The Ariel Helwani Show - Ian Machado Garry, Demetrious Johnson, full UFC 310 reaction, Bryan Battle, Michael Chiesa, Chase Hooper

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

Ariel Helwani and The Boys In The Back break down UFC 310 from all angles, including Alexandre Pantoja's impressive win over Kai Asaura and callout of Demetrious Johnson, Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry, Uncrowned's latest pound-for-pound rankings and more (10:35).Bryan Battle reflects on his UFC 310 win over Randy Brown and discusses his bad weight miss, his struggles in camps, playing the heel role, why he wouldn't have accepted the bout in Brown's position and more (01:02:56).Chase Hooper discusses his big UFC 310 win over Clay Guida, how Mikey Musumeci taught him the armbar technique, criticism from the UFC commentary booth, what it's like fighting a legend, his growth in the UFC and more (01:23:40).Michael Chiesa stops by after his UFC 310 win over Max Griffin and discusses the likelihood of returning for UFC Seattle, chasing Demian Maia's UFC record for rear-naked choke submissions, already having a name he wants next and more (01:44:36).Demetrious Johnson discusses Alexandre Pantoja's win at UFC 310 and subsequent callout, which promotion offered him $2 million to come out of retirement, whether there's a number that could bring him back to MMA and more (02:02:31).Ian Machado Garry looks back at his UFC 310 fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov, responds to Kamaru Usman and much more (02:36:44).Finally, Ariel and the boys wrap up a very busy weekend in combat sports: from the explosive UFC 311 press conference to Dana White’s comments on Conor McGregor to Tommy Fury pulling out of the Darren Till fight (03:07:54).

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ariel Hawani Show! The Ariel Hawani Show is back in your life. One of these days, I think I'm going to say, Miss Martial Art Tower. For now, though, we have avoided that. We have avoided that, my friends, on this Monday, December 9th, 2000 and 24. Hello again, everyone. I sure hope you're doing well. It is great to be here on a not so lovely day in New York City. It is a little dark. It is a little dreary, but we have a lot to discuss, and the vibes are high, my friends. Following the final UFC pay-per-view of 2024, what a time it was,

what a show it was, much to discuss on this Monday, and a lot else going on in the world of combat sports. I am back from Las Vegas, and off the top i do have to thank everyone who voted for me for mma journalist of the year 15 times in a row it's an absurd thing absurd that um you know i'm still doing this 15 years in and that the fans continue to have our back you know it was it was amazing being there because sometimes as i you, pick and choose which events I'm attending, which events I'm going to, less on the road, etc. You start to fixate on things from afar. And then when you get there and you reconnect with personalities, managers, coaches, other journalists, people who I have not seen for quite some time for for years part of the you know the traveling beat if you will that is mma and the ufc it was really nice being there

it actually warmed my heart greatly and a lot of fans there just being around a lot of very very nice people and it means the world i i never take it for granted And I always say that But I would be lying if I didn't say Like, you know Year 6, year 7, etc You know, you're just kind of There I am, year 1 Sort of taking it for granted

Not showing up But I do feel it's important to show up And to be grateful And I did drop an F-bomb in the speech I was not expecting to do so If I'm being 1000% honest to show up and to be grateful. And I did drop an F-bomb in the speech. I was not expecting to do so. If I'm being a thousand percent honest just with this audience, with our audience, I happened to lock eyes with some people

who may not be the biggest fans of old Heel Wani. And that- That gives a flying fuck. Well, not those people in particular. Shout out to Frank Warren. But there were other people in attendance and it kind of shot me up a little bit. And, not those people in particular. Shout out to Frank Warren. But there were other people in attendance and it kind of shot me up

a little bit. And I got fired up because it's one thing, you know, the relationship between the media and fans is often a tumultuous one, especially in this sport.

And so to get that recognition for 15 straight fucking years is a really big deal and really does mean a lot. MMA Hour was nominated. We didn't get the nod. And next year it will be uncrowned and hopefully this show and all the other shows, the crack boys in the back, that's what I'm waiting for.

Hell yeah. But it really did warm my heart. It really did. The recognition and then most importantly like reconnecting with some people I had not seen in quite some time and actually meeting some people for the first time i got to meet uh frank's favorite mma personality nina drama uh who couldn't have been sweeter couldn't have been nicer we had a nice chat in the back um i enjoyed that very much i called that one too uh he picked it yeah yeah i i said she was gonna be personality or nailed it there you go

um got to see uh anik and his and his twin brother i'd never met him before and that was really nice as well uh saw laura sanko saw eric nixick saw uh some managers who had not seen some fellow media members and you know all the media members who were nominated and even not should be very proud of themselves so anyway without uh belaboring the point it did really mean a lot and uh you know all the media members who were nominated and even not should be very proud of themselves so anyway without uh belaboring the point it did really mean a lot and uh you know for someone who has highs and lows and all that stuff and and i and i continue to believe that the fighters only mma awards should probably just be about the fighters the recognition means a lot after all these years all the ups and downs all the trials all the tribulations all the the job switches and the roadblocks and all the shit that you all know about, it really, really does mean

a lot. So thank you very much. And thank you to Fighters Only for putting it on. 16 years. Pretty damn awesome. So it really did. It really did touch my heart. Congratulations.

We're all happy for you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm probably happier than anyone else. I feel that. Easy now. I feel that. I now. I feel that. I'll gladly take the fourth in happiness.

I think I heard PT complaining about it, actually. He was upset? Yeah, he was like, I should have been nominated. Wow. Every year. Every year. No, I mean. PT third in happiness.

I'm fourth. Jordan, a distant fifth. And Andy seventh. I think Andy actually said she doesn't give a fuck. Okay, wow. Jordan made peace for you. She's like, what a wretch. But he didn't allow you to have any of it.

Some people were upset that I didn't specifically mention them in the speech. I mean, we talked about it on the air. Who the fuck is we? I was actually referring to my wife and my kids, actually, who were like, why didn't you mention us? I mean, honestly, you're so worried in that moment. You're worried about missing. Could you imagine if I would have said everyone but Frank? Could you imagine if I would have said everyone but Petey?

Yeah, I could imagine that. Frank is very forgetful. Look at that the other way. Now you've made one enemy in Frank. This time, now I'm mad at you. Jacqueline's mad at you. The kids are mad at you. I mean, you've kind of made enemies of everybody by not mentioning anybody.

No, I had zero expectations. I think it would have been better if you just forgot Frank. That would have been actually better. Isn't it time to just name the award the Ariel Iwani Award so we can just move on from this? I want to win some more. I mean, like. No, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of you winning it.

Last week it was I'm hanging it up. I'm done. I'm tired. No, I'm happy. I'm happy. You know what? I'm happy. Listen. There was a reconnect. I feel it. I'm hanging it up I'm done I'm tired You know what I'm happy There was a reconnect I can feel it

It's emanating off you that there was like a Re-grounding when you got there And now I feel like you're reinvigorated You're sounding like that It was really nice to see some people It was really nice to see some people There were a couple reasons A. Being grateful

B. My old friend John Beer Who used to with Eric, who came with me to the first one. And then, you know, to come full circle, number 15 was really cool. And yeah, and then to see some of these old faces, it was really, really nice. By the way, we decided to live it up a little bit, not to make this all about my weekend in Las Vegas. I had the greatest meal of my life. On Friday night, I'm a big fan of sushi. Can you guys guess? I don't even know if I should say this.

Can you guess what the bill amount was? $786,000. No. How many people? Two people. Oh, my God. Double down on 786. 1,100.

Is this each? No, altogether. Without tip. I'm going two Gs. Is it with tip? This is with tip. It was omakase, meaning no menu. I have never tasted...

You know how I talk about sasabune? I have never tasted anything like it. I have never tasted anything like it talked about sasabune you know i talked about sasabune yeah i have never tasted anything like it i've never tasted shout out where this is yeah place of the name is kame k-a-m you know don't look it up don't look it up you're gonna get the answer if you look at it are you not are you yeah i already made my guess okay three grand 800 each oh wow yeah cheapskates most most expensive meal that I've ever spent on myself I ordered sake which I never do They brought it in a gold plated thing The sake alone

150 Did you just say We just said let us get The greatest sushi meal of our lives We asked some people Including my good friend Andy Mayer And the guys at Nuro who live in Vegas.

They said, both of them, both sets of people said, go to Kame. We got there at 5.30 because it was the only slot that we could get happily. Sat there at the table.

The dude in the front was giving us a whole history lesson doing all the stuff. The stuff flew in that morning from Japan. He was talking to us about the sea urchin, about the tuna, this side.

You never get this side, the belly. It was mouthwater. It was truly mouthwater. Did John enjoy it as much as you did? We both had the greatest night. We also had a massage, and I don't even want to tell you how much we paid for the massage uh he actually treated me it was at our as at our our favorite place the bellagio

which we stayed at um back in september um no we did we did the whole thing we did the schwitz we did the sauna we did the cold plunge we did the massage we did the schwitz after the massage now i see why we were living and then there was one point where i called my wife and i was like oh yeah guess what john and i did the schvitz we did the sauna we did the sushi and then i could tell like her happiness for me winning the award went from a here to a here and then when i got home it's like do the dishes put the kids to bed what is the schvitz this oh the schvitz the schvitz is like uh is uh is uh yeah like a sch Schwitz and then the sauna? No the Schwitz The steam room

The eucalyptus But here's the thing In the cold plunge all the men were naked You weren't? Except for you? Nah I was wearing shorts Can I tell you something straight up? Sauna wore a hoodie

That's alright You wore a hoodie That's alright You wore a hoodie in the sauna? What the fuck is going on? Can I tell you something? I was actually in a steam room yesterday And some dude was wearing sweatpants And I guess he didn't want to get his sweatpants wet So he pulled his pants down like he was sitting down onto a toilet To sit down on

Take them off bro That's what I said, I was like brother just take them off and grab a towel This is ridiculous. Anyway, all to say, it was a great weekend. Came back. Who did the pushing on all this luxury? I feel like this was a John idea. Actually, it was more me. Wow. Yeah.

John showed up with a backpack and boots with deer blood on it from a hunting trip he was just on. I was like, we're living this up. I actually tried to convince him to make a couple bets. He bet on the Knicks on Thursday, Lions, Packers. I mean, I didn't partake myself. I just like to watch.

Respect. You know, but no, it was a great time. It was a great time, guys. I watched your coverage from afar, and then I got home on Saturday, and I watched 310. Yes, I like to call the pay-per-views now by their full number, not this 310 nonsense. We're going 310. It has come and gone. Let me tell you about today's program, and then we'll get into it.

We have a lot to discuss. This is going to be a great post-pay-per-view Monday. I can't wait to get into it. So back into the show, hey, shout-out to Ian Machado Gary. He drops his first professional loss just a second time in his career. If you count his amateur days that he suffers a defeat, he's showing up. And I do have to give a special shout- out to him for this reason and this reason only among many others of course afterwards on our post-fight show i said that i thought his stock went up when we booked him last monday

on the show if you recall he was on uh in dealing with his team and in particular his wife leila they said all good 3 30 eastern 12 30 pac, Monday, we'll talk to you then. This is last Monday. She also said, and I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, and oh, by the way, I've gone ahead and booked you for next Monday at 3.30 Eastern, 12.30 Pacific, we'll come on Monday after. I was like, wow, I don't think anyone's ever said that before. Thank you, I appreciate it. Usually after a loss, I don't like to bother people, but I did check in because he seemed to be in good spirits. Post-fight press conference, he showed up. He was very pleased with the performance. I said, hey, just want to check. No problem whatsoever. If you guys want to

chill after the loss, you want to be together, you want to be with your family, you want to travel, I don't know, but just checking in if you still want to do it. She writes back. We said we'll be there. We will be there. He's happy to do it. I have to give credit. Credit where it's due.

I think that's pretty awesome. I appreciate that. I hope you do as well. At 3 o'clock, we're going to be joined by Demetrius Johnson. You may have heard he was called out by Alexandre Pantoja. After the victory on Saturday, more to come. DJ, what a pleasure. You know, one of the greatest of all time.

Always an honor. At 240, I'm doing the math in my head here because they're all West Coast guys. Michael Chiesa is going to join us. He had the big win over Max Griffin. An amazing, look at that rear naked. It was like old school freaking Brutus the Barber beefcake, if you get the reference. He'll join us at 2.40. At 2.20, Chase Hooper had the win over Clay Guida. He'll join us. And at two o'clock, Brian Battle, who got the somewhat controversial win over one Randy Brown, also

missed weight. We'll talk to him about where he goes from here. But let's get into it. UFC 310 has come and gone. And Alexandre Pantoja, the star of the show in many respects, he defeats Kaya Sakura via second round submission, rear naked choke to be exact. What a fight it was, what a performance it was for the Brazilian who is really coming into his own. I don't know if it's the hair. I don't know if it's the getup. I don't know if it's the gold chain. I don't know if he's just getting comfortable as champion. He wins his 13th fight as a UFC flyweight, tying Joseph Benavidez and the great Demetrius Johnson

for most wins in the flyweight division. There you see the rear naked, as clean as it gets. He gets his 7th finish as a UFC flyweight, tying the great Davidson Figueredo and Demetrius Johnson. This guy, third title defense successful, but starting to make a case for second greatest UFC flyweight of all time. Still a ways from the great DJ, but in that conversation, I think, with Joseph Benavidez, most assume Joseph Benavidez would have won a belt if not for the fact that he was fighting

in the same era as DJ but given the fact that he now has three title defenses and all these dubs and all these finishes I'm not against that I won't hate you if you put him as the second greatest of all time and and that would be above the likes of Figueiredo and Moreno and others um so a big win for him more on him in a moment Shavkat Rachmanov with the unanimous decision win over Ian Machado. Gary, a hard-fought battle. He goes the distance for the first time in his great career. He improves to 19-0. Back and forth they went.

The fifth round was as dramatic as it gets. Ian Gary securing the back and seemed to have A rear naked choke somewhat locked in He talked about Charles Oliveira And Damian Maia teaching him That move, maybe didn't quite Get the arm under the Chin as he needed to But it was tremendous theater

A hard fought victory for Shafqat The world Pays him back if you will For taking the fight and now he's the number one contender. And then we saw the negative 10,000 aura face-off between Shavkat and Blah. By the way, both at fault on that one. It just wasn't great. It wasn't executed perfectly. It was the antithesis of, say, Rampage Rashad back in the day in Columbus at UFC 96. Tremendous fight. I'm looking forward to it. We'll get into it in a bit. Cyril Ghosn defeats Alexander Volkov in a controversial

decision, split decision to be exact. A lot of people, including myself, thought Volkov won, including Dana White. He was very upset. Volkov was very upset, calling it bullshit. He showed up to the post-fight press conference. A tough break for Alexander Volkov, who showed up looking like a heavyweight version of one Paddy the Baddie Pimblett and was obviously much better in this fight than their 2021 clash, which was won by Cyril Ghosn. Ghosn, you know, stays in the Tom Aspinall race, so to speak, a couple of broken toes. That photo kind of says it all. And he even walked out of the cage after the scorecards were announced. Still unclear as to why. Spoke to his team.

He's getting some x-rays today. But it appeared as though he injured several toes and perhaps broke them early in the fight. And that affected the fight. Adelaide Bird getting a ton of heat for her scorecard, as you can see, but Junshiro Kamijo had the same scorecard. So I don't know why everyone's focusing on Adelaide, who, you know, tends to be on the wrong end of a lot of these close decisions. Nevertheless, Cyril Gan gets the split decision win. Bryce Mitchell beats Krohn Gracie in a bizarre fight. We wonder what happens to Krohn from here. Slams him. He pulls guard and then gets, you know, a couple of hell bows. Bryce Mitchell, one of the more unique characters in the game. He did not disappoint in that regard.

It just doesn't feel like Krohn is locked in. It doesn't feel like he is switched on when he's in these fights. And so we'll see if he turns up for another UFC fight, but an important win for Bryce Mitchell, who Do Ho Choi called out after his win over Nate Landwehr. And that fight was a highly anticipated bout and it lived up to the hype, but it was very one-sided. It was all Korean Superboy and great to see Chan Sung Jung, the Korean zombie in his corner as well. He was fantastic. Look at that in crucifix position. That's where he ended the fight. Just an absolute mauling. And he, perhaps in the discussion for Comeback Fighter of the Year, called out the victorious Bryce Mitchell, who hadn't fought yet at that point. But now he seems to be calling him out even more, posting a photo of a round earth. So he's either calling out Bryce Mitchell or Carl Froch. I'm not sure which one he wants to fight.

Froch probably a little bit big for him, but you never know. Dominic Reyes defeated Anthony Smith in another fight that was somewhat one-way traffic, hard to watch in the aftermath, hard to watch from the get-go. Anthony Smith, we know that he lost a very, very good friend of his and a training partner and a coach, Coach Morton, and he was very emotional walking to the cage. He was very emotional after the fight, after the stoppage loss. He took off his gloves. He took off his wraps. He said afterwards that he was essentially a broken man. He also said that when asked if this was his last fight, probably. He said probably.

I tend to feel like we'll see him at least one more time, but my heart goes out to Anthony. On the flip side, very happy for Dominic Reyes. He has made a tremendous comeback as well. He could be in the mix for a comeback fighter of the year too, after the tough stretch that he was on. Um, so hard not to feel for Anthony Smith in that moment, but very impressive, very, very impressive performance, uh, by one Dominic Reyes. And he said afterwards that at one point um anthony smith was telling him like hit me i want to feel something that's how numb he was that's how much pain he

was in uh so my heart goes out to anthony and and uh everyone affected by the loss vicente luque with the quickest anaconda choke victory in ufc history officially 52 seconds of them by garimbo he was supposed to fight nick diaz uh vicente luque came out guns bla, but Garimbo, he was supposed to fight Nick Diaz. Uh, Vicente Luque came out guns blazing, dropped Garimbo and picked up the submission win. Uh, very impressive stuff. It was a stack card, my friends, Moffsar Evloev with the hard fought close win over Aljamain Sterling. I mean, we can do three hours on this card. There was so much that went on. Uh, Aljo was valiant. Some people thought he even won the fight. Uh, I thought probably Moffsar gets the nod, uh, 29, 28, uh, but a very close fight and a grappler's delight, uh, two high-level guys

going toe to toe and, uh, transitioning and, and, and, and just going all over the place. Uh, Moffsar is supremely tough. Uh, he's now 19 and 0, uh, I believe 9 and 0 in the UFC. He should get the next title shot, in my opinion, after Ilya Teporia versus Alex Volkanovsky fight, maybe in April or May or sometime like that in the spring. Hard to deny 19-0, hard to deny 9-0 in the UFC, hard to deny a hard-fought victory over Aljamain Sterling. Mentioned Brian Battle, split decision win over Randy Brown.

He misses weight. He gets the victory. Always very controversial. And, you know, what are you going to do? He takes the fight. He gets to 20%. Randy Brown does. But Battle missed badly. He missed by four pounds and Brown insinuated that perhaps he should have gone on the call the night before so that he didn't have to kill himself to get down to 171. Was it gamesmanship? We can ask Brian Battle that question. He loses a little bit of the momentum and the positive vibes that he had after the win over Kevin Doucette back in September. Flipped off the Vegas crowd, was interacting with him. Wasn't quite the same magic as Paris, but he continues his winning ways, his unbeaten ways, And we see where he goes from here. Eric Anders with the win over Chris Weidman, an important win, maybe the most important of his career. He wins via second round ground and pound. And afterwards Dana White saying in the post-fight press conference that that should be Chris Weidman's last fight. He also said that about

Anthony Smith and Clay Guida. And again, just a tough scene, you know, not going to hide from the fact that I like and respect Chris Weidman and been covering him for quite some time. And he's been, you know, great to us and great to watch and great to cover. And so to see him get beat up like that, I know with his family in attendance, hard to watch. That's the fight game. Congratulations to Eric Anders, commiserations to Chris Weidman. I would like to say that I understand why people ask Dana White those questions.

I wish that he would just say we need to talk to them about it the same way he says, you know, we need to go on Tuesday and talk about the fights. We don't make fights. I wish that fighters think about how low Chris Weidman and Clay Guida and Anthony Smith are feeling on that Saturday night. And to hear someone retire you has got to be the worst feeling. Talk about quintessential adding insult to injury, adding salt to the wound. I wish, listen, I'm not hating on anyone for asking the question, But I wish he would just say We'll figure it out, we'll talk to them about what they want to do And you'll hear from them when the time is right

As opposed to saying they should be done I'm guilty of asking this question I'm not saying it's a bad question I just really feel for those guys having to hear it Because I know it crushes them I mean, imagine, you're feeling so low You just lost this fight. Chris had two fights booked.

He was supposed to fight in New York and then this one, and then you hear, yeah, that should be the last one. Every athlete, every high-level athlete, every former champion, every former contender, they want to go out on their terms

and they want to do it their way. And maybe they have an announcement plan. Maybe they want to talk to their family. Who knows? I just wish they were given a little more respect, a little more dignity than that. Joshua Vann with the unanimous decision win over Cody Durden. Michael Chiesa picks up a very impressive submission win over Max Griffin. Just mentioned that. Chase Hooper with a very impressive submission arbor win over Clay Guida. He has really come into his own. And Kennedy and Zichiku with the big win

over Lucas Breski and now remains undefeated since moving up to heavyweight. Let me fix my Tommy Aspinall here. Let's talk to the team here because I've been talking for a while now. Pizzi,

who was the MVP of Saturday night? Probably Pantoja, to be honest. I think it was like a big showcase performance. I think he was really looking for a performance, you know, that would get everyone going, you know, holy shit, this guy is the real deal, even though he's given us them before. I just feel like this kind of nearly reminded me of, like, McGregor v. Siver. Do you know when like i obviously had

high hopes for asakura but pantosha just showed levels and i felt it was you know he's obviously obviously already the champion but i felt it was one of those kind of coronation moments where a pack was like holy shit this guy is absolutely amazing um i thought he just came out he fought like a guy with a chip on his shoulder. And I think all week, if you had a looked at him, the way he spoke about Koi, like I remember Koi was, uh,

trying to like, you know, he was making himself, uh, making everybody aware that he was present during Pantoja's press conference. And Pantoja nearly just laughed it off. He's like, oh yeah, I like his style.

This is great. And then he just came out like Vandalay Silva in the pride era and just bombed the head off. And I thought it was absolutely exceptional from Pantoja. What did you think? Okay. So, you know, you know what I wish in retrospect? I wish the Ryzen thing was made out to be a bigger deal all week long. Because this almost feels like the first time in ages, if ever, that the UFC was kind of sort of co-promoting in a weird way.

You see Nobuyuki Sakakibara there. You see him at the event. You see Dana giving him a lot of respect. Sakakibara, in case you don't know, not you specifically, PT, but the audience, the head man for Rizin back in the day for Dream, back in the day for Pride, most notably. And Asakura is one of their homegrown stars, if you will. And now I'm starting to wonder, was this sort of a deal between them?

Because I thought it was awesome. And the story of him being the first Japanese-born UFC champion had he won was great. But I almost feel like I wish they built it up more. And I noticed it kind of hit me afterwards when Pantoja was walking out. I was like, you think some rising guy is going to come over here and take my belt? No way, and I was like, I like this

This was fun, this was different In any event, you know I saw some people saying You know, he was overhyped I was actually supremely impressed with Asakura Asakura, you know, making 125 He hadn't done that in years, he was their Bantamweight champion, he came out guns blazing

Flying knees, brought the pressure. He went for it. And when you couple, you know, the fact that he was making his UFC debut, fighting in a cage, I think for the first time

in his career, unless there was some random show back in the day, they don't fight in a cage in Ryzen typically. And then you're fighting arguably the second best flyweight in the world.

I know he got stopped. I know he got submitted in the second round, but I actually was like, I watched got stopped. I know he got submitted in the second round. But I actually was like, I watched it. I'm like, I want more of this guy. I'm excited to see this guy. I'm excited to see him build himself back up and see if he can like dust it off and get right back in there. Obviously, Pantoja wins and he wins fair and square and he's the freaking man.

But I don't think that that was a complete bust of a performance from Asakura. What did you think? No way. And it was true Japanese style in that that guy went out on his shield. He was in a killer be killed moment there in that cage, the flying knee straight away on the first takedown attempt from Pantoja. You needed Kai to fight like that to get Pantoja to have a result like that, as far as I'm concerned.

People often overlook the opponent after a big win or after result comes in but kai asakura made that fight happen the way it did and i'm extremely grateful for that like i'm i'm i'm really intrigued to see what's next for him i think this would have been a huge learning experience for him like think about how different this would have been for him in terms of a normal fight week you know a huge huge change for him and in terms of the the rising situation with uh sakaki bara i think you're right i think there is a future here between dana and him dana seemed to address it in the post-fight press conference uh talk of you know there's been often often talk of like maybe an adam white division

coming into the ufc and obviously they'd you'd have to think they would rely on a relationship with rising quite heavily if they were to do that um so yeah i can see this happening a lot more and koi did a great job i mean a lot of people were very intrigued by this guy a lot of people i could see a lot of people like myself going with vibes and going hang on a second this kid is very confident he's a very chill guy what could he possibly do in this main event i was wrong but, but alas, he made a stream. Yeah, the kids love that. The vibe's a chill guy. They also love saying the word glaze, glazing, glazer.

Why are you bringing this to me? Oh, no, I'm bringing it to you because actually, I don't think there's a bigger Pantoja glazer than New York Rick. I mean, the glazing is just off the charts these days. And you know what? Rightfully goddamn so. Somebody's got to say this about Alessandro.

Why are you glazing him so much? Tell us, tell us. He's just supporting him as a good fighter. Okay. No, no. You know what? I'll call out for Meat Run. There's a lot of glazing.

I'm just saying. I'm going to accept that. I have not seen you glaze this much since Ben Eubank, and it's stark. It's stark. Ben Eubank is more of a want, a desire, a selfish thing. I will gladly accept the number one Glazer. Give me the Krispy Kreme award of glazing Pantoja because he deserves it.

He is doing everything that you could ask for from a dominant champion. He has lapped the field multiple times. He's standing alone at the top of his division to the point that they have to bring in outside talent to find a new competition for him because he has beaten the top contender so many times. But the part that I think separates him from most other people in these conversations

is he's also doing it in the most exciting way possible. And that is not something you typically see from somebody who is as dominant as him. Often what you will see is somebody who's fighting safe and protecting their win streak. And what you get from Alexandre Pantoja is the exact opposite. In every single fight, he's running toward the fire. In every single fight, he's fighting people on their terms until he decides to fight on his terms he's exchanging with the best strikers in the world he's grappling with great grapplers he is just all action there's not a boring alexandre pantoja fight there hasn't been one and i'm just i don't know i just feel like he's criminally underrated now granted i get it the flyweight division is no i know you are but the flyweight division is never going to hit in the way that the bigger weight classes do.

It is just how this goes. We have seen this in the past with Demetrius Johnson. Figueiredo was putting on amazing fights. Brandon Moreno was putting on amazing fights. It is a division that tends to be overlooked because of the size of the competitors, for one reason or another. The things that he's doing as a champion, in addition to what he's doing as an entertainer

cannot be overlooked and I think he deserves more respect in conversations about the the best champions that the UFC has all right so afterwards I wouldn't say he shocks us because he's kind of hinted at the fact that he would like to fight DJ at some point he he mentions DJ and actually I believe DJ was recording his he doesn't do it live, but he, he records himself watching and he does a great job of doing this. And then he posted, he posted, excuse me, on his, uh, YouTube channel, the, uh, the mighty YouTube channel. And it's, it's a great moment. And I don't know if he was channeling his inner Helwani when he said, who me, but imagine just sitting there and all of a sudden

you're being called out. You have no interest in fighting. You're retired. You've done it all. You've been in the mall. You have every accolade possible. You have the most consecutive title defenses in UFC history, 11. Who knows if that will ever be? I mean, Pantoja is at three. Think about that. Eight more to tie this guy. Unbelievable. Anyway, this is a great moment. Take a look. This fight is special for some retired fighter. He don't fight anymore. He retired this year. But this is something I'm saying for you, Demetrius Johnson.

I'm the GOAT here. My black ass ain't coming out of time. Come back. Sir, congratulations. Why would I do that? Boys. Boys. Boys. The bank count

said it nice and good. 38 years old. 11 seconds title defenses. Champ ain't coming back. This was him on Friday night. That YouTube money too good to come back to fight This is when he was watching One Fight Night 26

He also said on Saturday That I guess he was offered Two million dollars to come back There you go, guys I got offered two million dollars To fight, I turned it down, I don't care to fight anymore YouTube video dropping soon He's a full on YouTuber now that Demetrius Johnson. How about him hitting it with the who me?

I know, I know. I loved it. I loved it. Imagine watching. Okay, GC, you're the futures guy. True or false, in the year 2025, we see Pantoja DJ in the UFC octagon. Don't see it. No?

I mean, you just heard him right there. He's also got his contract with One. Yeah. I don't think this is ent I mean, you just heard him right there. He's also got his contract with One. I just, I don't think this is enticing enough for moves to try to be made to where it's going to happen. You mentioned he's 38. He seems very content. YouTube channel is crushing. Shout out to him and Michael once over.

I wish we could see it. It would be incredible, but no. Could you imagine? Could you imagine the scene? I can imagine. It would be incredible. You can tell it can you imagine i can imagine it would be incredible you know it is the you know goat versus goat you know pantoja's completely cleared out the division now the guy that got traded away comes back uh oh for one last fight to write the division

and now now he's like the baby face too it's like a man that everyone loves the goat everything like that it would be it would be incredible it would be incredible scenes but i don't see that that's part of the problem though is the one last fight part. Because you're not confident that Demetrius Johnson, if he wins that title, is going to defend it. So that makes it even less appealing if I'm the UFC, right? You don't want to pay for him to come back, beat your champion, and then be like, thanks for the cheese. Well, yeah, the UFC hates that. There's nothing they hate more. They don't like when champions vacate just ask gsp and and others um they they really get

annoyed about this but golly i would love to see it god i would love to see it the one championship contract is a huge issue too yes pz did he like you know pantos i'm talking about this great moment and i thought it was a great moment i thought he fought so brilliantly and you know from the time when he when he won the belt uh the things he said about his father at time and he's a very captivating guy but in a way like has he just acknowledged the the massive shadow that demetrius casts over this division by by acknowledging him in this post fight instead of like you know you know smelling the flowers this is a great moment for him um he talks about demetri, who is the guy who he will be eternally chasing. Like this is a guy, you know,

you mentioned the difference in title defenses, as great as Pantoja is, fodder time is undefeated and you just don't think he'll have that time to get up to DJ. I just feel like when he said that, it was kind of like, yeah, I know I'm great,

but look at this guy. This guy's incredible, right? Like that's what it felt to me. Well, okay. I understand. I understand. I understand where you're coming from. I do feel like the champion should not be calling people out.

Like, you know, I'm happy to say to Marab when we speak to him, hopefully tomorrow on the program, I don't think the champion should be calling out contenders. And so what do you want Pantoja to say? Kai, Karl, France, I'm waiting for you. Let's run it back. Like there's literally no one there. I think Kai is probably the best case scenario. There is someone else that I'll bring up in a moment. The one acceptable thing is to call out

the GOAT, right? It's like back in the day when the welterweights were calling out GSP, that's okay to me because you're asking a legend to come back. Let's do it. Um, you know, let's, let's, let's put on this dream fight if you will. So that's acceptable. And I think that all it does is put Pantoja in the discussion, post-fight press conference, Dana White's being asked about Pantoja versus DJ,

uh, comparing their accolades and all that stuff. And, and look, it's, it's DJ stepped into the tournament, 11 defenses, 13 wins is incredible

here this guy has 13 wins 3 defenses so he got there a little bit later because obviously DJ had that run at 35 in WC and then UFC but you know as far as the wins go he can make that case now like hey look I just didn't get the opportunity early enough and so I feel like that makes it

that gives him the rub it puts him in that conversation as opposed to calling out, who's he going to call out? Brandon Royville? Multiple times. Moreno? Multiple times. Like there's just nothing else for him. It's, to me, it's Kaikar France.

And we've seen, look, who thought, who would have thought Steve Erseg was going to get a title shot? Who would have thought Kai Sikora would get a title shot? I would be, you know, I would be, you know, totally fine withikora would get a title shot I would be you know I would be you know totally fine with the Kaikar France title shot he hasn't gotten uh a crack at at um at the champ they fought on the ultimate fighter back in the day but everyone's had a couple cracks at him and so I don't I do you guys see anyone else is there anyone else the only other name is Mohamed Mokhaev if I'm Mohamed Mokhaev I I'm sitting at home being, I really freaking fucked this up. And let me say this right here now.

And someone wrote this to me and I'll address it because I see it quite often and it pisses the fuck out of me. Someone says to me that like, I go against the Muslim fighters, which is just absolute lunacy. I was the one that said,

Bilal Muhammad should have gotten a title shot a long time ago. He doesn't come on the show. We don't talk. I don't give a fuck where you're from or what you believe in. Sport is sport. Meritocracy is meritocracy. I'm sitting here saying,

Mofzar Evloev, go look at Mofzar Evloev's tweets. He deserves the next title shot. And I'm saying right here that the UFC should resign Muhammad Makaev, make it right. And if they did, he should be next for the title shot because his resume has earned it. So all this fucking bullshit that you guys like to spew about me being anti-muslim fighters go fuck yourself i know where that

comes from and and it's it's tiring because it's not true and all you're doing is projecting your own feelings about my people nevertheless muhammad mukayyaf should be re-signed it's bs that he was let go and wasn't re-signed and and they parted ways and and if they did re-sign him he should be next if they don't re- resign him, he should be next. If they don't resign him, it should be Kaikara France, if you ask me.

There really are. What about like, what about instead of calling anyone out, you just spin a great promo about this and they're having to hire

lads from different promotions because of cleaning out the division so many times. You know what I'm saying? Like that is crazy.

Then your next opponent is going to be some guy that you've already beat four times and it kind of looks, you know, like he, he, he's out of options at this point. Yeah. He, he can't really cut promos anymore because of how dominant he's been. The, the Demetrius one is the only one that made any sense to me. And now he's already used that.

I know it's incredibly difficult. Any chance Figgy can make one last cut to 125? Yeah. I mean, Figgy's got a one-on-one. That would be, that would be magic. That would be mean, Figgy's got a window. That would be magic. That would be magic. Oh, think about that today. That would be.

If you were somebody who, I mean, you're coming off a loss at 135. You get a guaranteed title shot. You mentioned. It's a tough cut. Mohamed Mokhaev trying to get himself resigned. If you were somebody who thinks that if you are a 135 pounder in the UFC, if you're a bantamweight who thinks they can make flyweight, now is the time.

Now is the time to try to make that cut and put yourself in that conversation because he's out of options. There are not options left on the table for Pantoja. If you're somebody with a name, if you're somebody that thinks that you can one or two wins at flyweight, get yourself into that title conversation, now is the time because they're going to be scraping. Can he make 125?

I don't know. Can O'Malley get down to 125? I don't know about that. God, I would love to see Pachy Mix against Pantoja, but I don't think he could. You would also have to leave the promotion. We're now starting to get into the conversation where we're wondering what bantamweights

that Pantoja can fight as opposed to what Flyweight. Cejudo? Cejudo too old to get down to 125? Again, these are 35ers now. I know. There's no options here. No, there's nothing at 125.

McCoy is literally fighting this weekend as well, by the way. Okay, so if all those people are unavailable, it has to be Kaikar France, right? Sure. Yeah. Not a ton of momentum here, but look. We're not posing for it.

We're not posing for it. Well, I mean, look, Tatiana Suarez didn't fight all year and pulled out of two fights and she's getting a title shot. Like, a lot of this stuff doesn't totally make sense. Again, Asakura getting a title shot, you know, with no UFC fights doesn't totally make sense,

but I just feel like he's putting the time, he's popular. The run that he... He's coming off a nice win as well. The run that Pantoja is going to have to get on is the run we've seen in the past from Demetrius Johnson. Amanda Nunes, to an extent, where you just have to continue to win and just be dominant. And eventually you will start racking up those numbers. When he starts encroaching and approaching Demetrius Johnson's title defense streak,

when he starts hitting that level is when it will probably kind of turn from him. But until then, he really just has to face next man up. If it's Kai Cara France, it's Kai Cara France. But the sexy name, the headline talent, like it's just not there. He does not have a foil. He does not have a good rival. And he's going to just have to continue to rack up title defenses until he gets to rarefied air. All right. Let's talk about the co-main event, the chief support, if you will. Ian Gary versus Shafkat Rachmanov. It ends via decision 48-47. I think everyone kind of had it the same. The fifth round, like I said, was tremendous theater. Really, really fun fight. And I think lived up to the hype. In the end,

Shafkat wins. He gets the title shot. I've waited on it a little bit in our post-show. Obviously, the guys did as well. PT, you've been watching him from the beginning since his amateur days. Your thoughts on how Ian Gary fared against Shavkat Rachmanov? I thought he gave a brilliant account of himself, and I expected him to, to be quite honest.

Ever since this fight was announced, I felt he had a path to victory. I think he maybe forged that path a little bit late in this fight. You mentioned everybody since this fight was announced, I felt he had a path to victory. I think he maybe forged that path a little bit late in this fight. You know, you mentioned everybody fighting this fight pretty much the same way. One, two, four, Shavkat, three and five, Gary is what I had. So exciting in the dying embers of this fight when he gets to the back. And it almost seems like sheer exhaustion just wouldn't allow him to finish the choke. Shavkat at times, and I'm sure this wasn't what was happening,

but it almost looked like he was succumbing to the position. It was almost like, all right, go ahead. And I thought he was going to get it done. Brilliant, brilliant account of himself. Without winning, this is the best this could have gone for Ian. All I'm seeing is comments saying he's earned my respect. He'd earned my respect a very long time ago in terms of his fighting ability. And I think he's shown the world how good he can be.

I did think the fight was fought at a weird intensity. And I think you got to credit Ian for that. You know, so much was made of, oh, this guy choked him out in training. This guy did this to him in training. One thing that must have happened in training is that Ian Gary earned Shavkat's respect because I saw a different version to shavkat that we've seen in any of his fights that night do you think do you think he was tentative because he knew it was at stake he had a title shot he gave it up and he did just enough to win the fight or is that unfair to ian

is that unfair to shavkat i think you'd have to be a tactical mastermind to time that out where you just win by that amount right um second round was very close as well in this fight um i don't believe for a second that he went in thinking this is how this one's gonna go i think he knew that ian um can crack he he's very he covers distance very quickly there were situations where we'd usually see shavkat steamroll guys who are backing up against the fence, waiting for someone to come in. But he was very aware that Ian could have something coming back to him. I mentioned that there are questions about Ian's wrestling,

just in terms of we haven't seen him fight an out-and-out wrestler. We still haven't seen him fight an out-and-out wrestler. I don't think that's what Shavkat is. But his response to the grappling in this comment event was, was absolutely brilliant. The backtake in the final round was exquisite. So, so close to getting the finish.

Um, I honestly thought it would be a close fight. I thought he had a chance of winning. Um, but seeing it play out, I think it's, it's shown everybody that this guy is a very, very serious contender and someone who I believe

most of the world now agree will be in the title conversation for a very long time. And particularly next year, 2025, with everything that has to shake out. My feeling afterwards was his stock went up. And perhaps most importantly, I felt like he earned the respect of the MMA fans who at times have not wanted to give him respect because they felt like whatever, you know, they didn't connect with him. All the stuff we've talked about, right? They felt like he was trying too hard, his personality, whatever, whatever, whatever. I feel like afterwards people were like, fair play. You're like, you, you showed up, you took him the distance. No one's ever done that

three round, five round fight. You had your moment in the dying seconds. It was right there for you. And also like, you know, to me, it matters the way he handled it. He showed up to the press conference. He didn't take anything away. He said, all right, I didn't get my hand raised. I'll be back. I'll see him not twice, but three times we're going to fight. And on and on it goes. I thought he handled everything perfectly, including the fight.

And I feel from the people, tell me if you feel otherwise, that they're now saying, you know what, Ian, maybe we were too hard on you or whatever. Much respect. Well done. Yeah, absolutely. And I honestly don't know how people didn't get there sooner, given what he's done. Granted, some of the later fights weren't as spectacular. And I don't think this was a spectacular fight either.

But I thought it was a really, really intriguing one. I think it's been obvious how good this guy is. He's a he's a brilliant brilliant fighter um and you mentioned after the fight you know when the announcement was read out you know a lot of respect for ian in that moment didn't make it about himself clap the hands let's move on um you know sportsmanship is lost in this game an awful lot but he showed there in a moment that meant a whole lot to him that he can rise above it and represent the sport and represent Ireland on a very good level

seeing a lot of people say Ian Gary versus Leon Edwards March uh what is it 22nd London feels like a quick turnaround I'd love to see it what do you think I'd love that fight I love that fight and as we say in Ireland you can't look a gift horse in the mouth and it's right there. I mean, if you don't make this fight now, it might never come around again. And it feels like it's right there. And Ian is a guy who loves to stay active.

I know that he's not a guy who particularly has voiced optimism or enthusiasm when it comes to fighting in London, obviously fighting in London against Leon Edwards adds a whole extra dimension to that. But I think it would be really good for him to go over and do it i think he thinks he'd beat leon and i think that would be something that would really i think it would give him the best chance of resonating here at home if he went to london and he fought the uk's top guy and he came away with a win there i think irish, that would resonate with them an awful lot. I would love to see it.

I do wonder if Colby wins on Saturday or even if he loses. If he doesn't, like, and I don't know if Colby ever takes that fight, if I'm being honest, but. This could be his Seaver. Like we slot Colby in there against Ian and re-inject his title hopes. By the way,

who had multiple Dennis Seaver references in the first hour of the post UFC 310? It's Dennis Seaver all over the place. I mean, it's unbelievable. Did you, did you, how many, what is it? Three? What's the line? It's a lot of Dennis Seaver, but shout out to

the great German fighter, Dennis Seaver. No idea what he's doing these days. I don't really see him like coaching or cornering anyone. Just throwing spinning back kicks. Not a ton of talent coming out of Germany into the UFC these days. There was a time, was it Nick Hine and a

couple others back in the day? That's right. Hackbreast. Oh yeah, that's right. Nevertheless, much respect to him and the tension, the face-offs, all that stuff. Tremendous. Speaking of face-offs, your level of

interest, let me ask GC about this, Shafqat Bilal after seeing that incredible face-off after the win. The fight or the face-off? No, your level of interest in the fight after seeing the face-off. Yeah, I'm incredibly interested in it. I still think Shafqat is going to

become the champion, and the only way to do that is to fight Bilal Muhammad. So yeah, I'm still very interested in it. Yeah, the face-off, we're seeing pictures now. The awkwardness of Joe Rogan being like, security doesn't know he's the champ. Come on, let him throw. Oh my God.

And then it was just, it was way too respectful and like the language barrier and everything didn't help. So yeah, the face-off kind of fell flat. But I'm still very excited for that fight. Based on what you saw from shafkat on saturday and obviously every fight is different your level of confidence in him beating balal do you think that you know i i actually feel like going into the originally scheduled balal fight people were saying and they often say this when people fight balal and and it's unfair

to him oh this guy's going to smoke him, right? And I don't know if as many people are saying that after the fight against Ian. Do you get what I'm saying? A thousand percent, man. Yeah. When you see a guy who only finishes people finally go the distance and it'd be a very close fight,

I mean, I don't think anyone can argue that that was a 48-47. Ian Gary clearly took two rounds off him. You saw him put in some really bad situations, almost landing the choke. It's like what Ian said in that video that he posted on his Instagram. He proved to the world Shovkat is human. two rounds off him you saw him put in some really bad situations almost landing the choke like it's like what he had said in that video that he posted on his instagram like he proved to the world shavkat is human so obviously people are going to be like oh balal actually has a chance now which

for me makes it all the more intriguing now like can balal put the stamp on it and actually defeat the so-called boogeyman or does shavkat come back and have this incredible like bounce back performance i mean look at likezat, for example. First time he went the distance, got dropped by Gilbert Burns and everything like that. Everyone starts being like, well, is he actually legit? And then he comes back. This most recent performance against Robert Whitaker absolutely runs through him. And it's just like, oh, yeah, he still is that guy.

Give him a title shot now. So I want to see it happen. And I want to see if Shavkat can get back to his finishing ways or if Bilal can retain the title. Who do you favor right now? Still Shavkat, but I think I saw a line like minus 200. I feel like that's fair. Shavkat doesn't need to be in the minus 400 realms against Bilal Muhammad, especially after this performance.

So yeah, Shavkat slightly as a favorite. Yeah. I mean, I'm into the fight. I want to see how it plays out. There's something about, all right, I'm happy he took the risk and he wins. He gets to keep his title shot. You would feel horrible for the guy if he would have stumbled and then he loses the title shot. And it's happened before a couple of times, most notably Karl Parisian, uh, way back in the day. And now we're about to see the, the first Armenian born, uh, fighter fight for UFC title in Armin Saruki in next month. But, um, it kind of feels like, okay, this was the way it was supposed to go. Ian stock goes up.

Uh, the people are giving him a lot more love and respect. And so let's see, you know, let's see how it plays out in 2025, but I wouldn't be surprised, honestly, if Ian Gary is fighting like this time next year, if he would have fought for the belt already or is about to fight for the belt. I don't think he needs to do much more, right? PT, like he, he, he wins one more fight. He's right back in there, in my opinion. Yeah.

The right fight. Like that's why Leon Edwards makes so much sense. If they book that Leon fight in London, it feels like if he wins that, he can get a title shot off of that. Yeah. And I think the same goes for Leon, right? It works both ways. You're basically straight into a number one contender fight. Yeah. And I think the same goes for Leon, right? It works both ways.

You're basically straight into a number one contender fight, as far as I'm concerned, for both guys, if you win that fight. That's why I really like it. I do disagree with GC and you. I don't know, actually, sorry, maybe just GC. That fight has changed how I feel about Bilal v. Shavka and Bilal v. Ian Gary.

Tell me. When I saw Bilal fight in manchester his ability to change the dynamic from standing to to ground is unbelievable and it's unstoppable as far as what i could see from leon edwards a guy who's the the greatest fighter the in this generation of uk arguably one of the greatest fighters in uk history well not, not even arguably, he just is. In front of UK fans, I know in a wild hour of the morning, I will concede that much, but Shavka and Ian, they aren't,

sorry, Shavka isn't that kind of wrestler. He's not a guy shooting for doubles. And he never, Leon never really even got going that night because he was able to to shift that dynamic so much and as i said it was a different shavka and we credit ian for that ian took him out of his game but unless he's gonna hurt him pretty much straight away i think he's gonna be defending takedowns or being taken down for the vast majority of that fight if he fights

him that's how i felt about when i was watching those fight for 25 minutes balal uh i think balal would have been sat sat there rubbing his hands together watching that comment event to be honest i agree i think it's 50 50 at this moment like i think in the past people were thinking it was maybe 70 30 i think it's a 50 50 fight i think it's a very close fight and honestly balal has fought now for the belt and and he's been doing it for longer in the UFC. I think it's crazy to suggest it's a foregone conclusion that Shafqat is just going to roll right over him. And again, I understand Shafqat a little banged up. Daniel Cormier alluded to this.

His knee was banged up. So who knows how much of a factor all that was. They have the history together, all that stuff and more. But I think it's a coin flip fight and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully we get it maybe springtime April, May, June That type of period Cyril Ghosn, Alexander Volkov

I see some people saying Rick That it's the worst decision in recent memory I don't know if I'll go that far When it comes down to one round And I believe the dissenting round If my memory serves me correct I think we have the scorecard Is the second, right?

Yeah. I don't know how you could call it the greatest robbery or the worst robbery, whatever. Dana White says it was a bad call. It should have gone to Volkov. Volkov, very upset, understandably so. Your thoughts on the fight? Scored it the way that most did.

I had a first for Don. I had the second and third for Volkov. But not a robbery. Just that most did. I had a first for Gahn. I had the second and third for Volkov. But not a robbery. Just a round that could have gone either direction. It was relatively close. I actually thought the first round was closer. I thought the first round was harder to score than the second. I thought the second

was for Volkov and I wasn't too flimsy on it. But it wasn't like he blew him out. I was saying, if you were watching the Watch Party, shout out to GC, my co-pilot on those on Saturdays, Volkov wasn't doing enough. That fight was there for the taking for him.

If he was pumping that jab, if he was just being a little more active, he could have ran away with this fight. He could have walked away super clean with this fight. He just wasn't doing enough, and he left an opportunity for something like this to happen i still thought he won i'm not trying to pretend that like you know i'm not making the case for cyril gone but i am making the case that volkov could have put more of a stamp on this and and has a little bit of blame to shoulder for it um i also will say the fact that adelaide bird is judging mma in 2024 is shocking yeah Yeah, no, it's crazy, especially in Nevada, right?

Considered maybe the number two. How much more evidence do we need at this point? I mean, her bread and butter is boxing, and she's pretty much been run out of boxing for bad scorecards, and somehow she's being used in MMA. I don't want to think at all about that because there is another judge who agreed with that. Who's actually a pretty solid judge. in uh in mma i don't want to make it all about that because there is another judging yes who who was actually a pretty solid judge yeah and and this is why it can't just all fall on one

on one person's shoulders but i mean we're putting ourselves in a bad starting position here um but at the end of the day it seems like dana white was was uh talking to volkov after he left the cage and felt like he could make it right for him in some capacity. So I don't know where we go from here. It also seems like Sergon, after seeing those x-rays, had at least a few fractured toes. Yeah. Golly. And so who knows how long he'll be out.

You know, I'm not a—I don't think we need to worry about the immediate fallout from this. These things will kind of sort themselves out. No, look, I mean, we, we hope that we get Aspinall versus, uh, Jones at some point. Um, I did another guy that it was great to see over the weekend was Plinio. I saw him after he won his award, shout out to him. Congratulations. Um, and you know, we were talking about the Jones fight and how much it makes sense. And I don't deny that. I think there are two fights left for John Jones and those are the fights. And, um, if, if Cyril Gann would have, you know, knocked out Alexander Volkov in 50

seconds, he could have said, I'm next for Tom Aspinall and Jones could fight the other guy or something like that. It just kind of makes it a little bit cleaner. I'd still love to see Gann versus Aspinall at some point. Uh, you know, what's that? Well, like that, that's the whole thing for me.

The gun had an opportunity to go in and do that. He had an opportunity to go in there and shift the narrative. And he didn't, regardless of how we feel about the result, he needed to go in there and have a spectacular performance that would somehow, you know, at least have some of the fan base debate. Well, Ooh, maybe this would be a good fight from the UFC's point of view. That's probably what they want as well. As the negotiation keeps going, they want to force Aspel into a situation where he's

going like, no, no, like, uh, I just want to fight Jones for us. It's nothing about Gann and people go, Oh, he doesn't want to fight Gann after that Volkov. He completely missed in that regard. Like, that's what the, that's what I felt he had to do in this fight. One of these guys has to win in such a way that there is an extra conversation here to be had a heavyweight. All they did there was remind us that there's only one fight to make a heavyweight, and that's Aspen will be Jones.

That's a W take right there. It's a great take by Pizzi because we're also in a position where, let's say these negotiations to have Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall fight takes a year and a half, two years. Like, Jon Jones is just sitting on the sidelines. You now don't have that guy putting their finger in Tom Aspinall's chest and being like, while Jon Jones is doing whatever the F he's going to do, you have business with me. And nobody is standing there doing that now. Absolutely.

Now, I do want to let you guys know, hot off the presses. Is it hot off the press or hot off the presses? Press. I think it might be press. Yeah. But it could be multiple presses. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's always a few presses in there. What do you think, Jesus?

Is it hot off the press or presses? Hot off the presses. Hot off the press. I think press. Press to let down. Let's just go with presses. Hot off the press. The brand new uncrowned pound for pound rankings for both men and women.

And a lot of names that we were just talking about featured favorably in these rankings. Here we go. Look at my. As, yeah, this is exclusive to us. I think it just went up on the website right now. Islam number one, Alex Perrin number two, Ilya Teporia number three, John Jones number four, Pantoja up. What is it? Six slots to number five.

How about that? Murab, number six, down one slot. So the top four remain the same. Then Pantoja shoots up. Murab down one. Aspinall seven down one. Francis and Ghanu down one at eight. Bilal Muhammad stays at nine.

And Drikus Duplessis down two at ten. And, of course, I do believe all three of you. Is Frank a part of these as well, or is it just the three of you? No, Frank denied it. Yeah. Frank don't know ball like that. Can we talk about the funniest part? You mentioned King Glaze Rick on Pantoja.

He was just like, I cannot believe people don't have this guy in their top five, pound for pound. It's ridiculous. Veins popping, sweating and everything. We went back and looked. He had Pantoja at 10. Wow. No, time out, time out, time out.

Wait, before the fight or after the fight? No, no, no. Not to a real glazer, bro. Last week on Boys in the Back, I said, how can anybody not have this guy in the top five? And then I went back and looked at my list as I was submitting my new ones, and I had him at number 10. And I was like, oh, boy. Did not have him top five. This is dicey.

Now, I should correct the record. That graphic said he was up six slots. He was actually not ranked. He was not on the previous version of the pound pound. Wow. So how did they even figure that out? Now, I had him at number 10, and I just wanted to be clear that the rest of you should be embarrassed. Anybody who did not have Pantoja ranked even at all, you should be embarrassed for yourselves,

and thank you for rectifying this and having my boy now in the number five slot. I actually had him number nine, so I'm a bigger loser than you. Oh, jeez. What are we doing? I mean, you should also be embarrassed that Jon Jones is four. I mean, what is this? This is crazy. Where do you want him at?

I had Pantoja. I'm kidding. I'm doing the Dana White. I would have it Pereira one, Islam 2, Jones 3, Toporia 4. And Pantoja 5? Yeah. I feel like that's a very solid 5.

Those feel like the 5, though, yes? Do we all kind of agree there? I mean, Marab, man. Marab's been on quite the run at 35 against some killers. All right, let's make it the sweet 6. Sweet 6. I'm cool with that. Tommy Aspinall's over there.

I've got Aspinall above Jones in a gun because I think he'd win a fight against both of them. Where's Hamzat playing? I mean, Hamzat's hypothetical. Hamzat's not even there.

Hamzat wasn't in that top 10. I have Hamzat like six. Oh, you have to remove Hamzat from 10 to pull Pantoja in. You're crazy. You're crazy. Pantoja 10?

What are we doing? He deserves it. He deserves it. He doesn't even have Hamzat ranked. No, he's out. Yeah, I had Hamzat at 6 or 7. A little less activity on the women's side of things,

but let's give them some love as well. One very big debutante, Valentina Shevchenko, one. Zhang Weili, two. Chris Cyborg, three. Kayla Harrison, four. Alexa Grasso, five. That remains the same from last month. Manil Fioro up one spot.

Juliana Pena down one spot. What is this? No activity yet. Neither of them have fought and they flipped. What is this? I have no idea. Larissa Pacheco, eight. It's pound for pound rankings, lads.

It's fucking. Dakota Decheva, though, as predicted, a top 10 pound for pound fighter, which is tremendous. And Tatiana Suarez, who found out on Saturday, or at least we found out on Saturday, she probably knew before that she will be finally fighting for a UFC title. God willing come February of next year against John Willie, what a fight that is for the 150 pound title.

She comes in at number 10 down one spot. So Dakota bumped her down. Don't hate those as well. Those are. I mean, Pena gets one pick wrong in the parlay pals and she drops the background rankings. Unbelievable. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. Not one bit, but I'm happy for pants. And I do think Dakota deserves it. Yeah, we found out a couple of bits of news on Saturday,

the UFC returning to Seattle, beautiful Seattle on February 22nd. We don't have a main event just yet, but there are some players that could be involved in that. And then we found out on February 8th, we are getting two title fights on that pay-per-view card in Sydney. Main event, Drikus Duplessis versus Sean Strickland. Co-main event, Tatiana Suarez finally getting a crack at the UFC strawweight title against Zhang Weili. That's UFC 312. Can't wait for that fight. That is tremendous stuff. And how about the fact that one, Sean Strickland now fighting for a UFC title for the third time in his career, twice in Australia, once in Canada, Mr. America can't get a title shot in the United States. I don't know if that's a rib against him or just a deal he had to make,

but it goes to Strickland, not Hamzat. Hamzat, it sounds like, will be in attendance and would get the winner. All right, let's get into, and plenty to discuss there all week long as well, let's get into our first guest of the day. Big win for him over Randy Brown, but it was somewhat of a controversial week, if I may put it that way. We're talking to Brian Battle, who we had on the show for the first time ever

a couple weeks ago. He now returns from the winner's circle, if you will. He is kind enough to join us to talk about the big win over Randy Brown. Big smile on his face. Hello, Brian. How are you?

Congratulations. Hey, you son of a bitch. I'm back. I'm back. How are you? Congratulations. Hey, you son of a bitch. I'm back. I appreciate you, man. Real quick, real quick, we got a little bit of Hennessy right here. We got to do a real quick one. I love it.

A little toast. Boom. Yeah. Full bottle? Holy shit. That's hardcore, man. Well done. I'm's hardcore, man. Well done. I'm a machine, baby. Yes. Well deserved, and congratulations.

Thank you. So, where to begin? An interesting week for you. Let's talk. I have to say, man, the Wayne picture was a little scary. It did not look like you. You were very sunken in at 175. tell us what went wrong there was um you know it how many things you know i'm saying it's like what went wrong like how many what didn't go

wrong you know i'm saying um there was injuries throughout the fight camp like you know it's i popped my ribs you know it's like that's one of the funny things is we spent so much time up against the cage i didn't do any wrestling at all this fight camp you know what i mean i was like really um thinking that it was gonna be mainly like if we did do some clinch stuff like i would be pushing into him but i wasn't anticipating him pushing into me or whatnot but um yeah you know it's like i got this cut like during the camp i got this cut like a week a week before the fight you know, it's like I got this cut, like, during the camp. I got this cut, like, a week before the fight. You know, so there's just a bunch of things happening.

But period, you know, there's no excuse. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's like one of those things, like, it was a fast turnaround. I learned some things. I took some things for granted. And, like, now it's like okay well brian are you going to be one of the best in the world are you going to be competing at the upper echelon like you need to like in a in a day-to-day way you know what i'm saying even if i don't have a full you know several months to like really tune myself up for the fight like

it's just like i need to be walking around ready to make weight at any time so you know it's just one of those things just like okay what's your goals uh does your daily life look like where you want to be and how can we adjust the daily life to get to where we want to go so yeah and it was a shitty way cut i ain't gonna lie to you but when did you come to the conclusion? When did you realize that you weren't going to make it? It was, yeah, because I saw him make a post. It was the morning of the weigh-ins. Like, I messaged my agent the morning of the weigh-ins. That was when I stopped sweating.

Like, normally, it's like, as long as I get a sweat going, like, I'll just sit in the sauna or the hot tub or whatever and just, like, the sweat go until um until we get there but um if i sit in a sauna or a hot bath or something for 45 minutes to an hour and i'm not getting any sweat knowing how i sweat then that's when i start to have uh concerns so um you know when i was in the hot bath for 45 minutes you know i told me guys iemek, I was like, yo, hit up. And I'll be honest, I thought I just messed up everything. I didn't think the fight was going to happen. Like, I was like, I was like, I really blew this one. You know, when I went to the Apex to do the weigh-in, like, I was like, I can't mess this up. I just got to eat.

I just got to take the responsibility for it and just eat it, take it on the chin and keep on going. But then I talked to him and his coach and I was like, yeah, I think that thing about taking the fight. I was like, yo, that's crazy. Wow. Yeah, but... 20%, right? Is it more than that?

It's more than that. Wow. We don't got to talk about that. It's still painful. Was it a negotiation is that why like did he say no i want x amount and you had to either do that or not fight um i i mean they definitely would have taken i mean but that's his agent's job is his agent i don't know what randy's saying i know his agent was trying to get absolutely they would have taken my whole check if they could have you know i'm saying

was it 40 percent i mean hey wait you know what I'm saying? Was it 40%? I mean, hey, wait, you know what I'm saying? I don't have the actual number in front of me. Got it, got it. I don't want to miss say anything, but it was when I looked at the paper that said like how much he would get out of my check if I just got my show purse versus how much he would get if I won the fight. I was like, jeez. I was like a that is a severe consequence with you know more power to him he earned it you know i'm saying like he deserved it uh and i didn't deserve i didn't deserve that part of my purse so you know uh but but but with that being said with that being said him taking the fight and taking that chunk out of my purse no one can say nothing to me about the how the weight affected the fight they're like y like yo you do you think no i don't want to hear it he knew about it he's been training

forever you know i'm saying he took my money i don't want to hear nothing about how the weight affected the fight because i'm in my opinion it didn't affect the fight i understand where you're coming from with that and he said you know he would have liked to have found out the night before and i think in the cage afterwards he he approached you about it here's here's part of what he was saying um you know i bet he'd be over 200 tomorrow this is on friday so it seemed like even after the fight he was still quite upset about it do you think he's telling the truth about that do you think you were about 200 on saturday night no i was 194 okay yeah that's about normally i normally walk in the cage 190 194 so um what did

he say to you you said what what did he say to you there because i saw you guys talking yeah no we talked he was just like um he was just like hey man you know what happened blah blah blah you know blah blah blah you know and it was just like it was it was cordial shit, you know, nothing too serious. Okay. I mean, just kind of, you know, it's tough because like with language like that, you know, it's kind of like almost accepting the result before it happens. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I'm saying? It's almost like he's giving himself an excuse before it happens. So, you know what i'm saying he's almost like he's giving himself an excuse before it happens so you know i'm saying like once again it's like if if you decide to take the fight you know if you don't take the fight i understand i wouldn't take the fight person you know i'm saying that's why i

thought i would or wouldn't i would not have taken the fight oh really wow okay yeah me personally just just off principle i know that sounds crazy wow yes off principle i not have taken, like if I make weight and the other person, this is, I'm not taking the fight. I'd be like, yo, we can, we can rebook it.

We can do it again some other time, but I'm not fighting him today. You know? Um, so just our principle. So, you know, uh,

but the moment you accept the fight and you take a, like a, a fat chunk out of my purse, you know what I'm saying? I don't want to hear it anymore you know i mean no no i understand that i understand that so when you saw that post from him did you think okay this guy's not 100 focused um so you know it's tough to do social media stuff but i mean you know you're always looking for a little bit of a little bit of an edge you're like oh shit like

he's already giving himself yeah uh an excuse for why he lost you know i'm saying you're like oh he's already kind of accepting it you know i'm saying which isn't necessarily the case you know i'm saying each person is different but as a competitor you see little things like that you're like okay you kind of latch on to it you know i'm saying like okay uh uh why did he say that you know i'm saying why didn't he just say he was gonna come knock me out regardless you know i mean but um now it was definitely it was something like obviously you're apologetic you know i'm saying people are like you need to apologize i definitely apologize i know i messed up but um you know i'm saying that's the past baby you know i'm saying we're gonna keep on going what happened on saturday night had nothing to do with what happened what happened on friday you know i'm saying um and it

was like even saturday night that was like the worst version of the butcher that y'all seen in a minute that y'all gonna see in a while so you know it's like for the worst version of me to show up and still beat randy brown um you know there's a lot of things i'm not happy about but at the the very least you know i'm saying i'm very I'm not happy about but at the the very least you know I'm saying I'm very happy with that before they announced the scorecards did you think you had won yeah for sure I I felt like I had won but I also understood I was like man that third round was pretty like it could be a toss-up like I felt like I deserved it I felt like I had earned it I felt like like for me it's like when I judge a fight, um, I got like that, uh, mentality

where it's like, yo, we're both hungry and there's one pig left. Like based on the time that we spent in the cage, um, who would have left with the pig? You know what I'm saying? Who, who would have left with their stomach hungry? You know what I'm saying? And I feel like, you know, if you just watch that fight, like, you know what I'm saying? Depending on how you judge it you just watch that fight like you know i'm saying depending on how you judge it you know you can't watch that and not say that like i wasn't just like kind of just going around there and just pushing them around eventually it's like if we would have fought to the death i would have won that fight you know what i mean but um

with that being said um i that's what i hate decisions because it's like you know it's a fight and decisions are so i like i don't care how dominant a decision is to me a decision is inconclusive because it's like once again it's like you know you didn't actually you can't actually say you beat that person in a fight if you're depending on other people's opinion to say that, you know what I mean? Like, unless you tap them out, knock them out, or, you know, leave them sleeping or the ref pulls you off, how can you say definitively that you can beat that person in a fight? So, um, I hate decisions, split decisions make me nauseous. So, you know, it's just like, yeah, I just gotta be

better overall. So it's really interesting because after the win in paris i felt like unless you were french everyone loved brian battle like the the promo was great everyone was on like first time in your career i felt like oh man this guy is on fire promo of the year all this stuff and now i've seen some of the tweets you're interacting with and i saw the reaction obviously people were upset about the missing weight and then your response to them and i'm like man did the honeymoon just last three months like what happened now now are you a heel everywhere is that what you're thinking too like damn where's all that love from september you know it went all right like you know but that's the game man you know i'm saying and um you know it's like one of those things you got to keep in mind um you know

it's like fans are finicky you know i'm I'm saying? They're like invested in this shit in ways that don't even make sense. You know what I'm saying? People are like, man, dude, you know, you really like, it's like people are like really like some emotional type, like, man, you really like let me down by missing weight. You're like, why? You know what I'm saying? Like, bro, you were like, like, my, my weight, like, like it is on one hand it's like on one hand i get it but it's like it's like yo you're talking on like some serious stuff bro like you don't have anything

else going on in your life you know what i'm saying but on one hand it's like and i do appreciate that um but um nah man it's funny to me and um like low-key it's like i'm a little bit of a troll so it's like all this stuff is just kind of funny to me. You know, I almost feel more comfortable with all the hate as opposed to, like, coming off September, it was like I almost didn't know what to do. Like, I was like, this doesn't feel like I'm doing things right. There's too much love. We're all the haters at, you know what I'm saying? Where's everyone telling me I'm trash and that I can't fight anymore, you know what I mean?

Where now it's like right back to it. It's and it's like i just watched the fight it's like yo that was a high level fight between like that was like a chess match between like two of the best people in the world you know what i mean um but yeah no man i i i love it um you know keep it coming'm saying? Like people, people, people saying crazy things. If I let you down, I'll be honest. I'll be honest. I really don't care. And then I'll say this too. Like, you know, you can call me whatever you want, as long as it's associated with winning and feeding my babies. You know what I'm saying? Like you call me a bomb, a loser whatever i don't care as long as in the back of your head when you think of brian you think about winning by any means necessary and feeding his family you know i mean uh well you are winning that's now five in a row for you

undefeated streak so uh very impressive in a very tough weight class um i did hear you say afterwards the more they boo you uh the more of a heel you become so i feel like we're we're just going to see you grow like like the the the bad guy is just going to come out you're going to go full heel on us man well there's a um i i don't want to fight um any 50 50 places i want to go i want to go like uh my next fight i want to fight Carlos Preitas in Brazil. You know what I'm saying? I want to go fight. That'd be crazy. That'd be absolutely electric. You know what I'm saying?

I know that would be insane. You know, I'll go fight Jack de la Madalena in Australia. Is he from Australia? He is, yeah. Yeah, Perth. Now, that's not going to happen. Like, we're in totally different. Like, I'm not ranked.

You know what I'm saying? He's all the way at the top of the ranks. But that's the kind, like I'm not ranked, you know what I'm saying? He's all the way at the top of the ranks, but that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. You know what I'm saying? Like, Oh, do you feel, do you feel this time next year,

you're going to be in those conversations? A hundred percent, a hundred percent. Undoubtedly. You know what I'm saying? Like, um, it's a,

for me, it's like, uh, my climb up, it's a matter of, you know, when, not if,

you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm, I'm, I think, um, um the the commentators brought up a good point like randy has more fights he has more wins in the ufc than i have professional fights you know what i mean like oh i'm still like really really like if you just talk about my time in the gym like when i started versus when most of these guys started i'm still

like really really new i'm still getting better all the time getting better in different areas so um absolutely you know i'm saying i'm just going to keep on winning keep on doing my thing you know i'm saying is i'm each fight i want to become a little bit more undeniable you know i'm saying i want to become a little bit more inevitable you know i'm saying and um i love it because regardless of people's opinions on me and how i fight, you know what I'm saying? I can confidently look at anyone and say, I'm going to win that fight. You know what I'm saying? Some way or another, like it might look ugly. You know what I'm saying? It might be a highlight reel, you know what I'm saying? But one way or another, you know what I'm saying? And you put me

in the cage with any welterweight on the planet, I'm going to find some way to get out on top. You know what I mean? You know, I don't know if you saw this, but coincidentally, it went viral this past weekend as well. There's a promotion in Poland that apparently has a rule that if you miss weight, you then have to fight your opponent and his father at the same time. Have you seen this? That's crazy. Look at this. Two on one, the dude missed. The dude missed weight, and there's an old man about 60 years old going after him. Two on one.

He gets dropped there real quick, but they ended up figuring things out. This is absolute nutty, and I don't think it's a work. I think it's legit. Look at this. And I see you locked in. Your face is hilarious right now. I'm sorry. I got a lot.

No, it's amazing. I love it. But how would you feel? Look, they're beating the crap out of right now. I'm sorry. I got, I, yeah, I got a lot. No, it's amazing. I love it. But how would you feel? Look, they're, they're beating the crap out of him now. How would you feel if the rule was you would have had to fight Randy and his pops,

uh, or a family member on Saturday? You like this rule? Should this be instituted? I would, um, I would, so I would definitely,

I would have definitely fought Randy and his dad. But what I'm thinking now is like dad, Battle Cat, Big Battle. You know what I'm saying? My old man, he's 6'2", 220. I call him a big white polar bear. You know what I'm saying? He still spars all the time at the gym. We call him the open weight sparring champion of the world.

I need someone to mess with again. At some point, I need to have a tag team fight with my dad. Just seeing that was inspiring. How old is he? My dad is 50. I think like 56. He's a spring chicken compared to Mike Tyson. He could do it.

You know what I'm saying? You know what? Honestly, if Mike wants to run one back, I don't know how. I think it would go a lot better for Mike than the Jake Paul fight did. I think it would go poorly for my dad. But he would take the fight. He would love the fight. Sure, I bet. That is just wacky stuff.

And so I was wondering how you felt about it all. Curious to see how it goes from here. And I like the way you're going back and forth with the haters online. It sounds like they're not getting to you or upsetting you in any way, shape, or form. And hopefully, you know, Randy is able to move past this. And, you this and it's an unfortunate thing but in the end he took the fight, right? He took the fight and then the fight

played out and that's it it's hard to say afterwards that you shouldn't have taken the fight if you took the fight, no one forced him to the best of my knowledge, right? The UFC doesn't really do that they leave it up to him No one forced him with that being

said it's like that's that's one of the things i hate about all this because it takes away from the fact that it's like you know randy is a really really really good fighter it's like we had like a an actual like chess match out there on a saturday night yeah um you know i'm saying i hate i hate when shenanigans like that and it's my fault you know i I hate, I hate when shenanigans like that, and it's my fault, you know what I'm saying? But I hate when shenanigans like that can, um, you know, affect how people viewed the fight. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't actually like the fight itself, but it just affects how people perceive what

happened in the fight. Um, and you know, it's like, it is a little disappointing, but with that being said, I mean, you know, we get a year away from now. You know what I'm saying? Like I said, if I keep on winning, you know what I'm saying? Make weight. People forget about all this. You know what I'm saying? Randy, he's an incredible fighter.

You know what I'm saying? I got better just being in the cage with him. But with that being said, you know, he did take the fight. You know what I'm saying? Like all the, I feel zero guilt, zero the fight. You know what I'm saying? Like all the, I feel zero, zero guilt, zero remorse.

You know what I'm saying? Like, um, cause you know, like he still was very capable of beating the shit out of me on, um, on Saturday night. You know what I'm saying?

He was still throwing hard shots. So, you know, it's whatever, you know what I'm saying? We're going to move on. We're going to keep on going. We're going to keep on climbing all the way to the top. You know what i'm saying he was still throwing hard shots so you know it's whatever you know i'm saying we're gonna move on we're gonna keep on going we're gonna keep on climbing all the way to the top you know i'm saying no matter what anyone no matter what anyone says i don't care we're gonna get there one way or another eventually you feel me i would love to see that fight against carlos predis in brazil so let's see if it uh if it shakes out that way congratulations on the win

brian uh well done Fun stuff in the aftermath. And hopefully you're not too banged up and we'll get to see you back in there sooner rather than later in 2025. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me again. I look forward to talking to you in the future. And then I'm going to send you some Hennessy. Some Hennessy. So next time I win.

We can do it together. Yeah. So I don't leave you hanging. No, I appreciate that. I appreciate that, my man. Thank you so much. Enjoy and happy holidays leave you hanging. No, I appreciate that. I appreciate that, my man. Thank you so much. Enjoy and happy holidays to you and your family. There he is.

Brian battle coming off a big win over Randy Brown. I can't tell you that Randy Brown will join us tomorrow on the show. We'll get his side of what transpired on Saturday. Before we move along to our next guest, do you want to let you know that today's show is brought to you by our good friends over at NordVPN. Yes, you know by now I love NordVPN. Using myself and using it for several years was tremendous when I was in Paris over the summer.

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Again, use them. It's right on my computer. I'm staring at the icon right here. It's a tremendous service and can't thank them enough. All right, Brian Battle with the big win. Somewhat controversial. Chase Hooper's win over Clay Guida. Not controversial at all.

It was a beautiful submission win for the young man, the young father. He's kind enough to join us right now following the big victory in Las Vegas. There he is. Hello, Chase. How are you? Good. Yeah. I mean, not too banged up.

I got a couple, I don't know if you can see, I got a little scrape there from the canvas, but not too much worse for the wire. And yeah, happy to be back on a Monday. Did you happen to watch the fight back have you have you watched the broadcast uh yeah i i did actually um i usually will watch it like after we get back to the hotel and then i'll watch it one or two more times and i'm about done with it the reason i ask you this specifically off the top is i thought uh joe rogan

and daniel cormier in particular were so complimentary of you and your evolution and so so I'm just wondering, as you sit down and watch, and sometimes, you know, we have people on the show and they say, oh, I didn't like the commentary. I thought in this particular instance, they were glowing. I mean, the praise about your evolution, how far you've come was very noticeable. When you heard that, how did it feel? Yeah, I mean, obviously it feels good. I feel like, yeah, sometimes they can be a little bit haters. In my opinion, I feel like the commentary you're supposed to, and I'm not a commentator, so I guess my opinion doesn't matter too much. But I think your job is to make the fighters and the fight look as interesting and as good

as possible. So I don't like it when I see the commentators being like, Oh, this person's trash. You know, they're so bad at this. You know, I don't think that's a good way of representing the sport, but, uh, you know, again, I'm not in the booth, so I can't, you know, speak for him entirely, but, uh, yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's always nice to hear, hear the good stuff. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I've kind of moved past the point i don't feel like i need that um i don't need the recognition from them but uh it's always nice to have did you agree with their assessment though that this was one of your best performances that it's all coming

together for you uh much was made you know 10 fights five years in the ufc five years to the month back at t-mobile all that stuff you're you know, you're now a dad, you've got that dad strength. Um, all, all the praise, regardless of who it was coming from, do you agree with it? Um, yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it, honestly, I, it's, it's been five years of building the skillset. So that's just as a baseline thing, like it's been five years of more training and, and, you know, fighting guys at the highest level. Um, level um you know that's that's what the UFC is it's it's an infinitely deep pool and uh you know I was just adjusting to that level I don't think I was necessarily like that far behind on the skill set I think it was all like a lot of it was really a confidence thing and like dealing with the pressure and then uh you know now that we got that like in the back I think you got michael kies on maybe after me you you can ask him like i was having a good time joking around you know

throwing on some funny songs and uh i felt great in the warm-up i i didn't feel honestly i had a conscious moment in the back where i was like i don't feel anything right now and that's amazing like that's a great feeling to have. No anxiety, no anything. And I think that's really been the biggest change for me. That wasn't always the case. No, I mean, I've had fights where, and somebody was telling me like, oh, GSP always hoped the lights would go out in the arena. You know, my thing is like, I hope my opponent like rolls his ankle or something or like, you know, I don't want to go in there and have to fight you know but it's really just been realizing like okay when we're actually in there like I'm not you're you're just moving it's too fast to be scared like it you're you're just

reacting to whatever's happening like you're never scared in the moment it's always just the lead up to it and the the what ifs so it's been trying to just reduce that. And yeah, I mean, a little nerves, you know, on the day of, but it's just, I think of it like, like cliff diving, like you're walking to the edge and that's where you're the most scared. But once you take that leap and you're like, you're just going, like it's happening too fast for you to actively be scared. Was this the first time you've, you've never quite felt that or has it been kind of like a gradual progression towards this state that you were feeling on Saturday?

I think more gradual for sure. I think, honestly, the Slava fight was really a big one for me. The Leavitt fight was a little different because it's like, I mean, it's no disrespect to Jordan, but he's not a guy that, and I think Clay's kind of similar, like when you fight them, they're not trying to hurt you so much as they're trying to beat you where like Slava was a guy where I was like this dude even if I win it's gonna be I'm gonna get beat up like it's not gonna be fun it's gonna hurt like that's a guy that's trying to hurt you and uh that kind of uh

just accepting that being like you know fuck it fuck it. Whatever happens is going to happen. I'm going to go in there. It's my job to, you know, put it all out there. And yeah, just kind of accepting it and letting go of the anxiety a little bit. Yeah. Like these past three fights has been great. I apologize if this is maybe a question that can be deemed one way or the other, and I'll explain why I'm prefacing this way, but I'm just wondering, you seem to be a very empathetic person, a smart person, a grounded person. Was there any part of you, maybe even in the aftermath,

where you felt bad for Clay Guida? And I say this because the difference in age was, to me, very noticeable. He's a legend. Um, you made somewhat quick work of him. I'm not going to suggest that it was easy. That's just a testament to you and your skill. It's never easy in the cage, but there was a part of me when I saw him and, and he was hurt and he was doing the jog as he usually does after a fight. And he looks older, obviously, where I was like, it's just a fight game, man. It's a tough thing. and i i don't know if in that moment you're looking at him and feel any sort of way i know you have a bit of a history with him you competed in a grappling competition but it kind of ends there are any of those feelings present um honestly like it's kind of it was kind of a weird week like

and it's one of these things where it's kind of like the levitt fight it's it's a weird thing to fight somebody that you know and and actively like as a person um like all week you know like i think it was like tuesday we saw clay downstairs and you know i was like oh hey this is my wife this is my daughter you know um just like casual like hanging out talking like very friendly um just one of those type of interactions and we were having those all week and uh you know ufc's doing the thing where they're like hey red corner's got to be over here blue corner's got to be over here i was like guys i literally like i just hugged clay like it doesn't matter like we're good you guys don't have to freak out about it but um no it's one of those things where like i I, I just look at it as like competing.

Um, you know, it, it makes it a lot easier in my mind than like a fight, a fight seems a lot scarier to me. So it's just like, you know, I'm, I'm out here, I'm going to compete against this guy, you know, same as during the grappling match. Um, and you know, when you're in there, I, I really don't feel anything. Um, it's, it's, again, it's, it's going a little fast to, uh, to, to feel any sort of way. Um, but no, I, I mean, before the fight, I actually, I was like, uh, Clay's probably a guy that'll want to touch gloves. So I was like, you know, like, Hey,

are we going to touch gloves? And he's like, nope. Okay. I was like, okay, good to know. Flitches switch has flipped and, uh, you know, it's down to business now you know no harm no foul i i respect people that say like no to the glove touch um but you know just good to know like okay he's switched to the competition mentality he's gonna try and beat me up and uh you know i gotta keep that from happening um yeah i don't know i i didn't really feel any sort of way after i i you know i hugged him after i was like hey you know i appreciate you I didn't really feel any sort of way after I, I, you know, I hugged him after I was like, Hey, you know, I appreciate you. Thanks for taking the fight. That type of thing. Um, but, uh, no, I, I don't really, it's one of these things where like, you can't really feel bad for your opponent. Like we, you know, I've been on both sides of it. I know that at the end of the day that everybody loves Clay Guida, they were cheering for him. You know,

the people that really care about him don't care whether he wins or loses. Like, he's got a great life outside of this. And, you know, it's just a 15-minute segment that didn't go his way. And that's the business. You know, that's the sport we're in. So afterwards, and I understand this isn't your call, but just curious your take, Dana White said that he thinks that he should retire. Do you agree with that assessment? I mean, I don't know.

It's one of those things where I felt, honestly, I felt in there, and I don't know if it was like a size difference, because I know Clay doesn't cut a ton of weight at all. He's drinking like chocolate milk all week, and I was a little jealous while I was cutting weight. But it's one of those things where I honestly didn't feel like when we were in there, I didn't feel like he was as hungry for the competition as I was, and I think that's a big piece. I think, I don't know, I didn't feel like he was really in there as much as he could be, but I think he's a guy that needs to get pumped up for the fight. I'll never tell anybody to retire. I don't think that's my business, but you know what? 37 fights in the UFC. I mean,

I damn sure won't be doing that when I'm 42. Yeah. I'd say off into the sunset but that's just me do you have you know and I bet you you're what 26 now right 25 I'll ask you the question you may say like 33 and there's no chance in hell that you're gonna you know stick to it because everyone says that when they're

your age but do you have an age in mind to stop fighting yeah honestly I think it's just this sport is it's so brutal. Like, and one fight can change your career. Look at the, the Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman fight, like that changed both of those guys' careers. Look at the Tony Ferguson, you know, Justin Gaethje fight. Like it's one of those things, um, where I, I really don't know, you know, what's going to happen. And, uh, I, I really just have to take it fight

by fight, but I would hope that I'm not fighting by 35. Um, and it's just about trying to be smart enough with, you know, my money outside, um, so that I don't need to fight. I'm able to, you know, transition and, uh, you know, do that in a, in a safe manner. But, uh, yeah, I mean, we'll see, we'll see what the future holds. Um, it's kind of one of those things too, where like Jose Aldo, like he's a lot younger than people think, but he's got just so many wars in him and it's, you know, you kind of get to that retirement age a little sooner when you start so much younger. We'll see. We'll see how it goes.

Was this the first time that your baby came to a fight or a fight week? Yeah. So she was born in June, actually, almost exactly a month after my fight. So I blimped up a little, put some dad weight on and then you know took it all back off yeah so so that's her in the arena um she wasn't there for the fight but we went there afterwards I was working the desk with fight pass and we were at the top of the arena so it was a little more mellow it actually wasn't that loud in there but um no we had her with grandma while while my wife was at the fight and then then, uh, yeah, but it was nice

to have her for the, for the weight cut and everything, just a little extra motivation of like what, you know, you, you get into these spots in the sauna when you've been in there for a couple hours and you're like, why am I doing this? And, uh, you know, that's my why it's like, you know, I got to provide for my wife and my daughter. And, uh, that helped, that helped a lot. I was actually looking through YouTube at some point throughout the night. And then I did see the fight pass watch along and I see you sitting there and I was like, is this a pre-tape? What is going on here? But then I saw, I could tell that you had just fought or something on your face, whatever. Obviously they were talking about live fights and I know it was after your fight.

Um, why, why did you do that? Why did you feel like that was something to do? And was that something that just happened after the fact, or was that always your plan? I'm going to fight this fight. I'm going to make quick work of him, and then I'm going to join you guys. So it was like last month when I was out in New York working with Fight Pass as well, doing the same thing, doing the watch along. They were like, hey uh we're kind of

clearing it with the security people and they're like it's entirely up to you but if you win your fight next month if you want to come up after and like you know hop on the broadcast and talk a little bit um you know we can probably make that happen and uh you know make a little extra money for it um and i was like yeah like let's see how it goes let me you know knock on wood not get beat up first and then uh go from there and yeah so so they're like okay you're fighting early so you can probably even still go get dinner go get dressed changed um and then come to the arena after and yeah i was like as long as i can bring my wife and my kid like i didn't want to just dip out on them for a couple hours after just being gone all day from the fight, and then, uh,

yeah, it's a fun opportunity, I like hanging out with the Fight Pass guys, um, hanging out with Jens, hanging out with those, all those guys, it's just cool, and then I got to, you know, get back in the arena and watch the fights in person, and, uh, yeah, so win-win, make some extra money, uh, have some of james's birthday cake you know it's a good time all around yeah uh no well done i love that and uh love the shout out to mikey musumechi whose whose stock is only rising so is it true when you were in new york he shows you a variation of that arm bar and that's how you pulled it off this is legit yeah so it was that that camara grip setup and i was uh i was playing around with it in a couple weeks since and um i was getting

it a lot off of the back take because i i get that camara grip a lot when i start losing the back control and uh you know i took that's kind of what i was working i was and you can see in the fight if you watch it back i was taking clays back over and over again. And I was trying to feed that Kimura grip. And once we got over there, as soon as I threw the leg through the middle of his arms for the armbar, I was like, it's in. It's done. I feel like I remember hearing my corners hit, like yelling, be like, oh, hit him with the Mikey. That's what they've been calling it because i've been i've been murdering everybody at the gym with it's crazy hard to get out of

um i mean i i wouldn't say i did it flawlessly i butchered it a little bit did a little you know variations on it um just because clay like rolled a little soon and i had to switch i was like hooking the back of his head so we had to roll back um but yeah no it's just it it was really fun like a really fun variation and uh it's kind of getting beat up by Mikey honestly like put the fun back into jiu-jitsu for me I've been kind of burnt out for the last like year or two like it's hard being at a gym where you know like this just happens anywhere you go like if you're one of the better people in the room it's it's hard to you know, like this just happens anywhere you go. Like if you're one of the better people in the room, it's, it's hard to, you know, stay actively engaged in it. So it's nice to go and

train with Mikey, who I think is the best jujitsu guy under 185 pounds in the world. Um, you know, have him just treat me like I'm a white belt. And, uh, yeah, I mean, it brought some of the passion back and, uh, I've been having fun. By the way, second time I've heard you now use that term burnt out. You said in the post fight press conference as well, saying you were getting a little burnt out, want to go to the beach. Don't know if you'll fight on that Seattle card, et cetera. Where are these feelings coming from? Why are you feeling this way? You're so young.

I mean, it's just, it's just a grind. I went from my fight with Levitt to, I went to, it's just a grind. Like I went, sorry about that. I went from my fight with, uh, Levitt to, I went to the Aljo match in January and then the Slava fight in May. And then, you know, a little bit of time, but that was, you know, two months of, of having a newborn and not sleeping any of that. I was still training hard. Um, then right back into a fight camp. It's just a, it's just one of those things where, like, you obviously don't want this to become a job, but, you know, some days you're like, I'm just clocking in.

I don't know. I just, it's been a while since I've taken any time off. I honestly can't remember the last time I took a day off. You know, if I wasn't gone, like, a couple weeks ago ago, like I was working for fight pass, that type of thing. Like other than that, I've just been steady training and I have teammates that have fights coming up. So it's, it's like one of those things where it's, I feel I want to give back to them and do right by them the way they do for me. Um, which, you know, it kind of turns into a job and it's just a grind. And, uh, yeah, I don't know. I just want to take a week somewhere and just decompress. And honestly, it's one of those

things where like, just taking a week, like towards the end of that week, I'm like itching to get back. I want to, I'm like, I want to get back to training. I want to get back to work. Um, but it just taken a couple of days to just relax and like, not have to think about training, not have to think about fighting because, you know, I've been training since I was eight years old, pretty much, you know, what, five days a week, six days a week since I was eight years old. And, you know, what is that? Uh, 16, 17 years now. yeah 17 years of training that's you know it gets a little boring after a while it gets a little stale you know you need something to mix it up but that's the business i don't know i'll suck it up and uh yeah if the matchup makes sense for february we'll figure it

out but uh yeah I don't know. I guess I don't want to jump back into the weight cut. I think Brian, who you just had on, said something similar about like he jumped back into a weight cut too soon. And that's kind of why he was having issues. But yeah, we'll see. Like I said, a lot was made of the five years and the 10 fights and all that stuff. If we would have talked after that debut five years ago, obviously you don't know exactly how things are going to go, but you know, this type of progression would have been presented to you.

Are you happy with how far you've come in five years? Do you feel like you've met your expectations, exceeded expectations, didn't quite meet them? How do you feel? I mean, I, I'm a pessimist. Like I had so many fights, especially at the 45 fights where you know I'd lose a fight and i'm like if I lose this one, they're probably gonna cut me Whether that was true or not. That was my mentality. Um So in my mind i've been close to being cut, you know two or three times. Um and

And that's just the way I don't know i'm a pessimist. So anything besides, anything positive is always a plus. No, I've more than exceeded my expectations. I mean, you know, I've had more fights in the UFC than my coach. I've had, what, three times more UFC experience than he was able to get. So it's like, just by that next generation skip, like we've already extended our time in the UFC. And I feel like I've done a lot, you know, in my time here and I'm pretty proud, I would say of,

of what we've accomplished. And yeah, I mean, I wouldn't give up even, even the losses, even the tough losses. Um, they,

they all, you know, help me gain experience. And, and like I said, kind of going into the Slava fight is Max Holloway, three and three in his UFC, you know, first six UFC fights. Charles Oliveira, five and five in his first ten. Like, there's an adjustment period.

And, you know, I came in at 20 years old. What, you know, what can I be, you know, feeling shame about? Like, I took the opportunities that were presented. I took every fight they offered and, uh, you know, I, I feel like I have earned my spot in the UFC and I'm, you know, just putting numbers up now. Like it's, we're, we're on this grind. I feel like this is, you know, where I'm supposed to be. And I think I'm performing the way I need to be now. And yeah, I think I'd be pretty content if looking back, you know, when I was 20 years old, if it's like, hey,

you're going to be seven and three, you're going to, you know, beat Clay Guida, you know, Hall of Famer. And yeah, I'd be pretty happy for sure. You should be. Very impressive win, very impressive performance. Congrats on all the great things happening in your life. Appreciate the time very much, Chase. Enjoy the holiday season, and looking forward to seeing you back in there in 2025. Awesome. Thank you. There he is. Great talking to you. Always a pleasure. There he is, the great Chase Hooper, just 25 years young, five years in the UFC now. Tremendous stuff out of him. All right, let's keep the winner's circle train moving along here. Our guest of this time, we had him on before his fight, wanted to talk to him afterwards and also talk to him after his birthday. What a performance, what a win, what a submission for Michael Chiesa. Now on a roll once again, he had a great, great

win over Max Griffin on Saturday. He's kind enough to join us. And I'm wondering if he's more beat up from the fight or the birthday celebrations in the aftermath. How are we feeling, Mike? I'm feeling good, man. It's been quite the weekend. Yeah, I feel really good, man. The birthday celebrations didn't get to me too much. Okay. Because Danny, your manager, your great manager, Danny Rubenstein was making me nervous. He may show up, he may not. It's 11.40 over there. Do you think I'd ever leave you hanging, Don? I don't know. I would never do that to you. Come on. I appreciate it.

I appreciate it very much. You said something afterwards, Mike. You said, greatest 24-hour stretch of your life that you don't know if it will ever top this because on the Friday, you received your black belt. Congratulations at your post- dinner. And then the big win on Saturday as well. That's a big statement. You said maybe other than your wedding in fairness. So we do have to mention that, but can you expand on that? Why was this so special?

Well, I mean, any, anybody that's received their black belt truly understands how special it is. It's a lifelong journey. And as a martial artist, like, we don't have college diplomas. We don't get, you know, we don't get, that's our, that is our accolade is receiving your black belt. So it's been like a lifelong journey. And the sentiment that my coach delivered it to me and was very, very special where he didn't want to have it attached to my fight. He didn't want to give it to me after I won or anything like that. He wanted to make sure that I'm receiving my black belt for everything that I'm doing in the gym, which is more important than the fights, which is more important than competition.

It's how you handle yourself in the gym, how you train, how you conduct yourself in the real world. And it made it just extra special. I've had a lot of fights. I've had a lot of wins. I've had a lot of losses. And and most fighters kind of expect that to receive their black belt under those types of scenarios, you know, with competition. So to get it in my way and dinner in front of my friends, my family, my team, and on the brink of one of the biggest fights of my life, it was very, very special. And like I said, I just don't think there'll ever be a 24-hour stretch outside of my wedding that will ever be more special than what I experienced from December 6th to December 7th.

Wow. That is very powerful. And to be honest, I was actually like kind of surprised that you didn't have your black belt already because you're so good at jujitsu and you've been doing this for so long. And so part of me was like, okay, this is really legit because sometimes you see them handed out like Halloween candy. And then, you know, the next night you pull off a tremendous sub. I would never, I would never dare get into the intricacies of jiu-jitsu have too much respect for what you guys do and so can i just ask how did you pull that off because it was beautiful to watch and and it was it was great to see you workshop through it it maybe wasn't like your typical rear naked choke but uh incredibly effective and and obviously you got the you got the job done there in the third in the third You know, there's a lot of layers to it.

And for somebody that trains jiu-jitsu and has the eye for it, it's just obviously like the rear naked choke has always kind of been one of my signature moves. It's just something that kind of, it's taking someone's back and that submission is something that's very tailored to my frame.

But there's so many intricacies to it and the ways that you can go about that attack. And just all I have to do is just get a bite on your neck. And once I get my hands locked, I, you know, I'm deceptively strong.

Um, I'm just glad I didn't put any added pressure on myself to like, I have to go out and get a submission. I got my black belt the day before, you know, it's like, I made sure to just keep, keep cool,

keep my, keep my composure together and, and squat there and focus on performing well. Um, but I just, I remember in the, in the moments right after i got my black belt just thinking like this is the i i immediately like looked at it as like a responsibility i don't look at it like it's a crowning achievement i look at it as a responsibility like when i put that belt on and i go to the gym it's my responsibility to be a good teammate. It's my responsibility to represent my team. Well, um, there's just so much more to it than just what, what comes at face value. So, um, I'm ready to take that responsibility on. I take it on very proudly. And, and, uh, like

you said, you know, I've been, I've been doing this a long time. You'd think I would have had my black belt a long time ago, but you know i started training martial arts in a more of a mixed martial arts type system i started training with rick little at sig jitsu so like we're more focused on fighting than we are um melting and ranking right like that so when uh when anthony pettis served me up a heaping plate of humble pie after he beat me in 2018 um that's when i decided like i need to go to a to a traditional jujitsu school i need to put the gi on i need to start from square one and refine my strengths refine my grappling and work my way up so it was a very humbling experience to as somebody that's been training martial arts and fighting for 10 years and competing at the highest level

to walk into a gym and say hey i want to be to be a white belt. I want to start at ground zero. I want to, I need to just kind of start over. So it's one of the best decisions I ever made in my entire life was to, was to eat that humble pie and walk in that jiu-jitsu gym and start from ground zero as a white belt after I've already fought at the highest level. Wow. Uh, did not know that and says a lot about you for those Wondering how significant that RNC Was you tied the great Kenny Florian Was seven in the UFC and now Just two away from the legend Damian Maia and I loved what you said

Afterwards and that's for most Rear naked choke wins in UFC history You said alright obviously you want To be champ but you need those Little goals to get you to that big goal. And so now the next little goal is to tie Damien Maia and eventually beat him. So you got three more. Do you have three more in you? I definitely have three more in me, Ariel. I, uh, I feel really good, man. And I, I got to thank the powers that be, um, for how I feel and where I'm at physically

and mentally, uh, as a fighter at 37 years old, you know fighter at 37 years old. You know, I've had injuries. You know, I've had a history of back problems, but I've never had to go under the knife and have very, very significant surgeries and things like that. I haven't taken too many significant shots to the head, knock on wood. Everything's just coming together right now. And when you talk about a guy like Damian Maia and you look at the success he had late in his career, I'd be a liar if I said I didn't try to, if I'm not trying to emulate what he's done. And records are meant to be broken.

And I say that respectfully. I would love nothing more. You know, I would never say that I'm in the same ballpark or the same league as Damian Maia. I think he's one of the greatest jiu-jitsu practitioners, if not the greatest jiu-jitsu practitioner to ever compete in martial arts. But god damn would that not be awesome to have my name next to his if I was

able to chase his record and have my name next to his. I want that. I want that so bad. And I think it's important to have little goals to chase when you're in pursuit of a bigger one so i think i can definitely get three more room naked choke finishes and if i can have my name next to damian maya in any type of record book um man it would be unreal uh couldn't help

but notice i think it's your left left hand is it the left if uh if i'm correct yes uh i see a little soft cast there if you will yeah what happened i don't know i actually went back and finally watched the fight last night so i don't know if it was punch i don't know what happened in there but just kind of blew my knuckle up a little bit i can tell um it's not as bad as i kind of thought it was going to be um and i'm sure that uh this question is going to segue into fighting in Seattle. Right. Right. Um, I think I'll be pretty, I think I'll be good to go.

Um, and I, and I think that at this point in time, I can confidently say like, that's the move I'm going to make. I got to make that walk in Washington one more time. Um, I want to, I want to, I want to compete in front of my, my fellow Washingtonians. Um, I'm very proud of where I'm from. And every fighter, that's the dream, to compete in a UFC fight in your home state. It just doesn't get any better than that. And it's part of my list of goals for 2025.

The timeline's not ideal. I would have much rather had Seattle be in April and June. I heard a lot of different stories about when the event was going to be, but it's February 22nd. Sometimes, um, your dreams and your goals, they start to happen in a timeline.

Maybe it's not ideal for the way that you kind of had a set in your mind, but, um, I'm healthy enough to get up and, you know, to dust myself off, take a week off, get back in the gym.

And God damn it. I'm gonna make that walk in Seattle, climb a week off, get back in the gym, and goddammit, I'm going to make that walk in Seattle, climb a pledge arena in February. It's a really interesting one because the last time you fought in Seattle was 11 years ago, right? July of 2013 against Jorge Masvidal, and I know this is something that you've wanted for quite some time. As you said, the timing isn't ideal.

Here you are, back on track, active, healthy. Is there any member of your team your family's saying just be a guest fighter sit in the front row enjoy it you because because correct me if i'm wrong if february 22nd was in la or chicago you're not fighting on february 22nd right it's because of seattle so is it worth ruining the good vibe run that you're on right now? Absolutely. Absolutely. It's not.

Sorry, I said ruin. I said potentially kind of, you know, like coming back too soon is what I mean. No, I know what you mean. Yeah, you know, obviously when you win, you kind of want to, you want to marinate on it for a little while. But, you know, I'm, I'm playing with house money a little bit. 37 years old. You know, I'm, uh, I'm playing with house money a little bit, 37 years old. Um, you know, time is not on my side while I do feel very, very good. And I know that I can at a very, very high level, given the age that I'm at. Um, I don't really want to take a lot of time sitting on this win. I really just want to more than anything. i want to experience that feeling of walking out to a ufc fight in washington state like that that that feeling right there just talking about it makes the hair on the back of my

neck stand up um i you're right i would not fight anywhere else in february like if it was la if it was vegas if it was anywhere and they called me i'm like no i need time you know like definitely going to be training always but like i've never had any desire to compete and I have a lot going on area like it's wrestling season I'm a high school wrestling coach I'm an analyst I got a lot of things going on so it's time between fights necessary sometimes for me to handle other businesses within my life but this is something that I will make work you know this is something that I will make work. This is something that I have to do. I would never forgive myself if I turned down the opportunity because the timeline wasn't ideal. I could never live with myself.

If I'm healthy and I can train and I can fight, knowing how I feel right now, two days removed from a pretty tough fight, I would never forgive myself if I turned down this opportunity to fight Seattle. So I have to do it. And it's not like you really have to twist my arm. I'm very, very much willing to jump back on the horse, get back into camp, because I want to make that walk in Washington State. So when you're an analyst, you like to talk about, you have to have a name in mind. You have to call someone out, right? And at the Post-Rite press conference, you were like, hey, Joe didn't ask me about a name. He asked me have to call someone out. At the Post-Priority Press Conference, you were like,

Joe didn't ask me about a name. He asked me about Seattle, so you didn't say any names. Then I was waiting for someone to be like, all right, so who's the name? That question never came up. Now that you're saying you're willing to make that walk, who's the ideal opponent? It's funny, man.

I don't really have one, which is just kind of weird. You got out. You're the guy who's preaching to have a name. I know, but it's just, you put me on the spot in the Octagon. It's a different story. I'm going to give you a name, and I'm going to give you a name that makes sense. When have I ever called somebody out in a situation after a fight where it's a fight that doesn't make sense? So, you know, the question was never presented.

It's just more the focus is on the event. And it's a fight that doesn't make sense so you know it's just the question was never presented it's just more the focus is on the event and it's just a lot it's very interesting when you're outside the rankings honestly like it's it's when you're when you got that number next to your name you have a short list of people that you are kind of eyeing as to who you're going to compete against next so it makes those call outs a lot easier whereas like i don't have that number next to my name anymore and it kind of makes it a little more fun i kind of like uh i know that i preach that when you get done with your fight like the most important 60 seconds of your life is when you have that microphone and all the eyes are on you and all the spotlights on you that's your moment to call somebody out that is your moment where everybody in the world is going to hear everything you have to say

ten full so i just i just don't have a name it's just and it's fun it's it's a lot of it it's a lot of fun when you're not ranked because you're just like who's it going to be i can't wait like i just i'm just going to see who sean shelby calls me with and it's uh it comes at a surprise you know like every every person i've ever been offered in terms of ranked opponents none i've never been offered a ranked opponent that's like surprised me i'm like oh my god i didn't see that one coming you know but when you're not ranked you they call you with the max griffin or tony ferguson like early in my career like horny masvidal antox revan and these guys it's just like they come out of left field

and it's fun um but if joe rogan put me on the spot and asked me like who do you who do you want to fight in seattle there's There's a name I would have said I'm going to keep my cards close to my chest And the thing is too It's the name It's a ranked opponent And I would have Called for this fight if there was no main event

Wait a second So what you're saying is you have a name and you're just not telling us Is that what it is That's messed up. What do you mean? How is that possible? What is this? Why are you keeping your cars close to your vest?

I know you like to know everything, but sometimes I just like to dangle a carrot in front of you and tease you a little bit. Maybe just leave you on the edge of your seat a little bit. Do you know if that person is available? Is it possible that this fight happens? We'll see. I'll talk to Sean. Sean came and grabbed me after the fight, congratulated me and said, hey, we saved you a spot in Seattle,

so it's up to you if you want to fight. I did ask him, I said, hey, do you have a main event? He said, we do. I was like, okay. I didn't bring the name up to him. I don't know if this person is available. I don't think that I would get this fight I don't know if this person's available. Um, I don't think that I would get this fight unless it is, it would be like a main event type situation, but he said, he's got a spot for me. So what's most important now, the fight's over. Um, and I don't go into

training camp by myself. My wife does the entire process with me, her birthdays on Friday. It's very important to us to just take the next week to take a break from mixed martial arts, go to Lake Tahoe, celebrate her birth of life. And then next Monday, I'll sit down with Sean. We'll break bread and we'll figure out why I'm fighting in Seattle. All right. Well, I'm happy that you're doing it because it wouldn't be the same without you. You're one of those guys who's been flying the flag for some time. And I know that the Seattle fans have been.

There was once a time where it was kind of like a staple for the UFC, of course, with DJ involved. And now to see, you know, you wanting to be back in there on the winning track after an impressive win makes all the sense in the world. So heal up soon. Well done. Happy birthday to both you and your wife.

And back to the celebrating you go. Congrats, by the way, on the black belt too. Thank you, Ariel. I appreciate it. And just the last thing I just want to say as I leave your show is I just, it's important for me, the most important, what's more important than my goals in this sport is right now, when you talk about me flying the flag for Washington State, I want to push myself in this journey as far as I possibly

can because I want to blaze a trail for these young guys in my home state to where when my time in the spotlight comes to an end and I hang them up, I want to blaze the trail for these guys to walk my line. And I'm hoping that they all have more success than I've had in my entire career. It's important to me to, I don't know, I guess kind of a blaze a trail for these guys. And I'm very proud of where I'm from and my goals have become bigger than myself. I want to do this for other people. I want to inspire people in my home state to do what I've done, but do it better. Love that. And again, says a lot about you. And to top it all off, mentioning Derek Thompson, first thing out of your mouth in the post-fight

interview after a great moment, says a lot about you as well. I had a chance to work with him for many years too and know about how special of a human being he is. And I know that all of you are grieving so much. We've been working with him over the past few years. So to think of him in that moment too, again, exhibit 4,058 as to why you're such a special guy. So well done, Michael.

Congrats again, and enjoy the celebrations to come this week. Thank you, Ariel. Go, Nick. Yes, sir. There he is, the great Michael Chiesa. Appreciate him very much. And again, tying Kenny Florian for second most rear naked chokes. Whoa, look at outside.

It is quite foggy. It's just a cloud. Yeah. The Empire State Building. Shout out to the Knicks. Tough loss. When was it? On Saturday against Detroit.

But we're back in Toronto this evening. Now, we talk about Seattle, Washington, and that card he was on Was headlined by John Moraga Against some guy named Demetrius Johnson Who's featured all over the place Here on this desk, he's right over there He's right over there, he's all over the place And there we were on Saturday

Reveling in what Alexandre Pantoja did And there's his name being Called out, and I was wondering, I was like Is he doing one of those watch-along things? Is he recording himself? I texted him. I think he was.

We played the clip of him watching Pantoja call him out. It's tremendous stuff. Still in 2024, he is still being called out. He is still being discussed. He is still the greatest of all time when it comes to flyweight and arguably the greatest of all time, certainly on my Mount Rushmore top four ever, period, regardless of weight class.

He's your friend and mine, the one and only Demetrius Johnson. Kind enough to join us right now. There he is. I was wondering, I was wondering, DJ, is he watching this live? What is it like to be watching a UFC pay-per-view in 2024? And you're like, oh, you're calling me out? Like you're the champ. I haven't fought in this organization for several years.

And so that's why I wanted to have you on. First hello sir how are you what's going on ariel thanks for having me on again brother you look fantastic the skin is glowing the beard is on point uh as usual you always look tremendous okay so can you set the scene you're just watching the fight you're doing your thing you're working on your youtube channel and then he calls you out what's what's happening what do you okay okay let me let? What do you – Okay, okay. Let me – Sorry, go ahead. Let me clear my throat before I cook. Okay.

What do we got? What do we got? What are we drinking there? Is that a sponsor? We're drinking First Form. It is a sponsor. It keeps me lit when I'm doing my work in the Mighty Room. Okay, so let's talk about it.

Here's my black ass. I'm sitting down watching UFC 310, watching Alex Pantoja beat Kai Asakura. I'm sitting there. My son's watching, and my son hears my name. My son goes, dad, you haven't fought in that company for six years. Why is he calling you out? I was like, son, I have no idea. And he goes, you're also retired. You haven't fought in a year and a half.

I was like, I know, son, but sometimes dad doesn't understand everything. But besides that, it was a good fight by Alex Pantoja and Kai Asakura. And, um, was I a little surprised that he called me out a little bit because, you know, one thing when people, if you know who I am and you know me as a person outside of the cage, when I say I'm going to do something, I mean it 1000%. Like I'm not a guy I'm, I'm, I'm black and white it's either i'm in or i'm out and when i said my black ass is retired i'm gonna everybody out there i don't sell false dreams i don't sell wolf tickets i don't sell none of that bullshit my black ass is not

coming back as a competitor though as the greatest of all time is there any part there that starts like bubbling up any itch it's like you know what this dude wants to call me out he's calling himself goat three title defenses he's calling himself goat he's talking to me 11 straight title defense is there any part of you that's just a little bit there that's saying yeah i i'd love to prove him wrong no not at all i've never been the type of person i've never been a person to try to prove somebody wrong it's not my place to it's and when it comes to calling yourself the goat, you can't call yourself the goat. I never called myself the goat, right? In my life,

working on different businesses, I've worked on different things. And I said, man, this is going to be the greatest thing ever. And he goes, we can't say that. We do not have the right to say that. The community, the media, the public needs to perceive this. I was working in the esports area. He says the community and the public and the media need to deem this game worthy enough to be on that GOAT status. We work on this product and we cannot say this is GOAT status. So what I'm getting at is that Alex Pantoja, he can call himself the goat,

but does the public see him as the goat? Do the media see him as the goat? Do his peers see him as the goat? For me, my peers, the media, the public see me as the goat. So am I one of the greatest flyweights of all time? Yeah, 1000%. When I was in the octagon or in the ring or in one championship, I was doing stuff that was amazing, like the fly knee get to Adriano,

the mighty whiz bar, the clinch work I put on him, Henry Cejudo. I mean, when I did the John Dotson, when I did the Joseph Benavides, I mean, I haven't seen anybody to replicate that. Now, when you look what Alex Pantoja has done in the flyweight division, three title defenses, that is, in today's age of mixed martial arts, that's unprecedented, right? You know, you go back in, you know, my day, back in the age of my fucking self,

three title defenses, it was like, okay, I did that in one year, right? And I had surgery. So, times are different when you look, right? And I had surgery. So it's, it's times are different when you look at the span of mixed martial arts and you look at Kai Asakura, great athlete, great fighter, but Kyojo Hiraguchi beat him. Kai Asakura starches Kyojo Hiraguchi. Kyojo Hiraguchi comes back and beats him. And what's the first scene that comes out of Kyojo Hiraguchi's mouth? I know a lot of casuals here don't watch other, you know, organization. The first thing that comes out of Kyojo Higuchi's mouth, he goes, that was easy.

Easy fight. Easy fight. And I was like, yeah, because, you know, you leg kicked him. And then you guys got in a change. You hit him on the, on top of the dome. Legal shot because he hit the air and dropped him. He goes, easy fight. You look at Mino Kopp.

Mino Kopp beats him as well. Knocks him out. That's one thing I appreciate about i love about kai asukura's fighting style is that he dies he goes out in his shield like he he he's he's like i'm either gonna knock you out or you're gonna knock me out you're gonna finish me so when you look at kai asukura if he had the ability to locate i'm gonna work on my clinch game i'm working my wrestling game that way i'm not always doing anti-wrestling i I'm going to bring a wrestling game to the fight. Then it makes it more dynamic to fight. But when that matchup got made, I was like, Pantoja's going to eat his ass up alive.

Pantoja's way too good everywhere. Pantoja's got a chin. He pushes the pace. And like once he goes to the ground, he's pretty much fucked. And that's essentially what happened and i i just i just did a void breakdown on the youtube channel go take a look at it and one of the things we go watch the fight each time pantosha crosses the void and gets on uh kaisakura he does a fly knee and pushes away it pushes away instead of like fly knee okay we're clenching

inside step you know move, grab the head, clinch, elbow, move. He's not fighting inside that void where he's always pushing away. Same thing with Ian Gary. Each time, Ian Gary did a better job about what I was actually shocked at Ian Gary when they came, when Shav got across the void and got the clinch on him, he was actually engaging in that realm. But Ian Gary shines when he waits for people to come across the void and he capitalizes on them. He's not a guy who goes, fuck this. I'm coming after you. I'm, I'm, I'm not going to wait for you to come and get me. I'm going to come get you. And then when I'm fucking you up as I'm getting you, I'm going to back up and you're to come get me. Then I'm going

to catch you. Right. So those are the things that go on my mind when I'm watching. Um, but yeah, it was, uh, it was a good fight. fight and i freaking love that i love when you do this and then this i love when you're just flowing out there and it's so effortless it's just amazing the way your mind works um and so in the midst of that i was going to ask you so is this what you were expecting and it sounds like you just answered it you you were expecting the fight to go that way you were expecting him to to probably finish kai sakura and with relative ease 1000 we did price picks and your boy uh won that pick went less with 60.5 and a half strikes because i knew pantos either going to take it down submit him or kai asakura might find his chin or pantos was going to drop him and knock him out when they fight because the way pantos your fight

he goes like he throws a kitchen sink at you he goes after you with the grappling with the then you know the stand-up exchanges and he gets hit too on it on his feet because it's kind of reckless it's not a you know pop up like you know forcing the person to miss um so yeah I once that happened I you know if you watch a YouTube video I just laugh I was like was like, I'm not, I'm not surprised guys. Like now if Kai Asukura was never, was undefeated and he beat Kyoji Horijuchi two times and he beat Mino Kopp two times and he was undefeated and just starching everybody. I'm like, okay, that's, that was actually like, holy damn, he's never been finished, but he's been finished before.

And I'm not saying what Alex Pantoja has done wasn't like special, but I wasn't surprised. I was like, yeah, he's lost before. He's been finished multiple times in his career. So it's, he, Kai Osterkruist is still young and he doesn't understand how to strategize and use his intelligence when he's fighting somebody. He's still in this realm of recklessness of like, push away, fly knee. Okay.

All right. Come on. Hard right hand. Run away. It's not like, okay, I'm going to try to work on making him make a bad shot or Pantoja's reckless coming across the void. So how can we, you know, boom, double leg takedown. Right.

So there's things that like when I see and I'm like, okay, he's, he's, he's not on Pantoja's level because he hasn't gotten away from the things that made him successful, which is him catching people, if that makes sense. straight title defenses versus three. Now he's starting to get into the conversation of one of the best at flyweight with the 13 wins, which ties you and Joe B with the seven finishes, which ties you and Davidson Figueiredo. But the title defenses are the, you know, the, the great equalizer, if you will. Here's the question that I'm wondering if you have a take on, can we start to talk about him being the second greatest? I always thought it was you, then Joe B. Joe B never won a title. And probably if he's not fighting in your era, he does win a title, right? He was tremendous, but you know, you were just in his way every single time.

But now considering the title wins, considering him lapping the competition, is that a conversation that we could start having? I think Pantoja is right in his story right now, right? Even when you look at what I did, it was special. Even Joe B, he never won a title he was special he was a big character big personality even john dotson the you know the smile the way he beat people the way he knocked people out from the southpaw position you know you also cannot forget you know triple c you know triple c you know a lot of people don't give him a lot of you know credit and respect maybe because it's the cringe or whatnot but you know he beat me in a split decision and then he defended the belt he knocked out TJ Dolshaw and then he goes up to 135 beats Marlon Marais I mean he finishes you know TJ

Marlon Marais and then he finishes Dominic Cruz and then he retires so I'll and then I think the only thing that kind of puts a stain people people forget that it's because he came back, lost to Ajame Sterling, lost to Murab, but you know, I would put, you know, me, Hiroshi Hudo, you know, Joe B, but Alex Pantoja is writing his story right now. And I was sitting here and I'm, I'm thinking about this and Pantoja said, it's all about legacy. It's not about money, but I don't know what the fuck you're doing it for. It's, it's, it is about the money, to be honest with with you and i'm not fighting for money anymore so i don't care to fight but my legacy doesn't need alex pantoja and alex pantoja doesn't need demetrius johnson in his legacy that's crazy that's the craziest thing you've ever said

i understand you but him him fighting you and potentially beating you that's the greatest thing that he could do for his legacy no the thing i always tell people is like don't be like me be better than me do something that i couldn't do go do this here's here's a realm where you you surpass my legacy right he's on his third title defense okay you know and he's had some close fight his fight with steve ursic a lot of people are like damn if steve ursic didn't make those mistakes, because Steve Ersik did make a mistake in that fight, right, like, I sat there and watched it, I was like, damn, Steve Ersik was, you know, giving it to him on the feet, I can't remember the last time somebody was giving it to me on my feet, where it's like, holy shit, I need to, you know what I mean, like, I mean, John Dotson, he put

me on my ass three times, but the second time, I made amends. So when you look at that fight with Steve Ursa versus Alex Pantoja, a lot of people are like, oh man, you know, Steve Ursa dropped the ball. He could have won the fight. Even Henry Suhudo said the same thing when that fight happened. But let's get back on how Pantoja can write his story and people will remember him more than they remember me, right? He goes on, he beats, you know, Brandon Royale. Next time they fight, he just starches him. It's not even close. He fights Brandon Moreno. It's

not even close, right? Then he does one more. He gets six title defense, seven title defenses. Then he goes, I'm going to 135. I'm coming to beat, if it's Murad, Umar Nagermadov, whoever the champion is at that time sugar sean i'm like whatever it may be he beats that person then he defends that belt then he retires then you cannot deny this man that he is one of the greatest of all time like you can't you can't deny him and that's one of the things that i've always strived for nobody can ever say they are better than me as a flyweight because what i've been able to do 11 title defenses seven finishes in those 11 title defenses i mean think about that

baby it's incredible i like it i like when you cook now i love when you puff your chest out by the way you mentioned on twitter uh hey guys i was offered two million uh for a fight i ain't coming back which fight was that which who is that against i cannot discuss that come on discuss that you tweeted it i can't discuss it i did tweet it was it with one or with someone else it wasn't with one it was somebody else could you have taken it i'm sure if i if i really wanted to and i talked to chartree and then you know me chartree like hey man like you know let me go do this thing but the beautiful thing about that phone call when it came in, they're like, you know, they're like, DJ, hey, we got a huge opportunity for you, $2 million guaranteed

for you to fight. What do you say? You know, I know you're still young, you can still fight. And I was like, I don't care to fight anymore. And he goes, are you serious? I'm like, yeah, dude, I'm done. Like, I'm enjoying my life. I'm enjoying my journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Nigi. And I'm good. And he goes, you just go turn out two more guys. I was like, yeah, I don't care. And then he goes, all right, well, you know, if you ever change your mind,

just pick up that phone call, give me a call. And then, you know, like I said said i made a goal in 2023 my new year's resolution for 2024 was like i'm not gonna fight i'm not gonna use my body to make money like i'm not not gonna do it and i gave myself a year and that's when i was like okay i'm i i don't miss it i don't miss competing i don't miss training i don't miss sparring i don't miss xyz what comes with the territory of fighting shit i don't miss kind of weight when he's like oh what 125 ha fuck you out of here me making 125 never again in my life not in my lifetime even when i compete in the gi one of my uh professors bibiano he goes dj i think you go i think you go 141 my my friend you you're

too you might be a little bit too small i was like bibiano i'm not fucking cutting weight so that's why i compete at 154 and i weigh 147 like 146 20 47 i feel good strong here and i'm not i'm i'm not gonna cut weight just i that life is gone it's past me so but um Could I ask Was it the UFC It was not the UFC Okay And I think that's important Because I see some people saying

Hey they should just Because I was saying Look We can all dream about this But I do believe You are still Contractually tied to one So it's not like

One's just going to let you Walk out the door And then people are like Yo UFC calls up One and says Here's five million dollars Let DJ fight maybe they do and i was like you know what that's that's a strong point so i was trying to see if it was maybe them two million we get the five million is there any number no yeah there is no number and that's the beautiful

thing about it right like when i look at my position is that you know a lot of people in mixed martial arts they let the sport retire them. You look at the long list of athletes who've been in mixed martial arts, not just in the UFC. You look at Pride. You look at Bellator. You look at all the landscape of everything.

You look at Fedor Milenko. He didn't have to do those last fights in his career. He didn't have to, but maybe he still loved it. I think for me, in my position, when I retired, I was like, I don't miss it. I'm not having fun anymore. Even when I, you know, this gentleman doesn't know this. A lot of people don't realize Alex Pantoja wasn't the only person who called me out this weekend. Reese McLaren, he was like, man, I don't know if you guys watched that fight. Amazon Prime, one championship, free. I know everybody and their moms got Prime Video. If you guys i know everybody and their mom's got prime

video if you guys are still living in your mom's basement you can go ahead and watch that for free on prime video but reese mcclaren fought jared brooks amazing fight he was moving back and forth beautiful stand-up you know i felt like that was the hardest thing for his uh for his game to develop he's got a great grappler game and when when he fought Jared Brooks, um, he was good movement, crisp on the feet, throwing beautiful combinations, exchanging with him. And he called me out and he probably doesn't remember this, but when I was about to fight Adriano for the third time in Denver, he was like, mate, you know, I know you've kind of hinted around you retiring, um, from mixed martial arts, but man, maybe you can stay around one more time to fight me.

And I looked him in the face. I was like, dog, this is my last fight. Like I am done. Like my black ass is, is tired of working hard. I never forget when I was in a training camp and I'm fucking smashing those pads. I'm like, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Just Matt's like more, more, more, more push, push, push. And I thought I got done there. And I was like, guys, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm fucking tired of working hard. Like I am just tired of it. And, more, more, more, push, push, push. And I thought I got done. And I was like, guys, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm fucking tired of working hard. Like I am just tired of it. And, um, I remember telling Reese McLaren, I was like, dog, this is my last one. I'm done. Like I'm good. So, um, yeah, there's no amount of money that could bring me back out of retirement. You know, I think athletes who want to come out and try to prove something at a stage in their

career, I just, it doesn't, it just doesn't, you know, doesn't give me butterflies. It's almost like, well, why? I just don't see, I don't see the reason why. Like I said, my legacy doesn't need Alex Pantoja, and Alex Pantoja's legacy doesn't need Demetri Johnson. Just like, just like, you know, the news around the area now is that Jon Jones' legacy doesn't need Tom Aspinall. And Tom Aspinall's legacy doesn't need John Jones.

Now, I think the big stipulation that's going on right now is what, you know, the Westland gangster, the undefeated fighter, the greatest fighter of all time, Chael Sonnen from RCW Code 1099. If you have an active champion and you have an interim champion, that is supposed to be the fight that's supposed to be made. Not when you have Stipe, love Stipe Miocic. He hasn't fought in four years.

And the last time Stipe fought, he got knocked out by Francis Ngannou. And Ngannou went off since that fight. Francis has gone off and fought in boxing. That didn't work out well for him. Then he comes back and fights in the PFL. And so that's stipulation. Now we have Jon Jones and Stipe.

They just fought. Here's the kicker. You still have the interim champion waiting here who's defended the interim champion belt. I don't think it's ever been done before in mixed martial arts history. You have Tom Asimov who's defended the belt. You have Jon Jones who is the champion is is Tom

Aspinall still interim champion or what then you have these two are supposed to fight but Jon Jones hasn't made his decision yet so it that's where it's kind of convoluted where my situation I've retired like I'm like I'm done I don't care to fight anymore to where Jon Jones is still waiting there to see if he's going to fight Tom Aspinall, or is he going to fight Alex Bejeda? So that's the interesting thing, because somebody, I was talking to somebody at the gym, and they're like, you know, you and Jon Jones are kind of the same way. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's totally different.

I'm retired. I don't want to fight anymore. I've already said that to where Jon Jones is kind of like, what's he going to do? You know what I mean? Yeah. It does speak to your greatness, though, that on one particular weekend, you're being called out by the two kings in different weight classes. So people still want to fight you. You're only 38.

I understand why they're doing it, especially Pantoja, who, like I said, has lapped the competition. It makes all the sense in the world. And I understand why you say no. And in case you were wondering, you know, in your prime, when you were UFC champion, when you were flying the flag, there was no greater supporter of yours than Dana White. And he was asked about the possibility of you fighting Pantoja. I'd love to play that clip for you and get your reaction. Here's Dana. Come fight me. Is that something you would entertain even? I don't know. That's interesting. Listen, we, we, you know how I was the one beating the drum about Demetrius Johnson a long time ago. And, uh, yeah, I don't know. Well, ladies, you gentlemen, you, we, a good friend of the mighty cash show MMA guru has,

he's one of the best investigators on the planet. Go watch his video. I broke it down. Um, you know, I, I think, you know, the relationship between me, Dana White, you're never going to have the best relationship with your boss, I guess you can say. And you know, he was, you know, I remember forget after I fought, uh, John Moraga in 2013 in Seattle, he was boasting to me like, man, he's great. You know, he gets his nose cracked, takes John Rocker down, then ends up submitting him. He was, you know, one of my biggest cheerleaders,

but he was also one of my biggest, he also shit on me as well, right? So, I mean, it's true. I mean, the footage is there. Like I said, Drew has broken down. And so, but the fight's not going to and here's the thing too there's enough talent out there for alex pantosha to fight right like they didn't have to get kai asakura and bring him and give him a title shot immediately right you have bruno silva who's in the division he's on you know i think three or four fight win streak. You have Mohamed Mokhaev, who's undefeated. You guys let him go.

That could have been a great fight for Alex Pantoja. And the hardest thing is that you have three of the greatest flyweights training together. You have Alex Pantoja, Adrian Marais, and Kyojo Hiraguchi that all train together. Those are two potential matchups that you could have, but they train together. Then you have Reece McLaren, who's also good. Adron Marais trains there. So it's kind of the water's very thin. Yes, he's beat Brennan Royale.

He's beat Brennan Moreno. Brennan Moreno, he took time off. He was like, you know, and Brennan Moreno's still young. He's 31, and they've had great fights too so i think there's fights that could be made in that division with obviously i'm not there anymore so there's fights out there that could be made but you know and then let him i was thinking of the gym today i was like why they let muhammad mccive done like he starts fights there's been people on the uf UFC roster that had done horrific things outside of the octagon and they're still fucking employed. I don't need to name anybody.

I think the fan base can figure out who I'm talking about and they're still employed by the UFC. So I'm like, there was a missed opportunity. You can have a guy who's undefeated who could, you know, push the pace. You bring Kai Asakura in, you give Kai Asakura a fight to build him even more. I mean, there's so many ways you can bake this cake, but, you know, that's just me sitting there. I'm like, there's so many things they could have done. And they still can do with that division for Alex Pantoja. Yeah, I would love to see them bring back Makai.

He's fighting this weekend for Brave. It was weird that they let him go. They said he wasn't a pleasure to deal with behind the scenes, but you know as well as I, like there's no angels. There's a lot of guys who are pains in the butt.

His manager is one of the most respected guys in the business, Tim Simpson. Just deal with him. He represents Leon Edwards and Izzy and so many others.

So perhaps if he wins, they reconsider that. There's Kaikar France out there. By the way, you mentioned Seattle. They announced they're going back to Seattle.

I know you don't like to show up to the events. Any chance we get a DJ cameo sitting in the front out there. By the way, you mentioned Seattle. They announced they're going back to Seattle. I know you don't like to show up to the events. Any chance we get a DJ cameo sitting in the front row there? Like, hey, he does the little thing. Hey, look who's here. Seattle zone

or Washington zone. Like, that would be nice. Now in front of the hometown crowd. I gotta see what day that is. I think I might be gone. That's February 8th? 22nd.

22nd? Oh, yeah, I'll be gone. I'll be traveling, so. What are you gonna be? I mean, I don't know. Don't worry about where I'm going to be, Ariel. Don't worry about where I'm going to be. Damn, I just would love to see you get a little pop there, a little ovation from the Seattle crowd. It would be nice.

Yeah, you know what? I'm very excited for the UFC to come back to Seattle. I feel Seattle's an untapped market for mixed martial arts. We don't have a lot of big events coming up this way, or even in Portland. I mean, usually on the West Coast, it's usually hitting California. So I think Seattle is a good spot for them to return because the last time they did return here was when I was fighting and that was back in 2013.

So it's been a very, very long time. Yeah. All right. Well, I guess that dream isn't going to come to fruition. You're just killing all our dreams today. Everything. Do we have any competitions coming up? Any jujitsu? Anywhere where we can see DJ.

Clearly, there's still demand. 60% of our audience says you should come out of retirement, by the way, and fight Pantoja's. That's more than 50, which is the majority. Any competitions?

Are you going to pop up Fight Pass Invitational, perhaps? CJ, where? You know what, man? It's funny because, like, I've been doing a little bit no-gi stuff here and there. And, you know, no-'s funny because like i've been doing a little bit nogi stuff here and there and you know nogi is an interesting game because the leg lock game is so damn it's very interesting

right because those guys who've grappled that's all they do like i grapple mikey and mikey's a monster and his leg lock game is i can't even compete with this leg lock game. One is, I don't want to, you know, risk tearing my ACL, my MCL, my popliteus. You know, I don't want to tear my knees at 38 years old. Like, I go to competition, I tear my knees. I'm like, great, now I got a nine-month surgery ahead of me and now I'm on crutches and I can't play football with my kids. Just doesn't seem like,

it doesn't seem the risk, the sacrifice to do that. But I am working on my jujitsu game in the gi and this is why I love, you know, where my journey is at now as a mixed martial artist or a martial artist is right now I'm trying to develop a strategy because I was going to my last competition in worlds. I lost in a semi, no quarterfinals. I got choked out with a fucking choke. And everybody was like, Hey, your preparation for your competitions, like preparation, a plus conditioning, a plus your strategy. Fucking F. And I'm like, damn, I was like, they don't hit me like that. And so I'm sitting here thinking, I was like, okay,

how do you develop a strategy against six people that you have no idea what their game is? So I'm talking to my professor and he goes, well, you have to force them to play your game. And I'm sitting back, I'm like, man, what is my game in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the Gi? And I asked him, I was like, what's my game, Professor Jan? He goes, that's your problem that you have to figure out. And so I'm on this journey now. I'm like, what is my game in the Gi? He goes, that's your problem that you have to figure out. And so I'm on this journey now. I'm like, what is my game in the gi in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

Because in competition, you have five minutes to get it done. You make one mistake, you're pretty much fucked. Like you got to be able to do a whole bunch of things. So that's where my mind, my heart, and my intelligence is right now in the gi. That's what I'm really focused on. So people are like, oh, you should come back to fight, mix martial arts. I was like, no, I'm struggling with something else in martial arts right now, and it's the gi. So, yeah, I'm prepping right now for a competition.

I'm not sure which competition is going to be next, but you guys look out for your boy. You'll see your boy in the gi. Show your role, of course, because only show your role touches this magnificent body, and we'll see. Complete respect. Last thing I wanted to bring up,

and it's something that you said earlier, and maybe it doesn't resonate with the fans, but I know exactly what you mean, and I talked about this at the very beginning of the show. I understand why media will ask this question to Dana White in the Post-Fight Press Conference. I've asked the question as well. Oh, you know, this guy, should he keep fighting? Would you like to see him retire? I've done it. So I'm not saying that I'm above it. I wish in those moments he would say, we'll talk to him and we'll figure it out.

Because I feel, you know, imagine Chris Weidman heartbroken on Saturday. Imagine Anthony Smith. Imagine Clay Guida hearing, yeah, they should be done. Just in a sort of dismissive way. And I think that goes back to what you were saying. You never wanted to be in that spot, right, where a promoter's sitting there at the dais being like, yeah, DJ's over the hill. He's done. That should be his last fight.

You wanted to dictate it. And I think that should be the goal and hope for everyone it obviously doesn't always work out that way but that's it right there right you never wanted to be in that spot yeah 100 and i'm gonna somebody sent me a nice message today and i'm gonna read it and it was kind of interesting and then i'll answer that question too it kind of elaborates what uh you said he says love your recent comments on retiring. This is the way more fighters need to do it. It's hard for some to step away, but that is because they put their self-worth and monetary gain specifically by fighting. You have elevated your worth. And when he said that to me,

I was like, man, I appreciate that. And I agree with you, man. There has to come a point in time, I'm going to take a step back. Conor McGregor, if I was to ask him, why are you still fighting? What makes you want to come back? You have all the money in the world that you can ever want. An extra $10 million, $20 million, that shouldn't affect the $500 million he's made off selling. I don't know how much cocaine is. I don't know. But it can't be that expensive. I don't know. I should ask Oscar I don't know, but it can't be that expensive.

I don't know. I should ask Oscar De La Hoya. Cause he said he's admitted about doing it, but getting back on track, what keeps the athletes fighting? Is it you're trying to prove something? Is it that you have nothing else going on in your life and you're bored? Like I would like, you know, I would love to sit down with like Jose Aldo, like Jose Aldo, like, why did you come back to fight? Like you were successful champion in WC, successful champion in the UFC. You made millions of dollars. Why did you come back? Like, were you bored? If he was like, yeah, man, I was fucking bored. I know what to do. I just, why not? It's easy money. You know, like, you know, and I always, I did on my, my YouTube video, I was talking to him withjudo, and I was like, man, why did you retire?

He was like, I don't know. And I was like, Henry, fighting is the easiest way to make money. It's like you train for eight weeks, and you get a six-figure check by beating the shit out of somebody. Then he comes back, and I'm like, ah, did I have anything to do with that? So I would like to see more athletes. Just because you're in a gym and you can still hang with the younger generation, I don't know if that's enough to keep you fighting at the highest level. But I'm not in a position to dictate what they should do. But if I can be a voice of reasoning, if you're thinking about it and you're older, just think about like, why am I still fighting?

I even asked myself that question. I'm like, why am I still fighting? Is it the money? Am I trying to prove something? Why, why am I still fighting? And then that's where like, it clicked for me. I was like, I don't know why I'm still fighting. I guess it's the thing I'm supposed to do. I don't know. And then that's when I told myself, I'm like, I'm fucking done. Like I'm forcing myself to retire from fighting because can I continue to fight? Yeah. 1000%. Like I'm still fast. I'm still healthy. I work out almost every day. Um, not train mixed martial arts every day, but yeah, but why not retire when you're healthy? I still got my brain. I'm still healthy enough to run routes with my kids. I'm still healthy enough to compete in jujitsu at 38 years old.

Like I want to keep on competing when I'm 45 or 50 years old in jujitsu. Like, why not? Why not go out on the high note instead of I'm still trying to make it work, da-da-da-da, but once again, everybody's situation, everybody's mind is totally different. Everybody's searching for something different and they have to look themselves in the mirror and answer that question themselves. And for me, I looked my black ass and myself in the mirror and answer that question themselves and for me i looked my black i looked my black ass in itself in the mirror and i was like what you what you fighting for dog and then i was like i don't fucking know i was like all right we out bye well very few did it as well as you in the cage very few retired as well as you as well and uh i think we can finally close the book on this i mean i think we could have closed the book on it when you made the announcement probably even before that but once once again, if there was

any sort of chance, I think you have put the 20th nail in the coffin on your YouTube channel four hours ago. You posted a new clip, How Pantoja Won. It's one of the best channels when it comes to MMA out there, combat sports, creeping up to a million subs. Well done

to both you and OnceOver. You guys are smashing it and always love when you come on. I feel to both you and WantsOver. You guys are smashing it and always love when you come on. I feel like we can, there it is. There it is. That's the reaction from Saturday

and there's a new one since then. So you guys are killing it. I feel like we could talk for hours, but I'll let you go now, DJ. Thank you so much for the time and the insight

and keep up the great work with the channel. Hey, I appreciate your arrow and shout out to the whole Mighty team, WandsOver, Sammy, Med, and Nick. I believe I got everybody. hey i appreciate your arrow and shout out to the whole mighty team wands over sammy med and nick uh i believe i got everybody it's a team of five of us shout out to you everyone for always having me on and shout out to all the fans for making the channel what it is check out tomorrow we have the

mighty cast joaquin buckley is dropping it was amazing interview and um yeah appreciate you guys and once again my black ass is not coming back cheers i'm out thank you dj there he is the great demetrius johnson and yes uh joaquin buckley uh returning to action in a massive fight the final ufc fight of 2024 uh that is in just what five days time against colby covington so he closes the book. He said, I think that was pretty definitive. I don't think we need to wonder where he sits on that particular topic, DJ out, and you have to respect him. No money in the world.

He doesn't want to do it. He's done. He's proved it all. He's fought them all. He's beat them all. Much respect. He has nothing left to prove. So about a couple months ago,

we thought we were going to get Joaquin Buckley versus Iman Ch-Gary as the final fight of 2024. Obviously, you know by now what happened. And you know what happened on Saturday, an incredibly entertaining affair. We all thought it would be. It delivered. And how about that fifth round? Theater at its finest with Ian Gary down 3-1 going into the fifth.

And he almost gets it done with that submission. And as I said before, impressed with he almost gets it done with that submission. And as I said before, impressed with him all week, impressed with the fight, impressed with the aftermath, showing up to the post-fight press conference, speaking about it. I think his stock went up, and I think he has earned the respect of a lot of people who maybe were reluctant for whatever reason to give him that respect. He is kind enough to join us right now on the program.

One more time. There he is, the great Ian Machado-Gary. And I want to say this to you, Ian, and I said it at the very beginning of the show. This has never happened to me, doing this show since 2009. So that's 15 years, right? Never happened to me. I've never asked someone to come on the show on Fight Week. And then, and massive credit to your wife, Layla.

I hope you don't mind me bringing this up. And she said yes He can do 1230 Pacific Last Monday and I'm going to go ahead and book him For 1230 The Monday after the fight And I thought that was incredible and no one's ever said that To me before ever and that makes my life

Very easy because I'm the one booking the show And then when I reached out to her yesterday And I said hey you know I totally understand If you want to take some time off she said we said he'd be there and he'll be there. And so I have to give a lot of credit to both you and Layla. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.

When we say something, we do it. Much respect. So I thought you handled it all perfectly and we'll talk about the fight. But I'm just wondering now that it's kind of sunk in and you've've been able to marinate over what happened on Saturday what are the feelings it's the more and more I think about it the more and more plays in my mind if that makes sense but I went in there on short notice against the scariest man in the division and I made him human I proved to the world how talented I am against a guy who they thought was unbeatable. And I went out there and

there's no argument in my mind that when that fight finishes, that you can't sit there and say anything else other than I'm the scarier fighter. He didn't beat me anywhere. The significant strikes I won, the grappling exchanges I was winning,

I was defending and shutting down everything he was doing. The game plan and everything that I had come up and told my team I wanted to do, it worked. So it's a matter of seconds and four to five extra shots, and you're talking about five rounds in my favor. Are there moments, are there decisions, are there sequences that you're replaying that you're lamenting that you're

like, Oh man, cause it was that close 48, 47, right? Are there, are there decisions? Are there moments in the fight that you are fixating on?

No, no. I'm very proud of the performance I went out and put on. I, 25 minutes with the, with someone who people didn't want to fight. Everyone in the division was running from him. And I stood up and said, absolutely, let's go. I know I can beat you. I know I'm good enough to go out there and beat anyone on any given day.

And I proved that it was that close, razor thin. So I feel like the biggest thing for me is that takedown in the fourth round. Had he not secured that takedown in the fourth round, I believe I win 3-4-5. Yeah, because everyone thought you won 3-5. Obviously, 5 was the easiest one to score. He was 2-10 as far as takedowns were concerned. That has to be a huge point of pride. Yeah, Owen.

I've told everyone this, Ariel. I'm phenomenally talented in every single aspect. And I said it to you like last week when I come up against opponents that are of a better level and that excite me it brings the most out it brings the best version of me because I have to show up and I have to be on form against someone like a Shavko or else he will run through you if you do not come in ready prepared that guy can run through you but he didn't and he couldn't i shut down all of his success and i nearly had him out i was that close to putting him asleep and breaking his fucking jaw just it's uh it'll make me better i'll be better for this what could you have done to secure that honestly that's that's that's the question go back now speak to child speak to damien speak

to the boys draw it up redo it basically just sit down and go i'm gonna finish every single person i ever fight from now on with a naked choke i done. I need to just be taking people's backs and choking them unconscious now to fill that ego inside me now that's had, that basically, that photo should have been it. It should have been done.

So, that's on me to go back and evolve and learn and grow. When I say your stock went up despite the loss and I feel like the community has given you the respect that, I don't know if you were searching for whatever,

but maybe was alluding you. Do you agree with both of those points? I definitely hear, hear and see and feel a lot of love and a lot of respect. Um, I'm very grateful to a lot of the fans, um, especially the Kazakhstan fans.

They've been amazing. Wow. They understand that I took this fight on short notice, that I essentially stepped up when people weren't willing to step in. And I did it. And I put on a fight that got them worried, got them scared, against their biggest star. So I'm very grateful to them.

And I'm very grateful to everyone who sees, sees the true ability that I possess, sees how great I am and how close I was to winning that fight. And I said it the other day on my Instagram, it further affirms to me that I am absolutely going to be the champion of the world. It is just a matter of time. More to that point, we put up a poll earlier, 80% of the fans that we asked believe that you will fight for a UFC title next year. And 90% say that they now believe in you as a top tier fighter and maybe have changed their minds after this performance. And so last week you were incredibly confident.

You were fired up. I thought that was the best interview that we've ever done. It was great stuff, but sometimes fighters do that to try to psych themselves up and, and, and to try to put on a show. I'm not suggesting that I felt that way cause I didn't, but I'm just wondering,

were you as confident as you seemed or, or was that part of the process as well? I've been gifted by God talents that other people cannot understand. A mentality that people cannot comprehend because I'm simply gifted. When I stood in that octagon on Saturday night, I knew and believed that I could go out there and beat that man. And I gave it a pretty good go. Do you know what I mean? Everything I did, there wasn't anything in that fight that shocked nor surprised me.

I told you I respect him in every aspect of the game. He's a great striker. He's awkward. He's got great grappling. And I believed he was going to try and take me down. Leading into the fight, everyone was talking about how he choked me and training yada yada yada who looked like he was going to finish the fight on saturday night it wasn't him it was only me i jumped on three submissions i tried to wrap up all three of

them he defended well great job when we got back to the feet i was winning he had big shots fair play it's a fight i'd hope that the one of the best fighters in the division would be able to have success against him so the confidence is never isn't isn't rattled it's not going anywhere i know how talented i am i know how young i am and i know how skillful i will and i will be an arm right now it's it's just matter of tiny, minuscule tweaks in a game of inches to go out there and get that finish, get that win and get the belt. So I have no doubt in my mind

that next year I will get that belt. No doubt whatsoever. I'll have to evolve and grow. How familiar was he out there? Was this the same guy that you trained with? No, it was up. The pace was up. I think you can tell that from both of us.

He came out a bit more venomous. I came out a bit more cautious. I believed he was going to be the aggressor in the first round anyway. And yeah, I think we both gave each other a lot of respect in the first two rounds. And yeah, you know, I keep saying this to my wife but if we fight today five rounds i believe i win that's how fast i learned how fast i grow and

evolve and at the end of the five rounds he was bollocks he was breeding out of his ass he looked broken i didn't um so yeah i feel like if you put me and him in that octagon today, I win and that's okay. I may not have got my hand raised on Saturday night. I may not have won the fight, but I'm not broken. My spirit is not, I do not remotely feel like in my heart or soul that I have lost. I feel like I've only proven to myself and the entire planet that I am absolutely one of the greatest fighters in this division.

And it's a matter of time until that belt is mine report came out afterwards i believe um by daniel cormier saying that he fought with a torn mcl have you seen this and what do you make of it i've seen it i don't know how true it is but at the end of the day you know this and you know how true this is it's very very rare that fighters go into a fight with no injuries or no niggles. The training we do is ridiculously intense. It's very tiring on the body and can exhaust the body at times,

and injuries occur. You know what I mean? If he has injuries, you keep them private. You don't need to talk about, he doesn't need to bring them up or they don't need to be exposed. I had some. It's not the end of the world. I'm not going to sit here and tell people I had them.

When I signed that contract and I stepped up and was willing to go in there, I was willing to go in there, live and die by the sword, go in there and prove it. It doesn't matter about injuries. You step into an octagon, there's nothing that you can use for excuses as to why you didn't perform the way you did or why you may not have won or why you may not have why you lost whatever it is i feel like that's to me it's just it's not classy you went in there you stood up and then you signed the contract you stood on the scales, you went in, and you fought. That's it.

And congratulations, he won. So I don't believe that's Shabkat saying that he had an injury, but what I mean is the injury, he knew what he was doing. Does that make sense? Did I hear this correctly in the post-fight presser? Did you punch yourself in the face and that's where the cut came from? What happened? Why did you punch yourself?

So I had, so this is my world title fighting cage warriors i got this cup um and it healed up perfectly over the years still a little bit of scar tissue there so i was in a position same position chad cat was in he had the underhook i was defending i put my head in between my opponent's neck and i decided I was going to throw a dirty knuckle shot. He was around a head guard and I just cracked myself straight in the face. I was just livid. Sat there afterwards. I had my team with me. My wife was like to me, are you okay?

I'm like, no, I just punched myself in the face. And this is the stuff that can cost, like cost fights. You know what I mean? So at that moment I was livid, but yes, that is the truth. I didn like cost fights you know what i mean so at that moment i was little but yes that is the truth i didn't punch myself in the face okay so i'm happy you mentioned that because last week when we were showing the photos of you with the t-shirt i noticed that you had like something under your eye we were talking about it before the show and i'm like does he have a black eye or does he have a cut there and i wasn't sure if it was like the

the shadows or whatever so oh my gosh's a cup. Oh, my gosh. That is something. By the way. It happened. No, I know. I got another one. I got another one in Thailand. I got a knuckle above the eyebrow. I was fighting an Uzbekistan guy who was phenomenally talented.

And he caught me with a little choppy right hook with a knuckle. That got cut open. So this stuff happens, Errol. I said it five minutes ago the fight game is ruthless we train hard we fight hard so when you pick up little bums bruises niggles you if you step into an octagon you're ready to go and prepare for everything and anything that can come your way my understanding was it was your decision to to go talk to the press uh usually co-main event uh the fight doesn't go your way,

they let you leave. Why did you do that? Because I believe in victory or defeat. My voice is powerful. My voice deserves to be heard. My opinion on my side of the fight is important for my friends, my family,

my supporters, anyone who's cheering for me. I believe it's important. I believe it deserves just as much respect as the windows, especially when I said it, you know, I saved this card. I jumped in on short notice to fight the boogeyman and I brought him all five rounds. I believe my voice deserves to be heard. Afterwards, you know, like I said, there's a lot of talk about Um him versus you And you said that you'll fight him I think you said not twice but three times

By the time it's all said and done right Uh which which is a great treat And we hope to see it I'm just wondering About it got a little tense There as as the week you know Progressed the face-offs maybe we weren't Expecting that intensity I mean you're fighting With massive stakes attached.

I'm wondering if, on your side of things, the talk of tapping you out and all that stuff, did that up things? Did that bother you? Did that annoy you? No. Okay. No, it didn't annoy me at all.

I have nothing but respect for Shavkan's team. I have nothing but respect for him as an athlete from everything we've done in training together. We may not have gone hard, but I have nothing but respect for him as an athlete from everything we've done in training together. We may not have gone hard, but I have nothing but respect for the guy. I feel like this week, we kind of explained it. I felt like he was a bit of a wounded dog. They're dangerous.

They're more dangerous. Does that make sense? I felt an energy of it. On the night of the press at the press conference he did that weird snake charming shit where he was moving his head and i felt like he was trying to play a game and i've not seen shavkat like that before in my life and then on fight night on on the ceremonial weigh-ins, I said, we're good. We're not going to hit each other.

And he started pushing his forehead against mine. Now, I don't care who you are in the world. If you're going to push me backwards, I'm going to meet you at force forwards. And that's what happened. He tried to out-alf me. I gave him a little bit back. I said, don't come fucking at me with nothing. I'll bring everything back at you 100%.

And I proved that in the fight. I'm not just here to be pushed around or walked over. I'm going to fight for every single bit of your respect, and you're going to respect me, and you're going to understand how talented I am. So the chit-chat before the fight, there's none of that bothered me. I was ready to go in here and put everything on the line,

and I did, and I proved how talented I am, and I proved that I can hang with the very best in the world and beat them first time since your amateur days that your hand doesn't get raised that that feeling how does it sit with you I said this to my team afterwards and I still feel this now and it's a weird feeling but obviously being undefeated for so long and having that over your head I never once

thought a loss would feel as good as it does and what I mean by that is I don't feel like I lost I don't feel like I left that fight with the same energy. I feel like I went out there and I did everything I possibly could to go out there and beat that man in those moments.

I fought smart. I fought hard. I proved how talented I am. I proved how intelligent I am. I shut all of his success down. I believe I, I believe I was the better fighter on the night. If anything, I believe he got tired. He was just trying to hold on. I could feel he was tired in the, in, in the last round. You know, I, I was the one pushing him. I was the one pushing him i was the one causing causing the issues so i don't feel like i don't

feel like it's a loss to a certain extent my hand may not have got raised but i don't feel like i've lost um it's hard to word because obviously i did not win um but i guess my spirit is not broken my heart nor spirit does not feel like i i still feel like i'm slightly victorious in this motion i made a man who everyone spoke about so highly and had so much respect for and so much hype around i made him human and i went in there and I brought the fight to him in every single element of the game. So, I'm very proud of

myself, and as I said, I know now more than ever that I'm definitely going to be a champion. Now that you've been in there with him, in an actual fight, can I just get your thoughts on him versus Bilal? How do you think that goes? I got him tired very easily.

I got him tired very easily. And the truth is I was only really defending. The only things that made him tired was I was just defending his takedowns over and over and over again. In the striking element, he didn't. He wasn't flashy super fast. So I feel like, you know, I thought Shavkat was going to beat Bilal in the first case. I feel like definitely Bilal is going to benefit

from having 25 minutes of footage to watch. And I feel like Bilal can definitely go out there and get the win as can Shabkat because the more aggressive you are against someone like Shabkat the more holes you could possibly open up for him to finish you so I'm still massively

intrigued by that fight you know I believe I'm going to be fighting probably the loser of that fight next because I believe I'm one fight away from a world fight again still it's just one step backwards uh couldn't agree more we said that at the top of the show as well and so i'm wondering um you just said that okay fighting the loser who knows when they fight maybe may or so and then you know the the the loser would then have several months

um there's a couple names that come to mind um and and maybe we could squash it or, or we could put any sort of, you know, validity to it. It seems like a lot of people were saying you versus Leon in, in London. Is that of any interest on March 22nd? Or is that too soon? I have zero interest in fighting in London. I've said that from day one. If the UFC want me to fight in Europe, they're going to bring me back to Dublin, Ireland. I'm not fighting anywhere else.

I've said that from day one. I'm not taking any exceptions. No ifs, ands or buts you put me in Ireland and that's it but also I have no want to fight until summer of next year I believe the biggest lesson I can take away from this fight

against Shavkat is there's so just a few little minor details that I need to clean up and refresh with my team. And they deserve the time and focus and energy to learn, grow, and evolve. So that when I step into the octagon next year, and let's call it International Fight Week, and I fight three times next year. let's call it International Fight Week. And I fight three times next year.

I fight July, June, July. I fight September and I fight December. I'm going out there and I'm giving me the best version of me. I deserve the time now to focus and be the best Ian Machado Gary I possibly can be. That fight shows me so much that I can improve on and learn from and go forward to finish everybody with. And I'm super excited by that. I have no want nor need to fight now until I feel like I've accessed the level I deserve to reach now after that fight. That is fair. And just to be clear on the London thing, is it something about London in particular

or you don't want to fight anywhere in Europe if it's not Ireland? I don't want to fight anywhere in Europe unless it's Dublin, Ireland. Ireland has been starved of a UFC event for so long.

I have been flying the flag for Irish MMA since I joined the UFC. I have been the next coming of the second wave of Irish MMA been i have been the next coming of the the second wave of irish mma i have been leading that front and i do not believe it's fair for ireland to not get another event and i'm not going to fight anywhere else in europe unless unless the ufc come back to dublin ireland that's what they deserve that's what we've earned and the fans in the irish the

irish fan base of mma deserve that fire lit on earth's arse again so if it's going to be anywhere that i'm fine in europe it's going to be in my hometown because that's what i've done i've earned that right now to bring the usc back and i'm not going to fight anywhere i live in london i live south of london i live in surrey i'm not fighting in london because i don't want to it's because that's what's right fair um and so just curious if it is june or so and let's say the title fight is in may because I don't want to, it's because that's what's right. Fair. And so just curious, if it is June or so, and let's say the title fight is in May,

let's just say I'm just picking a timeframe. Yeah, go ahead. Who does make sense for you in that one fight before another crack potentially? Honestly, I don't know. I don't mind. I mean, there's only a couple of people that can be. And as always, I've shown that I'm not afraid to fight anybody. I will step in there with anyone, and I will go in there,

and I'll do the best I can to beat people. That's always what I've done. I've put on a show. I've shown how talented I am. So when I'm ready to compete next, I don't care who's across that octagon from me I'm getting my hand raised and I'm going to go get that belt I know it now more than ever

so I'm excited Is it maybe Colby or Joaquin who are fighting in 5 days? Listen I believe Joaquin's going to win that fight but even if Colby wins there's no realm where he's stepping in the octagon in the area i think we know that i think you know he is not the man he tries to tell the world he is joaquin

joaquin i think will step into that fight with me i think he would want to fight me after this fight it would obviously get him one step closer to a belt so it makes sense but the truth is let's see how the rest of the division plays out let's see while i'm practicing and evolving my skills what happens let's see who's ready to go that you know what i mean let's see let's see how the light the lay of the land lies because once i'm ready to go i'm ready to go i still want three fights next year just because i'm willing to take a little bit more time for myself to evolve and grow doesn't mean I don't want to be active I will fight June July I will fight

September and I'll fight December I will fight three times next year and I will win that belt and I will prove that I'm the best in the world so there's going to be three of the top five people in the world I'm fighting next year and I'm going to beat all three of them so it doesn't matter what order or who I do have to ask um last week when we spoke you did have some choice words about kamara usman and uh he has since responded on his podcast i don't know if you saw his i haven't heard this what is he said okay there was a bunch of stuff but in short i'll paraphrase who are you who are you that i of all people are scared of you who are you i guess he was upset because he wanted me to be his late notice replacement for his fight who the fuck is that guy for me

to be a late replacement for what no and there's more there but that's kind of the the general sentiment your thoughts how do you feel looking at that what do you think uh i mean he's not talking about me so i'd rather ask you. I want to know from your point. What do you think that says? He later said, I'll answer the question. I'm not the fucking. No, I know.

I know you know. I don't want to put you in. No, no, no, no, no. Not at all. Listen, he doesn't come on my show anyway, so it's not like I can offend him. His manager won't let him. His daddy won't let him. Like I said, the biggest thing for me, I just need to get healthy. It doesn't come on my show anyway, so it's not like I can offend him. His manager won't let him. His daddy won't let him. Like I said, the biggest thing for me, I just need to get healthy.

It doesn't matter who it is. Once I'm healthy and I feel that I'm healthy to get back in there and do what I do, I don't care. You could bring King Kong and King Kong's brothers. If they make 170, we get it on so it is what it is. I don't believe it. I really don't. I believe Usman is very, very selective with the way he match makes I believe he's going to be very cautious

in his choosing of who he wants to fight because he is well aware the relevancy that he has with his ranking right now and one loss so I believe he's going to be very cautious, very sacred and very careful.

I do not believe he wants to step into the octagon with me in any way, shape, nor form. I said it last week and I'll say it again. He's got a big chest and it looks good, but where it matters, he's slacking. So he hasn't got the balls to step in there against these young up-and-coming contenders. He just wants to maintain relevancy and hold that ranking

and doesn't want to do anything to compete to it. And I feel like there needs to be a change in the rule set with people like him and Colby who are keeping the division static and not willing to do anything. I mean, it's ridiculous, but it should be you have one choice you fight this guy or you don't fight at all it shouldn't be a case of oh well we have options no we want you to fight x you either fight or you don't fight so i i don't know any way to to make it more obvious but kamara uzman my mind, is a little bitch. And I don't think he'll ever step into the Oxygen Army, ever.

Well, I did see a lot of vets showing you some praise and love. Chael Sonnen, Israel Adesanya, Bilal Muhammad, even Darren Till, who doesn't give out praise easily, was showing you love as well. Very cool, I must say, to see Charles Oliveira come over and and corner you was that something that happened like last minutes for the moment or did you know no i knew he was going to be there i so when when the fight when the fight was brought to me i obviously said yes i then called my team the next day and said look here's what's happening here's what we're doing um i obviously rang so it was getting done in new york so on charles's

fight week so what i didn't want was for me to be behind the scenes talking to the ufc and then it get announced that my team's on a fight we go what the what we didn't know about this so i quickly rang diego lima and said look here's what's happening i'm saying yes to this fight and he said great i love this fight it's amazing i love it charles when he found out about the fight he told the ufc that he wanted to be there he said i don't care how you do it make me be a guest fighter give me some work to do he said but i want to be there i said to diego i said i want you and i want charles in my corner and charles i could be an honor it'd be a pleasure you know i'm i'm a massive fan of that team and what they bring what they bring to this world in the fight game

and the energy they have and possess is special and it's it's different and i'm very grateful to call myself a part of the shoot the box family so to have those two boys in my corner it was an honor and a pleasure. I'm excited to go back to Brazil next year and learn from them. So yeah, it's going to be really cool. Lastly, it was all great, I thought. Everything, fight week, the fight, the post fight.

Perhaps the one blunder, if you will, were those dastardly purple shorts, which I still don't quite understand what happened there. All of a sudden, I don't know if I was not looking in the right spot, but all of a sudden I see you changing mid-round. Do you have any idea now what happened? Because even in the post-fight press

conference, it seemed like you weren't quite sure what was going on. From watching it back to the area, look, I've watched, trust me, I've watched this fight back six times since the fight, right? I've gone over it. I've assessed it. It looks like it's on this scramble when i quickly turn against the octagon and it just somehow lacerated um and that is what it is

but when they sat me down on the stool i seen them coming with a spare pair of shorts as they i got so sick with them on the spot i was like what you mean they're with where show me and then they were like right hurry up i was like i what do you mean they're rich? Where? Show me. And then they were like, right, hurry up. I was like, I'm not fucking rushing. You wait. You were short, Rip. Do you know what I mean? I'm going to take my time here.

I'm not rushing to go out here and fight this man. Rush. I'll take my time. I'll do it. And then I'll go out and I'll beat this man. So yeah, that looks, there's always a first for everything. You know, me and Shavkat made history this week. The most undefeated records

combined going up against each other in UFC history. The first time we've seen a short rip. It's one of those things of it was a great fight

and it was a great experience for me. I'm very happy with the performance but I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied and I'm going to work like a dog.

I'm going to prove to myself, to my fans, to everyone how good I am. And the next fight I'm in is going to be even better. And that's the moment. And I think that's the moment that we replay when something great happens to you next year. Reminds me a little bit of GSP and Hughes. The first time they fought, he knew. And then he came right back.

That's my wife yesterday. I said, this is my gsp mom there it is there it is so uh well done well done on a great week a great fight a great aftermath thank you for uh you know staying true to your word here and showing up on this monday a real pleasure and honor enjoy the holiday season with the family enjoy everything you've done this year and we look forward to seeing you back in there in 2025 I appreciate it, I look forward to it too Thank you Ian, there he is The great Ian Machado-Gary

What a performance, like I said all week From the interviews to the press conference What an evolution That we're seeing And he's right, in my opinion One away and he's right back in there And that will be a busy second half For him, July September, October and then end of the year Or June way and he's right back in there and that that will be a busy second half for him uh july september

october and then end of the year um or june maybe that gives him a little more time uh but there are a ton of possibilities a ton of options i mean all of a sudden now i want to see the kamar usman fight i would love to see the colby covington fight he needs to fight a top guy and uh shutting down the leon edwards talk i understand where he's coming from he's a he's a dublin boy he needs to fight a top guy and uh shutting down the leon edwards talk i understand where he's coming from he's a he's a dublin boy he wants to fight in dublin uh that would be amazing not hearing much as it pertains to dublin at the moment um but that would be great for the scene i know everyone would be very excited about that uh now it's up to Paul Hughes to fly the flag, end of January.

And what a stretch, by the way. What a stretch for that Team Khabib team. January 10th, Islam, Team Khabib team, or I could just say Team Khabib Islam, defending his title against Armin Tsurukian and co-main event, Umar, fighting Murab for his belt. And then the next week it's Usman.

I mean, that's an incredible stretch fighting against Paul Hughes. I can tell you, and we're not saying goodbye, don't worry, but I can tell you that the great Armin Tsurukian is going to join us on tomorrow's show. And the great Murab Diwali-Shvili, who had quite the weekend in Las Vegas, he will also be joining us. He was fired up on Friday at that press conference. Incredibly entertaining

when you consider the fact that the four men involved at that UFC 311 press conference, Islam, Armin, Marab, Umar. English is not their first language, yet it was incredibly entertaining. They were all fired up. And in particular, Marab and Umar.

They were, I mean, they were just going at it and really, in my opinion, up the interest in the fight. If you weren't interested already, there's a lot there. There's a really interesting backstory and there's a rivalry that has obviously been brewing. That's January 18th at the Intuit Dome. If you missed any of the press conference,

here's what went down on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas. Umar lost respect from me. conference. Here's what went down on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas. to Mirab, listen to me. I'm talking personal, okay? I don't do anything bad for you. I was always respectful for you, okay? You have to be man first, okay? Fuck this belt, fuck the money, fuck everything else, okay? You have to be the man first, okay? I don't give a shit, okay? I don't give a shit about belt. Calm down. You have to give me as a man. I don't did anything disrespectful to as a man, okay? Umar you and Islam have shared so many memories together. I want to know what's your best moment with him? best moment same night we fight for the title is the best moment it's gonna be best moment and About Islam he all about jacuzzi jacuzzi Un par īstu es jau neesmu atkal. Un par īstu es jau neesmu atkal.

Un par īstu es jau neesmu atkal. Un tu vajag spēlēties. Un tu vajag spēlēties. Nē, nevar spēlēties par kaut ko. İslâm, senin için çok çok hürmetim var. Senin için çok çok hürmetim yok. Şu anda sizinle ilgili bir sorun konuşmak istemiyorum. Ama siz de katıldınız. Biz hepimiz biliriz. some discuss some problem with you right now and but you joined the woman getting gift you know

how one second thank you so much forgive dana thank you so much i'm really appreciate it thank you you're good thank you forgive okay i don't care give no give that's how you deserve i'm gonna i won't become champion my my dream becoming true. I mean, that is class right there. That is amazing stuff. Rob, all fired up. I have to wonder, and we'll talk to him about this, is he too fired up? Is he too emotional?

Very clear he didn't want to come back in December. He didn't want to maybe come back in January. Maybe he doesn't think that Umar deserves the fight. You rarely see him that emotional in front of the public, if you will. You see him getting into altercations and whatnot, but not at press conferences and whatnot. He is quite fired up in that moment. That is going to be an amazing scene in Los Angeles.

What an arena that is. The Intuit Dome, the new home of the LA Clippers. Amazing scene. There's a huge Armenian population. Even Islam himself joked that it's going to be a home game for Armen Tsurukian. Islam's incredibly popular as well. So I think it will be quite split. And then you've got the heat between Murab and Umar, not to mention the Yuri Prokhaska versus Jamal Hill fight, which is supremely interesting at 2.05. Not to mention the Hanato

Moikano versus Benil Darish. I could tell the Hanato Moikano Versus Benil Darish I can tell you Manu Moikano on the program tomorrow Tomorrow's a banger Take a look at the faceoff there Between Umar and And Murab afterwards I love this from them Shades

Murab cracks me up man Murab is an absolute riot Shades of Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. Dana's like, nah, nah, nah. You don't have to get in the way. Look at Murab. He's ready to go right now. Everyone be cool.

This is... I can't wait for this. Look at him. Murab's like, yeah, yeah. You don't want this. Got the turtleneck style and a profile, got the nice white shoes yeah the pride of Georgia and then Umar's like yeah I'm out of here, peace out

I'm not standing here for this, I mean it was great I loved it, I loved everything about it, absolute brilliance from both of them loved everything about it, what is going on here Ian what's this near Crick Both of them. Loved everything about it. What is going on here? Ian, what's this near Crick? Ian has left you a voice note that you can play,

is what I'm being told. I do not have a voice note. Okay, well, we'll circle back. All right. Does he want to come back? Voice note, come back back whatever he wants um anyway so that's as far as ufc 311 is concerned uh that was the scene and then we found out ufc 310 excuse me 312 uh february 8th ddp versus strickland and zhang weili versus tatiana suarez And I just hope we get the fight. It has been a tough... Tatiana Suarez was the comeback fighter of the year last year.

Two fights booked this year, including one that was supposed to happen this past weekend. And, you know, Virna Janjiroba, tough break for her. But this is the fight we wanted to see. This is the biggest fight, so I don't think anyone's complaining. I just hope that it happens and that she can go on a run if she wins, and she could very well win. I wonder who is the favorite going into this fight.

I don't even know. Is it Zhang Weili? Do we have a line yet, GC, on this one? We'll effort. We'll see. We absolutely do. I just got to pull it up real quick. I can't wait for that fight.

DDP Strickland's a great fight. I mean, we saw it a year ago. It was fine. I personally would have rather seen DDP versus Hamzat next. Strickland has won one fight since that fight. I don't think there was a huge demand to see it again, if I'm being honest. Hamzat is right there. He's another guy that you don't know how often he's going to fight. You got to strike while the iron is hot. Maybe they want it to happen in the Middle East. To me, the fresher, more fun fight is Tatiana Suarez versus

Zhang Weili. Zhang, minus 135. Tatiana, plus 115. What do you think? What are you feeling? I don't know. That's a tough one, huh? Tatiana's never lost. She looks good when she wins, but Zhang is running hot right now. It's an amazing fight. I can't wait for that. Two amazing

main co-mains. 310, 311. Well, 310, yeah. I'm just talking about like to start the year. Oh, yeah. 311, two title fights. 312, two title fights.

Pretty damn incredible. LA and Australia as well. Two great markets. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I do wonder what they're going to do with that Seattle card, but we'll figure that out down the line. Speaking of Murat, by the way, he did get into it with a supposed, I'm going to label the individual as a spectator in attendance.

I don't know if a fan is the right way to put it. In case you missed it, this is what happened. After the Aljamain Sterling fight against Moffsar Evloev, this is the aftermath. Shout out to DraftKings with the promo code on that one. And you can see Murab getting into it with someone, and he has to be carted off or maybe escorted out, I should say. He was actually on a cart.

And then there's a situation there with security and this individual who's in the crowd. And he walks out without a fight of any kind. You see him just walking out there. And so once again, people chalk it up to, you know, Murab being Murab, crazy Murab. They labeled it, you know, him getting into it with a fan but then all of a sudden marab got all zapruder on us and posted a video did you guys see this video with

the with the ai voice and all that uh it was a deep dive into potentially who this individual was and according to marab if i'm reading it correctly if i'm understanding it all he is saying that it's a member of Umar's team. Take a look at this. Exposing the guy who grabs Mirab's arm physically and insults him is not just a fan, but teammate and friend of Umar and Dagestani's. You can see Mirab walking, filming his friend Aljo

when guy grabs his arm and starts insulting him with phone in his hand. Turns out he is not just fan from Kazakhstan, but a provoker. And as Mehrab said, he was insulting him. Later that day, Umar posts stories with the guy and his squad. And there is even more pictures from years ago with him and Dagestanis.

Media says Mehrab got into with a fan and the guy himself says Murab said something about Shavkat while Kazakhstan media promoted it like Murab disrespected Shavkat and the guy is hero. But obviously this is not coincidence. Murab is good with Shavkat and all this happened in 15 seconds. This was just Dagestani's dirty trick and provocation. Oh my. I mean, that's a big accusation right there. What about that production value there from Murab or someone?

I don't know who posted that. It was the best production I've heard all day. Do you think that was a real guy? It was definitely AI. Oh my gosh. Insanity. By the way, how did you guys score the Aljamain Sterling Movsarovlov fight? Anyone have it for Aljo?

I had it for Aljo initially But I really would have to re-watch round 3 It was very close It was close because it was a tale of two rounds He had the first half And then Movsar had the end of that round So very close

No issue with the scoring on that one. Gosh, there was a lot of drama. There was a lot of drama in Las Vegas. At the weigh-ins on Friday, you had Nate Diaz. Apparently, I think it was throwing a water bottle at Team Umar, Team Nurmagomedov. I don't know what happened there. Nate back.

He was there. Team Islam. Team Islam. I don't know what happened there. Nate Back? He was there. Team Islam? Team Islam. I don't know what. You're just chucking. I think Islam throws one back. Was that Islam? I couldn't tell.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's Islam launching one. Not sure what prompted that. Shades of it. Also, Alex Pereira. Is that Alex Pereira? Yeah, Alex Pereira's just walking around in a suit. Dude, how about the pop Alex Pereira got when they showed him on the big screen? Like the whole crowd.

He's a superstar, man. He's a suit. Alex is like, what the fuck is this? What is going on here? I feel like he just said shama at some point as he was walking. Yeah. Nate there, of course, to corner Krohn Gracie. What about Cesar Gracie's tweet after the Krohn Gracie fight saying that you can't have that kind of attack in MMA in 2024? True or false, there it is. Never a good idea to pull guard in MMA like that. Never. What's going on there? I thought he was one of them. Shooting from the hip. Does Krohn-Gracie fight in the UFC again? What do you guys think?

I don't think so. Unless you have somebody who's going to guaranteed grapple with him, it's not going to look good. I don't think that performance was as bad as the Charles Dordain fight. No, it was not. Yeah. And he almost submitted him. Maybe that's a little bit of a stretch.

He had him in a position where at least Krohn was being offensive and was actually trying to finish the fight there, and Bryce was in a tough spot. So, yeah, those two are not equivalent to me. This was just a guy who was better. Bryce is a good fighter. This is not an

indictment on him, but... The game plan is clear for Krohn. He will get to the ground no matter what it takes. Pulling guard is rare these days in MMA, and he's indictment on him, but... The game plan is clear for Krohn. Yeah, that's... He will get to the ground, like, no matter what it takes. Pulling guard is rare these days in MMA, and he's still doing it. I don't know how you combat that style-wise

to make an exciting fight. He'd be a lot more exciting for, like, their BJJ stuff. They just signed Mikey Musumichi. Like, get Krohn and a similar deal doing BJJ stuff. Oh, that would be brilliant. He'd be great.

That's a great shout, that would be brilliant. He'd be great. That's a great shout. That would be brilliant. Gordon Ryan at the event doing all kinds of stuff. I mean, I feel like we're building towards a Gordon Ryan, Mikey Musumeci fight, but I think there's like 100 pounds between them. Just a little bit of a size difference. I mean, you could do open weight. Let's get Musumeci on the pizza. He's going to eat a little more pizza and pasta, and then he can get up there with Gordon.

One thing I will say, you ever go, you remember this, GC, when you went to Italy? You can eat a lot of pizza and pasta when you're in Italy, and you walk around so much. It doesn't quite sit the same way as if you go to the local pizza shop here in December in New York City. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's almost like if you exercise. Or that, yeah.

A little bit more free to you what you want uh like I said all kinds of of incidents all kinds of drama on Thursday uh I was in Las Vegas and I and I I thought about jetting down to the PI to see what was happening there we had an incident between Jamal Hill and uh Alex Pereira did you guys see this courtesy of our friends at Full Send MMA All of a sudden And you wonder how this doesn't happen More often Here it is

Jamal and Alex with Plinio in the middle Threw some gloves at him He said let's go We can do whatever we want We don't need gloves I mean it got a little i think that's brian battle over there that was like fuck this shit hey hey uh purr's coach chill chill chill is this guy shooting on a gopro like what's happening over here um let's make money what'd you guys make

of this whole scene between jamal hill and alex prayer it seemed like um in the aftermath a lot of people were saying i don't know it just feels unnecessary obviously alex prayer it seemed like um in the aftermath a lot of people were saying i don't know it just feels unnecessary obviously alex prayer is about that action he's already fought him he's already knocked him out of the first round so it just i don't know the whole like we're not on twitter anymore as if alex prayer is going to run scared now that is a weird one longer on twitter i like is alex a shit talker on twitter i mean I don't know if I would label him as such. I don't know. I feel like he's a little bit of a troll.

He sells merch with the snow head with the hands out. I guess. They've definitely talked some shit on Twitter. I don't know what endgame is here for Jamal, truly. I'm not sure what. The endgame is getting a fight against Alex Pereira. The question is, does it go any differently? He's clearly put himself in a position. Credit where it's Alex Pereira. The question is, does it go any differently? He's clearly put himself

in a position. Credit where it's due. He beats Yuri on January 18th. He's fighting, I would say, the winner of Magomed Ankalay versus Alex Pereira. Do you not think so?

No, I don't think. You don't think he has at least upped the interest in people wanting to see him fight him? And probably, if we're being honest, wanting to see Alex beat him up?

A little bit, but I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. Like, I don't think it's like he wins and then he's fighting for the title. I don't think that's guaranteed. Who else is that? Yeah, I was going to say, I do think he's next in line at light heavyweight.

Yeah, after the Ancalaya fight. Correct. Yeah, I guess you're right. There really aren't a lot of options. He is building, look, you could either be the bad guy or the good guy, and I think he's perfectly comfortable being the bad guy, and I think he's perfectly comfortable being in a position of,

we want to see you get your ass whooped. We want to see you get your ass whooped by Alex, which, there's the end goal. You're getting paid to fight Alex Pereira. Yeah, you know what? You've convinced me. And you get a shot at the title. I mean, he said he would fight Alex Pereira again, belt or no belt.

So maybe he'd skip the talk about that. I guess it's more of me not understanding what these exchanges are, like how he's going to come out looking good. But I guess to your point, he doesn't necessarily have to look good. But he always comes out looking poorly in these. Like Alex put the gloves out and was like,

let's fight. And he was like, no, we're not fighting. And I'm like, well, what were you coming over there for? And it might not even be Jamal Hill's fault because, like, Alex Pereira just can do no wrong at this point. Like, you're going against a guy who just has the magic going for him right now. Oh, my God. White hot baby face.

Yeah, anything he does just goes nuclear. I like Jamal continuing to chase Alex. I just feel like every time, you know, it just feels like the execution is off. That's more what I'm trying to say. The execution is always a little bit off. I don't think he cares. Yeah, I mean, he immediately got home and... He did a whole video about it. Yeah, did a

breakdown of it. That part I love. I'm in, I'm all in on just, like, continuing, like, the same way Anthony Smith and Alex had a thing. Like, I'm good. I think that makes a lot of sense. It's just, like, I don't think he comes off looking the way he's hoping after that exchange. Like, I don't think it was planned out well. Coming across as a heel, and I think, yeah, maybe.

I mean, I don't think there's any part of him that thinks like, oh, the people are going to have my back on this one. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know, man. I don't know. Yeah, well, he might just also not give a shit, like you said. And, like, his whole idea is just like, all I need is to get this fight, and then I'll knock him out, and then all will be forgiven.

Here's a hot take. I think he's doing a good job. I think he's doing a good job of people wanting to see that fight. But again, I'd rather see the Jamal Hill fight than the Magomed Onkelayev fight.

Yeah. Nacho. From an interest standpoint, I don't really want to see the Onkelayev fight, dude. He's selling it. This is meritocracy.

You're dying to see the Onkelayev fight? I'm not dying for that. He cleaned Jamal Hill in one, like, oh man. I know, but now, when you walk up to the Hill in one, like, oh, man. I know, but now when you walk up to the guy in the P.I.

I don't disagree. But this is my point. If there was real heat, if he walked up to him and they had to be pulled apart, and I'm not talking like a casual, like, here, let's move over this way. I'm talking this guy was at his throat and he was pulling him away and it took five people to stop this then i'm a little more compelled but it seemed like he came up without much of a plan he was like this ain't twitter and then alex was like yes it is not twitter let us fight i will

fight you and then he walked away like it didn't really like sell me more on on the combat part of it um i will say this. I will say this. Who deserves it more, Magomed? And am I advocating for him to jump over Magomed? No, because I'm the guy who says, like, you got to give it to

who deserves it, who's earned it. But which fight interests me more? It's Jawad. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Strictly from an interest standpoint, I want to see the Jawad.

Does this feel a bit like we're in, like, the Twilight Zone? Because I'm usually way on that side of the fence and you guys are usually this way. And now we're flipped. Let's go, sweet dreams.

Let's go, baby. Get that bread. Get that bread, sweet dreams. This is crazy. Come on. Get that fight. The buildup would be fantastic. It would be great.

Oh, man. Alex Burr, let's not forget Alex Burr is like the ultimate troll. Like the Pikachu jacket against Israel Adesanya, like, he is a troll. I think he'd be willing to admit that. The lead-up to the Jamal Hill fight, I'm sure he would have some fantastic trolling moments. And, like, the heat between them will be fantastic.

Whereas, like, the Akhlaif fight, it's going to be like ho-hum. It's going to be Alex Pereira carrying it. And, like, neither of them really speak any English. I honestly don't know why it's not to be like ho-hum. It's going to be Alex Pereira carrying it and neither of them really speak any English. I honestly don't know why it's not doing it for me because normally this would be doing it for me. I like the lunacy of it all. He just got knocked out in April and he's like

it's not Twitter. And he's like, what? What are you talking about? One line he said was like, I'm awake now. And Alex was just like, okay. By the way, a lot of people asking if Uncrowned are going to be at the He was like, well, I'm awake now. And Alex was just like, okay. Oh, my God. By the way, a lot of people asking if Uncrowned are going to be at the UFC press conferences. Shout out to our guy, Drake Riggs, asking some phenomenal questions.

A post-fight press conference question to Dana White about the relationship with Ryzen. Putting Dana on the spot, asking him if Islam beats Armin, will he have Islam above Jon Jones in his pound- pound rankings in case you missed it? Oh, we don't have it. All right. It was on the list. I saw it. Did he get, well, let me tell you something. He asked a great question. Let me see if I could play it here and show him some love because it was a good moment. He even got a patented wait wait wait for it i'm gonna play bootleg all right oh oh here it is get the job done here will you finally put him over john jones we'll see you're true man listen islam knows i love a man but you know how I feel about that John Jones is undefeated for however many

years and boo all you want I don't give a shit who is the number one who is the number one and fuck you for asking that question go ahead that's great I mean that's a

that's a huge honor. Well done, Drake. I love that. It sounds like he's not going to change his mind. We have this. We're kind of going around the horn here, all the bits and bobs. Or is it bips and bobs? I don't know.

It's one of those things. Bips and bobs. Bips. What are we arguing between? Bibs and bobs? Bits and bips. I don't know. Bits and bobs.

Bips and bobs. Who's Bob? Bits and bobs. Bits and bobs bits and bobs bits and bobs so you have a voice note from Ian Gary am I supposed to play it no but am I supposed to play it from my computer or do you have it loaded up I can't load it up

play it live send it to me on whatsapp I can play it I'll send it to first has anyone heard this thing yet can you at least listen to it first I don't want him to... Listen to it. It's fine. Alright, alright.

So we'll get that. Shout out to Rico Verhoeven. Has anyone heard this thing yet? Oh, what is that? It's replaying me there, Frank. What is going on? Now I don't trust sending this to Frank. I feel like... That was the conversation we just had. We're going to do the games.

Congratulations to Rico Verhoeven through the games. Yeah. Congratulations to Rico Verhoeven on the win on Saturday. Congratulations to Richardson Hitchens beating Liam Paro in somewhat of an upset. What was the line again in that one, GC? He was a pretty big dog, right? No, no, no. It was like a coin flip. Oh, was it?

Paro like minus 130, Hitchens plus 110. Okay. Well, congratulations. And now all of a sudden there are talks of potentially him fighting George Kambosis back in New York, which would be huge, or perhaps Tiafema Lopez. Although I'm seeing a report here

that was just sent to me about a Boots Ennis versus Tiafema Lopez joint pay-per-view. This from a boxing scene and it's from the birthday boy, Bob Arum, who I think turned 92 this past weekend. There was also a crazy knockout in BKFC. Did you guys see this?

I think two-second knockout, maybe the quickest knockout ever. I don't know how you could beat it. Here it is. Kablam It's going to be tough to beat because if BKFC They start at the line Like in MMA and boxing You're starting in corner It's just going to be tough to beat that

Because of how close they are Well you didn't like kablam? I loved it That needs to be the new tagline We have to get that as a drop Can's see it again. That needs to be the new tagline. We have to get that as a drop. Can we see it again? Can we see it again? I got another one for it.

I got another. Let's roll it. Here it is. Here it is. Boom! Goes the dynamite. I've heard that one before. Kablam is your

Boom Goes the Dynamite. Yeah, yeah. Come on. That was crazy. That was nuts. Okay, we have the voice though now. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Thanks, guys. Okay, we have the voice now. Let's hear it.

Let's hear it. I obviously just got off air with you, and I was just thinking. Usman was not last notice. Usman was straight after Kobe turned me down. The movement went straight to Usman. He was offered the fight three and a half weeks before me and Buckley was announced. He turned me down from the get-go. So it wasn't last minute in any

way, shape, or form. Hence why I believe he's a little bitch. I mean, again, this is making me want to see the fight. I want Kamaru and Usman in headline Dublin fight night. Let's do it

I'm there Oh my gosh That would be something I do appreciate him following up Thank you very much I was thinking about it actually It was not short notice I think he might have a point there

Sounds like he wanted Kamaru And Kamaru didn't, but again, I mean, there's all kinds of reasons these things shake out how they shook out. He ended up with a fight against Shavkat for essentially one contendership. Yeah, the stock went up. Speaking of January 18th, some

bad news on, I do believe, Friday. All of a sudden we get word that Tommy Fury is out of the highly anticipated fight against Darren Till that we were all looking forward to. Here it is, Tommy Fury on Instagram, on his story. I can't believe I'm writing this, but I am now not fighting Darren Till on January 18th, 2025, for the one simple reason being that Darren has stated over and over that he does not want to abide by professional boxing rules and that if he is losing the fight, he will resort to kicking and other stupid MMA tactics. I'm a professional boxer. I've been out of the ring for over a year and I wanted this

to be a great boxing, all caps fight for the fans. I have wasted weeks in training camp. We are working hard to get a new opponent in date. I promise to get a better opponent and a better fight for you guys. Good news around the corner. This can't be real. I mean, yes, Darren Till said at the press conference that he would kick him, but even Tommy himself was practicing throwing elbows against a heavy bag and whatnot. That's all to sell the fight. Do you really think Darren Till's going to throw a kick? And if you thought so, why did you sign up for this? It's not like we just found out he's a little bit kooky. Did he really pull out because of this threat? And I don't even feel like, even when Darren was on the show afterwards, I don't even

think he was like doubling down on this. This is utterly bizarre stuff. And to be clear, he says there, looking for a new opponent in date, he says there that, you know, date is the operative word. My understanding from speaking to the people at Misfits is that Till's staying on the card. They are honoring Till's commitment to the card. The likes of Billy Joe Saunders and others have raised their hands. Mike Perry has raised his hand. I think Tyron Woodley's out there. Aaron Chalmers is out there.

I don't know if it's anyone as big as a Tommy Fury because you have to remember, Tommy Fury is from Manchester. So he's the massive draw here. Till from Liverpool. But I mean, is it possible? Is it possible that he just all of a sudden said, I'm out because of this threat?

Darren Till responded Friday morning to all of this. Take a look. I've just got to the gym. I'm supposed I'm out because of this threat. Darren Till responded Friday morning to all of this. Take a look. I've just got to the gym. I'm out to do my sparring this morning. I've just been shown that Tommy Fury's put up a fucking post saying that he's not fighting because I've threatened to kick him in the head. I said I'd kick him in the head at the press conference as a mental warfare tactic. And since then, I haven't said anything else. I've been hard at work in the gym preparing for this boxing match with him on January 18th. I said to everyone that Tommy was going to pull out regardless of anything.

I fucking knew it since the press conference. So now it's confirmed what I said. He's a shithouse. Family are shithouses. And now Tommy's not fighting. I've been hard at work boxing for two years. I haven't thrown a kick in two years. I threw one kick on a video as a mental warfare tactic.

Never in a million years would I throw a head kick in a fight. That is only boxing rules. I stick to the rules. I've always abided by the rules throughout my whole career. So now I've got to the gym to do my sparring this morning, eight gallons of sparring. And Tommy Fiore's pulled out. Tommy Fiore, you are the biggest shithouse I have ever come across. You are not a man.

This is the biggest win of Darren Till's career in recent memory. I mean, he is going to beat this to death. And if this is in fact the reason, here's more from Darren Till. He should. Tommy Fury, you're the biggest, as he puts it,

shithouse I've ever met in my life. Do not ever call yourself a fighter again. I was selling the fight to make me and you more money, you absolute empty head Fighting family My ass By the way

Not one period here You and your dad Are shithouses I don't need to throw kicks You was getting knocked Spark out You divvy Not sure if I heard

That one before We was making bank On this fight Cause of me Not you I was building it You should be fighting And you should be

Thanking me Over and out No one wants to fight me Jake Paul Paul, what are you up to, you big fat dummy? It's a W. This is a massive W for Darren Till. If this is in fact the reason why Tommy Fury's not fighting, it's a massive W. Now, there have been conspiracy theories thrown out there that it's maybe a ploy because he's going to fight Jake Paul next. And I don't know. I've not heard any of that, to be honest. I was actually more interested in the Till Fury fight, if I'm being 100% honest with you guys.

We saw the Jake Paul, Tommy Fury fight. It wasn't that great. I'd rather see Till. Till's a special kind of crazy, and there's interest in seeing him fight a pro boxer. I know he's not Mr. WBC champ, but I thought there was some interest there. This can't be the reason. There has to be

an injury. There has to be more to the story. He was offered some money to go fight someone else. This cannot be the reason why he's not fighting. I refuse to accept it. That's almost worse because then that implies you had another reason to not fight and you decided that the best course of action was pretend to pretend to be scared of him kicking your head off like it's it's actually worse if that's not the reason because that was the best

you came up with um to get out of it is actually more like sad and at the press conference when darren till said like i'll just kick you in the head fury was like all right well then it'll be a proper fight and now this is the reason why he's dropping out it just it just doesn't bizarre if i if i find ma'am's taylor and misfits i'm livid like this is why you pulled out i mean injuries are injuries you know how could he how could he like ever call himself like a real fighter again yeah and how does this do business with him ever again the fear of and then darren till comes out and was like dude i was never gonna kick you in the head like what are you talking about yeah and it's not like the i mean

the furies they they sell fights they get crazy you know they headbutt people before fights his dad did that to a member of u16 like if he attempted to kick him in the head, the fight would immediately be over. Yes. Immediately. It's over. As Till even attempted that. This is the problem. This has moved this now into a serious conversation about

what happens if Darren Till kicks him in all these things. The logic of it is like, dude, nobody's buying this. It doesn't make any sense. How could this be the thing that he dropped out for also i looked up divvy english slang for uh a foolish or stupid person there you go thank you for that um i was i was i was envisioning darren and his response before we got his actual response to the ig story and something tells me he doesn't really care we don't care there it is frank well done you nailed it you nailed it um anyway let's

see what happens january 18th it's going to be a a wacky start to the year with uh the 18th of those two shows ufc and then the misfits one let's see and then the 25th. And that pay-per-view that we mentioned, they're going the route of DDP versus Strickland too. I was in favor of the Hamzat fight. And what's interesting about it is Dana White was all kind of, I mean, he was fired up when asked about this. Someone asked him a very benign question, like how close was it to being Hamzat as opposed to Strickland versus DDP? And he was supremely fired up. In case you missed it, take a look.

How close was Hamzat to getting the title shot against DDP in Australia? How close was it? Yeah. I mean, guys, what are you fucking, is this tonight's stupid question tonight? How close was he to getting? I'm asking you because after his win against Robert Whitaker, you said he might be next, right? He's not next.

How close was he? I don't know. I mean, we sit in a room every Tuesday and we pick fights. Was he in the conversation? He's always in the conversation. Yes. Our friend Andrew Feldman posted on Twitter a side-by-side of when he was asked, I think after the Abu Dhabi card, about Hamza jumping over Strickland.

He's like, yeah, it's a good question. We'll have to figure it out. And then a month later, a month and a half later, he's like, that's the stupidest question. I don't understand. What's so bad about that question? It was never made clear. I think it was a perfectly fine question.

A perfectly fair question. Ah, you know, in the end, we promised it to Strickland or in the end, you know, he's coming off a win over Apollo Costa. In the end, it was a close fight in Toronto.

What's the big deal? Why so fired up? It seemed like there was something annoying him or bothering him. It was a little testy. I think that was a very fair question. I mean, I think most people, would you guys not agree, most people would rather see the Hamzat fight?

Yeah. I don't even think that that's like a provocative question, right? No. It was a bizarre sort of reaction to a pretty benign question. Having seen many of these, having worked in social and having to watch a lot of them to a pretty benign question. Having seen many of these, having worked in social and having to watch a lot of them to clip things from, sometimes Dana's just mad and it doesn't

matter what the question was. You ask him anything and he's just looking for an opportunity to He's, dare I say, looking for a fight? He's looking for a fight. He's cranky. It's late. Those fighting words. Yeah, I get it. Danaina, I just asked you how your night was. Yeah.

I mean, it was a good night, I thought, for the UFC. Was it like a $5 million gate for a show headlined by a flyweight title fight? I don't know. Pound for pound King Alessandro Pantoja. Yeah. 100%. Pound for pound what? King, I said. Where'd you put him in your rankings?

You know what? I had him above Jon Jones. That might be a shocker for people who know how much I love Jon Jones as a fighter. Dana was asked about Conor McGregor. In case you're wondering his stance on everything going on with Conor, following the trial that wrapped up some two weeks ago. Here's what he had to say. Since the thing about Conor McGregor came down,

any reaction that you have since the conviction in the civil court and the penalties he faced? What do you mean, what's my reaction? Do you have any comment about what his— If I had a comment, I would have put it out already. What about his status with the UFC? He hasn't been fighting here in I don't know how long. But there's been, you know, you've noticed him at 303. There's been talk he's going to fight.

Right. I mean, does that impact him in any way? Well, if he does fight, it'll be sometime next year. You know, when people talk about Dana being a politician in the future, like I think you could point to moments like that. That is incredible deflection. He hasn't fought here in how long? He was booked to fight in June. He got injured. To his credit, he did say he'll come back at the end of 2025, but it just seemed like he wanted nothing to do with that question. There was an opportunity there to say a whole bunch of stuff, and he just wanted nothing to do with it, which I don't know if it's surprising, but in the past he has said things, and in the past he hasn't. There's nothing consistent.

So I don't know if you could say it was surprising, but it seemed like he was getting very defensive. And I think that sequence happened before the Hamzat sequence. So maybe that's what set him off. Who knows? Maybe he secretly wanted Kai Sakura to win so they could go to Japan. Who knows?

Could be a million things. Maybe he had some bad shrimp in the back. Who the hell knows? By the way, there's a poll up on the YouTube page right now. 75% wanted Hamzat to fight DDP rather than Sean Strickland. So take that for what it's worth. We pretty much talked about everything that I think was notable. I mean, a ton of stuff happened. Yeah. Duhu Choi, amazing win over Landwehr. Dominic Reyes.

Amazing call out of Bryce Mitchell as well Yeah with the Well I wasn't sure was it Mitchell or Flatter Throtch I wasn't sure I used that joke already You did Luque with a nice win GC was I didn't know GC was such a Closet Vicente Luque fan

You seemed super pumped What did I post that he's not washed I mean you just seemed excited. I was so fed on him, plus 150. Okay. And I was there in Atlanta. Wait, he was plus 150 against Garimbo? He closed at like plus 130. Yeah, he was the dog the entire week. Wow. Plus one in the entire

time. The Atlantic City performance. We were there in Atlantic City, man. It was not a good performance. Yeah. It looked like he did not want to be in there. The question was, is Vicente Luque still in there? Yeah, the answer was yes. Dropped him straight into the choke. Will that be the last time we see Weidman, Smith, or Guida fight in the UFC?

One of them for sure. One of them? Probably even two of them. I don't think so. I think maybe Guida. Guida and Smith. You think so? I actually think Smith gets another crack.

Of the three, I think he has the best shot You know he was emotional He was broken up Oh you're saying The UFC is going to release them Not release them But And maybe

I don't know But I'm talking about Fighting In the UFC I'm talking about In the UFC I think all three Will fight again

You think so If they were not They would have Made that decision already Choose the combo I think Listen to the difference Between any conversation with Demetrius Johnson and every other fighter who's ever competed.

Yeah, I know. When you're done, you know you're done. They've never made any... Chris Weidman talks about every time, after every fight, it's talking about how he's going to get back to the title. I just don't see it. There's something in them that is not going to... Anthony Smith, maybe, like, he was pretty emotional about it

and he said, I don't know how many times I'm going to do it without the coach, but... He said probably. Again, he could have been done there. I just don't... I don't think that's the last time for any of them. Do you think there's any chance that the UFC employs this father Stepson? Yes, I do. Okay. Yeah, I would like to hear Dana's thoughts

on that. I feel like he'd be open to it. You think he would like that question? I'm sure the commission... Maybe in PowerSnap as well? Commissions would have no issue with it. I still see people saying like, oh, a point should be deducted. There needs to be some kind of penalty. I mean, there is a penalty. Clearly, it was more than 20%.

That's not a penalty. That's not a penalty for the fight. That's a penalty for your pocket, but that's not a penalty for the fight. It's a really difficult subject because it's such a short fight. You don't want to waste the training camp and everything like that. It's such a short fight, but your job is to make weight. That is the job.

If the penalty is too harsh, then make weight. There's a very simple answer for if you feel that penalty is too harsh. And that answer is, fight in a weight class where you can make weight. No sympathy on my end. Yeah.

Very interesting to hear Brian Battle say he wouldn't have taken the fight. At least he's being honest. More fighters should feel empowered to do that. The problem is they are losing their money as well. It's not just affecting the person who misses weight's money. And that's the big problem.

As you have always long said, should not be show and win. Should just be a flat fee. You show up and you get paid. If you make the weight, you get paid. That's it. And if your opponent cannot fight, you win. Period. It's a tough one. I feel for Randy. We'll talk to him

tomorrow about it, in addition to the other names. Great. Great fight. Both of them. Good fight. Yeah. No'll talk to him tomorrow about it in addition to the other names. Fuck great. Great fight. Both of them. Good fight. Yeah. No, but you know, Randy's one of those guys scratching and clawing, working his way up. Oh, 100%. It sucks.

This sets a back at. Seven of his last eight? Seven of his last eight. And the battle thing is super interesting because it feels like everyone has turned. I was saying that to him, man, the most fickle fans on earth. This dude was everyone's hero this time last week. And now everyone seems to hate him. Three months ago, like i mean i'm saying it i'm not i'm not hating on it but it's just amazing because you see the sentiment completely change you know

like in the in the post that we um tweet and and and and we're tagged in and everyone's like giving him shit i'm like damn quick question the commission gets the money right they don't give it to the opponent uh that used to be a thing but now it's becoming more and more where the fighter gets the money it depends depends on the commission but the top ones give it all to the yeah to the fighter the top ones and and then they can negotiate so like um randy's agent manager john mian can can say to jason house brian battles manager like hey we're only doing this if you guys give us 40%, and then it's up to them to say yes or no. Neither of them are getting paid, right?

Neither of them are getting paid if they don't fight, so that's the tough call. There's nothing in the contract. Look, if you would have collectively bargained something, hey, my opponent misses weight, I get that. Like, this all doesn't have to be done back of the napkin style in the corner. But we're not quite there

just yet. Congratulations. I said it on Saturday, but your shirt reminded me Georgia winning. I'm still a little bit... I don't want to talk about football. SEC chip, baby.

Let's go. No, I don't want to. Heartbreaker. You brought it up. Are you talking about the Bills? Heartbreaker. Heartbreaker. Y'all were down 17 twice. Yeah, still. It was almost an amazing comeback. Heartbreaker. Are you talking about the Bills? Heartbreaker. Heartbreaker. Y'all were down 17 twice. Yeah, still. It was almost

an amazing comeback. Josh Allen. Six touchdowns. You can't ruin that. A. B. We're fighting for the number one seed. Now we're two back. That's a problem. We're fighting for the second and third seed. We want home field advantage if we have to play

the Steelers who don't want to die, don't want to go away. No. Plus, that's a 6-6 Rams team. I said it to all my friends before. Classic trap game. Come off a big win

on Sunday night. You got the Lions next week. That's the game that everyone's thinking like, ah, you know, we'll smoke these guys. I saw something on social media.

They flew out Saturday night. Why would you fly out Saturday night? Fly out Friday. I saw Rams minus three, or I mean Bills minus three. I was like, that's a trap. It felt like a trap game from the beginning. Defense couldn't stop anyone. Questionable decisions.

I just know you have a fantastic quarterback, and you guys are not proud of him. Oh, I believe in them wholeheartedly. We should have won that game. That's what bothers me. This is not talking football. What does football sound like? I'm sorry. I'm sorry i'm sorry um well i guess i mean frank gives up just that easily i'm like putting the bills jersey back on yo he hasn't watched the game he's like you're not gonna throw that thing out i'm just like they lose one game frank it's crazy wait till they win the super bowl though we'll never hear the end of it he'll

be wearing that black josh allen jersey every single. Oh my god. I was like, Frank, you see that game yesterday? No. I was watching Succession. What game did he not watch? Was it the Chiefs game that he didn't watch? Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, and he was just like... He slept. Yeah, he's just like, I didn't think they were going to win. They're the worst fan of all time. Bedridden sick.

Also, Bro endlessly talks about how much he loves Texas football, and then when Georgia beats him, he's just like, well, I don't really care about Texas. That's my brother. Well, they lost. I will say. Yeah, he lost, so he doesn't cheer for him.

I did tune in to watch the playoff, whatever it was, like the selection show. It was a little underwhelming, but I'm locked in. I'm into it. Now I'm into it. I've always said my issue with college football, I don't understand what the stakes are. What does this mean?

What does that mean? Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Taco Bowl. Now I get it. There's something there. Bracket looks great. Arizona State and Boise State getting a bye. Who do you get? Who do you have? Well, we have a bye. We get a winner of Indiana-Notre Dame. I was running to the train today. I'm wearing this shirt and some guy in a Sun Devils jacket is just like, oh, see you guys in the natty. I'm like, oh, this is great. It would never happen without a 12-team playoff. Exactly.

Well, I did say no football talk, but I would be remiss, and I should have said this at the top of the show if I do not mention the only team to beat Liverpool at Anfield and Man United at Old Trafford, the tricky trees of Nottingham.

Nottingham Forest with a massive 3-2 victory on Saturday. I mean, the group chat is dead. I mean, can I just pronounce it dead? There was once a time where we were losing 4-0 to Leicester City and we're just lamenting. Now we're beating the likes of Man United,

shitty season or not, and it's just dead. I mean, your boy Jake has just disappeared. Is he even alive? What's happened? I'm not sure, actually actually how guilty would you feel if you found out it wasn't yeah that would be that would be unfortunate i do frank has actually left the chat have you actually still in the chat wow i put the sunglasses emoji every time it's changed man i used to see frank all the time outside i moved out of state twice i can't be time since i've met you he loves that i used to be closer to work than him. He'd be like, you live all the way in the state of New Jersey.

Yeah. I couldn't be happier not to be a part of this chat. No, I mean, there's literally nothing going on in the chat. It's literally me talking to myself. We've talked soccer. We've talked football. Can we talk a little track? Do we talk track?

Wait, what track? What track? I mean, shout out to 16-year-old Gout Gout. Oh, yes. Australian sprinter. I mean. Oh, I didn't know we had that. 10.04?

Yeah. 10.04 for a boy Gout Gout? Gout Gout. Shout out to Gout Gout. How many times? How many times? This guy's name is actually Gout Gout. G-O-U-T, G-O-U-T.

You have made it famous. Look at that, dude. Put some gouts in the chat, baby. Put some gouts in the chat. Shout. Put some gouts in the chat. Shout out to our boy, Gout Gout. Yo, yo. How many times were you tagged? Literal hundreds. If not thousands. Because I was tagged. I said this to you. Multiple DMs.

Tags all over every social platform. Where is he from, this young man? Australia. He's an Australian. And he's 16. 16 years old. 10.04. And he's this incredible inspirational story because he actually suffers from gout as well. No, don't lie on his name. Don't lie on his name.

Don't lie on his name. Shout out to gout gout. That was impressive. 100 meters? Yeah. Like 10.06 seconds? That's nuts. 04.

10.04. 10.04. I did read wind aided, but still, I mean, we're not going to take it away from the boy gout. It reminds me. That's circumstantial You know What are you going to do Blame him

Yeah no I agree I mean it reminds me Of when I was covering The 100 meter dash This summer At the Stade de France What a scene that was Nah I mean that's nothing

Compared to my boy Yeah no you're right I saw you on like Fencing and what not No no no I was on everything You did 100 meter Oh I was there

Yeah that night Breakdancing Noah Lyles It was a photo finish And then I looked up and I was like who's the winner It was an actual photo finish Did you see the Noah Lyles I show speed photo finish

That was great great theater Shout out to our boy Mr. B Sign up for that thing that he's doing with Yahoo The daily pics thing it starts on December 21st. Daily Beast. Come on. Now someone's going to clip this off and think that we're not. Daily draw.

Daily draw. Daily draw on Yahoo Sports. It's actually really fascinating. They give you like four cards or something like that, and they all have different outcomes. Yeah. Like imagine you got one, and it's, I don't know, Pantoja via second round, rear naked. You're like, I'm holding on to that one. I think you just pick one.

Don't take my word for it. Yeah, it launches December 20th. There you go. Fans who play Daily Draw will receive a randomly generated pack of six cards every day in the Yahoo Sports app. All you have to do is simply swipe to open their pack and look through their cards. Each card features a game, team, or specific player,

prediction about the day's single biggest sporting event, and you can decide if you want to keep it or not. I'm taking that pants by sub. I'm keeping that one for sure. It actually is quite fun, because it's not, it's like, oh, I get Rams, I don't know, Rams win, Rams, I'll take

that. I'll take a flyer, and now you're locked in. Plus you're like really opening packs on the app. Shout out. Yeah. So easy. You can sign up now. Someone from Yahoo watching this is like cringing. Oh, I thought they would like it.

Thank you to our good friends. I mean, we're workshopping it, right? We're on the fly. We're on the fly. I want to hear him talk about our product. I want to hear him talk about our show. I want to hear him talk about our show. Mr. Beast? Yeah.

Oh, and I was watching the Ariel Helwani show. I was watching the Ariel Helwani show. What a great discussion they were having about Gout Gout. I dare him. Hey, don't disparage my boy. Yeah, actually, I guess I don't know what I'm saying. People who have Gout are people too. It's all good.

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Come on. We're only working with a select few advertisers right now. Support those who support us. All right. Huge show in the books. Huge show to come. It's a beautiful evening in New York City, as you can see. The Empire State building

is on fire. I'm not supposed to say that. I mean, not literally on fire. This stuff gets clipped. It's on fire! Congratulations to all the Mets fans out there. I'm fascinated by this Juan Soto story.

Commiserations to our own on-air Jordan. I just love the rivalry of the Mets taking away arguably the best player on the Yankees, arguably the best player in baseball. I did ask my good friend Jason Tackman this question, former general manager of the Vancouver Canadiens, the smartest baseball mind that I've ever come across. If you were starting a team right now, right now, is Juan Soto the number one pick? If you could pick anyone in the major leagues, is Juan Soto pick number one?

One would assume he just got the biggest contract in the history of professional sports, which blows my mind. But is it Juan Soto? Is he that good? Somebody who's casual. Is it not Otani? Well, that's what I thought. So how did he beat Otani? How did he get more than Otani?

Oh, you signed at a different time. You're setting the market. Every time someone a different time. You're setting the market. Every time someone signs like that, you're setting the market. Wait, but didn't Otani sign for less years and nearly the same money? I don't know. Am I crazy? You tell me. We'll never know.

How long is Otani's deal? Isn't it 10 years? I'm just saying. Yeah, 10 years, 700. So he got two-thirds the years, but nearly the same amount of money. So, yes, his contract is significantly bigger. Soto's? No, Otani's.

Okay, but I'm talking about the actual sum is the biggest sum. Right, but by $50 million and five less years. How many more years until someone gets a billion-dollar deal? Four years, five years. I say less. I say two. Well, who? It depends on who it's going to be.

Well, we can talk about that tomorrow. Thank you very much, everyone, for joining us. DJ, Gary, Battle, Kiesa, Hooper. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of them. Peace. I'm out of here.