, it's, oh my God.

Addy, you're the best side. I love that GC is watching. Just stand. I just want him to make sure he knows how to, you know, how to bike it. I just want him to love that GC is watching. Just stand. Make sure he knows how to you know. Yeah I just want him to get me to operational mode. All right. Addy's the B side so you go first. What about the tension? How did I do a slither? All right so it's gonna be right here it's gonna come up on your left and your right side super easy you just scroll through it. The tension, so I want it. Okay how, what did you start with? 100. And what did you end with? Like 70. Scroll down a little bit as it goes on as the legs start to give.

So 22 was the number, yeah? Yup. Alright Arians, do this. Yeah, you feel good? Are you nervous? If I get injured because of you, and I can't make up a whale. Change the resistance right there if you want to change it. Oh here we go, here we go.

Change the resistance, there we go. Let me tell you, don't go to 150 right off the bat. I'm actually a little bit nervous myself now. Here it is. A hard time. Come on out. Hey, this is, this is power. This is real power from out here. Here it goes.

I'm thinking of numbers about to come from this. This English power. Yeah. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Oh, he's putting up a number. Wow. This is impressive. No, I'm not going to be able to beat this. There's no way. No, he's putting up a number. Wow. This is impressive.

I'm not going to be able to beat this. There's no way. No, this is insanity right now. He is posting a number. Oh, here it is. This is impressive. I'm so tired. What?

That's it? Wait, can I do more? Yes. It's a whole minute. You have 20 seconds. He's putting up a number right here. Oh shit. What do you mean? Keep going, you're right there. His legs are dying out. He's got to go down resistance. Go, go, go on. Keep going, you've got seven seconds. I thought we were looking at like a 35. This is still not bad.

Keep going, keep going. 23! And that's it. 23, not. Hey, that's impressive, but why did you stop? I was expecting I was hard. I thought this motherfucker was gonna put up a number for a second No, I mean I gotta say being taken off my waist For a first time. Yeah That's damn impressive. Oh, that's better than anything Rick and Jordan have been able to do. It's that Nigerian power. Oh All right now I need to beat this? Yeah. How do you feel?

How do you feel? I don't feel great. Legs kind of hurting from the first one. I'm not joking. My legs have gone completely. No, they're gone. Mine don't feel great right now. They just go.

By the way, why do you guys keep putting the resistance so high? Oh, one second. Is this Ariel the expert talking? No, I'm just wondering. Where's Ariel's number? He's never gotten on the bike. Where's your number, Ariel? keep putting the resistance so high. I just sit back and commentate the fights I don't actually partake in them. You gotta put the resistance high so that you can get good output. If you put it too low remember the first time I went it was on super low resistance you're not getting anything you're just spinning in place.

I think the best resistance is that 80. Ade saying his legs are completely gone after doing what I've already done. Now I have to beat that. Oh, here we go. All right, here it is. Okay, so what was the final number? 23. 23.

He's gonna do 23. It was... When you get to like 17, oh my God. It's gone. It's gone. His legs are gone. All right, let's see if I can go time machine. It was a little suspect.

I think this is Rick right here he just did it yep all right here we go here we go yeah you get the bike if you win if you beat him right now you get the bike He ain't fucking beating me. Come on! Let's go! Do it for the show! Wow!

Is he okay? Pace yourself! We gotta be on the resistance goodness! He ain't beating it! I can't speak! He's gone! Come on! He's gone! Yo Connor, this is getting worrisome!

Jordan! 30 second mark! He ain't doing it! He ain't doing it! For Georgia! Come on Connor! Keep going! Keep pushing! 20 seconds! Don Brady ain't calling you to do that! Connor! Connor come on! 15 seconds! Oh you're almost there! 10! You got it GC! Keep going Connor! You got it! Hang on! He's got it! He's got it!

He's got it! The ride is still on! The champ reigns! Oh my god, one of the greatest moments of the history. That was truly one of the most dramatic, one of the most entertaining, one of the most captivating moments in the history of this program. They're gone. Oh my god. They're gone. I'm not even making this up. Thank you very much to our good friends over at Avron

Active for their support. AvronActive.com slash Uncrowned is the place to be. If you want to get $50 off your first order and they have gamified workouts, treadmills, bikes, rowers, what's better than that? That was incredible stuff. Well done, fair play to the great Ade Oladipo for jumping in on that. Check out my show with him, Aron Ade, On Da Zone, each and every Tuesday, tremendous stuff there. We're gonna take a quick break, we'll let them relax, we'll be back with your

questions, do not go anywhere. We'll be back with your questions. Do not go anywhere. That was my conversation with Tony Ferguson from our Monday show. How great was that? And how are Connor's legs? I'm very curious. They're coming back.

They're coming back. I mean, really, there was like a five minute period there where I was like, what's going on man? My legs feel like jelly, but we're good now, we're good. Oh wow, look at that. Yeah, hell yeah, Floyd Landis wishes he could be me. Yeah, do you wanna be Floyd Landis though? I'm me.

Tade Pogac, Lance Armstrong. But didn't Floyd get popped? Everyone got popped. Yeah, that's right. I'll get popped one day. There was a moment there where it got very dicey. Eve's little face stopped believing. No, no, I said push through, push through, push through,

but you had to dig down deep. Have you ever had to dig such a deep? That was deep, that was deep for sure. To do it on the back to back, Adé, I mean, he showed it, he died out. Yeah, he's a beast, he's a beast. And the way that the bike just stops, laughs in your face when you stop pedaling. I have to be honest, he's a beast. He's a beast. And the way that the bike just stops, laughs in your face when you stop pedaling.

I have to be honest. He's, he's very, he's very fit as they say. He's a fit bird, as they like to say in the business. Uh, I think with a little more prep, he gives you a run for your money. Oh, he gave me a run for my money. Yeah. Now we'll see how I do if I'm fresh. Yeah. Are you okay now?

You look like you're struggling. The legs have come back now, the legs feel better now. I still hear by the way Connor on the the speaker, can we can we take that off? Frankie, can we take the speaker off? I wrote it on the thing and no one saw it. Oh no, that's much better. Thank you, thank you so much. Tremendous stuff, tremendous stuff gents and again thank you very much to Averon for the bike. You can't get that kind of content anywhere else.

Let's get to the questions, shall we? It is time, Frankie. Very much favorite segment of the week. It is time. It's time for all that knows. Been a long day around these parts. I'm losing my voice. Tom has fallen.

Let's get into it, shall we? MMA Anonymous has asked me this question a few times, asking if there's a resolution to the James Krause situation. I haven't heard anything and I don't know if there ever will be a resolution to be honest. He has kind of emerged, he's popped up again so I don't know if that's a sign of everything being okay but as of right now I don't know of anything coming down the pipeline if you will as far as some sort of resolution. This story is well over a year old now. So I've seen you ask this question a bunch of the reason why I didn't answer is just cause I don't

have an answer. Uh, it's kind of like bigger than, than sport, but I don't know if anything is coming in the, uh, the near future. Um, this is from Matt Rick, the gathering, gathering, uh, first question from my new name as I'm moving from San Diego to Whistler this year, what should I know about Canada before moving to the great white North?

Well, San Diego, the weather is way better. That's, that's for starters. They are, I mean, Whistler is a beautiful town. I was there in 2010 for the Olympics. Uh, if you're a skier, you'll love it. Um, obviously there's the, the free healthcare. Um, some might say the people are a little nicer, kinder, more, more, I don't know, more down to

earth friendlier, although I love San Diego. I can't really say anything negative about San Diego. Um, the food is great there, but I would say the food is, is good. more, I don't know, more down to earth friendlier. Although I love San Diego. I can't really say anything negative about San Diego. Um, the food is great there, but I would say the food is as good in San Diego's. I don't just w we're, we're very much like you.

We're very much like you. We're good, kindhearted people. And if you're a skier, you're about to go to paradise. So congrats. Um, I feel like you were struggling to put that together. The game I play is magic.

Yeah, no, I know. But he's spelled it. The gout. Oh, got it. Got it. Got it. He's just combining all my little in jokes together. Uh, okay.

I got it now. Um, BS 11759. Can we get the boys in the back to play UFC five during fight breaks this weekend, similar to how they did for the boxing card a few weeks ago. We got play UFC five during fight breaks this weekend, similar to how they did for the boxing card a few weeks ago. We got some stuff planned. Maybe not this weekend, but we'll do it at some

point, but we, we got some other stuff planned. We're going to try and keep it light. Okay. That was fun. That was, um, undisputed, right? Yeah. What would you guys rate that out of 10? I'm, I'm out of the video game space for a while.

So I actually really enjoyed it cause I I haven't played a boxing or fight, like UFC type game in a long time, and I was impressed by the graphics, but maybe I'm not the best bar. What were some of your favorite matchups? Graphics and gameplay was fun, but man, it was quite limited. Frank asked that because in practice,

I knocked out Carl Frosch with Roy Jones Jr. No big deal. He didn't want to lick in his lips. I thought the graphics, but it's hard if you're not playing it. You know what I mean? I don't know. You see it swinging with air, and you're like, look at these jamokes.

Yeah, it's hard. It is difficult to find your timing and your stuff. But I quite enjoyed it. But again, I haven't played a game in 10 years, so anything is going to feel pretty great to me. Mr. Mystery Balls, congratulations on 250k subs. Yahoo! Yahoo! Thank you very much to the subscribers and the supporters and all the people who have our back.

Mazel tov to everyone who is working or has worked on the channel. It is a treasure. Thank you. Special shout out to Ad Evans. Yes. He was hilarious in the chat and to Luciana and Drudge. Yes, the 10 and the seven or Ariel and the bad girl was the highlight of my week.

Wow. You were the one. Uh, question, any word on when PFL announces the first round of the tournament? Well, they announced the dates and they just announced light heavyweight. So I think we have it now. Or is he referring to the matchups?

Maybe it's the matchups and that is TBD. Uh, do the fighters know who their opponents are in less than a month? Only one fight is on topology. That's a good question. I'll be honest. I haven't asked. Finally, would you please have the Mick Grizzla on his next fight when it gets scheduled.

PT should remind you. Oh, Lewis McGryllan. Sure. Big Game Hunting. For the whole team, I just started Jiu-Jitsu last month and I'm curious with all of you covering the sport all week every week, how come none of you partake in any sort of mixed martial arts training? I box twice a week. I've told you guys this. I just, I don't know. I don't advertise it very much. I'm not that good, but I enjoy it.

It's kind of like the highlight of my week as far as like non work stuff. Ariel, with the germaphobe inside of you, allow you to do such a thing rolling around barefoot and sweaty. I don't do jujitsu. I have done it. I like boxing the best. And that rolling around barefoot and sweaty. I

don't do Jiu-Jitsu, I have done it, I like boxing the best and that's about it. Does anyone else do anything right now Jiu-Jitsu wise? I would like to get back into Jiu-Jitsu, I just don't have time. Yeah. I would love to. I want to put my kids in it and when I finally do and we have a school right near us, when I do hopefully I'll do like a family thing, I just, it's, it's tough. It's honestly very tough with it, with the kids. It's tough. Find it.

Uh, Thomas, Iowa, Des Moines. I was born and raised in Iowa, but left to go to college park workout in NE. I'm guessing that's New England. I've absolutely loved all of the Iowa and UFC Des Moines jokes from the crew. I can't wait to see GC and the rest of y'all out in Iowa in May for UFC Des Moines.

I can show you all the great things in this city and my great state has to offer. We have corn, pigs, corn, Caitlin Clark, and so much more. UFC Des Moines, May 3rd, see y'all there and see you at the top. And definitely Nebraska. Oh yeah. I'll be there though.

No one else wants to join me. Man, you see, you won't go to the Times Square card, but you'll go to that one. No one else wants to join me. Man, you see, you won't go to the Times Square card, but you'll go to that one. No, I'm at the Times Square card. And then the next day. Yep. Yep. Uh, Hut, Ariel, Travis Scott's real name is

Jacques Berman Webster the second. Is Jacques, my son once referred to him as Jacques, J A C Q U E him as Jacques Quez, J-A-C-Q-U-E-S, is Jacques Berman not the best heel name ever? Thanks, love the show, it's tremendous actually. It actually is tremendous. I doubt he goes with that, because he's got another alter ego, which is Cactus Jack. Which I'm still unclear as to how he's allowed to use that.

That's McFauley as far as I'm concerned, but nevertheless. Hut, in honor of the John Cena heel turn, Ariel, which member of the Ariel Hoani crew would it be most surprising if they turned heel and back stabbed you? Rick tired of carrying you all these years, GC's ego going crazy and he takes a shot at the king. Frank finally rebels past the point of no return.

Pizzi stomping on a Canadian flag if Sina can turn anyone can. Also is there legit heat between Rick and Frank? Oh that's a good question. The boys in the back gets wild. Thank you for making this crazy world a bit more fun. I would say there's definitely legit heat between Rick and Frank. I don't have a problem with the Stinkleberry at all. So I don't know what what people were reading into there's absolutely no issue. No no issues at all I don't think about him. He is Wow he can see I am consumed like in his mind I am all that that is like a him you know I don't really get rid of it

It's just always there. I leave here never think about Frank Frank ever again. Wow, I don't love hearing that. He sees his face right when he walks back in, yeah. I'm telling you, I'm smack in the middle. Yeah. I don't know. There's something going on. There's something going on. The PB&J, the bread, and then Berks, Jordan in the middle.

I would say the one that would shock me is probably Pizzi. I think Pizzi is the most loyal. What do you guys think of that statement? Biggest brown-noser is what we call him. He's got you wrapped around his little Irish finger. That's fine. It tracks. It tracks.

It's fine with me. But I hope we can resolve all these issues. I mean, there's enough issues on the outside of these walls that we have to deal with. There's no issues. Maybe a team dinner or something tonight? I'll pencil you in for June. Okay, I'm in.

I would go, I would go, listen, I'm ready any night, especially Wednesdays. You know, I like, I love Wednesdays. Um, those are my favorite. And honestly, if I'm just being, you know, real, I miss the post show wrap ups, you know, I miss that. Me too, man. Hut.

Ariel history was made February 22nd and no one is talking about it. Austin Vandervoort went down in history as the first UFC fighter to show his junk on only fans and get a W in the octagon respect. All right. Uh, call me a party pooper, but these assaults at the press conferences are not a good thing

at all as a competitor, you should feel safe in the environment, not afraid of being assaulted. These are getting out of hand that I wouldn't blame Dennis or others for pressing charges. It's bullshit thoughts. Thank you. Love the show. They got to get in the middle.

Listen, you would never see someone do that with Dane in the middle. They wouldn't dare. And so you have to establish that presence. You got to be in the middle and they, they've got to stop letting them go so close to each other. There's a fine line though, because you want

that right? Everybody is talking about how hot you bank versus Ben is now. Like there is a, there is a, a, a fine line. There is, there is a needle you must thread. Yeah. That the promotion does want this, right? But there's also the, you, I honestly feel like you, you let the first defense happen, right? Somebody, somebody gets out of pocket.

Then you have to do the whole, like we put the security in, this is never going to happen again. You just build a, you know, you build a, you know, you let the first defense happen, right? Somebody, somebody gets out of pocket. Then you have to do the whole, like we put the security in, this is never going to happen again. You just build it up that way. But if I'm a promoter, I don't know if I want to shut it down so quickly. I don't know if I want that.

The, the, I agree with what you're saying, but if someone pushes someone, they fall off the stage. What was the fight recently? Oh, uh. J'Kar Close got shoved. No, I remember that one. Sean Davis got shoved.

Yeah, but that was like, I'm just saying. Like he took a step off the stage. Someone falls, someone slips. No, I mean, J'Kar Close literally got shoved to the point that he got injured. Like there is a real, yeah, there is a real- Dana wasn't there for that one.

There's a, yeah, there is a real precedent for like things going awry in this type of scenario. In reality though, again, you are like, it builds the anticipation for it. If I'm the competitor, certainly I don't want to be shoved. I don't, as he, to the, to the question askers point, I want to feel safe, but it is also something that is effective in selling the fight. Mr. Clean questions for everyone and no dodging the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, It is also something that is effective in selling the fight.

Mr. Cleen, questions for everyone and no dodging the overrated question. Who is, and no dodging the overrated, who is the most underrated champion currently holding a belt in the UFC and who is the most overrated champion? Pantoja, underrated, easy, not even a question. Okay, okay. Nobody's more underrated than Pantoja. Current champions Pantoja, Marab, Ilya, actually I guess Ilya is still the champ until that fight happens. Did he beat Bilal? No, could it be? Is the most underrated? It's possible. I got pants. Islam, Bilal, Dracus, Alex, Jones, Valentina, John. I'll go with Pantoja, I'll go with Pantoja or Murab. Overrated is easy too, it's Shawn Jones. Not even a question. Interesting. What do you mean by that? Well, I I guess I should say like, is this is the is the thing about are they overrated

as champion? John Jones has won one championship fight and then one title defense and it is against, I think, favorable matchups like that's not like really a championship legacy that like Tom. I believe Tom Aspin all to be a rightful have a rightful claim to being the best heavyweight or being the champion. So it's harder for me to be like, yeah, John Jones is like a dominant champion. Now if we're talking like, is John Jones overrated as a fighter? That conversation

I'm not willing to have. But if we're just going like championship accolades, like yeah, he gets talked about in a way that is not befitting of the fights that he has had at heavyweight. Don't ask me though to call John Jones overrated. I was gonna run with that. I was gonna run with that. Everybody knows how I feel about John Jones. I've been on record for a decade now. I ain't calling anyone overrated. They're gonna get so pissed. Yeah I think you should abstain. Matt Mo says underrated Pantoja overrated Aspinal. No, Tom Aspinal overrated? He's interim. He's not even a champion. That is true. That is true.

Curly fries. Hey Ariel, should I go to WrestleMania? I tried to go the last two, but couldn't. I've been falling out of love with WWE. This may very well be the last WrestleMania. I would actually enjoy watching. I can afford the tickets and travel, but I'm getting married soon. I should use the money for the wedding slash honeymoon.

Plus I don't have friends who enjoy WWE enough to spend that amount of money to watch it live if I go I'll be going alone should I go alone or spend the money on my wedding golly alone doesn't seem very fun if I'm being honest like I'm okay with going alone to the movies or to to eat to dinner whatever alone to WrestleMania doesn't seem very fun in my my opinion. And when you break it down as like spending money on your wedding or wrestling, I don't know. I don't, do you guys agree? Like going alone just doesn't seem very fun.

It's, it's kind of a thing that you have to experience with at least one other person. Yeah, don't go alone and, and yeah, I guess save the money for your wedding. Yeah. I think that's a better option. I feel like, I feel like going alone is good in theory until you get there.

I agree. I agree. Zach, what's a better option. I feel like going alone is good in theory until you get there. I agree. I agree. Zach, what's up Ariel and crew. What can be said about the recent title challengers and their sense of deservingness? It seems that so often now the recent title challengers have had some sort of controversy entering fight week on whether or not they deserve the shot. Is the UFC doing a bad job at solidifying number one contenders or is it just timing?

Thanks boys. PS when GC eventually has this highly anticipated face off with Sean Brady, what breakfast food will he hit him with? Oh, I get it in the face off. Yeah, it's actually great. Eggs already taken, pancakes, coffee taken. Cinnamon roll?

Bacon? Something, what's, what about a Philly cheese steak? Smell. Ah, that is good. By the way way who knew that we were gonna get like sub boss Adeola Depot involved in this? I mean it's incredible. That was amazing. The resume gets deeper for me. Yeah he's 5-0 now. Swept the trilogy against Jackman, easy tune up against interim champion Jordan, on-air Jordan, and then a new title challenger came out of nowhere. Question, the experience of going toe-to-toe with Ade, who is quite fit like I said, does that make you think twice about the

matchup against Sean Brady? His speed in the beginning was jarring, little did I know he was completely emptying his gas tank. Like his gas tank was gone 32 seconds in. My concern is Sean Brady does that and sustains it for the entire minute. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can only know once we, once we get on the bike. Where you at Brady?

Where are you at? Um, okay. Noah, as a fellow Montreal boy, I felt I had to call you out on something. Calling the first DDP fight Boring when DDP looked like he just got out of a train wreck is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard LOL and funnily enough I didn't hear you call out one of the worst fights I've ever seen in my life Which took place right before that Pennington versus Silva Strickland has fun fights Have you watched his Brendan Allen beat down the vocal beat down of of Jack Marshman, whooping your eye a hall, breaking Nasruddin, KOing Abus, going to war with K- Yes, yes, okay, Greg, yes, make your point. He does have some boring fights but has also had wars. I've never called him a boring fighter.

Alright. Not everyone's going to be a banger, but you will never call out Leon Edwards and Izzy for leg kicking at range and doing zero damage for multiple of their fights. Or Sterling for laying and praying doing zero damage for multiple of his fights. I don't agree they do that. I didn't hear you calling out the leg kick fest of Izzy when he fought Kenanier and Vitor. By the way, I did say, yes I did say that fight wasn't good.

You're wrong, I did say that. Somehow that thing just disappeared. Aljo is one of the, anyway. The hypocrite, okay. I have called these fights not good. I've never called DDP a boring fighter, or Sean Strickland a boring fighter, but if you think that fight was good or entertaining,

and did I even use boring? I don't even know. I just said I didn't think it was worthy of a rematch so quickly. That's it. Who wrote this? Sean Strickland? Who wrote it? Danny Rubincine? Question for everyone in the crew of your many 10-7s which has been the most satisfying for you to deliver in the moment and for the boys which has been the most satisfying for all of you to watch? I don't know, none of it is satisfying. I don't, you guys think I like these, I don't like these.

I don't, I don't like doing them. Where's Rick? Where'd he go? I don't know, I didn't even notice him walk out. Did he leave? What is he doing? What is this, you getting in the lab? You want a little motivation today?

You know what it was? I'll go a third time and spank your ass, come on. See, I don't want the smoke. I have to, I'm bowing, I'm bowing. After I saw that performance against Adé, I don't want that smoke anymore. I feel like I just want to play a game though. Like that's what I want to do. I want to go back.

I want to just play a game. Because I saw Jordan's piss poor performance. I was like, yeah, like, you know, he was supposed to be the replacement for me and he basically just did exactly the same thing so I was like you know what I want to hop on this thing But I don't want to do a competition. I'm just gonna play frenzy This is what the kids play when you put it on this is yeah, this is the kids This is the kids game. This is our executive producer. Yes, what you just left the show

Yeah, you know that I'm tired of our shit or these questions are good enough I mean we do need to raise the bar a little while on the nose really presented by I mean Let's be real I'm buying real estate Program did somebody answer the question ask the question about overrated and you didn't even answer so I mean like I gotta say you're right You're right. I got what are we doing here exactly? I'm trying to hook a fish and you're doing this as you're riding the bike Yeah, so it looks like you pedal and then I can like let it you got a big grouper passing you by right there a couple

Barracudas get up there get up. Oh get the shark. I don't forget it get the shark. Oh, here we go It's kind of fun. Oh, that's a tuna coming. Don't get it. No, we wanted the shark Oh, no, I was going to the shark. Wait. What do we have to do here? Pedal faster trying to bring it up. Come on push out for the electric eel. Oh, yeah, don't do that Can I hit those or I think so I think so I think you got this one on the line What are you doing with the you there come on, man? Come on, man, really? Real the shit

You're gonna lose the damn thing in my pocket are like bouncing around here excuses come on man Simply yellow The packs in my pocket are bouncing around here. Ah, excuses. Come on, man. It's a simple yellow fish. Get on the bike. Look at this. The whole bike is shaking. The whole boat's shaking over there. Why don't you ride back to Long Island? Here we go.

Here we go. It's coming. It's coming. Honestly, I have to say, my slander of Long Island has been tamed for the performance. Ah, there it is. Catch you at tuna. Yeah.

All right, let's see if we can get another one. Oh my god, another one. Get the shark. Aren't you toast after that? I do want to get the shark. Oh my god, another one. Get the shark. Aren't you toast after that? I do want to get the shark. No, no, the resistance is only on 30. Jesus. So why wouldn't you...

Don't get the shark. Easy. No, don't get that one. Easy. No, no. Okay, okay, okay. No, no, not that one either. Oh, he's getting out of breath. That was the one.

Hold on, hold on. Here we go. Oh, what about that electric eel? Wait, you want an electric eel? Yeah, that one looks sick. Come on, give me something. Oh, wait for the shark. Wait for the shark. No, no, no. Go back down. Go back down. Back down, back down. Oh, God. The grouper's gonna get us. God damn it. I gotta say, this is actually pretty fun. Grouper's good. Good chow there.

Come on. Reel that bad boy in. I got it. I got it. Don't worry. I gotta say this is actually pretty fun. Good chat out there. Come on reel that bad boy in. I got it, I got it. Don't worry. Pump up the resistance a bit man. Come home. Bro's great. Go. It would be great as if you actually caught this fish. Yeah, it would be great.

It would be great as if we were fighting a shark right now. Frank, when are you going? Can I just answer more questions in between? I mean. Keep answering questions while he reels in. Go, go, go, go, go. T3 wants us to break the fourth wall. He's curious about how the crew behaves once the show's over.

Oh, I got a lot of thoughts on this. It's complete silence. Does Ariel start going off on the crew for any mistakes once the show's over. Oh, I got a lot of thoughts on this. It's complete silence. Does Ariel start going off on the crew for any mistakes during the show? Yes. It's the most heinous way you could imagine. Does the crew go their separate ways without saying a word? Yes.

Does everyone working on content while Ariel rushes out the door? No, I'm the last one to leave. First one here, last to leave. I would love to know what happens behind the scenes. Well, what happens is it's like, did you get that grouper by the way? I did, but I'm the last one to leave. First one here, last to leave. I would love to know what happens behind the scenes. Well, what happens is, it's like, did you get that grouper, by the way? Yeah, you got the grouper.

Okay. We're gonna skin it and fry it up. So, what happens is, it's like a two minute walk from here to the control room, so I'll usually walk. On a Wednesday, by the time I get to the control room, no one's even thinking about the show anymore, they're just thinking about boys in the back. So they all just ignore me and start talking about

whatever pound for pound, whatever gimmick, whatever great thumbnail they have planned for it. And then you come in and you're just like, don't you just love Wednesdays? Everybody's working for the weekend. I'm like, so. Playing in our commute for tomorrow. That interview was great.

You know, do we want to go over this? Do we want to go over that? All right, okay. Then I'll walk back great, you know, do we wanna go over this, do we wanna go over that? No, no, all right, okay, then I'll walk back to, you know, do a couple of things on the back end, and then I'll walk back again. Yo, sparkling shark, Rick, you have to get that. Sparkling shark. Oh, come on!

Sparkling shark, man, come on! Look at majestic. That is right at his mouth. Wow. How hard would it be to get that? And then everyone's gone, basically. Let's wait for a big one. I know, but the argument is,

we're right back in, 12 hours later. Right back in. You have beautiful shining faces. But the MMA, it was like, you know, I don't know when the next time I'm gonna see you guys. What do you mean? I'm trying to get the turtle. Wednesday to Monday, it was just like,

will I ever see you guys again? I'm trying for the turtle. Hi, Ariel and team, love the show. This is from G. Question for all, would the advancement of AI and technology in sport see the NFL in first downs? Yeah, thankfully. What would be a piece of technology you would bring into MMA?

Smart gloves to count the strikes? I feel like someone tried that. To all our podcast listeners, yeah, this- Rick is currently struggling with a fishing game. Yes. Well, he caught the electric eel, but it looks like the eels are bad.

Yeah, we don't want the eels. All right, you got one more shot at the shark and then you got to give up. No, I think I'm done. I only got 18 seconds. We continue, Jamal 2020. Oh, he also asked if Daria being on brought back any Dahlia flashbacks.

No, it's a different name. Jamal 2020, where's the next place you want to vacation to? You know, I've been thinking about this. I went to Hawaii in the year 2000. Oh, time's up, Rick. That was a valiant effort. Anyway, that's a great, by the way, shout out to Averon. That's a really fun thing.

I could see someone spending an easy 20 minutes on that thing and working out at the same time. That's what you want. They make that sparkling shark tough to catch. Yeah. Frankie's next. Frankie's next. Your turn, Frank. I'd like to go back to Hawaii. I know Rick goes there like every few months. Hawaii, Spain has been talked about. Italy has been talked about. You know, where's a place I'm dying to go that I've never been to.

So I've been to all of those places at one point in time, I've never been to South Korea. Ooh. I would like to go to South Korea. I think South, so of the three countries that I've I'll say of the two countries that I've never been to, I would love to go to South Korea. I would love to go to New Zealand.

I would love to go back to Australia. I haven't been there since 2015. And in America, I've never been to Austin. I would love to go to Austin. I would love to go to Portland. I always wanted to go to New Orleans. I went there for two days. I don't feel like I got a full like experience. So I would love to go there too. That would be nice. Um, Jacob question for the boys. We all know Ariel has gotten some heat for predictions he has made things he has said. Have any of you gotten some negative feedback

for something you have said on the show? My mind goes to New York, Rick, shitting on Luke Rockhold immediately after he left his interview with Ariel, did he do that? I don't recall that. No, I don't recall that. It's not his breath. Actually, Jorge Masvidal got mad at them when he said that someone, I

think, who is it? Was it Rick? Hair in front of the face, sweating? No, we both did. We were just like, yeah, we're not interested in seeing Jorge versus Leon. Yeah, we didn't want to see Jorge versus Leon. What did he call us? Where'd you get these fucking dorks? Giabronis. Calm down, we are dorks. Oh, here's a good one. Archie11523, first time long time. Has anyone else noticed GC's heel turn of late? When GC burst onto the scene,

he was touted as the biggest baby face in the game, being universally praised and welcome, and a welcome addition to the show. Recently though, he's been throwing shade left and right, frequently raising his voice and loudly venting his frustrations to members of the crew, mostly Ariel and Frank. It feels to me like he has settled in, his guard

is down and we are now seeing his true colors and I'm here for it. Heal GC for life. Your response. I don't know if this is true. Wow. I need, I need evidence of this. Uh, perhaps the, uh, the crew can weigh in. Frank, you think there's some merit. I'm so glad you asked. Wow. I need evidence of this. I perhaps the the crew can weigh in. Frank

you think there's some merit? I looked over to Frank one show and he was just like... So did you do like the rock? Yeah. GC's the same old GC. It's Rick whom we should be concerned about. Oh have I changed? I feel like I've always been an asshole. The power has really gone to his head. Yeah. He used to go out to me and he's like hey man can we talk about Dune? I feel like I've always been an asshole. The power has really gone to his head. He used to go out to me and say, hey man, can we talk about Dune? I'm like, of course man, have a chat with me. And then now it's like, why aren't you on work on time?

Well, if you remember, he used to be Mr. Monday after work on time. What happened to the Dune talk? We would only see him once a week, then Wednesdays it was kinda, you know, we would let our hair down, we'd have a good time. Now we're entrenched with him. The Frank and Rick thing really isn't working out.

Yeah, true. Yeah. Do you think that's part of the problem here do you think it's just too many too many you know trips to the studio alternate should you do a WHA situation no is it WHA or WF this is on the table yeah I'm in you can count me in no we can't the ship will sink I'm in I don can count me in. No, he can't. The ship will sink. I'm in. Um, I don't, I don't know what you're talking about, but there's another question here to GC from Irish lad. Hey Ariel and crew. I feel like GC is falling into Tom Aspinall territory and wasting his athletic prime on a duck.

May I suggest in honor of Alex Parifai week and his now legendary walkout that New York Rick sack up and try to redeem himself in an archery contest. We can be sure GC will welcome all challengers. Maybe the season darts vet Ariel could even challenge. The problem with this is I don't know if I'm good at archery. Like I can't challenge him in things that I don't know if I'm even any good at.

Give me a week and I'm down for it. Something that I think someone could beat me in is Jordan and chess. I think Jordan could beat me in chess. Wow. Let's see it. Something that I think someone could beat me in is Jordan and chess. I think Jordan could beat me in chess. Wow. Let's see it. We have to get like an above above camera thing. We can really set something up here. Maybe Wemby can join us for that one. Oh yeah that'd be great. And are we talking real chess or are we talking like the... What's the other type? The digital chess. I have an actual set that can bring it in. Same thing yeah. And we get the can bring in. Same thing, yeah. We can square and go to the other guy.

And we get the little clock? And you like to snap it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'd be down. I think that might be the only thing on Earth that Jordan could be, man. Wow. Wow. Kyle Grant?

You're just, when you know, you know. He's pretty good at graphics. Rick, would you rather... Hit me. Never play Magic the Gathering again gathering again oh that's tough yep or have Frank fired from the team what is it people turn to stir the pot? I feel like this is a lose-win. This is a trick question.

He gets to continue to play magic. I get both? And he gets Frank fired from the team? Surely they meant one or the other. If I had both I mean it's Christmas. Yeah. Easy. Is there anything Rick wrote these questions? I'm sure surely they meant one or the other right if I had both I mean it's Christmas. Yeah Easy turn anything Rick wrote these questions. I might Rick should be prepared for the hey man call later tonight. Hey, man I just want to make sure yeah, he doesn't pick up when I call Yeah, I put it I send it to voicemail who the fuck says hey Ariel Please go back to humming seven nation army by the white stripes when you're in thought or filling dead air You've been doing the heartbeat lately instead or the oh yeah or the

another one that I like to do is the 60 minutes tonight on 60 minutes. I'm a sestal. Not bad. Uh, the, the sound of like the impending week. Yeah. The Sunday. Yeah. Those stories plus Andy Rooney after the break. Shout out Andy Rooney, all time curmudgeon. They just shout out for 60 minutes man. They got some great stories on them.

Respect to a legend. Um, Aaron, with this new TKO boxing news in a year from now is Riyadh season slash Saudi slash Turkey not going to be putting on boxing events besides their own and headline these four events a year with real stars they work with now? Or are they still going to be pretty much keeping all these promotions alive indefinitely?

No, I think they'll still, I don't know if they're going to keep all of them alive because that is not a lie, but they're helping them tremendously. I think they'll still do Riyadh season. I don't know if they're going to keep all of them alive because that is not a lie, but they're helping them tremendously. Uh, I think they'll still do we at season. I still think they'll do ring. And I think that this will be another thing as well. Uh, TJ step aside, Ariel. These questions are for the goat teammates,

the boys in the back. A little hair thing here. You good? Rick, how annoying is it on the boys in the back when Frank plays those random drops that make no sense most of the time? I think people are picking up on how annoying Frank is, which I'm appreciative of. I think that it's on my side like this. Oh, that's a good one. So people understand what I'm dealing with.

I'm dealing with a child with no impulse control. And so I think it's sympathetic. Out of 10, 15, as I've been impulse control and so they I think it's sympathetic Out of 10 15 as I've been want to scale things. I got a I got a man by Frank this week in About the sound effects. He pulled me aside. Is that true? It's like a man Do you think I should continue to do those do you think Rick's actually getting annoyed and? Well, I can't I can't you know, it a private conversation. You can tell you can tell us about that like that part of the story but now we're responsible. I can tell you that a conversation had but I can't tell you what

happened. Hey man was it a text a voice note a call? It was in person and I got the I got the the bicep grab like pull me over. Hey man. Noted I didn't get a hey man on that. Bicep grab. Hey Rick, is it annoying you when I do this annoying thing? Nope. Just a man to. I don't think he feels comfortable going. Hey man to Connor. Okay.

A lot happening. Should tell you a lot right there. Mysterious Frank, he says, can you stop playing drops during Rick's pound for pound picks? Is this a separate person? No, no, no. He has multiple questions. GC, what training are you doing to

prepare for Sean Brady? Has the belt been created? What are the bets? Suggested bet. If Brady loses, he has to join the parlay boys. If GC loses, he has to spar Sean Brady for three to five rounds. I think that's pretty good. I have three to five rounds. I say three to five minutes. If I survive that long, he'll tap me out 18 times over the course of that.

I like the idea of him joining parlay pals. I've seen he has to do bets on, uh, on his program. What training am I doing? Uh, taking on air Jordan and to do bets on, uh, on his program. What training am I doing? Uh, taking on air Jordan and, and audio the depot out to the woodshed. Also, I like how you lose the thing and then your, your punishment is just getting your ass

like actually kicked in real life. Like that's horrible. Go down there. Yeah. I have to, I have to spar Sean Brady straight into a, into a spar with Joe Pfeiffer. Just a shark tank. You versus Joe Pfeiffer would be tremendous.

It would? I don't want that. I mean, just like the face to face. No, no, not you GC. I mean, I'd go down there. Definitely not me, but I don't want him either. And get the work. I mean, I would, I would get tapped in zero seconds. Patrick, favorite segment of the week.

Second question with the announcement of Turkey, Dana Boxing League. Do you think this will affect your relationship with Turkey? Patrick, favorite segment of the week, second question. With the announcement of Turkey Dana boxing league, do you think this will affect your relationship with Turkey? I did see a tweet where he seems to not have liked something that Ade said on the show today. But I don't know, Ade said it, so not me. But yeah, maybe, I don't know. Who knows with these things?

I hope not. that wouldn't be Ideal but you know, we're here. I Mean I would say today we have been quite quite positive and and quite What's the word that I'm looking for? What's the word glowing optimistic? about this news I optimistic about this news. I think the, um, the Johnny Fisher fight got announced May 17th. We like, we, we, we missed it by like 30 minutes. Wait, what time?

I think Johnny Fisher and a you all Romero. Yeah. Um, Keane, hi Ariel. I think you need to go back to college. You said the guests are 95% of them may. I did some research since the start of the new era. The guests have been 74% of them may. Rick was right. All right, there you go.

Yeah, we've been getting cooked for that one. Yeah, all right. I think a lot of people doing division in my mentions. Jordan, happy Wednesday Ariel. When was the last time you paid to go to an MMA event? I don't know. Was it, it might've been UFC 78 in Newark. Rashad Evans against Michael Bisping.

I think that was it. Prudential Center. Marcus94, hello, I'm curious with all your experience, success, awards, the age show, Uncrowned Empire, what motivates you to continue going above and beyond each week? Thank you once again for all the audible goodness, your friend from the UK. What motivates me? Well, I'm only 42 and I still feel like I've just scratched the surface. I still feel like I'm just getting started. Like I said in the past, if this all ended tomorrow,

I'd be incredibly disappointed. So that's what motivates me. There's still a lot to do, there's still a lot to accomplish. And yeah, I still feel, I mean even now, you know, we're kind of, we had to start all over again for the third or fourth time. And, you know, I see people saying like, oh, look at your subs, look at your numbers, look at your this. Ignoring the fact that we are starting from scratch on a channel that wasn't touched for essentially a decade plus. And so there's this willingness to always celebrate. This has been the case for a very long time, to celebrate my apparent demise, to celebrate my misfortunes, my failures and things like that.

And yeah, I'm not really going to let that happen. And so we've made, you know, several calculated risks here. We've expanded the offerings. We've expanded into different entities. We've created the vertical. We've done a lot of these things. I can understand that a lot of you can't quite wrap your head around taking these risks. You can't quite wrap your head around getting out of your comfort zone and not just sticking

to what you know best. I get that. I understand that you're not wired that way. But we're wired a little differently here. And so while you want us to just stick to one thing and to just do it like it's always been done, we're not going to do that. And we'll prove everyone wrong. We'll prove everyone wrong and we'll prove everyone right who believes in what we're doing. That's what motivates me. Um, hi Ariel, Rizwan, uh, what would be your thought process or backup plan if all guests canceled at short notice on a show?

Just, I don't know, that would suck. If all of them canceled in one fell swoop, that would be a bummer, but we just have to do this. And, and, and that was part of the plan as well. I never wanted the show to just be me. I never wanted the show to just be me. I never wanted the show to just be me and the guests. This stuff is my favorite part of the show, as I've said in the past,

learning from the Howard Stern show, watching that, that camaraderie, those interactions was always my favorite thing. Mark Davies, will your sons or you be watching the Sidemen charity football match at Wembley this weekend featuring KSI? They sort of watch those after the fact but not live. I will say my sons are way more into basketball these days than soccer. The soccer interest has gone way down. The soccer watching has gone down as well. Patrick McRae again, Ariel, any news regarding the WWE stuff?

I got to say I'm one of those people that are in the middle of the Venn diagram and I miss those interviews big time. No news. No news. No news. No news. Nostradamus from Papa Jules. Do you think Dana is purposely waiting till after your show on Wednesdays to drop all the fight announcements? No, I really don't. I really don't.

But I think it's become a nice little fun coincidence. I mean, they dropped this news today. I don't think they're planning these things, and maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think they're planning these things. And maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think they're planning these things around when we're doing a show. And they should know there's a show tomorrow. So it doesn't really work.

MBE28, hello Ariel and team. We know you're a long time Knicks fan, but can you name some of your other favorite players that never played for the Knicks? This could be Kern or Pass. This goes for the rest of the crew that watched the NBA. Thanks and have a good weekend. Uh, I always loved Mitch Richmond who played on the, um, Kings and Warriors.

I did love those run TMC Warriors, but then I hated Tim Hardaway when he went to the heat. Um, I, I, I enjoyed those Kings teams with Chris Weber and Paja. I always liked, uh, Bobby Jackson as well, University of Minnesota. I liked Harold Miner, but that's before I started to despise the heat. He was on the heat when they were bad and he won those dunk competitions. Um, I always liked Dana Barros on the Seattle Sonics, um, blue Edwards. I'm going way back here.

Seattle Sonics, Blue Edwards, I'm going way back here, David Benoit on the jazz, Byron Russell, Byron don't call me Brian Russell who Jordan pushed off in 98. I'm thinking of non-Nix players, Antoine Carr, big dog, liked him a lot on the jazz. I liked KG on the Wolves, especially the early KG days. Although one time I saw him at a game in Toronto and he said he was gonna come right back and sign a book for me and he ran right by me and that kind of bummed me out that he didn't stick to his word.

Who else, who else? and stick to his word. Uh, who else, who else? I like those Sonic's teams, camp and Gary Peyton, Sam Perkins, sleepy Sam, the way he shot three pointers, um, spud Greg. Hello, Ariel and crew. I'll keep it short and sweet this week. I was wondering if you think the outcome of

this weekend's main event could make John Jones retire? No. Wouldn't it give him more options? Yeah. Pereira as a heavyweight is now another option if, uh, if he moves up after. Um, I, I will say, I do think it's interesting.

Like, I don't think as we were talking about that, I don't think they wake up on Monday if per loses and be like, oh my God, the sky is falling. But if per loses, it's not great. And he's one of the most popular fighters and only getting more popular. It wouldn't be amazing. My only counter to that is there's still some big fights

for him at heavyweight. We saw it with middleweight, right? Lose, move up. I could see a world where he just loses and moves up. And now you do have another option for John Jones, even without a belt. I think Alex Perera is still a massive star. You got another option for John Jones, even without a belt, I think Alex Pereira is still a massive star. You got another option for John Jones or you got another option for another heavyweight

person, maybe Tom Aspinal, maybe somebody else. I don't think the sky's falling if Alex loses. Chris P. Ariel, long time dedicated fan, multiple time writer, one time Keelwani shirt wear on a UFC broadcast, one time custom cookie sender. Please, for the love of all that is holy, can we retire your new pronunciation of the word controversy? That's not my new, I said controversy because they said it so many times on the Dizone broadcast on Saturday, so I was just trying to- Ariel said it on, I mean, Adé said it on the show today.

Controversy, that's how they say it. That's insane. Juan versus Juan, Tuesday, Tuesday, anime, all these are what makes you you. But your new controversy to me is the angelic harp to Rick's ears. That was a reference to a show that the boys do on your channel at 1 PM Eastern each and

every Thursday, highly recommend. I appreciate the plug in the middle there. That wasn't great now you can understand what I deal with Ariel yeah no no I actually like that one I actually feel like that is good you you have it Frank theory transfer that one over to Ariel I'm out I don't

mind it I miss the old Rick. Okay. Just a couple more. We, do we have super chats or not really? Oh, no, no, I was just saying I'm going to do a couple more and then go to super tats, super chats. What'd you call them? Super. I'm tired. Can we go back to on the nose? So I can do this one.

Yes. He'll want to Mr. 10 seven. I know you don't like the beefs but do you have one beef where you were really proud of it? How you handled it? I think the patty one was class. You bodied him respectfully. No. Hi Ariel from Brantley. If you and Dana mended fences and you could interview him again, what format would you want? A quick 15-minute chat on the current state of affairs, a long hour plus interview with the ability to deep dive. Have you thought about this?

Have not thought about it, but yeah, you'd always want longer, right? Longer is always better with anyone. Okay. I would watch a series. Let's do a six part series with you and Dave. Based Ariel. Hi Ariel. Can you explain the downfall of your relationship with Brett Okamoto?

I remember you saying one time on your show you weren't friends with him, I was surprised by that because I thought you worked well together at ESPN. Downfall of relationship, I don't think there ever was really a relationship. I'm not going to get too far into all this, but we just, yeah, it just, we never quite connected and I didn't feel very welcome. And honestly, you know, what kind of created that wedge was the UFC. The UFC would feed them information to try to make me look bad in the eyes of my bosses. My boss would tell me they don't care about the breaking news and all this stuff. It was a mess. It was awful. I felt dead inside when it was over. And the part that bummed me out the most was that was the dream.

The dream was to end up there. And I quickly realized that for a litany of reasons, the dream was a nightmare. So, you know, maybe in a different world, in a different life, we're not in this weird sort of, I don't know what to call it, awkward situation, but just never, never were able to connect in that regard, which is obviously unfortunate, because I feel like I've been able to have great relationships

with most, if not all, the people that I've worked with, and I've prided myself on this. Okay, one last one. Favorite underrated rivalry in the UFC? Gosh, what's with the... Oh, he says Dan Hardy versus Marcus Davis. That is underrated. Gosh, underrated.

I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm shot. Underrated rivalry. Come on. Let me think of one. You want Kutulaba against Michael Madonca live? Oh, stop. Wait, what? No?

Yeah, that was a good back to back. Yeah. Most questionable stoppage in UFC history. Uh. And you get the rematch. Pantoja and, and Figge. I mean, not Pantoja and Figge. Uh, Moreno and Figge.

Um, is, uhigi is an incredible one. That's one of my favorites. Like just because it was Flyweights, nobody really cares. I love that rivalry. Yeah. What about, what's another like sleeper from the past? I don't know, I feel like most of the rivalries kind of get elevated. Yeah, there's no real like mid card rivalry, you know what I mean? I think that's the best example because it's the flyweights, it was kind of like, you know, push to the side or like the co-main or if it headlined that one card, but it was because it was, you know, on short, the 256 I think it was because they lost the main. Those guys,

Moreno and Figge was an all-time kind of rivalry that probably doesn't get enough respect. What about DC and Helvani? Ah, that was a good one. I thought you were about to say DC and Jones. Yeah. I mean, that's the best one. Talk about a casual take. Yeah. If that wasn't. What do we got as far as Super Chats are concerned? if that wasn't. What do we got as far as Super Chats are concerned? Super Chats. Yeah, so Jonah writes, Ariel, we know you have an army of lawyers

at your disposal. Oh. How many did you allocate to the famous Burks versus House owner case? Yes, the currency is... He didn't ask, he didn't ask, so we didn't unleash them. Is there an update on that one?

Is there an update? Yes, people are very invested in this story. Nah, still no update. We're waiting on the fraud investigation to finish up and then it should get resolved. The wheels of the law turn very slow. Yeah, I feel much cooler about it now. It's all good.

Should we? It'll get figured out. Should we lob out there that the office manager has to race you on the bike and if you win, it's done? Oh, I'll post a 30 if that's the case. I will post a 30 if that's the case. What else? Jason writes, I could totally see a TKO boxing versus MVP

super card in the future. I can't. Yeah, isn't that the antithesis of what they're trying to do? Yeah, there's no chance. They're trying to not have anybody involved on their stuff. They're trying to box everybody out. Yeah. I would be shocked. Adde is on Twitter, by the way,

campaigning for his own bike now with that running. Is he adding that? I see him already campaigning for a rematch too. He's looking for Burke's solo depot too. We'll see about that. What a guy. What else? Matt Bergeson writes my concern about the situation is how they will balance the fights to prolong a boxer's career. Boxers cannot take the same punishment like UFC. I don't know I mean look it's not gonna be a carbon

copy but it's gonna be the same type of you know the same type of business model so and again it's not gonna happen overnight as well. It's gonna take a long time to get those guys to build them up, to make them into stars. The Callum Walsh and Ireland story is a perfect example. It doesn't just happen like this and not just because you're attached to it doesn't make it into a thing,

but the funds are endless. The funds are endless. The resources are endless. And they're not going anywhere. Also, don't you think that it's the opposite, right? We, we hear about these stories about, you know, Lomachenko, all these guys with extensive amateur boxing careers, like who have had hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of fights.

I actually think it's a shorter path in MMA. Like you've got less fights in MMA. I think boxing has a lot more longevity in that. Now there's a very, very important argument to be made that that kind of long-term sustained damage with those gloves to the head is worse potentially than the impact on what an MMA fight is going to do. I think we need a lot of time for those brain studies and things to kind of come out and for us to conclude something there.

But I don't think that like the longevity of boxing careers is going to be impacted in this way nor do I think that's particularly like harmful. What else? Benjamin Turk writes, hey everyone if you could dream of any one person you could be mentored by who would it be? This is for everyone. I'll go first. Carl Sagan. Let me see it again, sorry. Hey everyone. Oh, okay. Oh, go ahead. You go first. Carl Sagan.

Tell us more about Carl. Carl Sagan was a cosmologist. Pretty popular in the 70s for a TV show called Cosmos. Wrote a bunch of books. Just a very well put together guy. Okay. What would his mentorship, like explain why. Cosmology I think is really interesting

because it encompasses everything from spirituality, religion, to biology, all of the sciences and it just blew my mind. And his inspiration to get America and the world to really start focusing on science still works like Neil deGrasse Tyson ups this guy all the time to where there's a meme where Neil deGrasse Tyson is like Pluto you're not a planet and someone else is like but Neil you're not Carl Sagan so how does that feel? And then I don't know if you saw the movie Contact? Of course yeah. Yeah so he

wrote that book as a novel so not only was he like a great non-fiction writer he could also That book as a novel so not only was he like a great nonfiction writer he could also Deliver a banger when it came to fiction so love it. Yeah, I would love to be mentored by Walter Cronkite Walter Cronkite had Had obviously journalistic chops, but he had integrity he had grace he had respect He was professional and he had the trust of the American people. They called him Uncle Walter. They called him the most trusted man in America. When he said something, they knew it was true.

And he was not tied to anyone. He wasn't biased. He did his thing, and he did it for decades. And he's the greatest news anchor of all time, if you ask me. And so I've always wanted to go to the Walter Cronkite journalism school at Arizona State. I believe Shaheen graduated from there. Just because I love Walter Cronkite,

I've said one of the reasons why I wanted to name my son Walter was because of him, because I love what that name represents and I feel like it's a very strong and powerful name. And so who better than him? Damn good answer. Anyone else? There's a mentalist named Darren Brown and if I could be mentored by him I would. If you know you know. Wow. It's long an explanation but he's incredible. Let's do uh I'll do Bernard Arnold and his whole

family. Who's that? I don't know who that is. Louis Vuitton. He created Louis Vuitton? I don't know if he created it but it's like LVMH he's worth like 233 bill so. Wow really I did not expect this. Oh yeah yeah you should go to their website they own like everything Hennessy all that stuff. Like the drink? Yeah yeah LVMH actually stands for Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. So the whole fam, 233 bill I can learn from mom too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This, yeah. Would you take a bill instead?

Take a billion dollars? Yeah, for sure. They're like, hey man, Doc, it's all four. Mentorship with Jay-Z or 30 minutes of dinner? Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha. Oh, fuck. It's so good. What else? Ariel has no idea. So this was during our interview with Big John, so Raj wrote try butter chicken. Oh. Which I have questions. Yeah. I thought butter chicken was in the Indian cuisine and you guys were predominantly talking about food from China. Am I missing something here? I don't know Is it is it India who knows? I think he's just saying while you're speaking about chicken try this as well Thank you for unpacking that for me. What else Colby writes Tony V cowboy 2 and GFL Hmm if he gets best damage It's cowboy GFL start to keep track these days. I don't think so. I don't think so yet. Yeah

And again, he wants to come back to UFC That's another one by the way if KSI knocks out Danis is he really showing up on may 11th? Yes, cowboy did say that you're right. Um, no, he's not showing up. Are you crazy? No What else mr. Senior Pepe writes if Frank ever stops the noises, we riot. Oh. Frank's burner. I like them. I think that was Frank's burner. To me, it's Fred Norris-esque. I mean, it's what the people are asking for. What else? Was it the softest what else? Did we talk about this? Oh, geez. So yeah, Jason writes, Frank is the goat. Another burner.

Ten dollars. How many burners do you have friend dollars and seven cents? Yeah? Oh? I like that ten seven oh What else that's all she wrote that's all she wrote all right a beautiful afternoon behind yeah, geez Louise Where are we going are we going to the blue orchid? June 12th work, I think yeah saying? June 12th, or? I think, yeah, no, June 14th. Okay. I think it is.

Sweet. A great day was had. What do we got tomorrow? What do we got tomorrow on the boys in the back? We're gonna really take a look at the grappling of Alex Perera, but from the lens of, if you are the striker that Alex Perera is, what do you have to do to thwart off the grappling

attack of one Magomed on Kalayev? How do you do that? How do you successfully defend and make it painful for him? So that's the angle we're going to take. And we're going to break down UFC 313 from every angle. All right. Looking forward to that. The crack on Friday watch party on Saturday

post show on Saturday night, UFC 313, and full swing media day going on. Go to uncrowned.com by the way, for all your 313 news and notes. On a very busy day in combat sports, the intersection is growing. It is growing, it is getting more interesting, and looking forward to being along for the ride. For now though,

time to go. and looking forward to being along for the ride. For now though... Time to go. Oh, I know I'm not. Long day, long day. We got something we want you to take a look at real quick. Oh. What is this? This is courtesy of UFC on TNT Sports. This is an Alex Pereira video. He is holding a box. And... This is an Alex Pereira video. He is holding a box. And is that an action figure of sorts or a figurine?

That's awesome. Wow. Is it like a new, what are they doing? It looks awesome though. Show it to us, Alex. Show it to us. Looks fantastic. Can it move though, or is it very delicate looks static check out the

calves on that thing oh yeah look at that I love it and some breaking news just through the wire right now courtesy of our good friend Darshan to say he isn't he has in fact broken the news that Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen are running it back at the Copper Bosch aka the Copper Box Arena on May 17th in London. There it is How about that Darshan? The Rumford Bull breaking news for us Uncrowned.com Love it. Darshan has quietly been one of the true MVPs of Uncrowned.com. The guy is a freaking beast. He lives in the UK and he is up at all hours doing live blogs, doing all kinds of great stuff for us.

So very appreciative of him, Drake, Robert Jackman, who's been great, and everyone else on the site over the last few months. Amazing stuff. Thank you to our guests today, Ade in studio, tremendous. Big John Bosch, Malik Kawa. Thanks all of you, thanks all of them. Back tomorrow same time, same place, same time. Peace. I'm out of here.